Picture of Italy
Caption: a road trip in Italy
Caption: In June 2014 I left for a short trip through northern Italy. I traveled by train and I visited Verona, Padova, Ferrara and Ravenna. Traveling by train in Italy is very tiring due to the bad condition of trains...but the beautiful places I've seen in this road trip totally repay the effort. Here are some special details of the cities I've visited.
Picture of Juliet’s House
Caption: 1 Verona
Juliet’s House
Caption: Here are some graffiti just outside Juliet's house, next to the main square, Piazza Erbe.
The passage that leads to the courtyard is entirely covered with this kind of graffiti and love letters left by many visitors.
Picture of Giusti Garden
Caption: Details at Giardino Giusti. Over the centuries it has been visited and celebrated by many famous people who have walked in the shade of its trees: from Goethe to Emperor Joseph II, through Cosimo III de' Medici and Mozart.
Picture of Padua
Caption: 2 Padova
Padua
Caption: Padova seen from the astronomical observatory at sunset... It's something special! The astronomer Galileo Galileo lived in Padova from 1592 to 1610, he observed the sky from here.
Picture of University of Padua Botanical Garden
Caption: The Botanical Garden of Padova was founded in 1545 and it is the oldest university botanical garden still located in its original location. Here is a detail of the Storace tree.
Picture of Via Boccalerie, 5
Caption: While in Padova, you should take a break and have a meal at "Boscia Billi Bistrot", located in Piazza della Frutta. I suggest you the Toast Bistrot, with ham, Brie cheese, anchovies and shallot.
Picture of Piazza del Santo
Caption: The legend says that the famous "aperitivo" Aperol Spritz has been invented here in Padova. So why shouldn't I take one in the main square, Piazza del Santo?
Picture of Diamanti Palace
Caption: 3 Ferrara
Diamanti Palace
Caption: The most important characteristic of Palazzo dei Diamanti is the facade, shaped like diamonds, which give the name to the palace. The approximately 8,500 blocks of white marble veined with pink create valuable perspective effects due to the different orientation of the tips, oriented differently depending on the location in order to capture the best light.
Picture of Birraria Giori Dal 1881
Caption: After you finish visiting the Castello Estense , you should go have lunch at "Giori - Birrria e pietanze", which is located in square Savonarola. I ate my piadina in the outdoor gazebo, built in Art Nouveau style. It's a beautiful place with very tasty food!
Picture of Mausoleo di Galla Placidia
Caption: 4 Ravenna
Mausoleo di Galla Placidia
Caption: These are some of the amazing mosaics you can see in the mausoleum dedicated to the empress Galla Placidia. The mausoleum is in the list of sites Italian Heritage by UNESCO, within the serial site "Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna."
Picture of Ravenna
Caption: Life is like riding a bicycle: in order to keep your balance, you have to keep moving.
Albert Einstein
Picture of Basilica di San Vitale
Caption: The external walls of San Vitale's Basilica are particular, due to their many archs...but they're nothing compared with the interior, where you can see many mosaics and where the light plays with the architecture.
Picture of Pasticceria Mosaico
Caption: Next to the Basilica and the Mausoleum, you can have a nice meal at "Caffè Mosaico": piadina with ham, Squacquerone cheese and chicory is something special!
Picture of Ravenna
Caption: This is the picture I took of the last dinner I had in Ravenna: a Squacquerone cheese tart with fig compote and brioche-bread. Yum!
Picture of Teodorico Mausoleum
Caption: So here we are at the end of my trip: this is the Mausoleum of Theodoric. It's the most famous funeral construction of the Ostrogoths. It was built around 520 by Theodoric the Great as his future tomb in Istrian stone.
Italy
Caption: Thanks for reading! _______ #wanderlust #italy
