Intermezzo

Given that our moving to Venice signed the turning point of our travel, I take a little break here for the events of last week, which was intense.

About monday and tuesday I wrote already. Wednesday was Susanne's 20th birthday (tanti auguri a te, tanti auguri a te...) and I had planned a dinner out, but we were so full still of african food that we postponed. So, having to improvise, I took her to an exhibition ("Italy - Brazil 3 -2") of an italian comedian called Davide Enia (left) which was taking place inside the yearly convention of the Italian Communist Party (my friends couldn't believe it when I told them, one actually warned me that they could had had some conservatives-detector at the entrance...). It was funny, but I'm not sure Susanne enjoyed it so much, being in italian with a sicilian accent.

Thursday we went to a concert organized in the cloister of Villa d'Este, a magnificent renaissance villa some 30 kms away from Rome famous for its fountains and "jeaux d'eau" (with not much display of fantasy, the concert was titled "Jeau d'art a la villa d'Este"). It was cool, in both ways. The concert, an ensemble of sonate and other pieces for piano, offered music by Mozart, Clementi, Chopin, Paganini, Liszt, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. We arrived 10 minutes late due a traffic jam I couldn't foresee, which was bad and made us feel a bit uneasy, but nothing like the mobile phone of a lady which rung full force right in the middle of a very quiet adagio.

Friday was the day that broke my physical resistance. The whole week we had been out, meaning returning somewhat late, and I had to wake up early to go to work. Friday was no difference and I had already some troubles standing up. Work and everything, in the evening it was time for the bi-weekly VCN Happy Hour (again in the Cafè Oppio I wrote about a while ago) and then to fulfill a promise I had made to Susanne a while ago, taking her to dance. We headed to the Piper, kind of a legend among the discoes in Rome, and there we danced until well in the early hours of the morning, joined at some point by a handful of my international acquaintances in Rome. It was good, especially the latin music moments, and on the way back home I tried to have Susanne trying another of the legends of Rome, the "Sorchetta con lo schizzo" (left, a kind of croissant with cream, whipcream and nutella) in via Cernaia, but once home I basically passed out and I didn't recover ever since.

Saturday we should had slept, but my mobile accidentally left in Susanne's bag rung as usual at 7.20. Unknown by many, it was the first of the two "European Heritage Days". Unfortunately, the site of the Italian Culture Minister, which hosted the list of the hundreds of italian sites open and of the dozens of special events organized went down exactly on friday evening and didn't come back for the whole week-end. Eventually, we headed for two of the less known, and yet really interesting, roman Museums, the one in Palazzo Altemps and Palazzo Braschi. Afterwards, we met Liesbeth for an aperitivo and we were joined later on by Alessandro (my best friend) and Andrea. The atmosphere was nice (with Alessandro trying not so subtly to explain to Susanne why it is so important to learn italian... professionally, of course) and the drinks went on and the original plan for the evening (which saw a trip to a place where covers of the Dire Straits would had been played) was abandoned.

And Sunday came, the last whole day i would had spent with Susanne. Finally sleeping a bit, we left home around noon to take advantage of the celebrations for the 2006 vintage, which saw several of the larger or historical vineyards around Rome open, offering tours and a taste of the various wines. With little incidents here and there, we visited 4 of them, enjoying various wines and olive oils (it isn't a rare occurrence that places that produce wine deals with oil as well). At about 6 I took Susanne to Castel Gandolfo (the Pope's summer residence) and the best view over the wonderful Albano's lake (right) which peacefully lies in what was about 30.000 years ago the crater of an immense volcano. After that, we headed to Nemi where I offered her a dinner at this famous restaurant overlooking Nemi's lake (truth to be said, neither of us was very hungry with all the wines and little things we had during the day). At the end of it, as if planned, fireworks started over the lake.

Yesterday Susanne left. I took a half day at work to take her (and my brother) to the airport in the middle of a mighty storm that flooded totally the city. To get back home and finding it totally empty and quite was... well... not the nicest experience, I must say. Even falling asleep wasn't easy, despite the huge amount of sleep to recover I have, as something was definitely missing.

Today, news at work, which are changing every moment, and from friends: I sent a sms to a friend of mine (and my first international huge crush of all history, years ago) in Belgrade to wish her a happy birthday and I got one back with amazing news: over the last 6 months she got married and became a mom. What can I say... wow!

Travel Chronicles IV - Summer - From Montagnana to Padua and back

Wednesday 11th - Montagnana - The unusually quiet morning

Wednesday we took it easy. We woke up, had a long breakfast (personally, enjoying the sugar "conquered" the night before), prepared with all the calm in the world and headed out in the quiet streets of Montagnana. Knowing that Padua was just 50 minutes away and with plenty of trains connecting the city indeed was a pleasant thing and for once we weren't running to the station with the "that train or nothing" feeling.

