The waterfront of Venice looking toward Piazza San Marco shows the city’s most treasured sights, the Campanile and the Palace of Doges (Palazzo Ducale).
David J. Eicher
After a long, trip around part of the globe, nearly 150 dedicated Astronomy subscribers converged on Venice, Italy, March 18. They were chasing the March 29 eclipse. Before thinking astronomy, however, the group wound down from jetlag and spent the first of many days to come of sightseeing in Italy, Greece, and Turkey.
The images in this gallery show you the sites as viewed by Astronomy magazine Editor Dave Eicher and Senior Editor Michael Bakich.
Venice, Italy
Nothing says Venice more than a long gondola ride while feeling the breeze and listening to strains of Italian music.
David J. Eicher
Venice: Riding the gondolas
Venice: Imaged from the top of the Campanile, where Galileo demonstrated his telescope in 1610.
Michael Bakich
Pisa, Italy: The Bell Tower, known as the “Leaning Tower”
Florence: Michelangelo’s tomb in the Basilica of Santa Croce
Florence: And across the way from Michelangelo, the tomb of Galileo.
Florence: The greatest art gallery in Italy, the Uffizi, where the Medici collection resides.
Florence: The Duomo, constructed by Brunelleschi
Florence: The Ponte Vecchio, now home to swanky jewelers
Assisi, Italy: The spectacular Basilica of St. Francis
Rome, Italy: The Pantheon, the ancient world’s best-preserved structure
Rome: From the Tiber, the Basilica of St. Peter
Rome: The Vatican Museum, Vatican City
Rome: The Vatican Museum, Vatican City
Rome: St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City
Rome: Michelangelo’s Pietá, Basilica of St. Peter, Vatican City
Rome: Basilica of St. Peter, Vatican City
Rome: Hadrian’s Mausoleum
Rome: The Spanish Steps
Rome: The Victor Emmanuel II Monument
Rome: The site of Pompey’s Theater, where Julius Caesar was assassinated.
Rome: Giolitti’s, the greatest gelato shop in the world
Rome: The end of a long day at Giolitti’s, with Dave Eicher, Holley Bakich, Chris Eicher, and Michael Bakich.
South of Rome: The Abbey of Montecassino, site of one of the bloodiest Italian battles during World War II.
Pompeii, Italy: The Quadriporticus of the Theaters, a sort-of public meeting place prior to entering the theaters.
Pompeii: The Small Theater.
Pompeii: Ruins, with the destroyer, Mount Vesuvius, lurking in the background
Pompeii: The Quadriporticus of the Theaters
Pompeii: Fresco in the House of the Ceii
Pompeii: A magnificent floor mosaic
Pompeii: Statuary in the Temple of Apollo
Pompeii: The Forum
Rome: The Colosseum, built by Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian from 69 to 96 A.D., could seat 73,000 spectators, about the same capacity as modern Lambeau Field.
Rome: The interior of the Colosseum, which once had a floor that supported gladiatorial fights and also naval battles, staged with miniature ships floating in a flooded base of the amphitheater.
Rome: In the Forum, the Arch of Titus.
Rome: The Forum
Rome: In the Forum, the spot at which Julius Caesar’s body was cremated.
Rome: In the Forum, the Temple of Saturn
Rome: Inside the Pantheon, which contains the tombs of Raphael and Victor Emmanuel II
Rome: Trajan’s Column, whose winding, continuous frieze stretches 600 linear feet and records the Roman battles against the Dacians in 101–102 and 105–106 A.D.
Rome: The Monument to Julius Caesar adjacent to the Forum
Rome: Head of an Amazon, in the Capitoline Museum
Rome: In the Capitoline Museum, the most legendary sculpture in the city, the Capitoline She-Wolf, suckling the city’s infant founders, Romulus and Remus
Athens, Greece: The large Amphitheater at the base of the Acropolis
Athens: Viewed from a position near the Acropolis
Athens: The Acropolis
Mykonos, Greece: Chris Eicher takes a stroll.
Ephesus, Turkey: The Odeon in this magnificent city, which dates to 2,000 B.C.
Ephesus: Stunning ruins litter the city’s streets, as with this sculpture of Athena Nike.
Ephesus: Statuary along the Curettes Street
Ephesus: The Library of Celsus, once the world’s second greatest library (after Alexandria), with 12,000 scrolls
Patmos, Greece: A picturesque island, according to tradition home to St. John the Divine
Patmos: At the Monastery of St. John, a work completed around 1100 a.d. shows Jesus of Nazareth and followers.
Herakleion: The palace of Knossos
Herakleion: In the Archaeological Museum, the storied Phaistos Disk, an undeciphered Minoan enigma dating to about 1700 B.C.
Santorini: The most beautiful Greek island houses a colorful city perched on one rim of a collapsed volcanic caldera.
