Italy 🇮🇹 lovers’ circle

[video] So “Communities” are going to die in two weeks? Well, I founded this community with pride and honor, and I intend to go down with it like the violinists on the Titanic Praising and celebrating Italy 🇮🇹 until the very last moment LFG! 😂🤌

[image] If I could be anywhere right now… Piazza Navona, Rome. (Photo by 📸: ABS — April 30, 2025, 5:00 PM Main camera — 24 mm f/1.78, 24 MP)

[image] On this day, May 12, 113 A.D., Trajan’s Column, near the Roman Forum, was dedicated. Thanks to its architect, Apollodorus of Damascus, it has never fallen, standing in this same spot over 1900 years. (Apparently, Napoleon wanted it, but couldn’t find a way to move it.)

[video] Know this before you go: “Reading” the Sistine Chapel ceiling, Part 2:

[image] Borromini. San Giovanni in Laterano, Archbasilica of Rome, Italy Photo by 📸:Abs — April 2025

[video] There’s a kaleidoscope of medieval floor designs in St. Mark’s we rarely get to see. 60-seconds of geometric joy: 🔊

[video] Did you know? 1. The gorgeous 15th c. pulpit in Santa Maria Novella, Florence, was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi? 2. From this pulpit in 1614 Tommaso Caccini preached a sermon attacking Galileo Galilei, denouncing heliocentrism as heretical. 3. The exquisite panels depict

[image] Beauty was once a path to the divine. Architecture was meant to lift the soul, not just to shelter the body. The knowledge remains. — But eternity is no longer the goal. (Sant’Ignazio di Loyola, Rome. Photo by 📸: Abs — May 2026.)

[video] Sacred spaces. Padua, Italy:

[image] Even small churches can mesmerize. San Nicolò dei Mendicoli: One of few Venetian churches with its original porch, which once provided shelter to the poor.

[video] One of the most remarkable and well-preserved Roman amphitheaters in the world, located in Piazza Bra, Verona, Italy 🇮🇹 Built in 30 AD — It is the third-largest surviving Roman amphitheater in Europe, after the Colosseum in Rome and the amphitheater in Capua. 📍 The Verona

[image] The “Giovanni da San Giovanni” room in the Pitti Palace, Florence, named after the artist who designed it around 1635. The Medici didn’t just collect art, they lived in it.

[image] If you love frescoes, make Santa Maria Novella in Florence a must-see. These, from 1485-90, are by Ghirlandaio (perhaps aided by his apprentice, a young Michelangelo.)

[image] When the Light breaks through glass, the altar speaks without words. Centuries in one frame. The Gold never fades. — The Duomo waits. (Duomo di Milano. 📸:Abs)

[image] This church could easily be in Siena or Florence. Same striped marble, same grandeur. Same quality of craftsmanship… — Yet it stands in a small town of only 10,000 people. Volterra proves great art is not only in big cities. Photo by 📸:Abs

[image] “ . . . the illustrious city of Florence, the fairest of all the cities of Italy . . .” - Giovanni Boccaccio, 1353

[image] The jaw-dropping Baroncelli Chapel in Santa Croce, Florence, has a stunning altarpiece by Giotto and frescoes by Taddeo Gaddi. Wow. See comment for a look at Giotto’s altarpiece! 👇

[video] “Mystery is not the absence of meaning, but the presence of more meaning than we can comprehend.” San Giorgio dei Greci, Venice, Italy

[image] Charming Trento: A hidden gem in northern Italy . . . With an underground Roman city, a cutting edge science museum, and a fresco-filled castle.

[image] The spirit of Bologna, Italy, as per Stendhal: "The Bolognese is full of fire, passion, generosity, and sometimes imprudence."

[video] One of Rome’s most exquisite art museums. 📍 Borghese Gallery 🇮🇹

[image] The soaring central nave of Santa Anastasia in Verona, Italy. A serene masterpiece that seems to be dressed in endless embroidery.

[image] 3 Things to Know about Montepulciano's Famous Clock Tower, chronologically: 1. It originated in the 1300s as a private fortress used by a wealthy family during bloody medieval feuds. 2. Centuries later, the city heightened it and added a Renaissance-era clock in 1524. 3. The

[image] A really, really old remnant of the past in the hills above Verona, Italy. St. Peter's Hill, rising above the Adige River is the literal birthplace of Verona. Long before the city expanded into the bend of the river where the famous Arena stands, the original Roman settlement

[image] Happy birthday to Artemisia Gentileschi -- born July 8, 1593. 3 things to know about this Italian Baroque master: 1. A Historic First: In 1616, she became the first woman ever admitted to Florence’s prestigious Academy of the Arts of Drawing, granting her unprecedented legal

[image] One reason (of many) to spend a day at Ferrari’s Museo Schifanoia: Amazing frescos from the 1400s. Even the story of their survival is fascinating.

