North of Italy

I spent another week in Italy, but after Sicily even the North of Italy fades in comparison.

I had an early flight from Catania to Bologna. I took a taxi and had a really interesting conversation with the driver who looked like a typical mafiosi, but claimed that actually he used to work in police. In Bologna I checked in in the hotel and immediately took a train to Venice. Venice was a human zoo with a huge line to vaporetto to San Marco. Well, I mostly walked for the next six hours. St. Marco was closed because it was Sunday and I suspect they just didn't want to open it. Instead I visited Doge Palace (I missed it the last time). Here are some pictures.

I went to Florence the next day. It was raining most of the day, Uffizi was closed (Monday). Here is my favorite place with various sculptures.

This is the Loggia dei Lanzi on a corner of the Piazza della Signoria, adjoining the Uffizi.

The next day I went to Ravenna, the capital of the Western Roman Empire in 5th century and later a Byzantine province. Ravenna has several Byzantine churches of 6th century. 

Basilica of San Vitale reminded me Hagia Sophia. 

 One of the mosaics - Justinian (in the middle), Belisarius (next to the Justinian at the left), bishop Maximian (at the right with the cross).

As I discovered  later, San  Vitale is the only building outside of Constantinople that approached the elegance and sophistication of  Byzantine   structures, such as Hagia Sophia.  It was important for the design of San Vitale to surpass every building in the west - especially the Arian  Cathedral built by Theodoric known as San  Appollinare  Nuovo.  Despite being "Nuovo",San  Apollinare is actually older than San Vitale and was built for Theodoric as his  palace chapel.

Plain looking from outside, it has several  rows of mosaics depicting  Jesus as well as saints, prophets and evangelists.

Three Magi

I will mention one more Arian monument - Arian Baptistery built for Theodoric. It is remarkably similar to an earlier Neonian baptistery. Here we go - pagan god, Jesus half-submerged in the Jordan river, John (left to right), the holy spirit sprays water from above, apostles circle Jesus.

After Ravenna I went to Milan with a stop in Parma. I tried crepes with prosciutto covered with Parmesan cheese. I almost felt cholesterol hardening in my arteries and had to wash it down with some red wine!

Milan was my last stop in Italy . The guidebook called it "smart city" - I wasn't sure what it meant, but I definitely liked the city! I thought that St.Petersburg could have become a city like Milan, but  didn't (and likely never will). I mostly spent my time in  the center of Milan just hanging around the Gothic cathedral and several churches. Here are my most memorable pictures.

The Cathedral  is the largest Gothic cathedral and second Catholic  cathedral  in the world; took five centuries to complete.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle, just don't call it a shopping mall.

Teatro alla Scala, unfortunately there were no performances when I was in Milan. 

These are not cars, but rather a way to decorate a (very expensive) street - big tubs for the trees.

I made a couple of trips from Milan - to Pavia and Turin.

Chertosa di Pavia was initially planned as the family tomb for the Visconti family. The monks (only a handful) still live there, but there are mostly hidden from visitors.

The facade of the church is probably the most exuberant I have ever seen - a fine example of Lombard-Romanesque style

Turin was another city where I could live (after Milan).