Zurers in Italy (and France!) 2011

Diana's Book List from Italy Spring 2011

2011-05-25T05:54:00.000-07:00

Rome: Wednesday, May 25, 2011

For those who've wondered, these are the books I've read this trip, and no - James G - I still don't have a Kindle. :)

1. The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman. A first novel about an International Herald Tribune-type paper, set in Rome. The story is told via chapters about writer, editor, publisher, etc. I found the characters very unsympathetic - a very unhappy, unfulfilled lot. I wanted to like this book more than I did.

2. Cellophane by Marie Arana. A luscious novel about a fantastic family in the jungles of Peru. The patriarch, Don Victor, is a paper maker and then moves to cellophane which seemingly triggers a truth telling epidemic and revolution. I loved it!

3. La Bella Lingua by Dianne Hales. The author loves Italy, Italian culture and the language, which is her entry to it all. Full of interesting history about the language, authors, poets, slang, etc. However even for me, she's a bit over the top - is there really no other language in the whole world with the nuance, beauty, etc. of Italian? Forse

4. Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder. The amazing true story of Deo from Burundi and his nightmare flight from the massacres there (why does one know about Rawanda and not Burundi?), his quite terrible life in NYC, the benefactors who took him in, and how he ultimately graduates from Columbia, begins medical school and goes back to Burundi to build the clinic he'd wanted to years before when he'd been a medical student there. He finds a "home" with Partners in Health – people who see the effects of poverty the way he does and believe they can make a difference. Inspiring.

5. Foreign Tongues by Vanina Marsot. The first of my "France" books, to get me in the mood. A sexy Paris novel about a bilingual LA woman, dumped by her boyfriend, who comes to Paris to recover, make a new life and find love. Great descriptions of Paris, neighborhoods, cafes, food, the French language, etc. but pretty lightweight

6. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. A big best seller, translated from the French, set in Paris, featuring a concierge, a young girl and a Japanese man. Pretty compelling characters but it got tedious with a bit too much reflecting on how superior they all were and also too much philosophizing.

7. French Lessons by Alice Kaplan. Great! A personal and professional memoir about learning French, the death of her father, using immersion into another culture as a way both of hiding from her own and dealing with her past. Fascinating about her study of Celine and French intellectual fascists, and her teaching experiences. Beautifully written and great to read in Paris.

8. Memoirs of Montparnasse by John Glassco. A memoir by a Canadian who was in Paris in 1927-29. A perfect compliment to the Woody Allen movie, Midnight in Paris

9. The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson. A great novel. Winner of this year's Mann Booker Prize. About being Jewish (including anti-Semitism and being critical of Israel), friendship and death. I laughed out loud every other page (though it probably should be noted that Jim never found what I found clever, witty or downright hysterical to be so.) But really – witty, moving, provocative. And maybe you don't have to be Jewish to enjoy it.

Italy: Spring 2011: Day 25: Saturday, May 21, 2011: Lerici

2011-05-21T07:10:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful day in paradise……After breakfast and some time on the terrace reading and admiring the view, we get in the car and drive to Arcola in search of the laundromat.

It is right there on the main street and there are no laundry issues–all goes smoothly. We have a nice interchange with the woman who takes cares of the laundromat–she comes in with her two sons, to clean up, collect the money and restock the machines. She admires Diana's piecing and also the pictures of our grandchildren. The six year old practices a little English with us and the two year old grabs a rag and wipes down the table.

For lunch, we drive into the hills above Lerici to the village of Montemarcello

to find the bar that Megan had told us about that sells excellent foccaccia sandwiches. After a false start–the road from Ameglia to Montemarcello is blocked by a landslide–we get there, find the bar, order two of the few remaining sandwiches and eat them outside at their fake "wooden" rustic furniture (actually made of concrete).

In any case, the sandwiches are very good and the garden extremely pleasant.

Returning to Lerici, we venture down the hill to town for gelato and a stroll along the waterfront. There is a lot of activity connected to a big police celebration being held in one of the piazzas–a stage is set up, hundreds of chairs arranged in front and many policeman are milling about. While I make a quick shopping trip to look for my favorite olive oil soap (the store where we had always bought it has closed), Diana waits on the promenade and people watches. When I return (soapless), I find that she is talking to a woman named Marie Lamberti who is a real estate agent in Lerici. She was born in Liguria (during the war) but lived for much of her life in Pittsburgh where her parents had moved. Almost thirty years ago, she, her mother and her daughter moved back to Italy and have been there ever since.

http://www.international-realestate.it/

So Diana has been talking to all three generations of the family…..

We decide not to wait for the ceremony to begin and head back up the hill. I am able to hook up my computer to the television set and we watch an Israeli movie (The Lemon Tree) streamed from Netflix. When it is over (we enjoy it very much), we decide just to go downstairs for dinner. Eating on the terrace again is very pleasant and the food is very good again…..a carpaccio of lightly marinated sea bass for me followed by a great pasta with seafood–shrimp, mussels, clams, calamari. Diana has the pasta with anchovies and pine nuts that I had two nights previously which she enjoys and then a whole fish baked in a salt crust (she makes a special request since it is not on the menu) which is perfectly done. We have a bottle of the same Vermintino as two nights ago and it is still good. And we get another nice sunset….

