Italy in watercolor:paint me a picture
 

I'm interested in knowing: what are THE images/sights/sounds that stand out to you from visiting Italy?

I am so excited to go this summer, that I want to hear about the greatest images and sensations that stand out in your head (like mental photographs). What do your thoughts linger over in your past travels through Italy? What do your senses long to relive? Consider what moments will live for eternity in your heart and mind... what embers lie in your heart any moment to awaken and beckon you back to a paradise on earth?

It's not just limited to images of course, but also sights, sounds, smells, tastes, etc... Paint me a picture, what are your best and favorite memories of Italy? Think of it as writing a short poetic image. It can be a single word, you don't have to play, but I hope you will.
Is any one game??

Thanks!
Patricia

Here's something I rarely ever try: terseness...

Valpolicella
La Serenissima
Piazza della Repubblica
Lingua polisillabica

Auguri...

Rex

the view of sangiovese vines in mid-october from our room in Chianti

the look of Venice before us as we exited the train station and caught it in view for the first time


the rain pouring down through the occulus in the Pantheon during a rainstorm

Siena during the mid-day

Montepulciano at twilight

the Pantheon image remains with me. It was mid-day and a deluge was upon us. We tucked into the Pantheon and a whole experience unfolded.


I forgot to mention..the re-dedication of the Church of St Agnes in Piazza Navona in Rome. We stumbled upon beautiful voices and the church filled with flowers and candles aglow.

One of my favorite recollections is being in Venice and attempting to get back to the hotel as the tide was coming in. The "streets" were flooding and it was great fun finding our way back without getting our feet wet.

Entering Venice by water taxi:

"Ah, but there is nothing like speeding across the lagoon in a shining power launch--the wake soaring behind you; the breeze in your hair. Watching Venezia spreading larger and larger before your eyes as you race along.

Be sure to stand in the boat and wear your sunglasses--as a fleeting image of the ordinary, ragged riff-raff slogging along with their cardboard suitcases in the alilaguna cattle boat passes across your mind.

Perhaps a white, silk scarf flowing in the wind. Ah, Marcello! Ah, Sophia!

But seriously, if you can afford it, the water taxi is the only way to enter Venice. My first visit to Venice was with my parents in 1960--a daytrip that was totally unsatisfactory, hurried, hot, crowded, a blur. But in 1996, as the water taxi sped towards La Serenissima, I thought that this visit would be very, very much different.

And when, all of a sudden, the driver cut the motor back and we glided into a feeder canal, the old buildings hovering about us, flower boxes overflowing with color, passing a campo with some children kicking a soccer ball and an elderly couple walking hand in hand with their grocery bags--then I no longer thought this visit would be diffent. I knew it would be so."

Hi Patricia,

Most poetic question I have yet read.

The David at the Accademia in Florence.

Venice - exiting the train station with the glittering Grand canal in front of you - an image never to forget.

Assisi - we were sitting on our little balcony at sunset in September - the sky was shades of the most beautiful soft pink.

The rolling hills of Tuscany in March -driving from Sienna to Pienza - soft and gold and yellow, with the sky a bit smokey which just added to the softness.

Assisi again - we returned late from a reastaurant to our Hotel near Paizza del Comune. It was so quiet - just when we reached the Hotel, the old lady cleaning the rooms was opening the back door to enter, and smiled and waved at us - no sound - only movements and the friendly silence.

Where to begin, there is so much beauty in Italy.

Walking out of the metro in Rome and there across the street my first view of the coliseum.

Sitting on the veranda of our hotel in Sorrento and looking across the blue waters of the Bay of Naples to the dark silhouette of Vesuvio.

Walking through Pompeii and Ercolano in my sandals, wondering about those in sandals that walked before me.

The lemon trees and citrus scent so many places in Sorrento and Capri.

The almost dreamlike view along the Amalfi Coast from Sorrento to Amalfi, with the azure waters on one side and the houses clinging to the cliffside on the other.

Seeing the Pieta, David, Michelangelo's slaves, the Birth of Venus, Primavera, and realizing the beauty you had previously only seen in pictures.

Going to San Francesco Church in Sorrento accidentally during a wedding. There were baskets of rose petals outside the doors, which would be thrown at the newlyweds when they emerged.

Beautiful Venice even when it's pouring rain.

The jaw dropping experience on first viewing the Duomos in Florence and in Milan.

The Ponte Vecchio in Florence and Ponte Rialto in Venice, both with shops and bustling crowds crossing.

Hearing the water softly slapping the sides of your gondola as you float along the canals of Venice.

Sorry I got so carried away, but you did ask. Look almost anywhere PatriciaV2 and you will be treated with wonderful sights.

P.S. You didn't mention "tastes." Wine, pasta, cheese, gelato, immediately come to mind.

PatriciaV2, I had been to Italy two years ago, 9 days on the Amalfi Coast and a quick trip to Rome. I just returned for a week in Florence. So I had seen coastal and island beauty, the Pieta and Sistine Chapel, the Colosseum and the Vatican. But nothing, absolutely nothing, prepared me to see Michelangelo's David for the first time. THAT was the moment that said to me: "You are in Italy now." I was moved to tears, and just had to sit down and absorb him for about 20 minutes...it is inexplicable.

