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

[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] 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)

[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