Friday, July 29, 2011
Fishing at Redondo Beach, Southern California
Beer Flavored Gelato
The weather lately has been cool and spring-like, yet the urge to go for gelato every afternoon is still there. To my surprise, somebody finally thought of mixing those two favorite summer past times together: ice cream and a drink al fuori. I was too tired to go nuts with the selection, so I went for the traditional panna cotta, but maybe next time I will find out why an ice cream flavored with birra rosa turned out white.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Villas of the Veneto: Villa Gazzotti (Vicenza)
Largely forgotten and allowed to rot and crumble, Villa Gazzotti is definitely not one of Palladio's greatest achievement. It looks more like a barn than a villa, its modest size dwarfed by the modern buildings around it. It is definitely assertive, and it is clearly apparent as something other than just a regular ancient abode built simply to satisfy that need. However, although left unrestored in the middle of a field somewhere in the northeastern part of Vicenza, the villa is an important milestone in Palladio's evolving use of decorations to mold the shape and look of a building, and a great display of the use of cheap materials (sadly, only apparent due to the building's state of disrepair) that made Palladio the Reniassance version of a McMansion designer.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
New UNESCO World Hertiage Sites near Vicenza
This is kind of late news, but it is good news nonetheless. Two new "sites" (both were really for a string of sites tied together by a singular theme or "significance") were added by UNESCO to the World Heritage Site List, both within driving distance from Vicenza. One is hailed by the Italian press as more significant due to it being completely housed within the country's borders, the other scattered across six countries but no less significant nonetheless.
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