For the other senses:
Smell -- lemon groves on the Amalfi Coast
Sound -- the accordian player and guitarist who strolled through our restaurant in Sorrento one dark night
Taste -- gelato, gelato, gelato...and anything with gorgonzola cheese!

Our last night in Rome, we ate at an outside table a small restaurant right across the street from the Pantheon. The sun was setting and the Pantheon was lit up for the evening. There were a few people playing musical instruments (trying to get money) and the fountain was going. The setting was fabulous.

Another fond memory was just sprawled out on the Campo (main square area) in Siena with a nice double-scooped gelato cone. The weather was gorgeous and there were pigeons everywhere. The church bells started ringing and at that moment I almost had to pinch myself to believe that I was in such a wonderful town in Italy! Siena is such an enchanting medieval town and sitting in that spot I could almost feel all the history that took place there.

The late afternoon sun giving a glow to ocher colored buildings while I sit with a prosecco watching impeccably clothed toddlers eating gelato, not spilling a drop.

If you can notice any colors at all with all the smoke, exhaust fumes and shock by all the bad attitudes people have. I'm sorry but I'm not an Italy fan.

Standing at the top of the tallest tower in San Gimignano around 10am, watching the clouds roll in and fill in all the valleys, olive groves and orchards of Tuscany that lay before us. Within a half hour it was completely covered and we looked down on a sea of white. The other is just the feeling you get when you step into centuries old cathedrals, the calm and serenity that fills your soul..and least it did for me and I'm not even a religous person.

That's interesting, I had no experiences with bad attitudes while there...and never had a problem with fumes. I guess when you're walking around a city you would expect that.

It was a beautiful spring evening in Narni, a hill town in Umbria. We were visiting during their annual festival. The rest of my group had gone to a special medieval dinner in one of the competing neighborhoods, but I was feeling a little off, so stayed in.

I watched the sun set from my 2nd story apartment terrace, overlooking a bustling piazza, and in the distance, the rolling hills of Umbria. I can see the diners in the restaurant on the piazza, and hear their laughter and the tinkle of their wine glasses as they toast the festival. The sounds of the cars and revelers down below seem almost melodic. I see the neighborhood grocer, who always has a big smile for me every morning when I stop in for a bottle of water, close up shop and shuffle away.

Nearly every building has a flag representing its neighborhood hanging from it, and the flags gently flap in the breeze. To the right of my terrace is a narrow, stepped sidewalk with a landing partway up. On that landing, that neighborhood is putting on some kind of skit, complete with medieval costumes and flaming torches. I watch for a while, then decide it's getting chilly and time for bed.

As I get up from my perch on the terrace, the window on the building next door opens, and a little old woman, dressed entirely in black, reaches out to pull her shutters closed for the night. She sees me, nods, and softly calls, "Buona sera" before disappearing into her home. I responded in kind and go inside, content in a magical night.

Our first trip to Italy last fall provided us a lifetime of memories. Stepping into a water taxi to see Dick Clark and his wife sitting there and after that initial excitement experiencing a breathtaking sunset as we cruised to our hotel.

The look on my husbands face in Venice- Always smiling !(We quickly forgot the 12 hour plane delay and lost luggage)

The two days in Sestri Levanti we were forced to practice our Italian because we encountered no one speaking English.

Bottle of Asti Spumante from Hotel in Rome for my husbands B'day.

History,Art,Architecture

The day started off with the long train ride from Venice to Florence. It began to go downhill when, pulling our rent-a-bus (huge, 9-passenger Fiat Ducato) out of the car rental location, I crunched the side of our vehicle into the wall of the building, which had about 2 centimeters of clearance on either side.

With my stomach churning, I fumed all the way on our 2 hour drive to Umbria. Miraculously, we arrived at our hotel in the charming little town of Spello without further mishap. While my wife, our friends, and our son who'd accompanied us busied themselves settling into our rooms, I was too wound up to relax, and decided to explore the town on foot, alone. It was approaching dusk when I came upon a deserted, winding residential street...more like an alley really, barely wide enough to accomodate one small car. It was dead quiet, not a person, or a pet, or automobile in sight. The road was composed of a silvery, shining gray cobblestone, which glistened in the receding late afternoon sunlight. Medieval period homes, each meticulously cared for, many with handsomely carved wooden doors, lined each side of the road, which kind of meandered off into the distance.

I stood there transfixed for what seemed like a very long time. The fire in my gut, resulting from the fender-bender earlier in the day, was extinguishing itself, and I felt only peace and relaxation...yes, I was back in Italy.

I snapped a picture, and I sometimes gaze at it, losing myself in the moment, watching that road wander off into eternity... it feels like a window to a simpler place and time, back there in my dreams.

The date was May 5, 2003. How's that for a picture?

Wow! These are great. I haven't read them all yet, because these past 2 days have been hectic and I want to savour all the wonderful and joyous moments that people have experienced fully. The ones that I have read are really creative and innovative! Keep them coming....and, you know, I can almost smell the lemon trees!

Thanks again!
Patricia

I agree, Patricia; I never wanted to visit the Amalfi Coast, but those lemon groves might be the temptation I cannot ignore. And Larry M's Spello has me looking at my map. This is a wonderful thread for those of us who are presently landlocked. J.