At the station, we found a different kind of people to share the trip with: if the previous two days we found ourselves surrounded by secondary and high school kids, on our way to Padua it was mostly university students around us.

Wednesday 11th - Padua - The crazy guide in the laid-back city

The one in Padua was possibly the most relaxing of the ones we had over the whole week, with one single episode counting as an exception. As soon as we got out of the station and headed for the city we encountered a bookshop offering a "pay 2, take 3" on already discounted books, a hardly resistible offer for two people like Susanne and me. Being it closed as we passed in front of it, we took mental note to visit it again on our way back.

The first thing on the list, and conveniently on the way from the station to downtown, was Giotto's "Scrovegni's chapel". There, a ticket seller in a particular good mood (and with a ticket system with a lot of problems) decided to award us two reduced-fee tickets for the turn of visits starting at 10.15 am. In fact, only 30 people at any time can visit the chapel and only for 15 minutes, to avoid the frescoes' deterioration, which are preceded by another 15 minutes of introductory video explaining what the visitor is going to see.

We moved directly to the chapel and the guardian there was so nice to actually let us joining the previous turn than the one we were assigned, which counted only a half dozen people, sparing us a half hour waiting and having to see the place with the much more numerous group that was coming soon. The introductory video was really well done, in italian with english and german subtitles (which, funnily, was a problem for Susanne, with her hears following the italian audio and her eyes on the german and her mind on the english subtitles). The chapel itself was, as had been for me the first time as well, stunning, particularly the "inferno" part of the last judgment (bottom right section in the picture).

Finished our 15 minutes in the chapel we headed for the civic museum attached to it, hosted in the former monastery of the "Eremitani". And there, the only bad moment of the day happened. The first floor hosted the antiquity (mostly roman and egyptian) section, included some very interesting mosaics. Unfortunately, we couldn't appreciate much most of it as a scarily weird guardian, of maybe 25-35 years of age, decided to attach himself to Susanne and me. At the beginning it looked quite harmless, It all started with a general question he asked me which I interpreted as an attempt at breaking the monotony of the day and to which I politely replied. Unfortunately, it followed another question and yet another one that met my, still polite, increasingly colder replies as we marched from room to room and he kept chasing us. As he started talking with Susanne my patient was to the limit, also because the topic of the questions were becoming more and more personal and they were mixed with long blabbering (which I stopped following early one).

At some point, it occurred to me that the guy could had been not in its full mind and my attempts at leaving him behind redoubled, with scarce success. Luckily, as I was just about to turn and flatly ask if he didn't have other rooms to check and people to control, he was intercepted by two other visitors who asked him something, allowing us to put a room in between us. At that point, we were seriously playing hide and seek with the guy and once we arrived at the end of the first floor it was with some anguish we realized we had to go back in order to continue the visit. With no other solution, we turned on our heels and with a quick marching peace walked back, crossed the guy who made a step towards us only to be met by a nod and a possibly increased tempo of our steps, and off we were, up to the second floor where, seriously, for the first 5 minutes we expected to see him materializing behind us. Creepy experience indeed.

The rest of the museum was huge, filled with paintings (more than 3.o00!) and bronze statues, and even interesting, but slightly maze-like and ultimately exhausting. As we walked down, once again looking around for the weirdo, we paid a brief visit to the Eremitani's church (with its Mantegna's frescoes unfortunately almost totally pulverized by a a couple of air bombs during the last stage of WWII), not before having made a call to my grandmother in the occasion of her 85th birthday. As we walked downtown, our mood was already back to normal and a nice trio playing Bach, Mozart and Vivaldi at a street corner made it even better.

After having been closed in a museum for almost 3 hours, we walked for a long while around the centre of the city, finding the two main central squares of the city used in the very same way they were used 500 years ago: fruit and vegetables markets. We were also looking for a very specific thing: brown thread and a needle, but we were unlucky in our search for the better part of the day. And we walked, and we walked, saw the tower of the clock, the various important palaces, the side streets and reached the cathedral... once again closed for lunch. Through the former ghetto's narrow streets we walked to "prato della valle" (left), an immense open space in the middle of the city with at the centre a nice little park surrounded by a channel and ornate by dozens of statues, where we (ok, I, on the right) finally decided to have a break.

Next step, the "Chiesa del Santo", meaning the church of Saint Anthony from Padua, famous and venerated for his miracles and where I myself stood in prayer next to the saint's coffin, probably to Susanne's surprise. Having visited the whole church and his many, wonderful, cloisters, we left the church, smiling to the scores of visitors, especially americans and russians, rejected at the entrance for inappropriate clothing (despite the warmth, Susanne had been wise enough to bring a jacket to cover her shoulders every day, and Saint Anthony's guardians are notoriously among the most strict enforcers of the dress code for churches, second only to the ones of Saint Peter in Rome).

