We took the long route from Spoleto back to Rome and saw more countryside of Umbria and Lazio.
Just when we were getting into the groove, our seven-month adventure is over. How do we say goodbye to our generous relatives and the friends we made from south to north? We are coping by starting to talk about where we will go on our next trip here. More of Sicily. Perhaps Brescia. Some relatives highly recommend Puglia and Sardegna.
In Rome we caught up with cousins, including Giuliano at his 90th birthday party! We also walked around central Rome to reconnect with sites we have seen before but walked by briskly. This time, for example, we really scrutinized Bernini’s Fountain of Four Rivers in the Piazza Navona.
We have also been busy weighing our luggage. Not ourselves! We are strategizing about how to fit everything with only one additional bag. Our flight leaves at 6:00 AM, so we will leave Luciana’s at 3:00 AM by taxi driven by one of her former students.
Returned the Rental
First things first. We returned the rental car to the Fiumicino Airport. A bit of an adventure to find a gas station nearby. Lots of extra mileage and extra time just to fill the tank.
2,175 kilometers in 34 days with this rental carWe took the express train from the airport back to Rome.TerminiFor lunch we went to the newish Il Mercato Centrale along the side of the train station, which Is bustling with customers. Bruna N. urged us to go. Mercato Centrale is like the mercato in Florence, but a little smaller, easier to navigate, and more upscale. Good food.Truffle hotdogs! See what we mean by upscale food?
Wanderings
Bonnie’s Six-Mile Tour
We spent a day walking around sites in central Rome. Just after exiting the Cavour metro stop, Bonnie unexpectedly discovered Via Suburra, in the Monti district, which she often reads about in books on Ancient Rome. At first, she was skeptical that it was the same street, but it fit the description perfectly. It is a narrow, slightly twisting street, at a lower level than the surrounding streets, and leading directly to the forum of Augustus. In ancient times it was busy and known for crime. Now it is central to a lovely gentrifying neighborhood.
Forum of Augustus. Emperors built and enlarged existing forums (in honor of themselves) where public business was conducted daily. Later, some popes did this too. Piazza Navona is an example.Fountain of the turtlesThose Matteis get around!The TiberPalazzo Farnese as redesigned by MichangeloCampo di’ Fiori at the end of the day . . .. . . as you can see.After seven months, Bonnie can easily give directions in Italian about which non-dairy chocolate gelato she wants.Pasquino, a third-century BC statue where people post anonymous complaints (and wishes).Piazza NavonaBernini vs. BorrominiWe made it back to Trattoria da Enzo in the southern end of the Trastevere. Gino Primo introduced Robert to this small, genuine Roman place in the early 90s. Back then, you would see mechanics, business people, and a few tourists at lunch. Now, it is mostly American tourists. The good news is that the food is still great and reasonably priced.If you don’t make reservations Enzo’s, expect a wait.Fried artichoke. Very Roman.Zucchini flowers with cheese insideRigatoni amatricianaPunterelle with achovies, olive oil, and lemon
Piazza del Campidoglio
The pope asked Michelangelo to redesign this space. He oriented it toward the Vatican and away from the forum. A statement of who was more powerful.
Museo Capitolini
We can’t remember ever going to this museum, but it is terrific. Don’t know why we missed it before. And the view from the terrace at sunset is fabulous, with huge flocks of swallows circling.
Abbazia di Santa Maria di Farfa
Adriana and Gino Secondo treated us to a visit to this abbey, an hour outside of Rome. The Benedictine abbey was founded in the 5th century and at its height of power between the 8th and 12th centuries. Went through some hard times (invasions) and then a resurgence in the 7th century during a wave of Irish monasticism that spread through Italy. During the 9th century it was one of the most important monasteries in Europe. It was independent of the pope, and under the protection of Charlemagne. But during that time, those pesky Saracens sacked and burned the monastery. Later in the 11th century, it regained power and wealth. Shops and homes built around it sold a variety of wares, often those made by the monks. They still do.
Lots of olive orchards in the area. This one was abandoned, leaving lots of fruit on the trees.Gino SecondoLots of shops surrounding the abbey, but most were closed on the day we were there. The pasta shop was open, but when Adriana tried to buy fresh pasta, she was informed that on Wednesdays, all their fresh pasta goes to the Vatican.The home of the nunsOne tower remains.School group ready for their tour. School field trip groups are everywhere in Italy.
Lunch
Part of our treat was lunch served by the nuns. They are in Brigadine order founded in Ireland. Their mission is education.
Having nuns serve Robert pasta must have triggered some deep admiration from his days at Saint Matthew School.A rare moment of Gino Secondo drinking water.
Guided Tour
Another part of our day was a guided tour of the abbey and church.
Photo rotated 90 degrees to see the carved faces.An example of Cosmateque paving. This intricate stonework is derived from the Byzantine style and was popular around Rome in medieval times.During a restoration, they turned this slab of marble over to discover . . .. . . this.
Cucina Luciana!
Luciana made passatelli for Robert! Robert assisted. It is made with breadcrumbs, grated cheese, zest of lemon, and grated nutmeg. Cooked in a beef broth that Luciana made. Robert’s mom often made this for the family. At home they called the dish “worms.” You can also serve this without broth, with a simple sugo of mushrooms and truffles, as we had in Frontone.
From Oderzo. On the dry side.From Oderzo. On the sweet side.
Dinner at Bruna and Tuillio’s
Bruna (yes another cousin) and Tuillio invited us to a great dinner at their apartment in northwest Rome. Bruna’s mom was a first cousin of Robert’s dad (Berardi side of the family). We met for the first time in May at the beginning of our trip in Rome and again in Isola Fossara in August when we were in Serra. An added treat was seeing their daughter Flaminia and her two boys, Tito and Eduardo, who zoomed around and ate everything in site.
Bonnie was able to evaluate her progress in Italian, because when she met Bruna in May, she was completely unable to understand Bruna’s quiet but rapid-fire Italian. This time Bonnie understood almost everything Bruna said.
Zio Giuliano’s 90th Birthday Celebration
Zio Giuilano is Robert’s father’s first cousin. (So Robert’s first cousin once removed.) Giuliano’s mother was a sister of Robert’s grandfather. His daughter Micaela and her husband Maurizio held a celebration at their home. Guests included Walter’s son and family, Gabriella and Dinesh from Tuscany, Adriana and Gino Secondo, Luciana, and B+B. Micaela is an art historian specializing in tours of the Vatican collection. Maurizio is an architect, and we admired the new stainless steel and teak bathroom he designed for their apartment. Stunning.
Robert joked with Maurizio saying that the only problem with the party was that there was not enough wine! We started with champagne, went on to a white wine from Pesaro, followed by an Amarone (very good!), and a moscato dessert wine that went well with the birthday cake. Also lots to eat.
We asked Giuliano how he got involved in the film industry and he said his brother Walter found him a job. His first experience was on the production side of the famous film Umberto D. He went on to work with De Sica, Fellini, Rossellini, and others. Giuliano became an assistant director on many films and then transitioned to distribution for a large theater chain. He remembers the night that he, his brother, a very young Sophia Loren, and some others were eating dinner after work, when Carlo Ponti walked over to the table to say hello. Giuliano saw Carlo lock eyes on Sophia and knew this was a momentous event.
Robert commented on some of the artwork in the room and learned that the pieces were character sketches from some of the films that Zio Giuliano was involved with, showing Anna Magnani, Juliette Messina, and others. This led to Zio Giuliano showing us this newspaper article written in 2017 about his career in the film world. Translation of caption: ”La Dolce Vita. Above starting on the left, Giuliano Benelli with Federico Fellini and Anita Ekberg. Above with the producer Angelo Rizzoli. To the left Benelli today and in the past during a promotion with a minister of the time. To the right, a toast with the beautiful Anita Ekberg.”Robert asked Zio Giuliano if he had copies of the Sophia Loren fumetti (graphic romance novels) that his brother Walter directed. Giuliano showed us this book that contains many of the editions, including one below that includes Sophia, Zio Giuliano, and Zio Alfredo (father of Luciana and Adriana). Pretty cool!
Zia Vula
Yes. Another cousin. Vula married Giulio Bartolini. His mother Zaira was one of Robert’s father’s aunts (a sister of Nonno Delfo). She met Giulio in Greece during WWII. She lives in Rome’s Olympic Village constructed in 1960. At the age of 94 and a bit hard of hearing, she lives alone. For the summer months, she joins her son Paolo and his wife Franca at their home on a Greek island close to Athens. When there, she loves to sit on her balcony to look at the beach and the people strolling by.
We had a great conversation with her about her life. She took many classes at the university in Rome with a focus on history and art. She is an optimist at heart and only spoke about the positive things in life. A good role model to say the least. It was a delightful visit.
Olympic Village1962 – Olympic swimming venue with Giulio and Vula’s three sons.1962 – L-R: Stefano, Paolo, Zio Alfredo, Vula, Adriana, Giulio, Giorgio, Abramo, and Emma
Lunch with Gino Primo e Giulio Secondo!
One last get together with Gino Primo.
Via Nomentana(L-R) B+, Giulio Secondo, Marta, Gino Primo, B, and LucianaGiulio and Marta
Excellence—Roman Food Exhibition
Held in Renzo Piano’s new exhibition hall La Nuvola (The Cloud). We were guests of Sandro and Claudio whom we met when we took their olive oil workshop in Todi. They were exhibiting there for the first time. Located in EUR (Esposizione Universale Roma) built by Mussolini for a world exposition, La Nuvola stands in stark contrast to the facist architecture of the late 1930s.
The exhibition held a variety offerings, including olive oil, wine, gelato, health foods, cured meats, and, of course, chocolate.
Renzo Piano’s La NuvolaOur hosts—Claudia and Alessandro with their olive oilsBonnie caught in the act of sampling persimmon gelato!Bonnie sampling raw chocolate (delicious) and comparing notes on the selection at Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco.
Bacon, Freud, The School of London
Courtyard rain cover and funnelVery cool way of keeping the courtyard dry, but at the same time giving us an understanding of how much water is falling.
Or is it Mantua? Yes, to both. Mantova is Italian. Mantua is English.
We headline our post with a bit about our extraordinarily lovely Airbnb hosts Giorgia and Andrea. They are a charming couple, warm and funny, and they enjoy meeting people. Ah, to be young and with purpose!
They met us enthusiastically at the apartment, guided us to a parking space, and helped carry our luggage. By the time they left we were so charmed that Robert said, “I feel like I should get them a gift!” Robert saw them the next morning at the nearby cafe when he was having his cappuccino and brioche, so he had a chance to get to know them better. Unfortunately we did not meet baby Alice because she had a slight fever, but we heard a lot about her. When it was time to leave Mantova, they messaged us to say they wanted to come say goodbye. So sweet. We would like to take them home with us.
They offer two apartments through Airbnb. We complimented them on their sense of design. Clean design throughout. Light switches where they should be and in a logical order. Andrea is an architect. Giorgia seems to be the go getter in letting the apartments. She is always busy. Her parents live nearby. Both Giorgio and Andrea were raised in Mantova, although Andrea more in the center of town which he says makes him a stranger to the folks in the neighborhood.
Andrea, Giorgia, and B+Easy drive from Vicenza to MantovaThe lakes served as a barrier to invasions in medieval timesOur apartment was a short and pleasant walk to the downtown.The neighborhood includes an Irish bar.
Wanderings
Robert’s cousin Luciana recommended Mantova. With a population of 48,000, it is small, but the downtown is filled with more retail than you might expect. The town is surrounded by three lakes built in the 1200s as a defense against invasion. This makes a dramatic entry as you drive across the long low bridge between two lakes with a picture postcard view of the town ahead. On our first night we took an evening stroll along a lake on our way to the city center. A longer route, but very pleasant. Saw a boat with guys fishing. Joggers too, along with a few romantic couples, including ourselves!
Mantova’s main square is quite large but lacks a sense of urban vitality at this time of year. The museums are quite good. They probably hold the best collection of in situ art we have seen on this trip.
This is the town where Romeo was banished and it is the town closest to the birthplace of Virgil, the most important poet in classical Rome. The Gonzaga family ruled in one way or another for about 300 years. Strategic marriages (one to an eleven-year-old), one family member elevated to a cardinal (they held strong ties to the Vatican), alliances with other powerful empires, and strategic elimination of enemies including a few cousins kept them in power.
We are glad we came. Worth a two- or three-day visit.
They like their river rocks. Hard on the feet.Robert wonders about the story behind the photo. Robert dug out his Icebreaker undershirt. Starting to get cold.The neatest recycling bins we have seen anywhere.
Palazzo Te
You learn a lot by visiting museums in Italy. At Palazzo Te they were having an exhibit of the works by Giulio Romano (1499-1546) and his contemporaries. Romano was a star pupil in Rafael’s studio in Rome. He was also an architect and worked on this palace, having been courted by the Gonzagas to leave Rome and work in Mantova.
The exhibit explained that before the reformation, eroticism was very popular in painting. Raphael, among others, was well known in this regards and apparently it was a lucrative subject. After the Reformation, the Church put a stop to erotic art, at least outside the Vatican. But there is always a workaround. Apparently, if the scene was inspired by classical literature, it was acceptable. In fact, a cardinal hired Rafael/Romano to paint erotic classical scenes in his private bathroom in Rome. These scenes— The Sixteen Postures—were copied and engraved and became a best-selling book.
Palazzo TeThe Fall of the Giants
Palazzo Ducale di Mantova
This vast complex contains several museums, a church, four gardens, several courtyards, and royal apartments. There are so many choices of things to see that we were paralyzed at the ticket counter trying to decide what combination of things to select.The Garden of Simples (medicinal herbs)PomegranatesGonzaga familyRobert is thinking this might be a great addition to the living room in San Francisco.YoungOld Ceiling labyrinth with the words Forse chesi. Forse cheno. Maybe yes. Maybe no.
Teatro Bibiena
An academic science lecture hall. Seats about 325. Used for concerts and opera too. Thirteen-year-old Mozart played here shortly after the theater’s opening in 1769.
Basilica Concattedrale di Sant’Andrea Apostolo
Painted. Not sculpted.
Saint Lawrence’s Rotunda
Built around 1100, this church was “buried” by surrounding buildings only to be discovered in 1907 when the comune was demolishing buildings for a new thoroughfare. They abandoned the road construction and restored the church.
Cattedrale di Mantova
Sig. Similar to your grandfather’s marble paving.
Cibo e bibite
Riso alla pilota—typical dish here. Rice and mixed with crumbled sausage.The snacks arrive with the drinks and are always free.Bonnie spotted this on our wandering around town. This is bigoli territory, and Robert is eager to make bigoli with his torchio when we get home.They make bigoli here with two types of flour—00 and a yellow one to add texture (Robert thinks that is semolina), plus an egg.Bigoli sardelle (sardines). This was the STRONGEST, MOST INTENSE flavor that Robert has ever had. Their bigoli measures about nine inches. We saw it elsewhere at 18 inches.Recommended by our Airbnb hosts. We went twice.First time. We know . . . bigoli twice in one day!Second timeYes. We know. Tortelli di zucca twice in one day.Vittorio Z suggested that we have Tortelli di Zucca (made with squash and in season now). Lightly coated with butter. They are slightly sweet with a dominent cinnamon taste (think pumpkin pie). Very good.
Easy drive from the cousins in Oderzo. So easy that we also searched out a pasta machine company on the way, as we mentioned in the previous post.
Palladio’s Vicenza
When you go to Vicenza, you can’t avoid absorbing Palladio’s Italian Renaissance architecture, his sense of order, and his adorned aesthetic. Andrea Palladio (1509-1580) practiced in the Venetian Republic, but his books spread his influence well beyond—to Thomas Jefferson and the designers of many English country houses. Going to the excellent Palladio museum in Vicenza and seeing many of his buildings gave us a clearer awareness of his style. He designed churches, palazzos in town, villas in the countryside, and a theater. In all cases, his work promoted his clients’ standing in society.
Here’s what we learned, with apologies to Palladio experts.
Palladio loved symmetry (Duh!) Symmetry is order. And a perfect universe has complete order. Palladio was constantly striving to achieve this order in his work. He embraced Greek and Roman architecture. Perhaps this was a reaction to the dominant piecemeal building patterns of the medieval ages. His clients in Vicenza often hired him to give order and importance to their urban residences, which might be made up of several adjacent buildings without a cohesive appearance or monumentality.
Palladio had valuable mentorsandpatrons Influential people moved his career forward with education, writings, and referrals to clients. Palladio’s work in Venice is an example of this. After a referral to an important client, and then other referrals from him, Palladio became chief architect of Venice and then rose to be chief architect of the Venetian Republic. At times he was so busy that his clients in Vicenza complained he was not giving them the attention that they paid for. (Any architects out there have this problem?)
Palladio delivered high impact at low cost As a teen Palladio excelled as a stone carver, and with his drawing skills, he was promoted through the ranks and was soon noticed by his first mentor. His broad experience with stone construction enabled him to design and build structures efficiently. As an example, rather than using expensive stone, he created columns with specially made pie-shaped bricks that were smoothed, put in place, smoothed again, and covered with a light coat of plaster. They look like stone, but cost much less. Lower costs brought him clients that could not have otherwise afforded a building of monumental scale.
Palladio paid attention to details We enjoyed seeing how he broke up large building facades visually, without losing the overall unity. Columns often start and stop on a single floor. Columns take on a different characters from floor to floor. Balconies and focused appliques of ornamentation further break up the massiveness of a facade when needed. And more often than not, large, over-scaled statues punctuate the skyline.
It seems to us that in most of his work within the city of Vicenza, he applied a new facade to an existing building or cluster of buildings that were difficult or too expensive to rebuild from scratch. In his suburban villas, however, he could apply his theories of form with less constraint. The villa La Rotonda is one of his best works. He was given free rein on its design and siting.
Villa Almerico Capra detta “La Rotonda”
Bonnie didn’t realize she had a bucket list until she saw this famous villa and realized she was making a big mental check mark. The client, a priest from the Vatican, gave Palladio complete freedom to site and design his retirement villa on a hill just outside Vicenza. (We walked there.) Some say it is the only building that fully explores and exemplifies Palladio’s theories of architecture.
The building is a combination of a cube and a sphere that fits inside it. The four sides of the villa are identical. Palladio sited the building to give four differing views of the countryside. The building’s corners are oriented to the primary compass points—north, south, east, and west—for optimum sun exposure inside. Interior photography is not allowed, but what surprised us is how intimate the building feels. The scale is very human. We could imagine people living there.
In the Palladio Museum of Vicenza
Teatro Olimpico
Designed by Palladio for the city of Vicenza but completed by another architect, Scamozzi, after Palladio’s death. The seating plan mimics ancient classical theaters but is covered. As was typical for Palladio, he made the project inexpensive by using wood and plaster for most of the construction. The elaborate street scenes on the stage were designed by Scamozzi. In Vicenza they still use the theater for opera and other concerts. It seats about 350.
Wanderings
Vicenza’s center is lined with retail. Not a lot. But quite a bit. They must have the highest number of eyeglass stores per capita in Italy. (The Luxottica company headquarters are not far away.) You see plenty of walking tours in the city but most are in Italian. A few in German. We heard none in English. You hear English spoken on the street and see clusters of young, fit guys with short haircuts strolling in the evenings. Caserma Ederle, a USA-run military base, is in Vicenza.
The streets fill in the evenings with families (lots of kids and strollers) and couples on dates. Robert noticed that the women (not the men) get all dolled up whether on a date or with their friends. Dogs are prevalent too. We saw a lot of greyhound-like dogs in this town and two unusually furry Jack Russells. One on this energetic breed was named, appropriately, Rush.
In Vicenza we saw more begging and selling of roses and inexpensive scarves. Many of these people are fairly insistent. Some of this activity seems to be alcohol or drug related.
Our street. Apartment entry on the right. A lovely modern one bedroom with the critical washing machine.This appears to be a poster celebrating a student’s graduation. Kind of neat!Robert saw this store clerk washing the windows before the store opened. Never see this in the States.Street market with lots of jewelry. Vicenza has been known as a center for gold jewelry for centuries. Now it has a jewelry museum, the headquarters for Roberto Coin jewelry, and workshops that produce jewelry for Tiffany, Prada, and others. There are many craftspeople in town who design jewelry in plastic, ceramics, glass, fabric, and other materials.A bit of Santa CruzGraffiti from 1912We, among others, spotted two nutria here.
Diocesan Museum
Worth a visit.
Silver model of Vicenza about two feet across, designed by Palladio. Destroyed by Napoleon’s troops. Recently recreated. So much extraordinary needlework in Italy by unknown women artists
A day trip to Sant’Eulalia and Bassano del Grappa
Chiesa di Sant’Eulalia
Robert asked his hiking and fishing buddy Sig Paulazzo if he could do anything for him when we were in the area his father’s side of the family came from. Sig asked Robert to find this church and photograph the floors his grandfather Sigfried Paulazzo finished installing in 1915. Sig’s dad was seven years old. Robert’s dad was two.
We got to the church only to find it locked. After several strolls around the church and several failed phone calls, Robert was ready to give up when he spotted a woman unloading cleaning supplies from her car. She had come to do the bimonthly cleaning and opened the church for Robert to photograph. Divine intervention!
Bassano del Grappa
Robert has often seen this town on maps and was curious to go there. Gino Primo’s family comes from this area. The town is just south of the pass that leads to Bolzano and eventually Innsbrook. The area between the town and the mountains was the site of significant WWI battles.
Palladio’s wooden bridge undergoing restorationFinally saw someone flyfishing!Made a visit to their store on Palladio’s bridge.Yet another Marchesin store!
Yes. Robert still knows how to change a tire.
A curb with a sharp edge got in the way of the left front tire. After Robert installed the spare, we found a gomme (tire repair and installation). In about twenty minutes they put on a new (used) tire because the one Hertz had on the car was well beyond any safety limit of wear and tear. Robert will add this to his list of complaints when he writes to Hertz. The bright side is that the total cost was only 25 euros (about 29 dollars).
Hertz tire
Cibo e bibite
We ate here a few times. Good food. Low key.First timeSecond timeThird timeBassano del Grappa
Now, to be specific, my cousins are Trevigiani. They live east of the Piave River and according to the patriarch Costante Marchesin and his daughter Mirella, that made them Trevigiani, NOT Veneziani. Trevigiani is a more specific designation, although no one seems to use that distinction these days.
In years past, the Trevigiani spoke in such a strong dialect that Robert’s father could not understand them when he visited with the family in 1962. Robert’s mom, who was brought up with that dialect at home in San Mateo, served as the translator. When she was growing up, her father insisted that they speak in the Trevigiani dialect at home. Robert’s mom did not learn English until she attended kindergarten.
After Venice we spent a few days with Miryam, Alessandro, and the boys to say hello and goodbye. We caught up with other relatives in the area too! About ten households. We really enjoyed our time with the family here. Each time we learn more about their daily lives through our lens of retirement.
A simple, autostrada-dominated, one-hour drive from Venice. We deviated a bit to go to Vittorio Veneto for lunch.Places visited during our stay..Nocciola sums up everything about being Italian when the weather gets below 65 degrees. While Italian people wear scarves when it gets cold, Nocciola is carefully wrapped in a blanket and set on a cushion for her night’s sleep, uninterrupted by any drafts. (Her neck is protected because of a recent mishap.) She is so comfortable that she often does not want to get up in the morning and go outside.Michele, Nocciola, and LeonardoAlessandro leaving for work around 6:30 amTypical breakfast. Leonardo and Michele leave for school at about 7:00 am. The liceo (high school) is in Conegliano, about a 25-minute drive from home. Italian schools in this area start at 8:00 am and finish at 1:00 pm, Monday through Saturday. Both boys are in the same liceo that focuses on science and mathematics. We drove to Belluno (one hour north of Conegliano) to see Michele in his second game of the season. Italians call this sport basket. Unlike in American schools, sports are separate, in private leagues. It was a close game, but . . . .
Vittorio Veneto
Our trip from Venice to Oderzo was short so we decided to have lunch in Vittorio Veneto. Found a nice place filled with locals and with local dishes. Robert had Radici e fasioi, a very typical dish up here. It is made with fresh radicchio lathered in a puréed bean soup (think refried beans) with diced lardo (think diced prosciutto without the meat). Very tasty. Good for a cool fall or cold winter day. On our trip in 2001 with Robert’s parents, his mom ordered this in Pordenone. She remembered it from her childhood.
Radici e fasioi
Dinner with the Marchesin Family in Treviso
With all these Marchesins, we know this is confusing. Michele is the son of Robert’s mom’s first cousin Mario Marchesin, so he is Robert’s second cousin. The family has been in the clothing industry for centuries. Focusing in the past century on knitwear.
The waiter was enthusiastic about the swordfish. (L-R) Eleonora, Elisa, Michele, Ludmila, B+, BJeff: Brand new Trasher sweatshirt1962- Michele Marchesin is the baby held by his mom with his father Mario behind. Michele’s brother Leonardo is to the right.1962-Mario showing Robert and his parents one of their knitting machines. He and his wife had the first license in Italy to import cashmere.We took a nice long walk around Treviso after dinner. The town is bustling with activi;ty.Marchesin gift from a bakery on the ground floor of their apartment building in Treviso. Good!
Dinner with the Zanette Family
Not cousins, but they should be. Marisa Zanette is the sister-in-law of Robert’s aunt Angela in San Mateo (wife of Robert’s Uncle Rico). Marisa and her son Francesco live in Conegliano, while her daughter Silvia and husband Davide live in Florence. (Yes, they did the 4.5-hour drive to see us . . . so very nice of them.) Vittorio, son of Marisa, recently married Daniela and they live nearby in Cappella Maggiore. We all met at Marisa’s home, drank a fine bottle of prosecco, and then went to the Trattoria alla Sorte for a real Italian Sunday family lunch in the country in Costa Alta Conegliano. We caught up on our lives and Robert had no time for photos at the table!
View from the trattoria(L-R) B, Francesco, B+, Marisa, Vittorio, Daniela, Silvia, and Davide
Benedet Family
Bruno Benedet married Mirella Marchesin (sister of Beppino and Silvana Marchesin). At 90, Bruno is home most of the time, but his son Andrea, an accountant, moved his office close to his father’s house so he sees Bruno many times each day.
Andrea Benedet with his dad, Bruno1962—Bruno, center in red shirt with his wife Mirella Marchesin. Handsome couple.Guiseppe (Beppino) and Angela Marchesin1962—Beppino with his sister Silvana
A Day Trip
We took off late morning one day to explore a few places in the area: Pordenone and Portogruaro.
Compared to our visit in June, the fields we drive by are now beginning to take on their autumn colors. Vineyards that were lush and full of grapes in June, have been harvested and are showing off hints of yellow. Some vines have already lost their leaves. Most of the corn/silage has been harvested along with the sunflowers. The sky is grey most days and the weather is cool. Compared to the heat of June, it is quite a treat.
Pordenone
A port town on the Noncello River. It was under Roman rule and subsequent rule by Venice and Austria, and finally annexed by Italy. A fairly sleepy place but it made a nice short visit and a place to have lunch and a gelato of course!
Bonnie remembers going here with Robert’s parents during their trip in 2002Robert was disappointed that the waiter did not blink an eye when he cleared the table.
Portogruaro
Located on the Lemene River, this is also a river port town and a comune in the Metropolitan City of Venice. We just picked it out on a map and were pleasantly surprised by what we discovered. Gruaro seems to mean the home of the gru (the water birds).
No photo perspective correction will work. The campanile is leaning “a bit.”Robert thinks thIs restaurant specializes in wild game.
Dinner out with the Marchesins (Miryam, Alessandro, Leonardo, and Michele)
Why, oh why, did Robert take pics only of the food?!
