The Abbey at Monte Cassino

Sadly, this is what society chooses to produce these days. This is a church down the street from where I live in Naples.

With rare exception (and nothing really comes to mind that can rival the architecture from a few hundred years ago), today's world doesn't build anything of real beauty and I'm not talking just about churches or monuments to God. Nothing, as an article of philosophy is allowed to be truly beautiful anymore.

Beauty is not to be afforded because it's wasteful.  It's especially wasteful because according to the present mythos (Aristotelianism; see About This Blog on my other website Todd Wright Now for more details) beauty is not an accurate reflection of the world.  According to the present mythos, the world is neutral at best and more likely completely ugly.  And so we are building a world that is a reflection of that philosophy.

And it isn't that we can't build beautiful buildings anymore.  Quite the contrary, its a conscious choice, as evidenced by the Abbey at Monte Cassino, which was completely rebuilt from the ground up after its destruction during World War II.

High above the little town of Cassino . . .

. . . towers Monte Cassino.  On top of Monte Cassino is the famous Abbey of Monte Cassino.

Florida Mansion Claim to Greenness is Relative

This article was originally published by Technorati on 3 March 2010.

Frank McKinney is a consummate salesman and he has a 15,000 square foot mansion to move.

Nestled among the palms on a 1.6-acre lot that strides a span from the Atlantic Ocean to the Inter-Coastal Waterway in Palm Beach, Florida, the asking price for his creation, which he calls Acqua Liana is $24.3 million. That's down from its original asking price of $29 million.

Frank calls himself a "real estate artist," and thus his creations art. Calling a building art connotes an expectation of lasting appeal. Will anyone care about this house a hundred years from now? Check out this video and decide for yourself.

There is a slickness to this video. The property is actually not on the Inter-coastal Waterway. It's on the A1A Highway, across which is the ICW.

And its claim to greenness is relative in the extreme. Considering that the average home in the U.S. weighs in at less than 2,500 square feet, when Frank says Aqua Liana has the carbon footprint of a normal house one third its size, that's still more than twice as much as the average.

So if you're in the market for a 24-million-dollar mansion, keep these things in mind.

But Frank is a genuinely good guy. His charity, The Caring House Project, funds housing projects throughout the third world.

In all he does, McKinney thinks big. His charity is no different. With the realization that he's made lots of wealthy friends, Frank lists donation buttons on his website for as much as $125,000.

His book The Tap details his views on responsible stewardship and leading a God-centered life.

Lucca, Italy

See also The Food of Lucca

A beautiful shot of a bell tower on a pristine day.

A typical street inside the walled city.

A man washing his dog in a fountain.

The Church of San Michele in Foro. (For more details see Italy Guides.)

The facade deserves a closer look. Each column is unique.

Duomo di San Martino. (Seethis site for information.)

A view of Lucca from a bell tower, the Apuan Alps in the background. Notice the overhanging branches from trees growing on top of the tower.

Lucchese modern art at its finest.

A cute little old Lucchese woman.

The Basilica di San Frediano, built in the 13th century. (SeeWikipedia for more information.)

This mosaic, designed by Berlinghiero Berlinghieri depicting the ascension of Christ, is worth a closer look.

Closer still.

And just a little closer. Even with all these iterations, it's difficult to get the sense of how painstakingly grand and beautiful this mosaic is. It's big and it's breathtaking. I guess you'll just have to come see it for yourself!

See also The Food of Lucca