Schio - Yesterday & Today

The inspiration for this post came from a guided tour of the city centre held on 10 May 2026, in which Chiara from Cooperativa Trama spoke about some forgotten stories of places, people and events from the centre of Schio during the past few centuries.

During this visit, I learned about the printing press of Paolo Marzari, located near the railway station, who had become famous for his picture postcards, sold all over Italy, in late 19th and early 20th century. This was a period of big changes in Schio, especially due to the development of wool factories of local industrialist, Alessandro Rossi. For example, the railways connecting Schio to Vicenza was built around 1876 and inaugurated by Prince Umberto. The road in front of the railway station leading to the central Piazza Rossi was built some years later.

During the 1980s, the municipality of Schio published a book (Schio: Immagini del Primo '900,  Dall'Archio Fotografico P. Marzari, 1982) about the photographic archives of Marzari. For this post I have taken some of the images from this book and compared them with how those places look today.

Photographs Used for This Post

All the black and white images used in this post are from the above-mentioned book about the photographic archives of Paolo Marzari. (click on the images for a bigger view)

All the colour photographs next to each B/W image are mine. The main reasons why it was not possible to take my images from the same exact place from where the B/W pictures were clicked - some old buildings are no more and many new buildings and trees are in their place.

At the Castello

I have selected 2 images from the Castello hill of Schio - first is the high school built there in early 20th century which now hosts the Liceo delle Science Umane (Human Sciences high school). The passage shown in the B/W image is now closed with an iron grill surrounding the school. (click on the images for a bigger view)

 

The second image is at top of the hill with its clock tower and the Santa Maria della Neve church (St Mary of the Snows church) and the old big Tiglio (Lime) tree, which was removed in early 1900s. There were two big trees and because of them, this area was called Tajara in the local dialect. There were few trees at that time, which were planed mainly after the second world war and now make this hill very beautiful due to the autumn leaves.  

Santa Maria della Salute Chapel

This 15th century chapel was located along the path which came down from the Castello hill and was separated by walls as it passed the Brolo (fields) of Count Da Schio, and went towards the old TB hospital and St. Francis church. Underneath the chapel is the Gaminella water-spring that led to a small pond.

 

Today the walls around the Chapel are gone, a lot more trees are there and only the initial part of Gaminella water-spring is visible close to the chapel, the rest of the spring water lies underneath Via Gaminella in front of the chapel.

Around Duomo church and Piazza Rossi 

Duomo church from 15th century and the square in front of it, Piazza Rossi, are the centre of Schio. It used to a closed square with two exits - the road going to the west, called Corobbo (today Via Carducci) and the road going towards the town and Castello (today Piazza Garibaldi). The next image shows road in front of Piazza Rossi going towards Corobbo, in which Via Capitano Sella was opened.

The next image shows Via Cavour, running next to the Duomo church, which has changed very little.

 

The image below has Via Garibaldi seen from the Garibaldi square.

 

The next image has a view of Via Battaglione Leogra and Piazza IV Novembre, with its monument to the Pasini brothers. This road was built in 1900 and connected Piazza Rossi with the railway station and was first called Via Umberto, to remember the inauguration of the railway station by prince Umberto.

It used to have a Covered Market (Mercato Coperto), now replaced by a bank. There used to be an ice-vendor behind the market (Giassaia in local dialect) now remembered in the name of Via Giasara behind the bank.

The next image has Via Battiglione Leogra (this name was given after the second world war) showing the Pasubio printing press, which is no longer there. On the right, the images show the entrance to Piazza Statuto, which hosts the municipal offices of Schio.

 

The next image has Piazza Statuto with Palazzo Garbin which hosts the Municipal offices of local government in Schio.

 

The last image from this part of the city is Casa dei Canarini (the house of the colourful birds) on Via Mazzini, further along the Via Carducci, with frescoes of guards wearing colourful costumes. People believe that this house hosted the centre of city guards, but no evidence has been found for it.

