Silhouettes

Isola del Liri – La Cascata grande

In  provincia di Frosinone, precisamente a Isola del Liri,  si trova una Cascata naturale unica in Italia a cadere in pieno centro storico.
Il fiume Liri ha il compito naturale di far da scenario nei paesi in cui passa. E’ ad Isola del Liri che si ammira lo spettacolo imponente della Grande Cascata,  l’intera fiumana strapiomba da un largo salto di circa ventisette metri biancheggiando in una fluida imponente massa d’argento in cui giocano gli arcobaleni.

Place de l'Hotel de ville

Aix en Provence is a beautiful and noble town  whose origins date back to Roman times, it was the capital of the Counts of Provence and is the historic capital of art and culture of Provence.

Here there are more than 200 eighteenth-century villas, and is the birthplace of the great impressionist Paul Cézanne, the city where he spent most of his life and where he painted many of his masterpieces.  Aix en Provence is also an important university, with more than 30,000 students.

Merry Xmas

Best wishes for a Christmas full of love.

Big kiss

Thank you

St. Peter's Basilica

St. Peter's Basilica (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri) is a Late Renaissance church located within Vatican City.

Designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo,Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's is the most renowned work of  Renaissance architecture and remains one of the largest churches in the world. While it is neither the mother church of the Roman Catholic Churc nor the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, St. Peter's is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic sites. It has been described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world" and as "the greatest of all churches of Christendom".

By Roman Catholic tradition, the basilica is the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and, also according to tradition, the first Bishop of Rome and therefore first in the line of the papal tomb succession. Tradition and some historical evidence hold that Saint Pter’s tomb is directly below the altar of the basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St. Peter's since the Early Christian period. There has been a church on this site since the time of Constantine the Great. Construction of the present basilica, replacing the Old St. Peter’s Basilica of the 4th century, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.

St. Peter's is famous as a place of pilfrimage, for its liturgical functions. Because of its location in the Vatican, the Pope presides at a number of services throughout the year, drawing audiences of 15,000 to over 80,000 people, either within the Vatican Basilica, or in St. Peter's Square. St. Peter's has many strong historical associations, with the Early Christian church, the papacy, the Protestant Reformation and Counter-reformation, and with numerous artists, most significantly Michelangelo. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age. St. Peter's is one of the four churches of Rome that hold the rank of Major Basilica. Contrary to popular misconception, it is not a cathedral as it is not the seat of a bishop; the cathedra of the Pope (as Bishop of Rome) is located in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.

St. Peter's is a church in the Renaissance style located in Rome west of the River Tiber and near the Janiculum Hill and Hadrian’s Mausoleum. Its central dome dominates the skyline of Rome. The basilica is approached via St. Peter Square, a forecourt in two sections, both surrounded by tall colonnades. The first space is oval and the second trapezoid. The façade of the basilica, with a giant order of columns, stretches across the end of the square and is approached by steps on which stand two 5.55 metres (18.2 ft) statues of the 1st century apostles to Rome, Saints Peter and Paul.
The basilica is cruciform in shape, with an elongated nave in the Latin cross form but the early designs were for a centrally planned structure and this is still in evidence in the architecture. The central space is dominated both externally and internally by one of the largest domes in the world. The entrance is through a narthex, or entrance hall, which stretches across the building. One of the decorated bronze doors leading from the narthex is the Holy Door, only opened in Holy Years.
The interior is of vast dimensions when compared with other churches. One author wrote: "Only gradually does it dawn upon us – as we watch people draw near to this or that monument, strangely they appear to shrink; they are, of course, dwarfed by the scale of everything in the building. This in its turn overwhelms us."
The nave which leads to the central dome is in three bays, with piers supporting a barrel-vault, the highest of any church. The nave is framed by wide aisles which have a number of chapels off them. There are also chapels surrounding the dome. Moving around the basilica in a clockwise direction they are: The  Baptistery, the Chapel of the Presentation of the Virgin, the larger Choir Chapel, the Clementine Chapel with the altar of St Gregory, the Sacristy Entrance, the left transept with altars to the Crucifixion of St Peter,St Joseph and St Thomas, the altar of the Sacred Heart, the Chapel of the Madonna of Colonna, the altar of St. Peter and the Paralytic, the apse with St. Peter's Cathedra, the altar of St. Peter raising Tabitha, the altar of the Archangel Michael, the altar of the Navicella, the right transept with altars of St Erasmus, Saints Processo and Martiniano, and St Wenceslas, the altar of St Basil, the Gregorian Chapel with the altar of the Madonna of Succour, the larger Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, the Chapel of St Sebastian and the Chapel of the Pietà.
 At the heart of the basilica, beneath the high altar, is the Confessio or Chapel of the Confession, in reference to the confession of faith by St. Peter, which led to his martyrdom. Two curving marble staircases lead to this underground chapel at the level of the Constantinian church and immediately above the burial place of Saint Peter.

The entire interior of St. Peter's is lavishly decorated with marble, reliefs, architectural sculpture and gilding. The basilica contains a large number of tombs of popes and other notable people, many of which are considered outstanding artworks. There are also a number of sculptures in niches and chapels, including Michelangelo’s Pietà. The central feature is a baldachin, or canopy over the Papal Altar, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The sanctuary culminates in a sculptural ensemble, also by Bernini, and containing the symbolic Chair of Saint Peter.
One observer wrote: "St Peter's Basilica is the reason why Rome is still the center of the civilized world. For religious, historical, and architectural reasons it by itself justifies a journey to Rome, and its interior offers a palimpsest of artistic styles at their best..."
The American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson described St. Peter's as "an ornament of the earth ... the sublime of the beautiful."


(source wiki) 

Lake Bolsena

Lake Bolsena  is a crater lake  of central Italy, of volcanic origin, which was formed starting 370,000 years ago following the collapse of a caldera of the Vulsini volcanic complex into a deep aquifer. Roman historic records indicate activity of the Vulsini volcano occurred as recently as 104 BC, since when it has been dormant. The two islands in the southern part of the lake were formed by underwater eruptions following the initial collapse of the caldera.
The lake is supplied entirely from the aquifer, rainfall and runoff, with one outlet at the southern end. A sewage treatment plant filters most of the raw sewage from the surrounding communities. Constructed in 1996, it features pipelines transporting the sewage from every major community around the lake to the treatment plant on the Marta River; that is, no effluents enter the lake. Fertilizers are a second source of contamination. However, the chemical content of the lake is monitored at several stations around it.
Lying within the northern part of the province of Viterbo that is called Alto Lazio ("Upper Latium") or Tuscia, the lake has a long historic tradition. The Romans called it Lacus Volsinii, adapting the Etruscan name, Velzna,  of the last Etruscan city to hold out against Rome, which was translocated after 264 BC, and its original location today has not been securely identified. The lake is bordered on one side by updated forms of the Roman consular road Via Cassia.. In addition to the historic sites of all periods, Lake Bolsena is currently surrounded by numerous tourist establishments, largely for camping, agrotourism and bed and breakfasts.
One third of the lake was donated to the Church by the noble family Alberici of Orvieto. In recognition of the donation the Alberici family was honored with a ceremony three times a year performed by the Bishop of Orvieto.

(source wiki)