The province of Treviso is my ancestral homeland, on my father’s side. The medieval city with its walls, moat and canals has a unique charm. I spent three hours this morning walking through the city. The Gate of St Thomas on the north side of the city was completed in 1518, and the cathedral is …
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An extremely green building
Not far from my hotel in Milan is an area filled with well designed new skyscrapers. This 25 storey building has been designed as an urban vertical forest, covered in shrubs and bushes equal to what would cover an entire hectare of land. Aside from this, a lot of other buildings appear to have enormous …
Wallaby Australian Pub
Magenta is a town on the railway line just outside Milan. It is also the location of the Wallaby Australian Pub. I visited yesterday and had a beer and a chat with the owner, an Italian chap who has owned it since 2007 (it’s been there since 1994) and has fond memories of drinking Guinness …
Milan – Melbourne’s classier sister city
This is my third day in Milan and I must say that I love this place. It is a living city, where the modern sits perfectly with the past, ie the fascist era, Risorgimento, renaissance and medieval buildings. In many ways, it is similar to but classier than my home city Melbourne, which has a …
Turin’s ‘Borgo Medievale’
When I was 6, my grade one class went on an excursion to Montsalvat, the artist colony in Eltham which looks rather medieval. I’ve never been back, although I occasionally ponder it – they probably have luthiers there but not coopers, and I have more need for a cooper than a luthier. I did not …
Turin’s Oktoberfest debacle
I went to Oktoberfest this evening in Valentino park. Whilst it was meant to start around 6.30pm (this is me giving benefit of the doubt as I suspect the advertising said 6pm but am not certain), the beer did not start flowing til after some inauguration ceremony featuring a band and some people addressed up …
Squirrels!!!!
In Valentino Park today, I saw squirrels! This is quite cool as I have never seen squirrels before. Sadly I think these are American grey squirrels, an invasive species. This is a positive mark on the ledger for Turin.
The trouble with Turin…
I’ve been quiet for a few days because I’ve been pondering about what I really think about Turin. Finally I’ve decided I don’t like it. Whilst Turin dates back to ancient times, being a settlement of Cisapline Gaul visited by Hannibal on his way to wage war on Rome, there are very few ancient ruins …
Church of St Luca
This beautiful church is subject of a pilgrimage from the city of Bologna up a nearby hill every Easter. The area commands amazing views of the city. It appears to me that green copper coated domes are a major thing here in Bologna.
The chalice from the palace…
Chalice is not really used in common parlance. It’s a quaint word from another time. If you’ve ever heard it, I bet it’s probably in the final act from the Danny Kaye classic The Court Jester: ‘The vessel with the pessel Has the pellet with the poison The chalice from the palace Has the brew …
Lost For Words! 