The strange this is, I’ve only been away for a week. But looking at all these photos, it feels like double or triple that. How beautiful it’s been to be back in Italy, to re-connect with so many favourite places (and people).
Charlie has been at home in Dorset, tending the incredible garden of Eden and preparing for all his astonishing shows. Tomorrow, early, I’m on my way home at last. Can you imagine how much I can’t wait?
But in the meantime, before the memory fades, a week in Italy in 200 pictures.
F L O R E N C E
I’d started near Livorno, looking at a beautiful house which is a potential new project for the office – but had a night in Florence at the end of the day. Wonderful Florence. The light was perfect as I arrived at the Duomo. 
Brunelleschi looking upwards at his great dome, forever.
After supper I walked back to the hotel in a huge thunder and rain storm. I arrived drenched to the skin. A good feeling. The following morning was bright and clear and hot already. I went for a very early walk. My favourite time of day in a great city. 
One of my favourite buildings of all time – the Ospedale degli Innocenti. 
The wonderful walk back to the Duomo. 
Rustication. 
The market stands – so beautiful in themselves. 
P I E N Z A
And then to Pienza, to meet Valentina and Kate. I arrived in time for lunch, overlooking this view.
A sleep and then an afternoon walk. 
Dinner that night. On the way home, proving the rule that in Italy, no cathedral or church square shall be without a small posse of tiny kids playing football long into the night. 
And the elders, chatting. 
Another early morning. 
First light on the Duomo. 
I had coffee at the Caffe la Posta. 
Putting the world to rights again, as they had been the evening before…
The summer palace of the pope – so beautiful. 
Another rule – no Italian arcade shall be without a stack of chairs. 
C H I A N T I
And so we arrived on Sunday in Gaoile. A perfect day of doing nothing. On the Monday, we went to Radda to do a bit of food shopping…
More sitting watching the world go by. 
It was a week of huge skies and heavy thunderstorms in between amazing heat.
A walk to Brolio, most mornings. 
S I E N A
We arrived with all the anticipation of the first Palio in three years – but it wasn’t to be.
At 5 o clock, the most intense downpour rained down for not more than ten minutes – but ten crucial minutes in which the course was completely saturated and rendered un-ridable. 
Tears of sadness on the face of the little ones.
Despair. 
More despair….
Within minutes the sun was out again but the race was postponed to the following day. 
The course was a muddy quagmire. 
Putting the world to rights. 
More putting the world to rights. 
But we arrived home to a beautiful, serene evening. 
The next day bode much finer. 
All the fun of the Palio was there to be enjoyed. 
Anticipation mounts and then the insane 90 seconds race and a victor – this year, Leocorno are the victors. 
And then the intense, velvet blue of the sky over the Campo di Siena that is like no other sky I know. 
We went back to Siena the next day, cloudy and grey and perfectly suiting the palette of this most beautiful city. 
Removing the course boards. 
So carefully fitted around the campo. 
Each carefully numbered. 
The colours of Siena. 
G A I O L E I N C H I A N T I
A visit, as always, to our favourite butcher in Italy, Chini.
Home, more beautiful sunsets. 
And astonishing sunrises. 
The baker in Gaiole, another favourite place. 
And then, our last happy night…. 
And soft, pink dawn. 
R O M E
That afternoon, Kate and I took the train and bus down to Rome. We had just a short evening before I was heading back to London and Kate to New York, but what a beautiful two hour walk we had.
A favourite spot. 
Sadly Orso is closed in August. 
Piazza Navona, simply the most beautiful. 
(Do you mind my interrupting this hitherto perfect set of images to say I don’t think that Richard Meier’s Museum of the Ara Pacis is aging very well? Built 2006.).
How to age beautifully, effortlessly: I’d prefer to be a building that looks better after two hundred years than on its first day. 
And then…. we arrived in front of the greatest building of all just as the sun was setting. 
Nothing more really need to be said, or written, or shown.
And now, home. It’s been a busy two days, but I still have that glow, the reflected light, of all that we’ve seen.
23 comments
Wow, just delicious to see all those images of Italy, I remember Florence well from my visit, did not see all the lovely places you have been to, but I felt as though I might have travelled there after viewing your images….always a pleasure to wander somewhere with you! Jennifer, NZ
Dear Ben,
This post took me back to some of my very favorite places in Italy! I long to go back – maybe next year? How wonderful that you were able to see the Pantheon at the end of the day – my favorite building in the world. Thanks for the beautiful photos!
Best,
Alicia
Wonderful post, dear Ben. I knew that you would find a pile of chairs somewhere. Thank you so much for sharing.
Enjoyed your fantastic photos!
a friend has just directed me to your site and this post, for purposes of nostalgia .. your photographs are wonderful! Re the Pantheon – see Barbara Grizzutti Harrison’s Italian Days (1989) for her description of that ‘perfect space’.. cheers, J.
A heartfelt ‘thank you’ for the vicarious visit to Italy. Superb in every way.
Magnificent pictures. Thank you for taking me back to Florence and Rome. I love both of those cities so much. You just can’t beat the beautiful architecture and the beautiful food. I follow Kylie Flavell on youtube who is living just outside of Florence and her photography is just amazing too. What a love surprise today to receive such beautiful pictures. Thank you.
Thank you Ben,
soso lovely to find you in my country,
which never looks better than in your pics!
Please keep blogging and sharing,
You always have the best ‘eye’- and heart- ever!
What a fantastic set of photographs! I can see why you are basking in the afterglow of those beautiful cities and countryside. Thank you for taking the time to show those of us who will never visit Italy some of its glories.
Stunners again
I think the Museum would look better painted the colors of Italy. In this situation, Meier’s White is too blindingly stark and off-putting.
Dear Ben, I have just looked at all your photographs of Italy again! It is all so magical, I was back there again! The colours, the architecture, the people, the landscapes, the skies, just SO beautiful! Thank you for sharing them.
Thank you Ben for the most beautiful pictures of a such wonderful places reminding me of a perfect time spent in Tuscany.
Beautiful. Made me long to be in Italy. Such a special country and such wonderful people.
Ben
Thank you thank you, enjoyed so much! Inspirational.
xx
Fabulous photos!
Maybe it’s just not old enough yet?!
Lovely photos but enough clouds and sunsets! More gorgeous Italian men!
Such Turneresque skies Ben! So beautiful.
Cheeky request! Would you mind if I did some drawings from your photos please?
I love seeing architecture through your eyes. Thank you for sharing.
“Nothing more really need to be said, or written, or shown” – precisely. Thank you for this extraordinary “tour”.
Ben: I have always loved Inspiration. It invariably has that effect on me.
Today’s edition struck a particular chord. My husband and I moved to Rome from the US last year. This issue’s wanderings mirrored our own, in particular to Siena and Pienza, two Tuscan beauties we visited this summer. This morning we had an appointment at the bank. My cab ride after to our atelier reminded me why Rome is such a splendid city. When I looked up from my phone we were traversing a leafy neighbourhood at the bottom end of Parioli. Then we were winding through the Villa Borghese, on past the Porta Pinciana and down the via Veneto. That led us to past Santa Maria della Vittoria and Bernini’s ecstatic Saint Teresa and Sixtus Vs Fontana del Mose. If all that wasn’t enough, we swung around Gaetano Koch’s Piazza della Republicca built on the footprint of Diocletain’s baths and on to our atelier in one of the 1880’s Umbertine blocks to the east of Stazione Termini. All of this on a 15 minute cab ride bank from a mundane banking matter. The beauty and history are everywhere in this extraordinary city. Your gorgeous images reminded me why I too love Rome.
Best,
David Gibson