Bottene
As some of you know, Robert has a torchio that he purchased from Pastabiz on Harrison Street in San Francisco. They carry a wide range of pasta machines for restaurants and commercial establishments. Famous New York Italian restaurants get their equipment here. Robert’s torchio is the smallest they offer and is operated like a large cookie press. You turn the handle on top and the pasta emerges from the bottom through a die. You insert different brass dies to make different pasta shapes. Robert discovered that the torchio manufacturer was located on the way to Vincenza, so we stopped in, saw the small family-owned business, met the owner, and purchased a few dies. One die that Robert wanted was out of stock, so they made a new one in ten minutes. Very nice folks.
After purchasing a few torchio dies, we had lunch nearby.
Before we forget . . .
A few items to capture in our blog before we forget.
Typical bread stick from the Veneto. You see this included in the bread baskets.A great present from Miryam and Alessandro; You use these to keep your bottled fruit and vegetables submerged in the canning liquid. Perfect for Robert when he preserves hot peppers.A must in Italy to fight off mosquitos. It is made with icaridin, better than Deet because it seems not to have the same side effects, like damaging plastic. Look it up in Wikipedia. Used in bug-proof clothing. Needs to have a minimum of 20 percent icaridin to be effective.
Part 2 of our travels in Venezia includes an opera on our first night, followed by two days at the Biennale, and a boat tour of the quieter parts of the Venice lagoon. Of course, we also fit in museums and a few churches. Sorry to disappoint as this post does not include photos of drinks or food (see Part 1 for that.) But first, the opera!
Opera at Teatro La Fenice
Bonnie is the opera buff, so as we were driving to Venice she explained to Robert the plot of the opera we would be seeing and the various characters. She played a few arias on YouTube and even sang the beginning of one. But as the music for the first act began, she realized she had the wrong opera. It was not The Marriage of Figaro, composed by Mozart, but the prequel, The Barber of Seville, composed by Rossini. Bonnie pointed out that the characters are all the same, just younger in the opera we saw. The upside is that Robert now knows the plots to both operas.
Robert really enjoyed this opera. It is a great comedy. The La Fenice theater is relatively small compared to Palermo or San Francisco. The seats were great—you could see the facial expressions of the cast. But most of all, the cast, especially Julian Kim, were theatrical in all aspects and really seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was infectious to us and the rest of the audience.
Julian Kim as Figaro was a standout. Watch for him. After an arson fire in 1996 that gutted the opera house, they selected Aldo Rossi as the architect for the rebuild.
Biennale—Arsenale
We have been to the Biennale before but did not have much time to see the art. Besides some pieces scattered throughout the City of Venice, the main displays are in the Arsenale and the Giardini. We went to the Arsenale, the old ship-building yard, first and a few days later to the Giardini, the lovely park setting.
We found some of the art interesting. Robert thought there was too much reliance on videos that were often too long. Some seemed to be documentaries made for other purposes. Some, conceptually, were one-liners. Although the New York Times critic was disappointed by the number of already known artists, we found their work to be among the highlights of the show.
One artist brought a ship that sank off Southern Italy killing more than 800 immigrants trapped inside. Sobering.
Biennale—Giardini
Not part of any exhibit, but a delightful courtyard.The robot is programmed not to allow the brown liquid to seep beyond a given distance. Artists from China.It continually scans. rotates. and sweeps back the liquid to keep it in check, creating a constantly changing pattern around it. Hypnotic.Entrance to the cafe and snack barU.S.pavilion. Martin Puryear.Pavilion built around three treesFog machineDon’t ask. We don’t know.
Boat Tour
Through Airbnb, Bonnie booked the Venice Tour by Boat with Rachel and Marco. Both from Venice. Both very nice.
The two-hour cruise was delightfully low key. We skirted around the touristy places to see islands way out in the lagoon. Although they offer the tour in English, they obliged us by switching to Italian. When you are in Venice, do a tour with them. Beautiful boat. Reasonable price. Unusual view of Venice.
One of the few remaining boats used at one time to haul coal into Venice.Cruise ship being towed into VeniceStationary fishing nets. The fishermen go out each evening to raise the nets and see what they have caught.Abandoned hospital. The island was once used to quarantine people with the plague. Marco says, from the experience of his clients, that the place is haunted. Robert thinks it would be worth an overnight camping trip.Heading through the BiennaleSubmarine in the ArsenaleGalileo’s observatory in VeniceThe yellow barge is part of MOSE, the controversial and not-yet-completed project to block water from entering the lagoon during high tides.
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
A must for us each time we visit Venice.
Basilica dei Frari Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari
This basilica is very close to our Venice apartment. Robert sat across from it many mornings while he had his cappuccino and brioche.
“C” is for Chuck B.
Scuola Grande San Rocco
Scuolas were established by Venetian men, perhaps in the same craft, to promote Christianity and act as a mutual aid society. The Scuola of San Rocco focused on music and painting. It was one of the few that were successful financially and their ornate meeting place contains some of the best works of Tintoretto.
Cimitero di San Michele
For health reasons, the cemetery of Venice was established on a nearby island in 1807 and expanded in 1836 by attaching a second island. The cemetery became the mandatory burial place for Venetians soon after Napoleon occupied Venice. Famous people buried here include Stravinsky, Brodsky, Doppler, Diaghilev (lots os ballet toe shoes left on top of his monument), Ezra Pound, Robert noticed one Russian woman called the Wandering Princess because of her many amorous affairs. Although she was not a resident of Venice, she died and was buried there. You never know what you will run across.
Although photographs are not allowed, Robert, in true Italian fashion, went ahead and took a few. It is difficult to understand why some places allow photos and others do not.Although all the flowers in the cemetery appear to be plastic, the cemetery has stations for watering cans.Newer mausoleum. Nicely designed with interior courts planted with trees to give relief and respite from the walls filled with inscribed vaults.
Gallerie dell’ Accademia
Church and Abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore
The church, designed by Palladio, is on its own island next to the Giudecca. The campanile offers great views of Venice and, as Bonnie points out, the Cipriani Hotel that George Clooney and his wife Amal frequent.
Venice challenges everyone’s navigation skills unless they were born and raised here. Google maps are useful up to a point, but you need to interject logic and memory. Do I turn to the right at the store with the gloves on display? Or do I proceed to the yellow rusted sign that points to the Rialto in two opposite directions? After a while you gain confidence about where to go, only to find that you indeed took the wrong turn.
Even with the hustle of Venetians going to and from work and on errands, Venice is spectacular in a quiet way. The autumn light in the evenings casts a patina over the multi-colored buildings and the aqua green waters. Varied street lighting creates corridors of darkness that often erupt with window displays of any-sort-of what-you-believe-to-be-Venetian goods.
Just be sure to locate yourself away from the centers of activity, like St. Mark’s or the Rialto, because there the streets are filled to the brim with tourists, many in groups from cruise ships.
Venice. We have been here before on short visits, but this time we stayed for nine days, which eased the pressure of trying to see lots of sights in a short period. It also allowed Bonnie to sleep late most days.
Florence to Venice. About 5 hours including a stop for a bite and diesel.Bonnie chose the San Polo neighborhood.Our apartment at Calle del Forno, 2526, near Campo FrariOur apartment on the right was located on one of the minor working canals in San Polo.
Views from our Kitchen Window
If Robert was fast, he could capture the changing scenes outside our kitchen window. The sound of boat traffic going by started with early morning store deliveries and construction workers. Later in the day, we would see the occasional gondola interspersed in the boat traffic. Very pleasant.
The owner of the apartment. You can contact her directly.
Getting Around
Getting around Venice likely involves roller luggage, a porter, water travel, and of course feet. We parked our car in a massive parking structure on the Tronchetto island, near the cruise ships. From there, we took a people mover to Piazzale Roma, from which we made a 30-minute walk to our apartment. The route involved a few bridges that required us to hand carry our luggage up and down the steps. But not a big deal. People with lots of luggage or great distances to travel use porters. Robert would see them busily at work in the early morning hours while he was having a cappuccio and brioche (cappuccino and cornetto).
The vaporetti are the main public transit system. Think of a bus on the water. Difficult to figure out the routes at first, but not bad once you got the hang of it. One 60-euro ticket was good for seven days. Well worth the price. The boats slide in and out of yellow-banded floating waiting areas and load on either side of the boat depending on where the stop is enroute. The people in charge use ropes to secure the boat and then offer their stable arms to the elderly stepping off the boat. Bonnie frequently saw older folks extend their hand in anticipation of this service.
Just to make it clear, Robert offered to take Bonnie’s luggage over the bridge. The good news is that Bonnie’s right arm is now strong enough to carry some weight.Vaporetto stopWhile gondola rides cost 100 euros for 30 minutes, you can ride one (called a traghetto) across the Grand Canal with Venetians for 2 euros. This was on Bonnie’s list of things to do.Once on land, your feet will be the mode of transportation.
Wanderings
Sketch materialSketch materialSketch materialNo photographs are allowed inside St. Mark’s basilica. This mosaic is outside in the arcade. Looking closely, you see it depicts the story of Adam, the creation of Eve, and Eve giving Adam the forbidden apple. Unclothed before. After the apple, clothed.Garbage collection is door to door. Everything is sorted and recycled.You can also bring your recycling to specified areas with marked bins between 6:30 and 8:30 AM.At FortunyWe (and that includes Robert!) bought some great scarves here made in Thailand, Japan, Italy, and India.Foggy morning on the way to the Rialto MercatoGondola repair yardOffertory box
Wanderings—1962
Of course Robert is including some pics from the family trip in 1962! We know you want to see them! After viewing what Venice is like today, we are amazed at the large number of pigeons and the few number of tourists in San Marco Square. Note also the small number of boats on the Grand Canal. Things change.
Emma—Nice shades!
Coca Cola
Robert remembers seeing this poster either in 1962 or 1968. Pigeons and corn were the key ingredients. He saw this hanging in a cafe in Vincenza and took a pic for old times sake.
Burano
Burano is known for lace and there is a lot for sale there! It is also known for its brightly colored houses.
It is important that the stripes of the gondolier’s shirts are dried horizontally.
Murano
Murano. Glass. Murano. Glass.
Jeff: Something for the office.
How much is a cappuccino and cornetto in Venice?
It depends. Robert has paid as little as 2.50 euros and as much as 5.50 euros. Turns out it depends partly on the time of day. He was told that after 9:00 AM, the price increases. He was also told by a local that it depends on whether you are a tourist. There seems to be a sliding scale. The price does seem to stablize after you go to the same place two or three days in a row.
Spritz—What to Know
You can order a spritz anywhere Italy. Usually they offer you an Aperol spritz. You can also have one with Campari and in Venice with Cynar. We find the Aperol too sweet and Campari too strong. At home, we use an aperitivo called Cappelletti because it tastes like what we have drunk in the Veneto on prior trips. Robert searched all over Italy for this and even contacted the company, which was rather evasive about where to find it. He did not find it. No one seemed to know of it.
In Venice you can have a spritz made with the aperitivo called Select. When you order your Spritz Select, be sure to order it with prosecco, otherwise you might get it mixed with water only. Costs less, but not the same. Many places include a few tidbits to eat too.
If you find Select in the US, the recipe for a spritz is on the back of the bottle.This is a spritz without processeco.
Cucina a Casa
One of Robert’s wishes was to get an apartment in Venice with a kitchen so he could buy fish at the Rialto Mercato in the morning (fish available Tuesday through Saturday) and cook it for dinner. The fish was always fresh, and the costs were about half of what we pay in the US. Robert only wishes he knew more of the fish that they offered. Next time.
Sarde (sardines)Sarde in saor. You need to marinate this for at least 48 hours for the best taste.Alici (anchovies)Gamberoni (big shrimp)Tonno (tuna)Mixed fish: Tuna, salmon, swordfish. Robert forgot to take a photo of the pasta he made with this fish!
Mangiamo Fuori (Eating Out)
First timeSecond timeThis is a place we discovered on a much earlier trip and Bonnie succeeded in finding it again. (Robert is glad her memory is still intact!) Located on quiet street in the Giudecca, it is quite nice and offers truly Venetian dishes. Highly recommended.Espresso correcto. (With grappa.)
Gelaterie
No need to worry. Bonnie continues her (re)search for the best non-dairy chocolate gelato.
ISL stands for Italian as a Second Language. English is first in Florence.
You walk through crowds in Florence and hear Americans exclaiming: Oh! We finally made it! or I think we should go this way. Robert heard an elderly guy say to his friend: I need to pay once in a while! I did get 2,000 euros in cash. Not exactly an item you want to advertise in a crowded city. One Italian woman said to her friend in English: The American guy forgot to give them to me and now I am left without. . . . Plus a good one by a young Australian woman to her friends while in line for tickets to the Pitti Palace: My roommate has become a full-time stripper, not because she has to, but because she wants to.
So, if you speak in Italian to someone like a waiter in Florence, most respond in English. Some will switch to Italian (thank you!). And a smaller number say Tu parli Italiano molto bene! with a surprised look on their faces.
Florence is beautiful. It is compact although we did walk seven miles a day. We stayed in the San Frediano neighborhood of the Oltrarno (the less touristy south side of the Arno River) on a fairly quiet street. Local restaurants. A grocery store. Even a butcher shop. It took only about 15 minutes to walk across the river to the big sights.
Our apartment was in an ZTL (Zona Traffico Limito), which means that traffic in the area is limited to residents and commercial vehicles with permits. If you drive in without one, a camera makes note and you receive a hefty fine. To avoid this, you can use a parking structure for 30 euros a day where they issue a parking permit or you can park outside the zone for 7 euros a day and walk in. Guess which we chose.
Bonnie signed us up for two tours. One on the highlights of the Uffizi Gallery and the other on the history of the Medici family. We talk about these with the photos below. Seeing Renaissance paintings in the Uffizi, this time accompanied by a great guide, really helped us understand how the pre- and post-renaissance styles fit into the bigger stream of art. This was a welcome break from all the baroque architecture we have been seeing.
Wanderings
Scary stairs up to our apartmentNeighborhood meeting notice that included a discussion of the invasion of Airbnb.Moon and Jupiter unite.Sketch materialFor Jeff. Robert should have bought one.At the Ferragamo MuseumEllin and Callie: Ferragamo’s instructions to a textile makerSanta Maria NovellaFlorentine steak (T-Bone)Arno. Arno.
Galleria degli Uffizi
After being to the Uffizi many times, having a guide this time was great. Helped us understand the Renaissance in context of prior and post art movements.
Uffizi means offices. They were the offices of the Medici family who had a small collection of art that expanded over the years. Anna Maria Luisa (1667-1743), the last of the Medici, bequeathed the Uffizi and its art to the people of Florence with the condition that it be open to visitors from around the world.
Our guide. Look him up next time you are in Florence.Elongated fingers were a symbol of elegance.During medieval times, women shaved their foreheads to achieve a receded hairline—a sign of intelligence and the upper class.Botticelli, gay, was enamored with a particular woman in Florence, and he used her likeness in many of his paintings. He requested to be buried next to her.Botticelli often included symbols of fertility in his paintings.Botticelli often included his own likeness in his paintings.Note: All the faces are of the same woman model. You see this a lot once you look for it.Michelangelo did this work on commission for 40 gold ducats. But the client didn’t like it and refused to accept it. A friend told him he was crazy not to take a work by Michelangelo, so the client changed his mind. Michelangelo told him the price was now 80 ducats. The client paid. Michelangelo ended up a rich guy.We took the left for Bernini.Bernini did this at age 15. Robert was mowing lawns at the same age.
Medici Family
We enlisted another guide—Elisabetta Gabellini—for a walking tour of Florence with a focus on the Medici family. She was great telling us stories about who married whom. About which brother was assassinated on Easter morning at mass in the church with the consent of the pope. The Medici family make The Godfather and Game of Thrones look mild in comparison.
The Medici family tree. Three centuries in control of Florence.Elisabetta was great. Look her up too when you are in Florence.Bonnie with our expert guide Elisabetta Gabellini.Elisabetta with her friend Simone, the owner of Alimentari del Chianti near the Pitti Palace. His two sons spent the summer in Stockton!
A Lesson on the Medici Coat of Arms
No one knows the origin of the Medici coat of arms. What is known is that the number of balls varied over the years. The following is a sample of what we saw.
Doorbells—Not a Medici coat of arms.Air vent—Definitely not a Medici coat of arms.
I Libri del Granduca Cosimo I
The library of Cosimo I (Medici).
Michelangelo-designed staircase.Each seating area had books on a particular subject. The hanging text shown here listed which books were on this shelf.How to measure distances
La Basilica di San Lorenzo
The parish church of the Medici family. Florence is considering completing the face of the church with Michelangelo’s design.
Pitti Palace
Purchased and enlarged by the Medici at the urging of a wife who wanted a home with a garden (Boboli) outside the center of city. A second-story enclosed corridor connects it to the Uffizi and the Palazzo Vecchio, across the river, about a kilometer away.
InlaidBotticelliRafael self portrait
Boboli Gardens
Medici gardens next to the Pitti Palace.
Forte di Belvedere
Chiesa Santa Maria del Carmine
Stunning frescos by MasaccioAdam and Eve. Apparently Brazilian waxes were available in the Garden of Paradise.
Santa Croce
Saint Francis of AssisiOne of many Della Robbia pieces in FlorenceGalileo’s tombGalileo’s tomb—Note the planets orbiting the sun.
Cibo e bibite
Robert’s early morning cappuccino and cornetto.Down the street from our apartment. We went several times.First timeCervello fritto con fiori di zucchini fritti Funghi frittiSecond timeWe had lunch here twice.First timeSecond timeFor some reason, Robert insisted on going here for dinner.Also near our apartmentTonno Chiantina (pork)
Gelati
Bonnie continues her exhaustive research.
Scary stuffToo crowdedVivoli Gelateria—Robert’s first time there was in 1972 with Carl S. on the recommendation of Gale C.
Aunts: Aunt Norma and Zia Angela Marchesin in San Mateo. In past years, Zia Lucia Sabbatini in San Francisco, and Zia Santa (Bartoloni) Sabbatini in Rome. Four. That’s it.
First Cousins: Adriana and Luciana Sabbatini, the sisters in Rome and sometimes Serra. Two. That’s all.
Second Cousins: Whoa. On his dad Abramo’s side, Robert’s grandfather Filodelfo Sabbatini had six sisters, and his wife Giacinta Berardi had maybe two brothers. So there are second cousins in the Bay Area all the way to Nevada City as well as in Le Marche, Umbria, and Rome. We keep discovering more. On his mother Emma’s side, his grandfather Costantino Marchesin had two brothers, resulting in lots of cousins in the Veneto. His wife Maria Luigia (Gigia) Piccoli had siblings too, but Robert is not aware of how many. Some of these cousins live in the Veneto region. Some in Brazil.
Everyone Knows We’re Not Italian
How do they know? We walk into a place and before we open our mouths they reach for the English version of the menu or start chatting to us in English. They aren’t sure what we are, but they know we aren’t Italian. Bonnie is probably too tall and pale to be Italian. But Robert? When they try to guess Robert’s nationality they guess Dutch, German, French, and other things, but almost never American.
Food and Allergies
Italians are highly attuned to everything about food, and this includes food sensitivities, which they take very seriously. Restaurants often include the government-prepared list of allergens in the menus. (Bonnie is a number 7, sensitive to milk products.) Some menus then tag each dish with numbers, making it easy for Bonnie to skim through and avoid dishes with the number 7. But when the printed menu doesn’t have those details, the servers are usually knowledgeable about ingredients. In California, Bonnie often has to explain that although, yes, she is sensitive to dairy products, no, she does not have a problem with eggs. No one in Italy is confused about what dairy means.
Dogs
Yes, there are Labradors in Italy, but mostly Bonnie sees dogs of her childhood. Spaniels, beagles, dachshunds, and various other retrievers—dogs rarely seen in San Francisco. Jack Russells are popular, especially in Perugia. Each city has its distinctive population. In Rome, dogs are big. In Sicily the mixed breeds (appropriate to Sicily that has Greek, Spanish, French ancestries) are confounding. And everyone picks up after their dogs. No messes on the sidewalks. Cousin Luciana claims that dogs have become common in Italy just in the past decade.
Music in Restaurants
Music in restaurants puzzles us. Lyrics are almost always in English. Much of the music verges on 80s disco, even in restaurants that are quite dignified and mature.
Overheard Phone Conversations
Most often overheard: “Ciao, mama,” and discussions of food for the next meal.
The Personal Touch
We are sometimes frustrated by poor signage or sketchy written instructions in Italy, but Italians don’t expect you to do things yourself. They expect to help you.
Example 1–Polizia in a Small Town
Pink-cheeked policeman in Macerata. Our navigation device failed to find our hotel in this small medieval town, and after a couple of frustrating loops around town in the car, we flagged down a policeman on foot to ask if we could drive into a pedestrian-restricted street. He pleasantly redirected us, sent us to a piazza to park, met us there, and walked with us to the hotel lobby, entertaining us along the way with information about local museums, offering to take us, and playing the NBC Today Show with Jenna Bush app on his phone to demonstrate how he practices his English. When we arrived at the hotel, the clerk took over with the same high level of assistance and sly humor, driving our car from the piazza to the hotel, giving us detailed directions to a public parking structure beyond the city wall, calculating our parking fee for three days, and giving us the right number of coins for the machine. Wow. With all this personal attention, our landing in Macerata could not have been softer. Bonnie and the policeman continued to wave to one another at least once a day over the next few days.
Example 2–Not Your USA Post Office
Italian paperwork. Bureaucratic forms here are frightening. Long and difficult to understand. Bonnie compared notes with two other Americans who also needed to tackle the forms for a long-term stay. We had all conscientiously downloaded the forms and filled out what we could before appearing at the post office. No. No. No. At the post office they expect to fill out the forms FOR you, WITH you! It is assumed you will get personal attention.
Example 3–Museum Staff Are Here to Serve
Museums. Bonnie is amazed by the large number of staff at museums and the individual attention they expect to give you. Sometimes buying an entry ticket takes forever because the family in front of you is getting a thorough orientation from the ticket seller. At some specialized museums, such as the Inquisition Museum in Palermo or the antique pharmacy in Scicli, a staff member accompanies you (just the two of us) throughout the visit. At the carriage museum in Macerata, the docent saw us get into a carriage, rushed over, inserted the postcard we had selected into a slot, and set us off on a (stationary) bumpy ride to the next town created with video on three sides. Fabulous. We would have never figured out how to do it. Also in Macerata, four of us tourists got a 90-minute free tour by a knowledgeable docent through a fabulous modern Italian art collection, a historic library, and the city clock tower. It is not possible to visit these spots on your own. We learned about the tour because while we browsed in the spacious local tourist office, the young clerk behind the desk could not resist shouting across the office to us, engaging us in personal contact even when we were 20 feet away with our backs turned. Personal attention whether you want it or not.
Example 4–Pharmacists. Walk with Me. Talk with Me.
Pharmacies. The ultimate in personal attention. Buying Tylenol in Italy is nothing like going to Walgreen’s and picking up a bottle of 100 or more for less than $20. At a pharmacy in Italy, you will definitely have a dignified personal encounter with a pharmacist. Italians use pharmacies the way Americans use urgent-care facilities. And in Italy, almost all the pharmacy products are behind the counter. Even if you are browsing for something out in front like toothpaste or sunscreen, a pharmacist quickly appears at your side to consult. To buy the Italian equivalent of Tylenol, you go to the counter, ask the pharmacist, she disappears for a minute, then reappears with a package of 20 tablets for 9 euros. Antacids? 20 tablets for 9 euros. Decongestants? 12 tablets for 12 euros. Ask for two packages. She may have two. Ask for three packages, she will not have three. Which means you will return the following week for another personal encounter with the lovely, well-trained pharmacist. And if you need organic baby food, they have that too.
Retail Geography
Bonnie has honed her urban geography expertise in the spatial organization of retail, something probably unrecognized by her male geography colleagues or even the few female ones. For example, you arrive in a smallish Italian city at 4 pm and want to quickly find the local passeggiata? If there is no obvious main square with cathedral, check Google maps for the location of the Luisa Spagnoli clothing store. It will be on the main retail strip attracting the most pedestrian activity. This brand of women’s clothing, barely known in the US, is ubiquitous in Italy.
Depending on the size of the town, you might also check for Benetton, Max Mara, or Sephora. Bonnie can tell you which regions of the country and which size towns support which brands. Max Mara women’s clothing will have the most desirable location. Sephora will be within a block of its cosmetics competitors: Kiko, MAC, Douglas, and Wycon. Benetton will be in every tiny town in the North, near the mother ship in Treviso. Bonnie isn’t shopping in these places (except Sephora), but using them to figure out how the town is organized. This is helpful when she is looking for a hotel or Airbnb apartment in a central location in a city she doesn’t know. But, of course, Venice breaks all the rules.
Bonnie and Robert spend their time in rarified historic districts, seldom venturing to an outlying shopping mall for the equivalent of Target or Home Depot. But some historic districts seem like genuine places and others like Disneyland. To Bonnie, the mark of a real place is a fabric store or two. It suggests that women she would like to meet live nearby. For Robert it is a macelleria (butcher shop). These retail businesses let us know a true community exists here.
Bonnie and Robert especially like mercatos and explore them all. Both the covered permanent markets for produce in cities and the weekly markets where traveling vendors set up their stalls in even the tiniest towns. The Thursday morning mercato in Macerata surprised us by filling one piazza, stretching up a steep street and into another piazza, and pushing tentacles out beyond that. Shoes were especially prominent, because Le Marche is filled with shoe factories. Purses, too. Bedding and towels looked tempting. The prominent displays of men’s and women’s underwear are always amusing. One or two vendors offer housewares. Cheap clothing is abundant in every market at prices of 5 to 10 euros (6 to 12 dollars). Italian women mix high and low even without H&M or Zara nearby. A dress from Max Mara and a scarf from the mercato are common on stylish women.
It’s Getting Cold for Robert
Yikes. Robert is becoming even more Italian. Evidence: The temperature drops to 72 degrees. Bonnie is relieved. Robert is feeling chilly and looking for a long-sleeved shirt or even a jacket or maybe even a scarf.
Pacelupo—This is from a photo taken in 1962 – iPadPacelupo—This is from a photo taken in 1962 – iPad Pacelupo—This is from a photo taken in 1962 – iPad Florence – 04 Oct 2019 – iPad Florence – 04 Oct 2019 – iPad Florence – 05 Oct 2019 – iPad Florence – 05 Oct 2019 – iPad Florence – 05 Oct 2019 – iPad Venezia – 09 Oct 2019 – iPadVenezia – 10 Oct 2019 – iPadVenezia – 10 Oct 2019 – iPadVenezia – 11 Oct 2019 – iPadVenezia – 11 Oct 2019 – iPad Venezia – 12 Oct 2019 – iPad Venezia – 13 Oct 2019 – iPad
Yes. Rome again. Mostly errands, but also a pleasant Sunday lunch with the Roman cousins. Then off to Tuscany to reunite with one of Robert’s long-lost second cousins.
Rome
It was a simple drive from Naples to Rome. Although getting out of Naples in morning rush hour traffic was terrifying for Bonnie, who was only half awake. Cars and scooters coming from all directions at all times on twisting streets at high volume. All with scrapes and dents. Pedestrians stepping into traffic unexpectedly. But Robert, the driver, was undeterred.
Wanderings
We did a quick errand in Rome near the upper end of the Spanish Steps. (Bonnie needed new sneakers.) We were surprised to see many less tourists than a few months ago. As we walked to and from our bus stop, in some areas of central Rome we hardly saw any people at all. A pleasant change from Naples and from the busy summer months.
Since our last time in Rome, the city has banned people from sitting on the Spanish Steps. The stairs seem empty.
Marta’s New Job!
Cousin Marta, a college student, picked up another job near the store where she works part-time. The restaurant serves piadine (Another name for crescia. Or is crescia another name for piadine?). Very nice casual place. Very good food for a light dinner. And it is near our favorite gelateria Gori. So, dessert after dinner is a must.
Dinner at Adriana and Gino Secondo’s
Adriana and Gino Secondo invited us for dinner at their home in Monterotondo—about 30 minutes outside of Rome. Great food (as always). And Gino did his part too (serving that is).
