Vienna to Rome by way of Zagreb
Welcome! This website began in 2016 with a nine week journey from Vienna to Rome, hence the name of the website. The self-directed leisurely itinerary wandered through eight countries. Stops along the way included well known cities and many less well known but enchanting places such as Pécs, Zagreb, Lakes Bled and Bohinj, the Istrian peninsula, Mostar, Kotor, Bari, Ravenna. It was a travel dream come to life.
Over the years I added other trips to the website — Romania, Norway, England, several trips to Italy, Malta, Bolivia, as well as travels in the US and photos closer to home in Hartford. This year, however, troubles arose. Photos migrated aimlessly across the website: images from Bolivia appeared on pages dedicated to Romania, photos from Malta on a page on Lincoln Cathedral. The mess was too daunting to right. The best solution was to start over.
Travels are organized by year. Click on the year below my photo (below) or one of the categories below that and select a destination, or scroll down for posts arranged from most recent; click the date on the post to view images. In time I hope to restore some of the lost pages of the earlier website. Enjoy what is here and may these travels inspire travels for you.
Joseph Pace
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Scenes from the Padua Botanical Garden, a department of the University of Padua, one of Europe’s oldest. The garden was founded in 1545.
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Vicenza is only 20 minutes from Padua by rail, but another world. While Vicenza is quiet and very polished, Padua is far more big city, busier and noisier. We spent a big part of the afternoon in the cathedral Baptistry,…
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Across the road from Villa Rotonda is Villa ai Nani, owned by another branch of the Valmarana family. The Villa, built in 1670, is not as old as La Rotonda. It is set in more extensive formal gardens and in…
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Certainly Palladio’s most famous country villa is La Rotonda. Each side of the villa is identical to the other three, and the interiors open off a rotunda that soars from the main floor. The walls are sumptuously painted. A long…
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Santa Corona, a 13th century church, houses many treasures including Bellini’s Baptism of Christ and Veronese’s Adoration of the Magi. The early 13th century Dominican church was also seat of the Inquisition in Vicenza until the early 19th century. I…
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Vicenza is a small city, although many blocks are lined with palaces. There are palaces everywhere, some designed by Palladio in the 1500s. Two of the better preserved are Palazzo Thiene and Palazzo Leoni Montanari,the second, also known as galleria…
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Train today from lovely Mantua to dream-like Vicenza, home of Palladio, the 16th century architect. Vicenza is rich with Palladio’s palaces, public buildings, churches and other buildings. One of the more remarkable buildings — although it is hard to make…
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There should be a rule about not visiting two palaces in one day. That is precisely what I did today and the images are confused in my mind. This morning was the 450 room ducal palace of the Gonzaga family;…
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Mantua was about two hours from Bologna by train, and a small city with a dramatically different feel. Everything is much slower in Mantua. After a slow lunch we visited three churches: tiny San Lorenzo from the 11th century, a…
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This visit to Bologna has been very relaxed and low stress. Last night’s dinner was a memorable one in a tiny restaurant where dishes a grandmother might have cooked were elevated to the sublime — a mortadella and potato sformatino…