Gabriele Veneri- SEMAR S.R.L.

Meet our friend, Gabriele Veneri, owner of one of the largest and most well-respected jewelry manufactures in the region.  Many of the treasures produced by his shop are for some of the richest and most famous designers in Italy.  Beads & Co, Gabriele’s first franchise store located in the center of Vicenza, is now open to the public.   Here you can buy everything from their classic line, as well as all the components for you own DIY projects.  They will ship you everything you need to make beautiful chains, bracelets, earrings, and rings etc. Their elegant space also offers a large collection of valuable jewelry that is unquestionably Made in Italy.

 The Vatican Museums are open during the spring and summer months every Friday from 7:00 to 11:00 pm.  The museums included in this very special tour are: Egyptian Museum, Pio-Clementine Museum, Upper Galleries of the Vatican Museums, (Gallery of Tapestries and Candelabra, Hall of Maps), Raphael’s Rooms, Borgia Apartment (limited to Rooms I, III, IV, XIII, XXVIII), Collection of Modern Religious Art, Sistine Chapel.  You’ll wonder why you ever even thought of visiting this room with hundreds of people.

 

Reginelle-Giugiulene

Enjoy these cookies after your dinner with glass of Marsala, another typical product of Sicily.  If you have any leftover, they taste just as good with your morning coffee.

Escape to Italy

Mammoni (Mamma’s boys) is the name given to men who are still living at home with their mothers.  Almost 60% of young single men and women in Italy are living with mamma.

Happy Mothers Day!

The Lombards were nomads from northeastern Europe who invaded Italy during the end of the 6th century.  After they conquered Milan and Pavia, the Lombardian dukes decided to elect a king to rule their new land.  They chose Autari, son of Cleph, king of the Lombards.  Of course, the king needed a queen, so King Autari chose a beautiful and mystic Bavarian woman named Teodolinda.

Queen Teodolinda of Monza - Contemporary portrait painting, signed by F. Dürck in 1836

The Italian population at that time was Catholic and the Lombards were pagans who followed  Arian beliefs.  Teodolinda knew the best way to pacify both populations was to unify them, so she decided to carry out this task by converting all the Lombards to Catholicism.

Teodolinda’s husband, King Autari, was killed after one year of marriage, leaving Teodolinda with a huge opportunity.  She remained on the throne, which was uncommon for women of the period, and selected a new husband to become her king.

She chose the duke of Turin, Agilulfo for her new monarch.  With Agilulfo, she moved the court from Pavia to Monza, where she built a great royal palace as well as a small church dedicated to St John the Baptist.  It is now the Duomo of Monza.

The Iron Crown

One of the queen’s great treasures was a crown chosen by the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne to be the symbol of the Italian kingdom.  The safe which protects the Iron Crown is inside the Chapel of Teodolinda in the Duomo of Monza.

Treasure of Monza

Our guide  Laura Radaelli took us on a private tour of this chapel.  The viewing process is quite elaborate.  Two guards escorted us into the chapel, and behind closed doors they simultaneously unlocked and opened the door that houses the Treasure.  We all gasped at the beauty of  the crown as it was taken out of the tabernacle and presented to us.

This bejeweled treasure known as the Iron Crown is not made of iron. There are six golden plates adorned with precious gems, but its real value is in its story.  The crown believed to have an iron ring lining the inside, which was said  to be one of the nails of Jesus’ crucifixion.

The Treasure of Monza

This belief, which dates back to the first Christian Emperor Constantine, states that the Constantine sent his mother, Saint Helen to Palestine to find the relics of Jesus.  One of the relics that Constantine’s mother found was the cross with the nails of the crucifixion.  When she returned to Constantinople, she commissioned craftsmen to make objects which would protect her son in battle.  One of these objects was a helmet that Constantine often wore into battle.  Tradition says she entwined the crown of the helmet with two little arches made of the iron taken from the crucifixion nail.  The crown and the helmet passed down from one emperor to another until it came to Italy.  So, when the Lombards conquered Pavia, Teodolinda came into possession of the crown, where it has remained and is now called The Treasure of Monza.

Today, the crown is very small, only about six inches in diameter.  Its six plates were originally eight or nine.  In the 12th century, two or three plates were stolen and was repaired with a new metal ring.  Following the tradition, it was believed that this metal ring was one of the nails of Jesus, but presently they have discovered that this nail is made of silver, so it is obviously the restoration ring.

Today, you can walk through the corridor by private tour only: start in the Uffici Gallery, first passing over the Ponte Vecchio, then through the Church of Santa Felicita and along Via Guicciardini till you reached the Pitti Palace.  Today the Vasari Corridor is home to nearly 1,000 self-portraits dating from the 16th century.

Zonin Prosecco is available in many  Trader Joe’s throughout America.

The gardens were design and developed by Cosimo I.

Hours 

Monday to Sunday
8:15 – 4:30 November, December, January, February
8:15 – 5:30 March
8:15 – 6:30  May, September and October
8:15 – 7:30 June, July, August