Italy
Vittoria Hotel, Sorrento
Bougainvillea flourishes along the coast. The flags made me think of the Olympics.
Sorrento
...looking across the Gulf of Naples to Mount Vesuvius...
Il Vallone dei Mulini, Sorrento
..."Deep Valley of the Mills"... dates from about the 10th century and was abandoned in the 1860's.
pool at Conca Park
L'Antica Trattoria, Sorrento
Linda had an eggplant dish here that she said is one of the best things she's ever eaten.
Taylor in Sorrento
These would be the last photos of her with the braces. They were removed the week we returned home. She's standing in front of the bougainvillea in frame 1 above.
bus to Anacapri
Taylor was so unnerved by the ride up a constricted, serpentine road overlooking the cliffs and water that she refused to ride back down. Several times at tight curves we backed up to allow oncoming vehicles clearance. So-o-o...
Capri
...we walked down. Capri has its Phoenician Steps--built by Greeks--and Rome its very different Spanish Steps.
Capri
Like us, a number of people were walking DOWN the Phoenician Steps, but I saw only one very fit young couple going UP.
Pompeii pano 1
Pompeii was buried in 79 AD when Mount Vesuvius erupted.
Pompeii pano 2
Pompeii is vast and to explore it thoroughly would require days. The ash still permeates; Taylor was surprised how dirty her sandaled feet were by the time we left. Far better that than the high heels we saw one woman wearing for such treacherous terrain.
Pompeii pano 3
Vesuvius is considered active; it last erupted in 1944. This is the most densely populated volcanic region in the world.
Pompeii pano 4
Piazza del Popolo, Rome
Dea Roma stands between the Tiber and Aniene Rivers; the wolf suckles Romulus and Remus. Yet another Neptune Fountain is located here.
Fountain of the Obelisk, Piazza del Popolo, Rome
The obelisk was brought from Egypt in 10 BC and moved from the Circus Maximus in 1589. Four lion fountains were added in 1818.
ItalyRomePiazza del PopoloFontana dell'Obeliscowoman in the red dressFountain of the Obelisk
Trevi Fountain, Rome
...of "Three Coins..." fame, completed in 1762...
ItalyRomeFontana di TreviTrevi Fountainla dolce vitaMarcello Mastroianni
Trevi Fountain, Rome
ItalyRomeFontana di TreviTrevi Fountainwhich one will the fountain bless
Fountain of the Four Rivers, Rome
...of "Angels and Demons" fame, with "Ganges" shown. It was dedicated in 1651. I could have spent several days with the fountains.
ItalyRomePiazza NavonaFontana Dei Quattro FiumiGian Lorenzo BerniniFour Rivers FountainAngels and Demonslong exposure
Neptune Fountain, Rome
...the Piazza Navona, with Sant' Agnese in Agone and Four Rivers Fountain (obelisk). Here Neptune wrestles an octopus; in Florence he girl watches.
ItalyRomeFontana del NettunoNeptune FountainPiazza NavonaSant' Agnese in AgoneSophiala dolce vitaarrivederci RomaFour Rivers Fountain
Piazza Navona, Rome
Quiriti Fountain, Rome
Built in the 1920's, the women were thought to be strumpets and were covered for church-related observances.
ItalyRomeItaliaRomafountainFontana della Piazza dei QuiritiQuiriti Fountain
St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City
Vendors do a brisk business in summer selling paper shawls so women can properly cover to enter the church.
Swiss Guard, Vatican City
Those uniforms can't be comfortable on ninety degree days. They're actually the multi-colored ones with which you are familiar, but they photographed white here through an infrared anomaly. White would probably be cooler.
Arch of Constantine and Colosseum
...from the slope of the Palatine Hill...
ItalyItaliaRomeRomaArch of ConstantineColosseumPalatine Hill
Arch of Constantine
Dedicated in 315, this triumphal arch celebrates Constantine's victory over Maxentius in a civil war struggle between competing emperors. It is model for the Arc de Triomphe du Caroussel at the Tuileries in Paris, and it served as the finish line for the marathon in the 1960 Rome Olympics.
ItalyItaliaRomeRomaArch of ConstantineArc de Triomph du CarousselOlympics
Arch of Titus
...at one end of the Via Sacra, Main Street of the Forum. It was built in the first century and the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile in Paris echos it.
Arch of Titus
"The Roman Senate and People to the Divine Titus Vespasianus Augustus, son of the divine Vespasian"... Before he was emperor, Titus conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the (Second) Temple in 70 AD, an event depicted inside the arch (the menorrah visible in the previous frame); his "divinity" is entirely suspect (explained with the following frame). By most accounts he was an exemplary emperor and the first to succeed an emperor father.
ItalyRomeArch of TitusRoman ForumVia SacraemperorSecond Temple
Arch of Titus
Edward Gibbon: "A regular custom was introduced, that on the decease of every emperor who had neither lived nor died like a tyrant, the senate by solemn decree should place him in the number of the gods; the ceremonies of his Apotheosis were blended with those of his funeral. This legal, and, as it should seem, injudicious profanation...was received with faint murmur, by the easy nature of polytheism...[and] as an institution, not of religion but of policy... Under the mild administration of Titus, the Roman world enjoyed a transient felicity, and his beloved memory served to protect, above fifteen years, the vices of his brother Domitian." The merits of the history notwithstanding, few could wield the English language at Gibbon's level.
ItalyRomeArch of TitusRoman ForumVia SacraemperorSecond TempleEdward GibbonDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Roman Forum
Archaeology and preservation are perennial works-in-progress.
Roman Forum
Tiber
...looking toward St. Peter's Basilica from Ponte Umberto 1
ItalyItaliaRomeRomaTiberSt. Peter's BasilicaMichelangeloPonte Umberto 1Ponte Sant'Angelolong exposureHadrian
St. Peter's Basilica
This is the same perspective as the previous frame, sans infrared and fisheye. A few seconds during the opening credits of "Roman Holiday" is also this view. The dance in the movie was on a barge moored beyond the boat landing. Michelangelo designed the dome, completed after his death. The bridge dates from 134 AD, which leads to Hadrian's tomb. A young German couple approached me here to photograph them with the church in the background, which I was happy to do. The young woman clambered onto the bridge's balustrade and reclined into a coquettish, 1950's-type cheesecake pose, incongruous with the church but charming nonetheless.
ItalyItaliaRomeRomaTiberSt. Peter's BasilicaMichelangeloPonte Umberto 1Ponte Sant'Angelolong exposureHadrianRoman HolidayAudrey Hepburn
Palace of Justice, Rome
Palace of Justice, Rome
Palace of Justice, Rome
...trying to keep cool, but no shade...
ItalyRomestatuePalace of JusticePalazzo di Giustiziaarchitecture
Piazza Cavour
Piazza Cavour
Piazza Cavour pano
...across from the Palace of Justice... The theater is decorated for a Spiderman movie. A couple of streets behind the theater at 52 Via Ennio Quirino Visconti is Ristorante Ambasciata di Capri. It was so good we went twice and recommend it unequivocally.
ItalyRomePiazza CavourpanoramaTeatro AdrianoRistorante Ambasciata di Capri
Hotel Leonardo, Rome
