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- Like hundreds of small Italian villages with populations under 4,000, Faicchio can’t be found on most Italian maps. Don’t be discouraged. You can find Faicchio on detailed maps of the Campania region sold at all gas stations on the Autostrada del Sole (A2).
Faicchio is my favorite location for painting in the Campania region. Okay, I admit that it’s the village where my grandfather was born and raised. And it’s a definite perk to have my cousin married to the mayor. And if I run out of gas, I can rely on another cousin who owns THE gas station to fill my tank. If I get sick, another cousin who is THE doctor can tend to me and if I need surgery, his son THE SURGEON has all my confidence. Yes, the milk and cheese from another cousin’s dairy farm keeps me satiated. And the figs, tomatoes, pears, and wine at yet another cousin’s farm keep me from going hungry and thirsty while painting en plein air. But aside from all these familial perks, Faicchio is quite simply an idyllic location for artists.
Located about 45 miles northeast of Naples, Faicchio is situated at the base of Monte Monaco di Gioia in the Matese Mountain Range. To reach the village, drive over the bridge that crosses the Titerno River.
You can begin by setting up in the small, but enchanting Piazza Roma that fronts the 12th century Norman castle. The Faicchiani love art and have an irrepressible curiosity. This combination is fuel for the small crowd that will no doubt encircle you before you have time to sharpen your first pencil. Don’t be intimidated. They will treat you with no less esteem than if you were Michelangelo. In addition to the castle, the views in all directions are definitely paint-worthy. If you have, or appear to have difficulty decided what to paint, your audience will no doubt offer dozens of fingers pointing in as many different directions. The Faicchiani are immensely proud of their village and its stunning environs and well they should be.
Midway up the mountain, the 18th century Convent of San Pasquale, looms over the village. You can drive up to the convent or take the paved steps that begin in the center of town. I recommend the steps. It’s a bit of a climb, but there are broad platforms with benches along the way where you can stop and catch your breath, or even set up an easel and capture the stunning views of farmlands, orchards, and vineyards. Once you reach the convent, there are numerous lookout areas where you can set up. You might even find yourself balancing your paint box on one of the 3rd century BC Samnite walls that rise up along the esplanade. Don’t stop at the convent. Allow time to climb or drive to the summit of Monte Monaco di Gioia where the gaze is lost in the Apennines Molisano Mountains to the east and the intermingling of sky blue and the blue of the Gulf of Naples in the west.
Outside the village, on the road toward San Lorenzello, and about a mile or two out of town, on your left, you’ll find the double arched Ponte Fabio Massimo, a 3rd century BC Roman-era bridge. The bridge can be crossed on foot and at the opposite side you can set up along the riverbed, where you’ll find white limestone and dolomite whose origins date back over 60 million years. The bridge is a favorite artist’s muse. If you stare at it long enough, you can almost hear the clattering of greaves and armor as ghosts of Roman soldiers march across the bridge’s graveled surface.
Don’t leave the area without a trip up Mont Acero, which you’ll find on your left off the road toward Telese/Telesino. At the summit of this winding road you’ll be rewarded with views that you’ll swear could reach to Rome to the north and Sicily to the south. Before leaving town, stop at the market to buy water, fresh local cheese, regional wine, and bread still warm from the ovens. There are picnic tables at the summit of Mont Acero, so you can dine al fresco while you paint that next masterpiece.
BUON VIAGGIO!
Showing posts with label Campania. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Campania. Show all posts
Friday, December 18, 2009
PAINTING IN ITALY / CAMPANIA / FAICCHIO
Saturday, November 28, 2009
PAINTING IN ITALY / SORRENTO / VICO EQUENSE / POMPEII
Borrowing from Greek mythology, The Romans set the renowned dwelling of the “Sirens” (the naughty mermaids who lured seamen to their deaths) at Surrentum/Sorrento. Ulysses’ crew resisted the Siren’s call by stuffing their ears with wax. My advice is to get the wax out of your ears, heed the call, and go to Sorrento to paint.
