I have a weakness for food and Italian restaurants. This is “Anima Bella” in Venice. The name means “Beautiful Soul”
My Travels in Italy
I have been blessed with an Italian wife and one of the joys of our relationship is that she has guided me through her country on several trips and, through her, I have been able to see the Italy that usually escapes the tourist.
She has a large extended family in and around the Tuscan town of Arezzo. They are warmhearted wonderful people who have accepted me into their family in spite of my being a foreigner who speaks very bad Italian. As a result, Italy is a second home and I have fallen in love with this sun filled crazy making musical place. Italy is a land of wonders. There is a lifetime of adventure here in this one place.
These pictures are a subset of my travel images because they hold an emotional place in my heart. Every one contains very personal memories for me and I hope I have had the art to convey my joy through my pictures.
It is possible to purchase large and very fine prints of the best of these images suitable for framing and display as fine art. The small screen does not do these images justice. So confident am I that you will cherish my prints that I sell them on a 30 day return for any reason basis. You pay the return postage and I will refund the purchase price and the original postage you were charged.
“A man who has not been in Italy is always conscious of an inferiority.”
Samuel Johnson
11 April 1776
Arezzo
My Susan is from the City of Arezzo which is in the center of Tuscany about 80 km south of Firenze. This is an old place described by the Roman writer Livy as one of the capitals of the Etruscan empire which existed long before the Romans came on the scene.
I have come to love this town as if it were my own. I feel at home here. I love to sit in the Bar San Lorentino in the morning and struggle with the Italian language and later walk up through winding streets to the Piazza Grande and think about the people who have walked the same streets for thousands of years.
The central square in Arezzo is the Piazza Grande. It is ringed with antique stores, restaurants and the City Hall directly across the square. Susan is sitting by the pillory post to the right of center. This image was captured in three separate images later stitched together. The shadows are long because it is January of 2019. It was a very cold day which explains why there are no people in this usually very busy square.
Evening skies over Arezzo from the hillside olive grove of my brother-in-law Franco.
I never tire of walking in the old towns of Italy. The buildings date from a time when my home town was forest and sea shore occupied by Canada’s First Nations people. The streets are paved with stone, the buildings look ancient (they are) and they are occupied by the most delightful shops. People still shop at the butcher’s for meat, the green grocer for vegetables, and in public markets for clothing, hardware and specialty foods.
As you walk, every corner offers image upon image for my lens. I just drink in the wonder of it.
Venezia
La Serenissima is an improbable place floating on its placid lagoon between sea and sky. Is that description a little over the top? I do not think so. For me it contains the essential truth of Venice. For photographers, it is a heaven devoutly to be wished. If you have not been, go!
The city is very old, the streets very narrow, and, with the exception of the Piazza Roma, there are no motor vehicles. In fact, there are no vehicles of any kind.
The light is wonderful, the textures are strong, and the scenes one finds are breathtaking. Every day here with a camera is a constant joy.
Morning on the Riva del Vin
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