GRAND VOYAGE ITALY
  • Piazza
    • Older Posts
  • Travel
    • Our Family's Voyage
  • Cucina
  • Culture
  • History
  • Style
  • Photos
  • Videos
    • Music Videos
  • About
    • Survey
    • Links
  • Shop 🛒
  • Piazza
    • Older Posts
  • Travel
    • Our Family's Voyage
  • Cucina
  • Culture
  • History
  • Style
  • Photos
  • Videos
    • Music Videos
  • About
    • Survey
    • Links
  • Shop 🛒
We're All About Italy

Fotos

Scolapasta Solar Art: Capturing the Eclipse with a Colander

8/24/2017

Comments

 
Most people watched the recent solar eclipse through pinholes projecting tiny images on a piece of paper. Or they wore very dark orange eclipse viewing filters, looking like they were about to watch a 1950s 3-D movie. My son and I built a large projector using a pair of binoculars that gave us a crisp 4" large image to view. But the most interest method is the way Italian Nonnas might have used in to view eclipses in the past... just go in the kitchen and grab a scolapasta--a common colander. You'll have to agree, the varied patterns of holes make for some great eclipse art... some of which look absolutely astronomical!
Comments

Gardens of Italy: The Labyrinth at Villa Pisani

8/19/2017

Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Between Venice and Padua you will find one of the most beautiful maze gardens in the world... the Villa Pisani in San Pietro di Stra. The villa and garden labyrinth was built on the banks of the Brenta river, by the rich and powerful Pisani family in 1722. Its nine concentric circles are formed by 900 boxwood hedges with a tower in the center with a confusing double helical external staircase. The labyrinth has an ancient origin in the myth  of Theseus and the Minotaur being imprisoned in the labyrinth of the Knossos Palace on Crete. In the Middle Ages such labyrinths represented the struggle of life with Faith guiding us through. One can also look at the  labyrinth at Pisani as getting oneself lost in Love...

Picture
Picture
Picture
Comments

Swimming the Tiber River in Rome?

8/17/2017

Comments

 
Picture
A dive into the muddy waters of the Tiber
When my father was a boy, he and his brothers swam in the Hudson River... brown on some days, green on others, always polluted from industries up river. He lived to be 86. Similarly, in Rome people often took a swim in the muddy, polluted Tiber River, even though it has been polluted and undrinkable for many centuries. Today, the river always runs green. The saying, "swimming the Tiber" or "crossing the Tiber" at one time became a metaphor for a Protestant converting to Catholicism. Today, it is illegal.... swimming, I mean.
Picture
Sunbathing teens
As the rivers nears Tiber Island adjacent to Trastevere, fallen trees, debris and other flotsam don’t escape the pressures of a low-head dam. A swimmer drowning in the Tiber would more than likely be discovered stuck in the dam. Paddling or swimming the river nowadays is a fools game...
Picture
Severino Beach
Comments

The Irreverent Street Art of Italy

8/9/2017

Comments

 
Picture
Graffiti is as ancient as the cave walls of Lascaux in France when man put strange images in the walls and ceilings. They have found political graffiti on the ancient walls of Pompeii. I even saw graffiti on the walls of the dungeon where Joan of Arc was held. In New York City back in the seventies, the subway cars were so covered with colorful graffiti their windows were useless.

Nowadays, in cities around the world, a new type of more sophisticated, artistic graffiti has morphed into what many consider a type of public, urban fine art. I'll admit to having issues when I see the more inartistic, random "tags" plaguing the walls of historic architecture in Cities like Rome. But there are artists that are really making a statement--whether political or simply surrealistic--on the aging walls of Italy. Many of the artists have received accolades in both the fine art world and cult circles: Clemes Behr, Herbert Baglione, MOMO, Banky, Alice Pasquini, Sten Lex, Augustine Lacurci, Jerico and Hitnes.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Comments

Gardens of Italy: Isola Bella, Lago Maggiore

8/7/2017

Comments

 
Picture
Picture
Isola Bella is found on Lago Maggiore in north Italy just 1500 feet from the town of  Stresa. A mere thousand feet long, it contains a small fishing village, a grand palazzo and one of the most formal and beautiful Italianate gardens in all of Italy. Begun in 1632, the rocky islet was transformed with the construction of the palazzo and gardens. Forty-nine years later the gardens were completed. Isola Bella is a popular tourist attraction, with a regular ferry service from Stresa, Laveno, Pallanza and Intra. It plays host to the annual Stresa music festival.

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Comments

Vieste and the Legend of Pizzomunno: the Gargano Peninsula, Puglia

8/4/2017

Comments

 
Picture
The Pugliese town of Vieste has a unique geographical location at the end of a rocky peninsula called the Gargano in Puglia. The white houses in Vieste give a Voyager the feeling that they are in Greece--in fact, the Greeks, Saracens and Slavs all influenced the  history of this town. At either side of the town are long sandy beaches, one with a large white rock monolith over 80 feet tall called Pizzomunno (lacy beard). The white cliffs in the surrounding landscape contain many grottoes, weathered rock formations and sea arches, created by the action of wind and waves on the calcarerous rock.  Some of the best beaches and grottoes are best seen by boat. This is one of the most picturesque beach areas in all of Italy with the most pristine water environment.

If visited during summer, the hotel and lido beach club adjacent to the beach at Pizzomunno will offer loud music and lots of resort types... Better to enjoy the natural environment during the off season when the hotel and lido are closed.
Picture
Picture
Picture
The Legend of Pizzomunno
Every day Pizzomunno--a handsome, strong fisherman--went out into the sea to fish, and every day beautiful sirens tried to seduce him with their songs. They even offered him immortality and the honor of being their king. But Pizzomunno always returned to his lover, the beautiful Cristalda. One night, as the two lovers were together on a small island, the sirens kidnapped Cristalda, pulling her down into the depths of the sea. Pizzomunno could not save her. The scorned mermaids' vengeance was yet to be satisfied... the next morning he was found on the beach, his enormous strength and anguish transformed into the white pinnacle we see today. Legend says that once every century, Cristalda rises from the abyss for one night to join her young lover again.
Picture
Picture
Comments
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Ancient Italy
    Animals
    Architecture
    Arts & Crafts
    City Life
    Country Life
    Fine Arts
    Food
    Fotos Del Passato
    Fotos Di Finzi
    Gardens
    Historic
    Holidays
    Humor
    Immigrants
    Italian-Americans
    Italian Lifestyle
    Learning Italian
    Lifestyle
    Memes
    Natural Beauty
    Nostalgic
    PhotoTips & Reviews
    Religion
    Travel
    Trend
    Vehicles

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2025
    January 2025
    November 2024
    August 2024
    January 2024
    December 2022
    May 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017

Copyright 2014 - 2024 by GrandVoyageItaly.com
Picture
  • Piazza
    • Older Posts
  • Travel
    • Our Family's Voyage
  • Cucina
  • Culture
  • History
  • Style
  • Photos
  • Videos
    • Music Videos
  • About
    • Survey
    • Links
  • Shop 🛒