Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #418: Memories of Italy

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When I first read Tina’s challenge Memories I thought it would be easy. I was wrong. I’ve been struggling all week with how to approach this challenge. I finally decided to focus on my last two years of high school when my family lived in Italy.

My father was a career United States Air Force officer. He was never stationed outside of the United States until shortly after my 16th birthday when we moved to a small U.S. Air Force base near Brindisi, Italy.

My Mom and Dad wanted to take advantage of our time in Europe so we often went on road trips on the weekends. Sometimes we explored close to Brindisi and occasionaly we took longer trips to places like Venice, Rome, and Florence.

Full Disclosure: I did not take these photos. My father took many of these photos with his Minolta 35 mm film camera and some of the photos were taken by my brother Joe. Joe converted Dad’s slides to digital format. I made a few minor edits to their photos. All of the photos are from either 1967 or 1968.

Brindisi, Italy is located on the heel of the boot on the Adriatic Sea. The Air Force base was located in a rural area just a few miles from Brindisi. The following gallery includes images from the town of Brindisi and the surrounding area.

The town of Alberobello, was close enough to Brindisi to make a day trip to see the Trulli Houses. All these many years later I still remember how enchanted I was by these unique houses. My Mom also liked the beautiful hand woven bedspreads made there. Of course she bought a few to take home.

Trulli Houses in Alberobello, Italy

We also took some weekend road trips around Italy. These images are just a small sample of the incredible places we visited.

Trevi Fountain, Rome
Trevi Fountain, Rome
Boats at Blue Grotto, Isle of Capri
Town of Pinocchio, Italy
Coliseum in Rome
Florence Cityscape
Venice Canal

My brother and I attended Munich American High School and lived in a dormitory our second year in Europe. After I graduated we returned to Brindisi a short time before my Dad’s tour of duty there was over. Our European adventures were not over, though. I have many more happy memories of the month we spent traveling around Europe before we returned to the U.S.

Last week Egidio asked us Where does it lead?” I really enjoyed your creative responses. Thank you to everyone who joined the challenge.

Many thanks to our host Tina for this week’s challenge. If you would like to join the challenge please be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to his post Lens-Artists #417: Where does it lead?.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, October 24 at noon eastern time when John will be your host for the challenge.

You can keep up with all of our challenges by subscribing to the Lens-Artists team members websites: Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, John, Sofia, Anne, Egidio, Ritva, Beth.

For information on how to join the Lens-Artists challenge please click here.

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33 thoughts on “Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #418: Memories of Italy”

  3. I really like that country lane, Beth, with the blossom out. I think that’s a memory many of us have. I’ve taken to reading old posts to see where I was 3/5… however many years ago, and it’s addictive. A bit like those boxes of photos or slides under the bed xx

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    1. Jo, thank you so much! I had so much fun looking through these old pictures on my computer. I found pictures of my mother I had forgotten about. I’ve also been going down memory lane reading old posts and going through boxes of photos. I keep saying I will go through the boxes and get rid of all the bad photos but somehow I never get around to doing it.

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  4. These vintage photos are absolutely priceless! It’s wonderful that your brother digitized your dad’s slides so you can share these beautiful memories of Italy with the world. The shots of Rome, Venice, and those unique Trulli houses are spectacular. A lovely response to the challenge! ✨

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    1. Thank you Aura!! As I looked through the old photos I could remember being in each place. I’m very grateful my brother went digitized Dad’s slides. I had fun going through them for this post.

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    1. Judy, I almost did the post about something else. Then it dawned on me to make the post about our time in Italy. Yes, I had a lot of fun creating this post. The hard part was choosing which photos to include. I had hundreds of photos to choose from!

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  6. What amazing memories to share and revisit today. I envy you living in a European country as Europe is so small you can can around and experience life or history from so many places.

    I only remember a little of my own European travels, but I do have a photo somewhere which is virtually the same as your boat trip to the Blue Grotto. Could even be the exact same boat as yours LOL. I remember the name Brindisi, so I guess I must have visited there. I found the Trulli houses interesting too. Do you have photos of an interior?

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    1. Vicki, I decided to limit this post to our time in Italy. There are too many photos from the rest of our European travels to put them all in one post. The photo of the Blue Grotto is from either 1967 or 1968. So funny that you have a similar photo. I love the Trulli houses but sadly we didn’t get to see the interior of any of them.

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    1. Anne, I am so grateful my parents – especially my Dad who did all the planning and driving – wanted to see as much of Europe as possible. I’m also grateful I was old enough to appreciate all of the incredible places we visited. I think my Dad’s love of photography rubbed off on me!

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  11. Oh, such lovely memories. I’ve been thinking of visiting Puglia, but hadn’t known about Alberobello. Thanks for that introduction, and for letting me into your memories of another time. I have a feeling I won’t see oxen on roads even if I go

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    1. Thank you so much! I’m glad I introduced Alberobello to you. It’s not very far from the coastal town of Bari. We drove up the Adriatic coast from Brindisi to Bari and then drove to Alberobello. I’ve often wondered if there are still farms and vineyards around there.

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  12. How wonderful to have spent two years in Italy at that age – I confess I envy you! We spent a long weekend in Brindisi a few years ago so I recognised that column immediately. It was good to see some of the surrounding countryside in these shots and also the trulli houses which are still on my wish-list.

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    1. Sarah, thank you so much! I’m very grateful I was old enough to appreciate the amazing places we visited. I don’t know many people who have even heard of Brindisi. The end of the Appian way was close to a small Greek restaurant I used to go to with my friends. I hope you get to see the Trulli houses. I’ve never seen anything else like them.

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    1. Thanks Terri! Yes, I was lucky to have those two years in Europe with my family. I’m grateful they wanted to travel, grateful for my Dad’s slides, and grateful my brother converted them to digital so I can relive all those happy memories.

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