Lasagna Bob Colegrove—I am sure Adriana will fix you lasagna when you make it to Rome.Seven layers—no mozzarella—bechamel.Coniglio con porchetta.Extra course—trippa!Sardegnian sweets
Porta di Roma on a Sunday evening
Porta di Roma is a LARGE shopping mall about 15 minutes from Luciana’s home. We’ve been there before. But this time when we got there about 6:00 PM on a Sunday night it was packed.
The red lights indicate the parking stall is occupied.
Traded in the Leased Car
Our car lease was expiring, and turning in the car was very easy. Because we had full insurance coverage, they were not concerned about the “few” dents and scrapes Robert picked up in our journeys. Then we went to Hertz for a rental car. Robert is not happy. The car is totally banged up and the interior is filthy. More to follow with Hertz when Robert returns home.
7,580 miles in 5.5 months on the leased car
Another Cousin!
Yes. One more second cousin. Gabriella. Her mother Ebe was first cousin to Robert’s dad Abramo. (Remember that his dad had six aunts on the Sabbatini side of the family.) Robert needs to do a family tree!
Gabriella and her husband Dinesh live in San Casciano dei Bagni, Province of Siena. The town has been known since ancient times for its thermal baths—public and private.
Gabriella practiced psychiatry for many years in Britain’s public health system, dealing with extreme mental illness. She had some great stories to tell. Her husband, Dinesh Sethi, also a doctor, recently retired at the mandatory age of 62 from the World Health Organization where he specialized in injuries including those from war and land mines. Like all good professionals, he is now consulting for a few months each year.
After living part time in San Casciano for a few years, they bought a property outside of town and renovated a farm house from the 1700s. An exquisite job especially when we learned that the ground floor was the quarters for cattle and pigs. The separate guest house where we stayed was used for the sheep. The garden was nonexistent except for the cypress trees, a few olives, and some oaks. You drive up to the home on a very long gravel road. The house is set on a hill overlooking a big sweep of Tuscany. Quite a view. It is always changing with the light and cloud-fog cover.
Robert had not seen Gabriella since 1974 when she visited London near where Robert was working. It was great for him to reconnect and to meet her nephew Matteo. Matteo‘s mom Patrizia (Gabriella’s older sister) is an archaeologist and has done extensive work in Laos, Vietnam, and Myanmar. She specializes in areas that have been badly impacted by war.
We made it a point to invite ourselves to come again the next time we make it to Italy! We think that Gabriella and Dinesh agreed.
Patrizia, Gabriella, Ebe (L-R)—1962 Note: Gabriella’s hair style has not changed!Garden harvestThe kitchen. Once a place for cattle. The pigs were housed beyond the arch.Matteo Cucarzi (chef and son of Patrizia Zolese)Guest house (old sheep barn)
Pienza
Gabriella and Dinesh took us on a drive to see a few sites in the UNESCO-recognized countryside. Despite the rain, we made it to Pienza and explored a medieval church.
Pienza—Sante Messe
Pienza—Wanderings
Fall crocus
Arezzo
On our way to Florence, we stopped off in Arezzo for lunch and a walk. Worth a half-day excursion. Much of the city near the train station suffered heavy bombing in WWII. But the city is now lively, attractive, affluent, and known for antiques.
We drove out of Napoli around 10:30 AM through heavy local traffic. Bonnie noted that most of the cars around us had some sort of scrape or dent, and usually several.
Bonnie decided we should see the Royal Palace in Caserta on the way. To say the palace is opulent is an understatement. It was built by House of Bourbons-Two Sicilies as a residence for the kings of Sicily, and it was planned to be bigger and grander than Versailles. Designed by Luigi Vanvitelli (there is a subway stop named after him in Naples near the apartment where we stayed), construction started in 1752. The palace has five floors and more than 2.5 million square feet divided into 1,200 rooms. The king would need a few servants to keep it in shape! The king located the palace 20 km from Naples to keep some distance from possible insurrection in the city.
We first strolled through the park, which is quite expansive, relying on long vistas and masses of trees surrounding planes of lawn for its impact—not a detailed, manicured landscape as at Versailles. There are a few special areas like the fishing pond and the miniature castle/fort.
The interior shows you what one can do with an unlimited supply of marble, gilding, muralists, crystal, and the extraordinary amount of wealth. It helped to be a king.
They even have a vast presepe on display. Note again that the clothes reflect the time when the presepe was built, not the time of Christ’s birth.
We award Pompeii a full WOW! Even though Robert had visited before, this time we learned so much about the daily lives of people at the height of the Roman Empire.
Bonnie decided that rather than drive, we should take the train from Naples to Pompeii for the day. Three modes of travel were needed: funicular down the hill from our apartment, metro underground, and train. Total time about 1.5 hours. Painless, but standing room only on the train. Bonnie thwarted one pickpocket on the train as he moved into position near an American couple on their way to Sorrento.
When you arrive at the Pompeii rail station, you are first barraged by guides, ticket sales, buses, and people hawking drinks and food.
Bonnie had arranged a tour at 2:30 through Airbnb, but we got there early to see a bit and grab a bite to eat. Once inside the gates, the atmosphere calms down. Same number of tourists but in a much larger area. We met our guide Sergio, an archeologist, along with 15 other folks. He was very good and what follows are highlights from his tour and Wikipedia.
We did not know quite what to expect. Robert was there in 1962 and remembers the plaster casts of the people caught in the ash. Bonnie, visiting for the first time, was surprised by how many of the walls are standing, giving you a clear idea of buildings, streets, and neighborhoods. For her, this brought together in an exciting ways her high school Latin class and lots of recent reading about Ancient Rome. Although we have all heard about the catastrophic eruption (catastrophic for its residents but a boon for tourism today), touring the site gives you a strong sense of everyday life for Roman households.
Pompeii was a settlement long before the Romans took over. Greeks were there for a while and then locals called Samnites controlled the settlement until the Eutruscans took control. Pompeii eventually fell into the hands of the Romans around 89 BC. Of course, once it became a colony of Rome, Pompeii enjoyed a constant supply of water, good roads, a better sanitary system, etc. All of this sounds familiar doesn’t it?
Pompei is sited on the coast on an old lava flow about 40 meters above the water. It had an important port that the volcano filled with debris. As a port town, it had extensive trading connections throughout the Mediterranean and served as a safe harbor for boats from foreign lands. It was a walled city with many gates, the most important gate met the road leading to the port. The surrounding fertile land provided sufficient produce and meat, and excellent wine that they exported far distances.
About 40 percent of the residents were middle or upper class. They had large homes with walls separating them from the street. The homes opened to a central courtyard. Around it were a place for a door guard, an office for conducting business, and perhaps several small bedrooms for the residents and guests after the home was secured for the night. During the morning, the front door was open to allow clients to enter. The guard managed the visitors and made sure no unwanted person entered the home. The roof slanted inwards to collect rainwater in a shallow pool in the courtyard called an impluvium, that in turn flowed into a cistern. There were no windows through the outer walls, so the courtyard allowed light and air into the house. Some houses had a second story.
The upper- and middle-class homes had kitchens, but the rest of residents did not. This accounts for the more than 80 food stalls uncovered to date. Plazas close to the main civic square were dedicated to sales of food, clothes, and other items. Interspersed between the homes were numerous small shops that had sliding wood doors with canopies that covered the sidewalks to shelter users from rain and sun.
Being in the place and hearing stories from our guide, we could imagine a lively trading center with business conducted in homes in the morning hours. The more well-off families gathered for meals in their homes (shut off from the street) surrounded by frescos of family members and tantalizing themes.
There was lots of street activity throughout the day. Shopkeepers hawked their stuff as they do in mercatos today. People moved back and forth on daily errands past plastered walls, many brightly painted with frescos or political campaign slogans asking for your vote. (They held elections every year.) Materials were delivered throughout the city. All of this was accompanied by smells from the open sewage system, oxen and horses, and food prepared in homes and food courts.
Most sidewalks were ample to handle the number of pedestrians running errands or going to the public baths. If you were confused about where you were in the city, you could look at one of the water fountains. Each had a unique carved figure specific to its neighborhood.
There was an outdoor amphitheater for plays and a smaller covered theater for music recitals, both free to the public, although the seating for dignitaries, middle-class males, and women was segregated. And, of course, the legal and illegal brothels provided further entertainment to a segment of residents and visitors.
Of course, all of this came to an end.
While the residents of Pompeii were used to frequent small earthquakes, they experienced a devastating 5.0 to 6.0 earthquake 17 years before Mount Vesuvius blew. The Romans were in the process of rebuilding the city and had not finished all the work at the time of the eruption.
Before the earthquake, there were about 18,000 residents. Afterward, the number was only 12,000 because some had moved away. Mount Vesuvius had not erupted in 1,200 years so no one was prepared. Vesuvius erupted in November 79 AD. Many people were killed by inhaling the toxic gases before they were covered in 13 to 20 feet of ash.
Pompeii’s location was unknown for centuries. It was thought to be only a myth. Then in 1592 a construction project revealed some traces of the city. This prompted excavations (looting) to retrieve statues, marble, and other artifacts. This grab-and-go action also took place shortly after the eruption. Archaeologists recently found graffiti on a house shortly after the time of the eruption that said “house dug.” Professional archaeologists took over excavation in the 1860s, resulting in what we see today. One third of the total 170 acres remain to be uncovered because current funding has been focused on preserving what has been unearthed.
In the 1800’s, archeologists made plaster molds of the voids left in the ash after the bodies decayed. Several are on display, including a dog. Robert remembers these from 1962 and a National Geographic issue on Pompeii. They no longer make plaster molds because it degrades what remains for analysis.
As we stood in the midst of what is left of the city, having walked its streets and plazas and hearing stories from our guide, we could imagine that real people lived here. So glad we came.
We highlight more of what we learned in the photographs below.
And for those of you anxiously waiting for the X-rated portion of this post . . . be patient. It is at the end.
Check this site out if you REALLY want to dig deep into Pompeii.Pompeii’s sidewalks were raised above the road to allow plumbing (waste water) to flow into the streets that were constantly flushed with running water. Raised stones allowed pedestrians to cross the street. The gaps allowed carts to pass through.Note the tracks worn into the stone by Roman carts.Each neighborhood had a source of water. The overflow went into the streets to flush away the sewage. Each water source had a specific figure above the spout to identify the neighborhood.Walls were covered in plaster.The Sabbatini family in 1962. Note: no sundial on top of the white column and no iron brackets on the column to the right.SundialModern sculpturePlaster form of a woman who died of asphyxiation during the eruption. Roman women at that time had an average height of 5 feet 2 inches. Roman men were on average 5 feet 7 inches.Young man covering his face.Dog The next photographs show a community bath used by men and women, scheduled at different times of the day.The inscribed lines in the ceiling catch the steam vapor to direct the water down the ceiling, preventing drips from falling on the clientsRaised flooring allowed steam to heat the floors and hollow walls of the baths. The distance from the heating source determined the hot, tepid, and cold rooms.One of the many food courts uncovered in PompeiiImpluvium used to gather water from the roof. This type of pool was a feature central to most houses.No chariots or carts allowed beyond this point. (Jane H.: Pretty effective, yes!?)Entry to a homeAmphitheater on the left.
X-Rated Pompeii
All these people are waiting to see paintings on the walls of one of the legal brothels in Pompeii. Phalluses carved into the street stones directed clients to the brothels. Today, you can have your guide lead you there or use a map.
Scholars believe the erotic paintings served two purposes: 1. Provided a menu of what was offered in the brothel, 2. Gave how-to instructions for first-time clients.
We have added photos of other erotic paintings and artifacts taken from Pompeii years ago and placed in the National Museum of Archaeology in Naples. Kirk P. remembers he and Adria taking their teenage kids there.
We should note that phallus symbols could mean, beyond the obvious, power and happiness. The people of Pompeii were not shy about displaying such images at their thresholds or on the walls of their homes.
And Robert remembers none of this from his trip to Pompeii with his parents in 1962!
This painting is from a home.
Next stop—the Royal Palace of Caserta as we drive to Rome!
Not for what we saw, for what we ate, or for the people we met. We award the WOW for Napoli‘s extreme in-your-face attitude. We arrived in the early evening and took a walk in the lovely Vomero neighborhood to find the streets packed with people of all ages walking, talking, and drinking.
Kids played soccer. Babies slept in their strollers. Young women met in groups for a spritz or two. But most of all everything is done with the VOLUME turned up high. The presence of scooters everywhere keeps the noise at high pitch. Our experience was overwhelmingly indescribable both in sound and sights. Think of a North End (Boston) street festival in the summer. Think of a schoolyard filled with ten-year olds at recess. Think of an Irish Pub on Saint Patrick’s day with a world championship soccer game on the tube at 2:00 am.
People on their phones argue with a large waving of hands accompanied by many facial expressions. The same goes for one-to-one conversations. After a while, you realize that the folks are definitely in disagreement, but that it does not seem to last after they finish the conversation. Friends remain friends unless they are strangers to begin with. Robert wishes he had done a sound recording. Next time.
No matter where you are in Napoli, the streets are filled with people all day long. It does take a break around 8:00 pm after drinks when people head home to have their dinner around 8:30. Afterwards, it picks up again at full throttle well into the night. We are asleep by then.
After being in sedate places, it was quite a change. It makes Palermo look like a quiet, sleepy city. (Domenico A.: Not really, but there is marked difference between the two.) Unlike Palermo with its two main retail streets in the city’s center, Napoli has many streets lined with shops and filled with people. The retail here seems to never end.
Worth a visit? Yes!
Getting There
We took the route that went along the coast for a bit and later went through rolling mountains with towns perched on rock outcrops.We saw these trabucchi along the Abruzzo coast. This is a traditional fishing method. The wood sheds stand at the edge of deep waters. The fishermen use the poles to extend nets that are dipped into the water to retrieve fish swimming along the coast.
Wanderings
Our place in Naples was in the Vomero neighborhood with easy access to public transit, both metro subway and funiculars.Other than a flood in the unit during a rainstorm, the stay was good.Italian clothes Chinese pricesThis woman showed up on Sunday, and after her coffee, she ordered a beer. At 9:00 AM. She’s a regular there.Dante speaks to the cables and lights.Sketch materialFor JeffDittoDittoSanita neighborhoodSketch materialSketch material. Really!
Galleria Umberto
Beautiful shopping gallery originally opened to stimulate an economically depressed area of Naples.
Still undergoing a cleaning
Opera San Carlo
The most famous and lavish opera house of Italy is in Naples, so we had to take a tour. Actually, Bonnie had to take a tour. Robert went along and really enjoyed it.
San Severo Chapel Veiled Christ
No photos allowed. This is from the web.No photos allowed. This is from the web.
Museo Archeologico Nationale di Napoli
Artemis of EphesusHercules
Presepe
In 1972, Robert took a class at UC Berekeley in Baroque architecture of Rome by Stephen Tobriner. Tobriner showed the work of various architects, including Borromini and Bernini. For Bernini, he emphasized how the architect captured moments of action or an element of discovery. He attributed this partially to Bernini’s youth in Naples where he was exposed to the presepe (crèche scenes) that portray people in action, not stiff characters standing in formal poises. Robert never realized exactly what this meant until he saw several presepio exhibits in Naples. The detail is incredible. Just think of what they could have done with HO trains!
One interesting aspect is that while these show a biblical scene, the people are dressed in the clothes of the time they were created, eating the food of the time, etc.
The height of the figures is smaller as they recede further into the scene.One Naples street is devoted to presepe. This includes figures of soccer teams.
Santa Chiara
The bright ceramic tiles made this a lively space for the cloistered nuns.Extraordinary needlework
Catacombs of Naples
There are several catacombs in Naples, but we visited the largest, also known as the Catacombs of San Gennaro, on the Capodimonte hill. These catacombs date back to pagan times and were later taken over and expanded by Christians into larger spaces for worship. There are two levels with some frescos still in place. Each slot could hold several people and would be enclosed by stone with a plaster overlay on which were frescos. This helped family members locate their deceased.
Duomo di Napoli Basilicata di Sant Restituta
This basilica contains a chapel dedicated to the patron saint of Naples: San Genarro. The chapel is filled with silver artifacts of all kinds made by neapolitan artists during the height of the baroque period in Naples. No photos allowed unfortunately. The chapel was funded by the citizens of Naples. Even though the church tried to take control of the chapel, it remains under the City of Naples jurisdiction.
Of interest is an amulet that contains what is purported to be a small amount of the saint’s blood—hardened. The amulet is presented to the public three times a year. We missed the last event held on 19 September. When presented, the solid blood usually liquifies. If not, tradition holds Naples will experience a catastrophic. The blood did not liquify in 1980. In 1980 Naples had a major earthquake.
Transit
Jane H: Naples has several funiculars that traverse the hillsides. Unlike San Francisco’s cable cars, these are working transit lines and not just for tourists.
Funicular.Metro subway station. Down deep.Metro undergroundTrain stationTrain platformOh yeah. And buses too.
Underground Naples
OK. This is for the guys. Bonnie stayed upside in the air and sunlight eating gelato.
There are two layers to these caves. The first (the upper level) were dug by the Greeks who first settled Naples. They used the space for living. We assume to escape warring factions. Access was by vertical shafts. No stairs or ramps. Later the Romans expanded the caves to serve as cisterns. Even later during WWII, the caves were used as air raid shelters holding up to several thousand people.
Battery candles. Pretty good!These narrow passages were either used to circulate water between the cisterns or for access to workers to keep the cisterns clean.
Cibo e bibite
First mealSecond timeFirst timeSecond timeRobert’s creation at our apartment
A short trip from Macerata in central Italy. A good portion of it on the superstrada.
Pescara. Pescara. Pescara. What to say? It is on the coast. It was bombed heavily during WWII because of the port and railroad junction. This resulted in a lot of new development. The town is flat and laid out on a grid (a welcome respite from our medieval town experiences).
Being a port city, the fishing industry is big. We concentrated on fish for our meals. Unlike in other cities, we did not visit churches, because there weren’t many notable ones, and we went to only one museum—the birthplace of the poet d’Annunzio. We spend most of our time wandering the streets that were filled with people and shops. Not many tourists at this time of year. Lots of kids strolling, running, and on bikes. A good amount of dog walkers too.
This is a beach town. It must be hopping in the summer. Now, well into September, the umbrellas are relaxed and folded, waiting for warm weather to arrive in 2020.
We spent two nights here. Glad to have come.
Wanderings
Our place of stay. Very central. Nice people. Very attentive.Fish tourismFor JeffDittoLeonard: There is more than one.Fascist architecture or the work of Robert Stern?Old town of PescaraFor Ellin K. and Elizabeth B., beautiful clothes from the 1920s displayed in the d’Annunzio museum.Bonnie’s purchase. Not bad for 20 euros!
Cibo e bibite
We went here for two dinners. Simple, fresh, and tasty.First dinnerSecond dinner
We define Wows and MiniWows as experiences that offer an unusual surprise for us. This can be by the magnitude of the experience, by something we never knew before, or by the pleasantness or characteristics of people we encounter. Going beyond our expectations is a must.
So after arriving in Macerata and circling the town twice to find our hotel with no success, we stopped a young, pink-cheeked police officer for directions. Not only did he give us directions, he waited while we parked in a piazza and then walked us to the hotel lobby, chatting about the local museums and sites. He spoke English well and when we asked how he learned, he didn’t give the usual answer that he took 12 years of English in school and then learned to speak it by watching American television. Instead, he pulled out his phone, pulled up the ABC television app, and said he watched Good Morning America with Jenna Bush. (She is actually on NBC’s The Today Show.) Robert wishes he could do the same with a RAI app.
When we walked into the hotel, the clerk teased us about our police escort and then proceeded to walk with Robert to the car out in the piazza to drive it for us through the twisting alley to the hotel. We could not have had a better start to our stay.
Now let’s talk about Macerata.
Macerata is a city of 42,000 with a disproportionately large university student population of 13,000. The students do not dominate the town but they do congregate on several streets and in the central plaza, keeping things lively all day.
We happened to find the town’s terrific information center, open just a month, and told the fellow behind the desk that it was the best we had seen in Italy. Their displays went beyond the normal brochures by including local food, drink, books, road maps, and even videos. Because of the enthusiasm of the fellow at the desk, we learned that for 10 euros, we got access to all the museums, which are excellent, a guided tour of the several places closed to general admission, and entry to the unusual arena where they hold a famous summer opera festival. The art museum was great because it emphasized art by local artists. Impressive work. Macerata is doing well in promoting itself.
Before the trip some Italian friends frowned when we told them we were going to Macerata and asked “Why?” But we found Macerata a great place to visit. Instead of our two nights, make your stay three.
Wanderings
Our hotelView from outside the wall.Pizza rampThe restored planetary clock follows the measurements of time as when it was first designed in 1571. Note the movement of the planets.Video!Death and funeral notices. A familiar sight throughout Italy. Robert likes it.The travertine promenade shines in the setting sunlight.The medieval wall is intact and quite tall in some areas.Old walls used for housing.The weekly mercato takes place in both of the town’s two main squares and wraps around part of the city wall.Jeff: Hmmmmm
Sferisterio Opera Festival
A well-known opera festival takes place in Macerata every summer. The location is an elegant sports arena built in the 1820s. The distinctive half-circle design is simple, making the arena adaptable beyond its original function as a venue for a form of team hand ball. Architects take note. Today the stadium seats 2,500, making it possible to hire major talent to perform here.
Palazzo Buonaccorsi
This musuem was having a Bauhaus exhibit intertwined with 15th century art. Nice contrast.
Caricature of Jose Sert.Madonna with child, 1470.Adrian S., Luciana S., and Mark N.: This painting is titled Polenta Marchigiana (1927). After a closer look, Robert realized there are no dishes, so it is polenta sulla spianatora. Not only that, but there is a loaf of bread untouched and a jug of wine with no glasses visible . . . . no doubt not to be eaten or drunk until after one finishes the polenta, as Abramo and Adrian insisted.
Museo Palazzo Riccardo
This library is filled with old books, some dating back to when the Jesuits started it.
Cibo e bibite
In case you are wondering what our trunk looks like.
Assisi, Todi, Bevagna, Montefalco, and Spelloin Umbria 12, 13 and 15 September 2019
Thanks to Luciana for recommending Bevagna, Montefalco, and Spello.
Yes. More medieval towns. We are now feeling as if we are experts on medieval towns. Here is what we have learned.
Start your town even before the medieval ages. Locate it on a high hill or promontory above the surrounding countryside with views on all sides to be aware of enemies who might be approaching. Build a short wall around the town. When defending yourself gets tough or you are overtaken by a rival power, build a fortress, increase the height of the wall and perhaps expand the wall to take in the growing community. Make sure to have a supply of water in the fortress. If the Etruscans were there before, the Romans probably enlarged the Etruscan gates and walls and and put in place better water and road systems.
The community’s buildings must be on what little land is available within the walls, so build above three stories and maximize the building footprint on the land you have. This will result in narrow streets that usually run up and down the hills. Side passages can be even narrower. This will have implications for cars 800 years in the future, but who cares?
If the old wall is not enough, build one or two more walls to enclose the expanding community. You will want to use hard stone now that cannons have come into use. Brick and soft stone no longer do the job of protecting you. If you haven’t increased the height of the wall, now is a good time to do that. It is ok to use stones from the old walls for constructing new buildings, or, what the heck, use the wall as one side of your new home or business. You can use the ground floor to keep your animals. It will serve as a garage in the future, but be sure not to own a car bigger than an ox.
As a tourist today, you are faced with parking distant from the place you stay, and narrow winding streets make you remember muscles you haven’t used since high school gym class. Large open areas in the town are mostly designated now as pedestrian zones—no cars allowed, thank goodness—but don’t be surprised if you hear a Fiat 500 approaching from behind. Plazas are still used for commerce—the weekly mercato and festivals—but are mostly places for tables under canvas canopies with lots of locals, tourists, and students sipping beers, proseccos, or Aperol spritzes.
In 2019, be happy if some rival power of 500 years ago or a misplaced incentive to modernize did not take down the walls or the fortress in your town. Wander around these amazing examples of medieval architecture and be sure to remember that the Etruscans and Romans were likely there first. Oh, and be sure to take a seat at one of those tables to rest your feet and enjoy your spritz.
Assisi
We have been to Assisi several times before but this time we found it a stark contrast to Perugia. Assisi is FILLED with tourists, mostly evidenced by the abundance of shops selling everything from magnet images for your refrigerator to decorated plates for your walls, and, of course, jewelry. Bonnie read that luxury spas have established themselves in town. So much for spiritual reverence.
Assisi—Chiesa Santa Maria Sopra Minerva
Sopra means over. And yes, that means over a place of pagan worship—a Roman temple.
Assisi—Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi
The upper basilica with frescos by Cimabue and others was heavily damaged in an earthquake and aftershocks in 2011. The YouTube link below gives you a better understanding of what a 5.5 quake did to Assisi.
They do not allow photos inside the church, but Robert snuck one in. The collapsed roof has been reconstructed.
Assisi—Cibo e bibite
Todi
Santuario di Santa Maria della Consolazione
We don’t normally lead off our posts with churches, but this church is emblematic of Todi. Pure Renaissance in form. Some baroque snuck into the interior.
Todi—Wanderings
Todi—Basilica Cattedrale della Santissima Annuziata
Todi—Chiesa e Campanile di San Fortunato
Todi—Olive oil workshop
We signed up for four hours of Olive Oil 101. And it was great. We were the only two “students” that day on an estate out in the countryside. Robert did not take a lot of photos because he was busy listening to (and tasting) the detailed review of olive oil making. Let us tell you about the fragility of polyphenols.
The owners have “started from scratch” buying an old family farm that has olives and vineyards. They are planting new varieties and have consulted with experts in making olive oils and wines—applying science and craft to their product. It is very much a boutique business with orders made only directly with the owners. Well worth a visit if you are in the area. They offer accommodations to stay. Great people. Great views. Great olive oils and wine.
Sleepy little town with a lot of charm that happened to have a small Sunday antique (stuff from people’s homes) mercato going on. Bonnie found a cashmere outlet and bought a scarf. There seemed to be lots of high-end restaurants.
Cashmere shopPotential buy for Elizabeth (but she is allergic to cashmere!)
Montefalco
We visited Montefalco once before. That time a chilly rainstorm forced us into a restaurant for lunch and an unforgettable meal of pasta with truffles. Montefalco was sleepy then, but now it is full of tourists.
This time we also got a lovely surprise because we arrived on the last day of a three-day wine-tasting event with a pranzo (lunch) going of local foods. We tasted local wines and had lunch.
The other surprise was that the town was having a festival celebrating the end of the wine harvest—Festa di Fine Vendemmia—although we still saw grapes on the vines. It was more for local people than the tourists up the hill. We found more than a dozen tractors arranged in a large parking area. Each towed a flatbed trailer decorated in some wine-related theme, like floats for a parade. All draped in bunches of fresh grapes. Each had folks dressed in “native” costumes handing out some sort of free food or glasses of wine. The place was mobbed. Accordion music added to the liveliness of the experience. One of the best images for Robert was a young woman dressed in “grapes” with a LARGE bottle of wine on the trailer behind her. Her father/uncle/friend handed out wine from a large wine jug. See her below.
Wine tasting— Jeff will need to schedule his future trip to Italy to go to this.Sagrantino grapes.
Montefalco—Festa di Fine Vendemmia
Sketch materialSketch material.
Spello
On our drive back to Perugia we fit in a stop in Spello. Arrived late afternoon. Parked at the base of the hill and were not sure how to get through the medieval wall and up to the town. Met a old guy who directed us to the stairs leading to the center of town. Nice fellow. Saw him when we returned to our car a few hours later, and he asked how our walk had been and updated us on his Sunday trying to get the family olives to the mill. He and past generations of his family grew up in Spello.
