Italy Things to Do Tips by Pierangelo

Parma's palio

If you need joyful people, good cousine and great hospitality... go to Parma's palio!
You can see children donkey's race, flag-waving and medieval duels at drums rythm (me in the pic before shield duel). The dom of Parma has a very special architecture with a lions portal.

Address: Emilia region

Website: http://www.pbase.com/parma

CastelBrando

In the first decennium of XVII century the abbot Marcantonio Brandolini, called the "human wild beast", poisoned Sir Alessandro Favro of Follina. The reason was to have undisturbed sex, in spite of he was a priest, with the nice wife of the Sir Favro.
The itinerary I propose to visit the Abbey and the mithycal Castelbrando (the Castle of Brandolini family in the picture) starts in Conegliano from the Cathedral were you can find the frescos of Cima da Conegliano, by the Scuola dei Battuti.
Along the beautiful hills landscape you will enter the road of the Prosecco wine, which starts at the foot of the Prealps between the vineyards of Feletto, the area of Piave river and Valdobbiadene. The localities you will travel through are the villages of Costa, Rua and San Pietro di Feletto (Monastery of the Camaldolesi, Pieve di S. Pietro), Solighetto (Villa Brandolini home of the of the Consortium of Prosecco wine producers), Soligo (Colle di Sangallo where in a typical restaurant an Enoteca has been created), Farra di Soligo (Torri di Credazzo and Villa Caregiani Ricci), Col San Martino, Guia, Santo Stefano, San Pietro di Barbozza to end in Valdobbiadene (town of vineyards and area of production of the superior Prosecco of Cartizze).
The itinerary pass through Vittorio Veneto city born from the union of the ancient Ceneda, dominated by the castle of San Martino, and Serravalle which unique architecture testimonies here the splendour of Venetian history.

The adventure continues into the hills next to the Prealps of the joyful Marca and you can visit the localities of Follina (Cistercian Abbey with Basilica and the wonderful cloister dated 1268) and finally at Cison di Valmarino the famous Castle Brandolini, near the picturesque and romantic lakes of Revine. The castle organized fencing shows and has a swords museum inside. There is a multimedial library and often take place historical conferences and researchs. You can sleep into the castle and you have a lot of facitlities like typical restaurant and mixed sauna.

Address: Cison di Valmarino

Directions: Superhighway from Venice to Belluno: exit "Vittorio Veneto". All my Castelbrando pics at:
http://www.pbase.com/pierangelo/castelbrando

Other Contact: cbc@castelbrando.it

Phone: +39.0438.9761

Website: http://www.castelbrando.it

In a context of great...

<DIV ID='layer1' style='position:static;background-color:#eeeeee'><FONT COLOR='#000080'>In a context of great solemnity, the <a href='http://www.pbase.com/pierangelo/ancient_fencing&page=all'><font color='#ff0000'><b>Mass of the Spadone</b></font color></A> is celebrated in the Dome of Cividale. The Deacon introduces himself, with an helmet adorned with feathers on his head, the sword in his right hand and a precious Evangelistary of the XII sec. in the left one.
The ceremony remembers the investiture of the master of the region that the Patriarch used to receive from the hands of the Emperor .The sword, with which the Deacon greets with ancient gestures authority and people, is still the some one that people from Cividale offered to the Patriarch Marquardo von Randeck, in the occasion of his arrival in Cividale.<BR>
Immedialtly after the Mass of the Spadone takes place the historical recalling of the entrance of the Partiarca Marquardo von Randeck at the 6th of July 1366. Nobles,ladies, squires, knights, notables, maids, falconers, standard-bearer, pages, priests, friars, hermits, the herald, the dean, the general captain, the captain of Cividale, the Patriarch, all of them dressed with customs that reproduced faithfully dresses of the age, both in colors and in models. All of this reconstructs an important fragment of Cividale's history and offer the possibility to everybody to partecipate to an' historical ' and pleasant day. All trough the way and in the culminating moments, the procession is followed from ancient musics and typical sounds of the Middle Ages that create an evocative and fascinating atmosphere.</DIV>