Perched high on cliffs that overlook the Bay of Naples, This little jewel offers vistas for every genre of artist to enjoy. The seascapes are breathtaking, the landscaped verdant hills are luscious, and the cliff side dwellings are mind-boggling.
A visit to the cloister at Chiesa di San Francesco will not only delight floral artists with its flowering-vine studded garden, but the convent is also an art school offering exhibits that all artists will enjoy.
Pack light, bring some water, and take a walk down to Capo di Sorrento. To get there, take Via del Capo that originates in Piazza Tasso, the main square. Along the Via del Capo, after passing a sign “Cani Mordaci” (biting dogs) posted on the gate of the villa where Maxim Gorky lived, on the right is a dirt path that will take you down to the sea. The views from here, with Vesuvius in the distance, are magical. It’s an idyllic location to paint.
Between Napoli and Sorrento, Vico Equense is a beautiful spot to stop and paint. The locals boast that they have “one foot in the boat and one foot in the vineyards.” For me this translates to awesome seascapes and landscapes. This town is an often-overlooked little gem that lies in a lovely position on a tufa promontory on the north coast of the Sorrento peninsula. Set up near the Duomo where from high above the sea the views will knock your socks off. It can get fairly breezy there, so be sure to anchor down your canvas.
Spending a day to explore Pompeii and paint among the ruins is just about the most amazing experience you’ll ever have. With Vesuvius hovering in the background, there’s nowhere else I can think of where you can paint amidst the “destroyed’ and the “destroyer.” Some artists who don’t enjoy painting buildings or ruins screw up by not bringing paints or sketchpads to Pompeii. Don’t make that mistake. The views are fabulous in any direction from anywhere in the city.
BUON VIAGGIO!
Perched high on cliffs that overlook the Bay of Naples, This little jewel offers vistas for every genre of artist to enjoy. The seascapes are breathtaking, the landscaped verdant hills are luscious, and the cliff side dwellings are mind-boggling.
A visit to the cloister at Chiesa di San Francesco will not only delight floral artists with its flowering-vine studded garden, but the convent is also an art school offering exhibits that all artists will enjoy.
Pack light, bring some water, and take a walk down to Capo di Sorrento. To get there, take Via del Capo that originates in Piazza Tasso, the main square. Along the Via del Capo, after passing a sign “Cani Mordaci” (biting dogs) posted on the gate of the villa where Maxim Gorky lived, on the right is a dirt path that will take you down to the sea. The views from here, with Vesuvius in the distance, are magical. It’s an idyllic location to paint.
Between Napoli and Sorrento, Vico Equense is a beautiful spot to stop and paint. The locals boast that they have “one foot in the boat and one foot in the vineyards.” For me this translates to awesome seascapes and landscapes. This town is an often-overlooked little gem that lies in a lovely position on a tufa promontory on the north coast of the Sorrento peninsula. Set up near the Duomo where from high above the sea the views will knock your socks off. It can get fairly breezy there, so be sure to anchor down your canvas.
Spending a day to explore Pompeii and paint among the ruins is just about the most amazing experience you’ll ever have. With Vesuvius hovering in the background, there’s nowhere else I can think of where you can paint amidst the “destroyed’ and the “destroyer.” Some artists who don’t enjoy painting buildings or ruins screw up by not bringing paints or sketchpads to Pompeii. Don’t make that mistake. The views are fabulous in any direction from anywhere in the city.
BUON VIAGGIO!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
PAINTING IN ITALY / CAMPANIA / NAPLES / NAPOLI
The Neapolitan “soul” is guaranteed to squeeze your heart into submission. “Goethe wrote: “Naples is Paradise. Everyone lives in a state of intoxicated self-forgetfulness, myself included.”
No painting excursion into the Campania region is complete without a visit to Naples. Yes, Naples is a big city and one of the most populace cities in Italy, but don’t forget that it is also the city that boasts the infamous dictum: “See Naples and die.” My only caution is: “Don’t see Naples by car, and live.” This is about painting in Naples and so I won’t discuss driving in Naples; just don’t do it. If you have a car, I suggest staying in nearby Sorrento or Vico Equense. You can leave your car at the hotel and take the Circumvesuviana, a commuter railway that also stops at the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The forty-five-minute rail trip to Naples from Sorrento is easy and scenic; most of all, it is traffic and stress free.