And there we went again, walking around the city, having a quick lunch at a sushi bar (I love sushi...) and then looking for the university and it's hall frescoes with the coat of arms of ancient students. At that point, we call the cultural visit over and we indulged in a typical pleasure of Padua: the "Spritz", which is a kind of light cocktail made of prosecco, soda and campari or aperol. We sat in piazza delle erbe and enjoyed a bit of relax when I was called by a friend of mine from Padua and recently mom, Sveva, who regretted the fact she was just back from another city and couldn't meet me. She also revealed me that another old friend of mine, Federico, had his law firm at less than 200 meters from where we were and so, as soon as the call was over, I gave him a call and half a hour later, there we were, reminiscing old times (between Federico and Alessandra, I bet Susanne has joining ELSA at the top of her "never to do" list).

Said goodbye to Federico, we set towards the station, paid homage at the library we had seen in the morning (without buying anything, amazingly) and boarded the train, reaching Montagnana once again with a bit of anxiety due the renewed difficulty of identifying the right station coming from the opposite direction that we had gotten used in the previous days.

Wednesday 11th - Montagnana - The last night

Once arrived in Montagnana, we made a last tour of the city before the sunset, taking a couple of pictures of its walls. Then, a quick grocery shopping for the next morning and a kebab were arranged and we headed home to prepare everything for the day after that would had seen us heading at a very early hour towards Venice where we would had stayed for the next two days .

And yes, if you are wondering by now... the bloody toothpaste was forgotten again.

Travel Chronicles III - Summer - From Montagnana to Mantua and back

Tuesday 10th - Montagnana - The forbidden cathedral

On tuesday the first objective was to see the cathedral of Montagnana, which we had failed to see the day before and that I meant to visit since the time I had originally discovered the place, two years ahead.

One thing is to be said of Montagnana's cathedral: it is not really a cathedral, being that there is no bishop or cardinal, but it could very well be considering its size, which is huge in general and gargantuan if compared with the dimension of the city itself. Practically speaking, in a city that is about 800 meters long, this church measures 64 meters: with the same proportions, Saint Peter in Rome would be something like 2 kilometers long .

The internal turned out to be partially under work (what is, the restoration year of the whole italian north-east?), but all in all quite rich and interesting for such a minuscule city and once again, actually even more, I got the feeling everyone was staring at us wondering something on the line of "who are these invaders?".

Tuesday 10th - Mantua - Don't say "rabbit", ever.

If Verona was the city of the Scaligers, Mantua was the city of the even more influential Gonzagas, who ruled it for almost 4 centuries starting in 1328. And while Verona could had been Catullus' city, Mantua is Vergil's' one and is so proud of it to represent it in the city's coat of arms (see the little face in the upper left quarter?).

Anyway, Mantua was probably the most tense of our visits, not because of the city itself, but because of a "little" diplomatic incident happened towards the end of the day. Anyway, Mantua was also the city where we walked around the least and the only one where we missed one of the major venues we had listed as "must see" before leaving (yes, we actually sat down before leaving making a list of "must see" and "to see if possible" venues).

What we did was to walk to the church of Sant'Andrea, which for a moment I incredibly identified as the cathedral of the city and from there, passing in fro,t of the "palazzo della ragione" (left) and it's wondrous tower of the clock, to Piazza Sordello, where the real city's cathedral and the main entrance to the ducal palace are. It would indeed be more correct to say "palaces", being that the Gonzagas spent centuries connecting all their properties in town and even the castle of the city in a single, huge, entity.

We headed for the palace first and there the ticket seller made me smile. As I asked a full and a reduced (under 25 years) ticket she looked at us and said "who's the reduced one?". Still smiling, I decided to get also an audio guide, despite having my faithful guide with me, just because they look funny consisting in a cd player with two connected earplugs. So it was that we marched in the palace, Susanne holding the guide and, consequently, me at a kind of a leash (which I suppose she enjoyed a lot) and for almost three hours we adventured in the palace, included Pisanello's rooms and the overly famous and truly magnificent Mantegna's "camera degli sposi" (while we couldn't see the Castle of San Giorgio, being prepared with a large exhibition right about Mantegna for the 500th anniversary of his death).

Out of the palace, tired, we looked for a place for lunch and, being my favourite (and only) restaurant in Mantua was closed, we walked back and settled right in front of the ducal palace where I had a sandwich and Susanne... yes, a salad. Which, by hindsight, would had brought the catastrophe later on, but I didn't know, then.

