3416 ITALY (Piedmont) - Superga air disaster

On the afternoon of May 4, 1949, the weather in Turin was miserable: clouds almost touching the ground, showers, strong southwest wind gusts, and very poor horizontal visibility. In these conditions, a three-engined Fiat G.212 of Avio Linee Italiane (Italian Airlines) crashed into the retaining wall at the back of the Basilica of Superga, which stands on a hill on the outskirts of Turin. The impact caused the instantaneous death of all the 31 people on board.

3363, 3410 ITALY - Talking hands

3363 The cover of the photo album "Mani che Scalano il Cielo"

It is known, the hands of people, seemingly simple anatomical attributes, but precious tools that allow work, communication, art and, ultimately, survival, are extremely expressive and reflect the way of life and the occupation of the owners. The postcard 3363 is a reproduction of the cover of the photo album Mani che Scalano il Cielo (Hands Which Reach the Sky), published by Terra Ferma in 2009 and belonging to the well-known Italian photographer-mountaineer Fausto De Stefani, the sixth man to have climbed the 14 highest peaks of the world, all exceeding 8000 meters.

3410

This fascinating photo album contains truly unique portraits in which the hands are the protagonists: hands marked by deep furrows; calloused hands, black with earth, wise hands of ordinary people, mostly Nepalese and Tibetan, that De Stefani wanted to capture with brightly colored shots during his travels. The images, evocative and high quality compositions, are a celebration of the natural spirituality that these people, guests of the mountains closest to the sky, also seem to express through their hands. I don't know if the photo in postcard 3410 is from the same photo album, but it could be.

3329 ITALY (Emilia-Romagna) - Anatomical theatre of the Archiginnasio of Bologna

Once the main building of the University of Bologna, often considered the oldest university in the world, the Archiginnasio of Bologna houses currently the Archiginnasio Municipal Library and the Anatomical Theatre. The last one is a hall once used for anatomy lectures and displays. A first anatomical theatre was constructed in 1595, in a different location, but it was replaced by a bigger one built between 1636 and 1638 in the current location, following the design of the architect Antonio Levanti.

3316 ITALY (Basilicata) - The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera (UNESCO WHS)

3316 View of Sasso Caveoso in Matera, from the Murge

Lying in a small canyon carved out by the Gravina River, Matera is known as la città sotterranea (the underground city), because its historical centre Sassi contains a complex of houses, churches, monasteries and hermitages built into the natural caves of the Murgia. This remarkable and intact troglodyte settlement contains more than a thousand dwellings and a large number of shops and workshops. The morphology of the territory, characterized by deep ravines (gravine) and bare highland plateaus, integrated with ancient cave churches, shepherd tracks marked by wells, and fortified farmhouses, form one of the most evocative landscapes of the Mediterranean.

3249 ITALY (Apulia) - Ostuni

Located about 8km from the coast, Ostuni is among the main towns attracting tourists in Apulia, in southern Italy, known also for its high quality olive oil and wine. It is commonly referred to as "the White Town" (La Città Bianca) for its white walls and its typically white-painted architecture. Monuments in their own right, the town's largest buildings are the Ostuni Cathedral and the Bishop's Palace, together with a number of palazzi of local aristocratic families.

3248 ITALY (Lazio) - Second Postcrossing Meetup in Rome, 2 January 2018 - Colosseum

The italian postcrossers wanted to be the first ones this year, so they organized on 2 January the first meetup of this year. They met in Rome, at the Subway Station Piramide (Line B), and after that they went to Caffe Letterario, in Via Ostiense 95, to write and sign postcards. The postcard issued to mark this event depicted Colosseum to the transition between years (named by Italians La Festa di San Silvestro), with fireworks in the background. A nice, well-chosen photography.

0433-0436, 1597, 3149 ITALY (Lombardy) - Milan

1597 Milan: 1. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II;
2.  Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral); 3. Teatro alla Scala; 4. Sforza Castle

Posted on 27.12.2012, 21.05.2015, 16.09.2017
Strategically placed at the gateway to the Italian peninsula, in the fertile Po Valley, Milan and the surrounding region of Lombardy have been the subject of constant disputes over the centuries. Celts, Romans, Goths, Lombards, Spaniards, French and Austrians have all ruled the city at some stage of its history and for the most part, the city has capitalised on its position and has emerged today as the undisputed industrial, commercial, financial and cultural powerhouse of Italy, and a leading global city, part of the so-called Blue Banana.

3149 Milan: 1.  Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral); 2. Teatro alla Scala;
3. Sforza Castle; 4. Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II; 

The city is a major world fashion and design capital, and its museums, theatres and landmarks attracts over 6 million annual visitors. Because Milan has always been a rich city, it has been also a place full of famous artists and offers a particular assortment of buildings and monuments. There was a change of culture and art in the Renaissance with big a contribution in the period of the Neoclassicism.

