Our destination, built in the 1200s, was the cemetery with the panoramic views. We only got this far since the cemetery was closed, but the view was still quite grand.
The fleet of tour boats returning.
It’s hard to picture since the harbor looks small and shallow but from Britannica: “Although it was known in the 4th century, Amalfi was of little importance until the mid-6th century under the Byzantines. As one of the first Italian maritime republics in the 9th century, it rivaled Pisa, Genoa, Venice, and Gaeta as a naval power in trade with the East.”
There is a magnificent medieval cathedral that dominates the skyline and included among it’s claims to fame are relics of St Andrew. This picture doesn’t show the bell tower but you can see it in the city-scapes above.
Our street in the early hours. This was our last day and we went home early to get clean and pack up for the long long journey home.
For an early lunch we walked out of town and chose this quiet place with a dog being King of the Patio. The food was delightful as were the owner and the service staff and particularly the dog,
We were heading out of town and up the hill to have a tour of the Museo della Carta, the Paper Museum in Amalfi, the number 2 attraction after the Cathedral. We loved it!
Our group, the leftmost guy being the tour guide who was fun and informative. We started out just four of us and the rest joined later.
And of course, Exit Through the Gift Shop where they had a ton of cool hand-made paper, and products to use with the really lovely paper designs, shapes, purposes.
We wanted to see about the Lemon Experience but once there we found they were closed, so we headed back and along the way… and you can see how these look like the opening scenes of sailing into Sorrento, Positano, and Amalfi.
We went home for a rest and then out for dinner at the fancy place just across the walk-street and up the alley from where we were staying.
Look up!
I (quietly!) asked the waiter to put a candle in our dessert, which they did, and it was a festive and delicious Last Birthday Event of the trip.
Our last chance in Naples to say “we should look that up”.
Heading down from town our landlord sent a taxi to take us and our luggage to the ferry, but no, Naples was running a Marathon and we had to get out and walk the last bit, but no problem, we had plenty of time and it was fun to zig-zag along the route.
We visited Sorrento previously on a day trip, first stop on the ferry up the Amalfi Coast.
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We had so many ideas for our time here and then we decided, heck, we’re tired and this place here in Amalfi Town is great. So no, we didn’t go to any of your favorite places. “Oh no you didn’t go here” “Oh no you didn’t go there.” No, we did not, and we’re entirely happy, so in the words of our Sir Paul McCartney, let it be!
Here come several pictures on our way to Positano. In Positano 4/5ths of the passengers got off which was amazing, we could stretch and breathe.
Catch the view of the church dome and then you can follow as the ferry gets closer and then moves away.
Check out the path leading from the large white building to the beach, and you can see the road too.
We didn’t get this view from the ferry – entering the port of Amalfi Town (the internet: Geographical Cure).
First day’s lunch. Mine was very good (anchovies with fennel and orange and house red), Windy’s less so (cheese ravioli).
More to come! I’m home now and to-dos are piling up!
A walking tour highlight, Barbies! May I have a picture? Certo!
This morning I went for the postponed Street Art walking tour. I will say that I was surprised by the paucity of street art featured and also surprised by how interesting the tour was anyway, and how wonderfully comfortable with only me and a lovely couple from Liverpool. The guide, in the center of the picture below, was as cute as he looks.
Are you tired of the Naples football victory yet? I can assure you unequivocally that the Napolitanos are not.
This was one of the art pieces about guess who, you guessed right, Diego Maradona. The paintings have a political statement but the figure of Diego shows him ‘with legs apart’, the name of a beverage he created by adding baking soda to lemonade you can make it fizz so hard you have to step back with your legs apart so as not to get soaked. The cart just opposite the mural is selling that exact drink.
So we wonder, of course the picture favors the cart operator, and the cart operator adds a bit of local color for the tour groups that swarm over this street. One of us said sure let me give it a try, and indeed, she ended up ‘with legs apart’!
I needed to pee so I ducked into a bar that looked promising and asked for for the toilet. There were three guys in there and we started making jokes, I don’t remember the topic, but they let me use the toilet and then I ordered a grappa and took a picture. These interludes are just the best.
I forget this guy’s story but for sure he is 100% on the Napoli side.
A couple more pictures from the tour. I liked this street with the fruit stand at the turn. As I learned from the guide, the street I’m standing on is for sure not in the Spanish Quarter because the street is too wide and the buildings too new. On the right is another family shrine and memorial. They all have a story.
I met up with the tour in the Spanish Quarter by taking the Metro over from our part of town, the Porto neighborhood. All the Metro stations have been fine, ordinary subways, until I got off at Toledo station. It was cool.
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After the tour Windy and I identified a few places we’d like to check out as this is our last day, and we’re off. First, remarkably, we hadn’t seen the Cathedral yet and when we got there, oh my, there was quite the hoopla. Come to learn that there was a celebrity wedding (“Jan Fabre a Belgian multidisciplinary artist, playwright, stage director, choreographer and designer, age 64”) was marrying his Italian girlfriend, age 40. Jan Fabre was also recently convicted of sexual harassment and indecent assault – you can read about it here in Art News. He was given an 18 month suspended sentence and it seems it’s about now that the 18 months would be over.
I can’t remember the brides name, or find it on the internet…I got all this from one of the attendees who seemed in the mood to chat while everyone waited endlessly for the bride to appear. It was so much fun. And btw they did the service in English, that being their common language, so that was fun too. We stayed long enough to get a taste for it and then quietly slipped out the back.
The place was swarming with paparazzi but I have yet to find a single photo online so we’ll have to use mine. You can’t really see the bride and groom because of the photographer standing right behind them.
A couple pictures from the Cathedral. Notice all the densely layered decorations and designs and images. It’s a Lot.
The photos are of people who have recently died.
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Yes, Football. The new season has begun and TVs are setup in courtyards and on the walls of bars and even out on the street.
Another “what is this? we should look it up.”
Another church.
We’re off to Amalfi tomorrow. And to bid farewell and grazie to Naples, how cute is this.