Anyway, after lunch, we moved to Mantua's cathedral, with it's painting and frescoes by Giulio Romano (who is also the architect of the whole building) and the wonderful sagrestia painted a fresco, and then took a wide walk around the castle and along the lake that surrounds the city on three sides, finally heading towards "Palazzo Te", the last of the things we meant to see. But it happened that along the way we noticed a shop offering sales and Susanne decided for a brief check.. which became a 90 minutes stop while she tried this and that, and then again. So it was that by the time we were out, it was too late for Palazzo Te and we instead headed towards Piazza Virgilio, a nice green spot in the heart of the city created by a general of Napoleon, at the time military governor of the city, at the end of the XVIII century.

And there it happened. I can't remember how we actually got to the topic (lunch could had helped), fact is we were suddenly talking of rabbits. Quite insanely, at Susanne (proud owner of a huge black rabbit) saying how much she likes rabbits I happened to reply "oh, I like them too... roasted, mostly". Yet we were still evidently (to both) joking at that point, but then she expressed her concerns about what to do with his rabbit now that she's moving and how taking it to Mainz could had affected, with her living on her own and having no one to leave him, her possibility of coming again to see me in Rome. At that I, joking, I swear, replied "I suppose you'll have to choose between him and me, then". She got it seriously and got annoyed, said something I, in turn, misunderstood totally (lovely things happening when two people have an argument in a third language) and the consequences were two hours and a painfully long train trip in almost absolute silence .

Tuesday 10th - Montagnana - The drink offered and the one denied

By the time we were back home, anyway, the situation had been defused and things were made even better by the owner of the apartment where we were staying who, when I went to settle the bill, offered us two large glasses of a drink made mostly of Ananas juice (which I hate, but Susanne loves) and I do not know what else.

As we went out for dinner, tho, we saw the other face of hospitality in Montagnana when, sitting at this kind of bar, we ordered a mix of cheeses and hams, which were adequate, and a glass of wine which was basically empty, made even worse by seeing the others around us getting routinely the same glasses but half filled up. I didn't particularly feel as a quarrel and gave up, but we got back to them anyway... by the end of the evening, between by camera's bag, Susanne's pockets and my shirt's right sleeve we took away twelve sugar packets (the one you usually get in bars with coffee) for next morning's breakfast.

Relaxed and chuckling for our little bravado, we finally got home and prepared to go to bed when a "Oh bloody hell" was heard "the toothpaste, AGAIN!" followed by a "Oh, we'll buy it tomorrow" as an answer. With a hint of a snicker in it, I could swear.

Travel Chronicles II - Summer - From Montagnana to Verona and back

Monday 9th - Montagnana - The flood

On monday, the day started almost as early as the day before, at a quarter to seven, as the connections to Verona from Montagnana are somewhat strange, giving you a chance in the very early morning and another in the very late morning, with nothing in between. That also meant that we didn't have time to have breakfast before boarding the train, but what was even worse was that, as I tried to get a shower, I realized the water was not being drained out of the small shower-cabin and, being that it had just a simply tent to divide it with the rest of the bathroom, the consequence was a flood.

Now, if it did ever happen to you to be half soaped up and having to stop everything, you will understand my feelings. If then you had to stop a flood at 7.00 am, with just a few hours of sleep on your back and a train, the only train you can get, leaving in 40 minutes, you have a general idea of the situation. If that never happened to you, i can tell you it's bad. I called the landlord (who was living just above us) and I evidently woke her up, I explained her the situation and that i couldn't wait for her to come down and we moved out.

Along the way and even more at the station I was surprised by the number of kids around, then I realized that day was the first school day of the year, meaning kids everywhere but without books with them. We did catch the train and even successfully switched train in this small station I forgot the name of and by 9 we were in Verona.

Monday 9th - Verona- The "under work" city

Verona is a wonderful city laying along the Adige river, mostly known abroad for Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet" and, less so, "The two gentlemen from Verona" and, among opera opera maniacs, for the majestic roman Arena. As many of the medieval cities of Italy, it was also the stage for the story of a noble family, the Della Scala or "Scaligers" in this case, with its own intrigues, loves, struggles for power, murders and, most important for the ones living today, monuments and the works of art they commissioned. Verona was also the city of Catullus. Plinius, Emilius Macro, Vitruvius and Cornelius Nepos.

Our first stop was, passing through Porta Nuova (New gate) and Piazza Bra (the largest square of Verona, next to the Arena), at Castelvecchio, the city castle, famous for its bridge crossing the Adige (which was blown up by the retreating germans at the end of the WWII and rebuilt with the original bricks, recovered from the water one by one). Having quickly visited the courtyard and crossed the bridge, we moved along the river which we crossed again at the next bridge (from where the picture on the right was taken).

From there we moved again towards the city's centre and we walked under the Porta dei Borsari (The gate of the men of the purses, from the men who collected the tolls for entering the city there), the original roman main access to the city. Passed the gate, we quickly reached Piazza delle Erbe (the medieval market square). To be noted that almost every city that has been at some point under the power of Venice have and generally almost every city in Italy's North-east has a square called in exactly the same way.

