Cloister of San Lorenzo

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Cloister
Church of San Lorenzo
Piazza San Lorenzo
Vicenza, May 2025

“The original cloister, built in the first half of the fourteenth century, was lost and replaced by the current one at the end of the fifteenth century, in elegant classical-Renaissance forms. In the centre of the courtyard, a Gothic wellhead from the second half of the fourteenth century was placed in the last century, which bears the coat of arms of the Loschi family on its four sides. On the northern side, under the portico surmounted by the convent cells, the chapter house opens up, flanked by two beautiful late thirteenth-century mullioned windows with elegant white marble columns, inserted into pointed Gothic arches. Also under the portico, on the eastern and western sides, numerous tombstones, statues and funerary urns belonging to different centuries, collected when, in the nineteenth century, it was decided to make San Lorenzo the city temple.” (Church of San Lorenzo, Wikipedia)

Palacio de Valderrábanos

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Palacio de Valderrábanos
Plaza de la Catedral
Ávila, September 2025

“The Palacio de Valderrábanos, also known as the house of Gonzálo Dávila , is a 14th- century building located in the cathedral square of Ávila. On the main façade, from its initial construction, a relief is preserved above the entrance, supported by a maiden under a trefoil arch. This relief shows the helmet with a plume and a Moorish banner with a half-moon. It is surrounded by a ribbon with the following inscription in Latin: ‘Non nobis Domine, non nobis. Sed nomini tuo da gloriam’ (Not to us, Lord, not to us; but glory to your name). It comes from Psalm 113:9 that Saint Bernard of Clairvaux imposed on the Order of the Knights Templar as a motto. On the right side, there is a large tower built of brick and adobe. The façade also still retains its mullioned windows, some of them twinned. It belonged to Gonzalo Dávila de Ágreda, a knight who was master of the Catholic Monarchs, governor of the Maestrazgo de Calatrava and mayor of Jerez. The palace was renovated and is currently used as a hotel. The wooden ceilings and coffered ceiling of the former Valderrábanos palace are on display in the Ávila Museum. The first client of the remodeled Palacio de Valderrábanos, converted into a hotel, was Adolfo Suárez, who stayed in room 126 in 1971.” (Palacio de Valderrábanos, Wikipedia)

Tomba di Antenore

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Tomba di Antenore (Tomb of Antenor)
Piazza Antenore
Padua, May 2025

“The Tomb of Antenor, also called the Sepulchre of Antenore, is a 13th-century monument created to honor an unearthed ancient sarcophagus, claimed to be that of the Trojan warrior and counselor Antenor, the legendary founder of Padua; it is located in Piazza Antenore, in Padua, region of Veneto, Italy. In 1274, during the construction of an orphanage in Padua, an ancient marble sarcophagus was uncovered. A local scholar, Lovato dei Lovati, said to have found inscriptions on a bronze plaque attached to the inner wooden coffin, stating the burial contained the body of Antenor.” (Tomb of Antenor, Wikipedia)

Federico García Lorca

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Statue of Federico García Lorca
Café Chinitas
Pasaje Chinitas
Málaga, March 2025

“The Café Chinitas, known to its regulars as Café El Chinitas or Café de Chinitas, was a small theatre or café singer that began its journey in the mid- 19th century in the Spanish city of Málaga (Andalusia) between 1857 and its final closure in 1937 by the Málaga municipal authorities during the Civil War. The establishment opened to the Málaga public as a theatre called Salón Royal until it was changed; on the posters advertising its shows, it was advertised as ‘Salón-Teatro Chinitas’. The name comes from a dramatic actor named Chinitas. On September 30, 2024, it reopened its doors after 87 years, in its same location, maintaining the essence of what it once was. In the renovated Café Chinitas, we can see a life-size statue of Lorca, leaning on the bar that welcomes visitors, a reminder of the poet's intimate connection with this place.” (Café Chinitas, Wikipedia)

Arno and its Valley

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‘Arno and its Valley’ by Italo Griselli, 1935
Palazzina Reale di Santa Maria Novella
Via Valfonda
Florence, January 2025

“On the side facing via Valfonda, the Palazzina is preceded by an exedra originally intended for the manoeuvring of vehicles in front of the entrance portico, surrounded by a wall punctuated by pilasters. In this space there is a long basin covered in blue tiles and bordered in marble, in which the white statuary group of the ‘Arno and its Valley’, the work of Italo Griselli, is reflected, leaning against the ‘full’ sector of the portico of honour. The fountain is composed of a male and a female figure in a seated position, typical of the representation of rivers, in front of a large basin-pool.” (Palazzina Reale di Santa Maria Novella, Wikipedia)

Torre Cepsa

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Torre Cepsa by Norman Foster, 2008
Paseo de la Castellana
Madrid, September 2025

“The Torre Moeve (Moeve Tower) is a skyscraper located in the Cuatro Torres Business Area in Madrid, Spain. With a height of 248.3 m (815 ft) and 45 floors, it is the second tallest of the four buildings in the Cuatro Torres Business Area complex, surpassed by Torre de Cristal by less than a metre. It is the second tallest building in Spain and the 5th tallest building in the European Union. It was successively named the Torre Repsol, the Torre Caja Madrid, the Torre Bankia, the Torre Cepsa between 2014 and 2024, and currently the Torre Moeve, depending on which major Spanish company had the lease. Designed by Lord Foster — and this also colloquially referred to as the Torre Foster, — it was built by a joint venture of Dragados and Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas. The tower was initially known as Torre Repsol and would have served as headquarters for Repsol YPF oil and gas company. During the construction of the tower, Repsol decided to change the location of its future headquarters and the financial institution Caja Madrid purchased the building for €815 million in August 2007. In 2016 it was bought by Amancio Ortega, Europe's richest man and founder of global fashion group and Zara owner Inditex (ITX.MC), for €490 million euros through his property investment arm, Pontegadea Inmobiliaria, one of the biggest property companies in Spain. He purchased the tower from Abu Dhabi tycoon Khadem al-Qubaisi, whose fund had exercised a last-minute purchase option from Spanish lender Bankia (BKIA.MC), its previous owner. The current name of the tower refers to the energy company Moeve, previously known as Cepsa, headquartered in the building. It is likely to change its name once again if Moeve goes ahead with the plan to move its HQ to another part of Madrid.” (Torre Cepsa, Wikipedia)

Basilica of San Zeno

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Basilica of San Zeno
Piazza San Zeno
Verona, May 2025

“The Basilica di San Zeno (also known as San Zeno Maggiore or San Zenone) is a minor basilica of Verona, northern Italy constructed between 967 and 1398 AD. Its fame rests partly on its Romanesque architecture and partly upon the tradition that its crypt was the place of the marriage of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. St. Zeno died around 371–380. According to legend, at a site above his tomb along the Via Gallica, the first small church was erected by Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Erection of the present basilica and associated monastery began in the 9th century, when Bishop Ratoldus and King Pepin of Italy attended the translation of the saint's relics into the new church. This edifice was damaged or destroyed by a Magyar invasion in the early 10th-century, at which time Zeno's body was moved to the Cathedral of Santa Maria Matricolare: on May 21, 921, it was returned to its original site in the crypt of the present church. In 967, a new Romanesque edifice was built by Bishop Raterius, with the patronage of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor. On January 3, 1117, the church, along with most of the city, was damaged by an earthquake; the church was restored and enlarged in 1138. Work was completed in 1398 with the reconstruction of the roof and of the Gothic-style apse.” (Basilica of San Zeno, Wikipedia)