Corfù island

Corfù, in Greek Kerkyra.
Name of a nymph loved by Poseidon who brought her to this island. Here Feacas, the ancestor of the Phaeacians, was born.
Even Nausicaa , daughter of Alcinous , King of the Phaeacians , held Ulysses here before his return to Itaca.
It seems already from antiquity a place full of attractions.
Last May i visited it.
Remembering the most typical Mediterranean Crete or Rhodes i didn't expect so much. I totally changed my opinion.

Just landed at the airport , only 2 km far from the center , I meet the owner of the beautiful Roof Garden House the attic where I spend the first night . She speaks Italian and says that all young people love Italy and want to learn Italian language.
With her spartan red car of the 80s we pass on the banks of the city already glimpsing the beautiful Old Fortress on the left and the Liston and the Spianada on the right.
The old town of Corfù is fascinating, a maze of labyrinthine streets between tall and narrow houses, no less than 4 floors (even my attic is on the fourth floor where you can enjoy a spectacular view from the roofs looking at the sea and in the distance the Greek mainland): the number of citizens grew over time but the city was bounded by the 2 fortresses and then it expanded in height.

Finally without luggage I walk to the Old Fortress and find myself practically in Peschiera del Garda!
The sight is incredible. The Venetians have built the same powerful bastions , masterpieces of military architecture , really identical, except a marina on the Ionian Sea has replaced Mincio river.

The first Byzantine fortress then Venetian then English is a fortified citadel , there are a prison , 2 barracks and a hospital now music school.
What looks like a Greek temple is the church of St. George built by the British in 1840 (the British controlled the island from 1815 to 1864).

Everywhere I see Lions of San Marco that make me feel at home but what actually impresses me is the view that can be enjoyed from the city walls.

The Spianada extends just outside the island of the old Fortress , is a large park with fountains , statues , benches , meeting place like the Liston nearby.
Even here there are several similarities with Verona..the namesake Liston in Piazza Bra like this one invites you to stroll along beautiful historic buildings and arcades that welcome corfiots and tourists in patisserie, bars and restaurants giving a sense of real living room.

I would have liked to stay longer in the capital but my trip continues in Benitzes after a stormy night (from my attic I sailed like Daland in the first act of Flying Dutchman) that gifts me an amazing sunrise.

After an initial dismay...everywhere was desert for the period ... this typical fishers village situated 10 km south of the Old Town welcomes me with good taverns and a nice museum of the sea besides a lush nature climbing up to the hill. Also here , seeing vegetation and morphology , the landscape makes me think to a particular place between Garda and Torri of our Garda Lake.

Third day dedicated to the Achilleion , the Villa that the Empress of Austria built and her temporary refuge from 1891 to the premature and tragic death (1898).

The neoclassical building designed by the Italian architect Raffaele Carito is elegant and sumptuous and definitely worth a visit , if only for the atmosphere you breathe:
on the ground floor, to the left of the large marble staircase with the statues of Zeus and Hera , open the private rooms of Elisabetta : her bed, the wardrobe with a large mirror (she spent hours getting ready and had an obsessive cure of her beautiful hair) , the writing table and another room all in green tones.

You imagine she seeking some solace among epic myths (Achilles appears in a grandiose painting in the scene where , driving a chariot , carries the body of defeated Hector , impressive , but also in the statue in which he is dying , the most loved by the Empress, by the sculptor Ernst Herter) or walking along the colonnade on the top floor between statues of Muse, Grazie and busts of philosophers.

The garden radiates great peace and order , in fact the oversized statue of a triumphant Achilles , over 5 meters in height, is not of  Elizabeth's period but commissioned by Guglielmo the second , the next owner of the villa.

Looking around and focusing on his portraits, they arouse a sense of loneliness : after the death of his son Rodolfo in 1889 the sad and unlucky empress always dressed in black and in his diaries had also extreme thoughts . At least, I hope she found  consolation and relief in this oasis of beauty.

So a first taste of Corfu ends here for now.
I discovered an island very close both culturally , historically and physically to us, only an hour and a half flight from northern Italy.

See you soon.

All photos are copyrighted

©LauraColonello2018