Het is niet gemakkelijk om uit te leggen waarom een toerist in Rome de San Giorgio in Velabro zou moeten bezoeken. Veel interessants is er niet te zien. De architectuur is klungelig, binnen zijn geen kunstschatten te vinden en het enige wat je als ‘kunst’ zou kunnen bestempelen – het…
The San Giovanni in Laterano is the most important Roman Catholic church in the world. It is the seat of the Pope as bishop of the diocese of Rome and is therefore the city’s cathedral. It ranks first among Rome’s four major basilicas[1] and five papal basilicas[2]. But more importantly…
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,…
I like to consider myself somewhat of a museum tiger. I can spend hours in succession exploring the collections of the largest museums in the world. But Padova’s Musei Civici or Eremitani Museums were just too much for me. They are anything but boring, but simply too large to visit…
The Cappella degli Scrovegni is arguably Padova’s most famous monument. I had been looking forward to visiting it for quite some time and had made my reservation to see the chapel weeks in advance. These reservations are compulsory, and to protect the vulnerable frescoes inside, a maximum of 25 visitors…
The church of Sant’Antonio di Padova, known as Il Santo to locals, is not just any church. It is in fact the second most important church of the Order of the Franciscans, after the Papal Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. It is huge, but not as large as the…
The city of Padova was known as Patavium in Antiquity. It suffered badly during the fifth and sixth century invasions of peoples like the Huns and the Longobards. The city opened its gates to the former in 452, while the latter almost completely destroyed it in 602. Padova was again…
The Duomo of Padova, i.e. the cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, is a bit of a disappointment. The building we see today was constructed between 1551 and 1754, replacing an earlier edifice. Its exterior, with an undecorated facade in naked brick, is simple and unimpressive. Somehow the builders never got…
My first visit to Arezzo was in 2009. It was a complete fiasco. My friend had fallen off his bicycle, and we spent the entire day at the hospital. The only other building in the city that I saw that day was the railway station. Seven years later, I had…
The Santa Reparata is not a church in Florence: it was a church in Florence. It was in fact the cathedral of the city before the Santa Maria del Fiore (better known as the Duomo) was built at the end of the thirteenth century. Remains of the Santa Reparata can…
The Santa Croce is the principal church of the Franciscans in Florence. It is one of the largest Franciscan churches in the world, perhaps even the largest. The basilica can be found on the Piazza Santa Croce, which is the location of the annual Calcio storico or historical football in…
This huge Dominican church should be on every list for a daytrip to Florence. The church can be found just to the south of the Santa Maria Novella railway station in the city centre, so it is easy to reach even if you have limited time. It is not just…
I had limited time to visit this ancient Benedictine abbey in the centre of Florence, which is more than a thousand years old. We had to catch our train back to Rignano sull’Arno, so I had to hurry. My visit to the Badia Fiorentina was further complicated by the fact…
No matter how many times I have seen it, Florence’s cathedral continues to impress me, and for many reasons. The Duomo is simply huge, with a length of some 153 metres and a nave width of 38 metres (90 metres at the crossing). It can accommodate at least 20.000 people.…
An old legend claims that Florence’s beautiful Baptistery of San Giovanni was originally a temple of Mars, the Roman god of war. The Roman emperor Augustus supposedly had it built to celebrate the subjugation of nearby Fiesole (Faesulae in those days) and the early Christians later converted it into a…
The Vallumbrosan Order is a branch of the Benedictines that was founded in the eleventh century by Saint John Gualbert (died 1073). The first church of the Vallumbrosans in Florence was built in either 1077 or 1092 (different dates are mentioned in different sources). At that time it was outside…
The best time to visit the Ognissanti church in Florence is on a Monday, Tuesday or Saturday morning. The church is open to the public on other days of the week as well, but only on the days mentioned are visitors allowed to visit the beautiful cloister next door (Chiostro…
It is difficult to explain why a tourist in Rome should visit the San Giorgio in Velabro. There is not much of interest to see. The architecture is clumsy, there are no artistic treasures inside and the only thing that can be considered ‘art’ – the apse fresco – is…