The Washing Lines of Marino, Italy
The streets between the houses are like deep gullies made brilliant by vibrant washing lines strung outside windows like bunting as though in anticipation of a parade or a carnival, stretching across the streets dripping indiscriminately and swaying gently backwards and forwards above the secret doorways and back alleys.
Posted in Europe, History, Italy, Natural Environment, Travel
Tagged Albano, Castel Gandolfo, Ciampino, Frascati, Italy, Life, Marino, Photography, Rome
Covering 2,000 years of history in two days in sun drenched Rome the holiday club visit the Eternal City during the 150 year celebrations of the unification of Italy.
In the grip of an unexpected heat wave while the Romans seek out shade Andrew, Kim, Micky, Sue and Christine do what the English do best and go out in the midday sun to see ancient, medieval and modern Rome.
Posted in Europe, Food, History, Hotels, Italy, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Albano Laziale, Castel Gandolfo, Frascati, Italy, Marino, Roman Forum, Rome, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain
Frascati, another of the Castelli Romani, is a busy dormitory town for nearby Rome and being the location of several international scientific laboratories is closely associated with science and technology. In 1943 it was heavily bombed and approximately half of its buildings, including many monuments, villas and houses, were destroyed. Many people died in an air raid on 22nd January 1944, the day of the battle of Anzio. Towards the end of the war the city was finally liberated from the Nazi German occupation on 4th June 1944 by the advancing American infantry.
We had a late afternoon flight so had all of the morning and the early afternoon for more sightseeing and the plan today was to use the local bus and take a trip to the shoreline of the lake that we had seen several times now from the windows of the train. From what we could make out from the badly faded timetable half stuck with peeling sellotape to the window at the terminus the buses seemed to run every hour and we had missed one by a matter of only seconds so there was a forty minute wait for the next one to come along. I purchasedthe tickets for Marino and we waited in the sunshine.
Posted in Europe, History, Italy, Travel
Tagged Albano Laziale, Castel Gandolfo, Codice della Strada, Frascati, Italian Highway Code, Italy, Lake Albano, Marino
The small café was opposite the entrance to the Papal Palace which is where the Pope spends his summers on the shore of the lake ostensibly to avoid the oppressive heat of Rome. I’m sure that this probably isn’t strictly necessary anymore because I imagine that the Vatican will have more than adequate air-conditioning facilities these days but nevertheless it still remains a nice place to spend the summer. The Catholic Church owns this splendid Palace thanks to the Lateran Treaty of 1929 when Italy recognized the full ownership by the Holy See of the Pontifical Palace of Castel Gandolfo.
Posted in Europe, History, Hotels, Italy, Natural Environment, Travel
Tagged Albano Laziale, Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Lake Albano, Peroni, Rome, Villa Altieri
Italy was in the grip of a burning heat wave and after landing at Ciampino and on opening the aircraft doors there was a blast of heat from the smouldering tarmac baking in temperatures that, coming from Northern Europe, we were unfamiliar with, which was rather like opening a pizza oven door. Ciampino was once the principal airport for Rome but it has now been superseded by a modern facility north of the city so it quite small for a capital city airport and we were processed through immigration control and customs nice and quickly.
Posted in Europe, History, Hotels, Italy, Travel
Tagged Alban Hills, Albano Laziale, Appian Way, Castel Gandolfo, Castelli Romani, Italy, Rome