0433 Milan - Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square)

 

The most important church is the Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral), dedicated to Saint Mary Nascent, the third largest church in the world. It occupies the most central site in Roman Mediolanum. Saint Ambrose's 'New Basilica' was built on this site at the beginning of the 5th century, with an adjoining basilica added in 836. The old baptistery, constructed in 335, still can be visited under the cathedral, being one of the oldest Christian buildings in Europe. When a fire damaged cathedral and basilica in 1075, they were later rebuilt as the Duomo.

0434 Milan - Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral)

In 1386, Archbishop Antonio da Saluzzo began construction of the cathedral, following the newest trends in European architecture. A French chief engineer, Nicolas de Bonaventure, was appointed, adding to the church its Rayonnant Gothic, a French style not typical for Italy, and in 1399 another French architect, Jean Mignot, was called from Paris. Many others have contributed to the construction, because the cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete, the last gate being inaugurated in 1965. The plan consists of a nave with four side-aisles, crossed by a transept and then followed by choir and apse. The height of the nave is about 45m, the highest Gothic vaults of a complete church. The roof of the cathedral is renowned for the forest of openwork pinnacles and spires, set upon delicate flying buttresses.

0435 Milan - Aerial view of Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square)

The Duomo is located, of course, in Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square), the main piazza (square) of the city, created in the 14th century and gradually developed ever since. Its current plan is largely due to architect Giuseppe Mengoni, and dates back to the second half of the 19th century. The buildings that mark its sides, with the exception of the Duomo itself and the Royal Palace, were introduced by Mengoni's design, the most notable addition being the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II arcade. In the centre of the piazza was placed in 1896 the statue of Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of the united Italy. The last major change to the piazza occurred during the Fascist era.

0436 Milan - Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is the oldest shopping mall in Italy, originally designed in 1861 and built by the same Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877. The structure is formed by two glass-vaulted arcades intersecting in an octagon covering the street connecting Piazza del Duomo to Piazza della Scala, more accurate The Duomo and the Teatro Alla Scala. The central octagonal space is topped with a glass dome. On the ground of the central octagonal, there are four mosaics portraying the coat of arms of the three Capitals of the Kingdom of Italy (Turin, Florence and Rome) plus the Milan's. The Galleria is often nicknamed il salotto di Milano (Milan's drawing room), due to its numerous shops and importance as a common Milanese meeting and dining place.

3137 ITALY - The map and the flag of the country

Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino and Vatican City (the last two are enclaves within Italy). Due to its shape, it is often referred as lo Stivale (the Boot). With 61 million inhabitants it is the fourth most populous EU member state. Its capital city is Rome, one of the birthplaces of Western civilisation and the first ever metropolis. Without The Eternal City, the world wouldn't have been the same.

3051 ITALY (Liguria) - Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli (UNESCO WHS)

The Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli in Genoa's historic centre date from the late 16th and early 17th centuries when the Republic of Genoa was at the height of its financial and seafaring power. The property represents the first example in Europe of an urban development project parcelled out by a public authority within a unitary framework and associated to a particular system of "public lodging" in private residences, as decreed by the Senate in 1576.

2983 ITALY (Veneto) - Venetian Arsenal - part of Venice and its Lagoon (UNESCO WHS)

2983 View of the Entrance to the Arsenal by Canaletto, 1732.

The Venetian Arsenal is a complex of former shipyards and armories clustered together in the city of Venice. Owned by the state, the Arsenal was responsible for the bulk of the Venetian republic's naval power during the middle part of the second millennium AD. It was "one of the earliest large-scale industrial enterprises in history". Its construction began around 1104, and became the largest industrial complex in Europe before the Industrial Revolution, spanning about fifteen percent of Venice. It is located in the Castello district of Venice, and it is now owned by the state.

0963, 0964, 1907, 2931, 2981 ITALY (Sicily) - The map and the flag of Sicily

0963 The map of Sicily

Posted on 12.01.2014, 19.09.2015, 19.01.2017, 12.03.2017
Located in the extension of the tip of the Apennine peninsula, from which is separated only by the narrow Strait of Messina, Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Its terrain is mostly hilly and intensively cultivated, but has also mountain ranges. The eastern coast is dominates by the Mount Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe, and the Aeolian Islands, in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily, exhibit also a volcanic complex, including Stromboli. With a population of slightly more than 5 million, it has only two metropolitan areas: the capital Palermo, and Catania.

2931 Images from Sicily (1)

For a long time the poorest region of Italy, with a social, economic and political life dominated by Mafia (Cosa Nostra), which led to massive waves of emigration, especially in Americas, in the last years Sicily had a regular growth, mainly due to the reforms in agriculture, the investments in industry and tourism development, so that today it is the eighth richest italian region in terms of total GDP. The earliest archeological evidence of human dwelling on the island dates from 8000 BC. At around 750 BC it was host to Phoenician and Greek colonies and for the next 600 years it was the site of the Greek-Punic and Roman-Punic wars, which ended with the destruction of Carthage.

