I was supposed to go to Milan for my birthday in November, but I came down with whooping cough. So I changed my trip to May, reasoning that I am usually fit in the spring. I could never have imagined the turn of events, that Italy would be hit so brutally by the coronavirus or that a pandemic would break out in the world. Now I hope to travel to Milan in October, but I wonder if I will have to cancel that, too. I cannot fathom the day-to-day tragedy that Italy has been experiencing, all the suffering of the friendly, bubbling Italian people who have made me feel so blessed to be in their country during my 12 or more visits.

I was going to write a long article about Italy, but I have decided to make this a photo diary of my travels in Italy, showing the country that is so dear to me during its better days. May those bright days return in the not-to-distant future.

NOTE: Sicily will be represented in a different photo diary.

Church in Ancona

Assisi

Basilica in Assisi

Clock in Bassano del Grappo

In Civic Museum of Bassano del Grappo

Church in Bergamo

Church of St. James Major in Bologna

Capri

Church in Vernazza, Cinque Terre

Street in Vernazza, Cinque Terre

Herculaneum

Isola Bella garden

Palace on Isola Bella

House on Isola dei Pescatori

Street on Isola dei Pescatori

View from Isola Madre

Black Madonna at Loreto shrine

Cupola of Loreto

Castle at Malcesine

Cathedral in Modena

View of Naples from Castel Sant Elmo

Certosa Church in Naples

Santa Chiara Church in Naples

Padua, Palazzo della Ragione

Last Judgment by Giotto in Scrovegni Chapel, Padua

Perugia, Collegio

Pisa

Pisa

Cemetery, Pisa

Porteverre Church

Cathedral of Altamura

Street in Bari

Cathedral crypt in Bitonto

 

Cathedral in Ruva di Puglia

House in Barletta

Throne in church in Canosa di Puglia

Castel del Monte

Santa Croce Church, Lecce

Sassi in Matera

Otranto, mosaic on cathedral floor

Street in Trani

One of the best memories of my life was showing my parents the Colosseum in Rome.

Pompeii

Rainbow on way back to Rome

Villa d’Este gardens

Rovereto

Spello

Church in Spello

Cathedral in Spoleto

Sant’ Apollinaire in Ravenna

Sigurta Park

Lake in Sirmione

Trento

Treviso

 

The Annunciation in cathedral in Treviso

Udine cathedral

Street in Urbino

Venice

Verona

Arena in Verona

Juliette’s balcony in Verona

Russian icon in Galleria Italia in Vicenza

Santa Corona Church in Vicenza

False perspective in Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza

Villa della Rotunda by Palladio

Villa Emo

 

Tracy Burns is a writer, proofreader and editor in Prague.