Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie
The refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie forms an integral part of this architectural complex, begun in Milan in 1463 and reworked at the end of the 15th century by Bramante. On the north wall is The Last Supper, the unrivalled masterpiece painted between 1495 and 1497 by Leonardo da Vinci, whose work was to herald a new era in the history of art.
Assisi, a medieval city built on a hill, is the birthplace of Saint Francis, closely associated with the work of the Franciscan Order. Its medieval art masterpieces, such as the Basilica of San Francesco and paintings by Cimabue, Pietro Lorenzetti, Simone Martini and Giotto, have made Assisi a fundamental reference point for the development of Italian and European art and architecture.
The Roman plan of the city is based on the set of terraces, the construction of which started in the north-eastern part of the town (close to San Rufino), then extending toward the west. Culturally, the region belonged to Umbria but was on the border with Etruria. Abundant archaeological evidence, in fact, shows that the city’s foundation relates to the Umbrian phase, being later taken over by the Romans. The Roman monuments include the Temple of Minerva dating from the 1st century BCE to the time of Augustus, as part of an important sanctuary in the forum area, as well as theatres, bath-houses, and other public buildings. The ancient city walls were about 2300m long, enclosing some 55ha with vast green areas. The extent of the settlement and the fact that it was granted the status of municipium in 89 BCE demonstrate not only its role as a religious centre but also its political and economic significance. From the 3rd century CE, the city shows little evidence of construction until the beginning of the new millennium. Even so, the site continues being associated with religion, and the development and diffusion of Christianity are elements that deeply characterize the scenario, also closely associated with the ancient rituals and therapeutic treatments linked with water. The first Christian martyrs were killed in water, according to a legend, Bishop Rufino being one of them.
After the period of the barbarian invasions, which caused a considerable reduction in population, the regional layout of Assisi is characterized with the affirmation of Christianity, involving ancient sites associated with water and martyrdom. Water in fact becomes the symbol of life after death and its control takes on a liturgical nature. The territory is marked by the linkages between monastic and religious centres, settlements (eg San Vittorino, San Benedetto), and hermitages (eg Le Carceri). The region was subject to profound changes from the 11th and 12th centuries with the change of land ownership from important patrons to the classes of artisans and merchants. It also meant new types of cultivation and deforestation in view of new dynamism in development. A series of castles were built on the margins of the valley, and others were developed as centres of pastoral culture in the mountain region. In addition, there were new rural settlements, including the characteristic Umbrian building type of tower house, which remains a feature of all Assisi iconography until the present day.
Through the period from the 11th to the 14th centuries, the ancient town of Assisi was subject to important changes. The development focused on four main points: Piazza del Mercato, Murorupto, Santa Maria Maggiore, and San Rufino. The market becomes the centre of noble families, as well as having various churches (San Nicolo, San Paolo, Sant’Agata). The bishop’s citadel was built close to the ancient cathedral of Santa Maria Maggiore, and San Rufino became the new cathedral in the 11th century, rebuilt in the 13th century. The walled area was enlarged in 1260 and 1316, showing an increase in population.
The most important event in the history of medieval Assisi was undoubtedly the life and work of Francis of Assisi (1182-1226), who initiated the Franciscan Order, one of the most influential monastic orders in the Christian world, and who was canonized in 1228. Francis was born in Assisi and, although he travelled a great deal, some of the key references to his faith are in Assisi, including the grottoes of Le Carceri, San Damiano, and the Porziuncola, where he died. His companion, Clare, later canonized, founded the sister order to the Franciscans. After the canonization of Saint Francis, it was decided to build a monumental church in his honour, involving the Church of Rome as well as the City of Assisi. This construction was followed by the Basilica of Santa Chiara to honour Saint Clare.
