This town was the discovery of last year. Here are some of its doors.
The impression Massa Marittima made was such that I must include it among my favourite middle Italian towns as listed here.
Today’s photos are from my first visit with my parents last May and I just had to return in the autumn to bring here travelling Norm and Honey, indeed the same Norm that has been hosting Thursday Doors for quite a while.
In this way he can compare these doors with the ones he captured. The route that we took was similar but not the same, which means that I have more doors to show from the second visit. Yay!
I have already showed you the first impression of the place with the doors of grand magnificent buildings on my previous blog over here, and today have a look at the doors as you discover them once you take one of the small streets around town.
I think I was most surprised at the lack of tourists. Italy has so much to offer that such a pretty town can fly under the tourist radar. Fine this way. I shall be back.
This is the street we took from the cathedral. Let’s start with a couple of serious ones. The pierced door. The triplets. The triplet of the right is a pharmacy. A happy ensemble. The typical Italian door – on sale too! One would say – not hard to keep up the Italian style. Throw in a bit of red. The stone does all the work. The wide flower child. The art studio. The really wide one. The triplets with pretty facade. Hm… Not much wider than an envelope. Fit this in! An ex-chimney on the outside? This is how it goes – up. It was not as hot as bestia makes it look. Lurking in the shadow. Hungry fellows. My companions in a door to rent. Lunch time!
Amazing! I’ve always been drawn to closed doors. The potential behind them! Love them more than the open ones…
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Thank you, Romana! Miles and miles of closed doors have passed through my blogs over the years, and some open ones. 🙂 I love them just how they are, even if there is not much life behind them any more. It’s just right that most of them are closed – one can take only that many chances by walking through select open ones.
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Italy is full of little towns like this. I’m thinking of Tarquinia, not a stone’s throw from Rome, and not too overwhelmed by tourists. Of course, it has been many years since I was there.
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Thank you, Mikels. Tarquinia is only about 30 minutes from me and yet I have never done a doorscursion there. Great idea! (Neither have I seen any Etruscan landmarks. I’m taking it slowly.)
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I really like the minimalism of that ‘no wider than an envelope’ door. Very pretty.
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Thank you, Lois. Italians do pretty so well.
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Beautiful images, Manja. I love that street leading to the Cathedral.
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Thank you, Jean. This entire town is a joy.
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Lovely place and a cracking selection of doors.
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Thanks, Sheree! It’s a great place indeed.
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All sizes and shapes this week, and all good. My favorite is the one with the reflection of a window in the window.
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Thanks, Dan. You mean of a window and a photographer?
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Ha ha, yes.
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What a great idea for a post! Your photos are lovely. And I love the captions you give each one. These doors have so much character! I like how they pay attention to their doors there, turning them into works of art instead of just plain, utilitarian holes in the wall. And I enjoyed seeing how each door reflected the personality of the place within! Very Nice!
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Thank you so much, Lindsay, for careful viewing and kind words. I’ve been posting doors on Thursday for a loooong time. Here in Italy it’s so easy to find mesmerising doors, they really pay attention to everything, style-wise. By now I check out doors everywhere I go, it’s a habit. 🙂
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I can see why!! They are mesmerizing! Who knew I would have been so excited to see doors!! 🙂 Thank you for sharing!!!
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Great shots and yes, a few of these do look familiar. Some of the things I remember most about that visit: the long climb up to the top of that street and yes, how few tourists there seemed to be.
I’d go back again if I were you too 😀
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Hehe, thanks, Norm. 🙂 At least we got lunch up there, even if out of working hours. 😉 I hope it was worth the climb!
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It was indeed. Such good times 🙂
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Love the door with the red tablecloth and ornaments, and the one with the red poppy out front.
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Thank you, Deborah! You can always count on the Italians.
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Oh, you have some beautiful doors here. Love that wide one and the tall skinny one. Nice shots.
Pat
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Thank you, Pat! 🙂 Always welcome!
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Gorgeous photos! Thank you for sharing!
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Thank you, Liz! Always welcome.
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What a rich selection, some very strong, very old and others new, shiny and rather glitzy! Wonderful. Bestia did a good impression of being very hot!
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Thank you, Emma. It was May, the heat was threatening us what it can do. And later it did. This is one glorious town.
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Fabulous doors.
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Thank you, Sherry! 🙂
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What an impressive array of doors. I love the ones with the brass knockers. The mail boxes are interesting too. 🙂
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Thank you, Sylvia. 🙂 I always aim for variety, every Thursday when it’s door time.
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I like the Farmacia door and the one Bestia is approving. But of course they’re all wonderful. Not sure about the skinny one being very welcoming, though. 🙂 To find such a lovely town without too many tourists is a great find!
janet
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Hihi, thanks, Janet. I have serious doubts about the skinny one. 😀 And yes, it’s a glorious town enough out of the way to remain a surprise for most.
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I like the wide flower child and the art studio. Such characters. (that refers to your captions and the photos!) lol
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Thank you, Amanda. I like giving them names. 😉
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It makes it fun and I like your humour.
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You’ve covered all the categories here – wide, narrow, well-kept, in need of work, tall, short – whew! If this was a competition, you would win hands-down!
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Thanks so much, Joanne. Luckily this is not a competition, or I wouldn’t be spurred on to take part. Countries could compete, imagine… The best door portfolio challenge. 😉
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Love all the doors of this post (and your descriptions). Great find, Manja!
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Thank you, Gordon, good to see you around! 🙂
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I’ll have to visit more often; I miss your photos and captions!
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Oh yes, please do, always welcome!
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These are all so, so beautiful! I love all the texture of your doors!
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Thank you, Tech. 🙂 Italy is amazing doorwise, and in other ways too.
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