Out and About in Pisa

Out and About in Pisa, on Euromaxx City, Deutsche Welle

Treading Flowers

Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer on their villa near Rome, Italy, January 1960

Echoes

'Rome is the city of echoes, the city of illusions, and the city of yearning.'
- Giotto di Bondone

An Italian Key

An Italian Key written and directed by Rosa Karo in 2011, tells the tale of Cabella, an orphaned young woman who inherits an old key and travels to Italy to explore her family's history. Beautiful vistas of Italian countryside create the perfect backdrop for a languid, dreamlike fairy tale.

Viva Venice

Viva Venice on Euromaxx, Deutsche Welle

Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square, London

National Geographic Magazine

September 1953

Gorgola

Italy: Prison Island of Gorgola on European Journal, Deutsche Welle

After having visited Alcatraz last month, it was interesting to see this video of an island which still serves as a prison.

Valentine

I thought I'd be much better at blogging when I came to America, but there are just so many exciting things to do here that I don't have enough time to update this often. But today, in honour of Valentine's Day; which is so prominent a celebration here; are some photos of a 40 square metre mural that features the endearment 'I love you' in more than 300 different languages of the world. The wall made of 612 tiles is at the centre of the Abbesses garden in Montmartre, Paris. It was designed by Federico Barone and Claire Kito.

Procession

An hilarious video on Corriere della Sera featuring a driver from Cardito, a province of Naples, who cannot park. Blocking traffic on both sides, a small crowd gathers; other cars, bikers, a church procession.

Germany and France: Partners for Europe

Germany and France: Partners for Europe on Journal Interview, Deutsche Welle

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle talks about the relationship between Germany and France.

Paris women finally allowed to wear trousers

Article from BBC

Paris women finally allowed to wear trousers

The French government has overturned a 200-year-old ban on women wearing trousers.

The Minister of Women's Rights, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, said that the ban was incompatible with modern French values and laws.

She said the law, imposed on November 17, 1800, had in effect already been rescinded because of incompatibility.

The move to formally repeal the law followed a parliamentary question asked last year.

According to the law, women needed to have the permission of local police if they wanted to "dress like a man" and wear trousers.

Though it has been ignored for decades, formally it remained on the statute books.

Ms Vallaud-Belkacem said the original law had been intended to prevent women doing certain jobs.

"This order was aimed first of all at limiting the access of women to certain offices or occupations by preventing them from dressing in the manner of men," she said.

It was modified in 1892 and 1909 to allow women to wear trousers if they were "holding a bicycle handlebar or the reins of a horse".

During the French Revolution, Parisian women had requested the right to wear trousers and working-class revolutionaries became known as "sans-culottes" for wearing trousers instead of the silk-knee breeches preferred by the bourgeoisie.