Landscape

Monday, June 28, 2010

Verona, Italy {Italy}

Thursday, June 10, 2010

My cousin drove me to Verona where I stayed 6 1/2 hours all alone in the city of Romeo and Juliet. It was probably better that I was alone as I took my time and really soaked up the city.

I visited the Casa di Giulietta

The house claiming to be Juliet’s. It has been turned into a tourist attraction. It features the balcony and in the small courtyard, a bronze statue of Juliet. It is one of the most visited sites in the town.

Many people write their names and the names of their beloved ones on the walls of the entrance, known as Juliet’s wall. Many believe that writing on that place will make their love everlasting. After a restoration and cleaning of the building, it was intended that further writing should be on replaceable panels or white sheets placed outside the wall.

I also visited three churches.

Church of Saint Anastasia

St. Anastasia is the largest church in Verona. The church you can see nowadays was built by the Dominican Order and dedicated to Saint Peter Martyr, Dominican monk and co-patron of Verona together with Saint Zeno. Being built on the site on which an older church dedicated to St. Anastasia was, people of Verona still call it this way.

St. Anastasia is a superb gothic building, boasting a majestic apse and a high bell tower. Everything is made in red bricks. Facade was never completed in its upper section but it proudly displays a double opening ogival portal in polychromatic marble. Left of the facade, in the beautiful little square in front of St. Anastsia, the suspended tomb of Guglielmo da Castelbarco, the forerunner of the famous Scala family tombs.

St Anastasia is divided in three aisles, decorated by beautiful lateral chapels, presenting rich collections of paintings by famous painters from Verona such as Girolamo dai Libri and Altichiero. Very interesting are also the two holy-water fonts supported by two hunchbacks. One was probably sculpted by Paolo Veronese father who was a stone cutter.
St Anastasia most famous work of art is the fresco by Pisanello representing St George freeing the Princess, considered a masterpiece of gothic painting. It decorates the arch of Pellegrini Chapel.

Duomo di Verona – the Cathedral Complex

Rather than a single building, the area surrounding the Cathedral of Verona is constituted by a series of religious buildings linked together: the Duomo (Cathedral), St Giovanni in Fonte baptistery of Verona, St. Elena, the Canonical museum, its cloister, the library, the bishop residence and the bell-tower. Some are closed to the public and some are opened only in certain period of the year.

The Cathedral is dedicated to St. Mary Matricular, like the earlier churches that have been erected here since IV century. The actual building was built in Romanesque style 1187, but was restored and enlarged in gothic style in 1440. Of the original austere Romanesque structure remain the double prothyron with its twisting columns and the winged griffins, the sculptures of the portal and few decorations. On the side of the Cathedral there’s the huge bell tower. The base dates back to thirteenth century, the central storey was designed by Sanmicheli in sixteenth century and the top part, unfinished, was built in the early twentieth century.

The inside is divided into a nave and two aisles by beautiful gothic columns in dark red Veronese marble. Fresco decorations on the walls are by Falconetto, painted in the sixteenth century.

The apse basin is decorated with a fresco by Francesco Torbido taken from Giulio Romano design.
The most important painting of Verona Duomo is the big Our Lady of Assumption painted in 1535 by Titian.

On the outside, hided in a small alley, there’s one of most beautiful cloister in town: the Chapter cloister. Built in 1140 above the remains of earlier Christian basilicas it’s one of the purest examples of Romanesque style with its small columns arranged in couples which on the eastern side, pan out into a double order of small arches. In two “windows” opened on the floor of the cloister, mosaics from earlier churches can be admired.

On the back og the Cathedral, St. Giovanni in Fonte was the cathedral baptistery. It dates back to 1123, made in honey coloured sandstone. The inside is dominated by the monolithic baptismal font in its centre. It was created by master Brioloto in thirteenth century and because of its extraordinary naturalistic vivacity is considered one of the highest examples of Romanesque sculpture in Verona, depicting scenes of the life of Jesus.

Church of Saints Fermo and Rustico

The church of the Saints Fermo and Rustico is one of the most representative examples of Gothic architecture in Verona. The actual church dates back to the fourtenth century, but on the place, layer after layer, and various churches were built since fourteenth century on the place on which the two saints undergone martyrdom in 361. The facade is characterized by the typical stripes of yellow sandstone and red bricks together with the beautiful portal contribute to create a building of rare beauty.

In the inside the visitor is stunned by the wooden hull-like ceiling and the funeral monument of Nicolò Brenzoni, sculpted by the Florentine Nanni di Bartolo and decorated with an elegant fresco by Pisanello depicting the Annunciation.

Lower church
St. Fermo and Rustico is basically constituted by two different churches, a lower and an upper one. The lower church is made of evocative cross vaults supported by cross shaped pillars. It still holds many interesting eleventh and thirteenth century frescos.

Here are more photographs I took in Verona, Italy.

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Monday, June 21, 2010

Burano, Italy {Italy}

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

After visitng the island of Murano I ate on the island of Burano. The food is less expensive then Murano. This is where I ate Gnocchi for the fist time. When in Italy do as they do! Here are a few photographs and some facts about Burano.

Burano is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, although like Venice itself it could more correctly be called an archipelago of islands linked by bridges. It lies near Torcello at the northern end of the Lagoon, and is known for its lacework.

