Trip1, part3 - Vincenza and Verona

As we approached Vincenza we stopped by one of the Villa's by Palladio.  The owners are actually American, and only use it part of the year and they give tours occasionally.

This is a photo of the back of the Villa.  The front was getting some restoration done.

Here is the most famous of Palladio's villas, The Rotunda.  It is only open for tourists 2hrs on Wednesday and Saturday.










This is an interesting work by Palladio.  The original medieval basilica has passageways through it that are not spaced evenly.  Palladio, wanting to use symmetrical elements(being driven by classical styling).  You can see the (commonly called) Palladian window shape formed by the arch and the smaller rectangular gap to each side of the arch.  Palladio could then vary the width of the rectangular openings and to get the arches to line-up with the existing passageways.





This is one of the many Palaces by Palladio.  We walked past several, but this is one of the few that you can stand back and get a decent picture of it.









Although almost everything in this city has something to do with Palladio, there are more typical buildings.













And even some more modern ones.
















However, this is Vincenza and back to Palladio - or at least his statue (with the Basilica on the left).












And this is Palladio's final work, the inside of a theater.  He completed the conceptual design in the last 6 months or so of his life.

Behind the classical facade is a perspective built stage that give the appearance that it is much deeper than it really is.  The road you see is about 12 meters (~39 ft) long.  Although the illusion is not perfect, it is pretty good.









And now, Verona:





We didn't stay in Verona long, but we did see there 'Coliseum' which is still being used for entertainment (concerts and such).

And we visited Castel Vecchio.  A medieval castle where the inside has been reworked and turned into a museum.









This last photo is from the castle just to give you an idea of the city of Verona and the river that runs through it.

Trip1, part2 - Venezia(Venice)

Ahhh, Venice, we've heard so much about you and your canals.  Well, here is a typical canal in Venice, although many are bigger.














In these next two photos, you can see how, in this case, the water actually goes somewhat inside the building (even if this isn't typical).






















Venice, like many cities in Italy, has some amazing churches.  The second photo show a little more of the detail for the church just beyond the tower.  The public is allowed inside, but no photography. 

And across the water on Giudecca (island) are three churches by Andrea Palladio.  Notice the use of classical architecture for the front facade (especially the second photo-Il Redentore which is known for its "perfect" proportions)

















Il Redentore


(Next stop--Vicenza and more Palladio)

 

This a pretty interesting spiral staircase that is tucked away in Venice.

Trip1, part1--Vienna

The first trip included Vienna, Venice, Vincenza and Verona.  Here are some photos from the Vienna portion of the trip.










These first couple of photos are representative of a lot of the architecture in Vienna.

 However, Vienna is a pretty good size city and many modern buildings can be found.

Some of these are very respectful in scale to the older buildings.









And some aren't - although, to be fair, there weren't too many older buildings in this area.

Here, we see an interesting new area in the background.  The large, cylindrical buildings are old coal/factory buildings that have been renovated and now contain a mixture of residential and commercial.

The 'crooked' building on the left (and some green buildings in another pic -- below) are part of the new neighborhood.






Here is a canal/park near a train stop.












Some of the buildings were built when the idea that a straight line is just about the worst thing possible.  In a building by the same "architect" (artist really) where all of the floors are intentionally not flat.  I found them interesting as an attraction, but if I had to work or live there, it might become annoying very quickly when you can only place a chair, desk, bed, table...etc in certain locations/orientations so that they are level and don't rock. 

Here is the modern green buildings (next to the cylindrical building)  As you can see, some modern buildings still like the idea of the unusual forms, although not nearly as 'organic' as above.











I saved these two for last as I am experimenting with Photoshop's merge command where I can take two photos whose images overlap and Photoshop will combine them for you.

The first is the gigantic spire on an old gothic church--and this isn't even the main facade.



The second is from the tower looking down on the city.  You can also see part of the roof design on the church's main building.

Portifino

Last weekend, I took a boat to this little beach (Fruttuoso) and hiked from here to Portofino.  The whole area is like a national park with several trails to hike.









Here is a look back at Fruttuoso after I hike most of the hard part.

The park map with the trails shown named this place, but I think there might have only been a couple of buildings.

 One of the great views along the hike.











As I was getting close to Portofino, but still hadn't seen a building for a while, I passed this lamp-post.  But just a few corners later, I began to see some homes.

And here is Portofino.  It is definitely oriented towards tourism, but it is still quite picturesque.  I took a boat ride back to Genova after getting some gelato (absolutely necessary after 1hr40min hike).

More Genova

These first two villas are a couple more of our neighbors.















This is a view of a portion of Genova from an overlook point (that is actually a decent ways downhill from the Clemson villa)

In Genova, there are several narrow "streets".  

Some are VERY narrow.

And, of course there are several beautiful churches.

This is the front of the church seen in the following picture.

 

If I keep walking (more like urban hiking) around to find these, I might not gain any weight even though I'm eating a decent amount.  (I usually like what the villa's cook prepares for us.)

 I thought this was an interesting place to put this kind of detail.

Although this is one of the more elaborate "paintings" on the facade of a building, several buildings have the image of strong architectural elements with some ornamentation instead of the actual elements.







Here is a portion of the port that a revitalization effort has been put into it.

Here is an old, abandoned port building.  For our studio project, we are to propose a new structure(s) to replace this building and enhance the urban environment in this area.

I may need to stop by here a couple of times.  Gelato when its hot, coffee when I need a little boost of caffeine.  (Illy Gelato...mmmmm)