Italian Window Art

When you wander through an Italian town like Lucca, it’s important to remember to look up. Window boxes filled with plants and flowers add color and texture to the architectural beauty of the buildings. 

Like many apartment dwellers who don't have their own yards, Italians who live in apartments add nature and beauty wherever they can: the building stoop, their floor landing, windowsills, balconies. It's always a treat to turn a corner, look up and see a dazzling display of flowering color.

Of course, simple green plants also provide an outdoor feeling and I often see planters with shrubbery or herbs in the windows in Italy.

Flowers dress up the worn façade of this building.

Many of the best "finds" of flowers are in side streets or alleyways. It's why I like to simply wander through Italian towns. You never know what you'll stumble across. But, often, it's simple beauty.

These flowers can be enjoyed by the thousands of visitors to Piazza San Michele in Lucca as the building fronts the square.

-post by JG