Europe Fall 2024 - Giulianova

After the disappointment of Pescara, we wanted to go to a place we were more certain of having a positive experience. One of my travel apps popped up the name of a small town called Guilianova, which is about an hour from us. It sounded pretty good so we decided to make it our place for the day. 

It took us longer to get going than I'd hoped. And our GPS took us by this wonky route. 

Sidebar on GPS

Do you feel your Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze (whatever you use) has a consciousness of its own? Do you talk to it? Do you find it has an 'attitude' if you don't do exactly what it says? Do you find that it randomly changes the method it uses to give directions (like saying 'take the second turn on the roundabout to continue on ...' versus 'At the roundabout, go straight to stay on...'). We do. We have a distinct and very personal relationship with our GPS.

 I've had good luck this trip finding parking lots close to where we want to go and plugging these as the destination points for our day trips. Despite the wonky manner Google Maps used to get us to our destination, getting to the parking lot itself was very easy. Being as we are traveling off season (and in this part of Italy, tourism is mostly Italian so this really is off season), we've had no parking problems. 

Giulianova has an interesting history. It was developed in the 15th century by a nobleman named Giulia (hence the name). And he laid it out according to the latest ideas of city design that were coming out of the Renaissance. Today the town has an interesting mix of architecture reflecting a variety of time periods. 

Let's start out by giving a rousing round of approval to King Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia and the Piedmonte who was the unifying symbol of Italy in the mid to late 19th century.

 

And we will then dig into the interesting mix of historical architecture that makes up the upper town of Giulianova.

A church...looks old...right...

 

 

And it is old...but older outside than inside

 The exterior is late Middle Ages/Renaissance (1500's) but the interior is Baroque 

 

 Some very Medieval looking roads

 

But with homes that are very up-to-date

Including new construction with a decidedly Renaissance exterior design pattern

Being stalked by the Medieval Cathedral Dome

The town was awash with artwork displayed on buildings

Late 19th century style buildings

A building with new facade done in a neo-classic style and rather garish color

The lonely photographer

Study of photographer and crane

Views of Lido (beach) di Giulianova

 Favorite Son - Cellist and Composer Gaetano Braga