 

The Railway Station and the Roads Around it

The railway station was inaugurated 150 years ago in 1876. It had big freight port for the wool industries of Schio, which now hosts a clothes shop. However the railway station itself has changed very little, except for the buildings behind it and the number of cars in front of it. 

The road in front of the railway station, Via Baccarini, going towards Sant'Antonio church has changed completely and the church is hardly visible from this point, hidden behind the buildings.

 

As we walk from the railway station towards Sant'Antonio, the crossing where Via Baccarini meets Via Maraschin has a roundabout with a monument to Alessandro Rossi. The B/W image below shows the inauguration of this monument made by Giulio Monteverde in 1902, the colour picture next to it has the inauguration of the renovated monument with the mayor Walter Orsi and some members of the Rossi family, on 29 June 2018.

  

Behind the Rossi monument and opposite Sant'Antonio church is a square called Donatori di Sangue (Blood donaters). The next image shows this square and the St. Antonio church.

 

A little further down the road is the Civic Theatre built in 1907-08. It was closed down during the first world war and then during the second world war, but has been renovated a few years ago.

 

Around the Leogra Bridge

First it was a wooden bridge built in 1742, the stone bridge was made in 1852 and it was reinforced and enlarged in 1926. It connected the 2 communes - Schio and Magre, which were combined together under Schio, 2 years later in 1928. Just after the bridge, on the Magre side of Leogra was a Tiro a Segno (shooting range), whose building can be seen from the Schio side in the image below.

 

The shooting range building can be seen from the Magre side in the image below. It now has some monuments to the Italian marines who died in the wars, a big parking and a popular open air bar called Molo 517 that is open in the summers.

 

The third image from this area shows Via Riva di Magre, the road that goes up towards the central areas of Magre.

 

Carrozzeria Luigi dalla Via

The Dalla Via workshop was located beyond the cemetery area of Schio. Started in 1905, it was one of the biggest Italian constructors of the external bodies vans, buses and trucks, but especially of buses. It closed in 2007. The image below shows the workshop area.

Via Baratto

The last image of this post is of Via Baratto taken from the roundabout of Via Rompato, and going towards St Francis church. Even this area has not changed much though because of a busy car parking, I was unable to include the gate on the right side in my image.

 

In The End

Let me conclude this post with the cover of the book from which all the B/W images of the Paolo Marzari's photographic archives have been taken.

I had a lot of fun, going around and trying to get the same or similar views as in the original pictures. Most of the time, it was impossible to get the same view but I feel that these pictures do show that the places are same.

If you live in Schio or are visiting here, I hope that these images help you to get an idea of the changing histories of our urban landscapes.

 

***** 

 

An Unusual Venice - Giorgio Schirato

Yesterday, on 4 September 2026, a new photography exhibition was inaugurated at the Toaldi Capra palazzo in Schio. The exhibition has works of a young Venetian Giorgio Schirato. 

His images of Venice are about stillness, where the silky smooth water and gentle pastel colours become frozen in a dreamscape. You see a city that still has the magic of Venice, but is different. Some of his other pictures, catch the light in such a way that makes you see something which otherwise you would not have noted. It is a beautiful exhibition.

After the inauguration, I had a brief talk with the photographer Giorgio Schirato (GS), which is presented below. If you are in or around Schio, do not miss this exhibition. If you can't come to the exhibition, take a look at his webpage and his Instagram page to have an idea about his works.

You can click on all the images for a bigger view - these Venice images are by Giorgio Schirato and are protected by copyright.

Talking With Venetian Photographer Giorgio Schirato 

 

SD: Tell me about yourself

GS: I was born in Treviso and when I was three years old, with my mother I went to live in Venice, and I grew up there. We were not in proper Venice, since we lived in Lido island for the first 20-25 years of my life. Only when I joined the famous Venice art school, Academia delle Belle Arti, then I shifted to proper Venice. There, I was sharing a house with some friends.

I had chosen the area of sculpture, as my focus in the art school. While I was studying it, I knew that actually I really wanted to do photography, I was already passionate about it. In the end, photography became my preferred way of creative expression.

