Blogs from Italy, Europe - page 1583

These are photos from my last trip to Venice. I like taking unusual pictures of unusual places. So, you won't find Saint Marco's Square photos, nor a gondola's photo in this blog. Anyway, I took pictures of some tipical Venice alleys ("calli"). I hope you'd like it.... read more

I just had a totally whirlwind, packed, crazy week, guys. I don’t even know where to begin with all of it, but I’ll do my best to get the point across without getting too verbose. The other members of ‘America’ (other KSUers currently studying in various other European cities) all arrived on Sunday evening the 10th, and spent the night on various dorm room floors, which unfortunately have NO carpet padding, and we all woke up at about 4:30am to take our last regular showers and walk down to Hofbräuhaus to catch the charter bus. The 14 hour bus ride there I could probably have done without, but it really only took that long because of all the stops we made on the way to appease the smokers and small-bladders. The drive took us south through ... read more

There is one thing I do really appreciate about Italy, my country: everywhere you go, you can find a piece of art. This Villa and this church were an unexpected surprise that my family and I found during a quiet walk in Padua's countryside. You can see an old private Italian villa. It was built in the 14th-15th century and it has a tipical Renaissance style. The sequence of arches and columns gives it the tipical name of "barchessa". Usually there were deposits, pantries and granaries under those arches. ... read more

I left Cinque Terre early on Saturday lucky for me cause there was alot of delays. Italian trains are cheap but they dont always run to schedule. As i was approching Certaldo i was wondering if this was a good idea it seems very very country and maybe i should go to Siena (a bigger city with more options)... Got to Certaldo and nothing much was open and there was no one around especially since it was saturday. And it was raining heavily.. I called the hostel but no one answered. I remembered that the hostel was 25 mins walk so I walked in the rain in the general direction hoping there would be a sign somewhere. I got to the hostel, it was a old convent and seemed to be deserted, just one dog running ... read more

Stories needed to be told: Opera del Duomo-Santa Maria del Fiore- (information thanks to Lorenzo, with whom I enjoyed a "ciocolatto caldo" a half an hour earlier. And may I point out at this opportune time that Chiaroscuro, the cafe where we enjoyed our beverages, offer not just hot chocolate but also cioccolate calda (pronounce the c in calda as a h) with ammeretto, or mint, orange, vanilla, nocciola, or perhaps even white chocolate, fondente, milk or latte. The list went on and not even the waiter could stop mid stream.) So. here's the real point to a little known story about the work that goes into upkeeping such immense monuments such as the Duomo.... 7-8 men who work every day of the year (except Sunday) on the upkeep of the Duomo. This tremendous task includes ... read more