Tag Archives: Italy
Sant’ Apollinare in Classe: giddy with Byzantine mosaics and too much bread
A few years ago I was browsing for cheap airfares (okay, so I do that everyday) when I found a remarkably cheap flight into Northern Italy. People, these tickets were under $400, in late May!!! Obviously I snapped up the tickets in a hot second. Almost as quickly, I drafted an itinerary since I already knew where I […]
Collegio del Cambio: Perugino’s fashionable frescoes in Perugia
It was a great plan, in theory. We’d get up early in Arezzo, take a train to Perugia, stop in Perugia for a few hours to view Perugino’s frescoes and then continue by bus to Gubbio. Here’s what happened: we took a train from Arezzo to Perugia, stopped in Perugia for a few hours, and […]
Ostuni, the other windy city
Italians call it La Citta Bianca–The White City. I call it L‘altra Città Ventosa–The Other Windy City. Ostuni (the official name of this white and windy city) is remarkably picturesque from a distance. We approached by train though silvery rows of olive trees towards a small mountain of whitewashed buildings. After the friendly owner of our B&B picked us […]
Mosaics in the Cathedral of Monreale
We’ve already established that I suck at history, and while we’re on the topic of embarrassing self-disclosures, I confess I didn’t realize until recently that Normans were French. Here’s what I do know about Normans (other than that they all seem to have been named William): they built some gorgeous Romanesque buildings. In Sicily, once […]
Pienza: all Renaissance towns should have a bird that talks like a refrigerator
During a fascinating period of the Italian Renaissance, humanist scholars and architects set out to create the ideal city. Surprisingly, one of these urban planners was a pope–Pope Pious II. Pius II (formerly known as Enea Silvio Piccolomini) transformed his home town, Cosignano, into a miniature urban Renaissance Utopia. He hired the architect Rossellino to […]
In which St. Francis preaches to the birds, tames a wolf and jumps the shark
What saint could be more endearing than St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals? St. Francis (1182 – 1226) grew up as a rich, fashionable boy in Assisi, but a religious epiphany turned him from a dandy to a monk. He “married” poverty, founded the Franciscan order of friars, and was a hugely influential […]
How to get your coffee fix while travelling on a budget
My routine is the same every morning: I get out of bed, trip on my cat, and make a single espresso in my stove-top moka pot. It’s a safe bet that you, my reader, have a similar caffeine routine (though maybe not a 19 pound cat circling your feet). So how do you satisfy your coffee […]
Giotto’s Scrovengni chapel: betrayal, revenge and dorky camels
It’s a devastating moment in the life of Joachim, a pious and generous man. He wants most of all to give to the poor and sacrifice to the Lord, but the rabbi rudely rejects him. As Joachim and his wife Anna are growing old but still childless, the rabbi declares they are cursed by God and unwelcome […]
Built to oppress: fascist architecture in Italy
While wandering about Naples, we took a detour from munching street food and dodging vespas to oggle fascist architecture. HOB and I groaned and giggled at the aggressively symmetrical fascist post office and then decided to go in–why not? We really did need stamps. On entry a machine instructed us to take a number. We […]
Picnic at the Cathedral 