First Blog - Civita de Bagnoregio

It is a drear day in the Great Grey East and thoughts have turned to sunshine and warmth, which have been  scarce commodities this winter.

At breakfast with a friend of mine, I bought along some of my most cherished and, um, macabre images from my trips to Italy - a place that, for me, epitomizes the warmth that  - did I already mention this? -- has been kinda lacking in Wappingers Falls lately.

As a white-bread small-town Ohio Protestant, I was in love with all the images in the Italian churches -- particularly the dead virgin martyrs, the old bones, the bloody saints.  In a typical Methodist church, the only image is of Jesus, looking up into the light, with children on either side and Jesus light streaming from the sky behind him.  This stuff was much more fun.

This little guy, for example, I believe is a 13th century bishop, forever encased under the altar.  Don't know if you can see this, but he has a plastic doll face and gloves.

I'm hoping to see him again.  Christine Irvin and I, along with Cynthia Quist of Art History Alive, are planning a photo tour  -- 3 days in Sorrento and 4 in Tuscany.  Among the small hill towns we'll be visiting is this one -  Civita di Bagnoregio.   It's a Tuscan ghost town - a tiny hill town perched on a slowly disintegrating tufa mound, accessible only by a walkbridge across a valley.  The village itself is picturesque and the views are lovely.  And we will have a bruschetta while we're there.

[For more information on this, check out arthistoryalive.com or maryannglass.com]

Thanks for reading my first blog!  This could be fun...