Arena di Verona

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Arena di Verona (Verona Arena)
Piazza Bra
Verona, May 2025

“The Verona Arena is a Roman amphitheatre located in the historic center of Verona, an iconic symbol of the Venetian city alongside the figures of Romeo and Juliet. It stands as one of the grand structures that defined Roman architecture and is among the best-preserved ancient amphitheatres to have survived into the modern era. This remarkable state of preservation is largely due to systematic restoration efforts that began in the 16th century; as a result, despite numerous transformations over time, the Arena allows visitors to easily grasp the design of such buildings. These structures were meticulously engineered for their intended purpose yet possessed an essential, understated beauty. During the summer months, the Arena hosts the renowned Arena di Verona Festival, with opera seasons that have run uninterrupted since 1913, while throughout the rest of the year, it serves as a venue for numerous international singers and musicians.” (Verona Arena, Wikipedia)

Torre de Cristal

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Torre de Cristal (Glass Tower) by Cesar Pelli, 2008
Paseo de la Castellana
Madrid, September 2025

“The Torre de Cristal (Glass Tower) is a skyscraper in the Cuatro Torres Business Area (CTBA) in Madrid, Spain, completed in 2008. With a final height of 249 m (817 ft), it surpassed Torre Emperador as the tallest building in Spain, and is the fifth-tallest in the European Union. It was designed by Cesar Pelli and built by Dragados.” (Torre de Cristal, Wikipedia)

Palazzo Trissino

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Palazzo Trissino
Corso Palladio
Vicenza, May 2025

“Palazzo Trissino al Corso (also known as Trissino Baston) is a building located along Corso Palladio, corner of Contrà Cavour, in Vicenza, designed by the architect Vincenzo Scamozzi. Since 1901 it has been the main seat of the Municipality of Vicenza. The building is characterised by the presence of classical elements in the facade on the Corso and is arranged around the square of the central courtyard. The palace stands a few blocks from other buildings linked to the Trissino family, such as Palazzo Trissino al Duomo in contrà Cesare Battisti, Palazzo Trissino Sperotti in contrà Porti, Palazzo Trissino Lanza in contrà Riale.” (Palazzo Trissino, Wikipedia)

Iglesia de San Clemente

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Iglesia de San Clemente
Avenida del Acueducto
Segovia, September 2025

“The church of San Clemente is a Romanesque-style Catholic church in the Spanish city of Segovia. The church stands between the streets of Marqués de Mondéjar, Gobernador Fernández Jiménez, and Doctor Sancho. Its construction took place in the 17th century and during the 18th century the atrium, the tower and the apse chapel or Chapel of Peace were built. During the War of Independence the tower was destroyed except for the first body, this was rebuilt in 1812, but was destroyed again during the first Carlist war in 1837. The 4 bells that are currently in the tower arrived at the temple between the 17th and 18th centuries. At the beginning of the 20th century, the parish was attached to the parish of San Millán, as it remains today, with the San Millán brotherhood keeping its banners in the apse chapel.” (Iglesia de San Clemente, Wikipedia)

Prato della Valle

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The canal bordered by two rings of statues
Prato della Valle
Padua, May 2025

“Prato della Valle (Prà de ła Vałe in Venetian) is a 90,000-square-meter elliptical square in Padua, Italy. It is the second largest square in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. Today, the square is a large space with a green island at the center, l'Isola Memmia, surrounded by a small canal bordered by two rings of statues. Prior to 1635, the area that would come to be known as the ‘Prato della valle’ was largely a featureless expanse of partially swampy terrain just south of the old city walls of Padova. In 1636, a group of Venetian and Veneto notables financed the construction of a temporary but lavishly appointed theater as a venue for mock battles on horseback. The musical entertainment that served as the prologue to the jousting is considered to be the immediate predecessor of the first public opera performances in Venice, which began the following year.” (Prato della Valle, Wikipedia)

