#ValentinaInteriorsDesigns | Valentina Expressions

Friday Fashion | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

24 Jan 2014 4 Comments

by Valentina in Friday Fashion Tags: #EthnicFabrics, #TribeFabrics, #TribeFashion, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns, #ValentinoSpringFashion2014

Fridays will be dedicated to a different topic: fashion in the world.
I will bring you some curiosities, trends, novelties, ways to wear garments or how to adapt runways fashion to everyday life. I will start with Valentino, the king of stylists and a magician with a pencil.

His inspiration or I should say the inspiration of the two designers working under the name of Valentino, came from imaginary tribes. In Paris Fashion Week they displayed magnificent fabrics and really showed that their fantasy flew towards far away ethnic groups. The coiffes on the models’ heads seem to have a Tudor’s resonance. The mixture of eras and tribal inspiration is stunning. However, colors are quite dark for being spring and summer garments. In the video, you can see the entire collection.

Au contraire the Haute Couture autumn/winter 2013-14 is regal, with Medieval inspiration, characterized by opulent rich fabrics, but very wearable, in my opinion.

If you have a remanent 70s fashion in your closet, gypsy fabric, ethnic patterns, chunky jewelry, this might be the right time to bring it out and give it a second life with a refreshed look. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, working in the USA and Europe. Born in Italy and in a family of artists, style surrounded her since the beginning of her life. Her many years of experience led her to offer consultations in both specializations. She is the author of three books. Get your copy of Valentina’s book on colors: ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors on
Amazon http://goo.gl/qNxXrB

New Beginning | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

21 Jan 2014 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #DalyCityCityHallArtShow, #MajorDavidJCanepa, #NewBeginningArtExhibit, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns, #WomeCaucusForTheArts

New Beginning is the title of the art exhibition I visited last Thursday at its inaugural day. It coincided with the inauguration ceremony for the new Mayor David J. Canepa taking a new post in the City Hall of Daly City in California.
The exhibit “New Beginning” will be open from Jan. 16 through Mar. 31, 2014 featuring twenty-two artists, members of the Peninsula Chapter of Women’s Caucus for Art. Many of the exhibitors are painters and a few others are fabric artists, photographers, sculptors and mixed media artists.

All the creations are vibrant, so different from one another and so characteristic. The furniture pieces are extravagant and colorful showing the strong artist’s personality; the water colors are serene and showing limpid waters; the abstracts painting are… yes, very abstract and pull the viewers into the canvas; the acrylic painted grass has a natural movement; the photographs freeze moments in time; the fabric art is highly expressive and there are even ex-rayed chess pieces transferred on canvas. The whole collection is amazing and it will really put some rhythm in the stark hall of the City Hall office building until March 31, 2014.

It All Begins Here-Nancy Woods

Seated Woman-Rebecca Lambing

Elevation – Beate Amler

White Crossing-Marie LaPrade

New_Beginnings_Poster- Maryan Yap

Waves-Annamaria Kusber

Blue Beach-Alysanne McGaffey

Making Friends-Ellen Lee

Onward-Rebecca Lambing

Hollyhocks-Yvonne Newhouse

As a foreigner I can’t help thinking about what mature but young-at-heart women can do in this country, they are unstoppable! But this is me coming from a different latitude, always making comparisons with my country, where most of the women in their 50s are done with life and do not push themselves to strive for more. It is an inspiration to all, our fantasy has no age, it can only grow better, stronger and colorful. My grandmother Pasqua, to whom I dedicated my first book said: “Life evolves until the last moment”.
With this in mind and the inspiration from the art exhibition, I will make sure my life and the life of people I touch is always a “New Beginning”.

Note: The Women’s Caucus was found in 1972 in connection with the College Art Association, WCA a national organization of multi-disciplines and multicultural artists, museums professional, art historians and educators, with the mission to expand opportunities for women in the arts. Marian Yap www.marianyap.com and Bonnie J. Smith http://bonniesmith.vpweb.com are the curators for the “New Beginning” art exhibition.

