We were blessed with some beautiful clouds on this evening in Tuscany. Just before we settled down for dinner I scurried up the road from our villa to take a few shots across the fields. Unfortunately the sun was largely hidden, but every now and then it would peek out and light up parts of the countryside. Back at the villa we witnessed a beautiful sunset whilst enjoying some fantastic red wine. Looking back at images like this I really can’t wait for the summer!
There are stunning vistas aplenty throughout the Val d’Orcia region of Tuscany. Montepulciano was the second stop on our drive from Rome to Siena, and the view from this lookout was among the best we saw during our week in Italy. It was certainly worth the long uphill climb from the car park. So many of the quaint hilltop towns have car-free centres, and due to their geography there simply isn’t any other way to reach the sights other than on foot. But generally the tougher the climb, the greater the reward.
As we continued on our journey through the rolling hills there seemed to be a new town on the horizon at every turn. If I had the time I would endeavour to visit every last one of them. This region of Italy really has absolutely everything. Incredible beauty in its landscapes, buckets of charm in its towns alongside food and wine to die for. It’s undoubtedly my favourite non-mountainous region in Europe. I would return in a heartbeat!
Have you visited Montepulciano? Or any other Tuscan hilltop town? Which is your favourite? Have you driven through the Val d’Orcia? I’d love to hear from you!
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It’s hard to say which was my favourite town of the Cinque Terre. Occupying seemingly impossible spots on the Ligurian coast of Italy, they each took a place in my heart for years to come. This shot of Manarola was taken from a viewpoint in the preceding town, Corniglia. I thought that some of the vineyards in the Lavaux region alongside Lake Geneva were steep, but I think the vines on these cliffs could easily give them a run for their money!
My shot for this week’s photo challenge was taken in the Tuscan countryside, just outside of Siena in Italy. Since it was only a 10 minute walk from our villa I had been up in this area for a while waiting for the sun to appear so I could get some good shots. I got lucky as the sun just peeked out between the clouds for a few moments and lit up the yellows and greens of the landscape beautifully. I’m sure that Tuscany must have some of the best horizons on earth, with its distinctive cypress trees and historic hilltop towns. I can’t wait to go back some day!
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I associate the word multicoloured with one place in particular – the Cinque Terre in Italy – so picking a shot for this week’s travel theme was easy. It’s by far the most colourful place I’ve visited, and probably the most beautiful too. I’d been dreaming of visiting this stunning region for quite a while, so when I finally had the chance I felt compelled to start this blog and tell people about it. This photo was taken in one of the five towns called Vernazza. It’s a place that has to be seen to be believed.
I was looking at my photos of Castel Sant’Angelo and just happened to come across this word a week challenge that seems to be popular in the blogosphere. I think it’s a great idea and since I was planning to post this photo anyway I thought I’d combine the two.
Castel Sant’Angelo is a castle in Rome, originally built for the Roman Emperor Hadrian to use as a mausoleum for himself and his family. It has a fascinating history and was used for some time as a papal fortress. The Passetto di Borgo is an elevated tunnel linking the castle directly to the Vatican City, and was actually used by Pope Alexander VI to escape the attack of Charles VIII in 1494. What an incredible story!
Unfortunately I did not have time to venture inside the castle where you can now find a museum. But I did wander around the outside to get a good look at it from a number of angles. This was the best shot I got. Again I’m using black and white to bring out the architectural detail, and hide how boring the sky was while I was there!
Since my recent foray into black and white photography I’ve come to realise that I actually quite like it, especially for architecture shots. In most buildings there is not a great deal of colour, so even if they are architecturally interesting a photo can still end up looking bland. I’ve been experimenting quite a lot so here is my favourite so far. I was really pleased with the composition of this shot, it gives the impression of looking through a window up at the world. It was taken in Siena, Tuscany just before buying a ticket to go to the top of the Torre del Mangia.
Oh how I wish to be back in Tuscany driving through those rolling hills. What an impossibly beautiful landscape! I’ve picked a couple of photos below to demonstrate the difference a bit of extra light can make to a photograph (and also because I couldn’t decide which one was my favourite of the two!). Both were taken from a very similar position in some fields just to the north of Siena. You can see in the second photo the sun is shining through the clouds a little bit more improving the definition of the hills and adding some brightness in the foreground. Just a little bit of light makes a big difference. It’s a shame my camera can’t cope with the glare very well, or maybe I just don’t know how to handle it properly!
I recently returned from a short trip to Italy and wanted to share one of my favourite shots from the week – so here it is! This is the Duomo (or Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore), a magnificent cathedral that is surely the most impressive building in Florence. I was searching for an interesting angle when I wandered down a side street, turned around and glanced up to see this wonderful sight! Not only that, just out of shot is a fantastic restaurant called Il Caminetto who served a lovely tasting menu for lunch.
Unless you’ve spent some time looking into a trip around Italy, you may not have heard of the Cinque Terre. I certainly hadn’t. But since moving to Geneva a few people had mentioned it to me, saying that I must go and see “the five lands”. I did a bit of research and the pictures looked absolutely stunning, a photographer’s paradise. So since it’s a 5 hour drive from Geneva a long weekend was on the cards. Having lived in Geneva for more than 2 years just an hour from the Italian border, this was (shamefully) the first time I had ever been to Italy! I have to say I did not expect the place to live up to my expectations, and was wary of comments I’d read saying it would be crammed full of tourists. And whilst that was the case, I think it’s still the most magical place I’ve visited yet.
The Cinque Terre is a series of five small communes perched impossibly on the cliffs and shoreline of the Italian riviera in the north of Italy. I mean, to look at some of these buildings you might think they were defying gravity. There were so many things that I loved about this region, but if I had to boil it down to two things they would be:
1. The natural landscape is absolutely spectacular. There is something inexplicably special about being right on the cusp of the meeting of land and ocean. It may have been the weather whilst I was there, but the sea was quite rough and standing right beside the shore as waves were crashing into the rugged cliffs really gave you a sense of the sea’s power.
2. The colours. Oh the colours! Not only do you have the fantastic combination of turquoise blue sea and lush green vegetation seemingly disappearing into the ocean at ridiculous angles, but the range of colours in the buildings really does provide a sensory overload. Pinks, yellows, oranges, reds, greens – it really has it all.
I’m planning a few more blogs on the Cinque Terre, a look at each of the five towns, their beautiful colours and some tips I picked up along the way. But in the mean time, here is my favourite spot for a glass of wine overlooking the harbour and coastline from Riomaggiore – Bar La Conchiglia. I hope you enjoyed my first full blog and look forward to seeing you back here soon! Cheers!
Have you been to the Cinque Terre? Planning a trip to Italy? Feel free to comment below!
Flights. Camera. Satisfaction. 