This is quite a change from the sinister gargoyles I’m accustomed to!
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The Pantheon
Romans love their domes, and this is the mother of them all. This was the largest dome in the world until the 15th century. Don’t feel too bad, though, since it’s still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. The Pantheon originated in 27 B.C., when a temple was ordered by Marcus Agrippa. In […]
Madonnelle
You can’t walk five blocks in Rome without seeing a madonnelle, or small madonna, staring out at you. Really. There are over 700 of them on street corners in the historic center. The original concept dates back to pagan times when votive wall shrines were set up to honor the Lares, spirits believed to protect […]
Piazza Navona
If you were standing here in the first century A.D., you were likely a revered Roman athlete competing in a footrace before a crowd of 30,000 in the Stadio di Domiziano. Then, this area was an outlying district known as Campus Martius, or Field of Mars, that housed arenas and barracks. It did not become […]
Vatican City Pilgrimage
One of the most powerful sights in Vatican City was the priests and nuns among the hordes of tourists taking photos, gawking at sculptures and gazing up at frescoes.
L’orso
Picture this: Rome. A maze of narrow cobblestone streets opens into a square. Eight a.m. Eighty degrees and humid. A powerful klieg light illuminates not only the entire scene, but the entire length of the tight street behind it. A man. A bear. A bear? Yes, a poor, poor man in a full bear costume… […]
Roman Signs
These modified Do Not Enter signs have quickly become my favorites. I love that every country has slightly different versions. Some other amusing signs seen around Rome.
Blind Windows
Until recently, I assumed all bricked-up windows were once real, functioning windows that got, well, bricked up. While that’s sometimes true, a good portion of the bricked-up windows we see around town were never real. They were designed as blind windows and their purpose was to maintain symmetry in a building’s facade. They’re deceptive since […]
Niki de Saint Phalle: Moving On Up
Imagine my surprise at seeing Luxembourg’s Blue Lady’s relatives frolicking on Park Avenue! One of the first things I noticed upon arrival in Luxembourg was the iconic Blue Lady, the zaftig sculpture in the middle of town. Not only was she eye-catching, with her bright colors, playful stance and exaggerated curves, but she also served […]
Beach & Hudson
This is my favorite New York street sign, at the corner of, well, Beach and Hudson in Tribeca. The building was constructed in the late 1800’s, at which time it was common to chisel the main street name on the façade (so, this building at 135 Hudson might have read “Hudson Street”) or attach a […]