If you are closer to Daly City, please visit the City Hall on the 3rd floor. The art is for sale and the contact information of each artist is next to each art piece. Wishing Mayor David J. Canepa many terms in his post and Ad Majora to all the artists.
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive arts. She is a “colorist”. To her, selecting art means to bring out the best energy of her clients and nourish their soul. She is the author of her book on the subject of colors: ©Red-A Voyage Into Colors available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Xhilaration Ruffle Curtain | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

15 Jan 2014 4 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #homeDesignsMaster, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns, #XilarationBedSet, #XilarationRufflePillow, #XilarationRuffleWindowPanel

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind and heart. I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of the home and sometimes technical information. My challenge is now over!

To find a topic for the letter X was hard, there isn’t anything in home décor starting with X that suited my taste, thus I left it for last to close the series of my challenge Home From A To Z. I found instead a very inexpensive and fun way to cover windows.

Xhilaration Ruffle Window Panels-https://www.target.com/p/xhilaration-ruffle-curtain-panel-50x84/-/A-14565711

Xhilaration Ruffle Window Panels-https://www.target.com/p/xhilaration-ruffle-curtain-panel-50×84/-/A-14565711

Xhilaration Jersey Ruffle Pillow-https://www.target.com/p/jersey-ruffle-throw-pillow-xhilaration-153/-/A-14864584#lnk=sametab

Xhilaration Zebra Bed in a Bag-https://www.ebay.com/b/Comforters-Sets/45462?Brand=Xhilaration&Color=Black

The Xhilaration Ruffle Window Panels. They have been designed to add a soft feminine touch to any window with five ample ruffled layers that create a soft texture. They are transparent gauze to let to sunlight in and still show the view of the outside. If privacy is needed, add the light block fabric behind it. Colors are limited, only white, black and rosy color are available. They are available on Ebay for the magic price of $16.99. Ruffle pillows make a nice parure with the ruffle curtains.

Xhilaration Zebra Bed in a bag twin set is available in hot pink with zebra print, on eBay $49.99, or scroll design for $59.99. Altogether it would make a perfect ensemble for a teenage girl room.
There is good décor out there for everyone, every budget and every style. The important thing is to coordinate all the items in a room and to layer textures with an artistic touch. No one will ever know the décor is inexpensive. Your home begins with your story, tell it in your own fantastic way.

I wrote 26 posts, one for each letter of the alphabet. I had fun in the process and at times I felt the pressure. I hope to have kept you interested and inspired to create a home that is only yours and not a copy of a magazine.

I want to thank Julie Dawn Fox http://myatozchallenge.com/author/juliefox – a British expat in Portugal for being a gracious host of this wonderful idea of anything from A To Z Challenge. Now, I will return to my comfortable one time a week blogging. Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

It’s my hope that through my writing I am enriching your aesthetic sensibility towards design, style and inspire you to live in beauty. I have loved my profession as an interior designer since 1990. I am here ready to offer consultations on-line if you need it. Check out my latest book on colors ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors, available on

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Embraced In A U-Shaped Kitchen | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

07 Jan 2014 8 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ErgonomicKitchen, #ErgonomicKitchenFloorPlan, #KitchenTriangle, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #UShapedKitchen, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind and heart. I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of home and sometimes technical information. On Jan. 14, 2014, my challenge will be over, I am almost ready to reach my finishing line.

Do you have cooking abilities? Can you cook without cursing, burning the food or cutting yourself? If the answer is yes, then you can cook even in a hole in the wall. If you are not in the class of people who can make wonders and miracles in any space, getting a minimal knowledge of how to work in a kitchen and what is the best floor plan is of the utmost importance.

