Italian Inspirations

I am, much like everyone I bump into these days, in love with Italy. I was finally able to visit in 2004 and came across some of my favorite photos the other day. It is so inspiring to look at the photos now, years later, because I can hardly believe I actually saw these beautiful things with my own eyes.

This is one of my favorite goddess photos. I am not entirely sure who is being depicted here, but when I was standing underneath her, my breath was taken away.



The city of Lucca is absolutely amazing. We arrived there after spending 4 days in Venice and Padua. We were cityed out. Little did we know it was actually a walled in town. So surrounding it is a, I'm just guessing here, 40 foot wall that you can walk or bike on. The wall has a sort of rail trail type presence on top. So this was my little rental bike, waiting patiently for me under the shady trees.



If you find yourself in Venice, please, please, please get on a boat and visit Burano, a small island community off the shore. The houses are all amazing colors and they all hang their laundry to dry. Simple and beautiful.





We also spent several days on the Cinque Terra coast. The hiking trails are something you dream of, with every view looking something like these. The terraced hills are planted with heavenly things such as herbs and lemons--everywhere.