The WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge provides the theme of Variations on a Theme.
Last year’s vacation in Italy provided a theme that thrives in the narrow streets and alleys, as well as the doorways of antiquity and the middle ages: portals in many varieties!
Going back into Roman times in Ostia Antica, the old harbor of Rome, the portal was often the entrance into the yard. On the Forum Romanum, portals were a key part of larger structures and the entryways between different sections. In the hill towns of Tuscany, such as Montepulciano and Pienza, the narrow streets and alleys are filled with arches that create portals throughout.
Italy is filled with beautiful architecture, scenery, food, and, most of all, friendly people, which makes it a stunning vacation country!
Here are some of these portals and arches…
Hope you enjoy this short trip through Italy and have a wonderful day!
Lovely photos Frank. I’ve only ever been to Milan and that was on business for the bank. Saying that though, the Cathedral was fabulous. The architecture in your pictures is wonderful.
Thank you very kindly!
Really nice photos 🙂
Thank you!
Beautiful! Reinforces my desire to go to Italy!
Thank you very kindly!
Beautiful images of Italy. Such stunning colours and each photo pops out, so striking. It’s amazing how so many portals, arches and lane ways still exist in Italy today, and architecture from the past still stands just as strong as and when they were built. From your photos, it looked like each lane leads to some place different, a place you probably didn’t expect. Hope you had a good trip 🙂
It was wonderful to go visit Italy! Thank you kindly!
Beautiful pictures from wonderful Italy!!!
Thank you kindly!
Amazing pictures…you made me miss Italy 😁
Thank you kindly!
One of the many reasons I love living in Bologna is the sheer abundance of arches, thanks to the porticoes that are everywhere. Plus, the big city gates! It’s really fun when they change style from one arch to the next. So many colors and styles!
Thank you! I will definitely be back in Italy, as my wife and I both love it!!