Trip to Italy, 2017: first selection of photographs

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all photographs (c) 2017 Wim van Binsbergen

VOLTERRA AND ITS MUSEUM

GREG WYATT’s EMPEDOCLES SCULPTURES

In 2012, Wim van Binsbergen published a book Before the Presocratics, in which the philosopher Empedocles (from Agrigentum on Sicily) played a major part. We were pleasantly surprised to find a collection of Empedocles-inspired bronzes by present-day American sculptor Gregg Wyatt on display at the Volterra Museum

PISTOIA

PIACENZA WHOSE MUSEUM HOUSES A FAMOUS BRONZE MODEL OF A SHEEP’S LIVER, WHICH THE ETRUSCANS USED IN DIVINATION (divination being one of Wim’s topics of specialisation)

SIRACUSA

25 KMS WEST OF SIRACUSA WE SPENT TWO WEEKS AT AN OTHERWISE DESERTED YET GROSSLY OVERPRICED AND (APART FROM THE THREE DOGS) INHOSPITABLE AGRITURISMO (mphooto page) ore on this on the other

PALINURO, A SMALL BEACH RESORT AT THE GOLFO DI POLICASTRO FROM 150 KMS SOUTH OF NAPOLI, LIVED UP TO ALL ITS PROMISES INCLUDING ANOTHER ‘BLUE CAVE’; THE COASTAL KARST PHENOMENA GREATLY REMINDED US OF SOUTHERN THAILAND

AT THE GOLFO DI POLICASTRO, WE SPENT TWO UNFORGETTABLE WEEKS AT VILLAMMARE

PAESTUM

From the Golfo di Policastro we took the train back north to Paestum, in the Napoli region, for a stupendous collection of temples and other remains of ancient Poseidonia; we were particularly struck by the pink glow inside the temple of Hera

We spend a week at an agriturismo under the smoke of Volterra (which lies perched on a mountain in the heart of Tuscany). Narrow roads, endless successions of hairpin curves, and the Italians’ total neglect of speed limits or any other traffic signs and regulations, all but deterred us from making the trips to Siena and San Gimignani, but in the end (getting used to Italian driving, and insolently fitting in) we were glad for both towns match Volterra in sheer stunning beauty

SIENNA

SAN GIMIGNANO

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