Gone Fishing

[NCV]

I felt like photographing something cheerful on Sunday.

I must admit I find all this childish trashing of statues and moronic behaviour from those who should know better, such as the Bishop of Bristol (UK) covering up stained glassed windows, very depressing, given that a lot of my photography has to do with history and monuments and buildings that have been passed down to us. I feel we are rapidly returning to 1984

I am fascinated by history and I like to learn about the people, good and bad, behind the artefacts I come across. The things I photograph are usually the result of reading about them.

These pictures form part of my "Gonzaga" project. The Gonzaga's left a big mark on the territory around Mantua. They created wonders like the perfect city of Sabbioneta and the "Camera degli Sposi" in Mantua. They also were capable of locking their enemies in a dungeon and letting them die without food or water. Should we trash what these rather nasty people left behind because it doe not fit our modern values and behaviour?

Rant over, here are some pictures from a sunny Sunday afternoon, which left me in a better mood.

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1 Torre degli Gonzaga, Commessaggio

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2 Torre degli Gonzaga, Commessaggio

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3 Boat bridge Commessaggio

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4 Commessaggio

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5 Bread Cisone

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6 Breda Cisone 35mm PC

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7 Viadana 24Samyang TS

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8 Viadana. Hand held with the Z7

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9 Viadana

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10 Viadana -detail shot.

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11 Viadana

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12 Commessaggio

 

[camerapapi]

An excellent series. I can see that you are located in Italy and I have to assume that the emptiness I see in the city has to be due to the Covid-19 that attacked so brutally Italy a few months back.
I specially love the architectural shots.
Very well done.

 

[NCV]

An excellent series. I can see that you are located in Italy and I have to assume that the emptiness I see in the city has to be due to the Covid-19 that attacked so brutally Italy a few months back.
I specially love the architectural shots.
Very well done.

Thank you.

Thankfully we are over the worst of the pandemic and things are returning to some sort of normal.

The places where I took these pictures are sleepy little villages in the Po Valley and the absence of people is quite normal here.

 

[kilofoxtrott]

Nowhere it's like Italy

I love it
Klaus

 

[OrvSal]

Great images, I'm glad you have an eye and heart to capture the older places and focus on some of the details of places. Fishing right about now sounds like a very pleasant thing to do and using bait is optional. LOL

 

[NCV]

Great images, I'm glad you have an eye and heart to capture the older places and focus on some of the details of places. Fishing right about now sounds like a very pleasant thing to do and using bait is optional. LOL

The fisherman shot was a right place right time shot.

I love exploring Italy's old monuments, the list is never ending. But I also like the little details of some of the sleepy villages i visit.

 

[Pa]

Another excellent set, Nigel. I have an interest in the Gonzaga clan too and I'm always interested in the history you uncover. I had never heard of Sabbioneta, but I guess I need to explore there, too. I really miss Italy and just hope we are able to visit again before I get too old.

Looks like the spell checker sabotaged your title for photo #5.

 

[Terri French]

Wonderful set!! Photography improves my mood, too!!! Especially cheerful places. My favorite is the one with the curtain blowing in the wind.

 

[NCV]

Another excellent set, Nigel. I have an interest in the Gonzaga clan too and I'm always interested in the history you uncover. I had never heard of Sabbioneta, but I guess I need to explore there, too. I really miss Italy and just hope we are able to visit again before I get too old.

Looks like the spell checker sabotaged your title for photo #5.

Thanks.

Sabbioneta is a few miles from Mantua and is a very special place for me. It is about an hours drive from my home. You might like this Ebook I put together with pictures that span about fifteen years of visits. just do not visit on a Monday when the monuments are closed.

It is provincial Italy at is best.

 

[NCV]

Thanks

Yes, I like that shot too, it is a symbol of a sleepy provincial village. These door curtains are a leftover from the days when you could leave the front front door to your house open on a hot day without the risk of unwelcome visitors.

 

[Binnur]

Very nice set.

 

[Catz]

I felt like photographing something cheerful on Sunday.

I must admit I find all this childish trashing of statues and moronic behaviour from those who should know better, such as the Bishop of Bristol (UK) covering up stained glassed windows, very depressing, given that a lot of my photography has to do with history and monuments and buildings that have been passed down to us. I feel we are rapidly returning to 1984

I am fascinated by history and I like to learn about the people, good and bad, behind the artefacts I come across. The things I photograph are usually the result of reading about them.

These pictures form part of my "Gonzaga" project. The Gonzaga's left a big mark on the territory around Mantua. They created wonders like the perfect city of Sabbioneta and the "Camera degli Sposi" in Mantua. They also were capable of locking their enemies in a dungeon and letting them die without food or water. Should we trash what these rather nasty people left behind because it doe not fit our modern values and behaviour?

Rant over, here are some pictures from a sunny Sunday afternoon, which left me in a better mood.

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1 Torre degli Gonzaga, Commessaggio

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2 Torre degli Gonzaga, Commessaggio

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3 Boat bridge Commessaggio

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4 Commessaggio

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5 Bread Cisone

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6 Breda Cisone 35mm PC

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7 Viadana 24Samyang TS

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8 Viadana. Hand held with the Z7

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9 Viadana

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10 Viadana -detail shot.

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11 Viadana

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12 Commessaggio

May I ask why the heck are they covering up stain glass windows??? What is wrong with these crazy people. I love history and rewriting history is not the way to go. Those idiots who tear down statues and they end up getting hurt deserve what they get because it's there own fault.

 

[NCV]

May I ask why the heck are they covering up stain glass windows??? What is wrong with these crazy people. I love history and rewriting history is not the way to go. Those idiots who tear down statues and they end up getting hurt deserve what they get because it's there own fault.

History is our friend, if we want to understand what is going on at the moment. Girolamo Girolamo Savonarola's Bonfire of the vanities is a good place to start:

Fra Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar who was assigned to work in Florence in 1490, largely thanks to the request of Lorenzo de' Medici – an irony, considering that within a few years Savonarola became one of the foremost enemies of the Medici house and helped to bring about their downfall in 1494.] Savonarola campaigned against what he considered to be the artistic and social excesses of Renaissance Italy, preaching with great vigour against any sort of luxury. His power and influence grew so that with time he became the effective ruler of Florence, and even had soldiers for his protection following him around everywhere.

Starting in February 1495, during the time in which the festival known as Carnival occurred, Savonarola began to host his regular "bonfire of the vanities". He collected various objects that he considered to be objectionable: irreplaceable manuscripts, ancient sculptures, antique and modern paintings, priceless tapestries, and many other valuable works of art, as well as mirrors, musical instruments, and books of divination, astrology, and magic. He destroyed the works of Ovid, Propertius, Dante, and Boccaccio.

So great was his influence that he even managed to obtain the cooperation of major contemporary artists such as Sandro Botticelli and Lorenzo di Credi, who reluctantly consigned some of their own works to his bonfires. Anyone who tried to object found their hands being forced by teams of ardent Savonarola supporters. These supporters called themselves Piagnoni (Weepers) after a public nickname that was originally intended as an insult.

Savonarola's influence did not go unnoticed by the higher church officials, however, and his excesses earned him the disdain of Pope Alexander VI. He was eventually excommunicated on 13 May 1497. His charge was heresy and sedition at the command of Pope Alexander VI.] Savonarola was executed on 23 May 1498, hung on a cross and burned to death. His death occurred in the Piazza della Signoria, where he had previously held his bonfires of the vanities.] The papal authorities took a leaf out of Savonarola's book on censorship: the day after his execution they gave word that anyone in possession of the Friar's writings had four days to turn them over to a papal agent to be destroyed. Anyone who failed to do so faced excommunication

It seems societies get caught up in a frenzy of puritanical cleansing every now and the. Just hope the Bishop of Bristol does not meet the same fate as Savonarola.

Certainly tearing down statues and hiding stained glass windows will not make for a better fairer society. That involves real hard work and sacrifice.