Probably because I prefer expressing myself through things that are quick and making sculptures had become a kind of suffering for me, because they needed months of work. So slowly I started experimenting with photography. I like all the different ways of artistic expression, including painting, but I chose photography because I liked it the most.

However, instead of photo-documentation, which means documenting what you see around yourself, I always try to express something extra through my photography. For example, I can use the light - such as using a torch at night to obtain a specific effect that I want. Or by using long exposition times, so that the day-landscapes start looking different - they become a kind of aseptic, clean, smooth.

I am moved by a desire to see and interpret Venice as something which I feel inside myself. I want to absorb the beauty of our Venetian landscapes through stillness and in these kind of photographs, I want to avoid the human presence, so that I can focus on the essence of the place.

I want to express something which is different from the usual images of Venice. Therefore, I am not looking at the well-known city landmarks, instead I want to show you the glimpses of something, which you wouldn't see when you are here.

SD: On your website there are some folders showing different series of photographs, for example there are some showing silhouettes. You want to talk about different kinds of your work?

GS: My poetic photography, if I may call it that, can be grossly divided into 2 main types:

- first is the contemplative and experimental kind of images, where I use colour-photography, I study the site and then plan them to get a specific effect;

- the second are my images in black and white, they have a more graphic impact, through them I try to capture the moment, so these images are more immediate, less planned.

 

I capture both these kinds of images with the help of a tripod, but I try to vary other factors, such as the light, to get a specific effect. My images are not a representation of the reality, they are my interpretation of it. 

SD: How long you have been doing photography?

GS: This exhibition is showing the artistic part of my photography, which I have been doing now for about 25 years. It started as a passion when I was in high school.

At the same time, I am also a professional photographer since 2012, where I do specific kinds of photographic services. You can see examples of some of these works on my website.

SD: In these last 25 years, how do you see your evolution as a photographer-artist? 

GS: I have changed over the years, also because of the professional work that I have done. My professional work brought me in contact with a large number of persons, especially artists with their own ideas and long experiences, and interaction with them gives me new ideas and suggestions into my work. Some of those persons have influenced me as an artist.

 

However, my search to find my way of being a photographer, has been more through silence and interiority, and not so much through describing or discussing with others.

There are days, when I am inclined towards black and white photography, other days when I am more contemplative, and I look for specific effects, and finally there are some days when I just do not feel like clicking any pictures. When I wake up in the morning, I know that day, what kind of work I am going to do. There are days when I can see things that are not visible on other days, it may be something to do with my focus, concentration and inspiration, because it requires me to look beyond what my eyes can see.

It can also depend upon the light of that day. One day, the light may be such that I can't see anything special. On another day, the light may be such that even a simple thing looks different and has a more fascinating impact. One has to train oneself to really see, to discover the surroundings.

 

There are some days when I wake up with a desire to capture people and action. On other days, I just want to walk around in my city, to get inspiration for an idea, then I try to express it in the way that I feel it inside me. It is all about sensations and feelings.

SD: Do you also plan and set-up things to create a particular kind of picture?

GS: I prefer working with what is already existing and not create an artificial effect. I also don't create particular effects in post-production. All the effects that are there in my image, they come from working with my camera.

Even if we are living in the digital era, I try to think as if I am working with an analogical camera-film. Thus, I don't click a lot of pictures, I prefer clicking pictures as a gift, only a few and well thought-out clicks. And, I prefer limiting the use of technology in my work.

 

This is also a kind of rebellion against digital world and there are some persons who prefer using analogical film.

SD: What is the value of photography in a world where millions of tourists click millions of pictures every day, with their mobile phones?

GS: With the social media, the significance of images has been lost. Our ideas of beauty and ugliness have been turned upside down. Thus, even for this, one needs to go back to the older ways doing things, to think and reflect more and to have less anxiety about missing something by clicking a large number of pics. Today we are just bombarded with images.

