When I was little, I used to play a game called ‘Botticelli’. It is quite a simple game: someone has to think of a famous person, and then others have to guess who he or she is by asking questions. These questions can only be answered with ‘yes’ or ‘no’.…
I will not hide the fact that I consider Giotto di Bondone (ca. 1266-1337) one of the greatest painters of all time. Giotto broke with Byzantine formalism and rigidness and started painting people as people again, with natural forms, intricate details and brilliant colours. His year of birth is uncertain,…
The thirteenth century church of San Lorenzo in Vicenza is of course dedicated to Saint Lawrence the Deacon, martyred in 258 (more information here and here). The church and adjacent monastery have always been administered by members of the Franciscan Order. Now Saint Lawrence is not a typical Franciscan saint…
As the name suggests, the church of Santa Corona in Vicenza is named after the sacred crown of thorns that Jezus was forced to wear after his arrest and that was part of his Passion. The church possesses one of the thorns of this crown as a precious relic. It…
This short post is about a very special day of the year, 25 December. On this day, Christians and non-Christians alike celebrate Christmas everywhere in the world. On the internet, you will often find the claim that the date of 25 December derives from the ancient cult of Mithras, which…
De hier besproken dubbelbiografie van Maerten en Cornelis Tromp, vader en zoon, is alweer meer dan vijftien jaar oud. Het boek, geschreven door maritiem historicus Ronald Prud’homme van Reine, kwam in 2001 uit en is waarschijnlijk alleen nog maar als tweedehands exemplaar verkrijgbaar. De vraag kan dan ook gesteld worden…
The city of Vicenza was known as Vicetia during the Roman era. It seems to have been of relatively minor importance, but its cathedral goes back a long way. By the third century CE, Vicenza had a Christian community that made use of a Roman building from the first century.…
It is by far the most conspicuous building in all of Ferrara: the Palazzo dei Diamanti. Its northern and eastern facade are made up of over 8.000 blocks of pink and white marble in the shape of pyramids. The tips of the pyramids are either pointing up, forward or down…
Our visit to Ferrara in July 2017 not only introduced us to a city with an interesting history, but also to the Ferrarese dialect. We had lunch at a wonderful restaurant called Cusina e Butega, which would be Cucina e Bottega in standard Italian (and Kitchen and Shop in English).…
The Castello Estense in the centre of Ferrara is arguably the city’s most famous building. Constructed primarily for defensive purposes towards the end of the fourteenth century, it later became the archetypal Italian Renaissance palace. Nowadays, its outward appearance is still quite impressive, but once inside, the castle feels rather…
The large church of Santa Maria in Vado is located just east of the historical centre of Ferrara. The word vado derives from Italian guado, which is a place where the river – in this case the Po – can be forded; in Dutch we say waden. The Po was…
We parked our car at a large parking lot on the Via Darsena in Ferrara. This car park has a name that sounds rather strange to people from the Netherlands: it is called Ex Mof. In Dutch, ‘mof’ is a rather derogatory term for a German, the Dutch equivalent of…
Waar we nu discussiëren over de voor- en nadelen van robots en nanotechnologie, bestond eind negentiende eeuw ook al aandacht voor de keerzijde van het moderne leven. In minder dan honderd jaar tijd was Nederland ingrijpend veranderd. Machines en industrie hadden welvaart gebracht, steden waren gegroeid, er reden treinen en…