White Christmas

This is not what you think when you hear "white Christmas", but it's the white Christmas I had. All the photos are taken from the car, so they are not very good, and they are from the North of Spain. The fog was our companion almost all the travel and it had been there for some days, so the trees (and everything) was covered with a white ice cap.

The Wall

I'm not very smart, so I really can't understand the meaning of those indications. Expecially the arrow pointing towards the wall is puzzling me.

This picture was taken in the parking lot on top of a shopping center not too far from Brescia.

Santa Squash

Climbing Santas. I wonder if there is the same phenomenon outside Italy. Here it is all the rage and you can see one of those on about 50% of homes in Brescia.

Have you ever seen a more stupid Christmas decoration?

The italian comedian/actress/completely crazy woman Luciana Littizzetto (site in Italian only, sorry) expressed very well the same feelings I have for those silly things during the December 18th "Che tempo che fa" TV show (site in Italian, too: complain with them not with me!):

"Enough with the climbing Santas! ... They make Santa Claus look like an idiot who missed the chimney and got squashed on the wall instead!"

I've seen a life-sized climbing Santa a couple of days ago in Brescia, too bad I couldn't take a picture of that: it was the mother of all stupid decorations. Enjoy these smaller ones.

Canino - Part 1 - The Vulci Castle

And now, for something completely different.

This wonderful castle is located near the beautiful town of Canino, on the border between Tuscany and Lazio. It is known as Castello di Vulci (Vulci's Castle) and was built in the XIII century.

The castle was built over the ruins of the ancient etruscan city of Vulci: the city was already active in the VIII century B.C., and was quite important until it was conquered by the Romans in the III century B.C. Today the castle is a very nice museum of etruscan art and is also used as an incredibly suggestive stage for various kinds of shows (concerts, dances, and so on).

The bridge you see down there is the famous Ponte dell'Abbadia (Abbadia's bridge) and is 2000 years old! In the same picture you also get a glance of Maremma, where the italian "cowboys" (called Butteri) still live and work. Buffalo Bill met them while touring Europe with his "Wild West Show", and was very impressed by their skill.

Brescia - Piazza della Loggia

Although Brescia is not the most beautiful city in Italy (no, it doesn't make the second place either), it does have a few interesting views.

I shot these pictures two years ago at Christmas time. They show a few views of Piazza della Loggia.

The building on the left is the "Loggia" itself, that gives the name to the square. I should know by now what this building actually is, the truth is I'm a bit confused about it... ;-) It is, or at least it used to be, a place where important administrative decision are taken. I know for sure it's been used at least once for the MilleMiglia winners prize-giving.

The fuzzy thing pictured below on the left is a clock and is just opposite the Loggia. No, I don't know how to read it... :-) The two statues on the top are supposed to bang the bell every hour, I'm not sure they actually work though...

The nice tiny wooden houses shown down-right form the so-called "Mercatino di S. Lucia" (Saint. Lucy's Market), and it's just beside the Loggia. It opens in Christmas time and it's a great place to find nice unuseful overexpensive Christmas gifts if you're desperate and willing to empty your wallet. :-)

The last picture is taken from right under the clock and it shows the south exit from the square. On the left are "i Portici", one of the main shopping points in Brescia, where you can find fashion stores, jewelries and so on.

Roundabout fun

OK, it's not the Magic Roundabout, but it's quite disorienting anyway... :-)

This pic is low quality because I shot it with my mobile phone embedded camera.

Ciao!

Hello. I'm the "Marcello" Matgala mentions in the first post of this blog. I joined her in the photoblog because I wanted a photoblog, too, but I'm too lazy to mantain my own! ;-)

The idea behind this blog is very simple. It doesn't matter where you live: the things you see everyday are dull and boring for you, but could be interesting for people that have never seen them, because they live somewhere else, in another city, maybe in another continent!

So here we go: this photo is taken from my home and shows Brescia (Italy) under the snow. My dad shot it a few days ago.