And we’re off! The ferries run often to Capri, Sorrento, Positano, and Amalfi and the port area is busy. Fortunately at least the ferries are separate from the cruise terminal. You can see a huge white block in the middle of this picture below that is the Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas, not the one with the black hull, or the other white ship you can halfway see.
The Symphony of the Seas can carry over 6,000 passengers and takes 2,200 crew. I don’t know about the other ships but you can just imagine what it’s like in the winding lanes of a small city’s ancient old town with so very many extra people. Venice and Florence = same.
The whole top deck is clamoring for a shot of..
..Vesuvius.
Arriving in Sorrento, the town is built into the hills, and unlike the even more steep Positano, Sorrento has an elevator to take you from sea level up to the top of the cliff.
A view from the edge of the town’s cliff. Even with the inset you can’t see very well. These jetty-breakwater constructions hold rows of deck chairs full of people basking in the sun and having a dip in the sea.
Right at the exit/entrance of the elevator.
Friends, look at the scene below. It’s official for me. September is no longer a viable travel month to visit popular places. It’s hot and too TOO crowded. Even though kids are back in school it’s just too much with the crowds. For example omg cruise ships. They disgorge thousands and thousands who roam the streets in battalions. Now I don’t want to go anywhere if cruise ships are going to be there too.
And the buses, yikes, not here but in Pisa for example, you’d think it was a Disneyland parking lot full of buses. I’m not sorry we went but just a reminder to manage expectations.
We came across a door that led to a room offering to take us on a ‘tour through the history of Sorrento’ so, ok, let’s do that. It was a series of videos, displayed on the wall as you walked down a hall. This was fun, Sofia Loren, and that scene is a recognizable long-ago Sorrento.
The Cathedral Bell Tower. Unfortunately it was closed while we were there.
It was hot, as it has been and will be, and I wanted a break so we decided to find a place to sit in the shade. We thought, why not find a rooftop bar and indeed there was one in easy reach. Windy tried the most well-know beverage around these parts, the Lemoncello Spritz. Her report: now I know. I don’t think she’ll be ordering a Lemoncello Spritz again. The spot was great though, it totally did the trick and we left feeling comfortable and refreshed.
The bar was on top of a hotel. The pool in the first picture belongs to the hotel and is ‘around the corner’ from the bar.
And look who came to join us at the Sky Bar!
On the way back to the pier we passed the bridge to the jetty for the bathers in the sun and sea, who will be enjoying their spot until dark.
Now we’re off to catch the ferry back to Naples and then a nice walk home.
I meant to write something about the Lemons and Inlaid Wood products made here, they are specialties and stores that carry lemon this and that, decorated clothing, lemoncello, fragrances, etc etc etc, and boxes and trays and tables and etc etc etc of elaborate inlaid wood fill the streets. I regret not getting to this elemental feature of Sorrento with some pictures!
In the morning we went out to find the Cloisters in the Santa Chiara church. What wiki says: “The cloister of the Clarisses is known for the unique addition of majolica tiles, added in 1742 by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro in Rococo style. The brash color and floral decoration makes this cloister, with octagonal columns in pergola-like structure, likely unique and would seem to clash with the introspective world of cloistered nuns. The cloister arcades are also decorated by frescoes, now much degraded.”
It was definitely Rococo and brash, and the frescoes degraded but still interesting. They didn’t have the artistry and joy of Fra Angelico’s but then not many do.
The street side of the wall surrounding the church and the cloister was a magnet for the street artists.
We were thinking a break would be nice, a coffee and something to dunk in it. So we ordered café lattes. I winked at the waiter and told him we were bad Italians (you do not drink coffee with milk after breakfast..heathen!). He smiled, so cute, and brought us a gift, one of the biscuits you see here. Oh my goodness fabulously delicious, I had to buy a bag of them. BUT, he said, do not eat them with coffee. You must eat them with beer, in the afternoon, with friends!
I’m really surprised, we didn’t go in. Windy does enjoy a nice charity shop!
It’s been pretty constant, a catch phrase, because everywhere you turn there’s something to look at and one of us will say ‘we’ll have to look that up’ and then neither of us will look it up because by the time we’ve come to the fifth thing we’re going to look up we’ve forgotten the first four.
I had a Street Art Tour booked for this afternoon but the operators contacted me in the morning to say the tour was canceled. Windy was going to get a facial at the massage place. So I rebooked the tour for Saturday morning and Windy went ahead with her facial. Then in the afternoon I finally did the pictures for Pompeii and Herculaneum which made me very happy:)
Tomorrow we’re taking the ferry to Sorrento which should be an adventure!
It was supposed to be a nothing day, tired as we were. But we decided since we were so tired we might as well get a massage. And if we were walking to the massage place we might as well eat too.
And I finally learned what’s with all the Diego Maradona and the streets draped in flags of the Naples football team. In the 2022-2023 season they, the Napoli team, won the Italian League championship for the first time in 33 years, since way back when Maradona led the team to victory in 1989-1990. Talk about over the moon! This city is Devoted to its football team.
The last time I showed the inset from the picture below I remarked how I thought it was Maradona, God of Naples, but it was actually San Gennaro, Patron Saint of Naples. But from that first angle it didn’t show Maradona was there too, under the umbrella looking an awful lot like San Gennaro after all.
Lunch was good!
Massage was good!
A scene from the street.
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Clipped from google maps, the inset shows the square of the Duomo Metro stop. You can tell the four big buildings that surround the square – we are staying in the one closest to the top. Some photos of the buildings follow. We didn’t make as much use of the Metro as we could have but were we to stay longer we would surely feel the benefit.
Speaking of the Metro, the traffic in Naples is overwhelming and they don’t have uber or lyft or any online service that works well, and anyway if you take a taxi you still have to brave the traffic – determined cars and the phalanx of motorbikes that careen around every corner three abreast or race down the narrow old town streets in a line. I think the pedestrians are remarkably tolerant under the circumstances. So we’ve been mostly walking and getting everywhere we want to go watching out for motorbikes and walking carefully on all the uneven stone streets.
