We made it to Ravenna, our first stop....it's my most favorite city in Italy
This is the Basilica San Vitale and the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
Street scene
Teatro Alighieri
Dante's tomb...
Inside...
And for a few years he slept under that pile of leaves...at least that's what tourguide Mel told me :)
This is my most favorite shot...we were just walking down the street and I looked through this big open door and that's what I saw....this photo gives the same feel that all of Ravenna had for me.
The tower of Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
San Giovanni Evangelista (I think)
I had some fun with my camera's color settings...
Piazza del popolo, Ravenna
Cafe Alighieri was my favorite stop....we made a friend there...Oh and Italian hot chocolate often times is more like hot chocolate pudding :)
I found an old Fiat 500....so now you know what my friend Lorenzo's car looks like (only his is prettier)
I've heard of "diet" and I've heard of "zero" but this was the first time I ever heard of "light" Coca Cola.
Waiting for the bus on our way to Venice
Sixteen years of waiting to visit Venice definitely paid off!
Our group: Sophia, Mason, Corey, Mel, Me and James
Our attempt at "jumping" photos turned out as "retarded" photos...
Venice was on Saturday and on Sunday we went to Verona:
Sunset in Verona
Juliet's balcony...
Apparently it's good luck for your love life to feel up Juliet's statue...so....
A moonlit walk through Verona was beautiful
Mel and I came back to San Benedetto on Monday and on Tuesday we went to the open-air market then took a walk on the pier. This yacht is my favorite one in the harbor.
This is the motto for San Benedetto del Tronto: "Work work work, I prefer the sound of the sea."
The statue of San Benedetto (Saint Benedict)
The pier was covered in huge boulders that had been carved into artwork
And again I had fun with my camera's color settings
The harbor
The pier
The craziest drinking fountain I have ever seen, haha.
This one is for you Monica ;)
More color fun
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Our pancakes from last night...
I'm begininng to think that maybe this stupid little papagallo should be named Bloody Mary, see what he/she did to my fingers this morning
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My friend Lorenzo took me to see a little town called Tortoreto (in English that's "dove") The view was beautiful....this photo shows you Europe's largest bridge...sorry it's blurry, I was freezing - as usual..
This is Tortoreto's most important cafe, it's been there forever!
These are the flowers are called Mimosa blosoms :)
My host family and I made a roadtrip up to Torino....did you ever wonder where your pasta comes from?? :)
I love birds so I had to take a photo of them as well as the pasta plant.
After 7 hours in the car we finally made it to Torino! Love the Baroque-ish architecture!
We were so ready to get out of the car...
The hotel we stayed at had an ally way full of graffiti...really really good graffiti!
Our hotel of choice
Everything is little in Italy, even the kitchens sometimes
Our first night in Torino we walked around all the shops and the main piazza...there were constellations and I thought it was cool...but I was freezing so again, sorry it's blurry.
This street went on FOREVER and was jam-packed full of people shopping!
I don't know the name of this church but it was right off the street shown above...the outside doesn't suggest the inside would be this beautiful!
The main piazza
That night we went out for pizza for dinner...just so you know, when you eat in Italy, you eat for 5 people....and you eat what's put in front of you because if you don't it means you didn't like it....needless to say I do have a permanent food baby. Everything is delicious!
More graffiti outside our hotel, including some of the artists
Back at the main piazza
The palace of the first king of united Italy
Inside they only let you take photos of the main entrance...so this is all I've got to show how spectacular the inside was.
Remember how I said my friend Lorenzo took me to see Tortoreto...well we took his 1984 Fiat 500, it was so tiny! My battery died before I got a photo of it but here's what the modern version of the 500 looks like.
Somewhere in Torino
This tower, la Mole Antonelliana, is the "trademark" of Torino and is actually taller than the Eifle Tower.
Random street shots
Approaching la Mole
Inside la Mole is the International Cinema Museum, so naturally, our dramatic flare came out just a touch.
Before we went inside the cinema museum we went into the RAI museum (RAI is Italy's national Radio/TV station) I kinda have a thing for antique equipment
And I might have coveted this record player, just a little...or a lot.
I found this particular piece of art amusing :)
One thing I've learned since before I actually arrived in Italy is that Italians like to express themselves! (which I think is good by the way, but balance is key)
A university courtyard in Torino too bad my university isn't this pretty
Italian styled Mickey D's!
Another random street shot
We went to the world's 2nd largest display of Egyptian artifacts...most of which were mummies and statues
Like I said, expresssion! (For those of you who don't know this is Berlusconi, the head of Italy...I have yet to meet an Italian who likes him but somehow he recently survived a no-confidence vote.)
We finally went inside the museum, and the very first thing we did was get on an elevator...I didn't know what it did, I just thought it went to the first floor. Oh no. It was a glass elevator that went all the way to the top of the tower, hanging only by cables. (the inside of la Mole is mostly hallow, with a ramp that winds up around the outermost wall.) As the elevator went shooting up into the roof all the windows were let down to make the ceiling dark and a whole bunch of different colored lights came on and then cinema images began to dance across the ceiling....It was the coolest thing ever, I felt like I was in Willy Wonka's glass elevator! The view from the top was amazing:
Coming back down in the elevator...no flash and bad light made it blurry, sorry. Those specks, closest to the bottom of the photo are recliner chairs.
