Bailey Alexander: Dreams from Northern Italy

  • Santa Maria sopra Minerva and the Patron Saint of Europe

    Santa Maria sopra Minerva and the Patron Saint of Europe

    Basilica di Santa Maria sopra Minerva is one of the major churches of the Order of Preachers, otherwise known as the Dominicans, of Rome. Located in Piazza della Minerva just one block from the Pantheon is one reason to go, another is to meditate beneath this heavenly ceiling of blue. Another is to honor Saint…

  • Caravaggio

    Caravaggio

    Rome offers the Caravaggio enthusiast a treasure hunt of places to find the artist who created blood and light on canvas. The Church of San Luigi dei Francesi sits in between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona – the national church of France in Rome, named for Louis IX, King of France. Designed by Giacomo della…

  • We all have a special spot

    We all have a special spot

    We all have that special spot in our favorite city; mine happens to be @ Piazza del Popolo. Before we moved to Trastevere, waiting for our stuff to arrive from across the pond, we lived in a furnished apartment on Via Flaminia, outside the gates. My guy would arrive back in town, call from the…

  • Rooftop magic in Rome

    Rooftop magic in Rome

    Tonight @piazza della repubblica

  • You go to Rome for many reasons….

    You go to Rome for many reasons….

    …and one would be the puntarelle; ‘alla romana’ is a typcial side dish – a delicious wintery chicory salad ~ ~ when anchovies taste divine, dare I say sublime.

  • Off to Rome; our former home.

    Off to Rome; our former home.

    Not sure my guy ever forgave me for moving away…

  • Merry Christmas

    Merry Christmas

  • Mass shooting at Charles University in Prague

    Mass shooting at Charles University in Prague

    Thank god it’s rare in Europe, what is now so normal in the States. 14 souls lost. Gunman was a 24 year old Czech student who shot his father, then 14 people, wounding 25 others at Prague University.

  • Chez Bay winter views in Paris and Prague…

    Chez Bay winter views in Paris and Prague…

    Hushed views when our address was in Paris 2006-2009, Prague in 2012, Bucharest in 2013 and Piemonte, Italy, back in the winter of 2014. It wouldn’t dare snow in Malta and we didn’t have a view in Amsterdam. There was none to see from out boat when I lived near Venice for 6 months, a…

  • Winter vineyards and quiet environs in Piemonte, Italy

    Winter vineyards and quiet environs in Piemonte, Italy

    Italy’s success at exporting their culture is seen in the northern region where Piemontese farmers produce rice for the rest of Europe. The Swiss come here to make their chocolate because of the prized hazelnuts. There’s plenty of truffles, world famous wine like Barolo, Barbera and Barbaresco and Moscato, award winning cheese and oh so…

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