The entire square is blocked up with construction to expand the Metro. Our flat is on the 4th floor and magically well insulated. It’s crazy, crack a window on the balcony and the noise is deafening, close the window and it’s silent. Too bad the pictures aren’t better…
Just walking down the street singing ooo-wa diddy diddy dum diddy-do.
A thing to know that the guide at the museum said 7 times and today’s guide said 12 times – the difference between the excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum is that Herculaneum was engulfed in lava whereas Pompeii was buried under ash, pumice, and small stones. The lava protected Herculaneum but Pompeii was ravaged by treasure hunters. Of course it’s much more complicated than that!
We took the train from Naples to Pompeii and met the guide at the entrance to the site. The inset shows how Vesuvius looked before the eruption. There is so much conflicting information on the internet and even our two guides had different information.
I’ve been trying to find a good source and as usual wikipedia is pretty reliably updated with the latest research. For example for several hundred years the month of the eruption was believed to be August and now ‘everyone’ is certain it was October. Wiki has 8 long paragraphs telling the whole story yet if you google the date of the Vesuvius eruption you’ll see August all over the place.
So I’m going to let Wikipedia do what it does best and not just copy abstracts of the information you can get better directly, and updated, since I’m sure I won’t be updating this site with all the latest!
It’s a very large site and the guide said 40% of Pompeii is yet to be excavated.
The guide photo-bombed my picture! He was pretty cute though, and entertaining.
Interesting story, they had these at the museum too, how they made these molds of people who had died in the eruption.
Here’s someone else’s picture of the streets in Pompeii. The raised stones are so people can cross the street because the street was basically also the sewer. Those grooves are from the carriages.
An internet picture of the Pompeii archeological site, for some perspective. We were there for two hours and didn’t get through even a half of the streets.
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We had a break in Pompeii for lunch and then the guide led us on the train, then the transfer, then the walk to the Herculaneum site which fronts the Bay of Naples. Here’s our first view, much smaller than Pompeii. Everything is in considerably better condition due to the protective lava (how that works? I do not know!). Even wood survived..
..and the fresco work is colorful and the detail visible…
..and the mosaics are AWEsome.
And it was here, at our last stop, that I learned that NO, I was NOT going to get to see the Villa dei Papiri! Oh man, I really wanted to see the Villa dei Papiri. The guide said it wasn’t open for visitors and even he has never seen it. Frommer’s says you can see it, some websites say maybe yes maybe no. Well, for me, it’s NO Not For YOU. Big Fat Bummer!
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Remember how I said you could ask anyone in Naples “so, what is it with Diego Maradona?” and get an entertaining response? We went to OUR restaurant for dinner (perfectly FAB) after the long day of touring, and we asked this guy, probably one of the chefs, and he said nothing but thrust out his arm. Diego Maradona was no longer playing in Naples before this guy was even born. And I think the tattoo might be of Che Guevera because Diego has one that looks just like this one, and it’s Che!
Then we finally went home only to discover that Windy’s legs were a festering field of rash brought on by what she is sure was the bite of an Oriental Hornet she saw in Pompeii. I’ll not go on but add that the landlady of the flat where we are staying offered to call us a taxi and accompany us to the hospital. It turned out not to be necessary but how comforting to know she would.
Drum Rollllll Please The 1 1/2 inch Oriental Hornet!
The Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, home to most of the treasures available from Pompeii and Herculaneum, Herculaneum being home to the Villa dei Papiri, model for the much enjoyed Getty Villa. I was really looking forward to seeing some originals and there they were, and here are just a couple because, well, they look just like the ones at the Getty.
And here are some floors.
Windy took this one of her favorite, the Farnese Hercules. He’s not at the Getty Villa, we have a different Hercules, but this guy is a very big deal…
We walked there and back – we’ve been walking so much this trip, I can’t imagine keeping it up at home since it’s full-time all-day-long!
If you’re a clean = good, right, godly even kind of person you might well skip a visit to Naples. It feels a little like making the decision to visit India. If you Want to go you’ll have an amazing time but if you’re iffy or on the fence, maybe skip it.
We arrived in Naples by train from Florence, settled into our very fancy digs, and then went out for a walk and to look around and to find some food.
In this first picture you can see flags, the largest being of the God of Napoli, Argentine born footballer Diego Maradona. His picture is Everywhere we walked. It was astonishing especially since he hasn’t played for Napoli since 1991, More Than 30 Years Ago. And still, he is everywhere. You can read up on his history if you’re interested. It’s fun to ask people “so, what is it with Diego Maradona?”. We have got such entertaining replies as you will see in coming days.
Here’s another Maradona.
At first I thought this was Maradona too, but no, it’s San Gennaro, patron saint of Naples. You can see the confusion – Patron Saint vs God.
I’m quite over the moon for the street art here, and the intensity of street life is palpable. And this is Day 1. These three-dimensional shrines are on every block too. My eyes are spinning.
We returned to our neighborhood and found what will surely be OUR restaurant. It’s around the corner from the flat. This picture is from the internet because currently the building is covered by scaffolding. Trattoria Fedele. Home Sweet Home.
Everything made fresh. There’s another kitchen too for the pizza and pastry. We knew from the first bite that we would be back.
How excited am I about the street art? How will I choose! There’s even a whole tour of Maradona. Here is just one company offering street art tours and there are many other companies offering tours too:
Bob and Desda are on a 6 week European work/vacation journey and today was our one overlapping opportunity to hang out together and we made the most of it!
We met here, at the plaza of Santa Maria Novella. We arrived a little early giving Windy the chance for some Shopping.
Once together we all decided to visit the church first.
Doesn’t look like it from the outside but following are a few pictures of the inside. Wikipedia has pages of history.
It seems I was stuck on the apse.
Somewhere else in the church.
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The church is famous for their Dominican monks and the 800 year history of the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella. The shoppers among us were anxious to visit this beloved perfumery. It was crowded, not so much though, shoppers could still shop! The inset is from the internet, one of the several spaces in the store. Nice!