I feel that it is better to click as few pictures as possible, which means you have thought about each one of them. If you are clicking thousands of images, then it is easy to find one good picture among them. I think that it is more important to click a few, with some good ones, because that requires self-reflection, reasoning and becoming more aware of our surroundings. If you are in contact with the reality around you, you use your capacity for observation.

SD: In terms of AI and your work as a professional photographer, what do you think?

GS: I see it as a potential problem, especially for the images used for advertising. Instead of taking models, professionals, you can create a set and people out of nothing and thus, for the advertising-sector I think that it is going to be a problem.

At the same time, the vast diffusion of digital images has created a greater sensibility among the people towards photography. Since the canons of beauty and ugliness have been turned upside down, some aspects of photography continue to need professionals. For example for making portraits. Sometimes persons come to me for portraits even if they can very well click their own pictures, because they are looking for a specific impact on the social media, so they want a professional.

SD: Have you also done photography for films or videos?

GS: I have done the still photography and backstage for some documentary films, to document everything that happens during the filming and in the backstage.

SD: Thanks Giorgio for taking the time to talk to me.

In The End

Giorgio Schirato's photo-exhibition titled "The Lessons of Water - 450 Years From Titian Till Today"  (Le Lezioni dell'Acqua - 450 Anni Da Tiziano Ad Oggi) is on at Palazzo Toaldi Capra in Schio till 13th September 2026 and can be visited on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, entry is free.

 

I loved his images of Venice, like this image above, where time seems to be standing still and it looks like a dreamscape. I also love his cityscapes where he captures fleeting moments that seem to open the world like a hyper-reality, letting us see things that we would not have seen.

All the images (except Georgio's) in this blogpost are from Giorgio Schirato's website and are protected by copyright. 

***** 

Exploring Emotional Geographies: Silvio Faggin

My friend Silvio explores and expresses emotions, sensations and feelings through photography. A few years ago, Silvio had a brain-stroke when an artery in his brain was blocked by a blood clot. He was fortunate to survive that experience. During his recovery he discovered a new way of using photography to express himself. (Note: Click on the images for a bigger view)

I was also very much into photography till a few years ago and never went anywhere without my camera. With my work in development programmes in different countries, it was a way of documenting as well as, a way of discovering countries, communities and people.

Silvio goes into photography in a completely different way, searching for emotions and feelings. His images are about capturing moods, lights, sensations, they do not bother about rules and norms of "good" photography.

For example, I love the water-colour painting like effect he can get in some of his images. This post is about Silvio Faggin, his life and his photography.

 

Silvio's Life

Silvio was born in Schio, and his first home was in Via Faccin. His father worked in making wooden furniture and he has a brother, 2 years older to him. While his brother wanted to study, Silvio says that he was not very keen to study and started working after finishing the middle school.

His first job was in a pharmacy but he did not like it and changed it after six months, when he heard about a job with a new company making electric systems. He learned on the new job and grew his skills in this field. Though he changed employers but he continued in this field of electric systems for all his working life.

In the mean time he married Patrizia and they have a son.

During mid-1980s, new design systems were introduced for making the electric systems called Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), which used computers and automation. Soon Silvio also got into PLC and thus started to work with computers. Over the years, this work grew into CNC (Computerized Numerical Control) machines. And thus, Silvio's work with computers also grew.

Silvio has travelled widely for work in a large number of countries, especially in North America and Europe. Apart from Italian, he knows Spanish and French, and over the years, has acquired proficiency in English.

Silvio's Brain Stroke

One evening in January 2018, while in the bathroom, Silvio had a brain-stroke. He was fortunate that his wife heard him and called the ambulance, which arrived quickly and took him to the Neurosurgery department in Vicenza hospital, where the doctors were able to operate and re-open his blocked artery. After about 10 days in ICU, he regained consciousness.

The stroke had caused weakness in right half of his body and loss of speech. After his recovery, he slowly regained strength in the right side of the body. However, recovering his capacity to speak took much longer - he had to work for it with a speech-therapist for about 2 years.

