Once upon a time, there was Campari, a King and a (mosaic) artist

Campari, glamour, mosaics all in one place: The heart of Milan 

It was 1867. City of Milan. The Vittorio Emanuele II Gallery is inaugurated in the presence of the King himself. A story was about to unfold that would mark the life of the Campari brand and set a new lifestyle trend. The Italian aperitivo.

After the inauguration, Gaspare Campari, an Italian drink maker and an entrepreneur, seized the opportunity and moved his home in the Galleria, opened a restaurant and a wine shop.

The founder of the Campari brand was born in Lombardy in 1828 and was a son of a farmer. At the age of 14 he was hired at a Turin tavern as a dishwasher. One year later he was promoted to master drink maker. In 1860 he opened the Cafè Amicizia in Milan. Seven years later, following the Galleria's inauguration, Gaspare Campari had his own place in the Milan's most refined architectural landmark.

He was a man of vision. Not just hard work and talent.

In 1915 the Camparino bar opens up in the Galleria and brings in an innovation to drinking Campari by means of a hydraulic system leading from the cellar which guaranteed a continuous flow of iced soda water to the bar.

The Camparino soon became a symbol, an emblem of the city, the place where Verdi and Toscanini would go right after the Scala (you can get to the Scala through one of the alleys of the Galleria).

The old furnishings were replaced with Liberty Style decor (Art Nouveau) in 1923/1925. Three artists were involved. Cabinet-maker Eugenio Quarti, painter/mosaic artist Angelo d'Andrea (primarily known for this paintings) and Alessandro Mazzuccotelli responsible for the and ironwork.

Angelo d'Andrea created the mosaic wall decoration for the Camparino bar in 1914.

Four years before, King Vittorio Emanuele III had bought one of his paintings. His destiny to decorate the bar with mosaics seems to have been sealed back then.

Regarding the floral mosaic decoration on the walls (featuring red peacocks - symbolising Campari?), it appears that it was one of those things that remained intact from the old bar. It would apparently be that way judging from its style and seeing old pictures of the bar.

In 1943 the Gallery is hit. It was war time. In 1922 Guglielmo Miani, a tailor from Puglia, buys the bar's license back from Caffè Zucca to which Campari had passed it on.

In the year 1983 the bar is authorised to use the name "Camparino" on its sign.

However, in 1996 there was a request to remove the signs installed in the Bar Camparino. Luckily the situation was inverted in 2012 along with a brand new look for the bar commissioned by Campari and designed by Ugo Nespolo.

The bar continues to shine on and lead the way, surely deserving to be considered an icon for Milan.

Nobody goes to Milan without walking through the Galleria, admiring the shops and taking pictures of the beautiful architecture.

This is the place to feel the aura of the chic and the classic that distinguishes Milan from other cities in Italy.

And besides...coffee should occasionally be enjoyed in style and this is one place to do it.

A presto!

Magda

sources: camparino.it, viamontenapoleone.org, caffemiani.it, corriere.it
photo credits: Foursquare, corriere.it, perspective.name

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The butterfly of the Aegean, #Greece

Astypalea (Αστυπάλαια)

I haven't written any mosaic travel posts in a while. I'm glad that due to an incident, of which details I hardly recall, I stumbled on a late-Roman impressive floor mosaic situated on the island that's known as "the butterfly of the Aegean". Astypalea in Greece.

But. I have just realised that in one week from now Summer will be officially over and this post is still sitting in my drafts!! I better do something!

So, little butterfly island won't you open your wings for me, fly and press Publish. Please!

Astypalea is not exactly famous among the international crowd. Most of the tourists that go there are from mainland Greece.

The reason why it's been dubbed as "the butterfly of the Aegean" is due to its butterfly shape!

This blue gem of the Dodecanese seems to be a very ancient island. According to Wikipedia, its first inhabitants, the Dorians, apparently named the island after "asty" (city) and "palea" (old) which could justify the long history of the island.

I quote from dodekanissaweb.gr

Astypalea has a long history, ranging from the Protocycladic times, to the Golden Age and the Athenian Alliance, to the Roman times, the Byzantine times and lately to the Venetian rule, the Turks and the Italians, where in 1948 it was reunited with the rest of Greece. 

