Tag: travel

by jad

Portals (More from Vinci)

More views from Vinci. x Portals. x “I became fascinated not only by his art, but by his insatiable curiosity. He refused to stay within a single discipline, moving effortlessly between painting, engineering, anatomy, architecture, and science. Somewhere in my ten-year-old mind I decided that if I wanted to become an artist, I needed to go to Italy. Maybe even live there. I wanted to speak the language and learn the way Leonardo learned.” @christine.bingham.art on christinebinghamart.substack.com x

by jad

Vinci: The Vitruvian Man and Da Vincian Geometries

While we were in Florence, we took the opportunity to spend a day in Vinci, the birthplace of Italy’s canonical Renaissance Man and the town’s most famous “da,” Maestro Leonardo. There was something quite cute about the town’s embrace of all things Leo, and while some aspects of its three museums dedicated to his life and work felt a little Disneyfied, the overall effect showed a town that took art and education seriously. x We’d been warned that Leonardo’s childhood home was a long walk just outside of the main part of Vinci, with a steep incline and little shade, … Continue reading “Vinci: The Vitruvian Man and Da Vincian Geometries” →

by jad

Golden Hour with Florence’s Golden Boy

Another series showing the passage of time. After visiting the Uffizi, we passed by Palazzo Strozzi to get tickets for the Rothko exhibit later that evening. You can see how dramatically different @superflexstudio’s artwork look in the inner courtyard at those two times of the day. I’ll be posting more from both galleries soon. x This one’s for Christine for teasing me about butts in the Met. It also marks the moment when the skies cleared, and the city started to shake off its dreary overcoat. x Golden hour with Florence’s golden boy. x

by jad

First Impressions of Florence (Not Great)

My first impressions of Florence were not great. Not only was it the flashpoint of train disruptions for three days in a row, but actually stepping out into the fabled city when we first arrived there on that Tuesday felt a little weird too; it wasn’t exactly hot, but it wasn’t exactly cool either, and the clouds hung low, muting all the colors and making everything look kinda dirty and drab. And the people. Oh, so many people. It felt like there were way more people here than in Rome, all stuffed into the same few blocks as everyone else. … Continue reading “First Impressions of Florence (Not Great)” →

by jad

Assisi, and a Pasta Lunch About Empire

While we were still in Umbria, we took a day trip out to Assisi, the home of Saint Francis. Our main motivation was to meet up with Christine’s host family from when she came here as a WWOOFer, working on a farm for little bit while we still lived in Lebanon and she had to leave the country anyway to renew her visa. But she also really just wanted to see Assisi. I had zero expectations and was quite taken by the beauty of the area. We spent most of our time having a delightful pranzo with the older couple, … Continue reading “Assisi, and a Pasta Lunch About Empire” →

by jad

Perugia’s Underground City

One of the coolest things about Perugia is its extensive underground city, with Etruscan wells and Roman acropoli all stacked up on top of each other. This here is the Rocca Paolina, a Renaissance fortress built by Pope Paul III to flex his papal power in the region, that just happens to have a subterranean component because Il Papa had much of the area demolished to build the thing, turning ancient streets into underground passageways. And now, much of these are freely accessible from the Mini Metro station, which totally boggled my mind. x This series of photos represents one … Continue reading “Perugia’s Underground City” →

by jad

A Trevi-Certified Promise (On to Perugia)

After Rome, we went north to Perugia, the little Umbrian city that Christine had fond and formative experiences in before we met; it was quite touching to walk down the winding memory lanes in this medieval town with her, and since I had no points of reference or narratives of my own for this place, I found myself drawn to the Escher-like tangle of the urban fabric itself. There was something oddly satisfying about the way the layers of history here fit together all higgledy-piggledy like a complex contraption of stone and light. Walking around these narrow streets, I wondered … Continue reading “A Trevi-Certified Promise (On to Perugia)” →

by jad

Roma Cristiana: Unexpected Itineraries in Monti

Checking out this and that in Rome’s Monti neighborhood, where the ancient and the hip are in dialogue, like in Federico Russo’s artwork. x “We felt permission to be fully ourselves. To express what we thought and felt without apology. To embrace our interests without self-consciousness. To exist with our little quirks without feeling out of place.” @christine.bingham.art just wrote a great summary of our shared reflections on Italy’s mysterious “italianissimo” for us—check it out on: christinebinghamart.substack.com x “Unexpected itineraries…” x It’s hard not to notice that we had the most luck on our trip with the sites that Christine … Continue reading “Roma Cristiana: Unexpected Itineraries in Monti” →

by jad

Frame Within a Frame (The Fulgore Luminoso of Rome)

One of my favorite things about Rome is playing peekaboo with the famous landmarks, sometimes literally shouting out loud: “frame within a frame!” I have so many photos to share that I’m going to try this multiple caption option that Instagram recently rolled out. Swipe for more. This was the neighborhood we stayed in on our first half of our time in Rome. I took this on our first morning there. This was the neighborhood we stayed in on our first half of our time in Rome. I really loved walking around super early before anything was open. Jet lag … Continue reading “Frame Within a Frame (The Fulgore Luminoso of Rome)” →

by jad

The Museum of the Liberation of Rome

Vistas and views in, around, and from the original “Cap Hill.” x The Arch of Constantine near the Colosseum, inspiration for the Arc de Triomphe and all triumphalists for centuries to come. x If you ask me, it’s Golden Hour all day in Rome, but the setting summer sun does all the heavy lifting in travel photography. x On our last day, we went to the Museum of the Liberation of Rome, located in an apartment building at Via Tasso 145 that used to house the cultural offices of the German embassy, before being converted into an SS prison during … Continue reading “The Museum of the Liberation of Rome” →