Roman details

Porta Borsari, detail.

You can read more and see other photos of the Borsari Roman portal here

The Mille Miglia

As I am writing this, I can still hear the roar of the cars passing on the Stradone San Fermo, just round the corner!

The cars of the Mille Miglia endurance race, like every year, passed through the city centre: a great show of the most beautiful classic cars. I have snapped a lot of photos but unfortunately only a few came out acceptable. The fast movement of the cars made my work really difficult and quite frustrating...

The Mille Miglia has earned the reputation of being "the most beautiful classic car race in the world ... read more!

Marc Quinn: "Kate Moss on thursday"

Cast against the roughness of the ancient marbles of the roman Porta Borsari, "Kate Moss on thursday" by english sculptor Marc Quinn, steals the attention of passers by and causes a stir in the sleepy artistic panorama of Verona.

This is one of the three works already on exhibit in Verona; more will come in a few weeks at the House of Juliet that will host a complete exhibition of sculptures and paintings.

I am so excited, I can't wait! 

Pinocchio again!

..."Once upon a time, there was a piece of wood...."

As we all know, Pinocchio is one of the most famous italian characters, worldwide. I have already posted about Pinocchio twice, see here.

I couldn't miss it, though. This huge Pinocchio stands on the doorstep of a very nice shop of children clothing and seems to be saying 'hello' everytime I pass. In fact, I walk under this portico quite often, it's just attached to the Porta Borsari. 

I am very fond of Pinocchio, I still have my own little one my mummy bought me on a schooltrip to Collodi, almost thirty years ago. My daughter's been playing with it a lot and one wooden arm is gone...

Porta Borsari

Almost every day I walk under these arches and I hardly notice it. Now that I am handling this photo I take a closer look and realize how special this construction is.

It was built in the first century AD over a pre-existing gate dated first century b.C. The Via Postumia (ancient highroad built in 148 b.C., it ran from Genoa and in Cremona it spread in two branches: one ran to Aquileia - Venice and the other ran north to the Brenner Pass, through Verona) passed through this gate!
The gate's current name derives from the guard soldiers which were paid the fee to enter in the town (Latin bursarii).

I have heard that during the terrible flood of 1882 the water reached such a high level that the rescue boats couldn't make it through the arches!

Today I was honoured to receive the Kreativ Blogger award from Nobu of Funabashi Daily Phone Photo



Thank you so much Nobu, I am happy to have received the award from someone I admire and whom I consider a source of inspiration.
My duty now is to list 6 things that make me happy and 6 blogs worth of this award.

These are six things that make me happy:

1 My family, especially my little daughter
2 Meeting people, knowing their stories
3 Natural beauty, wildlife
4 Reading
5 Taking photos
6 Thunderstorms

6 blogs worthy

1 Cavite Daily Photo by Stephen
2 Menton Daily Photo
3 Sari (Iran) Daily Photo by Danial
4 Santa Fe Daily Photo
5 Lost in Sicilia
6 Sidney Meanderings