Very relaxing and very delicious……tomorrow we check out and drive to Rome.

Jim and Diana

Italy: Spring 2011: Day 24: Friday, May 20, 2011: Lerici

2011-05-20T00:16:00.000-07:00

A beautiful day and lazy morning…we eat breakfast on the terrace with the beautiful view in morning light.

We walk down to the harbor to take the boat across the Gulf to Portovenere, the old town located on the narrow mouth of the Gulf where it meets the Mediterranean. The twenty minute trip is a perfect sea voyage for me–just long enough. There are a lot of small sailboats out as well large container ships steaming out of La Spezia and a medium size cruise ship anchored off Portovenere.

We can see the small boats shuttling cruise passengers to and from the town.

We have been to Portovenere before but it’s always nice to make return visits. There is an old castle dominating the town and the harbor. the town’s architecture–high buildings facing the sea–was conceived as part of the defense of Portovenere from attack during its heyday as Genoa’s ally in the 15th and 16th century.

I walk out to the point where the 13th century church of San Giorgio seems to rise straight out the rock. (Diana chooses to sit and enjoy the view from the wall to the left in the picture.)

Alongside is the grotto where the poet, Lord Byron, used to start his marathon swims across the Gulf when he and Shelley lived here.

We do a little shopping for the grandchildren on the main commercial street…a narrow alleyway that is completely cut off from the water…again part of the defensive plan of the town.

We find a trattoria with an outdoor terrace, a short distance from the center and have a pleasant, relaxed lunch of salads, grilled branzino for Diana and mussels in marinara sauce for me.

Back in Lerici, we sit okn our terrace enjoying the warm sunshine. Before dinner, we have a drink on the hotel terrace with Megan McCafferty–an American who lives in Lerici who is also in the travel planning business–and her Italian husband Luigi Guerrera. Then Luigi (from the hotel) picks us up and we (along with his wife Shona) drive up into the hills to have one of our favorite meals–the local speciality of Podenzana–panigacci.

The panigacci specialties from around the town of Podenzana, has a round shape with a diameter of about 15 cm and white. It has a fragrant aroma, similar to that of bread. It is prepared by mixing wheat flour with salt and water until a thick paste, which is then placed in terracotta heads, stacked on each other and made red hot. It is eaten hot, accompanied by ham and cheese, pesto, mushroom sauce, jam, chocolate or flavored with extra virgin olive oil and grated cheese.

A nice time is had by all….lots of wine is drunk and when we get back to the hotel, we are asleep in no time.

Tomorrow….laundry and maybe a visit to La Spezia.

Jim and Diana

Italy: Spring 2011: Day 23: Thursday, May 19, 2011: Sesto Calende-Lerici

2011-05-19T05:59:00.000-07:00

We say our goodbyes to the sisters (Sylvia and Raffaela) who run the Tre Re, after having some discussions about our week in Paris.

The drive to Lerici takes us southeast towards Parma and then southwest to La Spezia…the Parma-La Spezia stretch of autostrada is especially scenic as the road climbs up and over the heavily forested mountains of the Lunigiana region of Tuscany.

Our friend Luigi, the desk clerk at the Doria Park (one of our favorite hotels in Italy) in Lerici (one of our favorite places in Italy) is on duty and gives us a nice welcome. Our room is on the top floor and has a terrace that provides a wonderful vantage point to see the town and Gulf of the Poets.

We take our customary walk on the waterfront…along the fishing port and marina to the rock jetty which is full of people sunbathing on this warm sunny afternoon.

We retrace our steps and continue along the water stopping for a gelato at the other end of the promenade.

It’s a very quiet afternoon on the terrace. We relax, only going downstairs for a prosecco before having dinner in the Doria Park restaurant. Dinner is served on the outside terrace as the sun goes down over the water.

Diana starts with a spinach and raisin filled cannoli which was really sort of a phyllo dough and then has red mullet fillets with a light tomato sauce. I have a fancy version of the local chickpea crepe (farinata) topped with wonderful shrimp and crispy onions–very good and different–and then a very good plate of spaghetti with a sauce of chopped fresh anchovies and pine nuts. The local Vermintino white wine is very refreshing. A very, very nice dinner that we finish as the lights begin to go on in the towns and the hills across the water.

Tomorrow, we think we will take the boat to Portovenere, the gateway to the Cinque Terre.

Italy: Spring 2011: Day 22: Wednesday, May 18, 2011: Paris-Sesto Calende

2011-05-18T05:58:00.000-07:00

The plane flight from Paris to Milan was uneventful but notable for being half empty.

We got the car quickly but got caught in rush hour traffic on the way back to Sesto Calende. After checking back in (our room this time was amazing–spacious, bright and comfortable), we went out to one of the bars overlooking the river for a “welcome back to Italy” prosecco.

I then went out for a walk along the combination bike path/walking trail/car road that hugs the Ticino river for many miles. The weather is perfect and there are a lot of walkers, joggers and bikers out enjoying the afternoon.

