We could certainly count ourselves lucky. We happened to visit the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria in Perugia on the first Sunday of the month, and it turned out that the museum could be visited for free on that day. Since 1878, the Galleria Nazionale is housed in the Palazzo dei Priori,…
Perhaps the most beautiful monument in all of Perugia can be found out in the open, on the Piazza IV Novembre between the cathedral of the city and the Palazzo dei Priori. The Fontana Maggiore dates from the end of the thirteenth century. Although its bronze parts have probably been…
The Duomo of Perugia, also known as the cathedral of San Lorenzo, is an excellent example of a church of which the exterior is more interesting than the interior. ‘Exterior’ in this case mostly refers to the left flank of the building, as the façade at the front was clearly…
The curious circular church of Sant’Angelo in Perugia, dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel, has often been compared to the Santo Stefano Rotondo in Rome. It should be noted that the Sant’Angelo is a couple of decades younger. It probably dates from the end of the fifth or first half…
The small church of San Severo in Perugia is dedicated to Saint Severus, the fourth-century bishop of Ravenna. Until well into the thirteenth century the church and adjacent monastery were administered by the basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe. The monastery has always been associated with the Camaldolese Order, a branch…
What a disappointment! I had hoped to get onto the ancient Via Latina from the Via Demetriade, but the archaeological terrain with the remains of the road turned out to be closed off with a fence. And that fence happened to be locked. I therefore took a couple of photos…
In the summer of 2018 I made a highly enjoyable walk along the famous Via Appia and published an extensive report about it on this website. Part of my walk happened to be a small piece of the less well-known Via Latina. Back then I already decided that one day…
The Museo Nazionale Romano opened its doors as early as 1890. The immense collection of the museum is currently distributed across four locations: the Palazzo Massimo and Palazzo Altemps, which have been discussed previously, the Crypta Balbi and the Baths of Diocletianus. The baths can be considered the museum’s original…
The Palazzo Altemps was named after the German cardinal Mark Sittich von Hohenems (1533-1595). The cardinal’s mother Chiara de’ Medici was a sister of Pope Pius IV, who sat on Saint Peter’s throne between 1559 and 1565. Pius IV will chiefly be remembered as the pope who presided over the…
The nineteenth-century Palazzo Massimo is currently the main seat of the prestigious Museo Nazionale Romano, which is completely dedicated to Roman civilisation. The museum has much to offer to visitors, basically too much for a single visit. This means it is virtually impossible to write a post about the museum…
During my first visit to Vicenza in 2017 I became acquainted with the local saints Felix and Fortunatus. The two brothers were depicted on a large polyptych by Lorenzo Veneziano in the Duomo of the city. Not much is known about them, but it is usually assumed that the brothers…
Big, bigger, Santa Giustina. This enormous basilica on the southern edge of Padova’s historical centre will make a lasting impression on just about every visitor. The church adjoins the Prato della Valle, a large piazza in the shape of an ellipse where in Antiquity the theatre of Roman Patavium must…
The Scuola del Santo (also known as the Scoletta, ‘little school’) is the seat of the Archconfraternity of Saint Antonius of Padova. Saint Antonius (or Anthony) died in 1231, and according to tradition the confraternity was founded a couple of years after he was canonised in 1232. The first written…
The formal name of Padova’s Duomo is the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. In an older post I called the Duomo “a bit of a disappointment”. Having revisited the building in July of 2022, I still stand by that judgment. Fact is, the Duomo is just a bit boring. The…
The oratory of San Giorgio in Padova is often compared to the famous Cappella degli Scrovegni in the same city. It is indeed hard not to see similarities. Visitors enter a small private chapel with a sky blue barrel vault, radiant stars and impressive frescoes on the walls. The frescoes…
The small oratory of San Michele is all that remains of a church of which the history may go back all the way to the sixth century. The church was largely demolished in the nineteenth century, but a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary and featuring colourful fourteenth-century frescoes by…
The Reggia Carrarese is the complex of buildings from which members of the Da Carrara family governed the city of Padova in the fourteenth century. Unfortunately virtually nothing is left of this complex. In 1405 Venetian troops took Padova, causing the Carraresi to lose power (and in a couple of…
The palace of the archbishop behind the cathedral of Ravenna is probably as old as the cathedral itself. After all, the bishop of the city – archbishop since 553 – needed a place to live and receive his guests. The palace was enlarged in several phases, the first known addition…
The archiepiscopal museum of Ravenna (Museo Arcivescovile) is located directly behind the cathedral of the city. Although the building that houses the museum can with some justification be called modern, its history goes back a long way. The cathedral itself was built by bishop Ursus (ca. 370-396 or 405-431), and…
Although architectonically unimpressive, the church of Santa Maria Maggiore has an interesting history that goes all the way back to the sixth century. Unfortunately our knowledge of that history is full of gaps. This is hardly surprising, as the Santa Maria Maggiore has been described as “one of the least-studied…