Me and Bob not shopping…
Desda shopping, Bob attending, finding HER fragrance, which sadly could not be said for Windy who did not find The One.
I was gifted with some potions rubbed into my face to make me look Young, young enough for our outing to the BAR!
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Then we ate a fun and delicious late lunch on the plaza followed by a stroll to the Duomo area, then on to our place, and then we went to the rooftop BAR, like people much younger. Here are a couple of views.
Giotto’s Bell Tower
Palazzo Vecchio
This is Bob pointing out the best tonic water Of All, and Desda showing us pictures and telling us stories of all the head honchos who were at her wonderfully over-the-top successful seminar in France the previous week.
(self-portrait)
And then it was arrivederci, buon viaggio! We went home to sleep, and the next morning we packed up and were off to the train station for our journey to Naples.
We wanted to have a walk today on the other side of the river where it’s supposed to be more calm, more locally residential, more authentic. That’s what people who favor The Other Side say anyway. The forecast was 90% for thunderstorms in the afternoon so we wanted to get out there and then back by 2, which we did. And did it rain? Not one drop.
On the way, we passed by the Duomo and I couldn’t contain myself. I see the degree of sharpness is wanting but as an excuse, these are all full-on zoom from a block away. I was enamored of all the layers.
Windy, shopping in the plaza of the Basilica di Santo Spirito.
This is the church, pretty modest by Florentine standards.
Not modest!
Representative corners. Is it quieter here? Yes it is, but still not quiet. Since there are fewer people mostly because the huge tour groups don’t find their way over, cars and motorbikes are more present, and they can, and do, zoom-zoooom along these very narrow streets.
BUT for some reason we missed the area of the Pitti Palace and that’s surely another experience altogether.
It’s the Museo del Convento di San Marco and it’s awesome. There are Fra Angelico frescos on every surface including on the walls of the cells of what was once a convent of the Dominican order. Fra Angelico and some assistants made the frescos between 1429-1444. Also there is a chapel on the site where some of the most renowned of Fra Angelico’s paintings are on display. There’s a church in the complex too but you go for the convent and the chapel.
The paintings in the chapel are mighty impressive, including The Last Judgement and a spectacular altar piece.
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We took this late afternoon to swing by the San Lorenzo Mercato Centrale for some tasty treats. There’s a big food court on the second floor and mostly groceries and and a few prepared food stands on the first floor. It’s one of those ‘everyone goes here’ places. It’s late on the 24th and I don’t remember now what else we did… maybe nothing because of the big day yesterday?
We decided ok yes we will do it, we will get on a big blue bus and ride around for 12 or 13 hours, see some countryside and smell a few towns we wouldn’t get to otherwise. The bus was comfortable, the views were good from the top floor, our nearby neighbors were fun, the tour leader was entertaining and informative. We are totally not sorry to have done it and totally are not recommending it for you as there are of course plenty of downsides to traveling around on a BIG Blue Bus.
Our first stop, Siena. We had a local guide who told us the most entertaining stories about the annual horse race that takes place right here, around that plaza above. Six months in the making, the race is over in three laps. It was a total highlight, standing right there in the center of the plaza and hearing this story. You can click on the youtube link below for a nice short documentary on the Palio, a 100s of years old historic tradition.
Copied from britannica.com: “The Palio was first held in 1482 as a civic celebration. The current course was formally established in 1659 and has been held semiannually on July 2 and on August 16 since 1701, except during wartimes. Lasting about a minute, the race consists of three turns around the Piazza del Campo, the main city square.”
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Here’s a 9 minute video from the BBC if you’re interested in more of the story of the Palio.
Here are some lingering flags from the last Palio winners still on the main roads.
After the whole horse race experience we went on to the Cathedral. The guide stayed with us for a while and then left us with free time.
The entrance and a close-up of the window that is a big white circle on the left.
I hope I generate the energy to make some pictures from the spectacular floors in that cathedral. Oh my goodness they are most amazing but I was having a problem with the glare.
LUNCH! Surprisingly Fun!!
This was the Ring Master who ran the show like a full on circus. And we all laughed and had an excellent time.
And I do want to mention his catch phrase “more wine for YOU”.
Then on to the hilltop town of San Gimignano.
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An internet picture so you can get an overview.
A view from the bottom of the town of San Gimignano before we start the slog up up up.
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For our last stop, Pisa, as in The Leaning Tower of… I like the look with other buildings for scale.
We spent 5+ hours today looking at some of the most magnificent art of the Italian Renaissance, and More. We toured through the Gallerie dell’Accademia di Firenze and the Gallerie degli Uffizi. It was so much, so very much. Our guide was wonderful, it was a special pleasure to hear her tell of the times, of art history, the whole ball of wax.
I’m going to write very little because if you’re going to come to Florence you’re going to have to look it all up anyway.
So, the Accademia = Michelangelo’s David. There were also rooms of gorgeous golden iconography from the 1200s forward.
The Uffizi is something else again, so huge and so full of pictures you’ve seen all your life. Seeing in person these objects you’ve know for so long, the size, the colors, the intent, it’s a powerful experience. For example our guide led us to the exact spot where you could look straight ahead and see Botticelli’s Spring and turn to the right, BAM, his Birth of Venus. There’s da Vinci, Caravaggio, and more and more.
Here are just a few random pictures.
Our guide talked about all the sculpture here and then led us to the front where we had all the time up-close that anyone wanted.
That’s Ponte Vecchio in the foreground, the covered bridge, from a dirty window at the Uffizi.
The Duomo complex, the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore. I made this from internet pictures because for me it was impossible to get a sense of scale from the ground.
A street scene.
At the end of this long day of walking, shuffling through the galleries, standing in front of pictures, we hopped a pedicab for the half mile drive home.
Above is one of the landmarks of Florence, the Ponte Vecchio Bridge.
The trip from Venice to Florence went easily. We packed and left our flat around 10, walked to the vaporetto stop at Piazza San Marco and rode to the train station.
