Category: Art

Sorres Cathedral, a Romanesque masterpiece in Sardinia

In the heart of Meilogu in Sardinia, on a gentle hillock in the countryside of Borutta, stands the Romanesque Sorres cathedral of San Pietro. The building arose at the time of the Judicates, when the small village of Sorres was an episcopal seat. It was the judge of Torres Barisone II who initiated the construction…
The church of San Giorgio di Valpolicella, treasure of art and history

On the top of a gentle hillock in Valpolicella, stands the parish church of San Giorgio. Austere, with its exposed stones and without decoration, the building seems to have been there since time immemorial. Walking up the paths along the hillside, guided by the sight of its massive bell tower, we can almost breathe in…
Pomposa Abbey, a treasure chest of art

That strip of land between the branches of the Po Delta, Goro and Volano, and enclosed by the Adriatic lagoons further east, became increasingly unhealthy. The green forests that the Romans had carefully governed and the reclaimed expanses were a memory. Rather, they appeared as a valley of pristine and treacherous marshes. Historians identify the…
The abbey of Saint Antimo, on the way to light

The abbey of Saint Antimo is reachable by following a straight path, which stretches slowly between the slopes of verdant hills, adorned with centuries-old olive and cypress trees, and expanses of green vineyards. These are the noble Brunello crops that spread out in the Montalcino sun, as in Castelnuovo dell’Abate. But the visitor’s path also…
The village of Altomonte and Cistercian Romanesque in Calabria

The village of Altomonte stands on a promontory overlooking the wide valley of Esaro River, about 455 meters above sea level, between the plain of Sibari and the great peaks of Sila. Today’s urban settlement traces the organization of the defensive structures constructed in the Middle Ages. These still include the remains of the walls…
The “Madonna and the UFO” in Florence

The Sala d’Ercole in Florence’s historic Palazzo Vecchio houses a mysterious painting. The Madonna and Child with the Infant St. John was possibly the work by Sebastiano Mainardi and dates from the second half of the 15th century. The “Madonna and the UFO” Over time one detail has overshadowed the work’s stylistic disquisitions. Behind the…
The Tempietto longobardo of Cividale del Friuli

The doorway that gives access to the Tempietto longobardo of Cividale del Friuli not only separates the spaces of matter. It also symbolizes that moment of transit, in history and arts, that characterized the epic of the Longobards in Italy. In the ancient Roman village of Forum Iulii stands the limen crossed by Alboin in…
The Temple of Clitumnus, sacred center of the Longobards

There are places that, even across the centuries, preserve intact that admirable perception of innate sacredness. A stream of water flowing gracefully in the moonlight on the valley floor. A silent forest of beech and cypress trees, the edge of which declines impetuously along the banks of an ancient spring: the Sources of Campello reveal…
Saint Michael’s Abbey and the Portal of the Zodiac

On the summit of Mount Pirchiriano, like an ancient guardian protecting the valley, stands the marvellous Saint Michael’s Abbey. It is an ancient and admirable place of faith, towering 962 metres above sea level, almost seems to reach towards the sky: it can only be accessed by a steep climb. The ascent is a metaphorical…
The Parish Church of Gropina and the Lombard pulpit

The Parish Church of San Pietro in Gropina, in Valdarno, is as bare as a tree shaken by the wind on a winter morning. Nothing shows, except the mighty stone that has stood for centuries. There are no paintings, no colours, only a soft penumbra that pervades the spaces, fills every perspective of spiritual essence.…