We have dinner at the hotel although I walked past several interesting places to eat on my way back. Perhaps on our next visit to Sesto, we will venture out of the hotel for dinner. Dinner is quite nice…Diana has a plate of excellent melon and prosciutto followed by a pasta dish with shrimp. I try the bresaola made from deer which is a bit richer than the beef version and a pasta dish called sedanini vicario…short tubes of pasta with a bacon and onion sauce–unusual and good. We drink a dolcetto from Piemonte which is very pleasant. After dinner, I go out for gelato….cinnamon and fior di latte.

We are really very happy to be back in Italy. Tomorrow…off to Lerici for another “vacation”.

Jim and Diana

Italy: Spring 2011: May 19: Impressions of Paris [May 11-18]

2011-05-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

While we were in Paris, we went to see Woody Allen's very enjoyable new movie "Midnight in Paris".

The film presents several fantasy verson of Paris....both contemporary and historical. The fantasy images of contemporary Paris (empty museums, people-less streets and fast movie-magic movements to different parts of the city) were in sharp contrast to the Paris that we visited and I think had a lot to do with our feelings about our week there. We realize that Paris is a very big city (more like New York than I could have ever imagined) and that reality clashed with the Paris of our mind's eye or of the movies. It's not that we don't like big cities (we actually do) but I guess we weren't expecting Paris to be quite so huge, so bustling, so crowded and so difficult.

As I wrote, Paris didn't steal our hearts. Partly, we found a lot of it to be challenging and frustrating and some of that can be attributed to it being my first visit (Diana had been there for a few days when she was sixteen) meaning we had to learn the ropes in a place where we didn't have the language. But I am sure that this was also true when we made our first visit to Rome in 1993 and Rome did steal our hearts.

The geographic size of the city was challenging....things are very far apart and what looked like a short distance on a map turned out to be a much longer trek. And having to try and learn the bus system on the fly was daunting. The train part of the system worked pretty well but the long passages to make connections and the prevalence of stairs were complicating factors. We ended up taking taxis frequently which worked well for the most part.

Probably the most significant thing that frustrated us was the crowds....we have somehow been able to avoid them for much of the time in Italy. We haven't been to the Vatican Museums in the daytime for years and have avoided Florence for the last few years. We were unprepared for the long lines (we did have a museum pass that let us avoid the ticket lines) but the lines to pass through security were the killers. And once inside the Louvre and the Musee' d'Orsay, the sheer number of people in the galleries competing for views of the art wore us down quickly. I admit that we are spoiled....we had just come from Genoa where we were just about the only people in the two top art museums of the city...but the experience was just very frustrating.

We were also struck by the crowds in our neighborhood.....the streets near our hotel are filled with bars and cafes (like the very famous Le Deux Magots and Cafe de Flore) but on a nice Spring day, they were jammed. Even if you could find a table, you would be cheek by jowl with your neighbors....which seemed very unpleasant to us even though the people in the cafes seemed to be enjoying themselves.

So here's what we liked.....in no particular order.

1. A walking tour of "our neighborhood" Saint-Germain-des-Pres, with Paris Walks. It was an informative and enjoyable tour which included some history, some architecture and some anecdotes about the famous people who had lived in the area. In retrospect, we should have done more of this kind of tour.

2. The Rodin Museum....Rodin's sculpture, much of which is so well known to us, is incredibly striking and to see many of his other works in the place he lived was stunning (and some were quite sexy). The English audio tour was excellent. The gardens are lovely and we went on a bright sunny day which added to the charm.

3. Our hotel--the Millesime on Rue Jacob in the 6th--was terrific...comfortable and friendly with great breakfasts.

4. A walk on our last morning in the quieter streets south of Boulevard St. Germain (between St. Sulpice Church and the Jardin du Luxembourg)....stylish shops, small hotels, a row of Italian restaurants. Our destination was Poilane, one of the top French boulangeries, where we bought some great rolls and croissants for our lunch at the airport.

5. The bread and croissants in Paris were fantastic....every bit as good as their reputation. And I could happily eat those ubiquitous baguette sandwiches for lunch every day.

6. The stained glass windows at Sainte-Chappelle lived up to their billing.....absolutely stunning with the late afternoon light streaming though.

7. Our short visit to Galeries Lafayette, one of the "grand magasins" (department stores) on Boulevard Haussman in the center of Paris....the colored glass domed roof that covers the open five story atrium is worth the price of admission (of course it's free) and the range of goods that are sold is astonishing. We had a pleasant lunch in the seventh floor self-service restaurant that appeared to be as big as a football field, had good food and a dynamite view over Paris.

8. The Monet "Water Lilies" installation at Musee L'Orangerie is both delicate and overwhelming and the collection of impressionist paintings in the basement gallery has some stunning paintings...we especially liked the Cezannes and the paintings of an artist we didn't know at all, Andre Derain.

9. Sitting in the Jardin du Luxembourg on a warm sunny afternoon watching Parisians rest, talk, jog, etc. in an elegantly manicured garden setting....so much of a contrast to similar public spaces in Italy which are usually much less organized or well kept.

10. The small Musee' Nissim de Comando--the art-filled mansion of a Jewish family of bankers who collected pieces from all over the world--that has been beautifully restored to recreate the look and feel of the house in its heyday--the late 19th century. There was a very well done audio tour that really gave life to what is on display.

