Italy 2017

May 2017
A 14-day adventure by Shirley
  • 51footprints
  • 3countries
  • 14days
  • 88photos
  • 0videos
  • 21.0kmiles
  • 19.5kmiles
  • Day 1

    The Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy

    May 18, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Sunday, May 28, 2017
    The Trevi Fountain is one of the oldest water sources in Rome

    The fountain dates back to ancient Roman times, since the construction of the Aqua Virgo Aqueduct in 19 B.C. that provided water to the Roman baths and the fountains of central Rome. It’s said that the Aqua Virgo, or Virgin Waters, is named in honor of a young Roman girl who led thirsty soldiers to the source of the spring to drink.

    The fountain was built at the end point of the aqueduct, at the junction of three roads. These three streets (tre vie) give the Trevi Fountain its name, the Three Street Fountain.
    The fountain is mostly built from travertine stone, a name that means “from the Tiber” in Latin. A mineral made of calcium carbonate formed from spring waters, especially hot springs, the likely source was the city of Tivoli, about 22 miles from Rome. During construction many men were injured and a few died when working with enormous stone, including a stonecutter who was crushed by a large block of travertine in 1734.
    The Trevi Fountain stands a massive 85 feet tall and is almost 65 feet wide. With water pumping out of multiple sources and the large pool in front, the fountain spills about 2,824,800 cubic feet of water every day!
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  • Day 1

    The Spanish Steps, Rome, Italy

    May 18, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Sunday, May 28, 2017

    In the 17th century, the men in charge of building Rome had a problem in the shape of a large, wooded hill. It separated the newly-built Trinità dei Monti church, owned by the French, from the Piazza di Spagna, or “Spanish Plaza” named for the Bourbon Spanish Embassy that stood alongside it. With a newly-established peace between France and Spain, the French wanted to create a symbolic connection between the two countries in Rome; this hill was really cramping their style. A competition was held for the best design and the winner, a little-known sculptor named Francesco de Sanctis, gave the world the Spanish Steps. There is still some debate about how much the more-famous Alessandro Specchi contributed to the design, but one thing we can say for sure is that the end result is one of the grandest public works in Europe. The 135-step staircase is also bookended by two of Rome’s most whimsical monuments, the Fontana della Barcaccia, and the Sallustian Obelisk. The first foreigners to make the steps famous were the Romantic writers of the 19th century, like John Keats, who died in a house overlooking them. Since then everyone from Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday to Ray Romano in Everybody Loves Raymond has made sure that taking in the view at the Spanish Steps is part of their Roman Sojourns.Read more

  • Day 1

    Sistine Chapel, Rome, Italy

    May 18, 2017 in Vatican City ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Monday, May 29, 2017

    In the spring of 1509, just two years after a mapmaker coined the word “America” in honor of the explorer Amerigo Vespucci, a fellow Florentine named Buonarotti was beginning to work on one of the defining masterpieces of Western Civilization. His first name—Michelangelo—would also reverberate through the ages. And, like many of the early transatlantic voyages of discovery, his ceiling frescoes in Rome’s Sistine Chapel had gotten off to a terrible start.

    “He was working on the largest multi-figure compositions of the entire ceiling when the actual fresco plaster itself became infected by a kind of lime mold, which is like a great bloom of fungus,” says Andrew Graham-Dixon, chief art critic for London’s Sunday Telegraph. “So he had to chip the whole thing back to zero and start again. Eventually he sped up. He got better.”

    However difficult the conditions—and even the challenge of painting at a height of 65 feet required considerable ingenuity, with scaffolds and platforms slotted into specially fashioned wall openings—by the time Michelangelo unveiled the work in 1512, he had succeeded in creating a transcendent work of genius, one which continues to inspire millions of pilgrims and tourists in Vatican City each year. The Sistine Chapel holds a central place in Christendom as the private chapel of the pope and the site of the papal enclave, where the College of Cardinals gathers to elect new popes.

    Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-…
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  • Day 1

    St. Peter's Basilica, Rome, Italy

    May 18, 2017 in Vatican City ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Monday, May 29, 2017
    Saint Peter's Basilica, the world's largest church, is the center of Christianity. The imposing structure was built over a span of more than one hundred years by the greatest Italian architects of the era.

    The church is built on Vatican Hill, across the Tiber river from the historic center of Rome. The location is highly symbolic: this was the site where Saint Peter, the chief apostle, died a martyr and where he was buried in 64 AD. St. Peter is considered the first pope, so it made perfect sense for the papacy to build the principal shrine of the Catholic church here.

    The First Basilica
    In the early fourth century Emperor Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome, decided to build a basilica on Vatican Hill at the site of small shrine that marked the likely location of the tomb of St. Peter. Construction of the basilica started between 319 and 322. It was consecrated in 326 AD and finally completed around 349 AD. To facilitate the construction, a part of the terrain was leveled and the necropolis where St. Peter was originally buried was demolished.

    The basilica had an eighty-five meter (279 ft) long nave with four aisles and a spacious atrium with a central cantharus (fountain), enclosed by a colonnade. A bell tower stood at the front of the atrium. Visitors entered the atrium through a triple-arched portico.

    The New St. Peter's Basilica
    In the middle of the fifteenth century, the basilica was falling into ruin and pope Nicolas V ordered the restoration and enlargement of the church after plans by Bernardo Rossellino. After Nicolas V died, works were halted.