It was a great ride, all the way up the Grand Canal. We took the ‘local’ instead of the ‘express’ so it would last longer. The train station was easy to navigate, had tasty snacks, and then we had a comfortable 2+ hour ride to Florence. Our accommodation is quite close to the train station so we walked on in to town. Central Florence is pretty small since it seems like everywhere we’ve wanted to go so far is 12 minutes walk away.
Our location is at Piazza di Madonna degli Aldobrandini, and if you ask for Madonna Square you can get here. This is one of the buildings in the square.
And this is the view out my bedroom window, a view to one of the sides of the Basilica di San Lorenzo.
I was a little punk this first day not feeling quite in-the-groove which I hope will improve tomorrow. Oh wait, I know, it came to me while typing this! Our flat has Problems and I was corresponding with the manager off and on all yesterday and today. I have done my best and I’m now going to call upon Stoicism and make the most of what is.
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On our first morning we did one of those free walking tours based on giving the guide what you feel is right. The guide was fabulous, the itinerary was tops.
Our Guide.
This is what it feels like when a group pulls off into a square. There are probably three groups in here. Fortunately most of the guides use headsets now as ours did, unfortunately some of them still carry around loudspeakers and blast out to world.
Our guide did his tour focusing on the family Medici. It was really good, totally worth the hassle. I think the story he told as we went from place to place will actually stay with me for a while and that’s saying something.
Below is a google map and a cut ‘n paste from the tour’s website to remind me. You’ll probably want to roll on by!
The Basilica di San Lorenzo (Basilica of St Lawrence) is one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy, situated at the centre of the city’s main market district, and the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III.
The Palazzo Medici Riccardi was designed for Cosimo de’ Medici, head of the Medici banking family, and was built between 1444 and 1484.
Battistero di San Giovanni The Florence Baptistery, also known as the Baptistery of Saint John stands in both the Piazza del Duomo and the Piazza San Giovanni, across from Florence Cathedral and the Campanile di Giotto. The Baptistery is one of the oldest buildings in the city, constructed between 1059 and 1128 in the Florentine Romanesque style.
Duomo Florence Cathedral, formally the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore is the cathedral of Florence (Italian: Duomo di Firenze). It was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to a design of Arnolfo di Cambio. The cathedral complex, in Piazza del Duomo, includes the Baptistery and Giotto’s Campanile. These three buildings are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site covering the historic centre of Florence and are a major tourist attraction of Tuscany.
Campanile di Giotto Giotto’s Campanile is adjacent to the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore and the Baptistry of St. John. This tower is one of the showpieces of Florentine Gothic architecture with its design by Giotto, its rich sculptural decorations and its polychrome marble encrustations.
Cupola del Brunelleschi This dome is one of the biggest mystery in art and architecture of every time. It was the largest in the world. It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed.
Museo Casa di Dante Dante Alighieri wrote the Divine Comedy. This book is widely considered the most important poem of the Middle Ages and the greatest literary work in the Italian language.
Piazza della Signoria is an L-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. It is the meeting place of Florentines as well as the numerous tourists, located near Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza del Duomo and gateway to Uffizi Gallery.
The Palazzo Vecchio (“Old Palace”) is the town hall of the city. This massive fortress-palace is among the most impressive town halls of Tuscany. Overlooking the square with its copy of Michelangelo’s David statue as well the gallery of statues in the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi, it is one of the most significant public places in Italy, and it hosts cultural points and museums.
The Uffizi Gallery is an art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria and it is one of the most important Italian museums and the most visited, it is also one of the largest and best known in the world and holds a collection of priceless works, particularly from the period of the Italian Renaissance. The building of Uffizi complex was begun by Giorgio Vasari in 1560 for Cosimo I de’ Medici so as to accommodate the offices of the Florentine magistrates, hence the name uffizi, “offices”.
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After the tour we went for lunch at a place recommended by one of Windy’s friends as her absolute favorite place in Florence. It was perfect in style, atmosphere, and food. It was so perfect we declared it Windy’s Birthday Lunch!
Shared Menu: fresh linguini and local in season porcini so delicious Windy pronounced it the best thing she had ever put in her mouth, a shrimp curry dish which the waiter told us was the sauce for which they were most famous, and a half-carafe of house red. The shrimp curry was ok but it came with a very large crock of chutney so delicious I ate half of it myself.
Cammillo Trattoria
Here’s one little piece of street art outside the restaurant. I’m hopeful for more!
And here’s the full view of the Ponte Vecchio Bridge from up the (crossword puzzle) Arno river.
Yesterday, the 15th, I did nothing, not one thing. And it was beautiful.
Today we had a couple of places in mind that seemed easy to get to and easy to enjoy so that’s what we did, which included two meals out. Which reminds me that although we had heard complaints, our experience with the food in Venice has been very good indeed.
The first picture is our view from the café at Ca’ Pesaro where we ate in sweet peace and quiet on a beautiful and spacious patio in big low comfortable padded chairs with views to the Grand Canal. Here’s another picture. We had a seat like that. What a joy!
Street food – fresh coconut and 5 kinds of grapes and more fabulously interesting cicchetti.
This was our first stop to look at 19th and 20th century art at Ca’Pasaro, a Baroque marble palace. This is along the side as the ‘front door’ requires you arrive via the canal.
Here’s wiki’s picture from the front.
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Some things I liked:
Awwww spss spss. That’s how they call a cat here.
Then we made our way to Museo di Palazzo Mocenigo. They were supposed to have a perfume thing happening that Windy was interested in but that part was not available. They did have a young Japanese artist who made modern and rather esoteric pieces in cloth and beads that were scattered all around this handsome Palazzo. ‘In 1985, the palazzo was designated as the Museum and Study Centre of the History of Fabrics and Costumes.’
It was Venice Glass Week and there were many specific demonstrations and exhibitions. We didn’t go to any of them but did run across this. The glass art pieces were from Hungary I think and we liked it.
A door was open and a guy was arranging rocks. Art? I asked. Yes! he replied.