11. A very good tour of Notre Dame Cathedral given by a volunteer who knows the cathedral and was able to give a refreshing and non-doctrinaire explanation of the history and architecture of Notre Dame.

12. A walk on the Champs-Elysee (which is not the Champs-Elysee of former years--lots of tourist places and fast food restaurants mixed in with Cartier and Louis Vuitton) and a visit to the Arc de Triomphe (I walked to the top for a great view of Paris).

13. Diana liked looking at the Parisians (their style, clothes and shoes), the windows of the galleries, antique shops and upholstery shops in "our" neighborhood, and the beautiful, varied wrought iron balconies. She liked seeing the Eiffel Tower from the boat ride on the Seine.

14. She loved reading Alice Kaplan's memoir French Lessons and highly recommends it.

15. We had nice visits with an American friend of ours--Lee Orloff--who lives in Paris.

16. Walks in the Marais and Montmartre neighborhoods.....The Marais contains the old Jewish quarter and there is still a Jewish presence (delicatessens, Jewish bakeries, falafel shops) as well the very elegant Place des Vosges, which seems to be one of the few places that Parisians can sit on the grass. In Montmartre, we walked down the back side of the hill from Sacre-Coeur after checking out the view from the front of the church. This allowed us to escape the crowds and stroll down the hilly, winding lanes with beautiful houses, the first arts workshop of Picasso and the only remaining vineyard in Paris.

17. Did I mention how fantastic the bread is?

In retrospect, we may not have stayed in the most optimum location (despite the excellence of the hotel). The immediate neighborhood was more touristy than we prefer and we might have been happier in a quieter neighborhood. We realize that Paris is a very big city (more like New York than I could have ever imagined) and that reality clashed with the Paris of our mind's eye or of the movies. It's not that we don't like big cities (we actually do) but I guess we weren't expecting Paris to be quite so huge, so bustling, so crowded and so difficult.

In terms of the food, although some of our eating out experiences were disappointing, for the most part we ate reasonably well. But we did find the whole process a struggle--from finding appropriate and affordable restaurants in our neighborhood (we like to walk to and from dinner most of the time) to deciphering menus with unfamiliar or in some cases many unappealing options, to being packed like sardines in most of the bistros, to being shocked at the price of wine. But the tight quarters did lead to a couple of pleasant interactions with the people at the next table....the Canadian woman in one place welcomed us to her table and we had a nice evening talking to the two Italian engineers who replaced her.

Part of our reaction is undoubtedly a kind of culture shock which had a great impact on our feelings about Paris. We faced the same "shock of the new" on our first visit to Rome when we were equally unprepared, language-challenged and green but, for some reason, we were able to work through the shock and embrace Rome.

Anyway, we are back in Italy now and feeling a lot more relaxed.....and looking forward to being in Rome next week.

Jim and Diana

PS If you want pictures of Paris, I commend the Woody Allen movie to you.

Italy: Spring 2011:Tuesday May 10: Sulzano- Sesto Calende

2011-05-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

It's sunny this morning as we prepare to leave Lago d'Iseo…we pack up and say our goodbyes and sit by the lake for a few minutes before getting in the car.

On the way to Sesto Calende (near Milan's Malpensa Airport where we get our plane to Paris), we make a return visit to Bergamo, where we had stayed for a night on one of our first trips to Italy. Bergamo is a very attractive and sophisticated city…the lower "modern" town (citta' bassa) looks just as elegant as we remember it from 17 years ago with broad avenues and boulevards.

We drive up the hill to the old city (citta' alta)

and easily find a parking lot just outside the walls. We both have clear memories of the town and the walk to the center feels very familiar. The streets are lined with elegant shops and there is a very lively atmosphere.

We reach the main piazza–(Piazza Vecchia)–which is one of the nicest in Italy…just the right scale; there are cafes and restaurants intermingled with the public buildings.

At one end, you walk through an archway to reach a smaller piazza dominated by three large churches–the Duomo, Santa Maria Maggiore and the Colleoni Chapel. The outside decorations on the Chapel (the burial place of Bartolomeo Colleoni, one of the important nobles of the city in the 15th century) are over the top, but Diana is particularly taken with the section of the facade that is just the same as the Tumbling Blocks quilt her friend Sue has just made.

Inside the chapel, the decorative splurge is continued and in the large church next door, Santa Maria Maggiore, it is redoubled.

We are most interested in the intarsia (inlaid wood) panels of Biblical scenes designed by Lorenzo Lotto that are in front of the choir in Santa Maria Maggiore. They are usually kept hidden under wooden panels (also intarsia) but there is a private tour going on and they are minutely examining the details of one of the panel. So we get a chance to see much of the detail and coloring which is remarkable……

There is also a notable intricately carved 17th century wood confessional

and a nice Last Supper fresco to add to my collection.

But the main effect of both churches is sensory overload, from the stuccoed ceiling to the luxurious tapestries to the carvings….it is hard to stay inside the church for too long.

