I found this fountain with its traditional wolf’s head and SPQR inscription, both symbols of ancient Rome, in the entrance courtyard to the Centrale Montemartini museum. I suspect they’re relics of the Fascist era as the power plant was built during Mussolini’s pre-war leadership, and symbols of Imperial Rome were in very high demand.
Today, it adds a touch of tranquility to an industrial setting.
Two more views of the bridge over the railroad tracks at Garbatella:
This series is about people, relationships, and graffiti. I’ll leave the interpretations up to you, the viewers.
The architectural folly known as the Kaffeehaus (Coffee House) in the Boboli Gardens behind the Palazzo Pitti. The Coffeehouse was built by Maria Theresa while she was the Grand Duchess of Tuscany (she would later become the Hapsburg Empress of Austria-Hungary). Thus the German spelling of the name for the building, which comes from its purpose- it was a refreshment center for visitors to the gardens to stop and get a coffee or tea or other beverage – exploring the 110 acres of the Boboli Gardens is thirsty work.
This is a bronze door handle on a well-weathered door in the gardens. I forget what structure it is attached to – it might be one of the servant’s entrances to the Palazzo Pitti.
An allee of tall hedges in the Boboli Gardens, leading to a staircase. The gardens themselves are built onto the slope of a hill, so they have many changes of elevation.
A tower set into the hedges along the ramp from the amphitheater to the Neptune fountain. I’m not sure what purpose it serves- it could be just a garden shed for storing tools and groundskeeping equipment, or it may relate to the water control systems for the myriad fountains in the garden.
A view of the Palazzo Pitti from the top of the amphitheater stairs. The title comes from the boy in the lower edge of the frame taking a phone selfie. A very modern take on a very old palace.
TC is a friend I’ve known for gosh, probably 10 years now. When we met he was a grad student working on his PhD at MIT. He’s now a full-fledged Doctor in Physical Chemistry, and working in Zurich. When I told him I was coming to Florence, he offered to pop down and hang out for a day or two. He was a real godsend, as I was still in the throes of a really bad allergy attack triggered by down pillows on the bed of my apartment in Rome, and he stopped at a pharmacy and got me some European Benadryl.
We went to the Uffizi the first day I was in Florence, then grabbed dinner at a restaurant he found on Yelp. The food was quite good, but what shocked me was the size of the portions. I was used to these small portion sizes per course that I had been getting in Rome, so I had a pasta course, a salad, and an entree. The pasta wasn’t too much bigger than I was expecting, but the salad was entree- sized! I had only had maybe 1/3 of the salad when the waitress stopped by and asked about it. I told her it was very good but just too big. She offered to cancel my entree, which I was glad to accept. Half and hour later, we’re sitting chatting and the entree arrives after all!
The next day, we met up again and walked over to the Palazzo Pitti via the Ponte Vecchio. The Palazzo Pitti is gargantuan – it was the Medici family’s main residence in the 16th and 17th centuries, and everything about it was designed to overawe. The Vasari corridor connects it with the Uffizi over the Ponte Vecchio to provide a secure passage should the Medicis need to escape an angry mob, or just not want to mingle with the hoi polloi on their way to and from their private box seats at the Santa Felicita church.
The Boboli Gardens back onto the Palazzo Pitti. They were once the private playground of the Medici family, but now are open to the public. This is the garden facade of the Palazzo Pitti.
After touring through the Pitti and hiking up and down the Boboli gardens (which are on the face of a fairly steep hill), TC and I grabbed lunch at a little cafe across from the Palazzo Pitti’s main entrance. I had my first ever cappuccino there. I’m now a devotee, provided there’s enough sugar.
So thank you, TC, for the Benadryl, the companionship, and for the swiss chocolates – they were delicious!
As I was walking from Piazza Del Risorgimento to the Piazza Navona, I passed by this little curbside gas station. It seemed like a relic from the past – I’ve never seen a curbside gas station here in the US, and I don’t even remember seeing any in any of the Spanish or French cities I’ve been to. It just feels like something I’ve seen in old photos. Too bad I couldn’t get it with a vintage Fiat 500 to make it even more timeless.
If you google photos of Piazza Navona, you’ll see this guy. He’s there all the time – must be ripe pickings. This is one of the more inventive “living statues” I’ve seen in European cities – while perhaps not as out there as the guy reading the newspaper while on the toilet or as mechanically involved as the stationary bicyclist, the faux levitation is quite clever.
No words, just a found image.
This is a vintage streetcar at the Piazza del Risorgimento, waiting for a driver shift change. You’d take this streetcar to get to the Vatican, depending on where you’re coming from.
Alas, my chariot to the Vatican Museums and for my visit to Ars Imago, a tiny but very cool camera store fully dedicated to analog photography and supporting the wet darkroom, was the more prosaic modern city bus and subway. I photographed this streetcar on my perambulation home on what was probably my longest day’s excursions – starting out at Via Dei Genovese 37, I walked across the Tiber on the Ponte Palatino, along the Circo Massimo to the Circo Massimo Metro station. From there I took the train to Garbatella, then walked from the Garbatella station to the Centrale Montemartini museum. Alas, my planning ran afoul of the Roman penchant for things being closed on a Monday, and the Centrale Montemartini was not open for visiting, so I consoled myself with photographing the amazing bridge over the railroad tracks and the graffiti art on the Garbatella subway station.
Back on the Metro one stop to Piramide, to the Cimiterio Accatolico (the “English” cemetery so named for the number of British expatriates buried there) to see the pyramid of Caius Cestius and the graves of Shelley and Keats.
Then back on the Metro again, over to the Spagna stop to see the Spanish Steps and have a tea break at Babbington’s. Then back on the Metro to the Ottaviano stop, and then walk to Ars Imago. From Ars Imago, I walked to the Piazza Navona, via the Piazza del Risorgimento, the Piazza Cavour and the Palace of Justice, across the Tiber on the Ponte Umberto I. I stopped in the Museo Stadio de Domitiano. The Piazza Navona owes its shape and size to the Stadium of Domitian, upon which it was built. While in the neighborhood, I also swung by the church of San Luigi dei Francesi to check out the chapel with the Caravaggio paintings. Then dinner at the Piazza Navona, then walked back to the Piazza Venezia to get the modern streetcar back to Via Dei Genovesi in Trastevere. According to my Apple Health app, I clocked in at over 10.5 miles WALKING that day, not including the streetcar and subway rides.
At this moment in time, the Spanish Steps are closed, yes CLOSED, fenced off with chain link fencing, due to an ongoing restoration project. So this shot, taken by poking the lens of my camera through the fence, is something otherwise virtually impossible without photographic trickery. Pretty much 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, the Spanish Steps are crowded with tourists and the steps themselves are nigh-well invisible. The downside is all those tourists coming to see the Spanish Steps were displaced off the steps and back into the street below, completely over-running the fountain at their foot. So an otherwise lovely fountain was unphotographable.
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