travel is recess

Hiking from Corniglia to Vernazza, beautiful sunny day and spectacular views 😳on Saturday. With the rugged, steep topography, traditional vehicles cannot reach the terraced hillsides. Local farmers and vintners utilize a vast system of over 50 private rack-and-pinion monorails.

Photo challenge: Seat A bench, a chair, even a cozy tree trunk... if it invites you to slow down and stay a while, please share it below.

@leah_hinnefeld @mamboitaliano__ We will! I believe we were there in 2014 when we were there, but it’s such a long time ago.

@tomwalshpmp @mamboitaliano__ When in Vienna-go have a coffee at the Cafe Hawelka. :-)

Everybody: Mambo, where do you go on holiday? Me: Sardinia! 🇮🇹👇

@JamesLucasIT @mamboitaliano__ A few photos from our walk through the Vasari corridor in January 2026, there were five of us (plus two Uffizi workers), so a lot of time to stroll and enjoy this beautiful section.

On the night of 3 August 1944, retreating German soldiers blew up every bridge in Florence except one. It had been standing since 1345... The bridge is called the Ponte Vecchio, the Old Bridge. It is the oldest surviving crossing of the Arno River, on a site that has carried bridges since Roman times. The Romans built the first. The medieval Florentines rebuilt it twice, after floods in 1117 and 1333 swept the previous versions away. The third attempt — the one still standing today — was completed in 1345. It was one of the first segmental arch bridges ever built in the West. Three low, wide arches replaced the heavy semicircular spans of Roman engineering. The new design needed fewer piers in the river, offered less resistance to floodwater, and allowed boats to pass underneath. Six hundred and eighty years later, the engineering still holds. Shops have lined the bridge since the 13th century. The first tenants were butchers, fishmongers, and tanners, who used the river below as an open drain. In 1565, Cosimo I de' Medici commissioned Giorgio Vasari to build a covered passageway above the shops, connecting his official residence at Palazzo Vecchio to his private home at Palazzo Pitti, so that he and his family could move through the city in private, away from the public eye. The passage is called the Vasari Corridor, and it still runs above the bridge today. In the late 16th century, the smell of the butchers' waste reached the corridor windows. By decree, every butcher was expelled from the bridge and replaced with goldsmiths and jewellers. The rule has never been repealed. To this day, the shops on the Ponte Vecchio are required, by law, to sell only gold, silver, and jewels. The same shopfronts that hung over the Arno four hundred years ago are still selling the same trade. Then came the war... By August 1944, the Allies were closing in on Florence. The retreating German forces, under orders from Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, prepared to destroy every bridge over the Arno to slow the advance. On the night of 3 August, the operation was carried out. The Ponte alle Grazie, the Ponte alla Carraia, the Ponte Santa Trinita, the Ponte San Niccolò — all were detonated. The Ponte Santa Trinita, considered one of the most beautiful bridges in the world, had to be blown up three times before it finally collapsed. Only Ponte Vecchio was spared. The reason is still debated. Some credit Hitler, who had visited Florence in 1938 and reportedly admired the city. Some credit Gerhard Wolf, the German consul to Florence, who is honored by a plaque on the bridge for his role in saving it. Some credit a Florentine shop assistant who is said to have disabled the mines placed beneath the arches. I have walked across it more times than I can count. And every time, I find myself thinking that the people who built this could not have known we would still be crossing it. As John Ruskin wrote in The Seven Lamps of Architecture: "When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight, nor for present use alone; let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say, as they look upon the labour and wrought substance of them: ‘See! This our fathers did for us.’" -- -- -- If you enjoyed this, I write a weekly newsletter read by over 50,000 people who love rediscovering the beauty of the past. You can join us here: James-lucas.com/welcome If you'd like to support my work, a paid subscription is what makes it possible.

@LoraleeLogan Watching the sunset over Ischia, from Massa Lubrense, so many changes in the sky hour after hour. The simplicity of sitting and watching the sunset and catching it in a photo is something to appreciate.

Please share a favorite sunset photo that you took

@LoraleeLogan Thank you Loralee! Looking forward to seeing your photos. We had the pleasure of visiting Pompeii again yesterday, our last time there was 2012. So much to see after all these years, and it’s amazing to see how much has been uncovered.

@tomwalshpmp Nice capture, Tom!

NO cheating, post the last photo you took, without any context.

Today's Photo Challenge is SUNSETS! QP or Share your favorite sunset capture.

@richphotoio @admired_art

Share your sunset masterpiece and let the colors steal the show! "Every sunset brings the promise of a new dawn." - Ralph Waldo Emerson Captured at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Today's Photo Challenge: Images with a BOAT. QP or share an image with a boat, ship, or any type of water vessel.

@worldofmaart I agree. We are from Canada and love travelling to Europe. Most North Americans do not appreciate how easy it is to travel around Europe. We arrived the first of May and are travelling around Europe until July 31st. Would love to stay longer, but 90 days is the limit for us.

I think most of us Europeans don't appreciate this enough: Whenever we want, we can take the car, drive to Austria, Italy, or France, and stay as long as we wish... We can hop on a train to Paris by night to have a coffee with Eiffel tower views in the morning... We can take a €12 plane to Milan and enjoy an Italian pasta on a random Saturday... As much as my brain says Europe is lost - we HAVE to keep fighting for our beautiful continent... Blessed to be European ❤️

@EricEngels No other arena can match the atmosphere at the Bell Centre!!! Love going there to see the Canadiens.

Pure bedlam

@mozinity And Italian beer in Massa Lubrense today 😊

Italian coffee

@VolodyaTretyak Starbucks…EEEWWWW! Simple espresso or cappuccino in Italy is unmatched by any Starbucks product that tastes like burnt coffee. Starbucks is 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

It’s low-key insane that American coffee culture (e.g. Starbucks) became so popular in Europe, considering European coffee culture is way better

@TheDailyDraught Our view now overlooking the bay of Naples as we sit and watch the ships pass 😊. Life is good 👍.

If it comes with a location like this I might be forced to love it 🍻

@Y2SHAF Our “rush” hour in southern Italy 😊 as we enjoy the sun and warmth.

normalise sitting outside the cafe all day and not really doing anything

@TheDailyDraught Right now. Rush hour in Massa Lubrense, Italy 😊

Is Peroni a good Italian beer?

@TheDailyDraught It is good, especially when in Italy!!!

@mamboitaliano__ rush hour along the Sorrento Peninsula today 😉. No crowds to be seen on our hikes today around Massa Lubrense 🇮🇹. Great views of Capri, Ischia, Procida, and Vesuvius.