The town stands out when driving past on the autostrada. Multiple gates touched by the Romans. Spello is worth a quick visit. It has a touch of tourists too.
A short drive from Serra to Perugia in Umbria. So short that we took the longer route to see the countryside.
Although we visited Perugia on past trips, we never stayed overnight. Spending eight days there allowed us to better understand Perugia’s character and take day trips to nearby towns in Umbria. (The next post talks about the day trips.)
We were pleasantly surprised by Perugia. Although it is a city of 140,000, the center is quite compact and adjacent to several student neighborhoods, although these require a climb on steep hills. The population in the center is quite mixed in age. Students sit alongside families with small kids and older folks as they socialize on the two parallel main streets. There are shops that have not forgotten the local residents. A supermarket and a butcher shop are on one of these main streets. You only need to step a block or two away from the city center to become immersed in local flavors and to get your cappuccino and cornetto marmalade for less cost.
Our wanderings around town included a tour of “underground Perugia”—excavations under the cathedral that where you can see Etruscan columns and walls as well as Roman roads and walls. We even made it to a weaving business and museum that uses looms from the 1850s and is operated today by the fourth generation of its founder. It is a combination of history, art, and commerce all rolled into one. Very interesting. Damask linen tablecloths from Perugia were famous for centuries. They were included in the dowry of Catherine de Medici and depicted by da Vinci in the Last Supper. This weaving business continues to produce the traditional patterns as well as new ones commissioned for interior design projects.
Wanderings
Our place in PerugiaVery worn steps up to our room on the third floor (second floor in Italy)View from our window. Church bells all during the night and day. But we could not figure out the logic of when and the number of times the bells chimed.Sketch material A potential gate design for our home Hydraulic bollards are a new touch to Perugia and similar medieval towns. They can be raised and lowered as needed to create a pedestrian-only zone.Sketch materialRobert got excited for Bonnie when he misread this as “palazzo sorbetto.” Oh well.City workers with old-fashioned brooms precede the street sweeper in the truck.Symmetry is very important, even if you have to fake it with paint.Lane to our roomMay look familiar to Susan KearneyWe happened across a performance by a university choral group in a church.For Gino SecondoSigns show how much the university is integrated into the town.
Museo Capitolare, Cattedrale di San Lorenzo
Etruscan columnEtruscan walls. These were seen by the public and therefore were cut neat and trim.Wheel ruts worn into the Roman road.
National Gallery of Umbria
The national galleries are beautifully done. Great collections with lovely spaces, good lighting, helpful captions, and comfortable temperatures.
Saturday Mercato
Because the famous covered mercato of Perugia is being renovated, we had to take the people mover out to a remote parking area for the Saturday mercato.Mercato. 99 centissemi says it all.For Jim and Mary. So much to choose from!
National Museum of Archeology of Umbria
Etruscan tombs below the museum. Each holds ashes of one person. Each has engravings with text (some painted).Some of the most extensive Etruscan writing found to date. Read right to left. This was a boundary marker with the contract explaining a property division between two owners, and it includes spelling corrections (Yes, Chuck, you were right).Silver coin of Marco Aurelio, Roman emperor 161-180 ADOur Roman coin (not silver), which Zio Alfredo found at a construction site and gave to Robert’s dad. Same emperor? Bonnie thinks this may be Hadrian.
Looms—Museum and Workshop
Ellin and Callie—a place for you to see.Punch cards used for damask weaving patterns. Forerunners of computer programs.Fourth-generation owner
Basilica Cattedrale di San Lorenzo
Stained-glass window reflection.
Street Art
Cibo e bibite
PerugiaPerugiaFirst timeSecond timeThird timeFirst timeSecond time
We are still based in Robert’s Italian home town of Serra Sant’Abbondio and this post has bits of this and that. Errands in Pergola, an almost climb to a mountain top, a trip to buy wine and see friends, even a fashion show. No need to hold onto your seats. This read will be a gentle ride.
Places visited nearby Serra
Serra wanderings
Baby food—apple, veal, lamb, chicken, and rabbit.What remains of an abandoned frazione near SerraSerra’s butcher shop, open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The butcher refused to be in the photo, and she ran out the front door to make sure she wasn’t!Serra’s bakery, open Monday-Saturday mornings. The clerk practices her English with Robert who comes in every morning for bread and two pastries (one for Luciana).Great breadGreat pastriesLuciana and Rita review photographs of a local wedding last weekend.
Chiesa di Santissimi Biagio e Abbondio in Serra Sant’Abbondio
Yep, more posters!
Most advertising special events, dinners (sagras), or food.
Pergola errands and . . .
We drove 15 minutes to Pergola to buy vegetables, have lunch, and exchange a faulty Italian debit card at the post office. The exchange went smoothly, and in conversation the clerk Christina mentioned she had relatives in San Francisco. Just for the heck of it, Robert asked for the last name. Turned out to be Magagnini, her uncle and a good friend of Robert’s family. Actually Tony Magagnini lives in Menlo Park, and at the next window the customers Carol and Tony Roselli overheard us and announced they were from Menlo Park and staying in Frontone! Tony is a member of the San Francisco Marche Club like Robert! The world is sometimes smaller than you think.
Tony Magagnini’s niece Christina, discovered by chance at the post office in PergolaA friend of Luciana runs this restaurant on the edge of Pergola. He bought the 15th century villa built first for a carndinal and restored it with his father in the 90s. Red potato gnocchi
Mt. Catria—The hike
At an elevation of 1,701 meters (5,580 feet), Mt. Catria is the highest mountain of the Apennine Mountains near Serra. It is composed of karst and has numerous sea fossils. It served as a dividing point between a variety of nations over the centuries. On top there is a large steel erector-set-style cross, first constructed in 1901, damaged by 1907, and reconstructed in 1963. During reconstruction workers discovered bronze statuettes more than 3,000 years old. So Mt. Catria has been considered a spiritual site since ancient times.
Adriana, Guiliano, Luciana, and Robert decided to hike to the top of Mt. Catria. Since Robert’s last visit in 1972, the locals installed a funivia (two-person carriages suspended from a cable) to make part of the ascent. They met at 9:30 and waited about 30 minutes for the operators to “fix a part.” The trip up took about 20 minutes.
The funivia was installed to promote Mt. Catria for skiing. Local communities committed to fund the project, and developers cleared forests for ski runs. Several new roads were added at the base to reach the lower end of the funivia. The problem is that Mt. Catria gets sufficient snow for skiing only about two weeks a year, and when it does snow, major winds usually blow the snow away. On our hike we saw a crew dismantling some of the secondary funivie that went to higher elevation ski runs. They do promote the area for mountain biking and have a refugio at the top end of the funivia that has a cafe and food service.
On the map posted at the top of the funivia we noted that the hike to reach the cross at the summit of Mt. Catria would take 1.5 hours. However, this did not factor in the Italian conversation time coefficient of 3.12. It took us 1.5 hours to reach a junction of trail and road where the estimate to reach the top was one hour. That coupled with a weary Luciana and the lunch planned at the house in Serra convinced us to turn back and begin our return trip to Serra.
Next time, if he is not too old, Robert will drive to the trail junction and hike from there to the top of Mt. Catria. Bucket list item.
FuniviaClearing for a ski runRobert was surprised that the forests were mainly comprised of alder trees with very little understory.The cross on top of Mt. Catria in the distance.Mt. Acuto, 1668 meters (5,472 feet)Luciana happy to have made it that far on the trailTrail markerChianina is a breed of cattle first used for hauling carts and later in life for their meat. Their DNA matches DNA of cattle in Persia, perhaps a link to the Etruscans who once settled in this area of Italy.Sign post at the road-trail junctionAlder forestIf you look closely and know what you are looking for, you can see Serra Sant’Abbondio in the top far distance right of center.Returned to Serra for our pranzo: fettuccine handmade by RobertOne satiated group.Bought in Conegliano, drunk in Serra
Matelica—Vino e pranzo
We did a day trip with Luciana to see her friends Nery and Renzo in Pioraco with a stop first to purchase wine in Matelica (not Metallica for you heavy metal fans).
Bellasario cantine in MatelicaSmall young fruit, all under grappa. An ingenious use of fruit thinned from trees. Robert may try this in the future.
Pioraco con Nery e Renzo
We went to visit Luciana’s friends Nery and Renzo who live most of the year in the small town of Pioraco, about 15 kilometers south of Matelica. Pioraco experienced two devastating earthquakes, one in 1997 and the most recent in 2016. The result is that 36 families now live in a basic housing complex constructed by the government, and many buildings in the historic center are no longer in use.
The town is in a mountain valley with a river and several streams. Quite beautiful with lots of sport amenities. Renzo spoke enthusiastically about fishing for trout in the area. Robert made a mental note.
Robert had no choice.Luciana wanted some of the action on the bridge too.The town has been known for paper production since the 1300s, making use of power provided by the river. This machine was used in the 1800s to pulverize old cotton clothes, which was then recycled to make new paper. The Fabriano paper company still makes paper here today—some used for banknotes.Built into the hillside, this is only one of three churches in town that survived earthquake damage and is still in use.“The tree that was, 2018.” In the elegant but seldom used passato remoto verb form.Roman bridge dating from the first century BC on the Via Salaria. It has survived all the earthquakes so far.City hall now closed because of earthquake damage.
Mercato Day in Pergola
Robert arrived in Pergola early for the weekly mercato, around 9:00 am. (Bonnie slept in.) Some stalls were still being set up. Robert remembers going to the mercato in 1962, when it seemed very big and impressive to a 12 year old. The market is still big, but some of the magic of 57 years ago has worn away. Still fun though.
It seems as if most pharmacy signs in Italy were designed during the Liberty (Art Nouveau) period. Sketch materialRobert went in to talk to the clerk about fishing. Only lake (pond) fishing for trout around here.
Cattedrale di Pergola
Madonna del Grottone, Petrara
This grotto was used during WWII to shelter locals from the bombings. The Germans retreated through this area, pursued by the Allies. The grotto was abandoned for decades before a local man decided to clear out the vegetation that had encroached on it. He dedicated it to the Madonna and it has since become a place of prayer and meditation. Just 50 meters or so further into the canyon, the mountain rises dramatically. The grotto is near Petrara, one of the frazioni (small hamlets) attached to the town of Serra.
Fashion under the Stars, Serra
Rows of chairs and a red carpet appeared midday up the street near the city hall. All in preparation for an evening fashion show of clothing by students from the high school in Fabriano. About 200 people showed up. Standing room only. Lots of children’s clothes. Lots of families. Lots of fun. Very well done.
Cibo e bibite a casa
One more round
Cibo e bibite fuori la casa
Oops. Robert forgot to take photos of food.
Lunch at Frontone Alta
You remember Tony Roselli don’t you? We met and his wife Carol in the post office in Pergola. He grew up in North Beach and then East Palo Alto but has moved around quite a bit since then. Most recently he and Carol bought a house in Frontone to live in year round. His father was a Marche Club member and Tony knows a few of the same people Robert knows in the Bay Area, including Tony Maganini. You remember Tony’s niece? She is Christina who helped Robert at the post office in Pergola.
Tony and Carol met us in Frontone Alta at the Taverna della Rocca, a must-visit place when you are in this area. The restaurant is known for grilled meats and especially crescia. Always a treat.
The locale is charming, with narrow streets and great views of the surrounding landscape, most of it under cultivation in a patchwork with woods and houses.
Carol Roselli, Robert, Tony RoselliVideo!Their ingredients for crescia consist of flour, water, salt, egg, and lard (strutto). They also baste the crescia with melted lard when it is on the grill. That might make it more flexible.Panacotta with a mirtillo jam. Not bad!Great views!
Cagli
After saying goodbye to Tony and Carol in Frontone, we took a short ride to Cagli, population 8.000. We got there a little too early because the shops did not reopen after lunch until 4 or 5 pm. But we had a nice walk in a light rain. The rain turned into a downpour on our way back to Serra via Pergola with all the dramatic lightning and thunder we now expect in Le Marche.
Torrione Martiniano designed by Francesco di Giorgio Martini and built in 1402. Martini is the same architect who designed the rocca (now gone) in Serra Sant’Abbondio.
Oratorio San Giuseppe—Cagli
More to come on Serra, wanderings, and observations of Robert’s Italian culture
After returning from three days at the coast in Pesaro-Fano, we spent one day in Serra and then took off again to visit Luciana’s son, Dario Forato, near Parma.
But our day in Serra is one we will remember. We were invited by Claudio Pantaleoni, his wife Natasha, and the three children to see their summer house in Bellisio Alto (about 8 kilometers from Serra). During the school year they live in northern France and Claudio teaches religion in Luxembourg, but during the summer they like being close to Claudio’s childhood home in Serra, so they renovated a stone house built around the 15th century. When they were searching for a house, their main objectives were finding a great view of the countryside and being in a quiet area. They succeeded wildly in both. Their view is one of the best we have seen, and they are even deeper in the countryside than the town of Serra.
At the house they treated us to late afternoon champagne and snacks as well as an impressive piano recital by all three kids. Afterward we drove to Pergola (very close) for pizza and more conversation. Major topics were home schooling (they are pursuing it after disappointment with a small French public school), learning languages (they all speak several), the decline of the monastic life at Fonte Avellana, and conflict in Ukraine.
Bellisio Alto and Pergola
Side of the house. Several photos below, you will see the view they have from their window.Pantaleoni house on the leftThey call this the family “tv”—scenery always changing.VideoPergola and pizza
Serra and some wanderings
The next morning we woke early to a great thunderstorm. It reminded Robert of his hikes in the Sierra with Mitch, Jim, and Sig.
Lighting strike on Leccia, 26 August 2109, from the window of our house in SerraVideo! The above with sound!
Cibo e bibite a casa
Luciana’s panzanella, Tuscan style
Sant’Andrea Bagni, Province of Parma
On Friday we loaded our luggage back in the car and headed northeast toward Parma. We were taking Luciana to visit her son Dario and supply him with additional bedding, towels, and food. The predicted 3 hour 20 minute drive on the autostrada took 6 hours 30 minutes. (Friday traffic, August vacation traffic, and a few accidents.)
Dario’s apartment is in a small spa town in the green hills outside of Parma, just ten minutes from his job. The town of Sant’Andrea is (was) known for its terme (hot springs for bathing). It has only one hotel, which faces a wooded park. Very pleasant and laid back.
For almost a year Dario has been away from Rome, working as an engineer at a company that does thermo coating of airplane parts. His degree in aeronautical engineering is paying off, and he is enjoying the work. Unemployment for young people in Italy stands at about 25 percent, so landing a full time job deserves a celebration.
In our conversations with cousins, most of the families with teenagers tell us that because of the economy they are preparing their kids to work abroad—elsewhere in Europe, in Britain, or in the US. This is a real cultural shift for Italian parents, who have long expected several generations to stay in the same home town. But it echos the great wave of immigration from Italy to the US in past decades. Parents we know are focused on English language fluency and job skills for their children.
Serra to Sant’Andrea BagniPlaces we visited near Dario’s homeProud mamma Luciana beams at her son DarioMap of the many castles in the area west of Parma
Cena in Roccalanzona
We ate dinner in the countryside, a short drive from Dario’s apartment. Close enough that everyone knew Dario—the chef, the waiters, and the customers! Great local food. Torta fritta is one of the specialities of the region. And Robert believes this area should be called the Capitol of Maile (Pig Capitol) because the region seems to make full use of pigs in all manner of cured meats as you will see in the photos.
Lambrusco is very popular hereTorta fritta With vegetablesWith squashSquash fillingPotato fillingConiglio (rabbit)Potatoes . . . but you knew that. Bonnie is surprised by the heavy use of potatoes throughout Italy.A few of Dario’s many friends
Parmigiano Reggiano in Rubianno
Dario sent Luciana and Robert to visit Rastelli, a company that makes Parmigiano Reggiano. After Luciana purchased some cheese, she asked for a tour, and we were surprised to get a very thorough look at the cheese-making process. The owner along with two workers were enthusiastic about their work. The owner knew Dario, said what a great guy he is, and said she hoped he would find a “bella ragazza” in the area. Everyone seems to be on the lookout for Dario!
The owner started the tour by explaining that the milk must come from specific breeds of cows who graze in the hills and mountains nearby. They add a coagulant to the milk and pour it into copper kettles with double walls to allow heated water to circulate and warm the ingredients. After two hours, the cheese is ready to be lifted, divided into two portions, and placed in plastic forms to compress the cheese for several days. Next the cheese goes into metal forms for several days. After that, they soak the cheese in salt water (the same water can be used for 30 years), air dry, and place it in a room for aging, for 12, 24, or 36 months. All the steps after the copper kettles take place in refrigerated rooms. They pull off cream from the remaining liquid to make butter and sell what remains to local pig farmers.
Video—Say cheese!If you every wondered (Robert did) how the markings are made on the cheese, now you know.Salt bathAir dryingAging2243 is the identification of their company. It goes on every wheel of their cheese.Without this stamp, the cheese is not Parmigiano Reggiano.Recommended by Dario, in Fornovo di Taro
Parma—Wanderings
Otherwise known as cupcakes
Parma—Giardino Ducale
Parma—Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta
Parma—Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista
Fontanellato
Dario suggested the small castle town of Fontanellato for a Sunday outing. This area of Italy is filled with castles. This castle has a moat, and on the Sunday we arrived there was a mercato that extended far into the town.
Fontanellato—Wanderings
Dario in his GQ pose.
Fontanellato—Mercato
Prosciutto at about six dollars a poundMercato selfie. The clerk wasn’t quite sure what we were up to but didn’t seem to care.
More posters!!!!
Pranzo in Fontanellato
On the way back to Sant’Andrea Bagni
We couldn’t quite figure out what this was until we stopped the car to look. Basil in mass cultivation!From the car Bonnie photographed this station for the high-speed train that we spotted on the autostrada near Reggio Emilia. The architect is Calatrava. Three single-tubed arched bridges (not shown) provide access to the station.We had a great time with Luciana visiting her son Dario!
We spent a few days in Serra before heading to Pesaro and Fano with our cousin Luciana for three days of eating, music, and bureaucracy.
Serra Wanderings
Near SerraEmblems of SerraZia Paola with Robert and LucianaLearned something new. Zia Paola stakes her zucchini. They use less space that way.
Serra—Mercato
Every Thursday there is a small mercato in Serra with great fruit and vegetables and sometimes shoes. (Lots of shoes are manufactured in this region.) There was a bigger mercato 18 August for the summer fiera.
Thursday produce market from our bedroom window. (The vans must squeeze through the town gate.)The bigger mercato features lots of clothing at H&M prices.The bigger market blocks our doorway at number 15.
Fano e Pesaro
We went to Pesaro for three days for Bonnie’s Permesso di Soggiorno appointment, for the Rossini Opera Festival (ROF), and to see our friends Adriana Molarolli and husband Guiliano Giampaoli in Fano. Pesaro and Fano are about 12 kilometers apart, both on the Adriatic coast. They are beach towns with a large fishing industry.
Cibo e bevande con i nostri cugini
We landed at our Airbnb in Pesaro and, first, we agreed to have lunch before we headed to Fano. Second, we decided to eat near the beach instead of in the city center. Third, we found a restaurant on Google. And fourth, while looking for parking, Luciana spotted cousin Guiliano from Rome in a restaurant with his daughter Michaela and her husband Maurizio! What a coincidence. We joined them for a leisurely lunch, and they graciously picked up the tab. Small world indeed! Great fish restaurant by the way.
Zio Guilano—90 this NovemberZio Guilano, wearing shorts, in 1962. Robert in the middle.Three cousins
Pesaro Wanderings
The Airbnb for Luciana, Robert, and Bonnie was the top floor of a condo on the outskirts of Pesaro. Bonnie found Pesaro booked up because of the opera festival, and our “two-bedroom” flat turned out to be one big room with a curtain separating our beds. Oh well. It worked. In the morning Luciana and Robert found a nearby cafe for their caffeine and pastry.
Sketch materialLuciana and Robert discovered this pasta store where they were making some type of ravioli.
Fano Wanderings
We spent much of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday with Adriana Molarolli and her husband Guiliano Giampaoli wandering and eating our way through Fano. (Adriana and Luciana are childhood pals from Serra. Robert met them when he was 12.)
Our first dinner was on the main square of Fano, Piazza 20 Settembre. Adriana’s sister Mirella and her daughter Silvia from London and English son-in-law Jonny, joined us. After dinner we all strolled and stopped at Maki gelateria.
The next day we met at Ristorante Laterna for an elegant fish lunch. And on Wednesday, after a late night at the opera and then an 8:30 am appointment for Bonnie in Pesaro, we strolled the morning mercato in Fano (while Bonnie caught up on sleep). Then we had a great lunch prepared by Adriana, followed by naps for everyone and more Maki gelato.
Mt. Catria in the distance.Piazza 20 Settembre, FanoFor Mark, Jan, Debbie, and AdeleMercato in FanoLuciana stocking up for her son Dario’s apartment near Parma.Video!
Dinner on Piazza 20 Settembre, Fano
Ristorante Lanterna, Fano
Robert saw Adriana Molarolli’s Facebook post about this restaurant several months before our trip and decided we must go. Lanterna specializes in fish. It did not disappoint. Fano is known as one of the fish centers of Italy. Turns out the owner has a friend in Los Angeles who runs the restaurant Angelini Osteria on Beverly Boulevard.
The ownerLocal wine, and we mean local. Ten kilometers from Fano.Passatelli with fishLemon sorbet and meringue
Rossini Opera Festival, Pesaro
Bonnie has long wanted to go to the annual Rossini Festival in Pesaro, and this year our timing was right. We saw Semiramide, a four-and-a-half-hour tragic opera premiered in 1823 set in ancient Assyria with florid belcanto singing over a full orchestra in front of an edgy Freudian set. Wow. It was a fabulous spectacle. One of the props was a 12-foot stuffed teddy bear. The Assyrian queen wore a sassy black business suit and spike heels.
The 1,500 seat theater was sold out, with large contingents from Japan (some in kimonos), Germany, and other countries. This old-fashioned decorative style of singing is seldom heard currently in the US, but it was done fabulously by this cast. In fact, Rossini seems to be popular at operas all over Italy. Robert, Bonnie, and Luciana napped much of the next day.
To hear the whole opera . . .
Permesso di Soggiorno
The morning after the opera Bonnie had an 8:30 am (gasp) appointment at the Questura in Pesaro, the provincial capital, to request permission to stay in Italy for more than three months. Robert is an Italian citizen, so he can stay forever. (Not that Bonnie is hoping he will. At least not yet.) And let’s ignore the fact that Bonnie has already been in Italy for four months. This was the earliest appointment available.
Bonnie had done extensive research online and found conflicting lists of what she needed to bring. These included an official translation of her marriage certificate, evidence of medical insurance, evidence of household income, an Italian fiscal code, form B, Robert’s multiple documents confirming his residence in Serra, four photographs, a photo copy of every page of her passport, a stamp issued by a tobacconist for 16 euros, and on and on. It was a daunting list of things to assemble, but she was thorough. She took her squad, Robert and Luciana, to translate the Italian bureaucratese and lobby for her. These government transactions are not straightforward, even when you come fully prepared.
When we arrived at the questura, the police said, No, no, no. This is not the right office. They sent us to another bland government office a half mile away where we waited with others, many young men from Senegal. In the end we walked two miles in the heat to three different offices, some twice, to get everything, including fingerprints, in the correct order. But Bonnie was approved!
Her final Permesso document will be ready in two to three months (we have to check online), and it cannot be mailed to us but must be collected in person in Pesaro. (The chief clerk in this ordeal delighted in saying to us, This is not like in America.) By the time the Permesso is ready we may be on our way home to San Francisco, but Bonnie is clutching a receipt that should be fine for now.
It was a four-month slap-in-the-face experience in Italian bureaucracy. Actually it was somewhat streamlined because Bonnie is married to an Italian citizen. Cousin Luciana did the heavy work of debating, questioning, explaining, and disagreeing, while Bonnie stood in late-night-opera-stunned silence holding a big folder of documents. We’ve noticed that frequently in the middle of acquiring documents, the government computer system breaks down, a software expert is called to assist, data is reentered, and everyone waits. In addition, the controversial politician Salvini has made everything more difficult for foreigners. He shares Trump’s view on immigrants.
Pranzo (and a nap) at Adriana and Guiliano’s in Fano
Another great lunch by Adriana (and Guiliano). Fish, of course. Mussels followed by a pasta with clams. All fresh. All good. All better with friends and cousin.
Slovenian wine
Gelateria, Fano
The best gelateria in Fano, according to some, so we went several times. Great flavors. We’ve noticed that many Italians get their gelato cones with a large helping of whipped cream on top. And here, in August, the most popular time for gelato has shifted from 5 pm to 10 pm or later.
Crypt of San Biago
Buried in the ground below Serra’s cemetery is a crypt that dates from the 7th and 8th centuries when Christianity was introduced into the Cesano Valley where Serra is located. The columns are of different shapes and were probably from a pagan site elsewhere, if not this one. The crypt may have been underground to hide the fact that Christians were worshipping and to prevent thieves from finding it.
The crypt was recently restored, and you can pick up the key at the city hall. The remarkable part of this visit is that we went with Claudio, Natasha, and their family. We met by chance in the cemetery a few days earlier while Luciana was cleaning the family plots. Claudio recognized Robert from 1972! Robert’s grandfather asked Claudio, then 12 years old, to take Robert to the crypt. It was Claudio’s first time there. They had to dig through a pile of dirt to get into the crypt. Claudio clearly remembers Robert, the American, with long hair, big beard, and large Nikon 35mm SLR camera (Nikon F?).
At the unexpected cemetery meeting Robert showed Claudio photos he made on an even earlier trip to Serra in 1962. When Claudio saw both his grandparents in one photo, he felt this was profound because this was 15 August, the day Italian families reunite.
Now Claudio lives in France, teaches religion in Luxembourg, and has started a foundation promoting peace. His current focus is Ukraine, his wife Natasha’s homeland. The foundation sponsors a student to study outside of Ukraine.
The last time Robert and Claudio met was 1972. Claudio, then aged 12, showed Robert this crypt.AltarAlthough Saint Biagio is known as the saint who cures diseases of the throat, the Serrani say the crypt is great for curing ailments of the bones and muscles if you rub against the stones or lie on the altar.Clockwise from left: Gleb (a visitor from Ukraine), Natasha, Robert, Luciana, Claudio, Laura, Daniele, and Michele
Luciana’s turn to make pasta
Luciana channeled her mom’s expertise.
Tagliatelle amatricianaRobert made the sugo with guanciale, onion, and tomato concentrate. (They raise BIG pigs here.)
Steak the Marchigiana way
Saturday night behind the city hall. At least 200 people.Robert and Luciana with Gianfranco and Rita. Giamfranco was recently made a Cavaliere (a kind of knight) by the Italian president for his work promoting the agriculture products of the region.Dessert!
We have begun to take part in the summer events around Serra Sant’Abbondio, Robert’s Italian home town. And there are lots! Flyers are posted all around Serra, its frazioni, and neighboring towns. All involve food and music. What else? The majority start in the evening and last until the wee hours.
During the August holidays, many Italians return to their family’s home town. Some even come from abroad. All the events around Serra give everyone an excuse to return, to meet old friends, catch up, discuss events of the day, hunt for mushrooms and truffles (they will not say where), and argue about subjects they have debated for 30 years or more, often food—How does the neighboring town’s piadine differ from Serra’s?; Have you used the local flour from the Le Marche? Expensive but very flavorful; How do you make pomodori con riso, with or without onion? WITHOUT!; Do you boil the rice before? ARE YOU CRAZY? You get the picture. With a few drinks these conversations last pleasantly for hours.
The conversations are not just around the table. Walking to the grocery store (300 meters from the house) can take one to two hours because you run into friends you have not seen for a while. Ask our cousin Luciana.
Of course we also find time to take day trips to nearby sites, research Robert’s family history, and visit relatives. Even though the distances can be short, a 12-kilometer trip can take 30 minutes or more because of the narrow winding roads and a few stops to photograph the countryside.
