By Patrick Hunt Francesco Petrarch’s (1304-74) father Ser Petracco – reputed to have known Dante – commissioned a copy of Virgil’s poetry (Publius Vergilius Maro) when the poet was young and this work formed a singular part of Petrarch’s peerless library. [1] This manuscript was so special to him that he […]
By Patrick Hunt – “Alexander was hunting on Mount Pagos, and that after the hunt was over he came to a sanctuary of the Nemeses, and found there a spring and a plane-tree in front of the sanctuary, growing over the water. While he slept under the plane-tree it is […]
By Aigerim Korzhumbayeva – Once a former Soviet Union state, this country is currently stepping into its third decade as an independent republic since 1991. Geographically, it is located in Central Asia and is the largest landlocked country, stretching from the Caspian Sea on the west to the Altay Mountains on […]
By Patrick Hunt – Albrecht Dürer is an artist famous for multiple endeavors, including woodcut and painting media. But he is also a pioneer illustrator of European star charts, especially his 1515 collaborative work for making a pair of woodcuts of the northern and southern hemisphere night sky images that […]
By Aigerim Korzhumbayeva – Amid the teeming bustle of exotic Istanbul’s overall population of 13 million people there is yet a darkly quiet place to find serenity. Much of the time you must turn your head sideways to view Istanbul’s impressive architecture in entirety if close; around the thoroughfares you […]
By Patrick Hunt- Several times in the past year, both in summer and spring, I’ve had the pleasure of visiting the national museum in Vaduz, the Liechtenstein LandesMuseum, currently celebrating 300 years of history through its collections. With my own current research on medieval castles and Celtic antecedents in the […]
By Patrick Hunt – In the green Trastevere area of Rome on the Via della Lungara along the Tiber River, the Villa Farnesina is one of the Renaissance jewels of Rome, splendid with art and architecture from its inception between 1506-10. Its name has been associated with the Farnese Family […]
By Patrick Hunt – Tradition and some evidence have it that Charlemagne (768-814) revitalized the remnant Roman viticulture in his Frankish kingdom, especially in the northern Rhine region and also oversaw its viticultural progress. Alsace has been famous for wine since Roman colonists settled there; some also believe that […]
by Patrick Hunt – When sailing wine dark seas is not an option, read Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s magical Il Professore e la Sirena to catch a glimmer of Sicily’s place in myth, preferably with a mesmerizing glass of Nero d’Avola looking south from Taormina to the curving bay […]
By Patrick Hunt – The Order of the Golden Fleece in late medieval Europe found its source in the old Greek myth – at least as old as Homeric lore – of the hero Jason’s search for the Golden Fleece. This magical ram fleece of pure gold itself recalled an […]