Silvio's Special Experience

At the time of the brain-stroke, while he lay unconscious in the bathroom, Silvio had a special experience. He felt that he had separated from his body and was visiting the eternity in the cosmos - however, these words do not express his experience adequately. He finds it to difficult to express this experience in words. He feels that this experience changed him in profound ways but again finds it difficult to explain how.

Though now he can speak, but often he continues to struggle with finding the words to express himself. Sometimes, he needs to search for the words on his mobile phone. Thus, conversation with him is punctuated with silences.

While we were talking about out-of-body experiences during the stroke, we joked about his famous cousin, Federico Faggin's book Irreducible, which is about connections between consciousness and quantum physics, (which I have just started to read but find it a little challenging to understand).

Silvio's Passion for Photography

Silvio had a camera before his stroke and he used to take pictures with it, like usual photographs. After the stroke, he discovered a new passion for photography, which was different, in the sense that now it is a way for experiencing and expressing emotions.

He explains it with the following words: "When I see something that moves me or touches me in a particular way, I want to express that emotion through my photography. I manipulate the manual settings of my camera, till I can achieve that particular emotion and click a picture. Often that first picture expresses my emotion and my way of seeing the reality."

The way he explains it, it seems that he is not experimenting with different camera settings to see different effects they can produce, but rather, using a particular setting for achieving a precise effect that he can foresee in his mind.

He downloads those images on his computer and on mobile-phone and likes to look at them to experience and re-live those same emotions.

Photography Without Technical Manipulation

A couple of months ago, I went to see a photo-exhibition with Silvio. I was surprised to discover his complete disdain for pictures which are manipulated through the different image-editing programmes. I had imagined that his own pictures were a result of similar manipulations. He was very vehement about it and insisted that he only works with manual settings on his camera and does not like making any changes with image-editing software.

Another time, while talking to him about the countries he liked, he mentioned Spain in the early 1970s, when it had just come out of Franco's dictatorship and still much less-developed. At that time also he said that he liked it because it was "less-frenetic" and more like the life in the old times.

Maybe it is that fondness for simpler lives in pre-technological era, that determines his refusal to use computer to enhance or modify his pictures?

Some years ago, I had written a post about "Zen of Photography", where I had explained how while taking pictures, I feel more isolated and can feel more deeply the things I am photographing. Silvio's experience with photography seems to me like another kind of Zen experience, where he imagines and feels the world in a specific way and then tries to capture that feeling in a picture.

In Conclusion

I feel that some of our intimate experiences are very specific to us and not easy to explain to others. We try to use common words to express them so that others may get a glimpse of what we feel, but it is an almost impossible task. In the end, each one of us is free to interpret and imagine what those words can mean.

There is another thought in my mind. We all need to communicate, because it creates connections between us and others. However, when our ability to communicate in one way is limited, we need to find other ways to express ourselves. So the question I ask myself is - has Silvio's stroke limited his ability to articulate his thoughts in the way he used to do it earlier, and because of it, he has developed a new and different way to feel the world and express himself through photography?

I want to conclude this write-up with an image of a place (above) where Silvio often goes with his dog for long walks. Even I love evening-walks in this part of Schio because I love its gentle hills and the way this area gets illuminated at sunset.

Silvio is a prickly person, easily provoked and he has his specific views about the world, things and life. Occasionally, I like provoking him to hear his indignant "NO!", when he does not agree with my ideas. For example, I wanted to have his picture for this write-up but could not convince him. However, I am glad that he agreed to share about his experiences.

*****

#photography #creativephotography #silviofaggin #schio #altovincentino #veneto

 

My Most Beautiful Experiences

What makes some memories so special, that we can't forget them, even after decades? I was thinking about my memories of my most unforgettable evenings and wondering about what had made them so special.

In this post, I want to talk about 5 of my most unforgettable evenings and what made them special.

An Evening at the Taj Mahal, India

Talking about a beautiful evening at the Taj Mahal is a cliché, but since it was one the most incredible evenings that I had ever had, I decided to start with it. I had been to Taj in Agra a few times, the first time in 1967 on a school trip. This particular visit was in 2012, when I was in Agra for a conference. One afternoon, as I came out of a tiring meeting, I decided to walk and ended up at Taj Mahal. When I reached, the sky was already turning pink.