First week of travelsSerra and its frazioniA list of events in and around SerraWe missed this one. Isola Fossara is where Robert’s grandmother, Gacinta Berardi, grew up. It is just a few miles from Serra.Olga Nolfi’s side of the family is from Frontone. We missed this one too. The accordion player would have been fun!The first night we arrived in Serra, they had a poetry reading. Many people from Serra read poetry they had written.When trippa is part of the event, you can count on Robert to be there.
Making pasta . . . Robert’s turn
Robert and Luciana took turns during the week making pasta using Zia Santa’s rolling pin. We tried our best to channel her expertise and love. You will see Luciana’s artful attempt in the next post.
Robert can’t figure out what is taking Luciana so long. Pasta ragu with Luciana’s sugo
Meteor sightings . . . Make that Eating
Italians celebrate Le Lacrime di San Lorenzo (the tears of Saint Lorenzo) on 10 August. We know it as the Persiad Meteor Shower. The next day, cousin Luciana’s Serra gang of about 20 met at Fonte Avellana for a picnic dinner. Although it was supposed to start at 6:30, we probably didn’t get going until close to 9:00. Great food all around. When it got dark, we formed a car caravan and took the dark road to Isola Fossara, turning off in a high pasture before reaching the town. Unfortunately, the moon was almost full, making sighting a meteor a miracle. Bonnie managed one.
Bonnie’s strategic meteor sighting position on the hood of our car. (The halo is a plastic sheet.)
Hot Hot HOT!
Le Marche had the highest temperature in Italy on 08 August. Robert decided we should go to the Grotte di Frasassi that day. Smart move. It’s very cool inside the caves.
107 degrees F
Grotte di Frasassi
This is another karst cave, like the one we visited in Slovenia. This one is close to Serra. It was discovered in 1971 by chance and opened to the public in 1974. One of the caverns is large enough to hold the Duomo of Milan. In a prior visit, they told us it was big enough to hold Saint Peter’s Basilica.
We knew we were going to the cave during the August vacation season, but we were still astonished by the crowd of people there. Bonnie timed the tour groups: 50 to 60 people in each group, entering at five-minute intervals. The parking lot is vast and it surrounds a large cluster of tourist and food stands. The cave tour, unlike the one on our prior visit, was rushed, although it takes almost two hours to shuffle through. The place has become much more impersonal and commercialized, but it is worth a visit . . . in the off season.
Frontone—La Radica
The Frontenesi have their act together. Frontone is about 8 kilometers from Serra. The locals have an active social group, La Radica, that gathers for events throughout the year. This one celebrated the families of Frontone and its frazioni (small hamlets associated with Frontone). They focused on the nicknames of individuals or entire families shown in a large collection of old photographs.
The Passettis of Frontone are on Jan, Mark, and Deborah Nolfi’s side of the family. We saw one of the San Francisco Marche Club members—Gigi Braccini, and his wife Lola, as well as their daughter and son-in-law who live in Frontone. In fact, we overheard San Francisco mentioned in several conversations. Many Frontonese immigrated to San Francisco. On the way to the event we walked through Frontone’s mercato that was large that week as it celebrated the Fiera di Mezz’Agosto
Sketch materialSketch mateial
Pizzaiolo
No poster for this one. One of the bars in Serra (there are two!) invited a pizza maker and his oven for a special evening. They served pizza to more than 100 people sitting outdoors, and provided live music. It was a long wait for pizza so some hungry people had gelato first. The evening was another good excuse to gather with friends and family!
Scheggia and Gubbio
We took a day trip to Scheggia to do family research for one of Robert’s cousins and had time to visit Gubbio as well.
lt amazes us that you can go to a city hall here and ask for the birth, marriage, or death documentation of relatives from the late 1800s, and they go to a metal cabinet and pull out a book with the handwritten records.Example of one of the documents. This one from 1873.
Gubbio
The door on the right is the “Door of the Dead,” used to remove those who had died in the house. One or two of these doors still exist in Serra which once was under the rule of Gubbio.Walk around this fountain three times and you can get a certificate confirming you are crazy.Just in case you need a ceramic piece.
The Cathedral
Gubbio has several saints buried in the cathedral that had deep associations with Fonte Avellana as evidenced in this painting of the monastery near the altar.
Isola Fossara
After Gubbio, we made it to Isola to see Berardi relatives. It was a great gathering.
We stopped to see Elia Giovannini who filled us in on Berardi family history. She is 94 years old and remembers everyone. Our great grandfather married a sister of her grandfather. Bruna Nitzi has this photograph in her vacation house in Isola. The two women from left to right are Maria Giovannini Berardi (wife of Sebastiano Berardi and Robert’s great grandmother) and Elizabetta Masci Berardi (Joe Berardi’s mother). Elizabetta’s four children from left to right are Guiseppe (Joe) Berardi (Robert’s godfather), Delphina Berardi. Guido Berardi, and Guistina (Rina) Berardi,. The photo was taken about 1923/24.
Cibo e bibite della casa
In Serra, we often eat at home, which is a nice change from the past three months. It gives Robert and his cousin Luciana an opportunity cook together.
Pasta ragu“Caponata”Curried beefBought in San Palo di Pieve at the insistence of my cousin Silvana Marchesin. So glad she insisted.
Leaving Ravenna, we intentionally took the slower route that ran close to the Adriatic Sea. The first half of the drive led us to Gradara, a picturesque medieval town. The second half took us rest of the way to Serra Sant’Abbondio, Robert’s Italian “home town,” revealing the beautiful rolling landscape of Le Marche along the way.
We can never get too much of these views. Fields of cut hay rolled in three-meter disks left randomly in the fields like sections of tootsie rolls on a table top. Girasoli (sunflowers) with heads up and facing the sun as youth do or with heads bowed with age, nearing the end of their lives. Occasionally, a farmhouse fronted with a patch of vineyard and backed by thick woods. Or a bit of a medieval castle on a distant hilltop. Dark forested mountains always in the background. The region is still quite green even though it is the beginning of August. It is all very beautiful and comforting to us.
Ravenna to GradaraGradara to Serra Sant’Abbondio
Saint Apollinaire in Classe
And you thought we were done with mosaics. Not so! On our way out of Ravenna we stopped to visit Saint Apollinaire in Classe, one of the first churches to display a saint front and center in the mosaic where Jesus is usually placed. The church was built in the sixth century to honor the patron saint of Ravenna and at the same time to rebuke Arian Christians who believed that Christ was begotten from God and therefore at one point in time did not exist. This conflicted with the belief that the Holy Trinity was ONE God comprised of the essence of three beings. Interesting and not something Robert was taught in school.
The church was once on the Adriatic coastline. However, the accumulation of silt over the centuries now separates the church from the sea by nine kilometers.
We were taken by the simplicity of the church’s interior (partly because those darn Venetians stripped the mosaics from the side and back walls of the church). The mosaics that remain are very striking, perhaps heightened by the contrast with the bare walls. The interior space is quite large, but comprehensible to the eye.
Saint Apollinaire front and center with . . .. . . the hand of God reaching down to him through the clouds.Acanthus leaves twisted by the wind from the Adriatic Sea nearbyAnother note from the past for Chuck
Gradara
Robert’s Trevigiana cousin Miryam urged us to visit Gradara. The medieval town impressed us with its double line of defensive walls and the well-preserved castle within. The tiny town is weighed down a bit with tourist chatchkas, which we did not expect, but this turned out to be a pleasant visit even on a very hot day.
Chiesa SS Sacramento (XVI sec.)
Saint Clement, Roman martyr, II sec.
Chiesa di S. Giovanni Battista (XIII sec.)
Rocca Demaniale di Gradara
The location of this castle made it the scene of many military conflicts between the papacy and the ruling family—Malatesta/Sforza.
On the love side of things, Dante made a local love affair forever famous in his Divine Comedy, telling the tale of the lovers Paolo and Francesca who were caught in the act by Francesca’s husband Gianciotto, who was Paolo’s brother! Gianciotto killed them both, and their souls were banished to Hell where Dante encountered them in the second circle, reserved for the lustful. As you can see, we are becoming Dante cognoscenti! At least on bits and pieces of his work.
We were impressed by the extent of the castle in Gradara, its furnishings, the art, and the descriptions offered in each room. Much of the interior was restored in the 1920s with Arte Nouveau touches. Worth a visit.
Not a bat. This is dragon wings—one of the two symbols of the Malatesta family.By Luca della Robbia
Bonnie’s key travel items
Tide stain stick. In the first month of the trip her excuse for daily splatters on her clothes was that she was wrangling pasta with her left hand. She exhausted an entire Tide stick and ordered a three-pack on Amazon.it to replace it. But now that she is using her right arm again, she still flings sauce onto her white shirts. (In this hot weather white shirts are her uniform.) A Tide stick goes everywhere with her.
Ecco sneakers. A millennium pink pair from San Francisco and a taupe pair from Rome are holding up incredibly well to a daily 5 or 6 miles of walking, rough stone pavements, occasional rain, and extreme heat (sweaty feet).
Paper maps. The Touring Club of Italy travel atlas in the car—all three volumes. The city maps handed out by hotels in her bag. Google maps on the iPhone are great, but they don’t replace the big picture and you can’t make notes on them easily.
Cibo e bibite
Only one meal to show on this post! Returning to Le Marche, we are seeing piadine in many restaurants. Ravenna also had a fair share. Piandine are a flat bread made from flour, water, and lard. Some areas also use milk and/or egg. Piandine are cooked on a grill over hot coals or on an iron plate.
The piadine in Ravenna were thin and firm. So firm you couldn’t bend one without breaking it. The piandine in Gradara were more flexible. When Robert asked if they used egg in their recipe, the waiter responded firmly, “no,” and went on to explain that near Urbino they use egg and they call their version sfoglia. Urbino is only about 30 kilometers from Gradara. In Serra Sant’Abbondio and nearby Frontone, about 50 kilometers south of Urbino, they refer to piadine as crescia. Talk about micro regions for food!
Drive from Padua to Ravenna, extended by taking the coastal route and making a stop in Chioggia.
Before we write about Chioggia, we need to say that Ravenna should change its name to Citta di Mosaici (Mosaics). That is what the town is known for, along with the tomb of Dante Alighieri.
Chioggia
We have often seen this town on maps. In a larger typeface than the surrounding towns. On the water. Some call it Little Venice. We decided to satisfy our curiosity and make a stop on the way from Padua to Ravenna. After crossing a waterway that is part of the Venice lagoon, then making a short walk from the parcheggio (parking) through a tight-knit cluster of buildings, the scene opened up to a wide main street lined with restaurants, pasticcerie, gelaterie, and a few churches. The street, highly active with lots of pedestrians, stretched to the water’s edge where there was a high concentration of tourist chatchkas, as well as a stop for the Venice water bus! All a bit scruffy, but charming.
The town did not feel touristy in the way Venice does. The canals are lined with boats and most of the people we encountered spoke Italian. On the way out, we stopped at a grocery store and heard the clerk speaking to a customer she seemed to know well. When Robert asked if she was speaking dialect, she acted surprised that he asked. It was so obvious.
Ravenna
In Ravenna we are still in Emilia-Romanga with all its great food. In addition to its culinary expertise, this town of 160,000 is known for its Roman and Byzantine architecture. It was the capital of the late Western Roman Empire before its collapse in 476. Like a bunch of nearby towns, it changed hands many times. In the sixth century it became the seat of the Byzantine governor of Italy (whatever that means). Most importantly, the archbishop of Ravenna became the second most powerful person in the Church, next to the pope.
Between 540 to 600, the bishops of Ravenna built many churches. These and other buildings of the time are “frescoed” with mosaics of incredible detail and color—all with specific religious messages, including opposition to the sect of Arian Christians. Many of these locations are now included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Wanderings
Our hotelOur Restoration Hardware-furnished roomLeaning a bit. They took out the bells.Lots of bicyclesBusy at 10 PM. Toddlers included. We’re not sure when little kids in Italy sleep.Sketch material: This guy was in place every morning at the cafe where Robert had his cappuccino. He just read the papers.For JeffFree concert with Cristina di Pietro, Italian The Voice, 2016For Charles D’s collection.
Ravenna Street Art and Signs
Mosaici Mosaici Mosaici
Lots of mosaics to see. We decided to walk to two or three sites late each morning, have a proper Italian lunch, return to our air-conditioned room for research/writing/reading/naps, and when the heat subsided a bit, go out for a drink and then dinner. Afterward we took a stroll with the locals.
Battistero Neoniano
La Cappella di Sant’Andrea
Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo
Sketch material.
Battistero degli Ariani
Basilica di San Vitale
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
A lesson in making mosaics
Bonnie’s curiosity got the best for us. A door was open along the street, and we cautiously stepped into a workshop (laborotorio) where several women were hunched over mosaics in progress. One of the owners graciously gave us an impromptu tour on how they create mosaics. This group takes commissions for clients worldwide as well as making their own art. The owner’s enthusiasm spurred us to find a workshop where we could try making mosaics ourselves.
Photograph underlaidPatterns made on transferable paper.
How to make mosaic earrings and a ring
Bonnie’s research (AKA Airbnb listings) identified a two and a half hour work session in making mosaics—jewelry, of course. Bonnie explained to Barbara, the host, in advance that we also wanted to learn more about the mosaics we had seen in Ravenna and their restoration, all in Italian. We learned a lot from Barbara, who is an artist although she prefers to call herself an artigiana (artisan). In Ravenna it is possible to take a specialized high school (liceo) track on mosaics!
Bonnie and BarbaraAll Venetian glassSteps in making the mosaics we saw in churches: 1. The design is divided into sections so the mosaics are small enough to carry from the workshop to the church. 2. A wood frame surrounds a layer of plaster. The plaster lies on top of a bed of water-soaked hay. This allows the artist to keep working for many months, provided that they cover the work and keep the hay moist. 3. When the design is finished, they place a layer of material over the surface of the mosaic with an adhesive. The mosaic is then transferred into place at the church. The surface material might be canvas, which allows the artists to bend the mosaic over curves in the architecture.Splitting the glass piecesBonnie choosing the elements for the earringsRobert working on the ringRed dot in position, or at least close to the final positionBarbara adjusting the pieces to make sure they lay flat and evenClear glue is applied over the top, everything is flipped over into another ring, and then final adjustments are made.
Further Wanderings in Ravenna
Metropolitan Cathedral of Risurrezione di Nostro Signore Gesu Cristo
Museo of the Metropolitan Cathedral
Easter calendar for the years 532-626. At least the calendar was good for more than one year.
Dante Alighieri in Ravenna
In the final years of exile from Florence, after a journey through north and central Italy, Dante settled in Ravenna in his fifties. After only a couple of years there he contracted malaria and died. His tomb is in a beautiful little chapel near the center of town. Several times Florence has demanded to have his body returned to them, but Ravenna has resisted, even hiding the bones. The small Dante museum next to his tomb gave us a better understanding of his Divina Comedia and introduced Robert to the tragic love affair of Paolo and Francesca.
Researching restaurants
Robert is in charge of choosing restaurants for lunch, late afternoon drinks, and dinner. How does he find all this great food? He keeps his eye out during the day when we are sightseeing, then he spends about five minutes online, and he’s done! There is so much great food in Italy that it is easy to find good places. We don’t overthink it. We spend far less time choosing restaurants in Italy than we do in San Francisco.
On this trip we are looking for traditional Italian food eaten by locals. Not exotic new innovations. Not Japanese, Thai, or Chinese. No menus with photographs for tourists. Anyone can find good meals here, although Robert does have great food radar honed by many years of practice.
Bologna proclaims it is the center of Italian cooking. Even its name sounds like a food group. But there is a lot more. 80,000 students go to the university in this city of 400,000 (the university is said to be the oldest in the world), and their youth creates great street vitality day and night. Streets are lined with lots of retail and tables and chairs for cafe and restaurant customers—some singing or talking loudly, or both.
Bologna is known by Italians as ”La Grassa, La Rosa, La Dotta.” The fat, the red (for bricks but later for its Communists), and the educated. We learned about all of these.
We are in Bologna during a spate of graduations. We say a spate because each day we see one or two graduates with a group of family and friends parading in the street, maybe holding glasses of wine or Aperol Spritz. The graduates wear a wreath of laurel leaves on their heads. Hard to miss. Bonnie noted that the wreaths have colored ribbons trailing down the back, perhaps distinguishing schools or departments.
We learned that going to the university does not cost much. Although prices vary among the departments, as an Italian citizen, you pay as little as 2,000 Euros per year for graduate studies. The university offers some housing, but most housing seems to be private.
Don’t know if it is the university tipping the scales to the youth or coincidence, but we saw a lot of man buns. Perhaps due to the hot weather? Tattoos also. Men and women. And smoking. Even though the cigarette packets here have pictures of blackened lungs taken from cadavers or severed limbs due to bad circulation, the kids here smoke a lot and this includes e-cigarettes. Roller luggage is also prevalent and not limited to tourists.
Graffiti dominates the building facades. It is everywhere. Bikes are common but not in the large quantities we saw in Lucca.
Eight days in Bologna was just right. With some forethought, it would have been the perfect place to take Italian classes. Next time.
Wanderings
Bonnie spotted this immediately. We did not ask. It was pricey, as it should be.Bonnie continues to make Italian friends. Don’t worry Nocciola. She likes you best.Man bun with roller luggage!Only one waterway left in BolognaAs Bonnie’s research on gelato continues, so does Robert’s on shorts . . . Betsy Barsamian: More motivation for you!
Street Life = Eating and Drinking (Mostly)
Taken around 10 PM. Just getting started.A street in the daytime. A music and eating venue at night.The main piazza features films every night starting at 9:45 when it finally gets dark.Video! What not to expect.
Street Names
For Jan NolfiFor Max and GiggyFor the Padres of 68
Graffiti
Bologna is known for its graffiti. Some (in the eyes of these beholders) should be considered art. Some not. Together though, they layer on a characteristic that is specific to this city.
Teatro Anatomico
Built in 1636, this university room was used for anatomy dissection lectures and displays. It was bombed by the Allies in WWII and later restored. Apparently an official of the Church oversaw dissections to make sure they did not venture too far into the spiritual aspects of the human body.
This one is for Jim Walsh to update his first aid training.The Archiginnasio was constructed in 1563 to house the various schools, scattered around the city, of what is now known as the University of Bologna. The family coats of arms of 6,000 students are displayed. The building is now owned by the cityThe building also houses the Archiginnasio Municipal Library
Chiesa dei Filippini (Madonna di Galliera)
Cattedrale Metropolitana di San Pietro
Basilica di Santo Stefano
Basilica di San Petronio
The church has an exhibit on the Shroud of Jesus with both religious and scientific observations. The shroud was first discovered in the middle ages. And although a bishop of the time proclaimed it to be a fake, the shroud continued to be revered by the Church. A recent examination of the cloth and pigment confirmed it was created in the medieval period. The Church has yet to officially acknowledge this.
Santuario di Santa Maria della Vita
You are in the right place if you want to experience porticos!
One thing that shouts “Bologna!” is its porticos. Our food tour guide said Bologna has over 40 kilometers of arcades. Most old. Some new. The paving varies, most terrazzo. The ceilings range from plain to ornate. Robert read years ago that the City of Bologna required the arcades. It shows.
Art Restoration Class
We award our fourth??? (Robert has lost count!) MINI WOW to Francesca Girotti’s three-hour class in art restoration. Her shop is located along the portico that leads up to the Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca. Very long. Very historic. An easy bus ride from the center of town.
She, with her brother Alberto translating, led our class of six first to a caffetteria for some cafe and greetings. Then in her studio we learned how, philosophically and technically, one restores centuries-old art—the choice of subtly making evident the work of the restorer and the need to decide whether to use old recipes or new ones for patching the back of canvases and creating paint. Her clients are churches, museums, and private owners.
We examined many of the 16th and 17th pieces she is working on. She even had us help clean some paintings with water and a bit of solvent. One was harder to do because it had been hanging in someone’s kitchen for many years. Robert chose that one and claimed he could smell roasted sausage and onions! We even practiced applying gold leaf for restoring frames (Adria Peterson—Bonnie can help if you need an extra hand.)
Food Tour
We like food tours. We like them because they take us to areas of the city we might not have seen. They also expose us to new personalities. This time Amelia. Our guide was the second person Robert met with that name. His mom had a close friend with that name. And tours often give us a chance to listen to Italian.
We choose the night tour because of the terrible daytime heat. We started at the Mercato delle Erbe that concentrates on vegetables, but also has a section devoted to street food—in our case a selection of salumi including mortadella, which is said to be first made in Bologna. We also had two styles of bread—one made with potatoes on top and the other made like a compressed (and Robert means compressed!) English muffin. White wine too.
The second stop brought us to a modern, laboratory-like dispenser of pastas. You order from a touch screen. Robert had tortellone—larger than tortellini and filled with cheese. Bonnie had a salad because everything else contained milk products. So much for modern technology and food choices.
The third stop was a trattoria. The owner was likeably saracastic and spoke to Robert in a Veneziani dialect as well as the dialect of Bologna. Who knew? The heat and the first two stops dampened our appetites so we opted for stuffed vegetables rather than the proposed veal steak breaded and topped with prosciutto.
The last stop was a gelateria. We walked right past the one highly recommended online and found this one very good and refreshing. Our tour lasted four hours finishing at 10 pm. Our walk back to our apartment showed that street life was well under way with no sign of letting up soon.
FICO Eataly World
FICO is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Contadina, the original owners behind Eataly. If you like Eataly, well-represented worldwide, then you will like FICO. However, if you enter with a bit of skepticism as we did, you will find it be Eataly (New York/Chicago/LA/Rome) on steroids but blended with a state fair and the aesthetics of IKEA—at little too crisp, a little too clean, and little too shallow.
It is basically a huge interior mall on one floor lined by simple shops of specific product brands and food. You want marmalade, they have marmalade. You want pasta, they have pasta. You want cheese, they have cheese. You want wine, they have wine. You get the picture. The building is flanked on one side by farm animals and the other side by fruit trees. We did spend four hours there—it was a very hot day, the interior temperature was tolerable, and we had lunch. Worth a visit? Yes, but just to see what it is about. No wows for this experience.
Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca
Located on a hill, the sanctuary provides views of Bologna 300 meters below. The sanctuary houses a religious icon, a portrait of the madonna and child, brought from the Byzantine Empire to the city by a pilgrim in the 12th century. During extensive floods in the xx century, the people of Bologna prayed to the icon to stop the rains. The rain stopped, and thereafter, a yearly procession takes place to carry the icon from the sanctuary to the cathedral in the historic center of Bologna. In order to protect the icon when it rains, and it seems to every year, the city built (1674-1793) an arcade more than 3.8 kilometers in length. We took the choo-choo train up and walked back part way.
Notes on Style
Shoes. Except for a few students, Italian women of all ages have given up their winter sneakers for flat, strappy sandals. The thin straps are encrusted with jewels, pearls, or shiny metal beads. Birkenstocks are here and there, often metallic, often on women who might be friends with Tilda Swindon.
Purses. Bags don’t seem to be a focus of attention. Most women carry a simple, practical tote. If you need a new bag this summer, it should be stark white leather with thin black edges. Any size and shape will work.
Colors. Store windows feature splashy prints and bright colors, but little of this makes the transition to the street. At dinner time, black is the overwhelming favorite on all ages. Then white. Then some combination of the two.
Grey hair. For Diana V. Only a few years ago, dying your hair was absolutely required unless you were knocking on death’s door. Now more and more stylish women are daring to go natural.
Shorts. On young girls. Very, very short this summer. Bonnie does not believe Robert is aware of this yet.
We have been spending time in the Veneto region with many of Robert’s relatives.
The family of Robert’s mom, Emma, are from the Veneto, specifically the Province of Treviso, and more specifically the tiny town of Pianzano, which is 40 miles north of Venice. Her parents were both born in Pianzano but they met only after they came to San Mateo, California. In fact, San Mateo is filled with families whose roots are in this region. The cemetery in Pianzano is a testament to this.
The Veneto is obviously the most economically successful region of Italy, and the countryside is dotted with factories making, especially, wine, furniture, eyeglasses, ski equipment, and some clothing. The many small towns sprawl with new development.
We made the easy two-hour drive from Trieste to Oderzo to stay with cousin Miryam Marchesin, her husband Alessandro Piva, and their sons—Leonardo 17 and Michele 14.
This was the best part of our stay—seeing a young Italian family in action. Hard working to say the least. Alessandro is off to work at 6:00 AM each day followed by Miryam at 7:00 after a walk with her neighbor. This summer, Leonardo works at a factory starting at 5:00 AM and finishing at 2:00 PM. On alternate weeks, this changes to 2:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Michele is not yet old enough to work during the summer, but he vacuums, washes dishes, and hangs laundry, sometimes with the assistance of Miryam. He occasionally bakes a cake, and he has a deep fondness for pancakes that he makes from scratch.
Mom and dad return each day for lunch—the table set by Michele and Leonardo when he is there. Both Miryam and Alessandro pitch in on cooking and cleaning up. This process is repeated at dinner. The family schedule gets more complicated when school is in session.
Oh, the fifth member of the family is Nocciola (hazelnut), a Jack Russell and something mix. She keeps everyone entertained, especially when Robert accidentally opens the front gate, allowing Nocci to escape with all family members in pursuit.
During our stay, we tutored one another all day long on English and Italian. Robert hopes he can retain 25 percent of what they repeatedly told him: e.g., struzzo is a bird from Africa; strutto is lard.
Family
We split the big Marchesin family meal into two parts this year. First up were Guiseppe and Angela Marchesin, their kids (Miryam and Susan), their husbands Alessandro and Loris), and the four grandchildren.Second up were Silvana Marchesin and Bruno Benedet and one of his sons, Fabio, along with his two children, Mauro and Marta.B+B with Fabio’s kids, Marta and Mauro. (Marta bears a striking resemblance to Missy on Young Sheldon.)Family dinner with Miryam and family.Nocciola Marchesin-Piva taking a rest from barking at all the people walking by. Bonnie and Silvana in front her boutique in Pianzano.Loris and Susan look on as Gabrielle shows off his insect collection.We also reunited with Leonardo and Michele Marchesin and their families, who we had not seen for several decades. Michele manages the knitting factory established by his father Mario to knit the first cashmere imported from China into Italy.Stefano, Robert, Maria, xx, and her husband Antonio Piccoli. Robert’s grandmother’s last name was Piccoli.Picolli house in Pianzano where Robert’s grandmother (Emma’s mom) was bornMarisa Zanette, Zia Angelina Marchesin’s sister-in-lawFrancesco Zanette, Marisa’s son, in the grocery store where he works
Wanderings
This map is small, but it offers some idea of the places we visited in the Veneto region while based in Oderzo.
Oderzo
Prior to this trip, we had not seen the older part of Oderzo, a thriving town of 20,000, with Roman underpinnings. It is filled with the arched arcades over the sidewalk common in many towns in the Veneto. And, like these other towns, Oderzo has integrated modern plazas within the historic setting. Very charming.
Wednesday morning mercato. Large!Need shoes?Villas like this dot the landscape. They were built throughout the region by Venetians as summer homes.Mark Nolfi: grappa and lots of it!
Chiesetta di San Giuseppe di Oderzo
Opera in the Plaza in Oderzo
Alesandro and Miryam treated us to a night of opera in the plaza. Big turn out. Lots of fun. Started at 9:00 PM and ended at midnight. Nabucco by Verdi.
Video! The audience joins in at the end of the opera singing Va’ Pensiero, which is the unofficial national anthem of Italy and especially popular in the North.
Lunch and a tour with Silvana
Silvana invited us for lunch and a tour of some old churches.
The smaller towns host some great restaurants. This one is Gambrinus in San Polo di Piave. Detailed photos in the Cibo e Bibite section of this post.The restaurant has a stream running through it with several sturgeon.It also has a large park filled with a variety of birds . . . . . . and swings
La Chiesa di San Giorgio
The small church originally constructed in the 7th to 8th century is filled with frescos from the 14th century.