If you’re looking to set up in a piazza, the city offers a plethora to choose from and I’ll leave that long, detailed list to the travel writers. One of my favorite piazzas to paint in (at least for a few hours until the crush of humanity drives me away) is Piazza del Plebiscito, the city's main piazza and traffic free pedestrian zone. It is paved with black cobblestones and is among the country's grandest spaces. Clustered around the piazza are Teatro San Carlo, Italy's largest opera house; the ornate Galleria Umberto I, the 1887 shopping gallery; the vast Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace); and across from the palace, a sweeping semicircular colonnade to rival St. Peter's. Talk about artistic inspiration!
When you’re ready for a break from city noise and congestion, or if you’re a landscape artist hungry for vegetation, visit the Santa Chiara Cloisters. These cloisters are a sanctuary of hyacinth and white daffodils, small vegetable plots, and fruit trees. But for me, it’s the hand painted, blue-and-mustard-colored majolica tiles that cover every wall, pillar, and bench that make this verdant cloister a painter’s Mecca. The Monks at the cloister will let you set up an easel, but ask first. It’s also a nice idea to add a few Euros to their collection box to help defer the cost of maintaining this little jewel. Keep your workspace small and clean; the monks WILL be watching you. They have a posted notice that reads: “If you think you will be immortalized by signing your name on our walls, you are mistaken: it will be removed shortly after.”
My favorite neighborhood to paint in Naples is Spaccanapoli, in the heart of the city. There is always new inspiration in the midst of laundry flapping from overhead balconies and black-clad signoras hawking contraband cigarettes up and down the maze of narrow, zigzag, dead end streets.
A note to writers and book lovers: On the edge of Spaccanapoli, near the Archaeological Museum, is the refreshingly green and relaxed Piazza Bellini, a nexus of the city's flourishing booksellers: Naples is one of Italy's great bibliophile centers. Bookstalls like the ones along Paris' Left Bank, selling both new and used books, line the streets on and leading from the Piazza.
A sharp contrast to Spaccanapoli is the Vomero neighborhood. If the pace in the city center becomes exasperating, board one of the funiculars from the center up to Vomero in the hills above town. This city within a city is unexpectedly calm and the views of the Bay of Naples and Vesuvius are truly “paint worthy.” If you get hungry and are looking for some “finger food” so you don’t waste good light by sitting at an indoor restaurant, go to the tiny Friggitoria Vomero (via Cimarosa 44). For just a few euros you can buy brown-paper cones filled with fritters made of eggplant or cauliflower or boiled wild greens or rectangles of polenta, all of them sprinkled with coarse local sea salt. Who said artists have to “starve?”
Certainly, you will want to take time out from your own painting to view some of the heavy hitters that Naples has to offer. The guidebooks can give you the full run down; here are my picks:
Il Museo e Gallerie di Capodimonte/ among other notables, don’t miss the works here by Botticelli, Bellini, Raphael, and Caravaggio.
A church officially named Sant'Anna dei Lombardi but commonly called Monteoliveto for the square on which it sits. Inside you’ll find a sacristy frescoed by Vasari, with eye-popping trompe l'oeil marquetry panels along the walls, and also, Guido Mazzoni’s awesome life-size group of terra cotta figures.
And finally, Caravaggio fled to Naples after he killed a man in Rome and although he didn't stay long he painted several important paintings, including the "Seven Acts of Mercy" which is in Pio Monte della Misericordia in the Centro Storico. It is an amazing, complex work, commissioned as an altarpiece for the church in which it has remained for 400 years.
The Neapolitan spirit of dolce far niente (living from day to day in a devil-may-care sort of way) is instantly contagious and it reaches to the artist’s canvas. If you paint “tight” and yearn to free up your strokes, then Naples is the city to visit.
Buon Viaggio!