To remind me of a coupl’a vaporetto ridin’ fools.
A dead-end flooded walkway. We had our first meal in a restaurant after dark. I know. Either so grown up or so youthful… In any case it was entirely delicious and worth getting home past my bedtime.
Yup, more.
This is a good place to end. That arched walkway under the clock tower will take you to our flat in about 37 flat steps and the 37 steps up the stairs. We constantly heard the clock chime the hour and it was nice. Those two characters on the top actually hit the bell to make the unique sound. And you can also see here the winged lion, symbol of Venice. Once you start to notice, you see them everywhere.
So this is it, we’re off to sleep and then it’ll be arrivederci Venice, caio Florence!
The top picture is from the Peggy Guggenheim Museum and Angelenos will recognize the sculpture from the Getty Center, both cast from the same mold. Windy had to play gate keeper and the woman agreed to cooperate so I could have this photo. I might mention the crowds a few dozen more times…
A visit to the Guggenheim was worth the trip to Venice, that’s how cool it is.
This was a museum worker standing by the window and when I asked could I please, and of course no pressure At All, but could I please have a picture of you with this picture… Sure!
Who doesn’t like a Picasso they’ve never seen before hung behind a Calder they’ve never seen before?
Glass sculpture in a glass town.
A retrospective of Edmondo Bacci’s work ‘primarily on the 1950s, the most lyrical and creative period of the artist’s career.’
I didn’t take any pictures in the exhibit except the one below. You can look him up here in the Guggenheim website.
From the garden.
Polished stone produced this upside down image.
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It was a Big Deal Day, two out of the three being absolute highlights.
I’ll tell about the least of them next, the Accademia (Gallerie dell’Accademia). We called it the Museum of Suffering Humanity. The art is mostly pre-1800s religious paintings by all the big names – Titian, Bellini, Tintoretto, even a couple Bosch who is always happy to stick a few forks in your eye.
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Getting around and having some food before we hit the big one, The Basilica of San Marco/St Mark’s Cathedral for a guided tour.
Sights along the Grand Canal.
Flags of the EU, Italy, and Venice.
Gondolas are only for the tourists. Our guide said, ‘only for You’. Even the taxis (the power boats you see on the canal) are for tourists. Local people ride the vaporetto or walk.
What tourists do when they’ve escaped the raging river of tourists.
FOOD. This is where we stopped for a morning break, coffee and a yummy omelet we shared and a sample cicchetti.
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Now for the Basilica! Not my picture of the inside and not my picture of the outside either. Here you can actually see the scene without the wall of people and major construction projects to block the view.
Now come my pictures. Even in the pictures it’s pretty eye-popping so you can just imagine IRL.
Our Guide.
And to end our day on the long awaited panna cotta that was indeed heavenly.
We made our way over to an upscale shopping block called T Fondaco dei Tedeschi where, if you made a reservation weeks in advance, you could spend 15 minutes on their roof. We did, and it was great and more than worth its cost of nothing!
Above is the magnificent Basilica of San Marco/St Mark’s Cathedral and below their promotional photo and Windy’s picture.
This was the day I ate PIZZA and played hide and seek with a little kid who wanted to get under the table and Windy visited with a couple from Texas who were sitting next to us.
On our way to the views… snaps from the vaporetto.
Weird coloring between these two pictures. Both of them off.
From there, very near the Rialto Bridge, we wandered our way to the vaporetto stop that would take us to Murano, the great glass making center of Venice.
What used to be all glass warehouses and factories.
It was crushingly hot and I decided to call it, and enjoyed a liter of water and a side of veg, not really hungry because of the PIZZA. I shared the patio/restaurant with the pigeons. Windy went on to the museum which she reported was very interesting.
Everyone was hot, some of us got a fan!
We happened to luck into a great demonstration.
One of the rare times we got a seat outside.
Usually all the seats are taken and we stand outside in the open middle because the breeze is so nice.
Venice is made for walking but after hour after hour, I reached my walking limit. Hey, let’s do what everyone else does and ride the vaporetto. We are now vaporetto-ridin’ fools!
Below are maps of 2 of the many lines. It’s not particularly fast and it’s not particularly comfortable but they surely save you some steps!
You can see one here.
Our first destination was the Rialto Bridge and on the way we ran into the morning commercial tasks such as restocking and sanitation.
And gathering up the tourists.
Ah, yes, just like the pictures…
..and offers the classic Venice view of and from the Rialto Bridge.
Some sites on the way to the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari.
We weren’t much taken with the Basilica except they did have a couple of Titian’s works. We didn’t stay long but rather moved along to LUNCH.
We asked the woman who picked us up at the airport what was her favorite restaurant. And we went there! It was pretty good, a nice homey place specializing in fish. I got sardines and onions. YUM.
This picture reminded me of lunch…
We came back to Piazza San Marco for our visit to The Doge’s Palace and the Bridge of Sighs. I thought the displays were very well done and I came out of it with a feeling for the era of the Doge. Now is a good time I think to read the wikipedia article.
This is inside the palace walls.
Gobsmacked.
Room..
..after room of this.
You have to go through the whole HUGE palace and then you can walk across The Bride of Sighs and into the jails. This is the Bridge of Sighs from outside.
In the square, I forget right now where it leads.
We staggered our way home and made a tasty and well-balanced meal out of scraps in the refrigerator.
Plusses and Minuses. We live right off Piazza San Marco, it’s down a small street that is always packed, and then it’s a quick turn into a dark narrow alley between buildings large enough for one person to walk, and we’ve never seen another person there, which enters into a small courtyard where we find the hidden door to our flat. We rarely hear street noise but walk for 10 seconds and BAM you are in the river of people with no choice but to sidle yourself into that river.
We enjoyed the Correr Museum today and with the entrance you also have access to the Archeological Museum and the Marciana National Library. These three museums face St. Mark Square and are connected to each other. We spent a couple hours in the morning, had some lunch at the Museum Café so we could go back in and finish looking around. With the inexpensive Museum Pass you can go to all the civic museums anytime you want, skip the line, but only once.