We continue our walk through the back streets of Bergamo and stop for a bite to eat in a cafe on the main piazza….sandwich and salad. Then we return to car and continue the drive to Sesto Calende. We get to Sesto C. about 4 pm and get a nice welcome from the sisters who run the hotel. We stayed there on our first night in Italy 18 years ago and have been back a number of times. We decide to take a quick trip to Lago d'Orta, about 45 minutes away. We had stayed there for a few days about 10 years ago and I had liked it a lot more than Diana had…this trip was to see if our opinions were still the same.

The lake is still very pretty although not as picturesque as Iseo

….but I find that the town has changed a lot–all the streets are lined with tourist-oriented shops and the center has a somewhat run-down feeling. We sit on the main piazza overlooking the lake having a gelato while several bus loads of tourists mill about. So I don't think I will be suggesting Orta as a destination to future clients.

The way back to Sesto Calende takes us through the Italian equivalent of an American suburban strip mall….shopping centers, discount and outlet stores and lots of fast food. Traffic is backed up at the light where the road crosses the Ticino River……it doesn't make us nostaglic for home :)

We have dinner at the hotel…..Diana has a special very light gnocchi baked with a bechamel sauce and then a very nicely grilled spigola with roast potatoes, while I have some delicate ravioli stuffed with ricotta and artichoke, some okay fried perch and a plate of excellent cauliflower. We drink a very good Muller-Thurgau from Friuili….The waitress is lots of fun; her English is excellent and she remembers us from previous visits.

Tomorrow off to Paris….

Jim and Diana

Italy: Spring 2011: Day 13: Monday, May 9: Sulzano

2011-05-09T10:48:00.000-07:00

The sky is gray this morning and the outlook looks very unpromising. This will be the first day since Prato where we didn’t see the sun in the morning.

So it is probably good that we plan to do our laundry in Iseo. It is an easy operation….we are the only ones in the place and have no problems with the directions. Before returning to Sulzano, we take a quick ride around the center of Iseo and find it quite attractive…another long promenade along the lake with numerous places to eat and drink.

We plan to return tonight for dinner.

Since it is still cloudy, we decide to make it a work day and drive over to Lake Garda to check out my client’s other hotel this summer, the Villa Giulia in Gargnano. I want to avoid the main highway but the route is not clear and the GPS is not in synch with us so we do a bit of wandering before we end up on the right road. We had planned to stop for a sandwich enroute but all the appealing places were either on the wrong side of the road or we drove past before noticing them. The approach to Garda is quite dramatic….the road climbs high into the very green hills and then descends to the lake—quite different from the commercial and industrial scenery we saw near the city of Brescia.

We have lunch–sandwiches–at a bar on the waterfront of the town Salo’….the bar is located on the very well kept promenade with great views of Lake Garda–a pleasant place to eat, look at the lake and enjoy the sun, which has reappeared during our drive.

Gargnano is further up the west side of the lake and is a place we have never visited. The Villa Giulia is a very elegant, refined hotel with beautifully manicured grounds right on the lake. The swimming pool is gorgeous and there are rose bushes and other flowers in profusion. One of the staff invites us to look around and I get to see one of the rooms, although my client’s room is occupied so it can’t be shown. But I am happy to have had a chance to see the property first hand…..

We take the fast road back to Sulzano and rest up a little before getting back in the car for the short ride to Iseo. Before dinner, we walk around the main piazza and along the water. Dinner is at the Ristorante San Martino, recommended to us by another guest at our hotel. We are quite surprised to find that a good number of our fellow diners are Americans…..we didn’t think that there were that many American tourists staying on the lake. Dinner is fine…the place is a bit quirky. Most of the Italians are eating pizza and most of the foreigners are having more substantial meals. I have a large portion of lardo on good toasted bread followed by a dish called rettangoli with clams and tomatoes. The rettangoli were ravioli with a minced fish filling….a dish that I had never seen before, but which I enjoyed. Diana’s grilled branzino was a bit overpowered by the taste of the grill. We have a very local white wine from the Franciacorta region. We end up talking to the Americans seated next to us who are in Italy for the start of the Mille Miglia in nearby Brescia…which used to be a very important car race in Italy but after a number of fatal crashes, was discontinued. It has been revived as a long distance parade for pre-1957 cars.

We have a gelato on the way back to the car….tomorrow we leave the lake and will stop in Bergamo for a few hours.

NOTE: I intend to write to the publishers of the Rough Guides who, I feel, have given Lake Iseo short shrift in their reports about the lake and its towns. I don’t have the exact passage from the book in front of me but their description talks about heavy industry and apartment blocks and there not being much point “in hanging around there”. We found nothing could be further from the truth….the towns are very inviting and the lake is peaceful and beautiful. There is some industry around Lovere but it doesn’t make the town unappealing and we never saw the apartment blocks that they mention.

Italy: Spring 2011: Day 12: Sunday, May 8: Sulzano

2011-05-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

Beautiful morning…..but a bit cool to start out. After breakfast (coffee success continues) and some time sitting on the lawn enjoying the sun and the lake views, we get in the car to explore the rest of the lake.

We first drive up into the hills to see a local attraction…I Piramidi di Zone’ (The Pyramids of Zone’). The pyramids–rock formations caused by erosion–are located high above the lake just outside the pretty little town of Zone’.

