Drove to Verona, so we could get the train to Venice for a day. Strolled into Verona on arrival and as usual, our low expectations were blown away.
Fantastic medieval civic buildings, and as seems fairly normal, the rich in those days built churches and chapels to buy their stairway to heaven. In Verona it was the son of a money lender, usurers being condemned to the fiery pit on the nod by St Peter. The Chapel (Capello Scravegni) he built was decorated with frescos on all four walls and the vaulted ceiling, by Giotto, showing Scrovegni and his Dad being introduced to various saints, with other usurers meeting a gruesome end at the hands of some very unpleasant looking blokes in the fiery pit. Apparently even Dante thought this artwork a bit on the heavy side.
Thence to Venice .. €3 by train, London Midland would charge £23 for the same journey. Spent an intense day sight-seeing, and only scratched the surface.
No comments:
Post a Comment