Catedral de la Asunción de la Virgen

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Catedral de la Asunción de la Virgen
Plaza de Anaya
Salamanca, September 2025

“The Catedral de la Asunción de la Virgen (Cathedral of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary), popularly known as New Cathedral (Catedral Nueva) is, together with the Old Cathedral, one of the two cathedrals of Salamanca, Castile and León, Spain. It is the seat of the diocese of Salamanca. It was constructed between 1533 and 1733 mixing late Gothic, Plateresque and Baroque styles. It was commissioned by Ferdinand V of Castile. It is one of the largest cathedrals in Spain in size and its bell tower, at 92 meters high, is also one of the tallest.” (New Cathedral of Salamanca, Wikipedia)

Monumento alla pace

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Monumento alla pace (Peace Monument) by Sauro Cavallini, 1979
Giardino di Valfonda
Via Valfonda
Florence, January 2025

“This is the garden of Villa Vittoria, a building designed in 1520 probably by Baccio d'Agnolo. According to historical sources, this green space stretched over a large area extending from Via Valfonda to Fortezza da Basso and Via della Scala, later downsized to make room for the Santa Maria Novella train station.” (Giardino di Valfonda, Florence by Tram)

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)

Church of San Giuliano

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Church of San Giuliano
Via Faenza
Florence, January 2025

“The church of San Giuliano is a Catholic place of worship located in Via Faenza in the historic center of Florence. The church belonged to the female monastery of San Giuliano, founded in the 14th century by Bartolo Benvenuti, and was also known as the ‘Monache di Montaione’ monastery. At the beginning of the 16th century the monastery was inhabited by Dominican nuns dependent on Santa Maria Novella who in 1514 left with the permission of Pope Leo X to place themselves under the dependence of the Archbishop of Florence. In those years the monastery, in particular its church, was embellished with notable works of art: on the high altar there was an altarpiece by Mariotto Albertinelli with the Madonna and Child with Saints Giuliano, Domenico, Nicola and Girolamo and on the one on the right another by the same Albertinelli with the Trinity, both dating back to around 1510 and today in the Galleria dell'Accademia.” (Chiesa di San Giuliano, Wikipedia)

La Clerecía

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La Clerecía
Calle de la Compañía
Salamanca, September 2025

“La Clerecía is the name given to the building of the former ‘Real Colegio del Espíritu Santo’ (or Santo Espíritu) of the Society of Jesus, built in Salamanca between the 17th and 18th centuries. It is of baroque style. It differs the college, with an interesting cloister, and the church, with an impressive facade of three bodies. The name of Clerecía is due to an abbreviated denomination of its belonging to the Real Clerecía de San Marcos after the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain. Construction began in 1617 under the protection of Margaret of Austria, wife of Philip III, apparently as an act of reparation to the order for the imprisonment suffered by its founder, Ignatius of Loyola, by the Inquisition in the Mocha tower of the old cathedral of Salamanca. It was completed in 1754. The general floor plan of the building is the work of Juan Gómez de Mora. After the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain, decreed by Charles III by means of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1767, the building was given to the Royal Clergy of San Marcos, with headquarters in the Church of San Marcos. The latter subsequently ceded the building (except for the church) to the Diocese of Salamanca, which installed the Seminary of San Carlos in it. In 1940, the Pontifical University of Salamanca was created and instituted by Pope Pius XII, and the Diocese gave it the building as its headquarters. Although this delivery did not include the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Pontifical University suppressed its worship since September 2012 to be exploited for tourism. Only weddings of alumni and people linked to the Pontifical University are allowed.” (La Clerecía, Wikipedia)

Santa Anastasia

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Basilica of Santa Anastasia
Piazza Santa Anastasia
Verona, May 2025