There is a large tourist office with lots of explanations of the phenomenon and there are many hiking trails in the area. We are dismayed to learn that the shortest walk to see the pyramids will take at least an hour and we are told there is no way to drive closer. We take a quick look at the old church of San Giorgio (frescoes of the dragon being slain are painted on the outside)

and walk past the busy cafe that caters to visitors to the pyramids. As we drive back down–enjoying great views of the lake–we see an overlook where you can indeed see the formations (complete with picnic tables and places to park). So we stop, take some pictures of the rugged towers and scarred hillsides and continue back down to sea level.

The road around the top of the lake is mostly through tunnels and somehow we overshoot our next destination–the large town of Lovere that sits at the north end of the lake—so we have to double back. Lovere turns out to be full of activity on this Sunday morning (la festa della mamma). The “centro” is full of people strolling, shopping and sitting in outdoor cafes–the waterfront promenade is long and scenic–seems very inviting as we drive through. South of town, there is a fair amount of industry…steel is still an industry here…but it doesn’t appear to impinge on the appeal of the town.

The drive south along the west shore of the lake is quite attractive…the first part of the road is literally carved out of the rock and is very narrow. Cars and bikes (and a few walkers) have to share the narrow roadway but everyone seems to be cooperative. The views over the lake and to the other shore are striking and sometimes it is hard to keep your eyes on the road.

At the south end of the lake, we drive through the big town of Sarnico and we both realize simultaneously that it looks familiar….we finally realize that we had stopped here a few years ago when we were staying in Cremona. We want to explore the lakefront of the town of Iseo….but it is blocked off to car traffic for a market, so we head back to the hotel. On the way, we stumble on the laundromat that we were planning to go to tomorrow.
Back at the hotel, we have salads and sandwiches for lunch, served on the lake-front and then Diana goes out to sit in the sun. I take the ferry over to Monte Isola and walk the opposite direction from yesterday towards the village of Carzano on the eastern side of the island. This walk is a lot less scenic…it passes a boat building shop, the island dump, the docks where the car ferries (for island residents) tie up, the gas station and the “industrial” port where barges are moored. But it is a nice afternoon and I enjoy the expedition anyway.

We make a return trip to Al Cacciatore for dinner…this time we drive up the hill. Dinner is fine…..a plate of ham and salami for me followed by tagliolini with goose (a house specialty) which is delicious. .Diana has the antipasto of lake fish (which is not as good as the one we had the day before) and very tasty lamb chops. . We both have dessert….a mediocre panna cotta for me and an apple cake for Diana. We drink the house white which is fine.
Tomorrow we will do laundry and further explore the area.
Jim and Diana

Italy: Spring 2011: Day 11: Saturday, May 7: Sulzano

2011-05-07T22:15:00.000-07:00

The day starts out sunny but a bit cool…especially in the shade. But the lake is gorgeous in the morning light.

The hotel has a spectacular breakfast spread….wonderful fruit, great pastries….and I have no problem getting my cafe doppio con acqua calda (except for a raised eyebrow from the waitress.) The room is also lovely and light-filled and, in warmer weather, you can have breakfast outside.

In keeping with our leisurely “vacation” plans, we stroll over to the piazza in the middle of town where the ferry docks. There is a school activity–a tree planting celebration–going on in the park…..scores of children, all of them holding helium-filled balloons in the colors of the Italian flag, as well as their parents and siblings.

After the planting of young olive trees and the children hanging name bands on the branches–all the balloons are released, making quite a show as they float up into the sky. Then–once the signal is given–there is a mad rush to the refreshment table.

After sitting on the lawn in the sun looking at the lake,

and the geese, ducks and swan that are constantly swimming by

we decide to go to the island–Monte Isola–for a walk and lunch. The ferry to the island runs continuously (like a shuttle)

and it is a big day trip destination for Italians. The ride takes only five minutes and we take the mile walk recommended by the desk clerk at the hotel – from the main town, Peschiera Maraglio, to Sensole. It is a wide paved path right on the water; it passes by olive groves and there are lots of benches along the way.

The views of the lake and the mountains are beautiful. We share the “road” with families walking, people riding bikes, a lot of motorcycles that roar past and even an occasional small bus.

At Sensole, we choose one of the recommended restaurants–La Spiagetta–and have a semi-peaceful lunch…there are two small children at the next table who are pretty active but luckily we don’t mind. We share an antipasto del lago….several dishes of marinated lake fish plus one whole air dried lake salmon…called “missoltino”–which has a very strong, salty taste but is quite delicious.

Diana follows with a pasta dish with asparagus and smoked lake fish which she likes and I have a piece of grilled lake fish that is very well prepared. We have no problem finishing a half liter of white wine (we are on vacation after all) and we are in no hurry to leave…just lingering to enjoy the views.

We stop for a gelato on the walk back and catch a boat back to Sulzano…..Nothing much happens during the rest of the afternoon–Diana is sitting on a lounge chair on the pool deck and I am doing some work and struggling with the hotel’s balky internet connection. (Nothing can be perfect, after all.)

We have a prosecco and some nibbles as the sun begins to set over the island….it is actually pretty magical.

