Category Archives: Italy

SIENA, ITALY – Wall Plate

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Siena - Cathedral - Display Plate (1) PLACE REPRESENTED: Siena , Italy

ITEM: Wall Plate

NOTES: This wall plate depicts the old cathedral in the heart of Siena, Tuscany. The plate is nicely detailed and has a border in gold, as it probably should, given that Siena has been declared by  UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

I loved the Stewart Granger film “Swordsman of Siena” (1962) as a kid … I have no idea if it was filmed there.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s

MADE FROM: ceramic material

MADE IN:  unknown

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 19.5cm diameter

Siena - Cathedral - Display Plate (2)

PISA, ITALY – Ornament

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Pisa - Decorative Depiction (1)PLACE REPRESENTED: Pisa , Italy

ITEM: Ornament

NOTES: The leaning tower of Pisa is the most well known of the buildings in the piazza dei miracoli in Pisa but there are four great religious edifices: the Duomo (cathedral), the Campanile (the cathedral’s free standing bell tower), the Baptistry and the Camposanto.

Here they are captured in something 7cm long.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1980sPisa - Decorative Depiction (2)

MADE FROM: hard plastic resin

MADE IN:  unknown

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 6cm  high , 7cm long

ARTA TERME, ITALY – Wall Ornament

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Arta Terme - Wood Wall Hanging (1)

PLACE REPRESENTED: Arta Terme , Italy

ITEM: Wall Ornament

NOTES: A mass produced wooden artifact – insert town name at bottom.

Arta Terme is a province in far north western Italy which explains the slightly alpine look in the trinket.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arta_Terme

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s

MADE FROM: wood

MADE IN:  unknown

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 8cm  across , 18cm high

Arta Terme - Wood Wall Hanging (3)

MILAN, ITALY – Nic Nac Dish

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Milan - Cathedral Mini Tray (1)

PLACE REPRESENTED: Milan, Italy

ITEM: Nic Nac Dish

NOTES: The Milan Cathedral (Duomo di Milano) in all its glory. The plate really doesn’t do the Gothic cathedral justice. It took nearly six centuries to complete … the church not the plate.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): unknown, 1970s probably.

MADE FROM: plastic

MADE IN:  Italy

MANUFACTURER: Muzio, Milano

DIMENSIONS: 15cm wide , 10.5cm long

TURIN, ITALY – Thermometer

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PLACE REPRESENTED: The Superga Basilica, Turin , Italy

ITEM: Thermometer

NOTES: I’m not sure what the guitar shape has to do with a basilica so I assume it’s a tribute to the Torino guitar from Turin (Torino being the Italian for Turin). This is a well detailed and elegant trinket and what you would expect from the less rustic Italian north.

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1960s

MADE FROM: ceramic material , chain

MADE IN:  Italy

MANUFACTURER: unknown

DIMENSIONS: 7cm  across , 21cm high

Remember to click on the photos for detailed large images.

VENICE, ITALY – Wall Ornament

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PLACE REPRESENTED: Venice, Italy.

ITEM: Wall Ornament.

NOTES: Venice in wood?

Wooden folk art is something common throughout Europe but the idea of Venice on wood is interesting given that coastal Croatians swear that the Venetian Republic was built on Croatian lumber. The fact that there is very little top soil left along some parts of the Croatian coast, due to erosion from tree felling, may indicate there is some truth in that belief.

Putting aside any historical exploitation argument this is a type of tourist trinket I love: it’s hand made, though mass produced, with mixed materials, ie: a postcard stuck to wood and painted to create a vivid Venetian memory of the Piazza San Marco (St. Marks Square).

YEAR (APPROXIMATE): 1970s

MADE FROM: wood, paper, paint.

MADE IN:  Unknown, Italy probably.

MANUFACTURER: unknown.

DIMENSIONS: 22cm high, 11cm wide