Valle d'Aosta

My next postcard I received from Davide. We exchange some postcards J In this town he spend every vacation since 1983.

Cogne is a town and comune in Aosta Valley, northern Italy. Cogne is located in the valley with the same name, leading to the Gran Paradiso massif Ibex, wild goat, marmots, royal eagles are easy to see. Many walks and hikes of different level, to lakes, waterlfalls and other natural attraction.

In the winter Cogne offers 70 km of cross country skiing, 9 km down hill, many walks on the snow and more than 140 icefalls.

Third P&L exchange postcards :)

This postcard I received from Samantha. She lives in north west area in Italy, in Cigliano.

It is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Vercelli in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 35 km northeast of Turin and about 30 km west of Vercelli. She wrote that her town it's still quiet place, even with 4500 inhabitants. 

Asti

Asti is a city and comune of c. 75,000 inhabitants located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about 55 kilometres east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and it is deemed to be the modern capital of Monferrato (Montferrat in English).

The Collegiata di San Secondo (13th century) in the old medieval centre next to the Palazzo Civico. Its name refers toSecundus of Asti, the city's patron saint. The crypt is from the 6th century. The façade has three notable Gothic portals, while the interior houses a polyptych by Gandolfino d'Asti and other works.

Genoa part 2 :)

Here you can see Saint Laurence Cathedral and is the seat of the Archbishop of Genoa.

The cathedral was founded probably in the V or VI century AD, devoted to St. Sirus, bishop of Genoa. Excavations under the pavement and in the area in front of today’s façade have brought to light walls and pavements of Roman age as well as pre-Christian sarcophagi, suggesting the existence of a cemetery in the site. Later a church devoted to the Twelve Apostles was built, which was in turn flanked and replaced by a new cathedral dedicated to St. Lawrence martyr, in Romanesque style. Money came from the successful enterprises of the Genoese fleets in the Crusades.

The transferring of the cathedral favored the urbanization of the zone that, with the construction of it walls, in 1155, and the fusion of the three ancient city nuclei (castrum, civitas and burgus), became the heart of the city. The piazza, in absence of other public squares and centers of lay power, was the only city's public space for the whole Middle Ages. The cathedral was consecrated by Pope Gelasius II in 1118. Starting from 1133 the church had archiepiscopal rank. After the fire of 1296, provoked by fights between Guelphs and Ghibellines, the building was partly restored and partly rebuilt. Between 1307 and 1312 the façade was completed, the inner colonnades rebuilt with capitals and matronei added. The Romanesque structures remained pretty untouched, and frescoes of religious subject were also added.

Various altars and chapels have been erected between the XIV and XV the century. The small loggia on the northeastern tower of the façade was built in 1455; the opposite one, in Mannerist style, is from 1522. In 1550 the Perugian architect Galeazzo Alessi was commissioned by the city magistrates to plan the reconstruction of the entire building; however, he executed only the covering of the nave and aisles, the pavement, the dome and the apse.

The construction of the cathedral end in the XVII century. The dome and the medieval parts were restored in 1894-1900.

Genoa

Genoa (Italian: Genova) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of The city has a population of about 608,000, the urban zone has a population of 718,896 and polycentric metropolitan area has a population of 859,000. Part of the old city of Genoa was inscribed on the World Heritage List (UNESCO) in 2006. The city’s rich art, music, gastronomy, architecture and history, made it 2004’s EU Capital of Culture.

The flag of Genoa is simply a Saint George s Cross, a red cross on a lime white field, identical to the Flag of England and incorporated into the Flag of Georgia.

The city of Genoa covers an area of 243 square kilometres between the Ligurian Sea and the Apennine Mountains. The city stretches along the coast for about 30 kilometres from the neighbourhood of Voltri to Nervi, and for 10 kilometres from the coast to the north along the valleys Polcevera and Bisagno.

The territory of Genoa can then be popularly divided into 5 main zones: the centre, the west, the east, the Polcevera and the Bisagno Valley.  (From here)

On this postcard you can see the Porto Antico in Genoa. 

The port of Genoa, once just a natural inlet, started to become active as early as the V century B.C. The first port facilities for which there are records date back to shortly after the year 1000.

The history of the Mandraccio, known as the Porto Antico, and the trade that Genoa had with the entire Mediterranean, coincides with the history of a landing place that followed the path of the innovations in the structure of ships and the means of loading and unloading goods, modifying the coastline and the port structures, with incessant adaptations and new interventions.

Genoa was at the centre of ancient traffic, especially in the IV century A.D., when Milan was elected capital of the Empire and did not cease to be so even though historiographical sources are scarce as late as the early Middle Age.

The leadership of the town and its port on the Mediterranean Sea intensified and became clear with the birth of the Comune (city republic) in the epoch of the crusades and, later, in the XVI century.

During the XX century, the port traffic moved more and more to the Western part of the city and the old area remained practically unused until the restructuring in 1992 gave it back to the community.


p.s. this is my first postcard from private swap :)