The ruling factor is the space between appliances, cabinets and the person/s working in the kitchen. For convenience, the dishwasher sits near the sink. Are you a left-handed or right-handed person? How you rinse dishes and load the machine is a simple fact that will determine the location of the dishwasher on one side of the sink or the other.
The choice of flooring will make or break your desire of wanting to be in the kitchen for long hours. Cooking is a pleasant activity of the day, which feeds stomach and soul thus flooring should alleviate the chore. Hardwood floor, bamboo or cork floors are the best choices for the legs and of course in the wet areas (sinks, stove) the use of some tile is appropriate.
Lighting is the next and most important factor for a successful kitchen design. Kitchens and baths are the two places in the house where the best accidents happen. Light the kitchen well with style, create shadows and highlights, place it in the right areas and avoid the showroom look, I truly dislike it!

I could talk about kitchen details from now to the year 3000, not only because I cook and understand the needs of a chef, but because I am trained as an expert in kitchen designs. The purpose of this post is to elaborate on a U-shaped kitchen floor plan, which is the best workable floor plan for small kitchens and because I needed a topic for the letter U in my challenge Home from A to Z.

In this floor plan a peninsula is easier to incorporate than an island in the middle of the floor, however many roll-out leafs for cutting, mixing and preparing can come out from under the countertop in various areas. Refrigerator in this floor plan is never placed in a corner, as it will waste space, hit and block cabinet doors, but near the sink, if possible. It’s convenient to take produce out of the refrigerator and place them in the sink for washing. Allow a minimum counter space of at least 18” between refrigerator and sink and of course more if the floor plan allows it. The next best place for the refrigerator in the U-shaped kitchen is near the stove/range for easy accessibility to food, when something quick inside of the fridge is needed during cooking.

Refrigerator, sink and the range are the three areas of this floor plan that must create a “triangle” for workability and extreme functionality. The sink needs the stove as the stove needs the sink. It’s a formula that gives the best results when carrying hop pots/pens from the stove to the sink, like draining pasta or transferring wet vegetables from the sink to the stove. The vicinity of the stove to sink will avoid spillage, messy floor, and dangerous slips.
Not more than two people can work in a U-shaped kitchen. Keep in mind that appliance doors open and occupy a space of at least 24″ therefore must not hit each other and a person of a normal size occupies a space of 18″. All of this must be added to the dept of cabinets and appliances to create an ergonomic kitchen. Admire a couple of my work in the photo gallery.

©Valentina Interiors & Designs – San Francisco, CA

©Valentina Interiors & Designs – Menlo Park, CA

U-Shaped Kitchen Floor Plan

(photo credits are given to the respective owners)

Once you have a perfect working triangle, it’s time to think of the finishing touches that will give a U-shaped kitchen a lovely look. As I said before, cooking is a pleasant activity of the day. Before start cooking I put on either classic music or Opera, you choose your own music, open a bottle of wine and feed your stomach, soul and mind. In the meantime, you have controlled sugar, fat, salt intake and controlled your portions, because you cooked for your palate and not for what any restaurateur wants you to eat. In the end you will feel like a million-dollar.

I am here and always available if you need consultations on kitchen designs, my Skype line is on. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens, cooking and extensive knowledge of food. She operates in the USA and Europe. She loves to remodel homes and loves to turn unattractive spaces into castles, but especially loves to design kitchens and wine grottos, outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms, great rooms, and entertainment rooms. Check out her books available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

HAPPY NEW YEAR And A WORD FROM RUDYARD KIPLING

01 Jan 2014 7 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #EndOfYearCelebrations, #EndOfYearSpecialFood, #HolidayFood, #NewYearWishes, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

To my friend Josephine, I will add my words. It is true, on Dec. 31 we celebrate the death of one year and the birth of a new one and we celebrate it with food. Food feeds the soul and brings people together. In this new year, please bring good food into your life and not diets, “good food to put you in the mood” as Josephine says.

