Paris in May

Charles Aznavour – Le Temps

Avrei molte cose da dire su Parigi, una città composta da così tante anime che sarebbe impossibile qui rendere conto di tutto. Quel che è certo è poche altre volte ho avuto una sensazione di familiarità così forte, come se conoscessi la città da sempre. Per questo ho deciso di tornare appena possibile e sarò di nuovo a Parigi questa settimana. Nel frattempo ho qui raccolto alcune foto per ricomporne l’atmosfera.

La scelta della canzone si deve ad un film del 1996 ambientato a Parigi e che ho avuto in mente durante tutto il viaggio: L’Appartement, di Gilles Mimouni, con Vincent Cassel e Monica Bellucci. I due si conobbero proprio sul set di questo film.

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Visiting Paris gave me the feeling I belonged to this city, so when I left I felt like I was leaving a part of me and I wanted to come back as soon as I can. That’s why I’m going again this week, but in the meanwhile I gather up here a bunch of pictures of my trip in May.

inside Sainte Chapelle. More here.

Notre Dame

the library Shakespeare&Co. More here.

inside Shakespeare&Co

While strolling through Quartiere Latino, I entered in this church of which I don’t remember the name. I was struck to see this one-of-a-kind of decoration, a cross made with heart-shaped ex voto. Later I realize that this was the only church I saw in Paris (except for Sainte Chapelle which is deconsecrated) and it sounds strange to a church-lover like me. Probably there’s a reason for this, but I’m still trying to find the answer…

relics in a chapel of the church

detail of Arc du triomphe du carrousel

Jeanne Lanvin’ home inside Musée des Arts décoratifs.

The Museum of Decorative Arts is so interesting that deserves alone a one day visit. The best part is the Belle Epoque one, but the museum also has a section with a lot of Art Deco furnitures. Thanks to Aurore I know I couldn’t miss Jeanne Lanvin original home.

Belle Epoque beds

Valtesse de la Bigne’s bed is one of the few things from the courtans havings that still remain to us. To know more about this courtesan read Louise post about her here.

skyline from Place de la Concorde

details of a night: campagne and ouja iphone case

Chez Massimiliano Mocchia di Coggiola

places de Vosges

Inside Musée Cognacq-Jay. More here.

Entrance to Musée Carnevalet

 Musée Carnevalet is probably one of the most beautiful museum I’ve ever seen. It took me two days to see every room. I’m going to post more pictures in the future, even though it’s very hard to choose.

the myth: Contessa di Castiglione portrait 1893 by Blanche. Detail.

My favorite room: Georges Fouquet’s jewelry shop, an Art Nouveau masterpiece designed in 1901 by the Czech artist Alphonse Mucha.

detail of “Une soirée au Pré-Catelan” (1909) by Henri Gervex.

Inside Victor Hugo’s house-museum. More here.

the famous metro station Abbesses. The entrance was designed by the Art Nouveau artist Hector Guimard (1867–1942).

me and Horus, while climbing Montmartre stairs to the Sacre Coeur

whitest than white: La Basilique du Sacré Coeur

This is me on the famous staircase inside Gustave Moreau’s house-museum (specific post here), a paradise for every symbolism-lover. Probably one of my favorite place in Paris.

detail of Jupiter and Semele

my friend Danilo and me inside Gustave Moreau’s museum

typical pictures of Montmartre

While raining, I was able to take a stroll inside Montparnasse Cemetery where I found Charles Baudelaire and Serge Gainsbourg’s graves. I also looked for Huysmans’s grave, but I couldn’t find it.

Charles Baudelaire’s grave. May you, my poet, rest in peace.

Serge Gainsbourg’s grave

I spent an entire day visiting Versailles. It surely deserves more than one post, but I can already tell you that the part that I loved the most was the The Queen’s Hamlet ( Hameau de la Reine), so intime and dreamy.

I couldn’t end better my Paris trip visiting Louise Ebel‘s home. After having seen Victor Hugo’s home, Gustave Moreau’s home and others house-museums, it came natural to me taking pictures of her place which seems like a museum. It was dark and I only had my mobile phone so pictures are very fuzzy.

I only have good things to say about this truly beautiful girl. I first met her in Rome few months ago and she reveals not only as a beautiful girl, like she always appear in her blog, but also a lovely, kind, available and delicate person. The fact is that her grace and the pureness are disarming. She also has a deep knowledge of Belle Epoque period and courtans so we chatted a lot about our passions and I felt like we knew each other since ages.

On the wall one can see written “Oser. Vouloir. Savoir. Se-taire”, the words that Marchesa Luisa Casati wrote in her villa in Capri and that Louise saw through my post.

This is the little wall where Louise collects little religious medals. Unaware of that, when she came to Rome I gifted her the medal on the top-left and she put it here.