Maurizio

Zanetti

Small votive Buddhas at Hase-dera Temple in Kamakura, Japan

In Japan, at the foot of Mount Fuji, in the area of ​​the five lakes, the Shibazakura festival is held every year. Over half a million flowering plants are reflected in the pond, with the great Fuji as a backdrop.

A few kilometers from Padua, Montagnana is a small town that preserves the marvelous defensive walls built by Ezzelino da Romano starting in 1242, on pre-existing fortifications from the tenth century.

The old wisteria not only resists but grows embedded in the wall of a city villa. And every year it gives a splendid bloom.

In Venice you may open the window and find yourself face to face with your new neighbor. Maybe not only in Venice, but in Venice it is more beautiful...

The "Amerigo Vespucci" is a wonderful sailing ship of the Italian Navy, built in 1931 as a training ship for the students of the Naval Academy. In 2025 it concluded its world tour that began in 2023. Here it is moored in Venice, one of its last stops.

Venice is known throughout the world for its palaces overlooking canals, for its gondolas and its thousand works of art. But Venice is also a "normal" city, with its parks, peaceful corners far from tourists. Like the one in the photo of Villa Groggia, Cannaregio district.

What the "schools" in Venice were and are would be too long to tell, if you want you can find it on the internet. What is certain is that they are all architectural masterpieces and containers of hundreds of works of art. In the photo the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, sestiere di San Polo.

Venice, Calle del Capitelo, Cannaregio district. A window decidedly embellished by the residents.

Venice, Carnival. Even noblemen and ladies need a little rest. Maybe in front of a spritz...

Venice. Mario Baratto Hall at Ca' Foscari University. Masterfully restored in 1935 by the then young but already famous Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa.

Venice. Magical moment, early in the morning, at the gondola mooring on Riva degli Schiavoni. When the fog still tries to resist the sun and hides the island of San Giorgio.

Fairy Doors, invented by American graphic designer Jonathan Wright and his wife Kathleen in 1993, are becoming increasingly popular in Italy. Finding them is sometimes a real challenge. In the photo one of those present in Verona.

The wonder of Venice is not only in the hundred churches and hundred wonderful palaces, architectural masterpieces and treasure chests of thousands of works of art. The wonder is also getting lost in its "calli" and finding yourself face to face with a white cat that observes you from a window that you can touch...

The imposing Palazzo Pisani in Venice, built and rebuilt several times between 1600 and 1750 at the behest of the noble Pisani family, is now home to the renowned "Benedetto Marcello" Conservatory of Music.

In Venice the wonder is not only in the Palaces seen from outside but also in what you see from the Palaces. Here from Palazzo Donà-Brusa.

Venice, Rio de la Tetta. An old gondola moored next to the water gate of the legendary Libreria Acqua Alta.

Burano is the island of the Venetian lagoon famous in the world for its colorful houses. In a hidden corner of it, colors are added to a fairytale balcony.

There are lesser-known corners of Venice, with less famous palaces but splendid architecture. Useful, necessary, beautiful to see and photograph.

Venice is always a jewel. But at night its illuminated buildings make it even more precious. In the photo the Ca' D'Oro.