Thank you for having accepted my invitation to travel. This weekend, I return with great joy – with you – in places particularly dear to me, on a route that winds through the rolling hills of Central Italy, the birthplace of the Italian language and where it was created its flag flag. We will move at a speed of only …
Read More »Marceline Desbordes-Valmore: LOVE
LOVE What I have in my heart, burning like our age, I dare you speak, how to define it? Is it a burning mirror hit your picture? A thrilling portrait born of your memory? See! I think it’s you, even in your absence, In sleep; eh what! can you still watch? This overwhelming happiness that gives your presence, …
Read More »LUCCA, ITALY: Walking around two thousand years of history
Every year, on the evening of 12 July, the “Palio della Balestra” dispute between competitors within the “terzieri” citizens, according to a regulation that dates back to 1443. During the month of September, under the walls of the city, there is the “Medieval Fair of Holy Cross “where you can see schools of artisans, musicians and jugglers. Every year, between …
Read More »LEAVE BEHIND YOUR FEARS: How? I’ll wait in Bergen, Norway, on the 9th of May.
Hello. Although for me this is a third Norwegian experience, I do not deny being excited, once again, at the thought of touching the sky, the sea and the earth, on board a ferry postal Norwegian. You ask me how is this possible, and my answer is in the casket of my memories and of my photographs. You and I …
Read More »TASTES OF ANDALUCIA: Tour de tapas in Seville, but always after eight in the evening
This afternoon, we saw along the Bullfight in Seville, and I hope you have enjoyed the warmth of the sun and that of the crowd, but I would leave to you the flavors of Seville. My idea is to meet this evening at 1 Calle Mateos Gago. At what time? I suggest thoroughly after eight in the evening, according to …
Read More »ITALY, TUSCANY HILLS: Gregorian Chants, including legendary places and timeless emotions
Welcome to our “Travel Bench.” For this weekend, I would like to accompany you in the rolling hills of Central Tuscany, but not to make you drink good wine of Montepulciano, and even to see the Palio of Siena. My desire – but it is independent of any religious belief – is to help you along an ancient path, that …
Read More »MARCELINE DESBORDES-VALMORE, Poem: The Separated
Do not write. I am sad, and I would turn me. Beautiful summer without you, this is the night without a torch. I closed my arms cannot reach you, And hit my heart is knocking at the tomb. Do not write! Do not write. Do not learn to die to ourselves. God asks only that … you, if I …
Read More »JAREZ, BAR ARCO DE SANTIAGO: WHERE THE FLAMENCO VIBRA IN YOUR SKIN
Hello, thank you for having accepted my invitation. The history of flamenco is Andalusia. To know this dance, today I have shown you Jerez de la Frontera, Andalusia, but in this magical evening, you’re my guest at the “Bar Arc de Santiago”, where we expect a show from the atmosphere full of intensity. Remember, we are at number 3 Calle …
Read More »JEREZ, THE INVISIBLE FRONTIER
Jerez de la Frontera, one spring morning, two glass of wine on our table, the taste of the Atlantic Ocean and the scent of Andalusia. Thank you for being with me in this region of Spain. The winter, as always happens was humid and temperate, but we can expect a hot and dry summer, and that is why I have …
Read More »UMBERTO ECO: THE ISLAND OF THE DAY BEFORE
Hello, nice to meet you, on Meeting Benches. Its benches topics are open to contributions from anyone, but one where we are now sitting is called “library” where you can leave or find a book, or a review of a book. As you can see, today I have in my hand a novel by an Italian writer, but I must …
Read More »CERVENY KAMEN CASTLE, SLOVAKIA: A bench, where love has never turned off.
It is on a rocky outcrop in the woods of the Little Carpathians, in an area that maintains its long tradition of wine-growing. It is a village easily accessible from Bratislava, its name is Červený Kameň (Red Stone), and has its own castle, the one built by Italian architects of the Board of Auditors Palffi. The Castle is open every …
Read More »ERIC J. LEED, THE MIND OF THE TRAVELLER: From Odyssey to the global tourism
What was your last important trip? When you’re back home, you still had the certainty of departure, or you are immersed in the journey, to search for that part of you that you did not know she yet? You do not like Ulysses, as he was returning home in the same clothes he left, with his eyes the memory of …
Read More »FLORENCE: TRAVELING WITH BENOZZO GOZZOLI
From the diary-atlanteillustrato TRAVEL IN ITALY, publisher Meeting Benches (e-book format, available in Italian language and English). A painter of the Italian Renaissance, born in Tuscany in 1420, a pupil of Fra Angelico, has long lived in Florence, by decorating the church of San Marco. Like many painters of that period, he also was in Rome, by decorating a chapel …
Read More »PAINTINGS SPRINGS
JOURNEY IN HELL
JOURNEY IN HELL: “She begins Dante’s Alighieri, of Florence, Divine Comedy, in which he deals with the penalties and punishments, of defects and merits, rewards and virtues. It begins with the first canticle of the first, the part which is called Hell, in which the author makes introduction to the entire work.” In the middle of the journey of our life, …
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