No painting excursion into the Campania region is complete without a visit to Naples. Yes, Naples is a big city and one of the most populace cities in Italy, but don’t forget that it is also the city that boasts the infamous dictum: “See Naples and die.” My only caution is: “Don’t see Naples by car, and live.” This is about painting in Naples and so I won’t discuss driving in Naples; just don’t do it. If you have a car, I suggest staying in nearby Sorrento or Vico Equense. You can leave your car at the hotel and take the Circumvesuviana, a commuter railway that also stops at the ruins of Herculaneum and Pompeii. The forty-five-minute rail trip to Naples from Sorrento is easy and scenic; most of all, it is traffic and stress free.
If you’re looking to set up in a piazza, the city offers a plethora to choose from and I’ll leave that long, detailed list to the travel writers. One of my favorite piazzas to paint in (at least for a few hours until the crush of humanity drives me away) is Piazza del Plebiscito, the city's main piazza and traffic free pedestrian zone. It is paved with black cobblestones and is among the country's grandest spaces. Clustered around the piazza are Teatro San Carlo, Italy's largest opera house; the ornate Galleria Umberto I, the 1887 shopping gallery; the vast Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace); and across from the palace, a sweeping semicircular colonnade to rival St. Peter's. Talk about artistic inspiration!
When you’re ready for a break from city noise and congestion, or if you’re a landscape artist hungry for vegetation, visit the Santa Chiara Cloisters. These cloisters are a sanctuary of hyacinth and white daffodils, small vegetable plots, and fruit trees. But for me, it’s the hand painted, blue-and-mustard-colored majolica tiles that cover every wall, pillar, and bench that make this verdant cloister a painter’s Mecca. The Monks at the cloister will let you set up an easel, but ask first. It’s also a nice idea to add a few Euros to their collection box to help defer the cost of maintaining this little jewel. Keep your workspace small and clean; the monks WILL be watching you. They have a posted notice that reads: “If you think you will be immortalized by signing your name on our walls, you are mistaken: it will be removed shortly after.”
My favorite neighborhood to paint in Naples is Spaccanapoli, in the heart of the city. There is always new inspiration in the midst of laundry flapping from overhead balconies and black-clad signoras hawking contraband cigarettes up and down the maze of narrow, zigzag, dead end streets.
A note to writers and book lovers: On the edge of Spaccanapoli, near the Archaeological Museum, is the refreshingly green and relaxed Piazza Bellini, a nexus of the city's flourishing booksellers: Naples is one of Italy's great bibliophile centers. Bookstalls like the ones along Paris' Left Bank, selling both new and used books, line the streets on and leading from the Piazza.
A sharp contrast to Spaccanapoli is the Vomero neighborhood. If the pace in the city center becomes exasperating, board one of the funiculars from the center up to Vomero in the hills above town. This city within a city is unexpectedly calm and the views of the Bay of Naples and Vesuvius are truly “paint worthy.” If you get hungry and are looking for some “finger food” so you don’t waste good light by sitting at an indoor restaurant, go to the tiny Friggitoria Vomero (via Cimarosa 44). For just a few euros you can buy brown-paper cones filled with fritters made of eggplant or cauliflower or boiled wild greens or rectangles of polenta, all of them sprinkled with coarse local sea salt. Who said artists have to “starve?”
Certainly, you will want to take time out from your own painting to view some of the heavy hitters that Naples has to offer. The guidebooks can give you the full run down; here are my picks:
Il Museo e Gallerie di Capodimonte/ among other notables, don’t miss the works here by Botticelli, Bellini, Raphael, and Caravaggio.
A church officially named Sant'Anna dei Lombardi but commonly called Monteoliveto for the square on which it sits. Inside you’ll find a sacristy frescoed by Vasari, with eye-popping trompe l'oeil marquetry panels along the walls, and also, Guido Mazzoni’s awesome life-size group of terra cotta figures.
And finally, Caravaggio fled to Naples after he killed a man in Rome and although he didn't stay long he painted several important paintings, including the "Seven Acts of Mercy" which is in Pio Monte della Misericordia in the Centro Storico. It is an amazing, complex work, commissioned as an altarpiece for the church in which it has remained for 400 years.
