cose del favorito dall'italia

i have only just begun to recover from jetlag when i come down with some kind of flu thing and feel like crap again but nevertheless i have disciplined myself to sit here and resize photos and say something meaningful about where i have been lately. its easier to tell the story in photos, which are some of my favourite things from italy (hence the post title).

starting with rome. the colosseum from the outside:

and the inside:

there is so much history in rome it was overwhelming and i loved it. a very lived in and friendly city although absolutely mortally dangerous if you are a pedestrian.

other favourite places there - piazza navone:

the bernini fountain in piazza navone:


the spanish steps looking down to the trevi fountain (they should call this is a bathtub really):


finding keats' house next to the spanish steps:

the vatican:

st peters basilica (oh my. breathtaking):


this is the courtyard of palazzo baldasini where we had two days of workshops:


this is the room in which said workshops were held. nice!

the other great things about rome were the coffee (check out the coffee blog for part one of the analysis), the pizza (real proper woodfired pizza with awesome tomato sauce) and proper italian prosciutto, unlike anything you get here.

then a worldwind train ride to florence, which was vastly different to rome, much more beautiful but less friendly and too touristy. favourite things - the duomo, or the basilica santa maria dell fiori. unbelievable, no matter which way you look at it:




the green room inside the palazzo vecchio:


view of florence from the terrrace of the palazzo vecchio:


not being able to get into the uffizi because of a 4 hour queue:


the view of the arno from ponte vecchio:


inside the medici palace (this is where michelangelo made the david):


the chapel in the medici palace which you cant take photos of but i bought a bag and notebook from there:


this is a detail from a fresco of lorenzo the magnificent (proper title 'cavalcata dei magi' by gozzoli).

the medici family church, san lorenzo:


the courtyard of the medici library next to san lorenzo:


and whats this i find right next to the medici library? a wool shop?!




i have already done my dash tourist dollar wise so i abstained, and they were mostly selling summer wools anyway so....

other favourite things about florence - the gelato:


the hot chocolate:


this cost 6euro and was pure melted chocolate. unbelievable.

two days in florence and it was over to the coast to catch a boat to sardinia and then a train ride down through sardinia to cagliari (pronounced cal-yary) the capital, where the real conference was being held at the rather plush T Hotel:

on the second day they put us all on a bus:


to ghilarza, the small town where gramsci (the dead theorist whose conference this was) went to school:



i loved it here, the building where we had the conference was awesome inside and out, possibly an old watch tower or prison:




the cute little streets:


the house where gramsci lived (now a museum):


the gramsci grafitti:


it was like being on a gramsci pilgrimage.

on the third day we went on the bus again to arles, an even tinier town where gramsci was born and is something of a national hero:


and were treated to local hospitality in the form of a sardinian jazz trio and a traditional sardinian meal which included suckling pig. awesome.

as you can see, it was exhausting. i loved it but two weeks away with a work colleague was trying and i missed my pumpkin (not the vegetable) and puppy dogs and was ultimately glad to get home. my paper went well, i got good feedback and made some very useful connections.

now there is the madness of having to move in two weeks and finishing the wrap, which i took with me but did none of of course.

more later!
k xx