One of the interesting lost sites within an hour of Orvieto we made a Camera Etrusca excursion to the hermitage of Ripatonna. Much of what is now known as northern Latium north of Rome on the borders of Tuscany was until the 1930s a veritable wilderness. Saracen pirates had scourged the area and malaria had […]
etruscan, Italian hidden treasure, Italy, Italy hidden treasure to photograph, not just photography, photo trip, photographic set, Ripatonna Cicognina, Tuscany
Rome is known as the Eternal City and no city on earth has a comparable wealth of ancient ruins. The tireless documentor of Roman ruins Piranesi (1720-78) made a good living selling his topographical images to visitors on the Grand Tour. But whereas Canaletto used lenses and the camera obscura to ensure that his views […]
Castelgandolfo, emissario, Italian hidden treasure, lake Albano, not just photography, photo trip, photographic set, Piranesi
Bill Emmott the former director of The Economist and long term thorn in Berlusconi’s side since he was unsuccessfully sued for libel after the magazine’s front cover said he was unfit to lead in Italy back in 2001, has made a film. The documentary about Italy and its ailing economy and woeful politics is called […]
bill emmott, economist, girlfriend coma, Orvieto, video about Orvieto
St Patrick’s well is one of the sights of Orvieto. And one of the places we always visit. It’s dark so a tripod is handy. The life of an Italian prince in Renaissance Italy was pretty dangerous and no less so for the clerical prince known as the pope. In 1527 after Rome had been […]
Orvieto, sangallo, St Patrick well
The Barabbata Festival is held every year on 14 May on the shores of Lake Bolsena in the fishing village of Marta near Viterbo. The festival is a catholicised re-enaction of pagan rites of spring and consists of parading a portrait of the Virgin through the town and up to the church at the top of […]
barabbata, festival, Italy, lake Bolsena, Marta, pagan
Most people only know Orvieto in the summer and this summer was exceptionally hot and dry. And then the rains came….. This was the scene of devastation seen from Albernoz Castle on Monday 12 Nov, 2012. Scores of cars lie submerged in the station carpark. Businesses and homes are devastated – the damage is estimated […]
Etruscan city, Italy, Orvieto, Umbria
In an out of the way corner of southern Tuscany, about 45 minutes from Orvieto, is a town perched on a volcanic ridge – one of the most evocative sights of Italy – Pitigliano Little Jerusalem as it is popularly known. George Dennis, the noted Etruscologist, described it thus in 1847: Pitigliano is a place of […]
jewish cemetery, jewish ghetto, jewish italy, jewish tuscany, little Jerusalem, Pitigliano, sinagogue
A photography workshop in Italy could not be based in a more appealing place than Ovieto, the most beautiful hill town in all Italy. It stands on its high rock plateau in Umbria, on the borders of both Tuscany and Latium. Orvieto is an ancient city going back to pre-Roman Etruscan times, on the top […]
hill town, Orvieto, Orvieto cathedral, Orvieto Classico, St brizio chapel, St Patrick well, William Turner