Red Zinniasin their summer finery,
blooming next toa field of overgrown asparagus
and an irrigation channelalong a road
leading to theAdriatic seaside
August in
Venezia Giulia
in the region of
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Northeastern Italy
Photographed and
© 2010 by Merisi
Such joyful images,
aren't they?
Alas, as blessed by peace
the region is nowadays,
many of its people have suffered immensely,
its towns and villages,
fields and meadows have
witnessed unspeakable horrors
and tragedies little more than half a century ago.
I am trying to learn and understand -
not that I think one can ever comprehend
why humans can act like savages against each other -
about the events during and
after WWII. For anyone interested
I give you this link, click ->
Arrigo Petacco,
A Tragedy Revealed
The Story of Italians from Istria,
Dalmatia, and Venezia Giulia
1943-1956
Translated by
Konrad Eisenbichler
HOLY MOLY!
ReplyDeleteSome people are TRAVELING an awful lot!!!
even if it is august..
HMPH
Carol,
ReplyDeleteimagine, out there, in the villages and fields, under the burning sun, in 90°F heat, high humidity, trying to capture what cannot be seen, full well knowing I'd have to drive back to Vienna the same evening, a six hour ride. Hot, sweaty, yes, but also exhilarating, feeling you are on to something. ;-)
(And yes, in August I stood still only for the few days a nasty summer flu gave me high fever and headache to crawl under the sheets and capable of nothing else).
I am not complaining! ;-)
Hi M
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely journey you had. I can see you hopping out of the car taking photos...tell me how did you manage to drive at all?
I wish our paths could have crossed again, hence in November or later they will.
Zinnia grow wild in Italy?
TICA,
ReplyDeleteonce I am driving, nothing stops me, but ....
once off the auto route, it is hard to not stop and capture what I see. ;-)
I find this is a rather poignant post of images and text, Marisi.
ReplyDeleteBeauty and heartbreak - so like Italy. It seems the two are forever intertwined in that stunning country.
ReplyDeleteWandering Star,
ReplyDeleteit is, considering the layers of suffering underneath all that beauty.
Loree,
I agree!
Imagine, not far from this field of zinnias, there is a village with a house whose walls were already standing during the time of Attila the Hun, infact, it is said to be the only one to have survived the attac of the Huns in 452, during which he raced an entire city, nearby Aquileia. The founding of Venice goes back to that invasion by Attila - not for nothing called "The Scourge of God" - and the ravages that ensued and forced the people of the region to flee to the relative safety of the islands of the Venetian Lagoons. And there we are nowadays, wondering why a people would built an entire city in the sea!
Thank for the book link.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful flowers :-) my favorite color:-) super foto, this is the very nature :-)
ReplyDeleteIldi :-)
It's hard to imagine the horrors of wars that have been waged on European soils. Especially when you visit and see the beauty in the exact location where the butchery happened. Maybe that's why so many European countries are so progressive now, having lived through those hells.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Britt-Arnhild and Ildikebak!
ReplyDeleteAlan,
I agree,
having had wars waged on your own soil gives you a different perspective of what war really means, something that euphemisms like "collateral damage" cannot take away the sheer terror of being a human being, persecuted by fellow men. Those blood-soaked soils make you want to bend your head in grief and cry for all those souls who walked on it, suffering endlessly.