Aah! Un grande insetto!

Gene made peach blueberry cobbler for dolci last notte.  He had misplaced his ricetta (recipe), so I found one sul internet for him.  Here is the finished prodotto:

Today he and I went for a hike along another sentiero.  Here are some pictures from it:

Here is un grande insetto:

I had to stand in a place that was very pericoloso to get the following shot.  Gene and Tara’s casa is the yellow one on the street corner sort of in the middle:

Gene took me to the Rotunda, an elaborate villa that is Vicenza’s big tourist attraction.  It was designed by Andrea Palladio and is the same on all four sides.  Unfortunately, cameras were vietato inside.  Here are some pictures from the outside:

The interior walls had lots of trompe l’oeil to seem more ornate.  There were affreschi, statue, oil paintings, and marble fireplaces with square and rhombus tiles of azzurra, verde, gialla, e rosso (blue, green, yellow, and red).  There were also four narrow spiral staircases, one on each corner.

Dopo quello, Gene took me back to Villa Valmarana ai Nani (the place with the dwarves).  They would not allow cameras in either.  Here are some pictures of the outside:

The inside was a lot like the Rotunda, but not as richly ornamented or radially symmetric.  The affreschi on the walls, by Giambattista and Giandomenico Tiepolo were mostly scenes from the Odyssey or the Iliad.  There was also an old-fashioned Vienna-style piano inside.

On our way to pick up Annie Cate, we saw these:

And here is a giant insetto morto that Gene found nella casa.  Maybe it's a zanzara (mosquito).  Non sono un'entomologa.