In this end of the year, don’t forget to wear something RED and to make a wish at midnight, it will be the one to come true.
Thank you all for reading me and for sharing your life’s experiences with me. It’s a load of fun and learning. Happy New Year, wishing you all a splendid 2014.
Valentina

My Home Food, That's Amore

The hour is drawing nigh here in Italy … girls and boys are dressing up and looking forward to a roaring “vigilia” (eve); a lot of them wearing red underwear for good luck and some of them already brandishing what will be very noisy New Year’s crackers (“i botti”) and/or fireworks that are so frowned upon because they can be dangerous and because they frighten dogs. I remember when my father and my uncle used to draw out a hunting gun (sorry, I can’t remember what brand it was) and shoot a few rounds after midnight (yes! from the balcony of an apartment in the middle of a town!) and we all thought this jolly good fun. All that incredible overwhelming display of emotion via boom boom boom extremely loud crack crack crack ta ta ta ta ta noise. There is something orgiastic about New Year’s eve and we shouldn’t…

View original post 215 more words

Jardinière | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

14 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #EuropeanAntiques, #EuropeanJardinière, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #TableJardinière, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns, Jardinière

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind, and heart.
I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of home and sometimes technical information.

**********

Jardinière is a common French word for a woman gardener. The interesting thing is that flower boxes and containers for plants are also called jardinières, as often words have more than one meaning. I am thinking the origin of the name could have come possibly from the full body curvilinear women of the past, when being round was a guarantee for a good marriage and proliferation in great abundance. In fact, all the examples of jardinières I have seen are squatted, very round with a belly and feet or propped on high pedestal. Their purpose is to keep the plant and dripping water inside the pot to avoid staining elegant floors, or expensive rugs.

French Napoleon III Boule Jardinière

Stone Garden Jardinière

Antique Victorian Silver Plated Louis XVI Jardinière

Jardinière for an entry

Jardinière for chili peppers

Table Jardinière -BHandG

Jardinière for a bath

Decorative Jardinière

La Belle Jardinière painted by Raphael

Jardinières are highly decorative and very valuable if they are antiques. Auctions are best places to find some good pieces from dismantled buildings that once belonged to counts now without the account, or you might find some simpler pieces at garage sales.
Tall jardinières decorate entries, gardens and important event tables or they might be a good solution to store firewood near the fireplace. The low types, beautify table settings and furniture.

However, they are not always meant for flower arrangements or to plant chili pepper trees and vegetables. If you have decorative balls fill them up, they will look good all year round. In the bathroom, they can be used to store some handy products for everyday use and in the office, they will be a nice place to rest incoming mail until you decide to read it.

This is one French word without an equivalent translation in English. The other meaning of jardinière refers to a type of winter food served with vegetables cut all the same size, mixed with legumes.

Last but not least “La Belle Jardinière” painted by Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance, Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, commonly known as Raphael. A noble from Siena commissioned Raphael to paint the Madonna and Child with young John the Baptist, currently in an exposition at the Louvre, in Paris. My hat off to you Raphael!
Find some original piece from the past and include it in your décor, I know it will fit. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian interior designer in business since 1990. She is passionate about colors and all expressive arts. She is a “colorist”. To her, selecting art means to bring out the best energy of her clients and nourish their soul. She is the author of her book on Colors: ©Red-A Voyage Into Colors available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Plug me up, I will light up | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

31 Oct 2013 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #HalloweenCostumes, #HalloweenFashion, #PlugSocketSetCostume, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaExpressions, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

We entered the room as the Plug and Socket set and sure enough we turned the heads of all the guests already at the party. The costume party’s requirement was only one, to come dressed in something original.
Everyone chose a recognizable costume from 1700s style to British Bobby, from pop rock stars look-alike to the animal world and ridiculous costumes portraying political people. Everyone was beautiful in their expensive costumes. My friend and I were 18 years of age, we didn’t have a way to buy an expensive costume and one week of notice was not enough to sew something extravagant either. My friend was knowledgeable in electricity and electronics, I was the mind and I came up with the Socket and Plug set idea.