It was still crowded and I decided to sit down on a bench on one side, to wait for the evening. Slowly the crowd thinned and it became quieter. There was an azaan, I think from the mosque on the side of Taj or may be from outside. In that quiet, listening to that azaan and watching the silhouette of the familiar shape of the monument against the darkening sky, it was absolutely divine. It was the combination of beauty, colours and the music/sounds which made this evening so special.

 

The Uvs lake in Mongolia

I have also been to Mongolia many times. This particular evening was in 2008. We had travelled in a jeep from Bayan Ulgii to Uvs in the extreme west of Mongolia. In Uvs, I had one incredible afternoon in the stadium in Ulaangom where a Buddhist lama had led a special session of prayers.

One afternoon, after we finished our meetings, my friends accompanied me to Uvs lake, about 60 kms away from Ulaangom. The lake forms the border between Russia and Mongolia, which means that the mountains you can see in the image below on the other side of the lake were in Russia.

It was cloudy and windy that day. The contrast between light and dark shades of the dry grass, land, lake water and the snow covered mountains was very striking. A row of white round gers (tents) for the tourists, stood out. There were noisy seagulls and black and white lapwings. There, a few of my Mongolian friends sang polyphonic songs, which is a special Mongolian skill. The singers can simultaneously make multiple sounds, some in a wonderful bass and others, more acute.

The colours of the nature, the wind and clouds, the cries of seagulls and the polyphonic sounds of the Mongolian songs, together created something unique, which made that evening unforgettable for me. Even now, when I listen to polyphonic music from Mongolia, I remember that evening along the lake. If you have never heard a Mongolian polyphonic song, take a few minutes to listen to one on Youtube.

Pasubio Mountain, Veneto, Italy

Pasubio is the dolomite mountain of Schio, the little town in the north-east of Italy where we now live. Its highest peak is at more than 2,200 metres. From our home, a 20-25 minutes drive takes us to the mountain pass known as Pian delle Fugazze, at a little less than 1,200 metres. This was the border between Italy and Austria where the First World War battles had taken place. Hundreds of young men from different parts of Italy, but specially from all the towns of our region, had died here. At this mountain pass, visible from miles all around, is an Ossario, where bodily remains of those young men are kept.

We often go to the Ossario of Pasubio (in the image below). There are may mountain paths marked by the Italian Alpine association, where you can go for trekking. There is a hanging bridge there, about 2 km away, which makes for a nice walk. The evening at Pasubio which I remember is from a visit in 2012 evening. It was December and very cold. There had been different snowfalls, but on that day the sky was clear.

Soon after we arrived, the sky turned pink and orange, lighting up the snow with a strange glow. The moon was already out, not yet a full moon, but still glowing nicely. There was no one else at Ossario, just I and my wife. We stood there admiring the beautiful views till it turned dark. I think that it was special because we were alone and surrounded by incredible beauty.

An Evening in the Petrified Forest, New Mexico, USA

In 2018, I went on a road trip with my sister and one of her friends, in USA. We started from Santa Fe and finished our journey in Phoenix, visiting places like Grand Canyon and Sedona on the way. There is just a 2 years gap between I and my sister and I have a level of comfort with her, which is different from all other relationships. For much of our adult lives, we meet once in a while, usually with our families. Only now, with our children grown up, we can meet without our families and spend our time talking, as we used to do in our childhood.

That road-trip gave some wonderful memories, one of which was an evening spent in the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. The beautiful shades of the earth, the amazing landscapes and our constant bickering (which sometimes irritated my sister's friend), made it a wonderful evening.

Baja beach on Tapajos river in Amazon region, Brazil

I have also been to Brazil many times, most recently in 2019 when I had a wonderful visit in Rio de Janeiro. However, my special evening memory is once again from 2012. I was with my friend and colleague Deo, and we were visiting a project in Abaetetuba town in Para state in the north-east of Brazil. One evening, we went to a shack on the Baja beach on the Tapejos river, a few kilometres away. We had some beer, and while Deo chatted with some friends, I wandered alone.

