Monasterio de la Encarnación

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Monasterio de la Encarnación
Paseo la Encarnación
Ávila, September 2025

“The Monastery of the Incarnation was founded in 1478 within the walled city. It was at the beginning of the 16th century when the Carmelite convent was moved to the outskirts of the city, building the monastery on land acquired from the Chapter and which had previously been the Jewish cemetery. On April 4, 1515, the day the saint was baptized, the monastery was inaugurated, although still unfinished. It consists of four naves enclosing a central courtyard, with a two-story cloister. At the end of the 16th century, the cell occupied by Teresa of Jesus was used as an oratory, and a chapel was planned for construction, which was not inaugurated until 1717. The current configuration of the Chapel of the Transverberation is based on four transverse arches and a half-orange dome. In the 18th century, the interior of the original church was transformed in a Baroque style. The floor plan is in the shape of a Latin cross, with a single nave covered by a barrel vault and a dome with pendentives and a lantern. The altars and reredos are also Baroque. The large bell gable, built in 1715, stands out on the southern façade of the monastery. This monastery is one of the key places in the life of Teresa of Ávila, where she remained almost uninterruptedly from 1535 to 1574. When Teresa de Cepeda, without her father's permission, entered the Carmelite Order, the monastery was one of the most populated in the city. It had a very large number of properties, and as in many others, convent life was not rigorous, with very marked social differences among the nuns. At La Encarnación, she received advice from Francisco de Borja, Juan de la Cruz, and Pedro de Alcántara, and it was from here that she prepared the Carmelite Reform.” (Monasterio de La Encarnación, ÁvilaTurismo)

Scala della Ragione

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Scala della Ragione, 1447
Palazzo della Ragione
Cortile del Mercato Vecchio
Verona, May 2025

“The Scala della Ragione is a fifteenth-century work that is part of the monumental complex of the Palazzo della Ragione in Verona. The structure connects the courtyard of the Mercato Vecchio with the large portal that gives access to the main floor of the palace. In 1446 the City Council decided to create a vertical connection in the large space of the courtyard of the Palazzo della Ragione to allow easy access to the main floor, which at the same time could communicate, through its architecture, the institutional prestige that the complex had in the Verona of the time. The following year, the Scala della Ragione was built in the corner of the courtyard near the Lamberti tower, completely in red Verona marble.” (Scala della Ragione, Wikipedia)

Teteria Palacio Nazari

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Teteria Palacio Nazari
Calle Méndez Núñez
Málaga, March 2025

“Within the shadows of the Nasrid Alcazaba, you will find this oriental tea room. From the street it may appear to be just a tea room, or even an ornate kebab take-away, which it is, but its so much more. Its a pandora's box, a great bundle of gorgeous surprises. Its occupies all three floors of the building, and every room is decorated in the Nasrid style you see in the Alhambra palace of Granada. It gives you an idea of what it might have been like to live in the palace above whose decor is not so well preserved as in Granada or Seville.” (Teteria Palacio Nazari, My Guide Málaga)

Ponte San Paolo

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Ponte San Paolo
Contrà Ponte San Paolo
Vicenza, May 2025

“The Ponte San Paolo (or Ponte di San Paolo) is a bridge of Roman origin that crosses the Retrone river in Vicenza. The San Paolo bridge has had various names throughout its history: in the Middle Ages it was called Ponte Bericano, in the second half of the 14th century Ponte delle Beccarie and in modern times it was called Ponte di San Paolo. It was described for the first time by Andrea Palladio who illustrated it with some drawings: it was a three-arched bridge, demolished in 1875 and replaced with a modern bridge with a single arch that maintains the alignment with the ancient one.” (Ponte San Paolo, Wikipedia)

Caleido

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Caleido by Fenwick Iribarren Architects, 2021
Paseo de la Castellana
Madrid, September 2025

“Caleido is a 173-metre-tall (568 ft), 36-story skyscraper located in Madrid. It is popularly known as the Quinta Torre (Fifth Tower), as it stands near the other four skyscrapers of the Cuatro Torres Business Area (CTBA) complex along the Paseo de la Castellana. As of 2021, IE University is the main tenant. Construction began in April 2017 and the tower was formally completed on 19 October 2021. The original completion date was September 2020, but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The building occupies the former site of the Centro Internacional de Convenciones de la Ciudad de Madrid. It is the fifth tallest building in Madrid and the seventh tallest in Spain. Caleido was designed by the architectural firms Fenwick Iribarren and Serrano-Suñer Arquitectura. The main contractor was OHL Desarrollos.” (Caleido, Wikipedia)

Caffè Pedrocchi

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Caffè Pedrocchi (Pedrocchi Café)
Via VIII Febbraio
Padua, May 2025

“The Pedrocchi Café (Caffè Pedrocchi in Italian) is a café founded in the 18th century in central Padua, Italy. It has architectural prominence because its rooms were decorated in diverse styles, arranged in an eclectic ensemble by the architect Giuseppe Jappelli. The café has historical prominence because of its role in the 1848 riots against the Habsburg monarchy, as well as for being an attraction for artists over the last century from the French novelist Stendhal to Lord Byron to the Italian writer Dario Fo. Between the 18th and 19th centuries, coffee consumption by the expanding bourgeoisie of Europe at public establishments expanded. In 1772 the Francesco Pedrocchi of Bergamo founded a successful ‘coffee shop’ here, near the University, town hall, markets, post office and the square of the Noli (now Piazza Garibaldi), from where coaches left to nearby cities. The new café was to be ‘the most beautiful one on the Earth’, it opened in 1831 and then joined, in 1836, from Pedrocchino, elegant neo-Gothic building reserved for the pastry.” (Pedrocchi Café, Wikipedia)

Iglesia de San Esteban

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Iglesia de San Esteban
Plaza San Esteban
Segovia, September 2025

“The Church of St Stephen (Spanish: Iglesia de San Esteban) is one of a number of medieval churches in Segovia, Spain. It dates from the 12th century and is noted for its Romanesque bell tower. The tower is designated a Bien de Interés Cultural and has been protected since 1896, when it was declared a National Monument (published in the Madrid Gazette on 13 December 1896). Since 1985 the church has been part of a World Heritage Site: the Old Town of Segovia and its Aqueduct. In giving this designation to Segovia, UNESCO noted that the outstanding monuments of the city included ‘several Romanesque churches’.” (Church of San Esteban, Wikipedia)