It’s not one of the most popular museums, for 5 seconds we even had the whole ballroom to ourselves, but it is very well regarded.
The rest of these pictures are not in a particular order from the three museums, they’re just things I happen to like, like globes! These things were amazing, and featured in several of the rooms showing what the world was like in that particular era, this being two of them.
The one on the left was a huge painting with about 15 major characters and all of a sudden that little guy on the upper right poked my eye with a stick. The cards are a very old tarot deck, tarot having first been known in Italy in the 1400s.
The old and the new.
You can see these figures from the back and from the front reflected in the mirror. I forget their story but they are quite lovely.
Following are some pictures from a walk to the market, and the end of our first day in Venice.
After a long loong time, and one does lose track of time when traveling long distances, we made it, Venice, Italy. Just like the movies.
Our flight wasn’t until 5pm on the 9th, which means being up all day fussing around, feeling very civilized. From getting dropped off at the airport (thanks Lucas) to sitting at the gate in LAX = 7 (SEVEN) minutes. We had boarding passes, TSA-Pre, and no luggage to check. We never stopped walking! And the BA flight LAX-Heathrow was surprisingly Just Fine. The connection in Heathrow was less delightful, we were a little tired for lines, and by then we’d been awake for so long, all through our ‘night’, then we had to look forward to a 5 hour layover, a 3 hour flight, and a water taxi transfer into town.
In the Venice International Airport (called Marco Polo, I always say it twice), the below is a picture of the floor outside the ladies room.
We pre-booked the transfer from the airport to town. We got a water taxi, known in Venice as a taxi, and the ride was our first highlight of the trip. The woman picked us at the gate and escorted us to the docks where our boat and driver were waiting. They were charming, helpful, and informative.
Here come some more pictures of the ride.
By now it’s 11pm and the band in Piazza San Marco plays on!
We hauled our bags up those many steep and narrow stairs (that’s Windy at the tippy-top)… It feels like mountain climbing… Who put those bricks in my backpack?
The view from one of our bedroom windows. Today, the 10th was Windy’s birthday although we didn’t do much of a celebratory nature since we spent the whole time getting from one place to another. We will have to declare some other day her birthday!
The one thing I will remember most about this adventure is how cute those boys were. They were so optimistic, it was adorable. Really, we were driving around in CIRCLES for an HOUR and every time we’d make a choice one or the other of them would say ‘I’ve got a good feeling about this’ or ‘Yup, this is the one’ or ‘I’m sure we’re going in the right direction anyway’.
That made the whole adventure fun, for me…not so much for the girls…
There was also a town up above the lake where they were having a small festival that weekend in honor of volunteer service.
I read that the town and all the finest villas were built on high ground because until the twentieth century and its eradication, the area was “notoriously unhealthy for its malaria”.
You could go in only with a tour and the tour was entirely in Italian but there were signs in English that, from the length of time the guide spoke and where she pointed, I think about covered it.
Today I stood at the bus stop for one hour intending to go to the place where you can get the tour to go to the Catacombs. It was not to be. I gave up once there was no longer shade to stand in.
So then I went to the train station, where there is a schedule, and decided to take a nice air-conditioned ride…
Back in the city, a couple more examples of the buildings around Rome. They all have names, and long histories, and endless stories that I don’t remember.
Another view from my balcony, looking down to another cat refuge. It’s true. This huge plot was set aside by the city of Rome for cats to live.
It has a high fence around it, to keep out dogs I’d suppose since as we all know the cats will go where they please, and Cat Ladies come every day to feed them, pet them, and clean up poop.
One of the courtyards in the Vatican museums, of which there are many.
Bearing in mind that the fabulously wealthy Vatican has been Rich and Powerful and ‘collecting’ treasure for centuries, it is no surprise that the museums just go on and on and on.
We were awed by the tapestry collection – soo many gigantic pieces of the most amazing detail. How do they DO that? You have to start at one end and work your way up or down and across, however they do it, it’s amazing.
This is a very long corridor connecting something to something else on the way to the Sistine Chapel. Once you get into the moving from one room to another you really don’t know where you are.
People! People Everywhere, shoulder to shoulder, with a large security staff standing slightly above the churning crowd yelling ‘NO PHOTOS‘ and shushing Constantly in a very loud voice ‘SHHHHSSH! SHHHHSSH!!’
There were also a lot of paintings on the walls and ceiling.
After taking in all we could manage of the museums we went out for lunch. The food has been overall very good. I actually haven’t had anything I wouldn’t happily eat again.
“St. Peter’s Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world, holding 60,000 people. It is regarded as one of the holiest Christian sites. It has been described as “holding a unique position in the Christian world” and as “the greatest of all churches of Christendom”.
“There has been a church on this site since the 4th century. Construction of the present basilica, over the old Constantinian basilica, began on April 18, 1506 and was completed on November 18, 1626.”
Now it’s June 4 and I had a big day planned but then I decided, nope, I’m not up for a big day, I’m just going to do a little strolling around.
He watches over the Campo dei Fiori, where every morning there is an active farmer’s market and every evening a lively cafe scene.
“Here, on 17 February 1600, the philosopher Giordano Bruno was burnt alive by the Roman Inquisition because his ideas (such as heliocentrism) were deemed dangerous and all of his work was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books by the Holy Office.
“In 1887 Ettore Ferrari dedicated a monument to him on the exact spot of his death: he stands defiantly facing the Vatican, reinterpreted in the first days of a reunited Italy as a martyr to freedom of speech.”
“Largo di Torre Argentina is a square that hosts four Republican Roman temples, and the remains of Pompey’s Theater. It is located in the ancient Campus Martius.”
This is also the home of the Toree Argentina Cat Sanctuary.
I took a little electric tram up to the Villa Borghese today, the only public transportation vehicle that can make it through the smallest streets.
It goes slowly and stops a lot so I got some pictures out the window. This is the back of the Pantheon and a Bernini obelisk celebrating some victory or another.