The Neapolitan spirit of dolce far niente (living from day to day in a devil-may-care sort of way) is instantly contagious and it reaches to the artist’s canvas. If you paint “tight” and yearn to free up your strokes, then Naples is the city to visit.
Buon Viaggio!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
PAINTING IN ITALY / CAMPANIA / AMALFI
The diverse villages along the Amalfi Coast have been compared to a constellation, if this is the case, then the town of Amalfi is unquestionably the brightest star. The Amalfitani like to boast: “The sun, the moon, the stars, and - Amalfi.” You’ll get no argument from me.
Sandwiched between verdant and craggy mountains and the intense blue of the Mediterranean Sea, the town’s vibrantly tiled cupolas and pastel-washed houses beg the artist to capture their pose.
Landscape artists shouldn’t miss the Valle dei Mulini (The Valley of the Mills). To get there, start at Piazza del Duomo (By the way, Architectural artists take note: The Duomo, with a façade inlaid with glazed and colored tiles, is one of the more beautiful religious monuments in Southern Italy). Head up Via Genova where you’ll pass fragrant gardens, citrus groves, and waterfalls that feed the oldest paper mills in Europe. There are numerous places to stop and set up sketchpad or easel along this route, and believe me, you’ll want to do just that. When you reach the Museo Della Carta, I recommend taking time out from painting to tour this Paper Museum. Amalfi was among the first cities in Europe to manufacture hand-made paper and it continues this highly specialized art to this day. What watercolor artist or journalist hasn’t dreamed of going to Amalfi to select a few prize sheets of handmade Amalfi paper?
If you’re hungry, but don’t want to stop painting, take a patio table at the Conca Azzura Ristorante that over looks the Cape Conca Dei Marini. This scenic bay is the natural entrance to the Emerald Grotto. The colors and view from this belvedere are unparalleled. It’s a great place to sip wine, swirl forkfuls of pasta, and paint. Does it get any better than that? I don’t think so.
For centuries, poets and writers have sung Amalfi’s praises, but it’s not easy to find the right words to do justice to its beauty. For artists, I think Margaret Drabble said it best: “Amalfi clusters, the cliffs aspire, the sea extends. It is a living view, of living rock and living light. It changes minute by minute of an evening as the light changes. Like a moving painting, like a wall of slowly evolving time, a perfectly composed combination of safety and danger, distanced, marginally landscaped by man, inviting the artist.”
BUON VIAGGIO!!!
The painting above: La Veduta D'Amalfi is an original acrylic on canvas and can be purchased on my art website:
http://www.pamelaallegretto-franz.com/
Si può comprare il quadro in sopra, La Veduta D'Amalfi al mio website d’arte:
http://www.pamelaallegretto-franz.com/
Sandwiched between verdant and craggy mountains and the intense blue of the Mediterranean Sea, the town’s vibrantly tiled cupolas and pastel-washed houses beg the artist to capture their pose.
Landscape artists shouldn’t miss the Valle dei Mulini (The Valley of the Mills). To get there, start at Piazza del Duomo (By the way, Architectural artists take note: The Duomo, with a façade inlaid with glazed and colored tiles, is one of the more beautiful religious monuments in Southern Italy). Head up Via Genova where you’ll pass fragrant gardens, citrus groves, and waterfalls that feed the oldest paper mills in Europe. There are numerous places to stop and set up sketchpad or easel along this route, and believe me, you’ll want to do just that. When you reach the Museo Della Carta, I recommend taking time out from painting to tour this Paper Museum. Amalfi was among the first cities in Europe to manufacture hand-made paper and it continues this highly specialized art to this day. What watercolor artist or journalist hasn’t dreamed of going to Amalfi to select a few prize sheets of handmade Amalfi paper?
If you’re hungry, but don’t want to stop painting, take a patio table at the Conca Azzura Ristorante that over looks the Cape Conca Dei Marini. This scenic bay is the natural entrance to the Emerald Grotto. The colors and view from this belvedere are unparalleled. It’s a great place to sip wine, swirl forkfuls of pasta, and paint. Does it get any better than that? I don’t think so.