We walk over to the hotel next door for dinner…although we do have some ideas about skipping it…and we have a very pleasant meal on the terrace of the Hotel Aquila. I have a big mixed salad to start followed by roast kid (very tasty but very messy) served with delicious grilled polenta (and superfluous potatoes) while Diana has prosciutto and melon followed by a dish of fried lake perch. The apple strudel is very good and the house red wine is okay.

We are glad to just have a few steps to walk to get back to the hotel…we sit for a few minutes on the lawn looking at the lights on the lake before going to our room.

Tomorrow…who knows? We are on vacation.

Jim and Diana

Italy: Spring 2011: Day 10: Friday, May 6: Genoa-Sulzano

2011-05-06T09:47:00.000-07:00

Departure day from Genoa….I think I have my morning coffee request down pat…..doppio cafe in tazza grande con acqua calda (a double coffee/espresso in a large cup with hot water).

After packing up, we walk up the street to visit the sinagoga. Today is the day of the general strike and we immediately notice that there is much less traffic noise….no buses are running. Certainly an inconvenience for the Genovese and most visitors but certainly easier on our ears.

The sinagoga is a substantial stone building with a low dome set just off the main street, Via Assaroti. The secretary who takes us around speaks very good English and is very friendly. She tells us that the building was finished in 1935, ironically just three years before the passage of the racial laws under Mussolini. There are about 350 Jews in the entire region of Liguria but they usually are able to have a minyan for services which folow the Sephardic rite. We first visit the small sanctuary in the basement that is used for services in the winter (it is easier to heat)

and then we go upstairs to the main sanctuary, which is light and airy with very restrained decorations. The bima is decorated with simple panels symbolizing the ten tribes and the ark has a very lovely cover.

We learn that there is no kosher butcher in Genoa but they periodically order meat from Milan and that they do run a small Hebrew school.

Back at the hotel, we pack the car and start out for the autostrada….but we immediately get caught in a traffic jam. All traffic in the Piazza Corvetto is stopped and a long line of marchers are filling the streets.

With no idea how long traffic will be stopped, we follow many of the cars in the opposite direction and try to find an alternate route out of town. It takes a long time (traffic is a bit chaotic) but we manage to find the autostrada entrance and get on the road to Zibello for lunch at one of our favorite restaurants in Italy – La Buca. A minor navigation error (getting off the autostrada one exit too soon) is compounded because the entrance ramp is closed due to an accident and we can't get back on the autostrada. We (and the GPS) recalculate and find an alternate route on local roads that costs us about a half hour before getting back on the main road.

We don't get to the restaurant until almost 2 pm and we are the last customers but we enjoy our lunch. La Buca specializes in excellent home made pasta and the local cured meat specialty, culatello. We try to come here whenever we are within an hour of Zibello…..Lunch is fine as usual….the culatello (served with butter) and salame are great and the pasta with culatello melts in your mouth.

The ride to Sulzano takes another hour. Sulzano is a small town on the less well known Lago d'Iseo. We are here because I have a client staying at the Hotel Rivalago this summer and, as part of my full service travel consulting, I want to check it out in advance. Also we have never stayed on this smaller lake set between Lake Garda and Lake Como. We are charmed by first views of the lake….blue water surrounded by rugged mountains. The lake is notable because the island in the middle–Monte Isola–is said to be the largest inhabited inland island in Europe.

The hotel setting also impresses us….set right on the lakeshore with a manicured lawn and terrace as well as a large swimming pool and a deck with lounge chairs. Our room has a small balcony overlooking the lake…..we are enchanted. After getting settled, we go down to sit at one of the tables and enjoy the sun and the scenery.

I take a short walk into the village which is very small and, while not charming, seems pleasant. The ferry terminal is close by where ferries serve all the towns on the lake as well as running continuous service to the island which is only five minutes away.

We have dinner at a Slow Food recommended restaurant located up a steep hill over the village…Al Cacciatore. The place is actually busy with many guests from the hotel. Dinner is fine…..I have some excellent San Daniele ham and homemade coppa and salami followed by a local specialty–ravioli-like casoncelli with a local smoked cheese. DIana has a fritto misto of lake fish and vegetables that is beautifully done and a cheese plate. We drink a bottle of a local white recommended by the owner.

The walk back to the hotel is much easier…all downhill and we take a few minutes to look at the lights in the towns all around the lake before going to bed. Tomorrow we have no particular plans…..we are on our "vacation" from our vacation.

Jim and DIana

Italy: Spring 2011: Day 9: Thursday, May 5: Genova

2011-05-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

Sunny and warm this morning……after breakfast, we go to the Palazzo Rosso, the other part of the art museum on Via Garibaldi.

We have a slight drama when we give them the tickets that we purchased yesterday. The ticket taker tells us that reduced price tickets (for 65 and over) are only good for one day. We had not understood that this was the case but we just stand there and look bewildered while several other people get into the act. Finally we are walked across the street to the sales office, where–after more consultation–it is decided that they will take pity on us and issue valid tickets for today.

The gallery is as grand as its sister palazzo, the Palazzo Bianco. The collection is heavily Genoese with a a number of Tuscan and Venetian painters scattered throughout. We are quite taken with a painter named Procaccino whose portraits are very striking

but the highlight of the gallery for us is the special exhibition called In Plein Air.