Here, we saw that the most interesting of the palaces of Verona, il Palazzo della Ragione (The Reason's Palace) was totally covered for restoration works, included its high tower. Passing under an arcade surmounted by the rib of a whale, thought to be once upon a time the rib of a giant or of an angel, we got to the most characteristic of the city square, Piazza Dante, with its arcades and typically medieval facades... which were mostly covered, being under restoration. While we were giving a look around, a guided tour arrived and we mingled once again (the fact that Susanne and me, when together, speaking in english and looking so different, are often mistaken for americans helps a lot in mingling with touristic groups).

There, the guide started to explain the difference between the two typical kind of battlements you can find in most of central and northern Italy medieval defensive works, the square and the "swallow tails" ones. Far from being a merely esthetical detail, the two different styles were a sign of the political siding of the city in the struggles between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy. So far, so good... if only the guide hadn't indicated as the reason for Verona to side with the Empire the being closer to Austria, clearly mixing the Holy Roman Empire with the Austro-Hungarian empire. We then moved on to Santa Maria Antica, the Scaligeri's own church and where their magnificent arks are... finding the most important one totally under cover as well and the whole area closed (right). The throne on the left is inside the church.

From Santa Maria Antica we decided to skip the alleged (and foul smelling, considering the habit people have taken to leave messages sticking them to the wall using chewing gum) "Juliet's house" and we headed towards Saint Anastasio, the largest city's church... which obviously we found with its whole right side under work as well, but at least with the most interesting parts visible, included the famous Pisanello's frescoes showing Saint George and the princess.

Unfortunately the city's cathedral was closed due some taping that was going on inside, but we still took the chance of visiting its precious cloister and admiring the roman mosaics that have been found under the middle age buildings and taken to the light. After that, following the example of some people who arrived slightly after us, we decided to have our lunch there too, in the total silence of the place.

Now, if love has to be proved somehow, I can say that, after having rested a bit in the cloister, I did my fine share. Susanne wanted to see the roman theatre of Verona, which is on the side of a lovely hill (left), more or less at the mid of it. When, around two years ago, I was in Verona for the first time I simply refused to climb there. This time, not only I reached the place (which was closed) but I actually went the whole way up to the top of the hill where an austro-hungarian barracks stay guarding the city, at the time an important piece of the imperial fences in Italy. I must say that there was a great view from there, not to mention an hyper-classy-cool bar hidden away behind the barracks.

Having descended the hill, we moved towards San Fermo, an interesting church that is actually two churches in one (an upper one and a much more ancient lower-level one beneath the first) displaying a perfect wooden ceiling "a carena" ("keel-like" because it looks vaguely as the keel of a ship) and then it was time to visit the Arena, which I had seen totally empty the first time and that today I could see in her summer version, when it is used for the Opera (left). And here, after having walked up and down the tribunes and galleries, my sportive girlfriend got cramps, worrying me no little.

Having rested, we started to move back towards the station, visiting the peculiar (and hidden) church of San Lorenzo along the way, the triumph Arch of the Gavii and there I stopped again in the courtyard of the castle and drunk from a fountain, causing the harsh reaction of Susanne who thinks I'm crazy of drinking like that from fountains where it' s not specifically written the water is potable. Funny thing, this has been our first argument in italian (she's learning at an amazing pace which put my attempts to learn german to shame).

We got on the train and moved on and we did even managed to disembark at the right stop, which was quite a success. It should be known that there are two general rules that apply to little train station in Italy: first, their clock is generally broken and second, the signs with the name are either absent, unreadable or covered by vegetation. Montagnana station falls in both category and most specifically its clock is broken and the sign with the name is covered by a very nice tree so, being dark by the time we reached the station, it took a bit to understand we had indeed arrived.

Monday 9th - Montagnana - The search for food

Once disembarked, three were the main goals of the day: grocery shop for the morning after, which was duly done, finding an internet cafè, which was a failure, and having dinner. This proved to be more complicated than expected. if the night before we had seen several places open, we hadn't considered that monday evening is something totally different than sunday evening and in fact, by the time we hit the road in search for food, the city was a dark desert.

After having walked the whole city, which didn't take more than half a hour anyway), eventually, we settled for a kebab place, but the adventure was not over as we had quite some problems in having the owner of the place understand we needed a vegetarian kebab (in his defence, who does ever ask for a vegetarian kebab?) and eventually the result was slightly confused, with my own kebab having inside more vegetables than Susanne's one. Once home again (with the shower repaired and in order) and having finished eating, a yell resounded in the quiet of Montagnana: "HELL!!! We forgot to buy the toothpaste!" followed by a soothing reply: "Oh, well, we'll buy it tomorrow first thing in the morning". And the day was over.