We started to work frantically, we only had one week to perfect our creation. It was nothing more than painted card boxes and a mechanism of electrical wires that turned on and off the light bulb sitting on my head. I sewed the cap with insulating material to protect myself from possible circuit shortage and my friend wired me up. The set was white and underneath we choose to dress in all white to keep distraction away from our creation. I imagine by now you understood I was the socket and my male friend was the plug. We danced all night to the tunes of rock and roll music of the era.

Often during the dance we got closer to each other to show off our light bulb flipping on and off when my friend plugged his “large male prong” into my socket. What? That’s exactly what the purpose of the costume was, to push laughs and some funny comments on how many times my friend plugged me up in one evening. At times I saw a few of the guests rolled on the floor for so much laughter. We had no idea a draw at the end of the night would appoint us as the best costume.

We had no camera at that time to immortalize the moment, we were young and didn’t think we would need the memories. Luckily, I found my drawing and the fun continues. I hope you have a great costume and a place to go celebrate. Happy Halloween. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

As an Italian designer and true to my origins, I am well-known to bring originality to people’s homes, but that’s not where I stop and any situation is a perfect opportunity to design something out of the ordinary. If you are up to it, I will design something unforgettable for any of your occasions. Check out my three books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Autumn Leaves Inspiration | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

21 Oct 2013 2 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #AutumnColors, #ColorTheory, #LivingRoomColors, #MyPersonalAToZChallenge, #NatureInspiration, #OnLineDesignServices, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

Welcome to my personal A to Z Challenge on the subject of Home. The goal, in a year time, is to elaborate and dissect topics regarding the Home not as containers of stuff, but as a cocoon for the soul, mind, and heart.
I will touch on decorations, style, trends, history of home and sometimes technical information.

**********

A new on-line client from France hired me to compose a warm color scheme complete with furniture suggestions that is in tune with her Autumn archetype. I went to my nearby park to get inspiration. The leaves are yellowish, brown, burgundy and if I stand in the right light I can see undertone colors like lavender, grey or chocolate. The jewel tones of the Autumn are amazing and really suit me. Fortunately, this new client likes them too.
I took many pictures of the leaves fallen on the ground and studied them in-depth. The yellow color in the Autumn leaves, although beautiful, indicates that the chlorophyll and oxygen are gone, therefore the leaves are lifeless and fall to the ground. The yellow has many undertones, from sandy color to golden beige and brown. Some grayish leaves with lilac tones spotted with burgundy really intrigued me. Amazing how something lifeless as these leaves still retains an attractive beauty!

The palettes for my French client contains all the colors I saw in dead leaves transferred in the furnishing and accessories suggestion. I gave her two solutions, one with walls in Grey and the other with walls in Chocolate Brown as shown in my video. Each background color sets a different mood.

Autumn Leaves

Autumn Leaves Color Chips

Autumn Inspiration with Brown Walls

Autumn Inspiration with Gray Walls

Burgundy Inspiration with Sky Blue Walls

Of course, I can go with a hotter color scheme in burgundy, light brown, beige and Sky Blue on the walls. With this third color scheme, I will substitute the silver console with a piece of furniture in brown or sand color.

While I am waiting for the client’s response, I would like to know which of these color schemes is your preference?
Designing on-line is not any difficult than designing in loco. The challenges and the energy are the same, except that I am not physically on the project and a lot of things I do, become the client’s work, like overseeing the project development and managing contractors.

