LIFE: What I Love About Italy Redux

CHIAVARI, Italy – As I sat back with my feet up, sipping lemonade this week, I started thinking about the things I love about Italy. I realized it wasn’t one big thing that captured my heart, but many little things. If you think about it, it’s never the big things that draw people to something. I mean did you ever hear anyone say they pulled up stakes and moved to Rome because of the Coliseum, or that they simply couldn’t bear to live another day without the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Me neither. 

Trevi Fountain, Rome

For me, this list of things I love started when I lived in Rome. Every Saturday I would leave my apartment on the Via della Vite, cross Via del Tritone and go up Via della Stamperia to a small street market near the Trevi Fountain. At a certain point I would be greeted by a John Hamm look alike who would smile and bow ever so slightly and say, “Buon Giorno Contessa.”

With no real language skills I would stammer something back and continue on my way, but I ask you, who would not want to start their day like that.   
 
I also love the way Italians live with their art.

“Oh this fountain, yes, well yes it is a 16th century masterpiece by bla bla bla,”  they will say and then the conversation about where to go for pizza continues for there are many incredible masterpieces stuck here, there and everywhere.

 Lecce

I love my green grocer when she tells someone looking for zucchini in January to come back in April. Of course you can find zucchini in January but zucchini grown who knows where and tasting like who knows what.

I love the fact that Italian orthopedic surgeons from Gaslini Hospital in Genova go to Africa every year and perform hundreds of operations on little African kids, free of charge and they don’t tell anybody about it. It’s all arranged through anonymous church missions staffed by Italians giving their all in the name of humanity.  

I love the way hospital patients drift down to the hospital bar in their pj’s for a coffee or a grappa and a smoke. I love the fact that hospitals want your friends and relatives to be with you when you are sick. After all, what are friends and relatives for? 

 Friends Forever

And speaking of friends, the day my friends Tracy and Daniele got married in Savona there was a wicked storm and the road to the restaurant where the reception was to be held was closed. That meant no reception and that would never do. The bar in the Savona City Hall, where Tracy and Daniele  got married was closed, but we managed to talk the barman into selling us some champagne, providing us with glasses and throwing in some nibbles as well. Instant party. Try that in NYC. 

I love the shiny brass name plates on the buildings. You rarely see names scribbled on scraps of paper stuck between two pieces of plastic to indicate this month’s occupant is….. . And the two names on those brass plates? The husband’s and the wife’s. 

 One Way of Keeping His Attention

I love the way Italian men look at women – even if it is a little unnerving at times. I love the way Italian women start talking faster and pull, ever so slightly on their husband’s arm whenever a pretty girl walks by. He can look, but why make it easy for him. 

I love the bars, the big bars, the little mom and pop bars, especially the old historic bars in the center of most cities. To sit and have a coffee in the Café’ San Carlo in Torino, or Covo in Milan is to be part of the drama being played out in those places at that time.

I love the names of the streets. Via Gabriele D’Annunzio, Vicolo Simon Boccanegra, Piazza Camillo di Cavour. It’s like walking around in a history book. Piazza Savonarola? Oh right, he’s the 15th Dominican friar and prophet of doom that they burned after they hung him back in 1498.” And the best part is everyone knows who’s who.

I love the fact that Italians make up the rules as they go along. I remember forgetting my passport on a trip up to Switzerland and reporting it to the Italian police when they came on board the train in the border town of Chiasso. 

 Don't Worry, Be Happy

 “Signora,” they said, “you are leaving Italy, that is a problem for the Swiss border guards.”

 “Yes,” I said, “but when I have to come back? I have to work on Monday.”

“Ah, Signora, you worry too much. Just sit down, be calm and pretend we never had this conversation.”

So I did. I continued up to Switzerland, had a great time with my friends, came back into Italy, no passport, no hassle, no problem.

Yes there have been problems over the years, mostly having to do with trying to get a work visa, but there was never any doubt in my mind that I had made the right choice. I knew from the beginning I was in the right place and I know it now for while this isn’t a new list, it is still a true list.

LIFE: Bits and Bobs

SARONNO, Italy - 

The First Bit ..... 

I made three interesting discoveries this week, the first is the Google Art Project. The Google Art Project is an online platform which allows  access to the artworks of some of the world’s most famous museums. In 2011 the Uffizi Gallery in Florence was added to the site and now the Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan, the Musei Senesi in Siena, the Museo di Palazzo Vecchio in Florence and the Musei di Strada Nuova in Genova are also participants.  You can even take virtual tours of the museums, which intrigued me all the more.

Museo di Palazzo Vecchio, Florence, Italy

To be able to tour - well virtually tour - some of the world’s greatest museums, most of which I will never see in my lifetime, seemed to me as thrilling as being able to see what’s going on on the moon. Maybe even a little more.

 Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan

However, when I went to the web site (www.googleartproject.com/it) I couldn’t quite figure out it works. I mean I can read, obviously, so I did click away and bring up paintings from the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, and amazing artifacts from the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar, but I couldn’t figure out how to do what I wanted to do, which was have a look around the place. I take that back. I did hit on one virtual tour quite by accident, but I don’t know how I did it and when I tried to do it again – I couldn’t. 

But this is a Google project, right? So who better than Google to turn to for help. In a flash I found a three minute video entitled Art Project - How to Use the Site. I watched a finger slip and slide across the screen pressing icons and making stuff bigger and smaller, all amazing, but not even the finger managed to do the one thing I wanted to do. 

Then I noticed that someone had left a message saying what a wonderful site it was, but they couldn’t figure out how it works either. While that made me feel better, at least for a minute or two, it didn’t really solve my problem. So here’s the video and the address for the web site. If anyone can shed any light on this I would greatly appreciate hearing from you.   

The Second Bit  - Voting with Your Chestnuts

For those of you who don’t know, in Italy sometimes chestnuts are also called marroni, a less than polite name for a man’s dangling bits, which is why I found this bit of etymological research interesting. In 1282 the historic Torre della Castagna (Tower of the Chestnuts) in the center of the city of Florence, became the meeting place of the Florentine Priori delle Arti. The Priori, also known as the Signoria, was the governing body of the Florentine Republic.

 Piazza della Signoria, Florence

The members of the Priori delle Arti were elected for two-month terms, during which time they were not allowed to leave the tower unless in the company of another member, ensuring that all contact with outsiders was monitored to reduce the risk of threats or bribery. Now there’s an idea worthy of revival given the sorry state of politics today.

Torre delle Castagna, Florence

 The Priori were very influential in the decisions made for the Republic and they used a voting system similar to the modern day ballot. But instead of using pieces of paper stuffed in a box, they use chestnuts.  The number of chestnuts placed in small fabric bags indicated the voting preference of each member. In Florentine dialect boiled chestnuts are known as ballotte - you see where I’m going with this -  and so there are some scholars who think this is why ballots are now called ballots.  Could very well be.

And the Last Bit .....

If you are a dedicated marathon runner, you might want to consider participating in next year’s Run the Renaissance in Florence.  The 42+ kilometers (26 miles) kicks off at the Duomo in the center of the city, and goes from there. Here’s the official web site, (in English) www.firenzemarathon.it , which still has the details from this year’s marathon posted, but I’m sure that it will be updated after the first of the year.  

At any rate the next marathon date is November 24, 2013, so there’s plenty of time to register and make your travel arrangements, not to mention get in shape.