Mosaics

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.

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 nearby

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.)

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.

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!

Next stop—Serra Sant’Abbondio!

05-09 August 2019

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

Busy 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.

Free concert with Cristina di Pietro, Italian The Voice, 2016

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

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.

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!

Steps 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.

Bonnie choosing the elements for the earrings

Red dot in position, or at least close to the final position

Barbara adjusting the pieces to make sure they lay flat and even

Clear 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.