And...the reason for this post is ....

This lovely mosaic floor featuring the Zodiac. It's situated in the Baths of Tallara, late Roman Baths in the Analipsi area on the island. Among other finds of this site, there are two other mosaics depicting the four seasons and Cronus holding the earth.

I really hope for the best as far as far their conservation is concerned and I will try to find more information in the near future. I have done some googling but not much about the mosaics. I think I want to go there. Actually.

Well, that's all!

I hope you enjoyed this little voyage.

Wishing you a great September! A presto!


Image credits: astypaleaholidays.gr, myphotopic.blogspot.it, el.wikipedia.org, 12tetragonika.gr, ethnos.g

Barcelona

Here's one very impressive and creative photo of a mosaic detail from Barcelona.

Via Barcelona Photo Blog.

The magnificent pebble mosaics on Chalki island in Greece and the island's connection to Tarpon Springs in Florida, USA !!!?

How is it possible that you "stumble upon" an island?

This is what happened to me while researching about Kastelorizo, the "limestone" island. Chalki is close to Kastelorizo, belonging to the Dodecanese group of Greek islands.

On Chalki island you can admire some of the world's finest pebble mosaics. Unfortunately the few images I found on internet have copyright but if you go to this gallery HERE on Flickr you will see what I mean.

Now, what's more about this little island ? Many of its inhabitants have immigrated to Florida and established a sponge fishing business there!

Chalki (Halki) Island lies 16 km from Rhodes and 302 nautical miles from Piraeus. One of Greece's smallest islands it has 28 sq. km of land mass and 34 km of coastline. It has a population of under 300. No cars are allowed on the island. The capital and port of Nimborio is built ampitheatrically on the SE side of the island and on the Bay of Nimborio. Many of the inhabitants have immigrated to Tarpon Springs, Florida and established a sponge fishing enterprise there. Thats why the road from the main town and port is called Tarpon Springs Blvd., in honor of the immigrants who financed its construction. Beaches on both the north and south coasts are reached from the capital on foot or by caique of which Kania, Areta, Giali and Trachia are the nicest. 15 minutes walk along the 'blvd.' brings you to sandy Pondamos Beach with its taverna and umbrellas. Nimborio's Church of St. Nicolas with its important wall paintings and magnificent pebble mosais courtyard is the island's main attraction. The former capital Hora was inland to escape marauding pirates and is now deserted. In its heyday there were some 4000 residents. The ruined medeival castle was built on the site of the ancient acropolis. There are 3 monasteries on the island: Taxiarch Michael of St. John, Holy Trinity and Holy Cross.

More spectacular pebble mosaics from Chalki HERE
Quoted text from holiday-in-athens
Read more about Tarpon Springs HERE
Images link to their source

Kastellorizo, Greece: The "limestone" island

We all know about Mykonos or Santorini, Rhodes or Crete but how much do we know about Kastellorizo?

Greece is full of places of unexplored incredible beauty and worth and Kastellorizo is one of them. The island, which is also known as Megisti, is the Aegean's easternmost island. A tiny but very beautiful island of the Dodecanese. It consists of a circular port of about 50 inhabited houses. Even though the island has very few inhabitants, they are all very hospitable and wait on the port to welcome the tourists.

Here's the port entrance.
  

A couple of panoramic views...

This beautiful blue and white house on the island was featured in the film Mediterraneo as Vasillisa's house. I wish they could make more films like that one!

What a colourful island! An inspiration for an artist.

This is how far Kastellorizo is from Greece....The location of the island is very remote and sadly causes various problems to the island and its inhabitants.....

The traditional character of Kastellorizo along with its unspoilt beauty result into a landscape that can only make your heart beat. This house is a perfect example for this.

What else is there on the island? Well, two things.