The construction of the Basilicas of San Francesco and Santa Chiara represented a new input to the urban form of the town, and gave the relatively small medieval settlement a completely new physiognomy. This included the development of the main square over the former forum area with the Temple of Minerva. The construction of the Basilica of San Francesco, in particular, changed the earlier Franciscan symbol of humility into an exaltation of the figure of the saint, and the order thus affirmed its mission in the world. The city walls were once again enlarged in the 14th century, when also the fort, La Rocca, on the top of the hill was rebuilt as part of a series of castles to protect the interests of the papacy in the region.
The social and political events from the 15th to the 18th century left their traces in Assisi, in the form of new construction and improvements in management and draining of arable land. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Assisi was involved in wars with Perugia and in conflicts with Guelphs and Ghibellines, and the city suffered from sacks and fires. Through this period, however, the symbolic importance of Assisi in relation to Saint Francis continued. The first detailed town plan that has survived till today dates from 1599, by Giacomo Lauro, indicates Assisi as the patria of Saint Francis. In the late 15th century the most important urban project was the construction of the public squares in front of the Basilica of San Francesco,. In the 16th century Galeazzo Alessi designed the large basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli down in the valley, and it became a shelter for the Porziuncola of Saint Francis. He also restructured the cathedral of San Rufino and designed the tabernacle for the lower church of the Basilica of San Francesco. In the 17th and 18th centuries the city continued developing and a number of noble families built their palaces in the Baroque style. This period also included the church of San Francesco Converso by Giacomo Giorgetti in the 17th century.
In the 19th century, the discovery of the bodies of Saint Francis and Saint Clare gave new vigour to construction activities, including the restructuring of the convents of S. Damiano and S. Maria di Rivotorto. There were also some changes in the centre of Assisi, including the new postal offices in the Piazza del Comune. After World War II the renewed interest in Assisi provided an incentive for the protection of the historic town and its surroundings. In 1954, Assisi received the first conservation master plan in post-war Italy. At the same time, the entire municipal area became subject to nature protection.
(en.wikipedia.org)
Verona is a city in Veneto, northern Italy, one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the second most populated municipality of the region and the third of North-East Italy. It is one of the main tourist destinations in northern Italy, thanks to its artistic heritage, several annual fairs, shows, and operas, such as the lyrical season in the Arena, the ancient amphitheatre built by the Romans.
The city has been awarded world heritage site status by UNESCO because of its urban structure and architecture.
This is the most outstanding, intact example of a troglodyte settlement in the Mediterranean region, perfectly adapted to its terrain and ecosystem. The first inhabited zone dates from the Palaeolithic, while later settlements illustrate a number of significant stages in human history. Matera is in the southern region of Basilicata.
The Matera region has been inhabited by man since the Palaeolithic period. Permanent defended village settlements grew up after the last Ice Age, based on agriculture. Deforestation of the area led to serious erosion and created problems of water management. The gradual invasion of fields by garricue and maauis led to a change from agriculture to pastoral transhumance. The advent of better tools with the Metal Ages made it easier to dig into the soft calcareous tufa rocks exposed in the gravine (gorges or canyons) and there is evidence from the Bronze Age of the creation of underground cisterns and tombs, and in particular of underground dwellings opening out of a central space (iazzi). The excavated tufa blocks were used for the construction of walls and towers. This process was easiest on the sides of ravines, where the softer strata of tufa were exposed.
Greek colonization led to the introduction of higher technology and political structures, under the influence of the Pythagorean school. The earlier dispersed settlements coalesced into urban centres of government, under their own kings (i Re Pastori), leading eventually to the creation of true towns. The harsh landscape resulted in the growth of a spirit of sturdy independence which was resistant to successive waves of invaders after the Byzantine period. The area was also very attractive to monastic and utopian communities.
Matera’s development was due to its geological setting. A belt of soft tufa is located between 350 and 400 m above the valley bed, and this also contains two natural depressions (arabialioni); in consequence, it was here that the settlement grew up. The clay plateau above was reserved for agriculture and pastoralism.
