Tag: italy

A Walk Across the Forum – pt. 2

Passing through the ages

We very much enjoyed our visit to the Forum in Roma.  After all, the Forum was for centuries the center of Roman public life: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches; and the nucleus of commercial affairs. Here statues and monuments commemorated the city’s great men. The teeming heart of ancient Rome, it has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history. Located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Forum today is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments and intermittent archaeological excavations attracting 4.5 million sightseers yearly.

Many of the oldest and most important structures of the ancient city were located on or near the Forum. The Roman Kingdom’s earliest shrines and temples were located on the southeastern edge. These included the ancient former royal residence, the Regia (8th century BC), and the Temple of Vesta (7th century BC), as well as the surrounding complex of the Vestal Virgins, all of which were rebuilt after the rise of imperial Rome.

Here’s another installment of images from this amazing location…

By the temple of Augustus
Looking over the expanse of the Forum
Looking toward the Capitol
Next to the Capitol

I hope you enjoy them!

Tuscan Rooftops – pt. 1

Shouting about rooftops!

During our vacation in Italy, I got plenty of opportunity to photograph the rooftops in a number of cities.  So, why not do a series of posts on rooftops.

This first installment is from the lovely hilltown of Massa Marittima.  In this town, we encountered some of the longest, steep climbs, as we made our way to the top to climb even further up the Torre del Candeliere, which provided the first view…

20170526-Massa-Marittima_DSF1965_6_7_tonemapped
Looking over Massa Marittima

The second image is from walking along those steep streets to catch wonderful views that combine both the old and new…

20170526_Massa-Marittima_DSF2023_4_5_Enhancer
Old and New

Many more to come!

Tuesday Photo Challenge – Steps

Going for a step or two

Welcome to Week 63 of the Tuesday Photo Challenge.

Last week’s responses were a pure symphony of wonderful images, prose and poetry!  I thoroughly enjoyed the way you embraced the theme and created amazing compositions.

This week, I’m going back to one of my old tricks…  The theme of Steps can be taken in several directions thanks to the English language.  Merriam Webster showed me 11 definitions, some of which were nuances, whereas others have completely separate definitions.  Therefore, it is your choice, whether these steps take you up (or down) or direct your path, or even are performed as part of a ballet!

Have fun with this theme and don’t skimp on creative direction, as I know you won’t!  Uncover some new steps, retrace some old ones or climb up and down, as in an M.C. Escher drawing.

One may wonder where these steps will lead us…

20170526-Massa-Marittima_DSF2011_2_3_Italian-Steps
Where do they lead?

As the observant reader of my blog will surmise, this is yet another image from my Italian vacation.  When we were in Massa Marittima, there were many steep streets followed, steps climbed and descended, as we came across some of the most amazing views at the top of the hill!

The full rules of this challenge are in TPC Guidelines, but here’s the tl;dr:

  • Write a post with an image for this week’s topic
  • Please tag your post with fpj-photo-challenge (if you’re not sure about how tags work, please check out this WordPress article about tagging posts)
  • Create a pingback link to this post, so that I can create a post showing all of the submissions over the week (note: pingbacks may not appear immediately, as my site is set up to require approval for linking to it; helps against previous bad experiences with spamming)
  • Have fun creating something new (or sharing something old)!!

So, don’t skip a step in your creative process, and step lively to sharing your photography and writing!

Walking through Montepulciano

A first look

Montepulciano is a medieval and Renaissance hill town and comune in the Italian province of Siena in southern Tuscany. It sits high on a 605-metre (1,985 ft) limestone ridge, 13 kilometres (8 mi) east of Pienza, 70 kilometres (43 mi) southeast of Siena, 124 kilometres (77 mi) southeast of Florence, and 186 kilometres (116 mi) north of Rome by car.

Montepulciano is a major producer of food and drink. Renowned for its pork, cheese, “pici” pasta, lentils, and honey, it is known worldwide for its wine. Connoisseurs consider its Vino Nobile, which should not be confused with varietal wine merely made from the Montepulciano grape, among Italy’s best.

Looking toward Montepulciano
Narrow street
Connecting with neighbors
Some streets are steep
Alleys everywhere!

Walking through Montepulciano was an absolute joy with many small alleys and narrow streets that are always picturesque.  As you can see from the photos, you get a good workout, as many streets and alleys are steep.

Looking over the valley

Val d’Orcia vista

One more look from Pienza!  I just couldn’t resist to process one of the images today (between work assignments) and share this one with you.

Mid-way between Montalcino and Montepulciano, Pienza has a marvelous view of Val d’Orcia.

20170525-Pienza_DSF1779_80_81_Italia
Valley View

Sitting well above the valley floor, Pienza presents some amazing vistas, such as this one.

A Walk through Pienza – pt. 2

More alleys, and food!

