Tag: #italy

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verona – a gentleman visits

Verona is very crowded with tourist but there are also some uncrowded places you can go which I was fortunate enough to enjoy with my friends from Verona and Guarda.

The arena is used often for opera and other events. It’s one of the older buildings in the city, more than 1500 years old.
At 6:30 in the morning when we arrived
We did not go up to the tower when the bells were ringing. It’s such a beautiful view from up here
I didn’t check this history out but it looks like a place where some bad people were hanging around
This is one of the palaces which is now a very interesting museum
Just imagine the people who painted the ceilings, lying on their back and getting perspective
I took this photo because this supposed kid looks like he’s 40 years old
It’s important to know the history of this guy. He not only influenced the Christian concepts of suffering, redemption and hell but he also standardized the Italian language.
This is Dante in Stone
From google map description: “The Arche Scaligere, located in Verona, are a monumental funerary complex in Gothic style of the Scaliger family intended to contain the arches (tombs) of the most illustrious representatives of the family.
The tombs are enclosed by a wrought iron enclosure in which the pattern of the staircase, a symbol of the house, is used, while the sarcophagi are located on the ground or on raised floors.
The arches are:
the ark of Cangrande I Della Scala
the ark of Mastin II
the sarcophagus of Albert I
the hanging ark of Giovanni della Scala
this is such a beautiful shop front for sausage, salami, olive oil and other necessities of Italian life.
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verona – romeo and Juliet

so I think you understand the story of Romeo and Juliet. But now you are going to hear the rest of the story. This famous building, I have not conclusively determined, may or may not have been the building Shakespeare went to in describing his play. What I hear from local people is that Julia was a real person but lived in a different house in another part of town which is now a shop. But this is a nice tourist attraction where everyone is supposed to go to the bronze statue of Juliet and touch her boob. So you can go visit a house that Shakespeare may or may not have visited to try to experience a story that may or may not have happened. But the building ownership records are clear. Go to Verona and dig more for the rest of the story.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet

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Lake Garda with friends

I ordered the an unorderable, chocolate ice cream with lemon ice cream. Everyone cringed and laughed. I originally thought it was a crazy combination but it was actually a very nice derivation of my favorite orange sherbet and chocolate together.
There are a lot of campers at this lake. Some pay a whole year rent for the camping spot just so they can come here during the season. They might pay €5,000 for the whole year.
Nice snacks with friends and pirlo, a local drink of white wine and Campari
Having a light white wine with a little snack before the pre-dinner, snacks
Kids theater
It was very windy and not a good day to be on the lake.
A local wine
Aldo Fabrizi
Alberto Sordi
Totò
Alberto Sordi
Local olive oil
Part of our lunch
Homemade spaghetti with a nice sauce
This was a church related gathering Place
Pirlo. Very refreshing.
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Brescia-near Lake Garda

This is a nice small town. Where are you can stay if lake Garda is too expensive for your taste. It’s a short train ride from the lake and also not too far from Verona.

What time did you say it is?
This is an amazing clock based on the 24 hour dial but most of it I could not figure out.
This is the Duomo, the main cathedral, built in the middle ages and keeping its style. It is not the largest cathedral in the city, but it is one of the most interesting Duomo I’ve ever seen.
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Egypt in Torino

The Egyptian Museum in Torino is very interesting. I recommend visiting if you are in town.

If you were important you could take all kinds of animals with you to the next world. Problem was they had to be killed to accompany you.

A famous counsel. He had a very elaborate coffin
Inscriptions inside had a purpose. Need to study more.
the left end of the bed had the headrest, similar to those used by the upper crust of old Japanese society.
a far cry from the last room of the museum
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Torino (Turin)

Torino is known for the rename of a Ford model “Grand Torino” (Clint Eastwood movie as well), but also for the Shroud of Turin. It is a city of big, long buildings laid out in a very orderly fashion according to some grand plan, not like a city built around a medieval castle or town. What it does have is a nice collection of Egyptian artifacts you will see in another phlog and cheap, tasty pizza, at Mister Pizza, 6 Euro or slightly more. The name sounds like a franchise but this is a nice, family run parlor with surprisingly nice/spicy flavors.