Note about yesterday in Rome

Speaking of love tokens, yesterday Susanne wanted to do sports. Having been unable to find a badminton court and unsure about basketball, I eventually gave up and went jogging with her. My first attempt at jogging after years, after 2 months of scarce exercise (except the kilometers of marches of the previous week) and foolishly trying to keep her pace ended up with a dying me after just 20 minutes. In the evening, in the mid of yet another heavy lightining storm, we went to a Cameroon-style dinner following an invitation from someone I had, once upon a time, helped over the VCN mailing list. The dinner turned out to be quite interesting, both in regards of the food and the people attending.

Travel Chronicles I - Summer - From Rome to Montagnana via Bologna

And so I'm back, the travelling week having passed, quite unsurprisingly, very quickly. Here is the chronicles of the travel for you, my friends, who are curious about it and if you are wondering about the title, stay with me and read on, and you will understand. I think I will go on the whole week describing the travel, as there is really so much to say. As for the pictures, some are the ones we did take, some (you aren't allowed to take pictures in almost every museum and church in Italy, with or without flash) from the net, when I could find them. As usual, click to enlarge. Oh, and given Susanne is here these days, she will have her own (short) comments here... written in red. I just love red :)

Prequel - The White Night in Rome

Saturday the 9th of september was celebrated in Rome the 5th "White Night", a night of celebrations, exhibitions and happenings that since 2001 (when from White the night became Black as a major black-out hit the whole country leaving all 58.000.000 italians without power for 24 to 48 hours). That can only happen in Italy... Susanne and me knew we would had to wake up early the morning after so we opted for a very little thing near home, a little classical music concert held at the artificial lake of the EUR neighborhood with Mozart's music, fireworks and light games.

Turned out to be a magnificent show, even if the fireworks noise often covered the music and totally muted a young soprano trying to sing a piece from the "Magical Flute", so much that as the fireworks died, the cheering crowd was gifted with a bis of the piece. We returned home early, dodging the massive traffic jam that was at that point mounting and that would had paralyzed the city for hours, wondering idly if the taxi I had booked for the morning after for the house-train station leg would had arrived.

Sunday 8th - Rome - The journey begins

At 6.00 the alarm clock rung (or should I say sung, considering my alarm clock is a roster's yell that Susanne wholeheartedly despises? YES) and, truth to be said, despite my worries we were lucky with the taxi. The driver arrived even 5 minutes earlier than booked for, took the shortest route to the Tiburtina station (the secondary train station of Rome) and didn't try to add any surcharge (that I noticed, at least). Tiburtina station at 7.00 of a sunday is an un-patrolled no-man's land that even the boldest hearts tend to avoid and I was somewhat displeased to find out that our train was 30 minutes late, forcing us on the wharf at the track's side in less than pleasant company. If the good day can be said by the morning, I thought, that was definitely not a good sign.

Anyway, the train arrived (the 30 mins delay had became 35 by then) and we embarked finally on the trip, slightly too sleepy yet, at least in my case, to feel the typical "start of the journey"'s excitement. 4 hours and something later we stopped at the first of our planned stops, Bologna.

Sunday 8th - Bologna - The closed churches city

When we disembarked from the train we found ourselves in full summer. Sun, 30 plus centigrades, no wind. Of the 8 cities we would had touched in the coming week, Bologna was sadly the only one I had never visited, outside of the station at least. It was thus with more than a bit of curiosity that, after having left the backpack at the luggage depot of the station, I looked around the streets.

We immediately moved towards Piazza Maggiore, the main square of the city, passing along the way in front of one of the churches I wanted to visit, the one of S. Peter. It was closed. On a sunday, at half past midday, the third largest church of Bologna was closed for lunch. Ok, I said to myself, the people from Bologna are not exactly famous for their sense of religion (Bologna is the city where the 3 Italian communist parties and the Trotskist party are the strongest in Italy), it's almost understandable that this important, but after all so close to the city's cathedral to make it maybe redundant, church is closed.

We moved on, reached the square and from there we visited what could be seen of the "Palazzo Comunale", the political centre of the city since middle age. Not surprisingly, the courtyard was full of people taking part to civil weddings that are celebrated there by the mayor. Here I was confirmed that God protects the drunken people and the kids (and the United States, used to say Bismark) as a half dozen of them (kids, not drunkards) kept running up and down the main internal stairway, already treacherous by the way it is build ("a cordonata") and made even more so by the abundant quantity of rice laying on the floor (we throw it as a good omen to the newly wed couples as they get out of the churches or, as in this case, the communal house). Well, while Susanne and me (especially - no, only :P - me) had our troubles not falling down walking, they didn't even have a moment of hesitation in running head on down the flight of stairs. Its always surprising how much life kids can give to a place. Moving to the "Stanza Farnese" we had a nice view of the whole square from above, with the city cathedral on the right.

