Back to the beginning

Though it will be another two and a half weeks til we return to the US, the trip to Britain felt like the last great arc of this glorious Fulbright adventure. And that reminded me that I never wrote about its complement--the first great trip to Italy. These are some images from a 10 day visit to Bologna, Ravenna, Ferrara, and Venice in January, before the Fulbright began.

This is Bologna. One of the many arcades that connect the city. This one has 666 arches and leads to a shrine right outside the city.

These are the mosaics from Ravenna, something that after I read Yeats, I really wanted to see.

"Oh sages standing in god's holy fire."

"An enamelled bird to keep a drowsy emperor awake."

Also the city of Dante at the end of his life.

The images that follow are, of course, of Venice.

A city still filled with ordinary life.

As well as the extraordinary,

like San Marco in Acqua Alta.

But when the sun comes out,

The city shines like the jewel it is.