Italy Videos

The reality of the Trevi Fountain in Rome.  It is located at the connection between three streets in the city.

In Orvieto, I noticed that there were birds constantly flying around the Tower of Maurizio.

Part of my serenaded gondola ride in Venice

 

Preparing the opera the Verona Arena

Verona Photos

The Arena was built in the first century AD in Verona when it was part of the Roman Empire.  While it was left to ruins in the Middle Ages, at the start of the Renaissance, its cultural significance led to the preservation of the structure.  The restoration and care has allowed it to be in use even today as a theater for operas and Shakespeare plays inspired by Verona's connection to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

This second largest arena (behind Rome's Coliseum) used the same ticketing system with numbers at the top of each arch to indicate the entrance to be used by ticket holders.

In ancient Rome, the Arena was used for gladiator battles in the same way as other structures throughout the empire.

While it was outside of the original city walls during the Roman Empire, as the city grew in the Middle Ages, it expanded to surround the Arena.

The Arena is still used today to host shows.  When I visited Verona, the stage crew was moving set pieces into place for an upcoming opera.  The large pieces are stored in the square behind the Arena and they used a crane to place the pieces over the walls of the structure.

Many sections of the original Roman city walls are standing and can be seen among buildings and along streets where the city grew around them.

Piazza delle Erbe is a market square that has has open air market stalls that have been selling foods and other goods since it was known as Domus Mercatorum in ancient Rome.

Many of the buildings have statues, reliefs, mosaics, or paintings of the Virgin Mary on their corner. This was commonly used as a means of protection and as a blessing on the home.

Venice Photos

Venice was a republic for centuries before becoming part of Italy in the 19th century.  Because of their access to the sea, Venice controlled the trade through the Mediterranean Sea during the Middle Ages.  This made the city extremely prosperous and powerful as they controlled goods and created a sea empire with control over many islands and coastal cities throughout the sea region.

The Doges Palace was the seat of political power in the city.  Upon entering the palace, there is a large courtyard that has a view of the dome of St. Mark's Basilica.

In the center of the courtyard is a well.  This well was used in medieval Venice to collect rainwater for drinking as the water of the canals in Venice are brackish with a mixture of fresh and sea water that does not allow for the water to be used for drinking.  The wells are no longer used as Venice was connected to fresh water from the Alps through aqueducts in the mid 19th century.

The ambassador's stairway was created to impress visiting dignitaries as they enter the palace.

The doges and his councilors met in this chamber covered with artwork that symbolized the trade goods available through Venice, including cloth, spices, jewels, stones, and metals.

The "throne" of the doges and the six seats of the council that was always present with the doges when they met with dignitaries or other political leaders.  The doges was always pictured as kneeling in artwork like the painting above to demonstrate that they answer to the people of Venice.

More than 200 members of aristocratic families made up the parliament and voted on the doges that were selected for life - usually from an elder member of the parliament to prevent them from ruling for too long.

The view of the lagoon from the Doges Palace.

As part of the government system, the Doges Palace was also the court house.  The palace was connected to the prison by a narrow bridge.  Below is the passage to that bridge.

The passage was known as the Bridge of Sighs and the only view that prisoner had of Venice was through windows like this one.

One of the larger prison cells, this would have held a dozen prisoner with cots for beds.

A view of the bridge from the palace

The bridge is far to the back of this picture.

St. Mark's Square is next to the Doges Palace.  The bell tower below was rebuilt after the first tower collapsed.

The building that wraps around most of the square was once used as a palace by Napoleon when he conquered Venice in the early 19th century.

St. Mark's Basilica is decorated in marble and tile mosaics in the Byzantine style that was influenced by the eastern areas that had once been the Roman Empire.

Inside, much of the tile work in the mosaics was made with glass tiles that were covered with gold leaf in a skill that the Venetians picked up in the east from their trade and travels throughout the Mediterranean Sea. 

A view of St. Mark's Basilica from the other side of the square.

I took a gondola ride through the lagoon and along the canals with a singer and accordion player.  Video of the performance can be seen on the video page.

There I am, holding on as the waves in the lagoon rocked us drastically back and forth!

The outer island of Venice is Burano, a quiet village of fisherman and lace makers. 

On the way back from Burano, we took a boat ride through the lagoon and passed many smaller islands that have since been abandoned.  Those below were part of a monastery and was surrounded by newer, man-made islands that are being created to fight the increasing incidents of flooding in Venice to break the waves of the lagoon. 

Florence Photos

In the heart of the Renaissance city, is the Baptistery of St. John which may very well be the oldest structure in the city.  Originally an ancient Roman temple to the gods, it was converted into a Christian building in the middle of the 11th century AD.

The golden doors face the cathedral and were opened after a baptism to provide entrance to the cathedral to the newly baptized.  In the Middle Ages, those that were not baptized, were not permitted to enter a cathedral, so they considered the space between the Baptistery and the cathedral to be the path to paradise.

The cathedral is to the left of the Baptistery.

The cathedral contains multiple domes for the chapels within it on either side.

The exterior of the cathedral was decorated with three colors of marble in the mid-19th century when Florence was named the temporary capital city of the newly formed country of Italy while the country worked to separate the Italian and Vatican controlled parts of the city of Rome.

In addition to the three marble colors, there are mosaic scenes over the entrances.

The bell tower was built later and was not attached to the rest of the cathedral.

The final dome was installed long after this portion of the cathedral was completed.  The technology to create a dome this size did not exist and the roof was left open until it was determined that the dome could be completed with a double layer process with a small inner dome as well at the outer dome.  It was built with bricks one ring at a time and built in place.  This was dangerous as the workers built the dome without any scaffolding by hand placing the bricks one on top of the other with each ring slightly smaller than the one below it.