Bricks towers

Walking on the Castelvecchio Bridge towards the Arsenale. In the distance, the San Zeno Cathedral's bell tower.

Click here to see more photos of the Ponte di Castelvecchio.

Bricks frame

Tower of the Duomo seen through an embrasure on the walls of Ponte di Castelvecchio.

What were they looking at?

This is the view that the couple in my previous post were looking at (Leif Hagen asked and here it is for you to see!)

Some of you pointed out that the "image" that most people have of Italy is definitely without snow and I can understand it, since Italy is always associated with sunlit views. I am therefore particularly glad to show you something different!

The snowfall went on for many hours and yesterday morning there were at least 15 cm of snow!

I had a long walk and took some nice shots, while yesterday I barely took any, so I won't be able to show you the "big" snow (some of you will laugh at it, I know...).

Now, please, forgive me if I post a second pic. I just want to show you what those lovers saw on

the opposite side of the bridge, during their romantic stroll through the snowflakes...

Cold

Ladies in a frame

Castelvecchio Bridge. Ladies looking out on the Adige river.

The bench

Saturday afternoon at Riva San Lorenzo. This is such a lovely place for a short walk along the river, under the shady trees, just off the main road Corso Cavour.

This is usually a very quiet place, where you can always find a place to sit even in summer, because it's not a popular spot for tourists. Here I like to read and enjoy the view towards Castelvecchio Bridge. Wouldn't it be great to live here and hear the river flow?

Two worlds apart

He was playing a roumanian traditional tune, mumbling bits of a sad chant. I put a coin in his hat and he smiled a humble smile. My daughter was totally captured by the accordion. 

He asked in his uncertain italian how old was the child and told me, using his hands that he had seven nephews and that he came from Rumania. 

I asked him if I could take a photo; he agreed politely and played again. 

A walk on the bridge

Sunset on the Adige

A few days ago I enjoyed this magnificent sunset as I was walking towards the bridge of Castelvecchio. They sky was a bit hazy and the sun was like a bright orange reflecting on the River Adige.

Path to the river

A few years ago this bit of the Adige was much, much dryer. You could walk down this path to the stony shore. We often took our dog there where he liked to play and put his feet in the shallow water. 

The river changed over the years and now the water runs over the marble where once you could walk on, to the shore.

In the last few years some stretches of the town shoreline were improved or simply cleaned from weeds. A few steps back from here, on the right, a nice path runs along the river, all the way to the next bridge.

Jogging

Ponte Scaligero

This is one of my favourite buildings of Verona, Ponte di Castelvecchio, also known as Ponte Scaligero.
It was built in three years, most likely in 1354-1356, by Cangrande II della Scala (hence the name Scaligero) to grant him a safe way of escape from the annexed castle in the event of a rebellion of the population against his tyrannic rule. The bridge was totally destroyed by the retreating German troops on April 25, 1945. A faithful reconstruction begun in 1949 and was finished in 1951.
I like the three arches and their different size. I often pass on this bridge coming from the town centre (on the right) to take my daughter to a little park that's just at the other side of the bridge. Click here to see my previous post featuring the bridge, the one about the two girls who skipped school!

No school today!

I crossed the river Adige on this beautiful brick bridge called Ponte di Castelvecchio (a post about it will be coming soon) and stopped to take a photo of it when the two girls caught my attention. It was past ten in a misty autumn morning and obviously the two girls "took a day off" from school and found a good quiet place to spend the morning with a very low risk to be spotted by a teacher or by a relative. They chatted closely and had their school bags near them and one of the girls had a diary opened on her lap.

The river flowed slowly, the air was still and I found myself thinking of when I was in my teens...,
not that escaping school was my habit but it happened, maybe a couple of times. I remember I felt excited, grown up and guilty, all at the same time...

There are many words in italian to call a "day off from school". The most common one is the verb marinare, litterally "to marinate", just like in a recipe you would say "I marinated school today!"
So which is your word to name it?