We had a lazy day at home. Brandon played some Mario Kart. Katrina worked on sorting important papers into our new file drawer. I worked on travel ideas for our August trip and for future day trips. In Oregon we found it easy to just spend lazy weekend days at home. I Italy we feel as though we have wasted valuable sightseeing days if we don't do some sort of day trip each weekend.
This afternoon, around 2pm we decided that we needed an excursion to someplace intesting. Katrina suggested Vigevano, southwest of Milano. We showered (did I mention we were having a lazy day) and got ready to go.
The drive to Vigevano took about 1 hour. Not too bad. On the way we stopped at a roadside fruit stand and bought some melons and watermelon. He wanted e10 for two watermelon and e5 for a melon. We thought it seemed high, but Katrina really wanted some melone. Well, she gets the guy to give us 1 watermelon and a melon for e10. Then, to our surprise, he grabs the whole box of 5 melons and puts it in our car, along with one watermelon. Language misunderstanding = better deal than we thought and a whole lotta melon to eat. We would eat them later, at home.
Vigevano is a town and commune in the province of Pavia, Lombardia. It is both an artistic and an industrial town with history dating back to 10th century AD.
Our destination was the Piazza Ducale or the Ducal Square. "It is one of the first Renaissance squared built on the model of the ancient Roman forums, and one of the best examples of 15th century lombard architecture. It was built by order of Ludovico il Moro between 1492 and 1494 to be the entrance of his castle. It has a rectangular shape, measuring 134 meters long and 48 meters wide. The structure occupies three sides, the fourth being occupied by the cathedral. The facade of the church was built in 1680 by order of Archbishop Juan Caramuel"...from the Vigevano information guide.
We parked near the piazza and walked over. Most of the piazza is made of cobble stones, with decorative sun rays and other patterns inlaid into the stonework. Katrina took a lot of pictures as we strolled around the piazza. Although most of the shops in town were closed (Sunday), most of them on the piazza were open for business.
Brandon enjoyed a limone granita while we walked around.
Facade of the Duomo, St Ambrogio Cathedral.
Front view of St Ambrogio Cathedral.
Bell/Clock tower over Piazza Ducale.
Piazza Ducale.
We found a staircase that led to up to the castle. "The Sforza Castle can be considered a small town inside the town, one of the largest fortified structures in Europe. The first centre goes back to the longobard period (7th - 10th centuries), whereas the latter part of the construction is due to the Viscontis and the Sforzas, who transformed the castle into their private residence." Several important artists of time worked on the construction of the castle, including Bramente and Leonardo da Vinci.
We climbed the steps up to the castle and decided to buy tickets to climb the Bramante Tower. At about 60 meters high, it ws built by Bramante in 1492 using the base of a 12th century civic tower. It is possible to visit the Tower up to the first battlement. The woman at the booth warned us that it was 100 steps up once we entered the tower. They only let you go about halfway up, but the views from that high were great.
Climbing 100 stairs.
A sea of red rooftops.
The Ducal Palace, or "Maschio"
The inner courtyard.
Views of Piazza Ducale...notice the stonework patterns.
After descending from the tower, we took some time to look around the inside of the castle. One section that open to the public was the Scuderie, or stables. It is said that Leonardo was probably inspired by it when he designed his model of the perfect stable.
Inspiration for Leonardo da Vinci.
On the other side of the inner couryard is the Ducal Palace. "Begun under the reign of Luchino Visconti, in the early 14th century, it was later completed by his successors of the Sforza family. All the halls and rooms were entirely frescoed, and it was used as the private residence by the Duke of Milan for all of the 15th century." - Vigevano tour guide. It was under renovation, so we could not enter.
We walked through an archway that led out of the courtyard and found ourselves on the Covered Road. It is a "unique example in the entire European castles' architecture, it presents itself as one of the most extraordinary works of medieval military engineering. The construction was started by order of Luchino Visconti in 1347. The main purpose of the Covered Road was to allow the Dukes of Milan to enter and exit the castle without being seen." - Vigevano tour guide. We followed it down to the entrance, then walked back through the underground passages. These passages cand be walked through freely and are used as exhibition areas.
Covered Road
We returned to the piazza and spent a little time looking at artwork that some local artists had on display and for sale. I really like the pieces by two of the artists.
Katrina and I decided it was time for us to get our sweet treat. We went back to the gelato shop. I decided to try something fruity and different. Normally I get something sweet and with chocolate. I tried Melone and Pompelmo Rosa. Ok, so I mentioned a few weeks ago about being surprised to actually have gelato I did not like in Bellagio. I had two flavors I love, but I think the gelato had a bit of freezer burn or who knows what? Well, that gelato just got bumped up a notch. Pompelmo Rosa is horrid!! HORRID!. I made Brandon and Katrina try it and they both agreed I was now having the worst gelato ever. Pompelmo Rosa - red grapefruit. It really didn't taste like grapefruit. If I had known it was grapefruit I wouldn't have bought it, but I was feeling daring. It had a wonderful reddish pink color to it. It had to be tasty...wrong. I tried to suffer through it, but ended up throwing the cone away.
We got back home around 7:30pm. We had a nice short afternoon excursion and now had melons for dinner. Oh my! Wow! Katrina cut one melon and it was the best we have had in a long time. Sweet and juicy. I cut a slice of watermelon for myself. It was pretty good as well.
A good day and a good weekend.
12 week gelati count: 83
12 week wine bottle count: 14
ps - Thanks for Carolyn and Michelle for the Crystal Lite. I am enjoying a glass as I write this blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment