The land of golden beers, decadent chocolates and fluffy waffles, Belgium tempts you with its culinary delights. And its charm extends far beyond mere gastronomy.
07.05.2024 - 16:37 / forbes.com
Padua, in northern Italy's Veneto region, is the site of one of the world’s greatest art treasures that should be on every art lover’s bucket list. The Scrovegni Chapel houses the extraordinary 14th-century fresco cycle by Giotto that covers all the walls and ceilings. Despite having such a masterpiece and being a lovely small city, filled with history, culture and culinary delights, Padua is far less touristy than other Italian other art cities like Florence, Rome or nearby Venice. It’s a real hidden gem. And, at just 25 miles from Venice and easy to reach from Marco Polo airport, Padua is an easy day trip or addition to a Venice itinerary.
At 600-years old, the fresco cycle by Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel, needs to be taken care of. To see this UNESCO World Heritage Site, you need to book a specific slot, and on arrival you’re ushered into a sealed visitor’s room attached to the chapel, where you will wait for 15 minutes to allow your body humidity to lower and to filter out any dust. While you wait, a video in Italian (subtitled in English), is shown on the history and significance of the chapel and then, with dehumidified bated breath, you enter the chapel where you can stay for 15 minutes only. It needs some planning, as they only let 25 people at a time and it gets very busy. But it is worth the effort, as it is one of the greatest and most important works of art in the Western world. The Chapel is also known as the Arena Chapel, and is a small church, attached to an Augustinian monastery, which is now part of the complex of the Musei Civici di Padova.
The chapel gets its name from the man who commissioned it, Enrico Scrovegni, a Paduan moneylender, who hired Giotto to paint the chapel, possibly to atone for the sin of usury. We can find Scrovegni himself presenting a model of the chapel to Mary in the Last Judgment fresco. The fresco cycle was completed by Giotto around 1305 and depicts the life of Christ, the life of the Virgin Mary, the last judgement and the vices and virtues. Giotto worked on the frescoes with around 40 collaborators, from 1303 to 1305. Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Raphael, all studied Giotto, who was working over a century before them, and we can see him as a forerunner to those Renaissance masters. Particularly in Giotto’s figurative realism that art hadn’t seen before, and that would become a mainstay of the Renaissance.
With the Scrovegni chapel, Giotto broke away from traditions, away from the solemn, unrealistic and rigid Byzantine art to something altogether more fluid and dynamic, more human and realistic. In the chapel we see his revolutionary (if crude) use of perspective (it would take the Renaissance to perfect that), we see his figures have depth and shade, and
The land of golden beers, decadent chocolates and fluffy waffles, Belgium tempts you with its culinary delights. And its charm extends far beyond mere gastronomy.
There is no doubting the charm of Italy .
The popularity of zero-alcohol cocktails has significantly increased in recent years in Dubai, even as the city’s dining and nightlife scene shows no signs of slowing down. Whether it’s a result of most of the local population’s culture or shifting lifestyle preferences, there’s never been a better time to browse the non-alcoholic drinks sections of menus around town.
City Sightseeing introduces a new social initiative, Changing Lives Day, aiming to provide clean drinking water to 12 Upper Amazon communities by donating 1 euro for every passenger on May 25th.
For millennia, Salerno, Italy has been overshadowed by the nearby Amalfi Coast and big sister Naples—home to world-famous pizza, sea views, and art. Because the two cities enjoy the same tempered climate and rich traditions, Salerno is often affectionately referred to as “little Naples.” The main difference is that, despite recently becoming a tourist attraction once again, Salerno is blessed with less traffic.
When travelers think about Greece, they probably think of hot spots like Athens, Santorini, and Mykonos.
All around the world, ephemeral blooms add a magical new layer to our favorite travel destinations.
At the southwest corner of Ishikawa, a verdant prefecture hugging the Sea of Japan, traditional craftsmanship thrives alongside contemporary art and architecture in the small towns that make up Kaga City.
On my twenty-plus trips to Seoul, I generally steered clear of Gangnam, the district south of the Han River immortalized by the South Korean rapper PSY’s 2012 smash hit “Gangnam Style.” Something, however, shifted in me while planning my recent spring jaunt. Gangbuk, the district north of the Han River—where I’d typically plant myself—started feeling a touch too familiar. Plus: how could I judge a place I hadn’t actually spent quality time in?
The long-awaited third season of Netflix’s hit romance period drama Bridgerton is unveiled today (May 16), and fans of the series can now not only binge on the bodice-ripping romantic intrigues, opulent outfits, glamorous balls and lavish sets of the Regency era but also plan a trip to discover the locations around Britain where the smash-hit series was filmed.
This year, Italy’s hotel world is upping the ante when it comes to its many standout luxury offerings, with a plethora of new openings and property updates giving even more choice to visitors. From Italy’s mountainous peaks to its azure waters in the dramatic south of the country, here is Part 2 of Italy’s latest hotel news from the centre to the south of the country.
Renowned for its rich history and stunning architecture, Florence is a must-visit destination for art enthusiasts and history buffs alike. From Michelangelo’s David and the Duomo, one of the largest churches in the world with its famous Brunelleschi-designed dome, to fashion museums from Gucci and Ferragamo and fabulous Tuscan food (including gelato), Florence offers endless opportunities for exploration and discovery.