Some photos from inside the museum...
My favorite poster
Yes. They have Star Wars in Italy :)
At another palace in Torino
So, the second coolest experience ever. During our walk through this (huge) palace I couldn't understand anything because everything was in Italian and nature started calling so I tried to backtrack to the last bathroom. The security guards wouldn't let me and said I had to go through the rest of the exhibit. Since I had to go I was booking it and not really looking at the rooms. In each new room I tried to find the bathroom and when I couldn't I asked the guards and they pointed to the next room. I finally got to a room that looked like a dead end and no bathroom. So I asked the guard and she pointed at some closed curtains. I assumed the bathroom was hidden behind them so I started walking towards them. Just as I got to them the guard swept them aside for me and I found myself standing at the end of this massive grand hall! (it's 80 meters long...that's about 240 feet). I was the only person in there beside the guard and it was so quiet except for the sound of my footsteps. I literally felt like a princess (I know I'm cheesy, but it was the coolest feeling)...anyway, here's the hallway:
Most of the grounds(garden) walls were made out of coral and shells
The palace from the grounds(garden)
On our way back to Villa Rosa we stopped in Bologna...all the buildings were this reddish color and according to Fiorella the politics are red too (meaning communistic). Aureliano also told me it's the biggest city for the Mafia's drug running. I didn't really feel so safe there but it was beautiful!
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While Giorgio was away on a camping trip Fiorella and Jenny re-vamped his room...he loves physics and mathematics and he was really happy when he got home and found this on his wall.
Fiorella and I went for a long walk on the beach so I had to take some photos...
We had Bernardo with us and he made a friend...she reminded me of my first dog when I was a little girl...Katie.
Bernardo was crazy happy on the beach...I could almost hear his thoughts, "I'm FREEEE!!!!"
I love his ears in this photo :)
More beach scenes
When we got back, Giorgio's friend and his mom brought their little dog, Mongi....he was so cute, and hyper....Bernardo didn't like him so Aureliano played peacemaker.
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This is the local hot spot that everyone likes to go to for anything from groceries to snacks. Serafina is the name of the lady who runs it. She's about 90 years old and last year she chased two burgalers off the premises with a big knife in hand.
My host family got a papagallo (love bird) for Christmas/New Years....Aureliano and Giorgio want to name him, or her "Bloody Mary" but Fiorella and I are determined to call him "Pavarotti" He's really shy so I had to take the photo from inside the house...
Sophie and Me outside the Ascoli Piceno cathedral.
The inside the main cathedral of Ascoli Piceno was so grand and beautiful, it was breathtaking.
Carlo Crivelli painted this altarpiece in 1473...Madonna with Child and Saints
In the basement of the cathedral there was a beautiful mosaic...I tried to capture the beauty and detail of it but the lighting was bad and my equipment minimal.
I'm not sure what this is, but it looked like a long hallway of tombs to me...just a little creepy.
Piazza del Popolo, Ascoli Piceno, Italy - It has been here for thousands of years.
Inside there are the excavated remains of a paved road and buildings that were used sometime during the Roman Empire. I just thought that was amazing!!
The Monumental entrance of Julius II in the church of San Francesco...
And of course, the street scenes were ever European so I had to photograph some.
Sophie, her brother JuanPablo, Giorgio and I all got Caramelle, hard candy shaped like coal...I think it will take me the whole year to eat it because it's too hard to chew (I've tried).
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This is my friend Jeans...He's a little bit cross-eyed, haha.
And of course then there's Bernardo...he's a sweet dog, but annoying sometimes.
For New Years Eve we went to a Hotel nearby where Aurelio was playing.
Since he was the entertainment for the evening he and his family got to enjoy the 6 course dinner for free (it cost everyone else 60 Euros) It was delicious but I don't think I've ever eaten that much! Giorgio, Fiorella and me at dinner...
Of course there were fireworks everywhere...
Alot of them were right on the beach....the street and parking are very different here.
We even did some of our own :) Well, Aureliano and Jenny did them, and I watched.
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The first few days I was here (before Christmas Break) I went to school with Fiorella. They had this beautiful nativity set up in the main lobby...of a PUBLIC school. I loved it.
For Christmas Eve all of Aurelio's family came for dinner, we had 3 tables set up and they were overflowing with people. I think we had 30 people in this house. It was wonderfully beautiful!
Oh and we had a keg of beer...it was a Christmas gift from one of Aurelio and Fiorella's friends. SO GOOD....your glass smelled like bread when you finished drinking.
When you look to the North, you can see the snowcapped mountains...
And when you look to the South, you see the sea...
We went to the market in San Benedetto del Tronto and it just wove through all the houses, appartments and shops...I loved the architecture I saw.
