“Run from what’s comfortable. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on I’ll be mad.”
Disclaimer : It’s all HER fault. She’s a bAd Influence! The best minestrone soup I’ve EVER tasted was not in Italy. My crazy World-Traveller in Crime was with me in Abu Dhabi when we dined in the hotel’s Italian restaurant. OK. If SHE hadn’t made me go all googly and giggly with the Italian waiter […]
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Although I will not completely throw away the idea of “Built by Giants, For Giants” – the paragraph above gave me pause for thought. As I’ve been in Venice and walked the back streets… far away from St. Mark’s Square, I can NOT disagree with the IRL observation that the palazzo doors in Venice are […]
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Oh, dear. I seem to have got myself in a right old pickle here! After days of being trapped in Florence with the Medici, I’ve suddenly found out why. “Our explanation of the dispute between Florence and Rome. As we already understand, the “ancient dispute” between the Italian Rome and the Etruscans must be the […]
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Nothing to see here. Apart from the fact that I seem to be stuck in Italy with a load of Renaissance artists…..Woohooo :o) The image above is by Giotto. It’s called Stultitia. And is in a fresco painted in about 1303 in the Chapel above. What do YOU see? This image is represented in the […]
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And here is why I NEED to go to Florence. A feast for all my senses. Aaaah :o)
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This is another MUST SEE place on my list! Palazzo della Ragione, Padua Those frescoes – Schwoon :o) One of the frescoes is the image below. Who is she? LOOK AGAIN! Yup. She looks very much like Mary and the Holy Child but she’s NOT! In a Catholic country, in the 15th century, Venus and […]
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Grand Duke Cosimo I de Medici was so rich and so famous that he could not walk out in public amongst his plebs…for fear of assassination (?) So he spent squillions to have the also-but-not-quite-as famous Vasari build him an escape route way above the commoners’ heads. It is called – The Vasari Corridor Good […]
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Below is the first part of a much longer article. The Symbology Within Bronzino’s Allegory of Public Happiness By Greta Brookes Bronzino spent many years as court painter to Cosimo I de Medici in Florence during the 16th century. The painting above is called The Allegory of Public Happiness and like many, if not all, […]
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I knew the Medici were lurking around every corner! There is something Extremely “occult” about this church in Florence. Even though everything is in Plain Sight. The image above is a ceramic ceiling in one of the chapels and the artist was Luca della Robbia. It depicts Four Angels – much like the Tetramorph. GB […]
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I am SO Lucky. Very few people get to spend their days doing the things that they absolutely LOVE doing. I’m forever grateful! The past four days have been lived with a thought in the back of my mind… …OK. So WHEN are “they” going to turn up? I start working this morning and the […]
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There is something rotten in the History of Italy. I first came across the image above a veeeeery long time ago when researching my novel. It’s the coat of arms of Hercule de Rohan-Montbazon. Hercule was the father of Marie de Rohan, the MC of Weave a Garland of my Vows. Check out – The […]
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OK. I might have some Italian DNA but beyond being polite and asking for food and drink, that’s the extent of my language skills. I understand the gist of this passage but had to look up a few words with the limited resources at my disposal. TRAMONTANA – All I could find was Northern Wind. […]
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Hidden History Research 