Burano is situated 7 kilometers from Venice, a short 40 minute trip by Venetian motorboats, “vaporetti”. The island is linked to Mazzorbo by a bridge. The current population of Burano is about 4,000.

The island was probably settled by the Romans, and in the 6th century was occupied by people from Altino, who named it for one of the gates of their former city. Two stories are attributed to how the city obtained its name. One is that it was initially founded by the Buriana family, and another is that the first settlers of Burano came from the small island of Buranello, c. 8 km to the south.

Although the island soon became a thriving settlement, it was administered from Torcello and had none of the privileges of that island or of Murano. It rose in importance only in the 16th century, when women on the island began making lace with needles, being introduced to such a trade via Venetian-ruled Cyprus, more specifically the small town of Lefkara where Leonardo da Vinci visited in 1481 and purchased a cloth for the main alter of the Duomo di Milano. The lace was soon exported across Europe, but decline began in the 18th century and the industry did not revive until 1872, when a school of lacemaking was opened. Lacemaking on the island boomed again, but few now make lace in the traditional manner as it is extremely time-consuming and therefore expensive.

Burano is also known for its small, brightly-painted houses, popular with artists. The designer Philippe Starck owns three houses. Other attractions include the Church of San Martino, with a campanile, the Oratorio di Santa Barbara and the Museum and School of Lacemaking. The colours of the houses follow a specific system originating from the golden age of its development; if someone wishes to paint their home, one must send a request to the government, who will respond by making notice of the certain colours permitted for that lot. This practice has resulted in the myriad of warm, pastelly colours that characterises the island today.

2 comments

Greeny Makhija - June 23, 2010 - 4:04 am

You find the prettiest windows Are these places really that beautiful or we can only see the beauty through your lens?

Simona - June 21, 2010 - 11:17 am

Beautiful photos Anthony!!!!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Murano, Italy {Italy}

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

One of the sites to witness is on the island of Murano in Italy. Its famous for their glass. Here are a few photographs of the factory I visited and some facts.

Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about 1 mile north of Venice and measures about 1 mile across with a population of just over 5,000 (2004 figures).It is famous for its glass making, particularly lampworking. It was once an independent comune, but is now a località of the comune of Venice.

Venetian glass is a type of glass object made in Venice, Italy, primarily on the island of Murano. It is world-renowned for being colorful, elaborate, and skillfully made.

Many of the important characteristics of these objects had been developed by the thirteenth century. Toward the end of that century, the center of the Venetian glass industry moved to Murano.

Byzantine craftsmen played an important role in the development of Venetian glass, an art form for which the city is well-known. When Constantinople was sacked by the Fourth Crusade in 1204, some fleeing artisans came to Venice. This happened again when the Ottomans took Constantinople in 1453, supplying Venice with still more glassworkers. By the sixteenth century, Venetian artisans had gained even greater control over the color and transparency of their glass, and had mastered a variety of decorative techniques.

Despite efforts to keep Venetian glassmaking techniques within Venice, they became known elsewhere, and Venetian-style glassware was produced in other Italian cities and other countries of Europe.

Some of the most important brands of glass in the world today are still produced in the historical glass factories on Murano. They are : Venini, Barovier & Toso, Pauly, Seguso. Barovier & Toso is considered one of the 100 oldest companies in the world, formed in 1295.

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Saturday, June 19, 2010

Rialto Bridge, Venice {Italy}

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Here are my photographs of the Rialto Bridge in Venice, Italy. Also some interesting facts.

The Rialto Bridge (Italian: Ponte di Rialto) is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is the oldest bridge across the canal.

The first dry crossing of the Grand Canal was a pontoon bridge built in 1181 by Nicolò Barattieri. It was called the Ponte della Moneta, presumably because of the mint that stood near its eastern entrance.

The development and importance of the Rialto market on the eastern bank increased traffic on the floating bridge, so it was replaced in 1255 by a wooden bridge. This structure had two inclined ramps meeting at a movable central section, that could be raised to allow the passage of tall ships. The connection with the market eventually led to a change of name for the bridge. During the first half of the 15th century two rows of shops were built along the sides of the bridge. The rents brought an income to the State Treasury, which helped maintain the bridge.

Maintenance was vital for the timber bridge. It was partly burnt in the revolt led by Bajamonte Tiepolo in 1310. In 1444 it collapsed under the weight of a crowd watching a boat parade and it collapsed again in 1524.

The idea of rebuilding the bridge in stone was first proposed in 1503. Several projects were considered over the following decades. In 1551 the authorities requested proposals for the renewal of the Rialto Bridge, among other things. Plans were offered by famous architects such as Jacopo Sansovino, Palladio and Vignola, but all involved a Classical approach with several arches, which was judged inappropriate to the situation. Even the great Michelangelo was considered as designer of the bridge.

The present stone bridge, a single span designed by Antonio da Ponte, was finally completed in 1591. It is remarkably similar to the wooden bridge it succeeded. Two inclined ramps lead up to a central portico. On either side of the portico the covered ramps carry rows of shops. The engineering of the bridge was considered so audacious that architect Vincenzo Scamozzi predicted future ruin. The bridge has defied its critics to become one of the architectural icons of Venice.

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