A Visit to Ventimiglia . . .

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Back in May when we were really starting to get to the nitty gritty planning phase for the upcoming trip to Italy in June (which just ended, much to my regret), over on Catherine's blog, Small Fish In the Big Taco, she put up a post about the old town of Ventimiglia, located just across the border from France in Italy on the Riviera coast, which you can see here. Her report gave me a strong desire to follow in her footsteps and take a look around, and it happened to work out perfectly that as we left Genoa and were heading across to Toulon in France, we just had time for a short stop in Ventimiglia. The following photos were the inevitable result.
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I would highly recommend a visit to Ventimiglia if you are ever down that way, just be sure to wear a pair of sturdy walking shoes, as it is a steep climb from center of town at sea-level up to the top of the old quarter.
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A Brush With Immortality . . .

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On the way back home toward France from central Italy this past weekend, we had planned in advance to spend one night in Genoa, so as not to have too long a drive at one go. To my shame, I admit, I had not given much thought to the overnight stay in that ancient city, other than to reserve a hotel for the night not far from the port and the old city center. It was only when we got there fairly late in the evening on Saturday that I took the time to peruse the guidebook a little more closely to see if there might be something of interest to visit on Sunday morning before heading back into France. So it was with considerable amazement and surprise that I discovered a paragraph in the book about one of the largest and most distinguished cemeteries in all of Europe, the Staglieno Monumental Cemetery, situated right on the outskirts of Genoa. After reading the glowing description in the guidebook of the 160 hectare (395 acres) site of the Staglieno Cemetery, there was no question about where we were heading on Sunday morning.
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And all I can say is, if you are ever in Genoa for any reason, do not miss this cemetery ! It is simply stunning. Out of this world. If you want a little bit of an idea, just go to Google and peruse the images section for Staglieno Cemetery. There are hundreds and hundreds of images already on line. This may be one of the most memorable and astonishing cemeteries in the world for the quality and quantity of the incredible artwork contained within. Writers like Mark Twain and Evelyn Waugh devoted their attention to this unforgettable graveyard. Evelyn Waugh went so far as to say that "If Pere Lachaise and the Albert Memorial were obliterated, the loss would be negligible as long as this great repository survived".
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Without further ado I will let you contemplate my humble contribution below to the already massive number of photographs of the Staglieno Cimeterio on the web. I only wish I had weeks to spend in further exploration of this extraordinary museum of funerary art. I have never seen anything like it, even in Pere Lachaise in Paris, which by comparison is only 43 hectares (106 acres) of land. Everywhere one looks in this mind boggling site one encounters works of art of the highest quality. And the organisation of the place is phenomenal as well, there is a bus service internal to the cemetery to shuttle people around, and as can be seen in one of the below photos there are public urinals for the male visitors, which left me wondering what the female visitors in need were supposed to do... I just hope that one day some effort will be made to give all of the statuary a serious cleaning. It looks as though nothing has been cleaned in the last 160 years or so since the cemetery opened. There are heavy layers of grime on every possible surface. But that does not prevent the underlying beauty from radiating brightly.
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On the Road in Italy . . .

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As mentioned earlier, am currently on the road in Italy... where we spent four fabulous days in Florence,  three nights in Siena, and tomorrow will be taking our time in the Tuscany and Umbria countryside on the way to Perugia.  Have walked countless kilometres in Florence and Siena, and visited already a quantity of points of interest which would put the most seasoned tourist's brain into a state of serious sensory overload. Close to thirty giga-bytes of photos have been recorded, I tried valiantly to resist, but could not help myself; must be a victim of CPD : Compulsive Photographic Disorder.
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Below is a view of Siena taken from the panoramic rooftop of the Cathedral Museum. The following photo was taken in a location which was a thoroughly surprising discovery; a large underground burial area in one of Siena's cemeteries. After the similar site found in Belgium, mentioned in a post just a couple back from this one, I certainly was not expecting to find another underground cemetery so soon. Life is full of surprises!
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The last photo was found in one of Siena's lesser visited museums, sadly so, for it was a simply splendid place, and was virtually empty, while the hordes of tourists present in Siena this time of year flocked instead to the nearby cathedral. I can't quite make out the writing on the forehead... but no doubt something appropriately profound. More photos to follow soon.
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Epitaaf . . .

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Just outside the cemetery in Belgium featured in the previous post, where there is an underground burial area the likes of which I've never seen before, there is a funerary art museum named Epitaaf. This photo is taken through the plate glass window on the front of the museum. Unfortunately it was closed when I was there, and apparently is not often open. I'd love to see what they have in there, so am just going to have to find out when it is open, and get back there. In the meanwhile, this photo can count for my participation in James' Weekend Reflections. And for some reason this photo also reminds me of the title page photo at the top of that most wonderful of blogs Décolleté Glimpses...
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