Italy Sketchbook tour- 2021

Summer is sadly gone and before I begin sharing the many projects I have been working on for the cooler part of the year, (the next 10 months or so here in Austria), I thought I would share my Italian Sketchbook with you. We were in Puglia again this year and although I was not able to sketch as much as I would have liked, I did manage to squeeze a few pages in. We took a few days to get down there as well as a few days to return to the north. Many of the pages are labelled with the locations where they were done.

Our first stop was Padua, site of the Shakespeare's, 'Taming of the Shrew' and

Oscar Wilde's, 'Duchess of Padua', not to mention one of Europe's oldest universities and Scrovegni Chapel. I always forget how much I like it and am always delighted again when we stop there.

We joined the sea at Pescara and had a really lovely beach day. Excellent pizza's made in cast iron forms, swimming and I tried paddle boarding. There were so many types of sea grass and seaweed that I drew some of them into my sketchbook.

And then, finally, Puglia and our Trullo. A wonderful place and time. I have sketches some of the interesting rooves as well as the Opunta (Prickly Pear cactus) that grows wild all over.

Ostuni, The white city, was really lovely. We didn't spend much time there as we were being extra careful to avoid crowds. But what we saw we liked. There is something charming about white cities. The plants really show up so nicely.

We made it to the tip of the 'heel of the boot', St. Maria de Leuce, and I added a few of the brightly coloured doors to the sketchbook.

Heading North again, we stopped in Moletta, a fishing town north of Bari. It is a fortified city with a wall to keep out the sea and a lovely promenade.

Cutting inland again we made a break in Assisi, home of St Francis of Assisi, and enjoyed a stay in a lovely agritourismo onto of one of the lovely hills. One of the lovely hills that we almost weren't able to scale with out car, having been wrongly directed by the GPS.

And that is it. I have several pages designated to specific places but I didn't get to work more on them. Perhaps I shall, or Maybe I will just continue with my next trip...