I may have pulled up lame during the relay race at work today due to tearing my hamstring, but there will be more images from Italy!  Reduced mobility will keep me in the house more and with less to distract me, such as those great long runs, my time will be spent on photo editing and music!

Both will be the better of it, I hope.

Vespa Street
Terraces Abound
Looking over the Valley
Laundry Day

Pecorino de Pienza

Pienza is also the city of cacio, which means cheese! The Pecorino of Pienza is a tasty cheese made from sheep’s milk, renowned worldwide and delicious, which can go from a delicate flavor to a decisive one based on how aged it is.

The town streets are full of small charming shops selling a large quantity of various types of pecorino, from fresh to aged pecorico, that you can taste together with a number of other typical local products, such as fine wines, spices, pici (handmade pasta) and so on. We recommend stopping and tasting!  Best of both worlds is mixing the pici with the cheese in the famous dish: pici con cacio e pepe.

Cheese shops are on just about every street and alley, and can be tasted in the great restaurants.  Our choice of restaurant was La Buca di Enea on Via della Buca; this small restaurant was phenomenal with excellent food (great cheese), a friendly proprietor, who was nice enough to offer us a free digestif at the end of our meal.

Highlights of Italy

It’s just a beginning

As there still are hundreds of photos to process, I thought I’d give you a look back across the first couple of weeks’ batch with some of my favorites among them.

They are definitely beginning to get their own flavor…

Cupid and Psyche
Where’s my hand?
View towards Altare della Patria
Looking across the Forum
Fields of Tuscany
Streets of Volterra
Looking over Volterra
Small alleys
Piazza del Campo

Which of these are among your favorites thus far?

A Walk through Pienza – pt. 1

A renaissance experiment

In the continuing quest to edit my photographs from our trip to Italy, I decided to let my interests in the image follow a meandering path that had me stopping by the town of Pienza this past weekend.  As I got about half of my images edited, I thought I’d share them today in a first installment.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

History

Before the village was renamed to Pienza its name was Corsignano. It is first mentioned in documents from the 9th century. Around 1300 parts of the village became property of the Piccolomini family. after Enghelberto d’Ugo Piccolomini had been enfeoffed with the fief of Montertari in Val d’Orcia by the emperor Frederick II in 1220. In the 13th century Franciscans settled down in Corsignano.

1405 Corsignano was the birthplace of Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Italian: Enea Silvio Piccolomini), a Renaissance humanist born into an exiled Sienese family, who later became Pope Pius II. Once he became Pope, Piccolomini had the entire village rebuilt as an ideal Renaissance town and renamed it after himself to Pienza. Intended as a retreat from Rome, it represents the first application of humanist urban planning concepts, creating an impetus for planning that was adopted in other Italian towns and cities and eventually spread to other European centers.

The rebuilding was done by Florentine architect Bernardo Gambarelli (known as Bernardo Rossellino) who may have worked with the humanist and architect Leon Battista Alberti, though there are no documents to prove it for sure. Alberti was in the employ of the Papal Curia at the time and served as an advisor to Pius. Construction started about 1459. Pope Pius II consecrated the Duomo on August 29, 1462, during his long summer visit. He included a detailed description of the structures in his Commentaries, written during the last two years of his life.

A Walk Across the Forum – pt. 1

The ages open up

One of the wonderful places that we visited in Italy were the Palatine Hill and Forum in Rome.  Getting away from the overcrowded Colosseum, it was just amazing to take in the atmosphere and history that is represented by the Forum, where you can truly see the centuries and their most significant events during the days of the Roman republic and empire.

Here’s the first installment of Forum images.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I hope you enjoy them!

Roman Theater in Volterra

Surprising finds in Volterra

Yesterday, I shared with you a view of the wonderful Tuscan hill town of Volterra, looking over the roofs toward the valley.  Another wonder from this city is the Roman theater that sits just outside the old town walls.

This theater was not discovered until the 1950s, when local economist Enrico Fiumi gained permission to perform a test dig near the soccer field, where he theorized the existence of a Roman theater.  With the help of patients of the local psychiatric hospital that he directed, he excavated a small section to find fragments of columns and a young head of Augustus

20170522-Volterra-Amphitheatre_DSF1485_6_7
Roman theater in Volterra

It took another 10 years to gain permission for the rest of the excavation, which resulted in a beautiful example of a theater, including the scaenae frons, which is the backwall behind what would have been a wooden stage.

This is a great location to visit, and it should be noted that the ticket also gives you admission to the Etruscan excavation on the other side of town (a 5-10 minute walk).

Technical Details

This image series was captured with my Fujifilm X-T1 using a Fujifilm XF18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 LM OIS WR lens.  Exposure settings for the series of images were at 1/150-1/600 second, f/9 at 800 ISO.  They were processed using Photomatix Pro.