2982 Images from Sicily (2)

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Sicily often changed hands, and during the early Middle Ages it was ruled in turn by the Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Saracens and Normans. Later on, the Kingdom of Sicily lasted between 1130 and 1816, first subordinated to the crowns of Aragon, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and finally unified under the Bourbons with Naples, as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Following the Expedition of the Thousand, a Giuseppe Garibaldi-led revolt during the Italian Unification process and a plebiscite, it became part of Italy in 1860. After the birth of the Italian Republic in 1946, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region.

0964 The flag of Sicily (1)

As in the rest of Italy, the official language is Italian (even if the most people are bilingual and speak also Sicilian, a distinct and historical Romance language) and the primary religion is Roman Catholicism. In its long and tumultuous history, it received a variety of different cultures, each of them contributing to the island's culture, particularly in the areas of cuisine and architecture. It's the reason for that it has a rich and unique culture, many poets, writers, philosophers, intellectuals, architects and painters having roots on the island.

0964 The flag of Sicily (2)

The flag of Sicily (which is also its coat of arms) was first adopted in 1282, after the successful Sicilian Vespers revolt against the king Charles I of Sicily. It is characterized by the presence of the triskelion (trinacria) in its middle, the (winged) head of Medusa and three wheat ears. The three bent legs allegedly represent the three points of the triangular shape of the island. The present design became the official public flag of the Autonomous Region of Sicily on 4 January 2000. The flag is bisected diagonally into regions colored red and yellow, red representing the municipality of Palermo, yellow representing Corleone, which in medieval times was an agricultural city of renown. The triskelion appears also on the flag of the Isle of Man.

1267, 1327, 1906, 2964, 2972 ITALY (Sicily) - Arab-Norman Palermo and the cathedral churches of Cefalù and Monreale (UNESCO WHS)

1906 Sicily - Church of San Cataldo in Palermo

Posted on 03.10.2014, 08.11.2014, 19.09.2015, 27.02.2017, 05.03.2017
Located on the northern coast of Sicily, Arab-Norman Palermo includes a series of nine civil and religious structures dating from the era of the Norman kingdom of Sicily (1130-1194): two palaces, three churches, a cathedral, a bridge, as well as the cathedrals of Cefalú and Monreale. Collectively, they are an example of a social-cultural syncretism between Western, Islamic and Byzantine cultures on the island which gave rise to new concepts of space, structure and decoration. They also bear testimony to the fruitful coexistence of people of different origins and religions (Muslim, Byzantine, Latin, Jewish, Lombard and French).

1267 Sicily - The Cathedral-Basilica of Cefalù

Located on the central Piazza Bellini in Palermo, the Church of San Cataldo is annexed to that of Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio. Founded around 1160 by admiral Majone di Bari, in the 18th century the church was used as a post office. In the 19th century it was restored and brought back to a form more similar to the original Medieval edifice. It has a rectangular plan with blind arches, partially occupied by windows. The ceiling has three characteristics red, bulge domes (cubole) and Arab-style merlons. The interior has a nave with two aisles. The naked walls are faced by spolia columns with Byzantine style arcades.

2972 Sicily - The cloister of the abbey of Monreale (1)

Located on the northern coast of Sicily, Cefalù deserves noted mainly for its Cathedral, begun in 1131, in a style of Norman architecture, which would be more accurately called Sicilian Romanesque. According to tradition, the building was erected after a vow made to the Holy Saviour by the King of Sicily, Roger II, after he escaped from a storm. The Cathedral was consecrated in 1267. The exterior is well preserved, and is largely decorated with interlacing pointed arches. On each side of the façade is a massive tower of four storeys.

1327 Sicily - The cloister of the abbey of Monreale (1)

 

The interior of the cathedral was restored in 1559, though the pointed arches of the nave, borne by ancient granite columns, are still visible; and the only mosaics preserved are those of the apse and the last bay of the choir; they are remarkably fine specimens of the Byzantine art of the period (1148) and, though restored in 1859-1862, have suffered much less than those at Palermo and Monreale from the process. The figure of the Christ Pantocrator gracing the apse is especially noteworthy.

2964 Sicily - Mosaic of Christ Pantocrator
in the apse of the Cathedral of Monreale

 

Located 15km south of Palermo, on the slope of Monte Caputo, overlooking the very fertile valley called La Conca d'oro (the Golden Shell), Monreale was for a long time a mere village, and started its expansion when the Norman Kings of Sicily chose the area as their hunting resort. Under King William II the large monastery of Benedictines coming from Cava de' Tirreni, with its church, was founded. The Cathedral of Monreale, one of the greatest extant examples of Norman architecture in the world, was begun in 1174 by William II, and in 1182 the church was elevated to the rank of a metropolitan cathedral.