I think they are Sicilians, maybe from Trapani
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Entering Italy, finally

with nice buffalo in the middle. We also had ravioletti ricotta

Jumping ahead on the posts to where we are today. A great relaxed feeling stepping off the train from Switzerland, finally on Italy. I just feel so “at home” here; the people, the food, the noise, the excitement and the beauty.

our restaurant recommended for the best pizza
coffee on our balcony
our water fountain
very old buildings
the municipal theater
a nice building
the local church dedicated to a miracle, it snowed near Rome one year
Each kid had their own pizza while we were full splitting one
our apartment upstairs
of course you go to a Gelateria for gelato
When “telecommunications” was new
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Churches – Modena and Bologna

Modena il duomo. What you find in front of most of the main cathedrals in each city is a large public square or piazza. People will gather just for fun, have a Vance and around the piazza there are many places to go shopping
Of course you nowadays have to have a Twitter link
Inside Modena il duomo. Notice the brick type construction that is very typical of the 13th century construction. Not much marble used here
It would be interesting to spend enough time here to be able to listen to the choir music they have presented in this cathedral
Modena cathedral
Cathedral in Italian is il duomo or cattredale. This one in Modena as you can see is mostly marble. Evidently the most prized marble from the north of Italy is white so Leonardo da Vinci used the white marble from northern Italian mountains to create many of his sculptures.
Bologna main cathedral is called Cattedrale Metropolitana di San Pietro
Main Cathedral in Bologna
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Bologna – An Old, Literary, Italian Town

This is not the best view of the Neptune statue but I like it because of the young girls standing next to it
This is a better view especially with the Italian flag on the left
In 1926 Maserati decided to use the Neptune Trident from the statue for a specific car logo and then later decided to use it as the corporate Mark. Of course the noble family of Maserati is from the Bologna area
Council entrance
The counselors, or consigliere entered the city office on their horses. So these steps are made for their mounted entrance. You might be able to see some little pins in front of the next step up. These were to hold the lines that held the red carpet down.
The council chambers. We entered when they were being used for a discussion with some of the residents and one of the counselors
The children also came to study their city history
The counselors desks are many hundred years old
They slid toward the counselor to uncover a place for the pen and ink. Now, of course, they hide electric outlets and wired communication links.
some big shot
Beauty everywhere!
A room name was changed
An old Hercules statue
City council building
Basilica di San Petronio was purposely done with marble below and brick on top. A lot of the marble came from southern Italy, in the mountainous areas so marble was expensive and had to travel north past the pope. It seems the Saint Peter group who built this church went out of favor with the Vatican and they stopped funding the church. The supporters decided to finish it but in a much cheaper and locally produced fashion.
Le due Torri: Garisenda e degli Asinelli (2 towers) were used for religious purposes. One of the two Towers was used for calling religious students and the other one was used for public bell ringing to call people to service. They both lean.
All of the towers in Bologna are leaning, as they are in Pisa. So you don’t need to go to Pisa to see leaning Towers if you have already been to Bologna. But the one in Pisa Might show more prevalence of the lean.
Ordinary city life in the Local shopping area
Heaven shows its face
The bread to go with this was under the tray with the meat. This is my heaven.
This is in the entrance to the University of Bologna which is the oldest university in the world. As you can see, the slogan is translated from Latin roughly as Bologna is the mother of study. Sorry, my Latin is very rusty. But you can see the Latin name for a Bologna is Bononia.
He was the founder of the University in Bologna and focused studies primarily on Law and Justice. Later the university divided into two disciplines and also two entrances. The second one was the study of science and especially anatomy. Here is a link to Irnervis…. http://www.hetwebsite.net/het/profiles/irnerius.htm
Puccini‘s unfinished opera. We only stayed for two Acts. Our stay was also unfinished, in tribute to Puccini.
Practice your Italian
Must be strange watching from the 5th floor.
Of course you know this is the ceiling. Going back to the opera, The interesting thing about this presentation was there was a big screen in the background that showed some very supernatural and esoteric videos while the opera was going on and also showing some futuristic costumes and scenery. It was a little strange and the story was hard to follow since the costuming and backgrounds did not really represent what the story was all about. It was more of a interesting multi disciplined demonstration to entice young people to the opera house. There was a screen above the stage which showed the Italian singing and the English translation. That was very helpful. I have been to two operas now in Italy and they both have been very interesting experiences. If you go to Italy I would suggest never shying away from going to the opera because you think you may not understand what it’s all about. Whatever they do it is interesting and enjoyable despite the language difference.
And, of course, another meal. Chicken salad, squid and Tortellini Bolognese
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Sforza Castle (Milano) – allies of Medici, fought against France, lost much of the castle to WWII bombing.

A good defense against the French. Sfortz were the power in Milano
Rescued from The bombing
One of the original spires