Last Supper. Note the crustaceans and fish in the enlargement below.
Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista (Tempio), Ormelle (Treviso)
First constructed in the 12th century, the church was one of a series of churches and other buildings constructed by the Mansionis Templi (Templars) to serve pilgrims on their journeys to Jerusalem.
Sacile
Robert always likes to make a visit to the lovely town of Sacile. It is large enough to have a major plaza and like many towns in the Veneto, it has arcades and waterways. The waterways wind through the fabric of the older buildings. This time, we saw two kayakers paddling through a series of markers suspended over the water. Sacile is a bit sleepy in mid day, but everything is attractive and well kept. There are always some random Americans, probably from Aviano airbase.
Bonnie and Robert enjoyed staying in Sacile when they accompanied Robert’s parents on their last trip to Italy in 2002. And many people from San Mateo use Sacile as a home base to visit relatives.
Conegliano
Conegliano is the home town of Robert’s aunt Zia Angela (Zanette) and the largest in the region except for Treviso. This town of 35,000 lies north of Treviso and west of Pianzano. In the 1960s, Robert’s Uncle Rico from San Mateo took a long trip to stay with the Marchesin relatives in Pianzano, and he met Angela in the butcher shop run by her family. His six-month trip turned into twelve months and his marriage to Angela in 1964.
Robert’s parents used to stay in Conegliano for a few days to get over jet lag before plunging into visits with the relatives. We stayed in the same hotel in Conegliano on one of our past trips.
This time was different because we spent only an afternoon in the town to see Zia’s sister-in-law Marisa Zanette and her son Francesco, and to have lunch on one of the older streets in town.
I vigneti e le cantine
First a small discourse on vineyards and wineries in the Veneto—there are a whole bunch of them!
As we drive back and forth through the Veneto, we are amazed by how much land is covered with vineyards. Some on rolling hills. Others on flat open land. All well tended. Beans, sunflowers, and maize are disappearing in favor of grapes.
We looked up some stats on this. (Thank you Wikipedia). Italy is the second largest producer of wine in the world, producing about 1.2 billon gallons each year, and accounting for 25 percent of world production. The Veneto’s 220,000 acres of vineyards produce 225 million gallons of wine. A full 21 percent of the land has the coveted DOC certification.
In comparison, the entire state of California has 427,000 acres of vineyards producing 716 million gallons of wine each year. This makes California the fourth largest producer of wine in the world.
The massive wineries in the Veneto, called cantine, that dot the landscape are definitely of an industrial scale. Many are cooperatives. The cantine dictate the dates for accepting each variety of grape starting with the grapes for Prosecco, followed by other whites, and ending with the reds. The last is the Raboso grape in the Oderzo area.
We also noticed that the vines are pruned like hedges and we asked Miryam about this. Turns out that machine-harvesting of grapes requires this trimming. We assume the machines require an even surface and better access to the grapes. The machines harvest the grapes by sucking them off the vine, along with leaves, twigs, and any tiny animals that get in the way. When they started to do machine harvesting, the cantine found that the volume of each shipment exceeded that of grapes picked by hand. This was because the machine-picking partially crushes the grapes, increasing the weight by volume. So it was hard for the cantine to keep up at first. Now they know what to expect. Some wineries pay less for machine-harvested grapes claiming that the quality is not as good because it contains the extra debris. Others pay the same as for hand-picked grapes.
The winery in Oderzo has wine dispensing stations, like gas pumps. You choose your variety, fill up your jug, and pay the cashier.
Furlan Wines
The Furlan family operates a winery in Conegliano. Monia Carlet is a childhood friend of Miryam and graciously gave Robert a tour. Very modern building with very modern equipment, a store, and a wine tasting room. (Sorry that Robert did not take more photos). They expanded in the last few years from the older building that is now a B&B. They make Prosecco, Cabernet, and Merlot among other wines. Their vineyards are located away from the shop. They distribute in Europe, Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, South Korea, and hope to distribute in the USA. They will start harvesting grapes for Prosecco at the end of August to early September.
Monia explained to Robert that the production of DOC and DOCG wine is strictly controlled. Furlan notifies the consortium when they are ready to bottle wine. Consortium representatives come to the winery to taste and take samples for testing to verify the variety of grapes used as well as any chemicals that might be present from treating the vines. They also verify that the quantity of bottled wine does not exceed the capacity of their vineyards. After everything is confirmed, they send the winery the labels for the bottles confirming they have met the requirements of DOC or DOCG.
It seems that Italy has stricter controls than the USA.
Monia Carlet
La sorgente del Gorgazzo
Robert’s 40-minute drive to this spring went through small towns and rolling hills. Located in the foothills of the Alps, this underwater cave is the source of the Livenza River. It is the second largest producing spring found in karst formations. The color of the water at the source is a brilliant blue. And, unlike other photos in our blog, Robert did NOT apply filters to the photos to enhance the color.
Gorizia
Gorizia is the home town of Louise Mozingo’s mom. We thought it was worth the drive. It was.
Located at the border between Italy and Slovenia, this town has changed hands many times—among rulers such as Austrian Hapsburgs, Venice, French Illyrian Provinces, and Yugoslavia. It has always been a multi-ethnic city. The last time the city changed hands was at the end of WWII when Gorizia was awarded to Italy.
The city’s graceful architecture and landscape have been heavily influenced by Austria and Slovenia, prior rulers. Many Austrian aristocrats summered here, and deposed French Bourbons settled here. Many of the streets are lined by impressive large mature trees.
Louise recommended a local restaurant, Trattoria Torri, that turned out to be great. No menus. Filled with groups of local men on their lunch breaks.
Cividale del Friuli
Another recommendation by Louise Mozingo, this small medieval town was settled by Veneti and Celts. Like so many places in what we now know as Italy, it was taken over by Romans, invaded by Lombards, etc., etc. Nice place. Worth at least a one-hour visit.
Treviso
This is a great place to visit and perhaps stay for a few days. In fact, a recent article in the New York Times suggested Treviso as an alternative to crowded Venice. Venice is only 30 minutes away by train, making day trips easy. But if you drive to Treviso, plan on spending 30 minutes to find a parking space!
At 85,000, Treviso is the largest city in the region, and an elegant collection of gothic, renaissance, and Liberty (Noveau) buildings. It is the home of Benetton, De’Longhi, and other sport and clothing companies. The retail streets are lined with attractive shops, but at midday the town is quiet. Tourists are few and far between. In Treviso, Bonnie especially liked the new museum of classic Italian posters, the Salce Collection.
Another Marchesin store! Their slogan is “Not only cashmere.” For summer they have manufactured light-weight cotton sweaters in bold colors,
Sunday Outing
We took a nice ride up to Follina and Cison (towns on the Strada del Prosecco discussed later in this post) with Miryam, Alessandro, Leonardo, and Michele. Nocciola stayed home. We stopped first in Follina to visit an ancient abbey and then on to Cison for lunch and more sightseeing.
Abbazia Santa Maria di Follina
First mentioned in the early 12th century, the abbey consists of the cathedral and a cloister. It is quite beautiful and well preserved. The quality of art in the church is exceptional, which is true of many churches in the Veneto because they would draw on painters from nearby Venice.
Cison di Valmarino
Lots to see in tiny, picturesque Cison. During Roman times, it was a defensive location along an important road that linked the Po Valley with what is now Austria.
The town made use of its waterways with mills for making flour, cutting wood, and weaving silk, among others things.
We saw several churches and walked along a waterway as well as visited the Castel Brando, originally constructed by the Romans and later expanded. The castle compound now draws local and foreign tourists, including participants in a recent G8 summit, with a hotel, restaurants, and venues for weddings. Primary access to the castle is by funicular.
On the stroll along the millway in Cison, Robert ran into an older man who spoke with him for a few minutes, His dialect was so strong that all Robert could do was nod and say “si” every now and then. Alessandro confirmed that the guy spoke more than a bit of dialect! Unintelligible to those of us who study Italian.
Moorish Liberty (Art Nouveau) Great painted sunflowers under the eavesMy will does not know hindrances – Benito Mussolini
San Vito di Cison
Santa Maria Assunta di Cison
Castel Brando
Strada del Prosecco
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There is a prescribed route through the Prosecco-growing region of the Veneto, only 30 minutes from Robert’s relatives. For many years, Robert’s parents had a plaque of the route hanging in their breakfast nook. The route gained UNESCO World Heritage status days before our visit.
The route takes you through vast areas of vineyards intricately sited in the rolling hills. Everyone seems to have a cantina where they sell their brand of Prosecco. There are dozens.
Osteria Senza Oste
This “Osteria without the owner” is a self-serve osteria in an old family house on a hillside literally in the middle of the vineyards. A refrigerator offers wine, cheese, salami, pancetta, and other items for sale—all labeled with a price. The table nearby has a machine that allows you to add up your items and pay (with cash, of course).
Their website said parking was in the vineyard. They were not kidding.
Valdobbiadene
Time and life do not stop
Vittorio Veneto
While having a Manhattan one day in San Mateo with Mary Peccolo (Carla’s mom), Robert saw a plaque in their house with a view he had seen on a trip. Mary explained that her husband, who had operated a shoe repair shop in San Mateo, was from Serravalle in Vittorio Veneto, and that his brother’s family still operated a shoe repair shop there. We parked, turned around, and found it!
More thoughts on navigation in Italy
Sempre dritto
Robert’s mom was always amused about getting directions in Italy. She would hear “go two blocks, take a right, after a block, another right,” and then “sempre dritto.” We too have heard “sempre dritto” many times on our trip. Although this translates to “always straight ahead,” it actually means something different. It means “stay on the main road.” Wish we had known this 30 years ago.
At the roundabout . . .
If you use a navigator in your car, this is the most familiar phrase you hear in the Veneto. Roundabouts have multiplied like bunnies here, no matter how small the roads may be. (So, for example, you hear “At the roundabout, take the second exit.”)
Cibo e Bibite
Torta di Alessandro e Michele
Bonnie’s survey of (nondairy) gelato continues in Treviso. Dassie chocolate was voted best in Italy in 2018.Bigoli in salsa. Robert’s mom Emma made this every year on Christmas Eve.
Seppie alla Alessandro
Alessandro fixed the seppie in the morning to promote the flavors for the evening meal. Very good with grilled white polenta.Serravalle in Vittorio Veneto We return here each year to have a drink. Michele baked a Torta Aqua for Bonnie early on the morning of our departure. (No milk. No butter. He found the recipe on the web.) Great job Michele!
Ferry to Split, Croatia – 20 June 2019 – iPad Ferry to Split, Croatia – 20 June 2019 – iPad Lokrum (Island), near Dubrovnik, Croatia – 22 June 2019 – iPadLokrum (Island), Croatia – 22 June 2019 – iPadLokrum (Island), Croatia – 22 June 2019 – iPadDubrovnik, Croatia – 22 June 2019 – iPadDubrovnik, Croatia – 23 June 2019Dubrovnik, Croatia – 22 June 2019
Dubrovnik, Croatia – 22 June 2019
Split, Croatia. Tour guide at model of the city. – 26 June 2019 – iPad Zagreb – 29 June 2019Split, Croatia. Line for the ferry. – 27 June 2019 – iPad Zagreb – 30 June 2019 – iPadZagreb – 30 June 2019 – iPadLjubljana, Slovenia. The evening line for gelato at Vigo. – 01 July 2019 – iPadLjubljana, Slovenia – 01 July 2019 – iPadŠkocjan Caves, Slovenia. Start of the tour. – 02 July 2019 – iPad
Leaving Zagreb was easy peasy. We arrived at the border of Slovenia and bought the windshield sticker that pays for autostrada tolls. You now drive through abandoned toll booths throughout the country.
Because of another quirky intervention by Waze, we did not make it onto the freeway but ended up on a small local road that required one additional hour of driving time. But it was great.
We wound through beautiful green rolling countryside dotted with a few buildings that looked more Alpine than Mediterranean. We paralleled one major river, crossing it and a few others numerous times. The local road narrowed to one lane in a few places, requiring one-way traffic controlled by stop lights.
We weren’t in a hurry and the landscape was quite a change from the rocky dry landscape we experienced in western Croatia. Very green. Very forested. Very rounded. The rounded hills gave way to Alps in the distance, some still with snow. Austria is just beyond.
On our drive to Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Did we mention that Europe is in the midst of one of the worst heat waves in recent history? So when we arrived at our Airbnb and discovered that there was no AC (even though the listing showed it), we cancelled and quickly found another apartment within a short 4 Euro taxi ride to the city center.
The picturesque historic core of the city centers on the Ljubljanica river and tourists. It is quaint but in an urban style, heavily influenced by the architect Jože Plečnik (1872-1957) who designed many of its civic spaces and buildings in his particular style—a blend of classical and Art Nouveau. Symbolism was a key element in his design as we will show Elizabeth Byrne later in this post.
His triple bridge in the center of the district is a practical response to three pedestrian desire lines crossing the river. Rather than forcing everyone onto one bridge, his three-bridge solution gives an intimate scale to this center and yet creates a larger unified visual statement. Quite beautiful.
Plecnik studied with Otto Wagner and also worked in Prague. It turns out he was well connected with the mayor in Ljubljana and that explains his many commissions. Robert is not sure why his design work did not pop up in landscape architecture or urban design classes because Plečnik‘s grasp of designing civic spaces at a human scale is inspiring.
The city is awash with pedestrian zones. Conversion to an extensive network of pedestrian streets started about ten years ago. All have distinctive paving. All have tables, chairs, and canopies that make the parklet movement in the USA look amateur in comparison. Sitting down to have a drink or a bite to eat offers great people-watching—tourists, business people, toddlers in strollers, and construction workers.
Everyone in the city speaks some English. All are quite friendly. You walk by a restaurant at dinner time and they say hello but do not urge you to eat there. Quite a nice change from several weeks ago.
Wanderings
Even construction in the street doesn’t stop locals from enjoying a drink and the scenery. Galleria Emporium department store 1903. Bonnie helped keep them in business.Department storeThe Triple Bridge—Jože Plečnik architectThe Triple Bridge—Jože Plečnik architectThe Triple Bridge—Jože Plečnik architect
Puppetry!
Remember Angelica?
Food Tour! Food Tour! Food Tour!
The three-hour food tour started at the tourist information office with a gift bag of wooden spoons and recipes. There were only two others with us—two delightful young women from south of Munich who are camping an hour north near Lake Bled. Europeans are big campers (at least Robert recalls this from 1972). They use tents that you can stand up in. Cook their meals at campsites that have places to wash dishes, take showers etc.
But we diverge. First, don’t expect to eat traditional Slovenian food in Ljubljana. Local people drive to the countryside to find it. Alan, our guide, gave us not only an introduction to typical Slovenian food, but a little history of the city and more about the architect, Jože Plečnik, who seems to be the most famous resident of the city. During the walking tour we made five stops at restaurants with an additional stop at a store specializing in honey products. The shopkeeper there said the city is small enough that locals know one another (at least in the historic center). That seemed to be the case as many people stopped our guide Alan to chat.
Five Tastings
Kranjska sausage served with mustard and creamed horseradish. The slightly sour wine was a cuvée made from seven varieties of grapes, two white. Went well with the sausage. Beef tongue! Sliced thin. Chardonnay wine. All things honey. The honey liquor was mild and sweet, of courseTypical potato dish made with sautéed onions. While it is considered a side dish by many, the Slovenians are petitioning the EU to have it classified as a main dish. Malvasia wine. Fried chicken legs! Wine . . . too long ago to remember!Potica with Berryshka (walnut liquer)
Wandering between tastings
Open market buildings, Jože Plečnik architect. The lower level houses a fish market and restaurant.Dragon Bridge—the dragon is the symbol of the city National and University Library of Slovenia—Jože Plečnik architect.Elizabeth Byrne—note the symbolism in the upper windows . . .. . . they are shaped like open books.
Ljubljana Cathedral (St. Nicholas’s Cathedral)
Škocjan Caves
Our second Mini Wow goes to the Škocjan Caves! Caves are one of the three things Robert likes best in this world. These spectacular caves are one hour south of Ljubljana. Unless, of course, Waze sends you to the middle of a forest with logging trucks. Then it takes an additional hour.
The caves were formed by an underground river that still wears its way through the limestone Karst. The one-hour tour starts with the warning not to take photos. Robert did anyway, but it was way too dark. This post contains photos downloaded from the web along with blurry ones by Robert.
The caves start with narrow passages that open up to a dry cave—the river changed course centuries ago. The air is pleasantly chilly. As you move through, you start to hear the movement of water opening up to the the largest cavern in Europe—Sorry, Adriana: Questa grotte e’ piu grande delle Grotte di Frasassi! The bridge that crosses the cavern is 15O feet above the river. The tour ends at a canyon that many years ago was part of the caves before its roof collapsed.
On the tour we met a family from Malta with two girls aged ten and six—both fluent in English. They start learning English at three years old. Very talkative. Very entertaining. They decided we should come back to Malta with them in their car.
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Hrana in Pijača
Our first Slovenian meal!
Goodbye, Slovenia
It was great to see a bit of Slovenia, but it did challenge Robert’s dyslexia, especially when adding names to the navigation apps! You try spelling Ljubljana by memory!
Plitvice Lakes to ZagrebOur place in Zagreb is there somewhere! Actually somewhere up five flights in a garret. Lots of baggage. Bonnie using only her left arm. No elevator. They do not tell you this in their apartment write ups!
We are starting to shift from destinations with more tourists to ones with more locals. A welcome relief. It is still very hot but the AC in the studio apartment sent the temperature low at night. Bonnie needed a fleece jacket and blanket. Robert did not.
Zagreb is not large. Population close to that of San Francisco. Most everyone speaks some English.
As with other cities in Croatia, Zagreb has embraced the street for walking, drinking, eating, and seeing each other. Wide and extensive expanses of pedestrian-only zones. Everyone is in a rush here to serve the customers. Always on the move serving food and drinks and picking up empty plates and glasses.
Misters are everywhere creating fog at the edges of the canopies on regular intervals. Quite effective in reducing the temperature (or at least how hot you think it is).
We are finding the posts helpful recently because we are staying only two nights in some places. Cities in the Balkans are starting to blur. But with the posts and Apple photos sorted by location and date, we are keeping on track. At least for now!
Wanderings
Outdoor and Indoor Market
The daily market is quite large. The outdoor portion occupies a big plaza while the indoor portion is at one side of the plaza. It seems that some outdoor vendors sell produce they purchased from others. Some were definitely selling home-grown or wild produce. Robert saw one woman probably in her late 80s, selling a bag of mushrooms she must have picked from a field or forest nearby.
More Wanderings
Upper Town
Took a 55-second ride on a funicular to the upper town—one of the best preserved historic Croatian towns.
This museum is a must. Full of short narratives and objects about broken relationships—some with people, some with objects. Some very sad. Some very joyful. All good.
Cat Woman
Robert counted 14 cats. Meredith, make that 15 as he is sure the lady was a cat in a prior life.
Zagreb Cathedral
This is the first church we have seen that goes straight up. Impressively straight up. So tall.
Retail
Bonnie spots shopping bags from H&M and Zara in EVERY large city. Even when she can’t figure out where the store would be. (Of course Google maps knows all.) And in every city in Italy and the Balkans she has seen big blue IKEA bags used for laundry, hotel linens, or whatever. The globalization of inexpensive retail brands is great, but it has cut down on the number of local boutiques with unusual goods. We miss them.
Tee shirts on men and boys in tourist mobs of Europeans and Asians: 60 percent of tee shirts mention California with some illogical text, 20 percent mention New York (some both: “Brooklyn, California”), 10 percent Tommy Hilfiger, 10 other.
Lodging
Running beneath the sightseeing, eating, drinking, and driving is a low rumble of anxiety about where we will sleep next. Bonnie assembles calendar, iPad, phone, maps, and a notebook for the hunt.
The search starts with TripAdvisor and search words like “Hotel with Parking.” Usually a week or two in advance. Sometimes she gets bumped by TripAdvisor to Booking.com or Hotels.com. She may move to AirBnB for more choices. Although once she identifies a spot on a site not managed by AirBnB, she tries to call them directly. They appreciate this as they then will receive 100 percent of their fee.
Every city is different in mix of housing, prices, and locations. Hotels on the Dalmatian coast are outrageously expensive but there is an abundance of private apartments and rooms at low prices. We had a lovely modern two-bedroom in Dubrovnik with washer and full kitchen for about $50. We rarely stay at hotels, although there have been two or three tiny ones that were brilliant. Europeans use the term B&B differently than we do. A room or hotel room with breakfast can be an B&B. No antiques, stuffed dolls, or hovering owner.
Generally there seems to be an oversupply of private rooms and apartments, which makes sense because of Italy’s negative population growth and families’ tendency to hang on to empty apartments as investments and for possible future use by their children.
Looking for the perfect intersection of reasonable parking, location near the historic center, air conditioning, attractive price, quiet, and maybe a kitchen requires at least 90 minutes. Doing it in 15-minute chunks doesn’t work.
And driving to a new place always brings a slight wave of apprehension. Can we even find it using our navigation app? Several times not. Will the host really be there to give us keys? What’s the neighborhood like? Depressing furnishings? Tiny? Is Bonnie’s hunt for a bargain going to catch up with us? Our only real fail was in the middle of the heat wave in Ljubljana where the apartment promised AC and there was only a fan. But we were able to book quickly elsewhere and got a refund easily.
The drive along the beautiful Dalmatian coast from Dubrovnik back to Split (the ferry from Italy had brought us to Split) was easy. It was like our drive from Split to Dubrovnik—except in the other direction! The Bosnian border passport checks midway through the drive were simply a “wave through.”
Our room in Split was only a few blocks from the historic center, which was especially welcome in the 95 Fahrenheit heat.
Diocletian’s Palace
Diocletian was a late Roman emperor, very successful, with a long reign (284-305 AD). However, late in life he abdicated, the only emperor to do so, and because he was originally from Split, he returned there to build a vast retirement palace on the water’s edge.
The palace compound, laid out in a simple square of 600 by 600 feet, took 11 years to build, and more than 2,000 slaves died in its construction. The completed complex housed more than 700 servants, bodyguards, and soldiers.
Later a Medieval town grew up alongside the palace in approximately the same shape and size. The remains of the abandoned palace were incorporated into the construction of houses, shops, and squares over the centuries. It is easy (without the heat) to meander by and through these elements. Sometimes you see columns and arches inside a supermarket or the curtains of a small window poking through one of the Roman perimeter walls.
It is an unique experience.
The crowds of tourists here are not as disturbing as in the completely walled city of Dubrovnik. This is partly because of the physical porosity of the palace and adjacent town and because of the very broad seaside promenade alongside them. You see and hear locals walking among the tourists and eating in some of the less touristy locations. This is much less a Disneyland experience than Dubrovnik.
Model of Diocletian’s palaceModel of Split today with the remaining elements of the palaceThe dude—DiocletianPalace wall along the main entryMain entry in the time of DiocletianNote billowing window curtain in Roman wallStill busy at 10:00 PM (Lightened with iPhone)
The cellars of the palace
The cellars are vast. They functionally make up the grade difference of the land as it slopes up and away from the water’s edge. They also kept the residential part of the palace above the humid waters. One of the large chambers was used by Game of Thrones in the scene where they chained up the dragons.
GOT dragon chamberOlive pressRoman sewer pipes carved out of stoneOh. Did we mention that they did some GOT filming here?
Cathedral of Saint Dominus
Together with the bell tower, this is the oldest cathedral in the world in continuous use in its original structure. It was consecrated in the 7th century AD, formed over the mausoleum of Diocletian, the last emperor who aggressively martyred Christians. It is small by any standard with beautiful decorations and religious artifacts.
They do not allow photography in the Treasury where they have many items of gold and silver on display, along with bones of saints, one of whom was St. Aris(?) who came from Cagli, Italy, a town near Serra Sant’Abbondio where Robert’s father grew up.
CathedralPassage to the cryptBonnie happy to see the sunlight (but not the heat)The Baptistery was previously a temple of Jupiter built by Diocletian.
Around and about outside the palace walls
The area next to the palace was once a medieval town. It has narrow streets that open up to stark plazas ringed with shops and restaurants, some with large canopies. One particularly large plaza has an open view to the water.
The water edge is busy during the day and especially at night (or so we have heard). Restaurants and bars line the promenade which had a string of rally cars on display when we were there—Lamborghini, Porsche, etc.—all in bright colors and stickered to death.
Waterfront and Promenades
Multiple stalls sell sailing, boat, and jet boat excursionsCruise ship dockedSig Paulazzo’s yacht. Nice color scheme Sig!Promenade gets into high gear after dinner (not before dinner as in Italy).Three guys and a tree for shade
Medieval Town
The best!!! We made four trips there in three days.
Markets
More Strolling
Daily fish marketRobert wonders if some of these fish make it to the market.Bonnie waits for Robert upwind from the fish market.Bonnie’s chocdar (chocolate radar) is always on.
Need a hat? Want a hat? Which one? What color?
Robert believes there is ONE factory somewhere in Asia that is making all of the hats he has seen since the start of the trip in Sicily. All pretty much the same, although he believes Split has the best selection so far.
Freighter leaves port after unloading more hats for Croatian vendors.
Excursion—Tigor
Given the high heat and the fact that we had pretty much absorbed the tourist level of information of Split, we took a one-hour boat ride to the small walled city of Tigor. It cost less than 40 kunas one way (about $6.50). Being on the water with a breeze was great. Bonnie made friends with a two Croatian kids, one two-years-old and his sister of four (and their parents). Apparently, counting your age out loud is a universal thing! We made one stop at the town of Slatine before arriving in Tigor. Slatine is small and looks like a great place to hang out for a week if you like to swim, lie on the beach, and drink beer or mai tais.
Tigor is another Unesco World Heritage Site. (Seems like there are a lot of them in Croatia). It was founded by the Greeks and has been under the rule of many powers including the Venetians. The Saracens made it up here too and sacked the town. We do not know if our puppet friends Orlando and Angelica were involved.
One-hour boat ride from Split to Tigor.Waiting for our boat to unload—note listing Leaving SplitOn the way to TigorTigor
Cathedral of Saint Lawrence
The Saint Peter Church
Once part of the women’s Benedictine monastery
Hrana i Piće
In case you have not caught on yet, if it’s a salad or tuna or a salad with tuna, it’s Bonnie’s. If it is meat, risotto, or pasta, it’s Robert’s.
Robert has wanted to go to Croatia for a long time. Fran Violich, one of his professors at Berkeley, recommended visiting the Dalmatian Coast back in 1970. He said that it was the most beautiful coast in the world. Robert thought it was about time to go.
While Fran Violich’s assessment of this landscape might have been swayed by his Croatian ancestry, the coastline is beautiful and varied.
We have seen the tourists and we are them
The biggest change in coming to Croatia is that we now feel like the tourists we saw in Rome trying to decipher routes, menus, etc. Conversations are very simple—How big a beer? What flavor of gelato? Where is the restroom? Does Sephora have a store here? How much is the ferry ride? Do you accept credit cards? No. Do you sell soy milk?
In fact, the younger Croatians have a lot of education in English starting in first grade and continuing through high school. But many we spoke to feel they really learned English by watching television and movies. When asked, they are eager to speak to you about their country and their day-to-day life. They also have a keen sense of humor. One waiter told Bonnie with a straight face (after she told him about her intolerance to milk and cheese) that he would bring her a side of Parmesan for her salad . . . and he did!
While a little daunting at times, it is not to hard to navigate and the beautiful scenery (as in Rome) makes up for the effort.
Ferry—Ancona to Split
The car ferry left the port of Ancona on the east coast of Italy around 8 PM and arrived in Split around 7 AM. The sea was calm and the beds comfortable enough. Robert took advantage of the shower (the shower is the tiny bathroom in the cabin with a drain in floor). We prepaid for the dinner, which was good—salad, first and second course, and dessert.