We descended, headed to the cathedral of the city, S. Petronio, personally eager to check it out due something that has happened in Italy a few years ago (I'll tell you later) and... it was closed. The cathedral on lunch break until 3.00 pm, on a sunday. Slightly disconcerted at this point, we sat down on its steps and had a quick break with fruits and then we stood and walked around the former jewish ghetto of the city, surprisingly bordering what was the bishop's palace and building. Okey, it might be more exhausting but if you really want to get an impression of a city, you just have to walk as well in areas outside of the crowded tourist trails.

We crossed a few towers, some of them incredibly pending (Bologna is famous for them, together with having been the first university of Europe and, consequently, quite probably, of the world) - wow, it's so strange to stand next to them... they are really above you at some point - , and a bunch of churches, inexorably closed. In our folly, we headed for S. Stephen, a complex of several churches ideally build in a way to represent the holy sepulcher of Jerusalem and, guess what? What?? It was closed as well... lunch break until 3.30 pm. At that point we had got the message and we sat down in a bar to have the classic "piadina bolognese" (me, and no, mine was far from being so thick as the picture's one) and a salad (Susanne, obviously). Hmmm... salad. And no, it's not rabbit food! At least not only. Anyway...

At around 3, we moved again towards the Cathedral and finally we managed to get into it, after having had our backpack checked carefully. In fact, in june 2002 a plot by an islamic cell was discovered to blow up this church and most specifically one of its side chapels where, in a final judgement painted a fresco at the beginning of the XV century, the prophet Mohamed is depicted as being tortured by devils in hell following the narration by Dante in the Divine Comedy (the only picture I could find is on the right, Mohamed is the figure lying on the right, with its name written next to it). The story had a large impact on the public opinion at the time with the usual corollary of "We will not be intimidated" statements of the various italian political figures. Fact is, I discovered by entering the church that the whole left navel is covered and allegedly "under restoration" since august 2002 and, even more interestingly, without an extimated date for the end of the works. Any comment is superfluous. Ehhh... but if I have a comment? Okey, considering that this could start a huge discussion between the two of us, as usual, I just want to add that Guido is sometimes slightly pessimistic.

Pretty disgruntled (me), we moved then towards S. Domenico, the church where the body of the founder of the Dominican order (the one which supplied the greatest number of men to the inquisition) lies in a wonderful ark (right) where also Michelangelo worked. We were also lucky in this circumstance as we arrived at the church together with a large "official" guided tour. Mingling with them, we were able to access the usually closed to the public wooden chorus behind the main altar, an incredible work of wood inlay of the 1330 and on which, something I had never done before, I was even allowed to sit. I can only agree. It was really great.

After San Domenico, we finally visited Saint Stephen's complex, this time open, finding it extremely interesting, with its intricate spaces and the three churches connected with a number of cloisters and peculiar rooms. Particularly interesting where the "Holy Sepulcrum" (left) and the "Pilates' Courtyard".

By this point, it was time to go back to the station. We walked the whole way back to Piazza Maggiore and passed in front of Saint Peter's church again, giving a brief look inside but nothing more, as the service (amazingly!) was going on. At the station, another surprise to show how little the world is, as I crossed Alessandra Brunello, a friend of mine from ELSA (Treviso, in her case) who, together with her sister, was heading back home after a month spent in and around Naples and who was coincidentally catching the same train. Probably to Susanne's desperation - Actually, not at all! I enjoy listening to italian - , the two hours trip to Montagnana was spent in ELSA reveries and gossiping. Reached Monselice, we parted as we had to change train which, slightly but acceptably late, took us to Montagnana, our camp base for the next few days.

Sunday 8th - Montagnana - The first night

Now, as I had the chance to say a while ago, Montagnana is a little gem almost intact inside its late middle age/early renaissance walls. We arrived at the station around 9.00 pm and quickly walked the short distance between the station and the house which would had hosted us, where the owner was still kindly waiting for us, delaying her own dinner (in the restaurant that we would had later used as well, following her suggestion). The apartment was small but nice, with a little kitchen hidden as a normal pantry and a sofa-bed, nothing exactly new. We dropped our stuff and we went to have dinner... with the quite strong feeling that everyone's was staring at us, which was probably the truth as it's quite probable everyone knows anyone in Montagnana and we definitely were kind of alien to the environment.

As we got back after a nice, but painfully long dinner (another rule in Italy in general and small places in particular: if you are not known, you get served after the known customers), a sentence that would had accompanied us for the whole wee resounded in the air "Damn, we forgot the toothpaste!" - he really hates to brush his teeth without toothpaste - followed by a soothing "it's ok, we'll buy it tomorrow". And the first day was over.

New York and Venice

About me: all is well, Susanne and are having a good time and today is my last day of work before a 10 days break (two week-ends and everything in between taken has days off) and today I've a half idea of taking her to Castel Gandolfo (the Pope's summer residence overlooking the Albano's lake) before joining the VCN people for the first post-summer happy hour.