“The church of San Pietro da Verona in Santa Anastasia, better known as the basilica of Santa Anastasia, is an important Catholic place of worship that stands in the heart of the historic center of Verona; it is located at the end of the decumanus maximus of the city in Roman times, near the point where the wide meander of the Adige river is crossed by the Ponte Pietra, where the two main traffic routes of the city, road and river, gravitate. It is the largest, most solemn and representative church in Verona, a reflection of a lively moment in the city's life, when the expansion and consolidation of political and economic institutions allowed the community, in synergy with the Scaliger rule, the Dominican clergy and the Castelbarco family, to make a considerable financial effort to build this important temple, a symbol of their power.” (Santa Anastasia, Wikipedia)

Ermita del Humilladero

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Ermita del Humilladero
Calle Humilladero
Ávila, September 2025

“The Ermita del Humilladero (Humilladero hermitage) is a Catholic temple in the Spanish city of Ávila , whose construction dates back to the 16th century. Located in the city of Ávila, it is also called the ‘humilladero de la Vera Cruz’. It is a hermitage made of Berroqueña ashlar stone whose construction was halted between 1552 and 1594, according to Juan Martín Carramolino. After leveling the road that led from the city to Madrid, the main façade (the south one) was buried up to half of the door. It is located a few meters from the Basilica of San Vicente.” (Ermita del Humilladero, Wikipedia)

Ponte San Michele

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Ponte San Michele
Via Ponte San Michele
Vicenza, May 2025

“The bridge, exclusively for pedestrians, crosses the Retrone River in the south-eastern part of the city. In this ‘alla veneziana’ form with a single arch, it was built in 1621-23, the third reconstruction of a structure originally made of wood (1265) and then of stone (1422). It owes its name to its proximity to the Augustinian church of San Michele, built in the 13th century by the Augustinians, but destroyed in the Napoleonic era; today only part of the convent remains.” (Ponte San Michele, Arte.it)

El Cenachero

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“El Cenachero” by Jaime Fernández Pimentel, 1968
Plaza de la Marina
Málaga, March 2025

“This bronze sculpture created by Málaga artist Jaime Fernández Pimentel in 1968 represents a typical and traditional figure of Málaga, the ‘Cenachero’ or Fish Vendor. El Cenachero sold fish on the streets of the city while maintaining the balance of the two esparto baskets he carried. These basket are called ‘cenachos’ in Spanish, hence his name. The cenachos were handmade of esparto and filled at the beaches where the central fishing net was landed. Generally, Cenacheros sold anchovies, but also traded in mackerel, sardines or whitebait. The sculpture shows how a traditional cenachero dressed: with a sash, the hanging cenachos and a hat to protect him from the heat. In honour of the twinning of the cities of Málaga and Mobile, Alabama, Málaga City Council donated a replica of this sculpture to Mobile, which has been erected in a square of this American city.” (El Cenachero, Ayuntamiento de Málaga)

Palazzo del Bo

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Palazzo del Bo (Bo Palace)
Via VIII Febbraio
Padua, May 2025

“The Bo Palace (Palazzo del Bo) is the historical seat of University of Padua since 1493. It is still home to the Rectorate and the School of Law. It is also home to the oldest anatomical theatre in the world. The University of Padua was founded by an exodus of professors and students from the University of Bologna in 1222. When the University settled in the current location of the Bo, a long time had passed since its foundation and, by then, all its structures had profoundly changed from the initial ones. It was now made illustrious by the value of its students and teachers, furthermore it could materially be considered one of the major European universities, and the most attended by foreign students among the universities of the Italian peninsula. Like many other complexes that have had a long historical life, that of the Bo also presents itself with a rather complex genesis and with events that, over the centuries, have contributed to modifying its physiognomy. Therefore, a historical analysis of the various components of the Palace, starting from the defined sixteenth-century nucleus, and then arriving at the imposing additions that occurred during the twenty years of fascism, implies an understanding of the events that have marked the life of the city and the university over the centuries.” (Palazzo del Bo, Wikipedia)