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This week's prompt is "mystery."
You're encouraged to describe your photo--where you shot it, details of what you were doing or what was going on, etc.
What's behind this little charming gate, on the way to San Miniato? I wanted to take a peek, but hadn't the nerve. Next time I'm in Florence, I'm going to be brave and go behind...
"Mystery is at the heart of creativity. That, and surprise." ~ Julia Cameron Brenda
While wondering some white roads around Umbertide one day, we looked down to see this in a field near a lone house. Their purpose, if there is one, is a mystery to us.
Deborah Horn In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I want to do a past life regression and stay there. ----------------------------------- www.petsburg.com My blog: Old Shoes - New Trip
Posts: 5590 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001
We found this "restaurant" while walking through the "town" in Ostia Antica. There were also remains of seats and tables. We wondered what they ate there! I sure hope it was good. It was easy to imagine someone enjoying themselves here a long time ago.
Fresco from the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii. Mystery, Mystery , mystery. Scholars and archeologist still wonder: what was the room used for? What does it really depict? Whose house was this when it was painted . The frescos were already 50-70 years old when Pompeii was buried
Posts: 4355 | Location: St Paul, MN | Registered: 10 February 2006
We passed this small fountain in Rome (can't remember where) and have yet to figure out the significance of the elements. In the middle is a stag's head; on either side of the head are stacks of books. Huh?
Posts: 407 | Location: New Jersey, USA | Registered: 16 September 2007
We passed this small fountain in Rome (can't remember where) and have yet to figure out the significance of the elements. In the middle is a stag's head; on either side of the head are stacks of books. Huh?
I think this fountain is near the church of S. Ivo alla Sapienza, which was part of the University of Rome from the 13th C. until the 1930's. The university chapel was converted into a church by Borromini in the 17th century. This could account for the books.
Posts: 295 | Location: Connecticut, USA | Registered: 02 March 2003
[QUOTE]We passed this small fountain in Rome (can't remember where) and have yet to figure out the significance of the elements/QUOTE]
Combination of the university near which it is located and a martyr's story...
"Rione Sant'Eustachio - Fontana dei Libri (Fountain of the Books) This rione lies between the Pantheon and Piazza Navona, around the church of S. Eustachio. Its emblem is a stag's head, on account of the legend of St. Eustace, which tells how a Roman patrician, while out hunting, saw a stag with a cross between its horns and was converted. He later met his death as a martyr, together with all his family. The rione was the seat of Rome's first university, which was founded in the Palazzo Sapienza in 1303. The Fountain of the Books is on Via Staderari, to one side of the Palazzo Sapienza. It consists of two shelves, each bearing two books, with tasselled bookmarks from which the water runs. In the center is a relief of a stag's head."
Posts: 722 | Location: Northern Virginia | Registered: 22 May 2006
Originally posted by Edensmomma: Who is responsible for the bullet hole in the wall of Caffe Pedrocchi in Padua?
Although impossible to say who exactly is responsible, it is likely the bullet was fired by the authorities (local police/Austrian army??). The area (Venetia - the provinces of Venice, Verona, Padova, Vicenza, Treviso, Rovigo, Belluno, and Udine) was of course under the "control" of Austrian Hapsbugs. The "viceroy" then was Prinz Rainer Joseph Johann Michael Franz Hieronymus von Habsburg. Venetia was in 1848 part of the Kingdom of Lombardia-Venetia (Regno Lombardo-Veneto or in German, Lombardo-Venezianisches Königreich) and part of the Austrian Empire. Padova (perhaps because of the University there) was a hotspot for for nascent Italian unification and independence. This bullet is a remnant of the First Italian War for Independence. It all started here in Padova a little in advance of the other areas of Italy because of the popularity of Mazzini (founder of La Giovine Italia). As a result, many students and professors of the University in Padova, as well as intellectuals, were convinced that a popular insurrection could lead to independence and to a democratic Italian government. They used to meet in some study rooms inside the University or at Caffè Pedrocchi. Venetia was actually independent for a short time as a result of this First War but then re-occupied by the Austrians in 1849 under General Radetzky. The entire Italian insurrection was defeated at that time only to be successful in 1860-61 (Second War for Italian Independence) under Cavour, King Vittorio Emanuelle II and Garibaldi (and Napoleon III). Despite being in the forefront of the unification movement in 1848, it was somewhat ironic that Venetia did not become part of unified Italy until 1866 after the Third War for Italian Independence although Lombardia was part of the initial Italian unification when France (who gained that territory from Austria under the Treaty of Villafranca) ceded it to Italy in return for Italy ceding Nizza (Nice) and Savoia to France.
Posts: 761 | Location: Palmyra, NJ, USA | Registered: 29 July 2003
In the middle is a stag's head; on either side of the head are stacks of books. Huh?
I am not sure about the books, but in early christian mosaics in the apses of churches in Rome, there are a number of them where stags/deer are drinking from a pool that has 4 rivers that empty into it. One of the books about one of the churches said that the thing with the stags was from a line out of the Revelations/Apocalyse where the deer were drinking out of the River of Life at the end of the World.
Posts: 4355 | Location: St Paul, MN | Registered: 10 February 2006
The origins of Pantalica -- the beautiful prehistoric necropolis outside Siracusa -- are lost in history, so I guess this qualifies as a "mystery." Who built them, and exactly how did they do it? It's hard to see them in this photo, but the cliffs are dotted with hundreds of rectangular tombs carved into the stone. If I remember correctly, that's Ferla at the top of the photo.
Posts: 295 | Location: Connecticut, USA | Registered: 02 March 2003
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