Italy trip sketchbook flipthrough- 13 locations

   It is Pfingston, the celebration of the ascension , and for Austria the long weekend which often opens the holiday season. Many people go south, to Italy or Croatia. Seeking warmth and at least a view of the sea. This year is different. It will be the first year in over a decade that we will not go to Italy in the summer. These trips are for me in a sense like 'going home'. The food, the climate, the people, the art. All of it helps me relax and makes me happy. It is a welcome hiatus in the task orientedness of my daily life here in Austria where business is a value and hard work keeps you sane. To be fair to Austria itself, the country is beautiful and people do love to be out and about, but it is also a touch cold. And I love the sun.

  We have been to so many parts of Italy over the past 13 or 14 years but last year we made the grand tour. We traveled down the West coast and back up the East. We stayed at a number of beautiful and wild locations and near the bottom attended the wedding of friends, the reason for the trip. Seeing the variety of landscapes, tasting the different foods and observing changes in architecture, mountain ranges and mentality within so short a time made it a wonderfully elaborate experience full of contrast.

   As I have just released my Urban sketching 'workshop in a box' I have been reviewing all of my urban sketching posts to see which sketchbooks are accounted for. Seeing that my Italy trip sketchbook was missing I have decided to share it with you today. It seems that when we returned I was so occupied that I barely posted about any of the areas we traveled to, if you would like to see photos let me know in the comments.

   This sketchbook is not complete but I am posting it anyway. If I ever go back and add sketches to it I will write an update post.

1. Padua- Site of the oldest University in the world

2. Siena-

We stayed about 2 kilometers outside of town on a hill in the midst of olive trees. A wonderful place.

2a. Siena-

   I was surprised by its size. It was much smaller than I expected and rather cosy in an ancient way. They were setting up the race track for the Palio horse race while we were there.

3. Rome-

  I was surprised how much I liked Rome. It was a really, very intriguing city. We bought postage stamps in Vatican city.

4. Castello Vecchio-

A place with some of the nicest people I have ever met. A small village literally clinging to the side of a mountain, a precipate falling away beneath it. We ate wild boar in a restaurant were we turned out to be the quietest. Something which has never before happened to us.

5. Pompeii-

Pompeii was surprising in its unreality. It has been so much rebuilt that it is almost a bit disappointing, at least until you get to the far end where the rubble and columns and statues retain their picturesque chaos. Will Mount Vesuvius blow up again? And how many people will be inspecting the ruins when it does... Just a question that ran through my mind as we climbed around.

  The Lemons on the other hand were magnificent. The best there are, in my opinion. They are as big as my large camera. About the size of a baby's head. I carefully wrapped the lemons I bought here and kept them in a cooling box all the way back to Graz, where I candied them and made a wonderful syrup. I still have a little bit left.

6. Taranto-

   Outside Taranto we went to one of the best beaches. Clear, warm water and with a surprising number of watermelons cooling in it, waiting for their owners to finish grilling. On the island itself we toured the Castello Aragonese, and old fortress. And then had a coffee at a 'tea house' at which only coffee was available.

7. Polignano-

  The 'Heel' of the boot was perhaps my favorite place. Usually I love the biodiversity I find in Italy but here the spectrum narrowed, colours, plants, birds, became fewer. Contrasts higher. This is a place I could imagine living. Red soil, olive trees, pourous rock, full of caves, turqouis water, and white towns. Stark, wild, beautiful.

8. Celia-

  We had the great fortune to stay in one of the trulli. In fact we had the whole farm, and it was with great difficulty that I left that place.

9. Alberobello-

 

   A strange place, intriguing and unique. Some might feel that it was mystic, for myself I would say, it feels that somewhere below the whitewash and the renovations there are echos of the ancient. Something very ordered, beehive like, but somehow in juxtaposition to civilization as we know it today. The dwellers of this region were sun worshipers and symbols have been preserved on certain facades. Don't misunderstand- it is entirely modern, and extremely touristy, but still, there is something.

10. The wedding-

  As I mentioned before, we made the trip to attend a wedding. It outlived our wildest expectaitons, It was in an old converted olive mill. The food was magnificent, with wonderful buffets and mozzarella being made to order, and the music was perfect, allowing the guests to dance between courses.

11. Matera-

  A city originally of cave dwellers Matera is like an inverted beehive, comb like and extremely hot outside, the rooms built often into rock are wonderfully cool. We spent far too little time here as we were on our way to our next destination but it was worth it. Perhaps we will go again.

12. Torano Nouvo-

  On the southern side of the mountains from Ascoli Piceno. Here the land becomes green again, lush and pulsating with life. We enjoyed our stay. Arriving late at night I woke up to this beautiful view out the window. The restaurant at the agriturismo was also very good.

13. Offida

   And the final sketch in the book is one from Offida- city of lace makers. We have been here before, not only to the town but also to the cafe where we stopped upon arrival. It is a small fortified town with old women sitting outside their doors making bobbin lace. I bought a couple of bracelets.

   There are still so many pages to be filled, so many stops on that wonderful trip but I hope that, incomlete as this is, you will feel inspired to get out and paint your world and your experiences. Or stay in and paint them. Create a beautiful visual book of memories.

Art supplies used in this book:

-Hahnemuehle Watercolour sketchbook

- Pentel Water brush

- Schminke Hordam Watercolor paints

- White Nights Watercolour Paints

- Stadtler Noris School Pencils

- Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser

- Molotov Fineliner

- Bulldog Clips (like these)

*Affiliate links- this is not a sponsored post

If you like this you might also enjoy:

- Offida

- San Marino

- Roman Ruins

- The road less traveled

- Painting Lago di Garda

- Mantova

- August favorites

* My Urban Sketching Workshop in a box 'boxes' are almost gone. If you haven't ordered one and still want one let me know- you can send me an e-mail at: sarahjloecker@gmx.at (If you are reading this on your phone and reply to it I wont be able to see your reply unfortunately). More about the boxes here.

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