Tapejos is a huge river, its other shore was probably a few kilometres away. It changes with the sea tides of Atlantic ocean. The retreating high tide had left its marks on the sand. A group of children was playing football. Strips of land alternating with streams of water, created a wonderful background.

I walked to the edge of the river. A few families with children were there, including a man with a baby boy, who had parked his motorbike and was playing with the child in the water. Slowly the sun went down the sky turned yellow and orange. As I walked back to the beer shack, the man and the baby boy left on their motorbike. The river, the colours, the families chattering, it all created something magical.

Conclusions

I love writing posts like this, which give me an opportunity to revisit forgotten journeys and to remember places and persons, some of whom are no longer alive. I hope that you have also enjoyed this journey, and that it has made you remember some special moments from your own life.

Writing such posts is also about understanding ourselves and our desires. I have hundreds of beautiful pictures of sunsets. Why did I choose these five? Thinking about it, makes me understand myself - what is important for me, and what touches me deeply. I that it is a way of meditating or may be a way of more mindful-living.

Because of smart-phones, most of us have hundreds or even thousands of pictures. Try to make them count - think which pictures matter to you and why? It will help you to learn about yourself.

I think that many factors contribute to making some memories special for us - 

(1) Beauty or aesthetic pleasure is an part of it.

(2) The persons who are with me contribute to making it special.

(3) A dash of music or art can also contribute to it.

(4) Possibility of remembering it through photographs or a diary or talking about it with friends

What makes some moments of your life unforgettable for you?

*****

My Travels in 2019

2019 was full of journeys for me, from Philippines in the east to Brazil in the west. This post is to remember the most significant moments of my travels. The first picture (below) is from a wonderful journey across Kerala and Karnataka in India - from the Chennakeshava temple in Belur. (Click on the images for a bigger view)

There was a time, when I did a lot of international travel. Then over the past decade, my travelling had gradually decreased, though I still continued to visit 3-4 countries every year. However, in 2019, a number of events came together, creating greater opportunities for my travel.

Travels in India

I started 2019 by travelling to Delhi in January. During this visit, I decided to explore the expanded network of the Delhi metro. For example, one day I went to search for the Dalit Pride Park in NOIDA. On my way back, I stopped in Jamia Milia and went to visit the tomb of Dr Zakir Hussain (in the image below), who was the President of India during 1967-69.

As a child, I had met Dr. Hussain and the well-known artist M.F. Hussain at Triveni Kala Sangam in Delhi and had vivid memories of that meeting. I was curious to visit his tomb.

In January, I also went to Kerala, where in Fort Kochi I visited the Kochi Art Biennale 2018-19. The image below presents an installation by Venu V. from the biennale.

I travelled in trains and buses along the Kerala coast, going from Kochi to Mangalore and then to the town of Hassan in Karnataka. From Hassan, I visited the amazing temples of Halebidu and Belur. The first image at the top of this write-up represents one of the amazing women sculptures from the Chennakeshava temple in Belur.

Back in Delhi in February, I visited the recently rennovated Sundar Gardens near Hamayun tomb. The image below shows Sundar burj from these beautiful gardens.

February was also an opportunity to visit the street art in Lodhi colony, about which I had heard a lot. It was the time when some artists were visiting the city to make new murals, so during my next visit to Delhi, I am planning to visit this area once more to see the new additions.

In March, we had a family visit to the Kumbh mela in Prayagraj (Allahabad). My cousin sister had passed away suddenly and our visit included a ceremony for dispersing her ashes at Sangam, where river Ganges meets Yamuna. This visit was also an opportunity to visit and meet persons from our extended family and our old family home, before coming back to Delhi and concluding my India visit.

 

Milan, Italy

Back in Italy, in early April, I was part of a conference in Milan. This was an opportunity to explore the Naviglio canal. I had been there many years ago and remembered it as an old and decaying area. With the cleaning of Naviglio, the whole place has changed completely. Now it is full of tourists visiting crowded restaurants and new glittering shops.

