Amalfi is famous for their cotton fiber paper. We went to visit an old paper mill that allowed us to see how paper was made back in the 14th century. Amalfi has a river running under it and they used it to power their water mills. The water mills then ran all the machines required to make paper!

In the afternoon we had some fun taking photos of each other and had two couples to shoot as an engagement session. The rain made shooting a bit challenging- but nonetheless, a great time was had by all!

We stayed a couple nights in Stroncone, a small castle village that is in amazing condition. Walking the streets really takes you back a couple hundred years.

A Stroncone building

Another photos of a Stroncone street

A pretty awesome doorknocker

We then headed to Narni to check out an old church that was discovered underground. Narni Sotteranea is the name of this location.

They also found a rare room used during the inquisition. They ‘tortured’ people who violated the different rules set forth by the Catholic Church at that time in history. This photo is of the ankle bindings on a table made to hold down the violators.

There is also a small prisoner room where there is a TON of writing on the walls. It was pretty surreal to be in a room where people held awaiting torture or just after being tortured.

Afterwards we headed out to Assisi, the site of Saint Francis of Assisi’s tomb. I’ve always been a fan of St Francis as he has a quote that is so often quoted by Christians and Catholics alike:

Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.

I really wanted to take a moment and reflect in this beautiful church. Photo are forbidden in the Church, but my friend Matt happened to grab this shot of me praying-

Just within walking distance is the oldest church in Assisi – Santo Santo Church. This place is pretty phenomenal.

The view from atop of Assisi

Pompeii is another amazing place. I’ve read about Pompeii in social studies and have seen a couple pictures. But none of this prepared me for what I saw when I was walking around. Pompeii is huge! It is unbelievable what has been excavated and found.

Here you can see the blue and red plaster that covered the brick walls in Pompeii

The plaster mold that shows just how this person died the moment the volcano erupted with hot ash and gas.

Pompeii had an awesome sauna and hot tub-

My friend Matt needed some lip gloss put on-

A kitchen in Pompeii

A wealthy man’s house with a kickin courtyard

The smaller of the two amphitheaters in Pompeii

More to come tomorrow!

Ciao!

]]> http://www.nakaiphotography.com/blog/2010/02/more-italy-fun-stroncone-assisi-narni-pompeii/feed/ 1 http://www.nakaiphotography.com/blog/2010/02/rome-for-a-night-spoleto-for-a-day-more-fun-in-italy/ http://www.nakaiphotography.com/blog/2010/02/rome-for-a-night-spoleto-for-a-day-more-fun-in-italy/#comments Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:32:49 +0000 admin http://www.nakaiphotography.com/blog/?p=4468 So I arrived in Italy late last week! I landed in Rome and made my way from the airport to the city to meet up with my fellow photographer friends Kenny Kim and Matt & Stevi Savage. We just strolled around (as the Italians do) Rome and had a good time hanging out!

I love this old bridge that has fallen apart into ruins- we just do not have anything like this in Chicago!

The columns of the Pantheon- We had dinner right on the plaza in the background-

Another couple of shots of the Pantheon-

We grabbed some night shots of Matt & Stevi

Then Matt turned the camera on me and grabbed this portrait-

More fun across the street from the Colosseum

The next morning we took a train out to Terni and met up with Kenny Kim’s friend and our tour guide, Max Brunelli. He graciously took us out to Spoleto in the Umbria region of Italy where we saw an awesome church with some cool details

After the church we headed up the mountain to a castle called La Rocca Albornoziana. We had to walk across this crazy aquaduct to get there!

It’s amazing what the Romans could do way back when!

Some original artwork in the castle above the dining room

The well in the center of the residential part of the castle. You can see Spanish inspired architecture in the background-

Matt in the doorway between the residential and military sections of the castle.

Our guide was explaining the meaning of the ‘frescos’ on the wall-

If you need to go #2 in the castle-

We had to go up these crazy narrow-steep stairs to get to the top of the castle tower-

The AMAZING view from the top of the tower- it was pretty ridiculous-

And a random sign in that I thought was cool – =)

Well that’s all for now- stay tuned for more! (when I have a moment to post!) Ciao!

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