    No progress was made for half a century until pope Julius II decided to build a completely new church. He appointed Donato Bramante as chief architect. Bramante designed a structure with a high dome on a Greek cross plan (all sides have equal lengths). In 1506 Julius II laid the first stone of the new basilica which was to become the largest in the world.

    After Bramante's death in 1514 he was succeeded by a number of different architects, all of whom made changes to the design, most notably Michelangelo Buonarroti, who became chief architect in 1547 at the age of seventy-two. He conceived the imposing dome and made further alterations to the plans.

    At the time of Michelangelo's death in 1564 only the drum of the dome was built. The dome was finally completed in 1590 by Giacomo della Porta. On request of pope Paul V the imposing edifice was extended further into a true Latin cross plan by Carlo Maderno, who completed the main facade in 1614. The church was finally reconsecrated in 1626 by pope Urban VIII, exactly 1300 years after the consecration of the first church.
    Ever since, the St. Peter's Basilica has been the center of Christianity, drawing pilgrims and tourists from all over the world.
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  • Day 1

    St. Peter's Square, Rome, Italy

    May 18, 2017 in Vatican City ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Monday, May 29, 2017
    a grandiose elliptical esplanade created in the mid seventeenth century by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The square is bordered by massive colonnades that symbolize outstretched arms. Bernini and his assistants sculpted the 140 statues of saints that grace the balustrades on the colonnades. The square is decorated with fountains and an Egyptian obelisk that was transported to Rome in 37 AD.

    The view of St. Peter's Basilica from the square is unfortunately a bit disappointing; the result of the enlargement of the church carried out by Carlo Maderno, which partly obscures Michelangelo's dome.
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  • Day 1

    San Gimignano, Italy

    May 18, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Tuesday, May 30, 2017

    Tuesday afternoon, we had a wine tasting at Tenuta Torciano. Gabrielle was our host and his family had owned the estate for generations. His great grandfather had 18 children and 37 descendants still work in the business. He described his great grandfather as a " very happy man"! Gabrielle was an outstanding host, and we sampled 8 different wines, the last costing $193/bottle - YIKES! We were served salamis, cheeses, lasagna with truffle oil, biscotti with grappa (a dessert liquor made from the skins of the grapes), and then given an opportunity to buy what we liked, and we had run the gamut! My personal favorite was the Pinot Grigio; Bill's was the Chianti Classico. They gave us a complimentary bottle of the Chianti when we left, which we enjoyed that evening! We have learned that we can take up to 6 bottles home, so someone's clothes will probably have to go!

    They will come do a private wine tasting in Smithfield if anyone is interested!

    San Gimignano (Italian pronunciation: [san dʒimiɲˈɲaːno]) is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of its tower houses, which, with its hilltop setting and encircling walls form "an unforgettable skyline"] Within the walls, the well-preserved buildings include notable examples of both Romanesque and Gothic architecture, with outstanding examples of secular buildings as well as churches. The Palazzo Comunale, the Collegiate Church and Church of Sant' Agostino contain frescos, including cycles dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. The "Historic Centre of San Gimignano", is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town also is known for the saffron, the Golden Ham and its white wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, produced from the ancient variety of Vernaccia grape which is grown on the sandstone hillsides of the area.
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  • Day 1

    Trattoria Ponte Vecchio, Florence, Italy

    May 18, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Tuesday, May 30, 2017

    Dinner - Trattoria Ponte Vecchio - 8:30 pm
    Although we were really looking forward to our dinner here we have to admit that due to excessive consumption of wine at our tasting before this we were unable to make dinner. Too much food and obviously too much wine. But read our blog on the wine tasting today was absolutely awesome and you understand why. Make sure you focus on the amount of glasses on a wine tasting if I recall correctly we had a teach that was a total of 30 glasses of wine on the table at the same time.Read more

  • Day 1

    Palazzo Gamba, Florence, Italy

    May 18, 2017 in Italy ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Tuesday, May 30 - Sunday, June 4, 2017
    Apartment at Palazzo Gamba

    What a great location. We can almost reach out and touch the Duomo and the Baptistry. We can hear live violin and cello music every evening. The sunrises and sunsets are amazing! There are people everywhere! We have left the windows opemed

    Conveniently located on the main square of Florence’s historical centre, Piazza del Duomo, Palazzo Gamba apartment building is about 40 feet from the Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, a wonderful 5 minutes walk from the Uffizi Gallery, Ponte Vecchio and all the major attractions in Florence downtown.

    Positives: Location, location, location. It couldn’t be beat. In several minutes you could be at the Ponte Vecchio, The Uffizi, Accademia, Boboli Gardens, Piazza della Signora, The Pitti Palace, or just strolling along the Arno.

    You will find yourself in the liveliest area of Florence, surrounded by a maze of noble palaces and narrow streets that preserve the quiet atmosphere of a small-town and a unique flowering of artistic masterpieces and romantic sceneries. The start of the pedestrian zone of Florence historical centre is just across the street; this means you will never need cabs or buses to fully experience the most romantic restaurants and wine bars of the city, stylish boutiques, clubs and magnificent squares that stage Florence’s traditional events. If you like to return to the room during the day for a little rest breaks, the central location of Palazzo Gamba will allow it without stresses.
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