Popped Collar Cool

You may be cool... but are you Italian Popped Collar cool? In my case, no. But these guys are. I present these nine Kings of the Popped Collar, spotted in Rome.

For some reason Jenny and I got obsessed with this fixture of Italian male fashion during our recent travels, which meant multiple occasions when one of us would spot a candidate and the other would follow behind, snapping surreptitious pix. 

Was it creepy? A little, yeah. But once you fall under the spell of Popped Collar Cool, a tiny bit of touristic voyeurism is sure to follow.

Rome: Ostiense Neighborhood Street Art [2 of 2]

Here are some more pix of Ostiense neighborhood street art.

Gaia's Il Piccone Demolitore e Risanatore ("The Wrecker Pick and Healing")
Via Ostiense, 335 [GMap] • Installation video

Via Ostiense underpass [GMap]

Gaucholadri, Fuga de capitales
Via Ostiense underpass [GMap]

Percy Shelley, Via Ostiense underpass [GMaps]

Via Ostiense, 349 [GMap]

Guy Denning's “Di, di se questo é vero” [GMap]
Based on Dante's Inferno Canto 31
Street Art News post about installation

Via Gaspare Gozzi, 33 [GMap]

Via Gaspare Gozzi, 33 [GMap]

[Page 1 of 2]

Learn more

• B(e)Local: Street artists dream team: Post about Via Ostiense underpass

Sites to visit

• Blu's “Alexis” at Via Ostiense 124 [GMap]

• Roberto Perrella's images of Quadraro district

Rome: Ostiense Neighborhood Street Art [1 of 2]

Here's some street art found in Rome's Ostiense neighborhood [GMap] during our Europe 2014 travels.

Via del Porto Fluviale [GMap]

Via del Porto Fluviale [GMap]

Via del Porto Fluviale [GMap]

Via dei Magazzini Generali [GMap]

Via dei Magazzini Generali [GMap]

Via del Commercio [GMap] 

Via delle Conce [GMap]

[more images - 2 of 2]

Learn more

• Stephan Faris [Time Magazine] Rome’s graffiti boom: Eternal City finally welcomes street art

• Tomas Mancin's Street Art Roma, "The walls speak": overview of districts

Vatican Museums

Here are a few pix from our Europe 2014 visit to the Vatican Museums.

Andy sees Raphael's School of Athens for the first time

School of Athens detail
Pythagoras's theory of mathematical harmony

Arnaldo Pomodoro's Sfera con sfera
("Sphere within sphere")

Head from a colossal statue of Augustus

Herm of Socrates (including, for some reason, his testicles)

Statue of Ceres

Gallery of Maps

Gallery of Maps [detail]

Laocoön and His Sons

Cinque Terre, Italy

Our Europe 2014 trip featured a visit to Cinque Terre. We drifted along a leisurely itinerary of al fresco dining, napping on the beach, and hiking along the Sentiero Azzurro.

Hiking from Vernazza to Monterosso al Mare

Looking back on Vernazza

Contemplating the Corniglia steps

Navigating the Sentiero Azzurro

Getting to know Monterosso al Mare

Meeting a Corniglia kitty

Hiking to Vernazza, looking back on Corniglia

Returning to Vernazza

Waves crashing near Riomaggiore

Taking the train from Riomaggiore to Vernazza

Savoring our last morning in Vernazza

Learn more

• Nicole Ruskell's Rescuing Vernazza: An eyewitness account: "The rain kept pouring down until the village became a rushing river. The cars in the parking lot above town began to get swept up by the water. The strong current carried cars and trucks down into town like they were nothing but toys. Some locals looked on from their balconies with disbelief as their cars rushed by below them."

Soviet Relics in St. Petersburg

During one of our Europe 2014 side trips, Jenny and I searched St. Petersburg, Russia for remnants of its Soviet past. Some memorable finds:

Insignia on Bolshaya Morskaya ulitsa, 18 [GMaps]

Relief in Narvskaya metro station

Narvskaya metro station

Sergey Kirov monument (Nikolai Tomsky, sculptor)
Background: Kirov District Administration building [Noi Trotsky, architect]

Ventilating lattice at Narvskaya metro station

"Workers of the world, Unite!"
Mural near Narvskaya metro station [GMap]

Relief at Narvskaya metro station

Relief at Ploshchad Vosstaniya

Ceiling mural at [St. Petersburg] Moscow Railway Station

Sites for future visits

• Finland Railway Station [GMap]

• House of the Soviets [GMap]

St. Petersburg Hermitage

As part of our Europe 2014 travels, Jenny and I joined JAMK students for a tour of the Hermitage and its world-class collection of artwork.

1812 War Gallery

Pavilion Hall niche

Antonio Canova's Orpheus

Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting [ceiling]

Antonio Canova's Cupid 

The Raphael Loggias

Gaspare Diziani's Mount Olympus
[Winter Palace main staircase]