“Piazza Colonna is a piazza at the center of the Rione of Colonna in the historic heart of Rome. It is named for the marble Column of Marcus Aurelius which has stood there since 193 CE. The bronze statue of Saint Paul that crowns the column was placed in 1589, by order of Pope Sixtus V. …
“The piazza has been a monumental open space since Antiquity; the temple of Marcus Aurelius stood here.”
You see this everywhere, people filling their water bottle from a public fountain. You even see people sticking their heads down and drinking directly from the stream of water.
Gene said that all the water in Rome comes from springs, is the best water in the world, and you should feel free to drink any water that comes your way. Seems so many others agree.
At the huge public park that surrounds the Villa Borghese we find the historic Pines of Rome, inspiration for the first section of the 1924 symphonic poems by Respighi.
Speaking of Scipione Borghese and his Villa, “his education was paid for by his maternal uncle Camillo Borghese. Upon Camillo’s election to the papacy as Pope Paul V in 1605, he quickly conferred a cardinalship on Scipione and gave him the right to use the Borghese name and coat of arms.
“In the classic pattern of papal nepotism, Cardinal Borghese wielded enormous power as the Pope’s secretary and effective head of the Vatican government. On his own and the Pope’s behalf he amassed an enormous fortune through papal fees and taxes, and acquired vast land holdings for the Borghese family” and an enormous and idiosyncratic art collection.
They actually make you check in everything, you can carry nothing, when visiting inside the Villa Borghese so no chance to sneak a shot. I couldn’t even find any particularly good ones to steal off the internet.
It was a gorgeous and memorable experience: the statues, the frescos, the paintings, the pure opulence of owning so much art.
Looking down from Pincio to the Piazza del Popolo. Now I am going to walk down there!
The Piazza lies inside the northern gate in the Aurelian Walls, once the Porta Flaminia of ancient Rome, the starting point of the Via Flaminia, the road to Ariminum and the most important route to the north.
Gene said that it was rather recently that this whole area was a car park and now it looks so grand.
In the Piazza del Popolo across from the entrance gate from the Via Flaminia. It was through that gate that Martin Luther arrived in Rome and first came face to face with these two churches.
Two churches. He was so appalled by the extravagance that he decided on the Reformation right then and there – or so Gene told me.
It’s June 2 now and I’m meeting up with Shira! Wow!
Today is Republic Day in Italy, “the day commemorates the institutional referendum held by universal suffrage in 1946, in which the Italian people were called to the polls to decide on the form of government, following the Second World War and the fall of Fascism. With 12,717,923 votes for a republic and 10,719,284 for the monarchy, the male descendants of the House of Savoy were sent into exile.
“To commemorate it, a grand military parade is held in central Rome, presided by the President of the Republic in the role of Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.”
So instead we met at a counter-commemoration put on by 30 or so groups including one in which Gene is a major participant. The event was very lightly attended…
The Bone Church! Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini. Those poeple are waiting to get into the crypt.
“The pope’s brother, Cardinal Antonio Barberini, who was of the Capuchin order, in 1631 ordered the remains of thousands of Capuchin friars exhumed and transferred from the friary Via dei Lucchesi to the crypt.
“The crypt, or ossuary, now contains the remains of 4,000 friars buried between 1500-1870. … The crypt walls are decorated with the remains in elaborate fashion, making this crypt a macabre work of art. Some of the skeletons are intact and draped with Franciscan habits, but for the most part, individual bones are used to create elaborate ornamental designs. …
“A plaque in one of the chapels reads, in three languages, “What you are now, we once were; what we are now, you shall be.” This is a memento mori.”
The big military parade ended here today, where I caught a bus, came home and put my feet UP.
Here’s some of what Ms Wiki has to say about this monument:
“The Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II (National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II) or Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland) or “Il Vittoriano” is a monument to honour Victor Emmanuel, the first king of a unified Italy … The monument was designed by Giuseppe Sacconi in 1885; … inaugurated in 1911 and completed in 1935.
“The monument was controversial since its construction destroyed a large area of the Capitoline Hill with a Medieval neighbourhood for its sake. The monument itself is often regarded as pompous and too large. It is clearly visible to most of the city of Rome despite being boxy in general shape and lacking a dome or a tower. The monument is also glaringly white, making it highly conspicuous amidst the generally brownish buildings surrounding it, and its stacked, crowded nature has lent it several derogatory nicknames. Romans sometimes refer to the structure by a variety of irreverent slang expressions, such as “Zuppa Inglese”, “the wedding cake”, and “the false teeth”, while Americans invading Rome in 1944 labeled it “the typewriter”, a nickname also adopted by the locals. Despite all this criticism, the monument still attracts a large number of visitors.”
As a visitor you can’t miss visiting it. It’s HUGE, and right in the middle of everything, and soo white.
Today’s destination: Trastevere and Janiculum. He’s waiting there by the entrance to the neighborhood considered both blue-collar and trendy-hip, what usually happens as the first step to gentrification.
This one is Santa Maria della Scalla. Check out those lighting fixtures around the arch. No matter how many of these fantastico churches I see each one has offered some amazing surprise.
Here’s the landmark of the area, Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere.
The first date of construction was the 340s AD but there was also a lot of knocking down and rebuilding. Now it is most famous for its mosaics including the set along the facade, behind the statues.
One of the many bridges crossing the river and a good example of the handsome trees that overhang the walking path on either side providing oh such welcome shade for the long walk home.
Saint Peter’s Square in anticipation of The Pope’s Sunday address.
It’s Sunday and at exactly 12:00 noon for exactly 15 minutes The Pope appears at a window in the Vatican and speaks to the throngs gathered at Saint Peter’s. Since I’m staying right around the corner I could not not go. I had to go.
I got a good spot in the shade with a railing to lean on so I just stayed here. Take note of the tallest building, the top floor, the second window from the right.
The crowds were large but the place wasn’t packed by any means. You can see the signs groups were carrying trying to get The Pope’s attention. Hello! Hellooo!!
