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A look inside the Arena of Verona

8 hours in Bologna

Basilica of San Petronio and Piazza Maggiore

Eataly Milan

    Eataly Milan Smeraldo

Casa di Giulietta (Juliet's House)

    Balcony

Varenna and Lake Como

Like a breeze  Or sunbeam over your domain I passed In motion without pause But ye have left your beauty with me A serene accord of forms and colors Passive yet endowed In their submissiveness with power as sweet And gracious, almost I dare to say  As virtue is, or goodness; sweet as love William Wordworth, Excerpt from The Prelude, Lake of Como     Lake Como

Upcoming Posts

Been traveling in Europe these last few weeks and will be posting soon about my journey to the Netherlands, Croatia and Italy. It's been cold except in Dubrovnik where the temperature hovered around 18°C. Here are some images of the places I visited.     The Markthal in Rotterdam is the queen of all markets

Rome Essentials

Eats  Near Santa Maria Maggiore Tempio di Mecenate Ristorante/Pizzeria Largo Leopardi, 14/18 (Via Merulana) www.tempiodimecenate.it This restaurant is always full of diners. There's usually a line in front of the outdoor dining room. The food is quite good and the bill for three with wine and bottled water adds up to €52.  Panella Via Merulana This is a bakery and restaurant in one. They have a buffet table for a fixed price. Outdoor seating. Attracts a young crowd. Cute animal shaped breads at Panella Near the Pantheon Capranica Enoteca and Taverna Piazza Capranica 99/100 www.enotecacapranica.it/en Bar at Capranica This is a beautiful taverna inside the Palazzo Capranica, a renaissance era palace.  The bar, in warm tones of brown, is the backdrop of this elegant dining room. I had their salmon with risotto and zucchini. Across from the Colosseo  Oppio Caffè Via delle Terme di Tito, 72 Colosseo, Roma www.oppioc

The Ecstasy of St. Teresa of Ávila

The emergence of Baroque art in the 17 th c (1600 – 1700) was driven in part by the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Church responded to the Reformation movement by propagating Baroque art with its flamboyance and theatricality, in order to engage the faithful through religious art and architecture and bring back erring believers to the Church. The Cornaro Chapel is inside the Church of Santa Maria della Vittora in Rome. Here is Baroque art at its finest. St. Teresa of Ávila, a nun from the 16 th century, is seen with an angel who has pierced her heart. Rays of light emanate from the heavens to illuminate the scene. On the side walls of the altar are theatre boxes where spectators (modeled by the Cornaro family) are watching the scene unfolding in front of them. St. Teresa is experiencing an intense spiritual vision that leaves her “utterly consumed by the great love of God”. Here is St. Teresa’s account of her vision: “ It was our Lord's will that in th

Random Rome

I spied this courtyard filled with antique statues on my way to Santa Susanna. It would have been lovely to take Venus or one of the busts home with me to adorn my ho-hum garden. How many interesting conversations it would have started! But I console myself that I didn't have to pay extra for excess baggage. These two turbaned gentlemen in orange robes sit here all day in perfect balance across from the Pantheon. One man holds the stick on which the second sits in mid air. Total concentration and control are needed to maintain this stance. Most importantly, how can they keep cool in the scorching summer heat? They must be thinking about winter! Yes, it's a pedal car but not for a child. I wonder if all the knock off bags and scarves hanging from the rack will be packed away in the back of this motorized tricycle? A smart car indeed! A piece of wall, a reminder of Rome's storied past, preserved in the center of the city and just down the stre

