Urbino

Along the eastern coast of the Italian Peninsula, east of Florence (but over the Apennine mountains) is the hill town of Urbino. It's not easy to get to as one has to take the train to Pesaro (home of the composer Rossini) and then take a bus for an hour into the foothills. However, once you get there, you are rewarded with a beautiful setting and a buzzing University town. Urbino was the home of Fedrico de Montefeltro, who in the 15th century was the Duke of Urbino and because of his great leadership and treatment of his soldiers he gained great wealth and success as a mercenary army. It's what he did with that money that is his lasting legacy. Even though he made his money in war, he spent it on cultivating and patronizing art and architecture. He created, at its time, the largest collection of books outside of the Vatican. Urbino, also the birthplace of Raphael, was independent until the 1650's when it was incorporated into the Papal States and then eventually passed into being a part of the Italian Republic during the Risorgimento of 1861.

You all recognize this famous portrait of Montefeltrano by Piero della Francesca. It's actually housed in the Uffizi in Florence.

The view up into the countryside and mountains outside Urbino.

The skyline of Urbino. The Ducal Palace of Urbino is that large building to the right of the Duomo.

Need a city wall? Just build it straight up the hillside.

The tower of Urbino marks the center of town, Piazza della Repubblica.

The city cemetery and Montefeltro's tomb is on a hill off in the distance. This hill is also home to a famous kite festival the first Sunday every September.

"FED VX" is Montefeltro's stamp.

Inside the Ducal Palace is the National Gallery of Le Marche (the latter being the region of Italy in which Urbino now lies. From this frieze above the door to the palace apartment, you can see the Duke had a sense of humor.

Wandering through the gallery, I saw this and wondered, is the baby giving us the finger?

This is probably the most famous painting in the gallery, "Flagellation of Christ" by Piero della Francesca. The painting is done on wood of all things, and the wood is bowing. In addition, I have to say that I really like della Francesca's style of painting. It's clean and simple and easy to read.

"The Ideal City" by another painter

The absolute highlight of the palace is the Duke's study. It is completely inlaid with wood.

This closeup of a parrot shows how each piece was cut and placed on the wall individually.

The subject matter of the whole room is items referring to the liberal arts. Books, scientific and musical instruments, etc. The Duke was definitely a man of the Renaissance.

This inlaid door shows the two major parts of the Duke's life, the fortress representing war and the palace representing his love of the arts and his patronage of it. Note how the "FED VX" is only on the palace. A sign of where his true interests lie. I have to give credit for this interpretation to the Rick Steves' guide book.

Above and Around Venice

I arrived in Venice in the evening and wandered through the city following the signs and instinct as to where I should want to go. This was what I saw as I crossed the Accademia Bridge. What a welcome to the city.

In the Venetian lagoon, there are many small islands. A quick vaporetto ride takes you to places like Lido, Murano, Burano and Torcello. Along the way, you can see the remnants of what was.

The island of Burano, with the beautiful pastel houses, is known for its lacemaking. Those of you who know me should guess that I skipped it and was only there to transfer to a boat to take me to Torcello.

At one time, the most developed island, Torcello now has few residents, but a few great Byzantine churches and one great campanile from which to see the islands as what they were before being built up.

The Venetian cemetery. It’s actually GORGEOUS.

The Arsenale, what looks to be a body of water within the city, is a ship building area, which now, I believe, part of the Italian Navy complex.

At the mouth of the Grand Canal is the Customs House. In the days gone by, ships would have to sop and pay taxes and customs, the source of Venetian wealth.

Venice Around Piazza San Marco

The heart and pulse of Venice is Piazza San Marco, or as Napoleon called it, “Europe’s Grand Drawing Room.” Venice was an economic and political power because it controlled the seas, specifically the Adriatic and the Mediterranean. The Venetians, in my mind to put it simply, were in the import and export business and made money off of it. It was at the crossroads of the East (Byzantium and Asia) and West (Europe). I’m a bit shaky on the history, so I’ll leave that for others to fill in on their own, but what I do know is that Venetian supremacy began to wane after the Americas were discovered and the trade began to flow to the Atlantic and the Mediterranean was no longer the center of the world.

