Reflections of Italy Alphabetically - Part 3

I have been busy this past week typing up, cutting out and taping captions onto the backs of my photos from my Italy trip.  After 15+ trips to Europe over the past 40 years I think I need a different way to organize photos.  I have decided to buy some decorative boxes (hope to find some at Ross or a similar store) in which to store photos.  I will have one box that will contain all the photos from the most recent trip - this one being my Italy trip.  Other boxes will be organized according to places rather than trips and years.  I will go through my stack of past photo albums, which never get looked at anymore, will choose my most favorite, will write the date and place along with a short caption on the back of each and then put it in the box dedicated to that city or country.  I think this will make it easier and less bulky to store photos than keeping them in albums.  We'll see how that works!

So, today I will finish my "Reflections of Italy" posts using the letters "Q - Z".  I had to get a little creative for some of these letters, as you will see :-)

Q -
Questionable driving in Rome! (the first of my creative labeling!):  What is it about Italian drivers?!  Driving in Rome - or rather watching the driving in Rome as I wasn't doing any of it (thank goodness!) - is like the driving I've seen in Paris.  There are often wide streets without any lane designations so drivers make up their own lanes.  Traffic lights are green (go as fast as possible), yellow (go even faster) and red (only a suggestion!). 

R -
Romans and Rock:  I think the two must go together!  The Roman Empire was built, quite literally, on the foundation of the ancient "tuffa" rock which is the bedrock (forgive the pun) of Italy.  The Romans were geniuses at cutting perfect squares and circles with which to build their temples, arenas, aquaducts, roads, arches, etc.  Did you know it was the Romans who invented cement?  That's why so much of the ancient Roman structures are still around today.  And then, of course, all the marble and travertine that was used for sculptures and churches well into the Middle Ages.  So impressive still today.

The San Biagio Abbey built of local travertine

An example of Roman carving in the Forum

The Roman Colosseum

S -
Scarves:  everyone wears them - men, women, children.  It's part of the European culture and somehow they all know how to pull it off effortlessly while we Americans have a hard time just wrapping it around our necks and hoping it somehow looks OK.  I bought 2 lovely scarves in Italy and will try to be European :-)
Sculptures:  everywhere you look in Italy you will find sculptures, some of which date back to the Etruscans who predated the Romans.  Every square, piazza, church (inside and outside), government building, even street corners are decorated with sculptures - of actual people, Biblical people, mythological people and creatures, animals, birds, plants.  I love that art surrounds you in Italy.

A sculpture by Michelangelo in Sienna

A sculpture by Donatello in Venice

Smart Cars:  Rome was filled with them!  I've never seen so many little Smart Cars in all my travels.  They are so handy in the big cities because in a parking situation where it might require parallel parking, the Smart Cars can just pull right in!  Plus, when gas is close to $6.00 a gallon (equivalent to) it makes sense to drive something that is gas efficient!
Saints:  so many saints - everywhere - every church is dedicated to a saint.  Every little town (or big city) has their patron saint.  There are patron saints for every occasion and possible disaster.  I think it is perhaps a comforting thought that there is a particular saint looking out for you.  Most people living in a predominately Catholic country will be given a saint name at birth and then they get to celebrate their "Saint Day" along with their birthday.

T -
Tuscany:  that beautiful province that is south of Florence and north of Rome going down the center of Italy.  Tuscany is known for its wines, olive oil, marble, alabaster, abbeys and sunshine! 

The beautiful, almost sculptured, Tuscan countryside

A view from one of our walks

Terraces:  While not as abundant as in France, I still noticed that many of the apartments and townhouses in villages had terraces where the occupants grew flowers, herbs, and potted trees.  The Tuscans take advantage of the presence of sunshine most of the year.  The dogs and cats enjoyed the terraces, too!

