Italy
November 6, 2009
- In 1630-31, the plague devastated Venice. One third of the population -- 95,000 people -- died during the outbreak. In October, 1630 as the plague had Venice on her knees, the Doge and the Senate vowed to make a holy processional each Saturday for fifteen weeks. And he also promised to dedicate a church to the Virgin Mary as a plea for her help. Soon thereafter the plague outbreak ...
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November 5, 2009
- Pisa, the Italian Riviera, Switzerland, and Home to Prague: a photojournal The opportunity to drive to Italy for a family vacation was truly a dream. Not only did we experience the grand mountains of the Alps, but also saw things we did not expect to see: countless castles, gravity-defying vineyard terraces and hillside towns, and sailboats dotting the azure Italian Riviera. It was surely a trip ...
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November 5, 2009
- Italy: Tuscany and Rome, a photojournal Our October vacation in Tuscany, in the Maremma region in sight of the Argentario peninsula, was spectacularly refreshing. Not only was the beach completely deserted, but we were so far out of civilization we were without television or internet during our stay. The silence felt deafening, at first. But soon, the hum of modern noise faded away, and all that ...
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November 4, 2009
- Leonardo: The Vitruvian Man Between Art and Science October 10, 2009 - January 10, 2010 Wandering the calles and campos of Venice where a good photograph lurks around every corner, I sometimes have trouble dragging myself inside. But on my last trip to Venice, I made a special point to visit the Gallerie dell’Accademia -- or Academy. Why? Because Leonardo da Vinci’s “Vitruvian Man” ...
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November 2, 2009
- The varnished, wooden boat with curtained windows pulls up to the dock, and the handsome driver offers me his hand as I step into the boat. “Buon giorno, Signora,” he says, “Please...” and he gestures toward the boat’s empty seats. Sitting in the back with the wind blowing through my hair, I feel like a starlet being whisked away to my secluded Venetian hideaway as the sun sets behind ...
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November 1, 2009
- It all started in a Czech snowstorm. An October snowstorm, that is...As US expats living in Prague, we had the incredible privilege of driving to Italy for a vacation. The trip as a whole took our breath away-- Italy, and the the entire trip there and back, had a beauty beyond what we could have dreamed. And truly, the vacation was a dream come true.Through the Prague snowstorm, into Germany ...
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October 31, 2009
- Happy Halloween! It's a day of ghosts and goblins... and Michelangelo? Yep. Michelangelo! Read on... and maybe get some costuming inspiration? The Opening of The Sistine Chapel "Finally, on October 31, 1512, the chapel’s doors were opened and Romans flocked to see the wonders therein. Michelangelo’s work created an immediate sensation in the city and beyond. In covering the ...
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October 31, 2009
- High Tuscia, a rugged terrain of woods and canyons nestled between Rome and Tuscany is well known as homeland to the mysterious Etruscans as well as the headquarters of a revolutionary secret society of the 16th century which practiced occultism and masked its anti-clerical and reformist agenda behind pagan symbols. The great villas and sculpture gardens of the area, with their symbolic ...
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October 30, 2009
- Here in the centre stand the glass. Light Is the lion that comes down to drink. There And in that state, the glass is a pool. Ruddy are his eyes and ruddy are his claws When light comes down to wet his frothy jaws. -- Wallace Stevens, "The Glass of Water" The pride of lions -- stone and otherwise -- in Venice numbers in the thousands. For centuries the king of the beasts has served ...
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October 30, 2009
- It al began with a quest for grappa. Why my husband couldn't have just bought a good marc? But no he wanted Italian grappa. His search not only turned up good grappa at our first stop, but also an Aladdin's cave of Italian products at our second stop, the Au Village Italien. There was everything you could want, hams, prosciuttos, salamis, oils, wines, dried and fresh homemade ...
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