1. A spectacular pebble floor!

The mosaic floor of the "Avlogyro" square in the Horafia district of Kastellorizo is in excellent condition and features a roundel with a typical choklakia swirling radial design. Known as choklakia mosaics, they are made of black, white and sometimes reddish sea pebbles, and are to be found throughout the Dodecanese islands (for example Symi and Lindos on Rhodes). The mosaic tradition dates back to Byzantine times and motifs include abstract geometric forms as well as folkloric pictorial depictions.

2. Limestone!

As you can see in the "limestone beach" picture above, Kastellorizo island is rich with limestone. The island's geology is almost exclusively limestone. Due to the lack of significant flora covering the island, the landscape shows many features of karstification. There are a number of notable sea caves including the so called Blue Grotto which is much larger than its namesake in Capri.

The "limestone beach" picture is worth a million words, right?

Limestone beach - Kastellorizo

Everything is so overwhelming about this island, about Greece in general. Actually "stumbling on" the mosaic floor and the "limestone beach" was the reason behind this post but the wealth of information on limestone made me decide I had to split the posts.

In the next post I will be "digging deeper" into limestone and talk about my own personal experience with mosaic making. 

All images used in this post link back to their original source.

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Mt. Olympus, sea of Pieria, mosaics: a heavenly mix

First of all I must thank blogger A Brit Greek for sending me these pictures she took last year. The mosaics illustrated are from ancient Dion in Pieria, Greece. I never got round to posting them until now. Feels like "old times" here in Mosaicology when I first started this blog and was mainly focused on history and places.

Since Dion is close to the sea, let's take a swim in the seas of Pieria! The most notable are Litochoro and Platamonas.

The most prominent attraction of the region however is none other than Olympus mountain.

Information about Dion and its mosaics
http://www.ancientdion.org/

Pieria Hotels and Tourism information
http://www.hotelsline.gr/root/newhotel/mx/m_Pieria_tour.asp
http://www.vacationsingreece.gr:

The driving distance from Dion to main city Thessaloniki is 59 miles / 94 km.

I will end this post with something that made me happy. I stumbled upon a blog of the city council of Dion-Olympos where there was a post on mosaic courses held this summer.

I loved the picture - mosaic making process at its best! and I am sharing it with you!!!

The courses have started on the 10th of June. I recommend my Greek speaking followers to visit the blog http://dionolympos.blogspot.com and the mosaic courses post here.

(Οι Έλληνες αναγνώστες μου μπορούν να επισκεφθούν το ιστολόγιο του δήμου του Δίον-Ολύμπου εδώ όπου θα βρουν πληροφορίες για τα σεμινάρια ψηφιδωτού που δυστυχώς έχουν ξεκινήσει στις 10 Ιουνίου, δεν πειράζει, καλό είναι να γνωρίζουμε ότι υπάρχουν αυτές οι υπέροχες πρωτοβουλίες!)

Larnaca, city of planes and mosaic angels

Larnaca, a city by sea in Cyprus where the airport is situated offers some wonderful and thrilling moments for especially those with children when you know that if you raise your head while sunbathing you will see the plane that close you think you can touch it! This is what happened to me last year (or was it 2 years ago, need to check when the pictures where taken) and I took the camera to take some shots of the event. I kept them in a file and accidentally retrieved them a couple days ago! I decide to post them along with some glorious mosaics that you can find in Larnaca. Cool right? I am talking about the byzantine mosaics of Kiti (Larnaca district) dated 11th century in a lovely church called Panagia Angeloktisti (our lady, Mother of God, built by the angels)

The main part of Panagia Aggeloktistos which means “Our Lady built by the angels”

scenic church exterior

church exterior from another angle

the promenade in Larnaca, see the palm trees, the place is dubbed "foinikoudes" (palm trees)...(I love this place!!!)

Larnaca airport (city is small, you come out the airport the sightseeing begins!)

Larnaca marina

Now, the pictures I promised from my archives. The post's top picture with the plane was also taken that day.

This beach is called Mackenzie, there are lovely restaurants flanking the beach and it is ideal for families. You can spend the entire day there, having drinks, then lunch, coffee, dinner.

A map is always useful.

Larnaca map

More info on visitcyprus and larnaca.com.

PS: 37% of the island of Cyprus is under Turkish occupation since 1974.