Other news: at 5 years from 9/11 the final plan for the new World Trade Center was unveiled (left - click to enlarge) and I must say, even if I did like more a couple of the other projects which were running to win, the final one looks, at least in part, great. The Freedom tower (the first on the left) looks futuristic enough, but the new tower right next to it looks great. Ok, of course it's just a drawing made specifically to have everything look cool, but it is indeed cool. It's like Blade Runner without the rain, fog and everything. It's a pity that the rest looks pretty much anonymous. In theory, everything should be ready by 2012 and considering it's americans we are talking about, it's probably going to be like that... I just wonder if I'll manage to go to New York by then or right then. Or ever?

Vaguely related to it, as I'm preparing to take the TOEFL exam I've started fiddling with the official book edited by ETS to prepare for Internet based version of the test. Well, in the three attempts I've done so far about the reading section I got a 13 out of 13, 13 out of 13 and 12 out of 13. Encouraging.

Also, I do not know if I'll be writing anything in the coming days. Sunday morning I'm leaving for the much anticipated travel and the final plan see us going to Bologna for about 8 hours, then moving to Montagnana (right, click to enlarge), a delightful and fully preserved middle age city, and using a small apartment I did rent there make excursions to Verona, Mantova and Padova. From there, Venice for two days and one night and then Ferrara for 2 days, one of which spent to visit Ravenna.

Pray for good weather for me.

A second summer

It's September, but for the weather we had in the past few days, it might very well be late May. Sunny, warm, I just hope it will keep like this for another 10 days as Venice under the rain might even be romantic, but it's definitely unpractical.

Anyway, days are going on. Having breakfast and grocery shopping with Susanne is becoming a very nice (and addicting, I must say) routine while having lunch together has been a sort of adventure the last two days. Of the new world record for the office-home-office trip I've already said. Yesterday my brother (my brother!!!) took the car and brought her to the nearest metro station and she somehow managed to find again my office. Today a step forward, she should get to the metro by bus... hope she will not get hopelessly lost. Thank the Almighty for mobile phones.

For the rest, monday evening we should had gone to a concert of a Renato Zero tribute band (Him being a quite peculiar and locally famous singer), but we ended up staying home instead. Yesterday I took her to one of the most peculiar (and scarcely known) museums of Rome, the one hosted in the former power plant "Montemartini" where the odd contrast between the roman sculptures and the massive, mid XIX century, machinery creates a very intriguing atmosphere.

In the evening, despite my belly being in a riot (has it unfortunately has been for several days now, since the unwisely overfed week-end) I accepted a plead of help of one of the managers of my firm who needed a five-a-side goalkeeper. I must confess, the idea was showing my skill to Susanne most than anything else, but my plan was disrupted as she took a book with her, sat down in the sport center lobby and spent all the time reading. No cheering and pon-pon girls for me.

Running Post

I've no time. Week-end was great, sunny (to the sun-burnt limit) as an early september can be, icy (in the water) as an early september can be, overfed (italian moms are something, italian moms with a guest are something else, italian moms with a guest who is their firstborn's gf are too much) and sleepy.

Morning spent in an absolutely pointless internal course, lunch-break with a new all time record: office-home-office in 40 minutes included 5 minutes waiting for Susanne to come down from my apartment (only to discover she wanted me to come up). Light salad, heavy reprise of the internal course and now that the course is over I'm waiting for the few minutes dividing me from the 16:06, the earliest time I can get out of here and join Susanne who is currently reading somewhere around my office. Hopefully, still.

Improvised plans for the rest of the week.

100

100. One hundred. This is the hundredth post since the 21st of febraury, the day I started keeping a blog. It makes 100 posts in 192 days, less than I meant to, but probably more than I really expected. In these 100 posts there have been a dozen books, a few movies, several happenings, a dozen travels (half of which to Berlin), the three main capitals of Europe (London, Berlin and Paris), the meeting with a couple of new friends and a few of the old ones, a new government for my country, a new war and the same old news from the middle east and, even worse, the same old news from Iran, someone died, no one was born.

Some interesting six months, I'd say, which I hope will be the prelude to something new. Well, something new will surely come with the switch from Berlin to Mainz as main city of interest in Europe. Something new would be nice to happen in the working department, as it has been stalling for way too long and in the meanwhile in mid october I'll betaking the TOEFL exam, because you never now. And something new might come from the family front now that my bro has graduated and might be close to starting working himself.

But while I wait for new things, my friends, I will gladly deal with the present which promises to be particularly nice in the next three weeks. At 8 I'll be picking up Susanne from the airport and we'll spend almost a month together, a week of which travelling all around the italian North-East (Venice included). If we'd just manage to keep our debating sides at bay...

Have a good week-end, everyone.