When you write about Italy, you are usually dealing with superlatives. Oldest this, tiniest that. As I was doing research on the squares (piazze) of Italy for my #30dayphotochallenge project, I came across a photo I had taken while in Prato della Valle in Padua. I didn’t have to delve…
With so many ancient structures in need of constant upkeep, Italy is no stranger to scaffolding. Venice’s St. Mark’s Basilica, in particular, is known for constantly being under repair.
It’s the conundrum that many travelers to Venice face: how to be a tourist but avoid other tourists.
If you’re in Venice for the Biennale, consider stopping by Fondazione Prada’s “Portable Classic” exhibit, which features mini models of famous Italian sculptures, including the Farnese Hercules and the Laocoön. Source: Prada Exhibit Showcases Miniature Reproductions of Classical Sculptures : Architectural Digest
Veronese Green is named after Verona-born painter Paolo Caliari, also known as Veronese. I used the color to guide me on my travels in Venice.
About half an hour by train from Venice and even closer to Padua is Hotel Millepini Terme, a spa hotel that has the Guinness World Record for the world’s deepest thermal pool. The Y-40 The Deep Joy is 137-feet deep (40 meters) at its deepest, with four underwater grottos along the way.…
The exhibit “Leonardo da Vinci, The Universal Man” will be at Venice’s Accademia, which owns 30 Leonardo works. It will bring together 27 other Leonardo masterpieces from various European museums such as the Uffizi, the National Gallery of Parma, the British Museum, and the Louvre. The iconic “Vetruvian Man” will…
It has been said (too many times) that all roads lead to Rome. But did you know that you could trace botanical medicine and even the environmental movement to 16th century Italy? It was here in the city of Pisa (1544) then Padua (1545) that the world’s first botanical gardens…
The footsteps behind us were worrisome. With each step that landed on the worn, slightly slick cobblestones, an equal but louder pair of footsteps resonated behind my husband and me as we tried to find our way back to our Venice hotel on a frigid November night. Not too far…
Although Venice has been sinking into the Adriatic sea for centuries, visitors, as well as many residents, pay little mind to this fact other than keeping close watch on the acqua alta forecasts. Few of the millions of people that tread on Venice’s cobblestones and stroll over its storied canals know…
