Emilio Salgari

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Emilio Salgari by Sergio Pasetto, 2015
Piazzetta Capretto
Verona, May 2025

“Emilio Salgari (21 August 1862 – 25 April 1911) was an Italian writer of action adventure swashbucklers and a pioneer of science fiction. In Italy, his extensive body of work was more widely read than that of Dante Alighieri. In the 21st century, he is still among the 40 most translated Italian authors. Many of his most popular novels have been adapted as comics, animated series and feature films. He is considered the father of Italian adventure fiction and Italian pop culture, and the ‘grandfather’ of the Spaghetti Western. Emilio Salgari was born in Verona to a family of modest merchants. From a young age, he had the desire to explore the seas and studied seamanship at a nautical technical institution in Venice, but his academic performance was too poor, and he never graduated. He began his writing career as a reporter for the daily La Nuova Arena, which published some of his work as serials. As his powers of narration grew, so did his reputation for having lived a life of adventure. He claimed to have explored the Sudan desert, met Buffalo Bill in Nebraska (he had actually met him during his ‘Wild West Show’ tour of Italy), and sailed the Seven Seas. His early biographies were filled with adventurous tales set in the Far East, events which he claimed were the basis for much of his work. Salgari had actually never ventured farther than the Adriatic Sea.” (Emilio Salgari, Wikipedia)

Puerta de San Vicente

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Puerta de San Vicente
Glorieta de San Vicente
Madrid, September 2025

“The Puerta de San Vicente is a monumental gate located in the Glorieta de San Vicente in Madrid (Spain). Since 1995, it has occupied the space where the original door, designed by architect Francesco Sabatini, was located between 1775 and 1892. Throughout Madrid's history there have been several doors that have received the same name. In 1726, the Marquis of Vadillo, the town's mayor, commissioned Pedro de Ribera to build a monumental gate in the city's fence to replace a previous gate, which was in a dilapidated state and was called ‘del Parque’. The gate, which consisted of three arches, was decorated with a statue of San Vicente, which is why it was given that name, although it would also be known later as the gate of La Florida. It was demolished in 1770, due to the remodelling of the Cuesta de San Vicente (1767–1777), as part of the reorganisation of the western accesses to the Royal Palace and its connection with the Camino de El Pardo. Shortly afterwards, King Carlos III commissioned Francesco Sabatini to build a new gate to replace the previous one as the entrance to the city from the new Paseo de La Florida. The work was completed in 1775 and Sabatini placed an ornamental fountain next to it, popularly known as the Fuente de los Mascarones. The new gate was in its current location, closer to the river than the previous one. It consisted of an arch and two shutters (or portholes) and was built of granite and limestone from Colmenar de Oreja. The arch was decorated with two Doric columns on the outside and two pilasters, also Doric, on the inside. It was crowned by a triangular frontispiece finished with a military trophy. The lateral shutters were also crowned by military trophies. In front of it there were two buildings that also disappeared: the aforementioned Mascarones fountain, between 1775 and 1871, and the Washerwomen's Asylum promoted by María Victoria dal Pozzo, from 1872 to 1938.” (Puerta de San Vicente, Wikipedia)

Palazzo del Capitaniato

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Palazzo del Capitaniato
Piazza dei Signori
Vicenza, May 2025

“The palazzo del Capitaniato, also known as loggia del Capitanio or loggia Bernarda, is a palazzo in Vicenza, northern Italy, designed by Andrea Palladio in 1565 and built in 1571 and '72. It is located on the central Piazza dei Signori, facing the Basilica Palladiana. The palazzo is currently used by the town council, inside the Sala Bernarda. It was decorated by Lorenzo Rubini and, in the interior, with frescoes by Giovanni Antonio Fasolo.” (Palazzo del Capitaniato, Wikipedia)

Torreón de Lozoya

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Torreón de Lozoya
Plaza San Martín
Segovia, September 2025

“The Torreón de Lozoya is one of the most emblematic buildings of Segovia's civil architecture. It is a palace complex with two towers, a courtyard, and a garden with a porticoed gallery. A towered fortified house, very common in Segovia between the 13th and 15th centuries. It has a large tower that gives it its name and entrance, as well as another smaller tower, aligned with the first at a certain distance, so that the initial complex had a careful defense that evidences the conflicts experienced in Segovia in the Late Middle Ages. The large tower, measuring 8 by 9 meters and 25 meters high, predates the entire complex and embodies the stately idiosyncrasy of its owners. From it, one can enjoy a 360-degree panoramic view of the city and its surroundings, protected from the elements by its large windows. These can be removed for crystal-clear photographs and videos.” (Torreón de Lozoya, Wikipedia)

Santa Maria ‘ad Portas Contarenas’

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Church of Santa Maria ‘ad Portas Contarenas’
Via Matteotti
Padova, May 2025

“As attested by the inscription on the facade, the Church was built in 1723, by the Comini family who built the church for public use. Later, in 1839, together with Palazzo Cavalli, the Church became the seat of the Austrian Customs, and after the Unification of Italy it was used as a hydraulic warehouse. In 1893, when the mill was purchased and modernised by Ilario Ercego, the little church risked being demolished, but was finally restored in 1968, as the plaque on the façade recalls.” (Porte Contarine, Wikipedia)

Casa Lis

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Museo Art Nouveau y Art Déco - Casa Lis
Calle Gibraltar
Salamanca, September 2025

“The Casa Lis is a museum located in the ancient city wall of Salamanca, Spain. Also known as Museo Art Nouveau and Art Déco, it is a museum of decorative arts, with exhibits dating from the last decades of the 19th century to World War II. The Museum is an old mansion that was built for its first owner, Miguel de Lis, by Joaquin de Vargas y Aguirre, a provincial architect from Jerez de la Frontera. Don Miguel de Lis was the owner of a tannery which he had inherited from his father. The thriving business gave him a privileged economic position and he was well-travelled; he chose a modernist design. The mansion changed ownership in 1917, when D. Enrique Esperabé de Arteaga, rector of the University of Salamanca, moved there with his family. Subsequently, the Casa Lis was inhabited by various tenants until in the 1970s, closed and unused, and fell into decay. In 1981, the city of Salamanca was able to save it from ruin.” (Casa Lis, Wikipedia)

Automat revisited

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‘Automat’ by Edward Hopper revisited
Via de' Guicciardini
Florence, December 2024