The last one of the year!

I chose this photo to say good bye to the year. Piazza Bra is one of the most beautiful spots of the town, it's close to home and I pass here almost every day. The snow, a couple of weeks ago, made the square even more fascinating. I took this at the beginning of the snowfall, in the early afternoon.

I want to thank you all. Thank you for your kind comments all year round, thank you for your friendship. I wish I could have more time to visit all of you every day, your blogs are a treat to me and I enjoy so much to be in touch with the rest of the world through your photos.

Wishing you all the best for the new year, health - first of all - , love and a load of positive feelings. Peace to the world!

San Fermo #400th post!

Church of San Fermo, detail of the Saint on the southern portal.

Details on the wall

Details on the wall, Vicolo Torcoletto

Tower in the mist

Christmas shopping

Christmas Eve, Corso Portoni Borsari. D&G store.

Lights and drizzle

Piazza Erbe, Christmas Eve.

Stone Nativity Scene

This year the Presepe (Nativity scene) in the centre of Piazza Erbe is made of stone.

I want to thank you all, blogger friends for your kind, kind, kind support. I have been very busy lately (my hubby has a broken ankle...) and didn't visit you as often as I would have and I know just so well how the comments left by blogger friends are the greatest reward to our daily work.

I wish you a happy Christmas with your family and loved ones and the best for the new year: health, love and loads of new photos to share!

Just arrived!

A few days ago, when the snow began to fall...

What were they looking at?

This is the view that the couple in my previous post were looking at (Leif Hagen asked and here it is for you to see!)

Some of you pointed out that the "image" that most people have of Italy is definitely without snow and I can understand it, since Italy is always associated with sunlit views. I am therefore particularly glad to show you something different!

The snowfall went on for many hours and yesterday morning there were at least 15 cm of snow!

I had a long walk and took some nice shots, while yesterday I barely took any, so I won't be able to show you the "big" snow (some of you will laugh at it, I know...).

Now, please, forgive me if I post a second pic. I just want to show you what those lovers saw on

the opposite side of the bridge, during their romantic stroll through the snowflakes...

Cold

Garibaldi and the birds

Garibaldi and the birds, Piazza Indipendenza, last week.

Snow!

Yes, it's quite an event here. It didn't use to be but in the last couple of decades, according to the veronesi, snowfalls have become less in number and in snow height. For me, born on the sea shore of southern Tuscany, any snowfall is magic.

Saturday morning a white blanket of five centimeters covered the city. Not much for many of you but of great impact for us!

A glance on the river

Yellow and blue

Christmas trick!

Can you see that stick between the base and the top of the tree? It's the arm of the guy that was trying to catch and secure the top to the base...

Double reflection

San Zeno Cathedral's tower reflects twice on my car.

Art at the traffic light

Ponte della Vittoria

Via Torcoletto

Painting in a pink marble shrine. Via Torcoletto, Filippini district.

Santa Lucia

Santa Lucia is a very heartfelt day here in Verona. If you'd like to learn more, please read here

my post of december 13rd last year!

Last night Santa Lucia came to town on her donkey to bring toys and sweets to the children.

My little Elena (aged 4) and me prepared a tray with some biscuits and a glass of water for the Saint, plus a carrot for the donkey. This morning Elena run to the dining room to see if Santa Lucia had passed and found this:

Pink sky #2

Ghostly house

Back to the fountain...

I walked back to the fountain I posted the other day and noticed some beautiful colours...

underwater.

Osteria Sottoriva

Osteria Sottoriva is the oldest osteria of Verona. Three hundred years of history, back when the water lapped right outside the door and the clients were mainly the boatmen that worked on the river Adige.

The menu is typical: pasta e fagioli, pastisada de caval with polenta, Monte Veronese cheese, local salumi, vegs soup. Hard eggs and fried polpette (meatballs) are at the bar where you can to stand and have a good glass of wine, like those men, probably regulars who come for the "goto", a little glass of white local wine. No booking, no coffee, no commercial drinks (coke, sprite, etc.). A handwritten note (see between the lamps) says: servizio lento, slow service!

I love this place!

The Immaculate Conception

Madonna con bambino, Church of San Tomaso.

Today Italy celebrates the Immaculate Conception and it's bank holiday.

By the fountain

Filippini district

A quiet vicolo in the lovely Filippini district. Below is a little window whose green canvas curtain you can see here above on the left.

Christmas lights

Light globes, Via Roma.

Weekly market

Weekly market in Veronetta, behind the Church of Santa Toscana.

Souvenirs

Juliet's grave 2

Outside Juliet's grave.

Theme day: WAITING

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Lining up for the "Corot and the Modern Art" exhibition.

Palazzo della Gran Guardia, sunday afternoon.

"Corot and the Modern Art" Exhibition

I visited the "Corot and the Modern Art" yesterday at the Palazzo della Granguardia.

I was promptly informed that I couldn't take pictures of the paintings...so I had to make do with the yet beautiful hall. The title of the exhibition and some of the paintings were projected on the back wall, creating a spectacular view.

"...A great master of painting working at the heart of nineteenth-century France was closely tied to seventeenth-century European tradition and natralism, but also turned toward the birth of Impressionism and the experiences of the first avantgardes of the twentieth century"

Read more here.

A cuore aperto

"A cuore aperto", Open heart, by the veronese sculptor Piera Legnaghi.

Painted iron.

@Museo degli Affreschi courtyard.

Romantic walk

Via Roma, thursday early evening.

Glass of wine

I'd like to offer you a good glass of Valpolicella at the Enoteca Osteria Carroarmato!

This is one of my favourite places to eat a simple but delicious meal in a historical building. I love their massive and long old tables to share with others, in the big hall with its high ceiling and ancient wooden beams. This Osteria has been here for many, many decades and it is among the very typical ones in town.

The red umbrella

A dash of colour amid the yellow leaves. Piazza San Zeno, hazy morning.

Centuries of worship

Church of San Fermo, side entrance.

The church was built between 1065 and 1350 on a pre-existent smaller church built in the 5th century AC.

You can find more historical details here.

Public toilets

Public toilets sign, Piazza Bra.

Obsolete object

A Telecom telephone booth.

Silence

Raggio di Sole park, saturday afternoon.

Pizzeria, Fiat 500 and bella ragazza...

Italian icons...