The organized queue to drive on boardOur first-class cabinLeaving AnconaBonnie patiently waits in the morning for the go ahead to disembark the car.
Split to Dubrovnik
After getting off the ferry in Split, the four-hour drive along the Dalmatian coast to Dubrovnik required three passport checks—one when we got off the boat and when we crossed into and out of Bosnia Herzegovina.
Our major takeaway from the drive is that there are vast undeveloped areas comprised of rolling hills and an occasional mountain. At times, mountains jut out of the Adriatic Ocean surrounded by water. It reminds us of Eastern Oregon combined with some of the eastern Sierras except that on occasion it has the Adriatic Sea nearby. Overall, the vegetation appears stunted perhaps due to lack of soil and low rainfall. But most of the hills along the coast are green. This changes when we get to Dubrovnik.
When land meets water and with access to the shoreline, there is extensive residential and hotel development that cascades many stories down to the water where it meets boat docks, canopied terraces, and some beaches. Sort of an Orange County development pattern of the late 1970s early 1980s—clean and crisp without a lot of detail. The color palette is a basic off white with red tile roofs. Occasionally you see stone.
Note the cruise ship docked
Dubrovnik
We got to our Airbnb apartment early. It was well outside the historic walled city in a complex of modern five-story residential buildings with lots of trees. Very quiet. Grocery store nearby. Big beach scene a short walk away.
Before tackling the famed old city, we decided to walk along the beaches around the peninsula. This area is more than just dotted with hotels. Hotels are everywhere. It seems they are owned by Valamar because that name prefaces every Grand, President, and Sole hotel in the area. The large hotels are very modern but in a 1970s sort of way—not much detail or intimate scale. Turns out that many of these hotels were built by the Yugoslav communist government back in the day. Every inch of beach and accessible rock is occupied by swimmers or their beach towels. The water here turns from aqua green to deep blues, all crystal clear.
We strolled the promenade that went past numerous restaurants and gelaterias. All were craftily sited in the woods or alongside the natural rock of the hillside—not overstated in their presence.
Old Walled City
This is one ready-for-the-cruise-ships place to be. We took Uber to the old city as it does not cost much more than the bus fare for two. We were dropped off at the Pile Gate, one of two main entrances to the walled city. Went past hordes of tourists in their designated lines ready for their guided tour to start.
Upon going through the narrow city entrance gate, we were stunned by the number of tourists on the main street. This short street ends at the other town gate, this one facing the water. Very narrow streets for pedestrians only run perpendicular to this street, many with steps up the steep hillside.
The city is very pristine in that every stone is laid with precision and is very clean. No graffiti. No trash. One poster revealed that the city was shelled many times during the 1990’s war, leveling some homes by direct hits and others by fire.
Map of war damage (Map key below)Cool idea. It seems that you can exchange your souvenirs if you don’t like them.Major and minor umbrellas stand at the ready like ballerinas in the wingsOh. Did we mention that the Game of Thrones did filming here?
Tourists, tourists, and more tourists
In the walled old city we are seeing Chinese tour groups. Also Japanese people in smaller clusters. But far more Americans here than anywhere in Italy. We think it is a Game of Thrones thing. Large chunks of the series were filmed in the old city here. In fact an article in 2017 said that since 2011 when GOT had its first season, the number of tourists has grown 9 to 12 percent per year.
One of our Uber drivers said that business was ok now in June. But in July it goes nuts. As a comparison, the old city has about 1,500 residents and 3 to 4 cruise ships come to port every few days. Many residents have moved out due to the noise and inconvenience caused by the great crowds. It’s becoming a sort of Disneyland, lacking the local population that would help to temper the experience of the strolling through the old city.
In July, about 100,000 tourists come into the city and there are 6 cruise ships every day. Our 10-minute ride from our apartment to the old city in June will be 50 minutes in July. The mayor is taking steps to limit the number of cruise ships and has already reduced the number of restaurant tables on the street, although that is hard to believe given what we have seen. Recent articles indicate that the mayor will lower the number of tourists within the walls to between 4,000 and 8,000 (presently 10,000) and the number of cruise ships to two a day with a maximum capacity 5,000. Clearly the place needs some intervention.
By 3:00 pm, everyone is exhausted. Tourists by the heat and the walking that they are not used to and the Croatians by the heat and their hard labor serving the tourists that they are used to. Tourists have their gelatos in hand. Croatians have their cigarettes.
But French, German, British, Scandinavian, many Australians, and others we can’t identify are swirling all around. We are coping with the crowds just fine after the initial shock. We had no idea Dubrovnik was such a major destination. Robert is gleaning a lot of information on tourism from Uber drivers. Many are here from Zagreb for the summer season. They are bracing for the big months of July and August.
Croatian women are tall! A lot of young ones tower over Bonnie. And pretty faces are standard among these women.
Dubrovnik Cathedral
The Church of the Holy Annunciation (Crkva sv. Blagovijesti)
Serbian Orthodox church. Very simple. Very beautiful. Altar hidden behind curtain.
The Church of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Church of Saint Blaise
Cats (Not the musical)
We have never seen so many feral cats as in Dubrovnik. They seem to be everywhere.
Excursions
Lokrum
Lokrum is an island public park just off Dubrovnik—a 15-minute boat ride. The island does not let tourists stay overnight. The biggest attraction is the monastery and the water’s edge where hundreds of swimmers occasionally go in the water and then lounge around with their friends and family. All ages. All body shapes. All kinds of swimming apparel. All nationalities.
Oh. Did we mention they filmed Game of Thrones out here too?
Cavtat
Cavtat is a 45-minute boat ride south of Dubrovnik. Pleasant place for a half day of having lunch and taking a stroll along the seashore. Kind of the Sausalito of Croatia.
Kayaking
Robert went kayaking with a group of fellow tourists. Left Dubrovnik at 9 AM and circled the island of Lokrum, stopping at a small cove to swim before returning to Dubrovnik at noon.
Kayak stop for swimming
Hrana i Piće
Great place to eat in Dubrovnik. Sits alongside a boat dock with fishermen walking between the tables carrying tools, fresh fish, and buckets of mussels.Mixed grilled meatsLobnikLobnikCavtatDubrovnik
Easy drive to Rome from Lucca. Stopped at Monte San Savino for lunch.
Rome is definitely revving into high gear for tourists.
It may be hard to find Rome these days with all the tourists and all the hawkers happy to sell you their guide services or tickets to hop on and off tour buses. Taxis fly through intersections crossing pedestrian paths without (it seems) regard to people stepping into the walkway. Pedestrians search for shade and any gelateria nearby, often receiving their double scoop of gelato in cones that require immediate attention as the gelato begins to cascade to the sidewalk in the heat.
As you walk toward a tourist destination, such as the Fountain of Trevi, the number of nicknacks for sale increases exponentially. So does the presence of police officers on foot. Embassies have a high Italian military presence of personnel with automatic rifles loaded with large clips. In the hot weather, single men sell bottles of cold water having switched from the umbrellas they sell when it rains.
While seemingly chaotic, the tourist industry here is a well-oiled and precise machine that adjusts to the ebbs and flow of the needs of the tourists and the opportunities they offer.
E’ Caldo!!!!
OK. Enough is enough unless you look at the weather forecast for the coming days. While our forecast shows mid 90sF (35C), others see the temperature rising to the low 100sF (40sC) today 14 June. We try to drink plenty of water.
The forecast met its mark.Robert is considering getting a new pair of shorts for the hot weather.
Monte San Savino
A short stop to explore and have lunch on the way to Rome. Surprised to see the level of architecture style and the number of churches in this small town.
Raised seating as found in Lucca
Chiesa di Misericordia o Pieve Vecchia (Santi Egidio e Savino)
Chiesa di S. Agostino
Instituto Centrale per La Grafica
Our cousin Luciana suggested this great exhibition in central Rome on animated books—fold outs, pop ups, moving parts, the human body revealed through layers of illustrations, and several interactive digital books from the mid 1990s, etc. We arrived just in time to hear the tour.
161318191898
Museum and Crypt of the Capuchin Friars
Located on Via Veneto, this crypt contains the bones of more than 3,700 friars arranged in decorative pattens on the walls and ceiling. One section may be all hip bones, and another skulls. This holy display of bones started when the friars moved to the present location in 1631, bringing with them the skeletal remains of 300 friars.
We are not sure when they stopped this practice. In comparison to the Capuchin crypt in Palermo, this is tame, but when Robert first saw it as a 12-year old, it was (and still is) an amazing experience. The friars recently created a museum that beautifully exhibits the history of the Capuchin order.
While they do not allow photos now, we have a few photos of the crypts that we took in 1962.
Ara PacisAugustae
The Roman Senate commissioned this marble monument, the Altar of Augustan Peace, in 13 BC to honor Augustus Caesar upon his return to Rome after three years in Hispania and Gaul where he peacefully integrated these nations into the Roman Empire.
Augustus is known as the emperor who brought Rome into the Pax Romana—a 50-year period of peace—during which he turned Rome from a city of bricks into a city of marble and modernized the city’s infrastructure including aqueducts.
After modern archeologists recovered and reassembled pieces of this monument, Mussolini relocated it in the late 30’s to its current site near the Tiber. The American architect Richard Myer designed the temperature-controlled building sheltering it in 2006. For the first time, Robert appreciated a Myer building. It is much better from the inside looking out than looking in. The museum downstairs is not worth the price of admission. The current exhibition featuring the reign on Augustus is very confusing even to Bonnie who has studied this period of history.
Thats and This’s
Un sacco di guai!First haircut in Italy! Claudia!Rome is in a sanitation crisis. Unlike San Francisco and Lucca, residents leave their recycling at designated street locations throughout their neighborhoods. Once picked up daily, today the contents are removed once every two weeks at best.Circo Massimo manca Charlton Heston.
Bibeti e Cibo
Monte San SavinoLuciana and Bonnie are the first customers for drinks that evening at Piazza Adriatico, Roma.Panzanella AliceTorta sbrisolonaSgroppinoIf Berkely had the land, this would fit right in! Located about 15 minutes from Luciana’s, this social-oriented casale podere (farm house) serves simple organic dishes and shows movies on a large outdoor screen. Once part of a large series of farms, it is now a small green island surrounded by mid-rise housing. We stayed for the entire movie. All in Italian. SupplìA trip to Rome means a trip to Trattoria da Enzo in the Trastevere. Bonnie suggested getting there early. Good idea!
Grazie Luciana e Marta!
The Roman home of Luciana and Marta (and on occasion Dario) has become an oasis in our travels through Italy. We are so grateful to our cousins for rearranging their accommodations to house their elders!!
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This post tells about our excursions beyond Lucca’s walls.
Garfagnana
The Garfagnana is the beautiful, wooded mountain area just north of Lucca between the Northern Appenines and the Alpi Apuane. Sweet chestnut trees cover the mountains and a major river—Serchio—flows through it.
Most important, it is the ancestral home of our niece Kitty Loyd’s relatives—the Marcuccis—her dad’s side of the family!
We visited several towns on our day trip there: Bagni di Lucca (where Elizabeth stayed), Barga, and Castelnuovo. And we saw an incredible medieval bridge. There are few tourists, mostly serious hikers.
Robert is amazed that no one is fishing the river here as well as others that he sees from the car.
Bagni di Lucca
We couldn’t find the rest of the chess set.
Barga
Castelnuovo di Garfagnana
Ponte della Maddalena
We saw this bridge on our way back to Lucca. Robert had to stop to take a few photos and walk across it. Wikipedia revealed that this medieval bridge was built around 1100 and named the Bridge of the Devil. It was later renovated around 1300 and renamed the Bridge of Mary Magdalene. It was an important Via Francigena pilgrimage crossing of the Serchio River.
Marble Quarries of Carrara
Wow. Wow. Wow.
Those are three wows of our trip so far. The tour of the marble quarries of Carrara adds a fourth WOW.
The tour guide met us high up the mountain with his Land Rover, which has seen many miles but not a car wash in many months. Eight of us climbed in. Bonnie and Robert took the back with a young couple from Manhattan. A couple from Switzerland and a couple from Bosnia and Montenegro took the real seats. As we headed almost vertically up the single-lane gravel road with hairpin turns, there was nothing to hang onto except one another and a few OMG bars. The bumps, twists, and turns easily surpassed any experience at Magic Mountain.
This bone-rattling tour lasted more than two hours with visits to numerous quarries. (There are at least 85.) The scale of these quarries is immense, and the bright white of the walls and all the surrounding surfaces in the sun is blinding. One visit took us into a mountainside where they were actively excavating. There, a machine was diamond cutting a huge slab.
The guide made good use of the Land Rover as some slopes exceeded 45 degrees for long distances—some dry and some wet.
Excavating marble began here in ancient time, and marble from Carrara was first used extensively in Rome for the building projects of Emperor Augustus (“I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.”) Michelangelo favored Carrara marble even though his client, a Medici pope, had insisted he purchase marble from a Medici quarry. The Pieta marble came from Carrara.
The technique of excavating marble has not changed much since it began. The cheapest method is to start at the top of a mountain and work down, not into, the mountain, changing the roads for trucks as you go, daily if necessary. Only two of the quarries have gone into the mountainside because of physical restrictions created by adjoining quarries owned by others.
While the technique has not changed, the machinery has. Today, they core drill at intervals of a depth of up to 9 meters vertically and horizontally, then run diamond-embedded cable through the drilled holes in a loop around the still-attached marble. Running the cable in a loop cuts through the marble until they can wedge the block off and onto the quarry floor. Workers look for the largest piece possible that does not fracture or have major internal flaws. Each new cut is a gamble.
Buyers inspect new slabs on site. If they like what they see, they must arrange for transportation out of the excavations. More than 700 trucks run shipments each day on gravel roads that change from day to day as quarrying continues to eat away at the mountain.
They estimate that only 95 percent of the marble has been excavated to date. The mountain range is large and extends east to Lucca. We learned that unimaginable amounts of marble powder, created from marble slabs too small or too flawed to sell in one piece, are used in products worldwide such as toothpaste, osteoporosis medication, body creams, and milk (calcium additive thanks to Nestle). Robert had thought the small pieces of marble were just used to make miniature statues of David sold in Florence. Who knew?!
The tour was by Il Tau (iltau.com). We highly recommend them.
Marble sculpting exhibition—CarraraOur first marble parking lot, in Colonnata, up the road from CarraraTour starts. Eight plus guide. One Land Rover.Slab cut and ready to wedge off the mountainsideSlab recently broken off lies on its side.Somehow, we do not think this ladder would meet OSHA safety standards.Note the tunnel entrance in the distance on the left. We went there next. Better view of the tunnel entrancesInside the mountainVideo!Old train tunnel now used for vehicle accessYes. You can buy marble lemons. If you want.On the way back, Bonnie wanted to see the seaside resort of Forte dei Marmi, famous for its fashion shopping and to . . .. . . explore another Angela Caputi store!
Terme Tettuccio in Montecatini Terme
These hot springs have been known for their curative powers since ancient times. Don’t worry. We did not include any photos of Robert in a Speedo.
They might not know there is an app for this.
Cibo e Bibite
Lardo di Colannata, near CarraraColannataColannata
We’re not sure why more people don’t make Lucca a destination for long stays. We did. Twelve full days. Lucca is filled with churches, shops, squares, restaurants and trattorias, and gelaterias. Its location gives easy access to Pisa, Cinque Terre, Florence, Viareggio, Carrara marble quarries, and the Garfagnana—all one to 1.5 hours away by car, train, or bus.
Lucca’s defensive wall encloses all of this, making strolls easy and enjoyable. The streets curve, revealing glimpses of shops that finally come into full view or occasional piazzas that open up the street to front a church or a civic building. Many of the churches are now used for academic and civic functions. Music recitals seem to dominate.
The drive from Rome took about 4 hours including a stop for gas and a quick lunch.
Music, Music, Music, and More Music
Lucca is filled with music of all kinds. Elton John will be here next month. So will Sting. But most importantly, Lucca is the home of Puccini. Lucca has long embraced music. But Puccini solidified Lucca’s importance and influence in music worldwide.
This importance has borne schools of music and opera in Lucca. You see students with instrument cases on their backs going to and from school or you hear opera flowing onto the street from open windows as students train their voices.
Puccini performances take place nightly, and we went to one with Bob, Richard, and friends. We heard an impressive Tosca in an open-air plaza while having drinks at a cafe, and we went to Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with a full orchestra, 100-person choir, and four highly accomplished operatic singers. Both performances were free. The conservatory offers free Rassegana Giovani Interpreti (final exam recitals) daily from mid May to mid June. We heard 11 students from the Scuola di Pianoforte play selections including Chopin and Liszt.
It makes for very special memories.
Messa da Requiem Giuseppe VerdiMessa da Requiem Giuseppe VerdiMessa da Requiem Giuseppe VerdiVideo! Messa da Requiem Giuseppe VerdiToscaRassegna Giovani Interpreti Student recital—PianoforteVideo! Rassegna Giovani Interpreti Student recital—Pianoforte
Cattedrale di San Martino
Basilica di St. Frediano
Frediano was an Irish bishop. (Yes, Jim Walsh, you heard right. An Irish bishop.) The Lucchese could not pronounce his real name—Finnegan—so they called him Frediano. He had the church built in the first half of the 6th century. The church underwent major expansions over the years.
Santa Zita
St. Michele in Foro
Built over the Roman forum and first mentioned in the late 700s. Pope Alexander II rebuilt this church in 1370 to rival the church built by the archbishop of Lucca. Some sort of pride and power issue was going on with the pope, who wanted to impress pilgrims approaching Rome from the north.
St. Davino
Palazzo Manzi
A few doors down from where we are staying, this palazzo provides a great example of how the upper crust in Lucca lived in the 1600s through 1800s. It holds rooms of tapestries, samples of silks woven in Lucca, and the city art collection that includes works given by the Medici family, including Tintorettos, Ghirlandaios, Bronzinos, and other Renaissance paintings. Well worth a visit and barely mentioned in tourist guides.
Detail of silk embroidery
Puccini’s Home
Puccini’s early work on La BohemeBonnie loves the draped silk
Torre Guinigi
This tower was built for show. Wealth that is. Back in the 1300s wealthy families built bell towers to show off their worth. Today, we climb to the top for incredible views of Lucca and beyond. The oak trees on top replaced a culinary garden for the kitchen that was once located the floor below.
This and Thats
Oval shape from the Roman forum that once occupied this space outside of the Roman wallThe Lucchese of all ages make use of their bicyclesTop of the wallOld market undergoing restorationStar jasmine in full bloomBotanical gardenThanks to the shutter that cast the shadowBaby announcementPuccini the hipsterIce cream “truck”
Robert’s Colazione
Robert each morning goes to a nearby pasticceria—Pasticceria Da Sara & Co—for his morning cappuccino and dolce (usually a cornetto vuoto). The place seats about 40 with another eight standing at the counter. A family (mother, father, and daughter) run the operation. They take turns at the register, although it seems that the daughter is always the barista and mom is the person in charge of the dolce (pastries).
The shop, mainly with a modern but not too modern look, sits on one of the main streets and as such fills and empties with people on their way to work, school kids getting their last hit of caffeine and sugar before their classes start in 10 minutes, and the local police. Robert has yet to figure out the schedule of classes for the students. They come in waves—some before 8 and others at 10:30.
Workers in the trades filter in and out throughout the morning and stay only a minute or two—enough time to order and down an espresso or macchiato. Customers read the newspapers left folded neatly on a tabletop by a prior customer. The pasticceria gets its share of tourists too. But the mix is heavily in favor of the locals as in many places in Lucca.
The familiar sounds here are of the customers talking to each other, arguing (but not really arguing) about who will pay the bill, the clanking and clinking of cups, saucers, and plates. No need here to worry about chipping because the cups and plates are heavy and thick with a purpose in mind.
Cibo e Bibite
We went here many times for lunch. They have a great selection of meats, salads, and sandwhiches that you order at the counter and eat there.This is about one third of the prosciutto hanging. I asked how long does it take to sell them. Answer: 1 to 1.5 months!L’Ancuia—Pesca Povere Great multi-course meal included wine and dessert.Pappa al pomodro Ristorante Cantine Bernardini Lucca
Located near the cathedral. Nice outdoor spot for a spritz and dinnerWe went here three times. Great simple food. Great friendly service.Thick moon-shaped pasta encloses a mainly meat fillingAmaro from a local pharmacy. Very good.Near the Roman amphitheater. Hip,Tagliatelle arrabiataLocal tortelliTrippa!Pappa al pomodoro – a Lucchese dish made of tomatoes and bread
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Tra Consenza e Sorrento-21 Maggio 2019-iPadScreenshotSorrento-22 Maggio 2019 – iPadSorrento-22 Maggio 2019 – iPadTattoo Wedding-Sorrento-23 Maggio 2019 – iPadSorrento-23 Maggio 2019 – iPadSorrento-23 Maggio 2019Trastevere, Roma-26Maggio2019-iPadLeonardo-Testaccio, Roma-25Maggio2019-iPadPantheon, Roma-26 Maggio 2019-iPadPiazza Trilussa, Roma-26 Maggio 2019-iPadPiazza del Popolo, Roma – 29 Maggio 2109-iPadSpanish Steps – Roma – 29 Maggio 2019 – iPad
Not even Mitch Miller would be able to follow the bouncing blue GPS dot in Italy, especially in Rome. Apologies to those born after 1955 for the reference to Mitch Miller. I am sure Jane Howard remembers him on TV with his cast of singers. Lyrics were displayed on the TV screen with a bouncing ball that led you through the words, pausing or speeding up to keep you in time with the music. As it turns out, Robert’s extensive research reveals that there was NO bouncing ball on Mitch Miller’s program. That might be good for Italy too.
GPS here is hit and miss. More miss that hit. Bonnie and Robert will set directions for a walk to a specific spot in Rome. Almost reach the point. Refresh the directions to be sure we are on the right track, only to see the dot flip 180 degrees in the direction they just walked. A “ten minute” walk often turns out to be 40 minutes.
Really. Where are we?
And did we mention NOT to use iMap?! It is not able to keep up with the organic urban streets of Rome or even the countryside. In one instance, we stopped for lunch, selecting a place to eat via iMap. Looked great. Followed the directions and ended up at someone’s home. Robert called the restaurant and confirmed the street address. After looking at the restaurant’s website, Robert discovered that they are in Florence. We were in southern Italy. Google maps is a little bit better.
This digram sums up our experience following the blue dot on foot in Rome
Waze is better, although it tends to forget at times that our eight-foot wide car may not be able to make a 90-degree turn into a nine-foot wide street with 12-inch curbs. Oh. And be sure to remember that if Waze is set in a British accent and tells you to take the second exit on a roundabout, the exit is actually the first. The American accent takes this into account. And as Carl Swirsding warned us, just because the voice says to turn right, it may be that you should take a left. Check the visuals first.
We left Palermo, driving to Messina to catch the ferry back to the mainland. Not many photos of the ferry ride because we are now veterans of the experience. The drive to Cosenza, our stopover before Sorrento, consisted of many galleries (tunnels) and beautiful countryside. Not much to say about Cosenza because it is a working town and we only stayed overnight. There was probably a baroque church, but we did not go looking for it.
Our next destination was Sorrento where we had arranged to meet California cousins Leonard and Kathy and their friend Kathyrn. The drive to Sorrento went through rolling hills with well-kept olive orchards, peach/nectarine orchards, and vineyards. The autostrada took us up the middle of Italian peninsula crossing through a national park where the mountains took on incredible shapes—some conical, some with steep vertical sides. We were impressed at how green the countryside is in these regions of Italy, although the wildflower season has come and gone.
This drive also had plenty of long tunnels. One five kilometers. Robert described to Bonnie the vistas they could not see. That helped for about five minutes.
We arrived at the old Hotel Minerva in Sorrento about four. Its wide terrace affords incredible views of Sorrento, Mt. Vesuvius, and Naples. It was a wonderful spot for late afternoon drinks.
Sorrento is the stereotype (in a good way) of the Italian coastal town—steeped in great vistas and tourists. The town is a stark contrast to the working neighborhood where we stayed in Palermo. The whole economic machine here is running in high gear to service the tourist trade. Lots of buses. Lots of tour vans. Lots of restaurants. Lots of shops…with scarves for Bonnie
We plan to come back in the fall.
Palermo to CosenzaConsenzaConsenza—garbage pickup dayConsenzaCosenza to Rome
Olive orchard
Peach/nectarine orchardsView from the hotel terrace in SorrentoBonnie and her spritz while editing a post on PalermoCena con i nostri cugini e amica Kathyrn Bonnie inspects her 84th linen scarf.Limoncello overloadTattoo weddingTonnoTorta di Nonna
There are too many great views in Italy. Most are typically spectacular in their expected ways. Our friend Kirk Peterson yearns for the other side, posting on Facebook:
I have a request for more pictures; some ugliness. Of course ugliness can be beautiful, but it’s interesting to contrast foreign ugliness to what I see here. We have plenty. Their lousy 70s apartamenti vs. ours.
So, here’s to his request. You can decide if it’s ugly or beautiful.
Castellammare del GolfoCastellammare del GolfoPalermoPalermoPalermoPalermoPalermoPalermoConsenzaSorrentoRoma
It is hard to believe we can condense so much of a week in Palermo into three posts. This post includes Bonnie’s glamorous birthday night out and ends with the fate of Angelica (the focus of the Teatri dei Pupi) and further observations on fashion.
We met up with our new Palmero friends Domenico, his wife Laura, and their energetic boys Lorenzo and Ricardo.
Bonnie’s Birthday—A Night at the Teatro Massimo
The magnificent Teatro Massimo once appeared in a Godfather film. Bel canto soprano Jessica Pratt performed.
Nightlife just getting started at 10;30 PM
Il Palazzo Conte Frederico
The notable palazzo of Conte Frederico is built into the walls of the city and one of the old towers. It has been in the possession of the family since the 1700s, and the family still uses it as their home. Rooms are on a slight curve following the alignment of the old wall. Family members give hourly tours to help defer the costs of upkeep. The palazzo is filled with family mementos, art, trophies, weapons, needlework, and kitchenware.
The family were members of the Free Masons who supported Garibaldi’s unification of Italy. A Masonic symbol is tucked into this fresco.Map of Palermo prior to filling in the harbors.Arab air conditioning: Shafts in the stone walls allow updrafts to pass through wet fabric, giving natural cooling.The underside of roof tilesThe first Italian flag contains the king’s emblem.The count, now 80, continues to race.A treasure in the palace
Palazzo dei Normanni
The huge Norman Palace was the seat of Norman kings in about 1100 A.D. and later the official location of heads of governments.
The kings, of course, had their own chapel within the palace, the Cappella Palatina, covered in mosaics.
Street Art
Lots to see. Graffiti artists can work legally on abandoned buildings.
Music
Robert came across this middle-school group practicing during one of his morning walks.
Video!
Teatro dei Pupi
Yes. More Opera dei Pupi. Palermo has at least four puppet theaters (we went to two and tried to attend a third), and there are more in the rest of Sicily (we went to one in Siracusa). The puppet Saracens are still trying to take control of Europe. This time Paris is the site of a battle. The two cousins, Ronaldo and Orlando, keep knocking off monsters and slicing and dicing Saracens with the focus of their love on the beautiful pagan Angelica. We still do not know who wins Angelica’s favor.
Dead Saracens keep piling up. Video!
Oh. Did we mention that we went to another performance in Palermo? No photos .were allowed.
We tried to see a performance at a third Palermo puppet theater on Sunday night, but it was cancelled because the audience was too small (was that the night of the Game of Thrones finale?). Other puppet performances had been packed. The good news is that the elderly padrone gave us a tour behind the scenes where three or four people operate the puppets and several dozen puppets are stored.
The better news is that Robert mentioned to him that after seeing three performances, he still did know who Angelica ends up with. Ronaldo? Orlando? Someone else? Robert finally got his answer, and the owner emphasized that who one falls in love with is a matter of the heart and not logic.