[image] The Majestic Staircase of Naples’ Royal Palace, Italy 🇮🇹

[image] One of Verona’s medieval conical spires. This terracotta “pigna” (pinecone) style was a practical way to top a square tower — and, some say — to direct eyes heavenward. Santi Apostoli, Verona, Italy. (My photo)

[video] POV: You realize one lifetime is not enough to soak up #Rome's treasures.

[image] Tomb of the great composer, Giacchino Rossini (1792-1868) in the Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence. He is mourned by an allegorical personification of Music.

[image] Italian Churches: GOTHIC or CLASSICAL Which do you prefer?

[image] Verona Style: The 12th-century striped Duomo, with its majestic white limestone belltower towering above.

[image] Stunning interior of the Real Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Turin, Italy 🇮🇹 Designed by the architect-priest Guarino Guarini between 1668 and 1687, this church is a masterpiece of Baroque architecture known for its complex geometric design.

[image] "It's not necessarily at home that we best encounter our true self"  -  Alain de Botton

[video] Join me for a 1-minute stroll through lovely Ferrara, Italy. 🔊🎹

[image] Did you know that the white stone markers in front of La Salute in Venice, Italy, were laid prior to its consecration in 1687 to direct orderly processions into the church? The Doge and clergy would assemble in the circle before entering.

[image] A few months ago on a whim I took the train from Venice to Bassano del Grappa . . . It was drizzly, the church I hoped to see was closed, and the coffee shop I wanted to try was spilling over with beautiful Italians. But — It’s a lovely city, I enjoyed the museum at Palazzo

[image] Venice, Italy: The best time to visit the church of San Zaccaria to view its marvelous art (& Bellini’s masterpiece) is late afternoon, preferably on a bright but overcast day.

[image] Stopping people in their tracks since 1606: Caravaggio’s ‘Madonna di Loreto.’ It has remained in situ on that exact wall in the church of San Agostino, Rome, since it was installed, making it one of the few Caravaggios you can still view in its intended context.

[image] Florence Cathedral and Historic Street View - Travel Edition The magnificent, sun-drenched facade and Brunelleschi's iconic terracotta dome of the Florence Cathedral rise majestically at the end of a historic Tuscan street.

[image] Lifesize terracotta figures in Santa Maria della Vita, Bologna, Italy. Death of the Virgin, by Alfonso Lombardi, c. 1522

[video] Watching the Italian countryside roll by on an overcast afternoon... 🚆 69 seconds of peace on a train from Bassano to Venice (a 75-minute journey).

[video] Before taking photos: Just pause and really look. (Borghese Gallery, Rome)

[image] A friend sent me this photo of the alpine village of Fornesighe in the Italian Dolomites. It’s highly regarded for its remarkably preserved traditional stone and wooden architecture, called tabià.

[image] Living with antiquity: Verona’s ancient Porta Leoni. Although it’s often described as a 1st c. structure of the Roman Imperial era, it’s actually even older — from the Republican era, around 50-40 B.C.! The white facade dates from the 1st c. A.D., when it was installed over

[image] When mega-ships were banned from Venice: On August 1, 2021, Italy declared Venice's central waterways a protected National Monument and permanently barred vessels over 25,000 gross tons, 180 meters long, or 35 meters high from entering the Giudecca Canal and St. Mark’s Basin.

[video] Padua’s magnificent Baptistery. Giusto de' Menabuoi painted his fresco masterpiece between 1375-78, about 70 years after Giotto completed his masterpiece nearby in the Arena Chapel. Both are UNESCO Heritage sites.

[image] “This is the fairest picture on our planet, the most enchanting to look upon, the most satisfying to the eye and the spirit. To see the sun sink down, drowned in his pink and purple and golden floods, and overwhelm Florence with tides of color that make all the sharp lines dim

[video] POV: You learn the difference between a superb collection and a treasure. 📍 Musei Vaticani @ Vatican City.

[image] Some Renaissance architectural bling in Verona. House of the Judges in Piazza del Erbe.