Piazza San Marco houses The Correr Museum, which has a great history of Venice. Here’s an old map of Venice from the 1500’s.

As we all know, I am obsessed with Augustus. Venice was a part of the Roman Empire and archeological digs have found items that are from that time. Here’s a picture of a coin issued by Augustus.

In the late 3rd century AD, the Roman Empire was starting to fall apart. Diocletian split the Empire into eastern and western halves and installed a tetrarchy. This porphyry statue of the four tetrarchs is placed in at the corner of St. Marks. Check off seeing another piece I’ve studied in Art History.

The most powerful man in Venice (and thereby probably the world at the time) was the doge. Chosen from one of the significant Venetian families, he lived here the palace..

It’s must have been quite a sight to be a visitor to Venice and see this building as the home of the great doge

The columns seem a bit short, eh? It’s due to the fact that Venice is sinking and so the ground has been built up around the base of the columns.

This is the grand entrance to the doge’s palace.

At the top on the left is Neptune. Doesn’t Neptune look EXACTLY like Paul Newman?

The doge’s palace was the residence of the doge, but also the political center and hall of justice. A prison was built across a small canal from the doge’s palace and so when a person was convicted, they were walked to the prison over this bridge. Someone stated that the convict’s walk included a “sigh” as they faced their imprisonment.

Next to the Doge’s Palace is St. Mark’s Basilica. Note it’s not name a church because it is built with a Byzantine central plan

This is a painting of what St. Mark’s looks like without the clutter that now stands in front of it. Note the three lateral domes. What you can’t see is that there are three domes going away from the viewer as well.

Looking inside, you can see the three naves. The amazing gold mosaics are phenomenal and totally Byzantine. By the way, I know (by way of the Rick Steves' book, how to avoid the line getting into St. Marks.)

The gold is to sparkle and stun the viewer, just as it did here as I was at St. Marks and rays of the sun shone through and lit up the basilica to a color and glow that a camera simply could not capture.

Walking Around Venice

On the first morning in the campo outside my rooming house, I ran into the Shaker Heights marching band playing a concert. Those of you who also are on Facebook know that I welled up at both the American and Italian national anthems.

The Grand Canal is crossed by only four bridges during its two mile meander through Venice. The newest one links the train station to Piazzale Rome, which is where the buses park. It was designed by Calatrava and opened only within the past two years.

Moving downstream and within sight of the Calatrava bridge is the Scalzi Bridge (or Bridge of the Barefoot).

There is a long gap between the Scalzi and Rialto bridges. When I was taking my vaporetto ride along the Grand Canal, I found this building to be particular to my liking.

The Rialto Bridge

The Accademia Bridge, the one closest to where I stayed and the one I used most often.

Chiesa San Giorgio and its campanile are on an island at the end of Venice and across from Piazza San Marco. The view from the top of the campanile is much less crowded and cheaper than from the campanile in San Marco. I suggest it to those of you traveling to Venice in the future.

Wandering the streets, I ran across the church in which Vivaldi was baptized.

Being as Venice was the composers birthplace, there were many concerts in his honor. I went to one the first night I was there and enjoyed myself. The second night, I went back but for some reason the group raced through “The Four Seasons” as if were trying to get it done with in half the time. Unfortunate.

Can anyone help me figure out how to read this clock?

The Venetians, being the great businessmen that they were, were tolerant of Jewish residents, but only to a point. The Jews were the bankers and lenders and because of them were instrumental in the economic growth of Venice.

The Venetians required that all the Jews live in a fenced in area near the foundary (geto in Italian) thereby giving us the modern term, ghetto.

Because the Jews were confined to a 3 square block area, they had to build up, not out. Therefore, the tallest residential buildings in Venice are in the ghetto.

Here’s an active synagogue which has police protection at all times.