Catacombe dei Cappuccini
Our new friend Domenico gave us an impromptu tour of this strange crypt. 2,000 clothed corpses are on display. Another 6,000 are behind closed doors. Believers saw this place as a kind of purgatory, where they could wait before going to heaven. This treatment of bodies went on until the mid 1920s! Corpses are sorted in corridors by type: priests, monks, professionals, women, babies, etc. One Italian ambassador to the United States. Worth a visit, but you need a guide to fully understand it.
Photo from the web.
Spanish Inquisition in Palermo
This unusual museum lies within two historic buildings restored by the university—buildings where the Spanish imprisoned and tortured those suspected of crimes against the Church. Authorities needed only two anonymous reports of crimes to arrest citizens, which led to many abuses. The Dominican Order administered the trials, prisons, and torture, and kept prisoners for years. Some were released, some were exiled, and some did duty in the Spanish navy. All their properties were confiscated, but a few had enough wealth to pay for their liberation.
The extraordinary part of this museum is seeing the extensive graffiti drawn on the walls of cells by prisoners with reddish scrapings from the terra cotta floor tiles or ashes from the fire pots reserved for the more privileged. Drawings, portraits, complex scenes, text in several languages. The graffiti was hidden under plaster for centuries, and when it was recently discovered, it took five years to uncover and preserve.
Here’s and There’s
Palazzo di Giustizia where mafia trials take place, including the famous Maxi Trial from 1986 to 1992 of 475 mafia figures.
Old city wall used as a wall for homes
Laundry (shadows)
1.58 aerials per residence
Style Notes
Italians really don’t like to be cold. The weather has been flirting with summer for a couple of weeks now, with temperatures in the high 60s and sometimes 70. Many tourists have stripped down to tee shirts, shorts, and sandals, but Italians are still bundled up. Many are still in down jackets and wool scarves.
Palermo = Food! Palermo’s mercatos are world famous for vendors who shout and sing to attract customers. Farm to table has its roots here. Nothing goes to waste if it can be fried, grilled, or roasted. We don’t think they have found a part of a pig that they can’t use. Once again, we relied on Domenico’s expertise to introduce us to a range of Palermo cuisine! We, of course, furthered our research on our own.
Domenico, our guide, with Robert. Part of his tour was through the kilometer-long Ballaro’ mercato. Great introduction to Sicilian tastes!Robert was the only one to try a Pani câ meusa (a spleen sandwich). In fact he liked it so much he had another from a vendor in Piazza Marina later that week. At this stand, they already have the spleen boiled. The vendor then slices and sautés some.Arancine—fried saffron rice balls filed with meat, cheese, or vegetables. Delicious.Video!Video!Video!May is tuna season!Nothing goes to wasteSfincione. Palermo pizza.So many. So little time.
Cibi e Bibete
Our neighborhood Palermo restaurateur holding a bottle of blood orange amaro liqueur. Very good.
A leisurely drive from Castellammare past rugged mountains shooting out of the sea and rolling hills planted in vineyards brought us to Palermo about noon. Driving into the city was not as hair-raising as we had been led to believe, although Bonnie had carefully studied the street map to find a hotel not too deep into the narrow, twisting streets of central Palermo. Nevertheless, the hotel was in a delightfully “colorful” neighborhood of noisy street life that continued until at least a 11 pm. After unloading luggage and our expanding collection of stuff, like wine, to drop off at cousin Luciana’s in Rome, we found parking about a block from the hotel where we left the car for a week. When a hotel says they have free parking, it usually means street parking that is free.
By chance, a college dorm mate of Robert who lives in France had just posted an enthusiastic recommendation for a guide of walking tours, so we immediately signed up. Domenico’s tour was a great orientation to Palermo that was cultural, historic, and gastronomic. Domenico Aronica is the guy to go with: www.domenicoaronica.com. Domenico quickly became a pal, and on another day we had drinks with he and his young family, and on a third day we visited Palermo’s catacombs together.
Domenico explained to us that the population of the central city was 280,000 before WWII, but after Allied bombing it declined dramatically, and it is only 80,000 today. (A new section of the city was built during and after Mussolini.) Incredibly, many distinguished palazzi in the old city still remain damaged and unoccupied. But in the past 5 to 10 years there has been a resurgence of interest and investment in the area. Key to this has been closing two main cross streets for pedestrians. In addition, the waning of mafia influence since the early 1990s has encouraged investors to renovate the empty palazzi for hotels or condominiums.
The number of tourists on the streets in mid May, primarily Italians and other Europeans, is astonishing, and tourism is now an important economic driver in the city. Some of the tourist increase comes because of wariness about travel in the Middle East and North Africa. But there is also growing awareness, reinforced by UNESCO’s recognition of its heritage, of Palermo’s vast collection of extraordinary churches and museums. And despite the waves of tourists in the streets, key sites are often quiet. We were sometimes the only visitors in a museum. This may be partly because there are so many sites to visit. Hotels and restaurants are abundant and not fully booked.
Many cultures
Palermo’s culture and architecture today results from the layering of many populations over many centuries: Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spanish, and French. The Normans especially embraced the other cultures in their architecture and administration of government. Now, it is tourists who have invaded Palermo.
Sign written in Italian, Hebrew, and Arabic
Quattro Canti
Baroque in all its glory, the plaza is the intersection of the two major roads in the historic core. Each corner is sculpted in three layers: at the base, one of the four seasons, a Spanish ruler above, and finally crowned with a saint.
Manca Minchia
Our guide Domenico brought us to the “Fountain of Shame” in the heart of the city. The fountain was designed for a garden in Tuscany, but the original customer did not pay when it was completed, so it was shipped to Palermo is pieces instead. Beyond the over-sized scale of the fountain, this Renaissance work contains many figures, all nude. Placed between the Church of Saint Joseph and a nunnery made it a scandal. The nuns had all of the prominent minchia removed. Domenico hypothesized that the nuns took the minchia back into the nunnery.
200 Chiese
There are 200 churches in the historic core of Palermo. Some in use. Some not. We did NOT see all but did see a few exceptional examples.
In addition to all the churches, there are many shrines throughout the city.
Cattedrale di Palermo
Santa Rosalie, patron saint of Palermo
Chiesa Santa Caterina d’Alessandria
The elaborate interior of this church, mostly sculpted marble, was paid for by the wealthy patrons whose daughters were subscribed to the Benedictine order of cloistered nuns.Sculpted marble of many colors explodes from the walls. This differentiates Palermo’s baroque churches from those in Modica and from those in Rome whose interiors are painted and have less ornamentation.The cloistered nuns gave their confessions through screens to the seated priest.
Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio (La Martorana)
The Normans were sent by the Pope as mercenaries to conquer Sicily. After succeeding, they decided to stay and not remain under the Pope’s control. This mosaic shows Christ crowning Roger II as king of Sicily, a ceremony usually performed by the Pope. Get the message?
Chiesa di Gesu
Cattedrale di Monreale
We took a 30-minute bus ride to Monreale to view an exquisite example of Norman architecture that blends Muslim and Christian craftsmanship and artistry.
Muslim work consists of geometric patterns. No figures. Muslim craftsmen completed floors and lower level of walls. Christian craftsmen did marble and mosaic figures above.
Detail of marble tapestry
A walk to the topView of Palermo in the distance next to the water
We took a leisurely drive from Modica to Agrigento, passing farm fields and especially vineyards. Our Agrigento hotel was not in the city center but out at the beach. This spot seemed like a working community with few tourists. The waiter at the bar where Robert got his morning cappuccino knew on the second day that no sugar was needed and that the cornetto should be vuoto (not filled). And the lady at the panificio (bakery) knew that Bonnie did not tolerate milk, warning Robert which pastries had cream. Pretty good! We do not get that personal attention at Starbucks or Peet’s.
Robert noticed the working farm across from the panificio planted with beans, onions, and fave.
We came to Agrigento—Valle dei Templi— for the Greek temples. We drove to the temple site with perhaps a sense of obligation to see more important ruins. Our first siting came as we drove along a winding country road through wooded fields. That first glimpse of the Temple of Concord, very big, up high, orange against the blue sky, almost completely intact, made Bonnie gasp, “wow.” The entire temple park is a national monument of Italy and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the 1,300 hectares make it the largest archaeological site in the world.
A string of seven temples stretch along a four-kilometer ridge. Some temples still stand while others do not.
We were pretty amazed at the scale and expanse of the area. Along with the museum where we spent about an hour, we took about 4 hours strolling slowly from temple to amazing temple.
Temple of ConcordTemple of HeraCentral four-kilometer path connecting the templesTemple of Hercules
Other just as important items
We rounded a corner on our pre dinner walk and found a mob of people in front of this gelateria. The photo shows only one of the TWO cases of gelati flavors. Not sure how people eat a large gelato and soon after eat dinner but it seems routine here.White sparkling wine made from Nero d’Avola grapes. Very good.Local bar where we had evening drinks and Robert had his morning cappuccini and cornetti. Note Italians consistently in black or navy, and Robert not.Beans, fave, and onions
We promise Parte Due is not as long as Parte Uno! It’s just that we saw so much around the town of Modica in southeast Sicily.
This part addresses:
Churches
Flowers
Chocolate
We hit Sicily at what seems to be the height of the flower season. Lots of colors. Lots of poppies. Color is not limited to the countryside as we found many potted plants on our walks.
And because Modica is renowned for chocolate, a legacy of Spanish occupation, we managed to find a workshop tour that we took on the day we departed for Agrigento.
Enjoy!
Chiese
Most of the churches are baroque. Late, Spanish-influenced baroque. Verging on roccoco. The biggest surprise is that some of the plainest facades front the most elaborate interiors. All seem to be dedicated to a saint, including at times exquisite statues that capture the miraculous moment of their lives. Very long sets of stairs leading up to the churches especially in Modica and Noto.
ModicaModicaModicaModicaModicaModicaModicaModicaModicaModicaModicaSt. George slaying the dragon, Modica
Scicli
Scicli
Mary on horseback in papier mache, Scicli
Scicli
Scicli
Duomo di Siracusa – Ortigia A Greek temple in 5th century BC. Built over in 7th century as a cathedral with Greek columns incorporated. Baroque facade added along with rebuilding after earthquake in 1693.
Greek column incorporated, Ortigia
Ortigia
Curvy solid-silver figure of saint, Ortigia
Ortigia
NotoNotoNoto
Noto
NotoNotoNoto
Fiori
Chocolate
Have we mentioned that Modica is renowned for its chocolate? If you say “No”, you have not read our posts! Pics below of our tour in chocolate making.
Battering the chocolate in their molds forces the fat to the top resulting in a shiny surface.
Next blog: You want Greek temples? We got Greek Temples!
We settled in Modica, a baroque town in southeast Sicily, for 8 days, first getting acquainted with the historic area around our B&B, then taking day trips to towns and historic sites within 1.5 hours.
Below are descriptions of places we visited. After these, you will find our experiences categorized by what we saw and ate! Enjoy!
Ortigia-Siracusa
The highlight of Ortigia, the island that is the old town of Syracuse, went beyond the lively morning fish and vegetable mercato and the baroque architecture. Il Teatro dei Pupi (puppets) dates back to the Spanish occupation in the 1600s. The puppets, about 30 inches tall and beautifully clothed, are operated from above by three rods. The puppet shows are a continuing series of one story that revolves around the woman Angelica, whose beauty causes multiple knights, a king, and a warlord to pursue her, mixed with sorcery and the conquest of Sicily by the Saracens. (Literature majors will remember Orlando Furioso.) As with a series today, we were left with a cliffhanger—the castle burning, multiple slayings, and Angelica in total grief as to what her fate will be. We will need to come back next month if we want to see the next installment.
Morning market
Lots of local fish
According to Ovid, Alpheus sees his love Arethusa, who with the help of the goddess Diana, turns into water to escape the river god’s erotic pursuit, Didn’t turn out as she had wanted because the river god transformed himself back into water and “commingled” with her anyway.
Teatro dei Pupi
Angelica with the first of many knights to follow
Sorceress enters the scene
One of many slayings by a knight
Ragusa
Still baroque.
Noto
Still baroque.
Bonnie discovers this world-famous gelateria and pastry shop, documented on Chef’s Table on Netflix, is closed on Mondays!
Scicli
More baroque. Great town. Could have stayed here several days.
The mayor’s office from the Inspector Montalbano television series
Portopalo Capo Passero
The southwest-most point in Sicily. Historically known for tuna fishing. Had a fabulous seafood lunch here.
Marzamemi
Also known for tuna fishing. Now known as the site for festivals.
Cava d’Ispica
Within 20 minutes of Modica, the hillsides are layered with soft and hard rock facilitating digging for dwellings and catacombs.
Greek military gymnasiumGreek lettering from fifth century BCE identifying seating for the senior militaryRooms carved into the hillside. Some dwellings were on many levels. Front sheared off. Catacombs
Villa Romana del Casale
The largest expanse of Roman mosaics discovered to date—more than 3,500 square meters of flooring. This was a working estate. Some believe the owner imported exotic animals to be used in Rome’s Coliseum.
Le strade e Le passeggiata
Most of the towns we visited are World Heritage Sites because they were rebuilt after a devastating earthquake in 1693 in late Baroque style influence by the Spanish. These towns are built into and on mountains, which results in narrow, winding walkways that traverse the topography—some only for pedestrians, but most also for cars. Lots of stairs provide shortcuts from level to level. It all looks like an urbanist’s dream from the 1960s but unachievable when you add concerns for life and safety.
The towns are a whole other experience. In some towns the streets are barely wide enough for our vehicle. This is where Waze is no longer fun, taking you on routes that no AI in its right algorithm should guide you to, especially when it involves a turn of 90 degrees or less on a 9-foot wide road. Robert on more than one occasion disobeyed (gasp!) Waze’s direction.
Modica’s regional road system varies from highways of high quality to those that appear to be unmaintained for 20 years. Lots of roundabouts. And lots of crazy Italian drivers that suddenly appear in your rearview mirror, follow you at a four-meter distance, and then turn out to pass you on a blind curve.
Many of the roads and fields near Modica are lined with dry-laid stone walls, some in disrepair and some recently built. All beautiful in their own right. Beyond many of these walls are hothouses clad in solid plastic. Some vineyards have the same structures but covered in a fine mesh. From a distance they look like large fields of light-colored soil.
A brief selection of the food and drinks we sampled in and around Modica. Lots of fish. A bit of a bite in some dishes. (Robert likes that!) Lots of vegetables incorporated into the meat dishes and a proliferation of caponata (zucchini, tomatoes, olives, capers, onions, etc). Very little garlic and not overly herbed. Very accommodating on milk-free dishes for Bonnie.
Oh, before we forget Modica is world renowned for its chocolate. Their recipe comes from Mexico via the Spanish in 1600. The Mexican recipe, only cacao and sugar, results in a richer and granular composition.
And one more item.
In eight days Robert walked 54 miles and climbed 200 floors and Bonnie walked 42 miles and climbed 125 floors. (He gets up earlier.)
For the first time, Bonnie is overwhelmed by the selection of chocolates.
Modica
Insalata – Noto
Caponata – Noto
Lolli con fave – Modica B&B breakfast – ModicaAnchovy and breadcrumbs – ModicaPesce – ModicaTagliatelle con pesce – ModicaModicaScaccia – Modica Alice – ModicaModicaModica Trippa! – ModicaInsalata mista – ModicaPizza del mare e pizza con salsiccia e funghi – ModicaPasta con granchio – ModicaPesce grigliata – ModicaPesce fritta – ScicliCafe lungo e uno cornetto – ModicaConiglio – ModicaAppetizers – Rigidi e crudo – Portopalo di Capo PasseroZuppa di pesce – Portopalo di Capo PasseroStrozza prete con tonno e pomodore – Portopalo di Capo Passero
We left Serra around 10 nella matina (in the morning) for two days of driving to reach Modica in Sicily. We prefer 4-5 hours of driving plus time to eat and gas up because it allows us to arrive at our destination around 4 or 5 PM in time for the evening passeggiata.
We stopped briefly in Deruta to see decorative ceramic plates and found them not only in the stores but on the walls, light fixtures, and embedded in the sidewalks.
DerutaDeruta: Sidewalk
We arrived at the city of Salerno (Campania) and found our B&B with crucial assistance from Waze. Great view from the terrace high above the town. Went down to the centro in time to experience the passigiata in full swing. Hundreds of people strolling on the main shopping street. Bought three touring club map atlases of Italy. Bonnie, the geographer, is now quite happy.
View of Salerno from our B&BSalerno passeggiata
Scilla
The next day we drove to Scilla, having missed the exit to Bagnara because Waze didn’t give us enough notice for the turnoff. Lucky mistake because we were able to drive down to the shoreline to experience complete grid lock on a Sunday afternoon in this tiny beach town.
Bonnie pointed out the view of Sicily across the Strait of Messina and gave Robert a lesson in Homer’s Odyssey, reading from Wikipedia:
In Homer‘s Odyssey XII, Odysseus is advised by Circe to sail closer to Scylla, for Charybdis could drown his whole ship: “Hug Scylla’s crag—sail on past her—top speed! Better by far to lose six men and keep your ship than lose your entire crew.”[18] She also tells Odysseus to ask Scylla’s mother, the river nymph Crataeis, to prevent Scylla from pouncing more than once. Odysseus successfully navigates the strait, but when he and his crew are momentarily distracted by Charybdis, Scylla snatches six sailors off the deck and devours them alive.
“they writhed gasping as Scylla swung them up her cliff and there at her cavern’s mouth she bolted them down raw—screaming out, flinging their arms toward me, lost in that mortal struggle.”[
Pretty good stuff! Robert can see where Game of Thrones gets some of its inspiration.
Bagnara
Made it back to Bagnara by driving along the coastline and after an hour of negotiation found a room a block from the water just in time to stroll with the locals and Italian tourists.
Bagnara; View from our room. Bagnara: Evening passiggiata
The next day on his morning walk, Robert saw two fishermen whose luck was the same as Robert normally experiences—no fish today. Their poles were 7 meters long! Small carts and vehicles dot the shoreline road selling vegetables but mostly fresh fish.
Fishing poles – 7 meters long!Bagnara: Verdure (vegetables)Bagnara: FishBagnara: More fish
Sicilia (Sicily)
Next morning it only took 40 minutes to get to the ferry to cross to Messina (Sicilia). We were among the first on (and the first off). On the way to Modica we stopped to have a late lunch and to scout out Noto, another baroque town and world heritage site. We’ll return for a day visit.
Lining up for the ferryBonnie next to our carBonnie in foreground Sicily in background Both beautiful Ferry off-loading in Messina
Noto
Noto
Modica
Arrived in Modica around 5 PM. Modica, a town of about 50,000 is part of the world heritage site known for late baroque architecture. Several towns were entirely rebuilt after a catastrophic earthquake in 1693. We plan to stay here for a week or two. Thanks to Dennis Landry for his recommendation to visit Modica. More to follow.
ModicaModica: Our room is off the first balcony on the right.
Come sta il braccio di Bonnie?
The broken elbow is much better six weeks after the fall and surgery, but Robert is still on duty full time to pack bags, cut food, open bottles, and carry things. Breakthrough today: a bit of eye liner and mascara with the left hand!
Commentari della moda con i occhi di Bonnie
Black. Not the only color for women, but always a good choice, especially in the evening and for special occasions.
Navy blue. If you are a young man who wants to be taken seriously (say, for an appearance on tv) or a rumpled old guy hanging out all day at the bar, chose at least two of the following: navy trousers, navy light sweater, navy jacket, navy sport coat. This is the legacy of the Italian’s love of English men’s clothing.
Bright blue. Popular choice for eyeglass frames.
Red. If you are doing red lipstick, go very big and very bold.
When we arrived in Serra, Robert was invited by the syndico (mayor) Ludovico Caverni to meet at the Municipio (city hall).
Expecting that the mayor wanted to say hello, Robert was not prepared to be joined by a reporter from the regional newspaper CorriereAdriatico, Veronique Angeletti.
She interviewed Robert at length about why he became an Italian citizen. Cousins Luciana and Adriana helped a lot in the interview as they spoke about the many generations of Sabbatini who resided in Serra. The article below was published a few days later. Local shop owner Vittorio Diamantini upon seeing the article said to Robert “Addesso sei un Serrano!” (Now you are a person of Serra!)
Robert was a bit overwhelmed but took in every second of the celebratory afternoon event hosted by the mayor, which included gift books of history and many photographs of the group. The event underscores the reasons Robert became a dual citizen of Italy and its importance not only to him, but also to his cousins and to his fellow Serrani.
Group photo in front of the mosaic seal of Serra Sant’AbbondioLudovico Caverni, il syndico di Serra Sant’Abbondio, con RobertLa giornalista Veronique Angeletti
Tested the Peugeot heading northeast out of Rome using the built in navigator toward the old Sabbatini house at Corso Dante Alighieri, 15; Serra Sant’Abbondio, a small hill town in Le Marche. Arrived four hours later greeted by Adriana and Gino, who had already arrived, stocked the refrigerator, and hung Italian and American flags out the windows, in honor of the new citizen, Robert.
Adriana and Gino Secondo arrived a few days earlier to air out the house and fill the fridge with local goods! Marta and Luciana arrived about 20 minutes later. Dario, Marta’s brother, arrived by train from Parma where he works. His friend Michele drove Dario from Fano. After a brief visit with the family, Dario went out for a night with his friends. Dario says he got back at 3 AM. His mom says it was 5:30. (We believe his mom.)
The Family Home
The three-story stone house, just inside the town walls, has been the family since 1700, with each generation undertaking renovation/expansion—addition to the back, expansion of the top floor. The ground floor ceiling of the cantina has large timbers that support stone for the floor above. Nonno Delfo believed this original structure dates back to 1200. Adriana recently undertook renovation of the facade. Removing the plaster revealed stone, and lots of repair made the place fit the historic character of the commune.
Family home with restored facade. Grazie Adriana e Gino Secondo.View from outside.View of ceiling on the second level where we eat and enjoy the fireView of the ceiling from the cantina (ground level)View of the ceiling timbers in the cantina
Pasqua (Easter) in Serra
At 9:30 pm mass up the street on the evening before Easter, they lit the new candle for the year from an outside fire. The whole event took two hours. The good news is that everyone could sleep in the next morning, rising to munch on all the food Adriana prepared for Easter breakfast, which lasted three to four hours reflecting the range of early to late risers. The lunch was bigger with lasagna, lamb, and coratella (a recipe typical of Rome–a mix of artichokes and the internal bits and pieces of a lamb—I won’t go into more detail). Delicious. La bandiera (Italian flag) inspired the desert cake.
One of the local vintners. Dad loved his sparkling red.Una torta bandiera. Grazie Adriana e Gino Secondo!
The local anisette, made in Pergola
Permesso di Soggiorno
Bonnie filled out intricate forms for a Permesso di Sogiorno (the visa to stay longer than 90 days). She will be an expert when this is done. She has brought the required attachments: copies of her passport, marriage certificate translated into Italian, FBI clearance, proof of medical insurance, return plane ticket. After a call to the Questura (police) in Pesaro we learned that Bonnie required Robert to become a full time resident of Serra. As the married partner of an Italian citizen in Italy, Bonnie can gain permission to a stay for a long period of time. The result is that the family home is registered in Robert’s name. His cousins are now Robert’s guests in Serra. Robert will determine how much rent they will need to pay him. He offered a discount for extended stays.
We will submit the required paperwork for Bonnie in Pesaro when we return from Sicily. Stay tuned to find out how this turns out.
Il giorno normale
The typical day here for our cousins is breakfast around 9, lunch around 2, followed by dinner around 8:30. Bonnie goes to bed around 10, Robert 11, our cousins follow around 12:30 after playing cards. I gioveni (the youngsters) return from a night out around 5:30 AM.
At the table 2019 At the table 1962Adriana and Marta grilling sausage in the fireplaceMarta, Luciana (la madre), e DarioMartaBonnie getting some sun and catching up on the NY TimesStarting to play cards at 11 PMDarioGino Secondo fa un pisolinoLuciana keeps guard over Corso Dante Alighieri Serra’s forno (bakery)Luciana adds some euros to her PostePay card at the local tabacchiLuciana fa un appuntamento immediamente con la parracchiere da SerraLate afternoon spritzes Late dinner at Il Paradiso. Crescia, salami, formaggio . . . to start.
Sheet or …?
We have spent lots of time coaching Luciana on English pronunciation and laughing at the difference in pronunciation between sheet and shit. We have advised her to ask for a piece of paper rather than a sheet. We too have had corrections. There is a difference between fico and figa/fica. Look it up.
Bonnie and Robert have taken long and short walks around the town enjoying the vistas, the old and new stonework, and chats with the Serrone. Weather is pleasant during the day, cold at night.
Leccia—one of the frazione of SerraLecciaWild cyclamenFiume Cesano
Festa della Liberazione d’Italia
On 25 April, the Italians celebrate the liberation of Italy in 1945. We went to a lecture and concert at Fonte Avellana the night before. The next day, Serra held a brief ceremony at their monument to the fallen soldiers. On TV, they had many discussions about the current rise of the fascist movement in Italy showing clips of supporters of Mussolini.
We include a photo of Uncle Rico who was among the first US troops to enter Rome in June of 1944. He was in the advanced infantry, first landing in Sicily and Anzio.
Concert following the lecture at Fonte AvellanaCeremony in SerraJune 1944- the liberation of Rome. Uncle Rico (Marchesin) from San Mateo, California, on the left. At the base of the steps to St. Peter’s (Vatican).
After the long, but reasonably comfortable flight on KLM (viewing many episodes of Sabrina the Teenage Witch downloaded from Netflix and hourly exercises to keep Bonnie’s broken elbow from swelling up), and a five-hour layover at the bustling Schiphol airport of Amsterdam, finally Roma. Cousin Adriana and Gino collected us at Fumicino, piloted through an hour of heavy rush hour traffic, and deposited us at the apartment of cousin Luciana and daughter, university-student Marta in the Montesacro neighborhood for Italian language immersion and major sleeps. Robert 12 hours. Bonnie, as always, the sleep queen, 21 hours.
Afternoon walk
The next day Marta, Luciana, and Robert set off to get SIM phone chips. For Bonnie a TIM chip and Robert a Vodafone chip to hedge our bets on reception throughout Italy. Vodaphone has a great offer of unlimited phone, text messaging in Europe, and 40 gigs of data usage but would not accept an American credit card! So off to get a Postale debit card. But this required a Codice Fiscale from the government office. Then back to the post office. Finally back to Vodaphone to discover we got the wrong debit card. At this point, Marta used her card to fund Robert’s phone.
Ponte Nomentana, Roman bridge over the Aniene River in the Montesacro neighborhoodLuciana’s daily visit for the newspaper
Later during an afternoon walk in the leafy green Roman neighborhood, Marta steered us to the top-rated gelateria in the city—Gori. Black sesame for Marta, Triniterio soy chocolate for Bonnie, vanilla with mixed fruit for Robert.
Street lined with cercis (redbud) trees in bloomDinner with Luciana and Marta
Friday we picked up a Peugeot wagon. The rest of the afternoon was taken up with the confusion of registering our presence in Italy with the local police. A confusion of paperwork at the police station. For dinner, a true Montesacro pinsa. Less puffy than the ones sold at a restaurant near Sixth Street in San Francisco. Then a stop at the neighborhood cannabis shop—basically a large closet set up as an automat without a live person in sight. Only things to smoke. Quite pricey.
Successful drive from the airportNo need for a captionLots for sale for Easter
Style notes for women of all ages in this neighborhood: jeans, white sneakers, small down coat or light-weight black leather jacket. Gold accessories. Large bag. Add cigarette, dark glasses, and phone. Maybe a scarf.
Vineria 19 dal 1949Pinsa con fiore di zucchini e alice
Tomorrow we drive to Serra Sant’Abbondio. Its newest citizen is Robert.
