San Remo, Italian Rivera, with a few private beaches

view from my hotel room. The Londra Hotel. The ultimate past glory. The favorite hotel for Charles Dickens, Frans List and the Russian Royal Family. Nowadays visited by many Russian nouveau riches.

The boulevard of San Remo

The villa of Alfred Nobel

What is left from Nobel's laboratory, where he invented dynamite

driving to the north of Italy

Families,  of all colors and background live in the old town of San Remo

here the kids play football with the tourist in the background enjoying their capucinno or campari

One more city to visit and that was Sienna, famous for its colors, think of 'Burnt Siena'. I drove up as far as possible to come as close as possible towards the Old Town, it was hot that day, around 38 Celcius. Better to park my little black car in a parking garage. Driving round and round searching for a place and all of a sudden there was that big Audi coming from below, but from the right and bumped in my car. What a shock that was. The driver was in a hurry and his english was not that good. He overwhelmed me with words and assured me that it was absolutely not a good idea to call for the police. He took photo's from both cars, and assured me that he would contact the car-company. Ooohh how grateful was I that I had a full insurance! I will never do without
.
From Umbria and Tuscany I drove North along the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Drove through gorgeous beach places and had 2 more stops. Great fun to book hotels with 'booking.com'. Last minute bookings in multiple stars-hotels with 50-70% reduction!

I had to drop my car in San Remo, where I stayed 5 more days. Hereby a photo impression of this beautiful city.
One incident I need to write about. I had ordered my dinner when 2 Chinese ladies entered the restaurant. They got the menu and apparently not understanding the language, one of them looked around to the dishes of the dining people. She saw my dish and came to have a look, she knocked her head, looked to another table with a pizza and pointed to the waitress that she wanted to order that too.

After I finished my meal, she made me clear to come and join them at their table. Their food was put on the table. The other woman, who held her simple bag tight on her lap, zipped it open and took her chop-sticks. How to eat a pizza with chop-sticks? she looked, watched me and started laughing, she could hardly stop. We had a lovely conversation with hands and expressions. It was a story about life and human tragedy. One lady married and got pregnant, it was a baby-girl. The husband very disappointed, he filled the baby. Not long after that she decided to leave him. Never ever another marriage or child. The other woman had only one child, also a girl, who live in Lyon-France. That was the reason for their trip, so she could visit her only child after many, many years. the daughter is pregnant and her mm will not see the new-born for a long time. Wow......they admired me for having 3 children. That's life too

picturesque old town of San Remo

after climbing many, many stairs I arrived at the top of the old time overlooking the sea

ballet in Spoleto in the Roman Theatre. an amazing experience

I have seen hundreds of versions of the Madonna and Child, how many different ways can you make?

I spent the day with this lovely couple from Masterton and had lunch in the smaller restaurant: 2 tables.

Church in Spoleto around the corner of the cafe

one of the tables ready for the party in the castle of Spoleto, presentation of the new harvest of Truffles.

one more of the Street Parade in Perugia's Umbria-Jazz

After my Art-class in Montecastello Di Vibio I booked myself in The Chocolate Hotel in Perugia/Umbria. Enjoyed 4 days of the Jazz-Festival. Musicians from all over the world were present like All Jarreau, wife and son of Bob Marley, Sting and many others.
Moments of reflection, lots of memories with turbulent feelings. Jan and I loved to go to festivals like this, 14th of July, Jan's birthday and the first time after 29 year without him.
From Perugia to Spoleto, another beautiful medieval city. Lucky because of the International Theatre festival there. Got a ticket for an American Ballet in the Roman Theatre. Have a look at the foot's and the movie I filmed the dance of an interpretation of Frank Sinatra's song "That's Life". Special for my friend Eamonn.
Via Booking.com I could book myself in lovely hotels/auberge's/guest houses. Last minute bookings with 50 to 70% reduction. That is great fun.
From Spoleto direction of Tuscany where I was overwhelmed with a new scenery in landscapes, nature and places.
It is not always easy to be a solo-traveler during holiday times and be conflated with families, friends traveling together. Most of the time I met other solo-travelers and couples. Like the couple from Masterton NZ. We shared a yummy lunch together.

my rental car: Fiat 500

My last stay in Italy was on the Riviera in San Remo, famous for its mild climate. THE place in the old days where the rich and famous gathered together. The ultimate Past Glory. In the Hotel 'Londra', where I stayed, was the favorite place for Charles Dickens, Frans List and royalty from the Russian court.
San Remo has little bays with private beaches, packed with sun beds and people. Unfortunately the water in the Mediterranea is not longer clean.

                                                    Market in Spoleto,

Street parade during Jazz-Fest in Umbria

the podium for the big concerts. Perugia

castle in Spoleto,

in the castle

a great entourage for having a party in the castle

the open air "Roman Theatre" 500BC. Ballet from the US

my stay for 3 days in Tuscany, great hosts and food

sunset in Tuscany

the last days in Montecastello, tomorrow I pick up a car in Rome and continue my trip
foto's from my work, the exhibition in the Galleria and some more

oil paintings: sitting new to the wall with view, view from my studio, another precious spot

my favorite painting

2 spots in Montecastello

every night dinner on the roof of the school with yummy Italian food

dressed up for the exhibition of all the art work of the students in the Galleria

the amazing full moon, view from the roof at 9pm July 4th

Teatro Concordia, the smallest theatre in the world with 99 seats, 36 stalls and 63 in the loges. There are regular performances, master-classes and weddings/parties. Since 1965 restored with money from the local people, a real treasure

twice a week there is a dance party where everybody young and old dance ballroom and line-dances

my work at the exposition

Marc (left) the owner of the school and Brian the sculpture teacher during the exposition

my sculpture, a big challenge for me, learned a lot in how to look and what do I see

students and visitors coming to the Galleria

This was the overview of my 3 week art-class

Montecastello di Vibio

This medieval, tiny village is the home for The International School of Painting and Drawing
www.giotto.us
The population within the walls counts 130 people, most of them are elderly, very friendly people.
Situated on the top of a mountain we were rewarded with the famous landscape views. I fell in love with this place and the people. Twice a week there is an open-air fest with live music. And everybody is on the dance floor, young and old. Mainly ball-room dances and a sort of line-dancing. We all had great fun and sore feet. Here are some images if the town

Giovanni's cafe, where I had my morning coffee

one of the gorgeous streets

The parade for the upcoming card-box-races. An annual event between 5 villages. This year in Montecastello. 

And Montecastello was the winner for this year

always with the blessing of the priest

impressive drummers & public

an admiring mother

Assisi

in the inner city Assisi

part of the group on trip to Assisi

St. Francis church, wall with fresco's

 another fresco. actually it is strictly forbidden to make foto's in the church. Ah well!!

I found this amazing restaurant. under the class floor you see the foundation of a Roman house of 

70 BC. Amazing

every street is like a painting

The robe of St. Francis of Assisi

interior of the restaurant