A most lovely terrace in a Tuscan town

Taxis:  I don't think I've taken many taxis in the US, but we took quite a few taxi rides in Rome.  The metro in Rome is not very big.  They only have 2 lines because as they were digging below ground to put the metro in they kept running into ruins!  Imagine that!  So there is a lot of walking between major sights in that big city.  It was just easier and faster to take a taxi.  Here one also gets a sense of that Italian driving mentality.  Hold on for dear life!!  It's one grand adventure! :-)

U -
Can you say "Uscita"?  It sounds like "oo sheet ah" and it means "exit".  It was fun practicing all the Italian words.  I'm pretty good at figuring out pronunciations and can read Italian and sound like I know what I'm saying!  But I don't speak it other than a few phrases.  I WISH I could speak Italian as it is so melodic and expressive.  A beautiful language!
Uffizi Gallery in Florence - this is a former Medici palace and is now a museum which houses the most important paintings of Italian artists for the past 500 years.  If you are a painter, this is a must see place for you!

V -
Venice - one of the most magical cities in the world!  In the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, Venice was one of the powerhouse city states of wealth and influence anywhere in Europe.  You can still get a glimpse into its "golden age" as you cruise down the canals and wander the little streets.

Cruising the Grand Canal in Venice on a vaporetto

An entryway into the Doge's Palace in Venice

Vaporettos - these are Venice's public transportation.  Like taking a bus on a city street, these are boats that carry 50-60 people at a time up and down the canals.  There are no cars or any motorized vehicles in all of Venice which makes it much quieter than any other city in Europe.  Like I said, "magical".
Vineyards:  what a joy to have walked through and passed by so many vineyards and to see the fruit hanging heavily on the vines and to see the workers as they cut and gathered and processed the grapes.  The ordered and well tended vines on the hillsides spoke to the importance of this crop as a national treasure.

The well-tended straight rows of vines

The orderliness of a healthy vineyard in Tuscany

W -
Walled towns:  Every little hill town that we walked to or through or around had a magnificent wall.  These were necessary in the Middle Ages as many battles were being fought for control - the Florentines against the Venetians, the Guelphs against the Ghibelines, the forces of power and wealth vying for more land to prove their power and wealth.  The poor little towns were at the mercy of whoever had the stronger army and greater weapons.  Walking through those towns was walking through history.

The walled hill town of Monteriggioni

X -
"X" marks the spot: (another of my creative attempts here!)  How useful this would have been on a street corner in Venice where we were often lost!  Just a little map that says "here you are" and shows the closest street to get you back to Saint Mark's or the Rialto Bridge.  So glad that Ken (we called him "Ranger Rick") had his compass.  I would look at my map and say we need to go north or south (or east or west) and he would point me in the right direction!

Y -
Yummy food!:  (creative, no?!)   I remember only one bad meal on the entire trip.  It was at a very crowded restaurant in Rome and some of our group actually got up and left part way through.  But everything else was fabulous.  We even tried some local specialties like the wild boar stew which we all thought was wonderful.  Meats were cooked just right, pasta was perfect, pizza was the best ever and the seafood was unbelievable.  The Italians know how to eat!

Z -
Zed:  this is how Europeans say the letter "z" and I think it is quite charming! 
Zeus was changed to Jupiter by the Romans:  Zeus was the chief god in Greek mythology.  It's interesting to me that the Romans "borrowed" the Greek gods and myths and changed most, but not all, of their names.  The temples to Zeus in Greece and the ones to Jupiter in Rome were always the largest to honor the most important of the gods.

I hope you've enjoyed my alphabetical reflections of Italy.  I've enjoyed putting it together for you.  Besides finishing the captions for my photos this past week I also started reading my instruction book on house sitting.  I will probably share some of that info with you in future posts.

Thank you for reading my blog and commenting on the posts and telling me how much you have enjoyed them.  It means so much to me!  And thank you for joining me on my journey.  It's all part of the process  - deadlines met and deadlines changed.  But the important thing is to have plans and to have something to look forward to.  What is there just around that next bend?  I'll  be sure to let you know!