The Many Faces of the Colosseum

In mid afternoon, the Colosseum is tinged in chalky white. At sunset, the Colosseum is baked in shades of sienna.  The exposed inner rim was pockmarked by medieval robbers in search of iron clamps.   My favorite view of the Colosseum is from the Via Sacra where ancient columns provide a linear frame to the elliptical curve of the Colosseum's walls. Past events in this ancient amphitheater are put to bed in the dark shadows of night. If only walls could talk, what a fright they would tell! An excerpt from Lord Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto the Fourth, (1818): A Ruin — yet what Ruin! from its mass Walls — palaces — half-cities, have been reared; Yet oft the enormous skeleton ye pass, And marvel where the spoil could have appeared. Hath it indeed been plundered, or but cleared? Alas! developed, opens the decay, When the colossal fabric's form is neared: It will not bear the brightness of the day, Which streams to

Florence

Mercato di San Lorenzo Thank goodness for long days of summer. We made the most of our 24-hour visit to Firenze. After a nice lunch at Trattoria Dante (which is big on ambiance), we took the bus to San Lorenzo where we browsed the outdoor stalls for decent bargains to take home as presents for family and friends. My cousin was particularly interested in finding a good leather jacket. We arrived at the market just before their fold-up time of 7 p.m. and the bargaining was intense. In the end, I bought four lacy scarves, left the leather bags alone and walked happily away. My cousin found the jacket he wanted the following day. Shopping done, we strolled to the Duomo and Baptistery of San Giovanni for art history lessons. My favorite Florentine story is about the competition for the crafting of the bronze doors of the Baptistery. Both Ghiberti and Brunelleschi submitted their quatrefoil panels of the Sacrifice of Isaac. Ghiberti won and was awarded the commission to sculpt the

Venice - A Feast for the Eyes

One too many gondolas on a narrow canal spells traffic. This is the scene during the busy summer months. Trying to find a quiet corner can be challenging.  "But come back in November or December, February or March, when the fog, la nebbia, settles upon the city like a marvelous monster, and you will have little trouble believing that things can appear and disappear in this labyrinthine city, or that time here could easily slip in its sprockets and take you, willingly or unwillingly, back."  Erica Jong, A City of Love and Death: Venice Love is in the air. We congratulated the bride and groom of this wedding party whom we saw cruising the Venetian canals. On our way to Dorsoduro, we discovered these love locks on the Ponte dell'Accademia. Yes, love may be eternal but the lock is only good till it rusts. Good luck with that! Speaking of love, every year during the Festa della Sensa (Feast of the Ascension), Venice renews its wedding vows with the sea. These are the w

Milan - Taking a Second Look

The Duomo of Milan boasts over 2000 statues of saints and one of Napoleon, ( I read this in my Eyewitness Top 10 Italian Lakes guide book) adorning its façade as well as innumerable reliefs. In a rush to enter the church, I had not spent any time until recently to discover the beautiful carvings and the stories they tell. Sunday at the Piazza del Duomo is always a good day to see the children feed and chase the pigeons. On this particularly warm day, the crowd was out in full force and trying to get a gelato meant waiting in a very long line. I took shelter in the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuele II where I found a flash mob dancing to the tune, YMCA, by the Village People. It was fun to watch them try to go through the trademark motions of the famous group of the 70s. It made me smile. The iconic glass dome of the Galleria is quite famous as are the tony shops like Vuitton and Prada that rent space here. But there are other interesting things to check out

Highlights of My Italian Summer

The Duomo, Milan In the next few weeks I'll be writing in detail about my trip to Italy this June. For the moment, I'd like to share some highlights of our visit to this country that calls you, like a siren, to come back for more. It took more than four centuries to complete the construction of Milan's Duomo. Napoleon Bonaparte demanded it be ready for his coronation as King of Italy. This photo was taken on a Sunday, sunny day and family day. A short train ride from Milan to Lake Como and a total change of pace. Far from the madding crowd, Lake Como is naturally beautiful and peaceful in late spring. It might be quite a different scene in summer.  Bellagio, Lake Como We made a pilgrimage to Padua in the Veneto region to pray at the tomb of St. Anthony. The feast of St. Anthony is on June 13 and we we were lucky to have participated in one of the masses during the 13-day long festivities. Basilica del Santo, Padua Venice is such a fragile p