Liberia

In the last week of April, I was back in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. There is not much to see in Monrovia and security concerns make it difficult to go out. I also had to run a training course, so there was not much free time. However, one early morning, before the starting of the training, I did manage a walk along the seaside.

I also travelled for a day to Ganta in Nimba county to meet some old friends. They are trying to build up a wild life sanctuary in Liberia. May be in future, one day there will be places to visit here.

Mongolia

I visited Mongolia twice in 2019. The first time at the end of June when I stayed in Ulaanbaatar and did not travel to other places. However, I did go out for different walks to discover the city, such as a walk to look at the sculptures of a camel caravan.

During the second visit, in October, we visited some provinces around Ulaanbaatar. One of the visits was to Arkhangai and on the way, we stopped to see the Buddhist monastery at Korakorum, the old capital of Mongolia during the times of Gengiz Khan (in the image below). It was a place that I had dreamt of visiting one day and the visit was really great.

Brazil - Campo Grande and Niteroi

In August I was in Brazil for a couple of weeks, first in Campo Grande and then in Niteroi, near Rio de Janeiro. In between my work commitments, I had plenty of time to go around for walks in Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro, a short ferry ride away from Nietroi, I went to different museums but my most precious experience was visiting an Ai Wei Wei art exhibition.

Niteroi is a wonderful place to stay with some of the most beautiful views of the Bay of Guanabara and the amazing skyline of Rio de Janeiro (in the image below).

Manila, Philippines

Back from Brazil and with a short break of a few days, I had to go Manila for a conference. The 12 hours time difference from Brazil, made this visit very difficult for me. I tried everyday to walk and discover parts of Manila that I had not seen earlier. Thus, I joined the visit organized by our conference hosts to visit Intramuros, the Spanish part of Manila (Fort Santiago in the image below).

Istanbul, Turkey

In October, on my way back from Mongolia, I stayed overnight in Istanbul. I have passed through Istanbul airport many times, but had never stopped there and was hoping to visit the city. However, during my one day of stay, it was raining most of the time and thus, I was forced to stay in my hotel room. The image below was clicked from the bus going back to the airport. I hope to have another opportunity to visit Turkey in the new year.

Geneva, Switzerland

Between August to October, I had travelled so much that I became unwell and had to cancel a visit to Spain. I had also made plans for a family gathering in the USA, but I was so tired of travelling that I cancelled it.

The only journey outside Italy I made was to Geneva for a meeting at the World Health Organisation in mid-November. Even during the brief stay, I found some time to go for a walk along the left bank of the Leman lake, which I like very much (image below). Unfortunately, there was not enough free time to visit the botanical gardens, another of my favourite places in Geneva.

Italy - Padova, Treviso & Venice

Veneto region of Italy, where I live, is full of beautiful little medieval towns. This year, I visited some of them such as Castelfranco Veneto, Padova, Treviso, Thiene and Vicenza (below an image from the Padova Pride parade).

In November, I also managed to visit the Venice Art Biennale before it ended. It had a couple of installations that I had seen in Kochi art biennale in the beginning of the year. The image below shows the visually striking giant installation by Lorenzo Quinn from this Biennale.

Conclusions

I am glad that I could visit so many countries during 2019, though I overdid it! My new year resolution is to have fewer work commitments in other countries in 2020, so that I can enjoy my travels more.

Already my bags are packed and I am preparing to go back to India. I want to conclude this post with an image from the street theatre perforamnce by students of Aurobindo college in Delhi, which I had seen during my last visit to Delhi - the play was about the vanishing languages of India and was called "Zubaan sambhal ke". I like street theatre plays very much and am hoping to catch some of them during my visit.

 

One new development in 2019 was my increasing use of phone-cameras, instead of my usual Canon DSLR. This explains the different sizes and qualities of the pictures used for this post. Carrying a mobile to click pictures is so convenient and I think that in 2020, I will use it even more.

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