We were fortunate today to see two amazing art works on sidetrips from our journey towards Stresa.
Thew first was at Padua where the Scrovegni chapel is located. The chapel was built in the 16th century by a wealthy local family, named Scrovegni, who commissioned the artist Giotti to decorate much of the interior. He produced a series of scenes depicting the life of Jesus and Mary and a huge 'last judgement' painting whih covers the entire end of the chapel.
The second was at Milan where we saw Leonardo da Vinci's 'Last Supper'.
Both art works are quite amazing, especially when there is some help from a guide for ignorant types like me to in interpret the works, their context, and their history. In both cases entry was strictly controlled - advance bookings were required, small groups of 25 max, visits limited to 15 minutes, entry via air lock systems to control the atmosphere and reduce damage to the paintings from moisture, dirt etc.
I felt quite privileged to have seen them, and a bit ashamed to not really have known of their existence in more than a casual way until then.
Changing tack - while passing I happened to notice that both cities had tram networks as do many in Europe.
Padua had a single rail tram system of a type I hadn't seen before or known about. The trams run on rubber tyres and have only a single rail set in the ground which acts as a guide rail. They use an overhead traction system supplemented by batteries for short distances where the overhead has been (deliberately) not installed for various reasons. Interesting idea I thought. I had to borrow this pic as the rain and lack of opportunity stopped me getting my own.
Milan had a standard system which looked quite extensive judging by the tracks installed everywhere in the city centre. They had clearly invested in some new trams recently, but weren't ready to retire the old ones just yet. Which colour scheme is the best - old yellow or new pink?
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