Vulci & Orbetello (aka Vern makes the blog)

A hearty welcome to my friend Vern N. who arrived this past weekend and he and I have had access to a car and explored many parts of northern Lazio and southern Tuscany. On this day, our first stop was Vulci, which is an Etruscan excavation site.

Out in the countryside, what looks to be just a high plateau.....

....turns out to be an Etruscan city from the 7th century BC. Much of it still needs to be excavated, but here is what is probably an entrance into the city.

This wall is some 2700 years old.

This picture is specifically for MOM!!! Notice that I'm wearing the shoes? They are now comfortable.

The Etruscans logically built Vulci on a plateau that had natural defenses, one side is bounded by high cliffs and this beautiful lake, which I hope to come back and swim in sometime soon.

The Etruscans constructed this bridge to easily access areas away from their city.

The area in later times (1200's) was a retreat for popes, who built this castle to defend something of which I'm not really sure or why.

Vern makes the blog!

After Vulci, we headed up along the coast to the "blob" jutting out from the coast. I've always looked at maps and wondered what was there, so we drove to the town of Orbetello which sits right next to Monte Argentario. It's an hour from Viterbo which is located on the right edge above the triangles.

The coastline -- gorgeous, as it seems the entire coastline of Italy is.

Someday.....

Above the town of Porto Santo Stefano was a wildfire.

That explained why so many helicopters and planes were buzzing around.

The helicopter makes the water drop.

Add one to the "Italian Men" series.

Palladian Villas of Vicenza

Look familiar? Maybe the back of the American nickel? This is Antonio Palladio's "Villa Rotunda" outside of the city of Vicenza. It looks familiar to us now because his style of total symmetry and putting the first floor up on a pedestal and with a dome has been copied ever since.

We see the Greek style pediments and columns. The very high ceilings of the first floor and the living quarters on the second floor all capped by a dome.

Palladio's works are scattered through northern Italy and he is known for country villas, like we see here. Urban Palazzos and churches. I would show pictures of the former except I ran out of battery charge on my camera and took photos with my phone but I don't know how to get them off of my camera.

Outside from inside.

This is the Villa Valmerana ai Nani (of the Dwarves).

This photo (pilfered from Wikipedia) shows the last Palladio design. It's the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. Built in 1585, right at the tail end of the Renaissance, notice the 3D perspective (Renaissance) of the set. The first show here was of Oedipus Rex and the stage is meant to show the Roads of Thebes. They have preserved ever since.

If I ever get the other photos off my phone, I will post them.

Verona (Opera Festival)

Back in June, the last stop on the Mom/Dad/Ernie Italian tour was the city of Verona. When I was there, I saw that each summer the city holds a world famous Opera festival in it's Roman Arena. I made a point to go back and see some opera upon return to Italy and this past weekend, I made it happen.

Romeo and Juliet, that's what we think of when we hear Verona. The biggest tourist draw of the city is the supposed home of the hypothetical Juliet. The home is on the street of "hatmakers."

Supposedly, if you are single, if you rub the breast of the statue of Juliet, you will find love. Umm, Dad, you're married.

Here's a plan of the city. It's placed strategically at the bend in the Adige river. And the gridded street pattern......Roman.

Castel Vecchio at sunset.

Piazza Erbe

The Roman Arena is here in Piazza Bra. It's original stone from the Roman Era and is actively in use.

The first of two shows I saw was Carmen. Here's the set.

An hour before show time, dark clouds moved in!

Three minutes into the performance, DOWNPOUR!! It was quite fun watching the dressed up women sprint for cover. It took about 45 minutes for us to restart.

Some fellow spectators and I took cover underneath seat covers. After the second start it rained again. Then it rained a third time.

Here's the actual staging. By the fourth start, it was midnight and we actually got through 15 minutes of the opera AND we finally saw Carmen. But it rained again, Carmen threw up her hands. And the show was canceled for the night.

It's a bummer that Carmen was canceled because I knew the story and the music as well. The second night, Turandot, was a different story. Although the sets were elaborate and amazing, the music didn't sound much more like screeching. At this point, I'm on the fence about opera. But, I think it's going to take an amazing experience to get me to the "fanboy" side. I'll stick with American Broadway musicals.