This structure remained intact until the 18th century. It was the expansion and interventions of the 19th and 20th centuries that rejected the ancient principle of land management based on water supply and drainage and spread to the clays of the plateau above. The original urban fabric degenerated to the point where Matera, Idrisi as hailed by the 12th century geographer El “magnificent and splendid”, was seen by Carlo Levi in his famous novel Cristo si B fermato ad Eboli (Christ stopped at Eboli), published in 1945, life in southern Italy. as the symbol of the misery of peasant As a result of the Italian Government’s concern about this situation, legislation passed in 1952 led to the rehousing of the dwellers of the old quarters in new buildings and the desertion of the ancient centre in the 1950s.
(whc.unesco.org)
Venice is a city in northern Italy known both for tourism and for industry, and is the capital of the region Veneto.
The name is derived from the ancient people of Veneti that inhabited the region as of 10th century B.C.The city historically was the capital of the Venetian Republic. Venice has been known as the “La Dominante”, “Serenissima”, “Queen of the Adriatic”, “City of Water”, “City of Masks”, “City of Bridges”, “The Floating City”, and “City of Canals”. Luigi Barzini, writing in The New York Times, described it as “undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man”.
The city stretches across 117 small islands in the marshy Venetian Lagoon along the Adriatic Sea in northeast Italy. The saltwater lagoon stretches along the shoreline between the mouths of the Po (south) and the Piave (north) Rivers. The population estimate of 272,000 inhabitants includes the population of the whole Comune of Venezia; around 60,000 in the historic city of Venice (Centro storico); 176,000 in Terraferma (the Mainland), mostly in the large frazioni of Mestre and Marghera; and 31,000 live on other islands in the lagoon.
The Republic of Venice was a major maritime power during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and a staging area for the Crusades and the Battle of Lepanto, as well as a very important center of commerce (especially silk, grain and spice trade) and art in the 13th century up to the end of the 17th century. This made Venice a wealthy city throughout most of its history. It is also known for its several important artistic movements, especially the Renaissance period. Venice has played an important role in the history of symphonic and operatic music, and it is the birthplace of Antonio Vivaldi.
The Piazza del Duomo (“Cathedral Square”) is a wide, walled area at the heart of the city of Pisa, Tuscany, Italy, recognized as one of the main centers for medieval art in the world. Partly paved and partly grassed, it is dominated by four great religious edifices: the Duomo (cathedral), the Campanile (the cathedral’s free standing bell tower), the Baptistry and the Camposanto.
In 1987 the whole square was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Built on the site of an Etruscan settlement, Florence, the symbol of the Renaissance, rose to economic and cultural pre-eminence under the Medici in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its 600 years of extraordinary artistic activity can be seen above all in the 13th-century cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore), the Church of Santa Croce, the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace, the work of great masters such as Giotto, Brunelleschi, Botticelli and Michelangelo.
Amazin aerial view of Tevere River, Castle Saint Angelo and Vatican City
Saint Peter Square
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country’s largest and most populated city and comune. The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.
Rome’s history spans over two and a half thousand years. It was the capital city of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, which was the dominant power in Western Europe and the lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea for over seven hundred years from the 1st century BC until the 7th century AD. Since the 1st century AD Rome has been the seat of the Papacy and, after the end of Byzantine domination, in the 8th century it became the capital of the Papal States, which lasted until 1870. In 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic.
After the Middle Ages, Rome was ruled by popes such as Alexander VI and Leo X, who transformed the city into one of the major centers of the Italian Renaissance, along with Florence.[2] The current-day version of St Peter’s Basilica was built and the Sistine Chapel was painted by Michelangelo. Famous artists and architects, such as Bramante, Bernini and Raphael resided for some time in Rome, contributing to its Renaissance and Baroque architecture.
In 2007 Rome was the 11th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy. The city is one of Europe’s and the world’s most successful city “brands,” both in terms of reputation and assets. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are amongst the world’s 50 most visited tourist destinations (the Vatican Museums receiving 4.2 million tourists and the Colosseum receiving 4 million tourists every year).
Day by Day Correspondence 