Sharing is caring. Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Closet Doors Are Often Forgotten | Valentina Cirasola | Interior Designer

18 Oct 2013 6 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #ClosetDoors, #DecoratingClosetDoors, #DecoratingIdeas, #HomeImprovement, #RedVoyageIntoColors, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns

Many areas of a home are often left undecorated, as if they don’t belong to the house. Services areas for instance are treated like the “Maid Quarters” as if only second-class people live there and guests are prohibited access to.
Saving money on these areas is one reason for using low quality material and no design thoughts whatsoever. Most people settle for shelves and good appliances, the rest is non-descriptive.
Sure there is no attraction in the laundry rooms, closets, pantries, storage rooms, but what if these areas open into the beautiful parts of the home? Let’s say the laundry room’s door opens in a well-designed kitchen, wouldn’t it look better if the façade of that door was designed to disguise the laundry room entry?

I take any opportunity to change even a simple door into a painting canvas, like the mural I painted on a linen closet made of two doors and six drawers. This mural breaks the monotony of a long corridor and adds the element of surprise. If guests go to the bathroom near by, I hear a big “WOW, what is it?” all the time. The façade of this closet represents an Italianate style building.
Here I’ve put together a roundup of examples to help creativity flow and personalize your home.

House & Garden

Portholes Mirror Closet Doors-http://www.wallpaperforwindows.com/decorating_ideas/2012/07/2156/portholes-mirror-closet-door2

Decorative Closet Door by Spazzi

Mural on Closet by ©Valentina Interiors & Designs

Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola transforms and creates spaces realizing people’s dreams in homes, offices, interiors and exteriors. She infuses your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away a comfortable living.  She offers design consultations on-line through Skype and the traditional in-house consultations, helping people with their design challenge any where in the world. She is the author of three books. ©RED-A Voyage Into Colors is on the subject of colors. All Valentina’s books are available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

Infinite | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

14 Oct 2013 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ColumbusDay, #ItalianFood, #ValentinaInteriorsDesigns, #VenetianCostumes, #VenetianDécor, #VenetianFashion, http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/photo-challenge-infinite

This week photo challenge on WordPress is Infinite. http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/photo-challenge-infinite/

At Columbus Day celebration in the city of San Francisco, I had plenty infinite inspiration. Coming in the city, an infinite number of Art Deco buildings and modern skyscrapers line the horizon. An infinite number of palm trees, street lights and street sculptures filled The Embarcadero, a long promenade stretching for a few miles overlooking the water.

Trolley buses revamped to their original charm come by with antique coquetry and their infinite electric wires share the air space with street lights, palm trees and buildings. Weekends in the city are devoted to street markets. Infinite number of white-tented kiosks occupy empty plazas on the Embarcadero, where San Franciscans and tourists shop for arts and crafts, novelties, custom-made pieces and organic food. Music colors the air making a pleasant city to walk in. San Francisco is definitively one of the best cities in America.

Entering San Francisco

Embarcadero

Remodeled Trolley bus

Ship building

Following the Embarcadero, I reached the parade for Columbus Day celebration. The parade was nice, happy people, infinite candies thrown from moving vehicles making kids really happy.
I was more interested in seeing signs of Italian heritage, it was Columbus Day after all.
Other than a few stereotypes, tarantella, Perry Como and Dean Martin songs, things modern Italians don’t relate to, I found my infinite interest in a group of people dressed in colorful Venetians costumes.
The flag didn’t belong with the costumes, Tuscan people made an art of throwing flags, but not Venetians. OK, I understand, this is a make-believe Italy of the past, the Italy tourists like.

Among infinite marching bands from different cultures, Italian products and socialites in their convertible cars, I chose this group of people as they seemed the most authentic, true to the colors and opulence of historic Venice. Their gestures conveyed well the flirting mannerism of La Serenissima (ancient name of Venice) and the frivolity of the era.

I heard on the news today that someone is thinking of changing Columbus Day to Indigenous Day. Really? Did this person fall off the bed? Should we change the entire history of United States as well to suit every ethnicity? Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Italian Interior Designer in business since 1990. Being Italian born and raised, Classicism, stylish and timeless designs have influenced Valentina’s design work. She will create your everyday living with a certain luxury without taking away your comfort. She loves to restore old homes, historic dwellings and she focuses on remodeling. Author of three books all available on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w