Observer Viewfinder Competition

[EebeeGeebee]

Please can anybody help to identify the town described in this week's Viewfinder competition - walled town on one of most famous rivers in history, important letter-writer had home on hill to north, Renaissance masterpiece of Virgin Mary in nearby village, work of 20th century abstract artist in former tobacco warehouse? Have tried various combinations of these clues in Google, but not come up with anything that sounds likely! Would be most grateful for any suggestions!

[carrot99]

St Paul, big letter writer, born in Tarsus, Turkey.

I think the tobacco warehouse is in Beyoglu, Istanbul, Turkey

....the curators titled the biennial "Istanbul," ..... they deliberately rejected the historical settings. Instead, their focus was on modern Istanbul, and they placed work in a variety of buildings in Beyoglu, a bustling, mixed-use neighborhood

......evident in "Istanbul." Site-specific public works included Swedish artist Luca Frei's contribution in which the lower floor of a former tobacco warehouse was transformed into a....


Hope those 2 bits help. I'd work on the river next.

[AndyAS]

Tha architecture in the photo doesn't look very Turkish.

In Monterchi, Tuscany there's a fresco of the Virgin Mary 'in an interesting condition' ... a fresco of a pregnant V.M.

That's as far as I've got!!!

[nerja2007]

I thought it looked Italian or Spanish [the architecture] and the Virgin Mary os more likely to be in Italy
Looked up Gradara but no tobacco warehouse

[carrot99]

I didn't know there was a picture - I just used EBGB's description above!

still my turkish tobacco warehouse is a bit of a coincidence isn't it?

[nerja2007]

There are 4 pictures
one of sunflowers, one of a motorbike /vespa by a modern building, one of a clock tower and another spire in the background and one of a strange modern shape

[carrot99]

could either of you post the picture - I can't find it on the Observer webpage?

[carrot99]

thanks nerja

[EebeeGeebee]

Many thanks to all of you for your input. I'm glad it's not just me who's struggling with this! You feel such a fool when you've struggled with something & the answer turns out to be really obvious!

[havanacafe]

i think it may be citta di castello.
(these are getting harder aren't they?)

[EebeeGeebee]

Many thanks, havanacafe - that's fantastic! I'm sure you're right - it does seem to be Citta di Castello. I've Googled most of the clues & they seem to check out. I agree about Viewfinder getting harder - this was definitely the worst! Thanks again.

[kateab]

Thanks also from me, havanacafe. I always do this comp for a comping board and I've never got so stuck in my life with this one. I got one wrong once (in my defence, my husband found the answer but I did check it and it seemed to fit) but I was up until 1am trying to find anything that would have led me to the answers.