Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Lions of Ardenza

Lions of Ardenza, LivornoArdenza Mare” (Seaside Ardenza) is the part of the quarter of Ardenza from the “Via Aurelia” to the sea. Mostly villas or detached houses around here and plenty of fine details to catch.Lions of Ardenza, LivornoI liked this pair lions, proudly standing and keeping their shields on top of the pillars of a gate.Lions of Ardenza, LivornoThis less lucky cat, standing outside an open air cinema, has got something different to bear: a bike tire thrown around his neck.

28 comments:

stromsjo said...

Now that is humiliating.

James said...

These are really nice bike tire and all. I really liked the photos from the last two posts also. Lorenzo Gori did a great job.

Leif Hagen said...

The less lucky cat would be a fun one to decorate and with which to have fun! How about a crown? Or a big, gaudy necklace? Or a silly sweater? The embellishment options are endless . . ..

Dare ya!

Lowell said...

Lions seem to be the most common 'guards' of property these days...I don't think I've seen them with their own shields before, though. The do look like the pride of the pride, if you know what I mean.

The poor guy at the bottom. Look at his face...he's saying, "Why me, Lord, why me?"

brattcat said...

Jacob's got it right. That poor lion in the bicycle tire looks as if the indignity is almost too much to bear.

Luis Gomez said...

It is so sad to see the third poor lion looking like that.

cieldequimper said...

All three lions have great "human" expressions, but the last one is absolutely perfect. I can hear it complaining!

Saretta said...

Very stately and impressive lions! I think the third one wears the bike tire with great elegance and nonchalance!

Tash said...

Loved your coastline tour. It is the Italy of my dreams.
The sculptures of today are very powerful & yesterday are so intricate.

Halcyon said...

I like the lions. The second one especially looks very proud. It's too bad someone has tried to capture the last one with a bike tire!

Gunn said...

In Norway we have "lions" outside (Stortinget) "The Parliament "..... But I can not remember if I have seen them anywhere else.

Yours looks like they belong where they are.

The white one, made me smile!:-)
That is the independent one....

Unseen Rajasthan said...

Beautiful,lovely and fantastic shots !!I love lions and these shots made me happy !!Unseen Rajasthan

Andreea said...

They all have interesting expressions, the first two looking proud of guarding the shields, but the last one is by far the funniest.

nobu said...

Each of them are impressive.

Tinsie said...

Nice lion shots :-)

Cezar and Léia said...

He is a fabulous artist! Wonderful sculptures!
Léia

B SQUARED said...

I can never get my lions to hold a shield.

Layrayski said...

very nice lion carving (?)it's sculpted on sand? or rock?

proud looking lions.

joo said...

Bold sculptures! I like the lions statues, but the bike tire around such a proud animal? It's a bit humilating indeed!

Unknown said...

I always wonder why so many homeowners here have lions at the entrances to their property. It makes way more sense in Italy!

Rob Siemann said...

I usually attribute lions to Venice. Was Livorno part of the Serenissima, as it's so much closer to Genova?

tapirgal said...

These are great. I love the oddity of the tire around the white lion, but my favorite is the top one with the deep green and the wonderful orange-gold of the lion with his shield. I don't know why I like your palm trees better than ours, but these are beautiful.

VP said...

@ Layrayski - I think the first two are of terra-cotta, the last of some kind of stone.
@ Rob - The St Mark Lion has wings, is crouched, keeps a book and is the symbol of the Evangelist. We got one of these on St Mark Gate. These shields have the coats of arms of Florence and, probably, of the House of Savoy.

Ellie said...

Nice collection. Did somebody got flat tire?

Kcalpesh said...

Nice lion sculptures! Why's there a tire on that last one? I thought only my people in India used to do things like that :-|

- Pixellicious Photos

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

Awww, poor guy, couldn't you remove the tire? Nice pix! How fun!

gogouci said...

Bike tire or not, all three look like very powerful forces.

Stefan Jansson said...

You need to climb up ant help that poor lion!