Alessandra Zecchini: Lombardia

Showing posts with label Lombardia. Show all posts

Saturday, August 17, 2019

Memorie di Mantova

La sala dei giganti, Palazzo Te

Cavalli, Palazzo Te

Cappuccino e cornetti

Il Sole e la Luna, Palazzo Te

Palazzo Te

Musei Civici

Aperitivo, Lambrusco Spritz e White Spritz

Palazzo Ducale

Tortelli di Zucca

Casa Museo Palazzo Valenti Gonzaga

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Milano

What I like most about Milano is that it is full of hidden art. Of course there are the usual landmarks, not as many as in other Italian cities, but still landmarks, full of tourists.

Yet, for example, not far from the Duomo there is the impressive Villa Reale, which host the Museum of Modern Art, it is free and... empty! No tourists go there, they all look at the Duomo/Galleria/Last Supper, a few go as far as the Castle...

I highly recommend this place, The palace itself is beauriful, with lovely gardens, and there are some amazing paintings inside, like this Van Gogh Les bretonnes et le pardon de pont Aven, 1888-1890 ca. The last painting in the gallery is one of my favourite, which I didn't feel like photographing... it felt kind of wrong, don't know if you can understand what I mean, sometimes it happens when I am looking at something I really feel for. Anyway, it is here.

And if you look closely you find Art everywhere in Milan, and not just 'design', also alternative, pulsating, live art, like street art.

I find the one below very funny...

And of course I have to finish with a visit to the studio of painter Marco Teatro :-) One of the things I will miss most from Italy will be Art, Art with the capital A, and Art everywhere.

Photos by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Arrivederci Bergamo, and Polenta e Osei

Sometimes... actually no... very often, I visit an Italian city for the first time and I became completely besotted by it! It happened with Bergamo, which is not exactly a city on the tourist route, but to me it is definitely one of the prettiest in the North of Italy. Bergamo is divided in two parts, the Lower City (Città Bassa) which is more modern, with various administrative offices, shopping districts and elegant buildings, and the Upper City (Città Alta), which is a real Medieval and Renaissance gem. Here are some pics of the Città Bassa....

And then you can get a cable car of a bus and get into the Città Alta

Wikipedia says that Città Alta is an extremely expensive place to live in, with properties being sold for a minimum of 2,000,000 euro, but some of the most expensive and beautiful houses are on the uphill road towards Città Alta, some of them being old villas with lovely gardens.

Città Alta

A typical sweet that you can buy in Bergamo is Polenta e Osei, (Polenta cake with birds), The cake is not actually made with polenta, but only to look like polenta! The birds are made with marzipan rolled in cocoa, I found this video with a lovely version of Osei (birds), it is in the Bergamo dialect, but easy to understand. I found the recipe, but only in Italian, here, a bit involved really, maybe I'll just go back to Bergamo and buy some!! Arrivederci Bergamo!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Going to the lake to eat gelato

Much to explore in the Valley! The other day our friend Martina took us to Lovere, a truly charming small city on the lake Iseo.

And because it was a warm sunny day we sat down for gelato on the lake front. Now, when I go to places like these I dream to have an ice cream place in New Zealand. We really miss it: young and old, men and women, families and groups of youngsters, all sitting at tables and eating lovely ice cream concoctions, which don't look artificial and over-coloured artificially. And the gelato quality is, of course, excellent!

But I don't know....would it work in NZ? Would Kiwis sit down for 30 minutes (or more) to eat an ice cream like Italians do? Would they make it into an outing like the do here? Would they pay for it? These were about NZ$10 each, very big and with whipped cream and fresh fruit (almost a meal), and served in a lovely cafe with tables on the lake front. The place was quite full even if it was just a Wednesday afternoon and not the week-end.

Maybe I should start a gelato appreciation society :-)