For centuries, poets and writers have sung Amalfi’s praises, but it’s not easy to find the right words to do justice to its beauty. For artists, I think Margaret Drabble said it best: “Amalfi clusters, the cliffs aspire, the sea extends. It is a living view, of living rock and living light. It changes minute by minute of an evening as the light changes. Like a moving painting, like a wall of slowly evolving time, a perfectly composed combination of safety and danger, distanced, marginally landscaped by man, inviting the artist.”
BUON VIAGGIO!!!
The painting above: La Veduta D'Amalfi is an original acrylic on canvas and can be purchased on my art website:
http://www.pamelaallegretto-franz.com/
Si può comprare il quadro in sopra, La Veduta D'Amalfi al mio website d’arte:
http://www.pamelaallegretto-franz.com/
Saturday, October 24, 2009
PAINTING IN ITALY / CAMPANIA / AMALFI COAST / SANT'AGATA SUI DUE GOLFI
If you’re driving on the Strada di Capodimonte, the breathtakingly scenic coastal road, stop at Sant’Agata Sui Due Golfi. This charming mountain village is settled on hillside dripping with bougainvillea and terraced with vineyards and fruit orchards.
The name of the town is derived from its location that commands excellent views of the two gulfs of Salerno and Naples. There are numerous locations throughout the village to set up and look out over the Mediterranean. This should keep landscape and seascape artists happy for several hours. If you want to plop a cherry on top of this stunning confection, take the narrow, uphill road behind the Bar Orland to the Deserto. From this Franciscan monastery you not only survey the two bays, but you can enjoy the bonus of an excellent view of Capri. Architectural artists should enjoy painting the monastery and its bell-tower on which is inscribed: TEMPUS BREVE EST. Time is short; use it wisely by spending some of it painting at Sant’Agata Sui Due Golfi.
BUON VIAGGIO!
The name of the town is derived from its location that commands excellent views of the two gulfs of Salerno and Naples. There are numerous locations throughout the village to set up and look out over the Mediterranean. This should keep landscape and seascape artists happy for several hours. If you want to plop a cherry on top of this stunning confection, take the narrow, uphill road behind the Bar Orland to the Deserto. From this Franciscan monastery you not only survey the two bays, but you can enjoy the bonus of an excellent view of Capri. Architectural artists should enjoy painting the monastery and its bell-tower on which is inscribed: TEMPUS BREVE EST. Time is short; use it wisely by spending some of it painting at Sant’Agata Sui Due Golfi.
BUON VIAGGIO!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
PAINTING IN ITALY / CAMPANIA / POSITANO
Positano is a hillside town on the southern strip of the Amalfi Drive. This Moorish-style village overlooks a small bay washed by the emerald Mediterranean and is backed by mountain buttresses that offer views of the Sirenuse Islands, Homer’s siren islands in the Odyssey. The white and pink houses perch from terraces submerged under bougainvilleas that drip down to the sea. Now that’s my idea of an excellent location to paint.
John Steinbeck wrote: “Positano bites deep. It is a dream that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone.” What artist wouldn’t be lured to Positano after having read those words? And when you add Artist Paul Klee to the Positano devotees, then it’s an inescapable conclusion to spend time painting in Positano. Paul Klee once said: “I like to take a line for a walk.” Klee took great pleasure in “walking his lines” in Positano, and so should you.
There’s no driving in the town: you park up top and walk down, and down, and down. At times, the streets seem almost impossibly steep. My advice: don’t lug heavy paint boxes or cumbersome easels. Always remember: what goes down, must come up.
BUON VIAGGIO!
John Steinbeck wrote: “Positano bites deep. It is a dream that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone.” What artist wouldn’t be lured to Positano after having read those words? And when you add Artist Paul Klee to the Positano devotees, then it’s an inescapable conclusion to spend time painting in Positano. Paul Klee once said: “I like to take a line for a walk.” Klee took great pleasure in “walking his lines” in Positano, and so should you.
There’s no driving in the town: you park up top and walk down, and down, and down. At times, the streets seem almost impossibly steep. My advice: don’t lug heavy paint boxes or cumbersome easels. Always remember: what goes down, must come up.
BUON VIAGGIO!
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