In Plein Air (know as “macchiaoli” in Italian) refers to painting outdoors using natural light; the introduction of paint in tubes helped this movement along. The show at the Palazzo Rosso features a 19th century painter named Luigi Garibbo who worked mostly in Genoa and Florence. His paintings–especially his later works–are very delicate and almost impressionistic–and we are quite entranced by them.

We work our way through all six floors of the palazzo–our energy is flagging as we march through some of the furnished period rooms-and we are rewarded when we get to the top floor, which is the apartment of the art curator who lived there in the mid-20th century. They have kept the paintings she owned and the books that she used for her research. And, as a bonus, the guard asks if we want to see the “panorama” from the roof, which of course I do.

We then take the car out to try again to get to the seaside suburb of Nervi….I have done some research and now know where I want to go and where to park. This time we drive along the water all the way from downtown and it is a much more pleasant trip. The Corso Italia has a broad pedestrian walkway overlooking the sea and there are restaurants and bars all along the way. We try to make a stop in the little fishing village of Boccadasse but, with no apparent parking available, we continue on our way.

Reaching Nervi, we pull into the parking lot at the train station and take the path that goes under the tracks to the Passegiata Anita Garibaldi. This is a mile long pedestrian walkway set between the railroad tracks and the sea. It is beautifully maintained with benches and steps down onto the rocks where people are fishing and sunbathing.

We start walking and come upon a historic fortification tower, the Torre Gropallo.

and a hotel which looks very rundown. But there is a sign advertising their lunch specials and we decide to stop and eat there. We eat outside on the terrace overlooking the water…with great views up and down the coast. The food is very good…..a caprese salad and grilled branzino for Diana and an insalata mista and fritto misto for me. We drink a pleasant white wine and linger after we are finished…..a terrific lunch in a lovely spot.

We continue our stroll along the water….past another restaurant which is also very busy and a gelateria that is “under siege” from a school group. I see a plaque on the wall and am surprised to see that it honors Sholem Aleichem, the Yiddish writer, who spent some time in Nervi when he was suffering from tuberculosis. Diana is a proud graduate of Sholem Aleichem Shul 45 in the Bronx.

We take the long route back to Genoa, climbing high into the hills and driving back along the crests of over 3,000 foot high mountains.

The views of the city as we descend on a another narrow, twisting road are great but constant vigilance is required where the road narrows to less than car widths.

We eat dinner at a famous old trattoria, Da Maria, which is very close to our hotel. We are looking for something uncomplicated and quick and Da Maria is a no-nonsense place with home cooking, no pretensions and very low prices. The extensive menu (in hard to decipher handwriting) has lots of local specialties which are served up promptly with little or no style. I have a dish of okay minestrone (pesto and peas) and a plate of fried baccala while Diana has the trofie with pesto and veal milanese. I think the food is not all that good but the experience was fine (we are out of there in less than half an hour) and both our meals come to less than Euro 20.00. It’s a good place for people watching also….the clientele seems to be very eclectic.

Tomorrow we leave Genoa for our “vacation within a vacation” at Lago d’Iseo, between Lake Garda and Lake Como. We have enjoyed our time in Genoa a lot…we think our hotel was in a better location than where stayed on our earlier trip and we were able to avoid the traffic filled, noisy streets for the most part.

Jim and Diana

Italy: Spring 2011: Day 8: Wednesday, May 4: Genova

2011-05-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

It appears to be another bright sunny day….I have to do some travel work before breakfast.

Our destination this morning is the Palazzo Bianco, one of the city’s art galleries located on the Via Garibaldi in a very grand palazzo.

In some ways, the grandeur of the building and the spectacular galleries overshadow the collection which contains mostly Genovese artists from the 15th and 16th century with a representative sample of other Italian painters and some Dutch and Spanish representatives. We make a leisurely walk through all the galleries and particularly like two paintings….a Vertumno and Pomon by Anthony Van Dyck (who spent time in Genova).

We take the time to look up the legend that the painting is based on….a story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses that was very popular among Dutch painters of the 17th century.

From Wikipedia…..

In Roman mythology, Vertumnus — also Vortumnus or Vertimnus — is the god of seasons, change^[1] and plant growth, as well as gardens and fruit trees. He could change his form at will; using this power, according to Ovid‘s Metamorphoses (xiv), he tricked Pomona into talking to him by disguising himself as an old woman and gaining entry to her orchard, then using a narrative warning of the dangers of rejecting a suitor to seduce her. The tale of Vertumnus and Pomona was the only purely Latin tale in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.^[2]

We also like an altarpiece by the Tuscan, Fillippino Lippi (whose work we had just seen in Prato).

Our friend Livio calls as we leave the museum to tell us that he has arrived and is taking a bus to our hotel, so we hurry back and catch up with him on the street as he is getting off his bus. We sit at the Cafe Mangini, have some coffee and catch up. We first met Livio on the Compuserve Italian Forum in the mid-1990s and have kept in touch since then, getting together every few years whenever we are in close proximity. He took the train from Alessandria, about an hour north of Genova.

Livio, who is a great cook and interested in food, has reserved at a trattoria near the port–Vegia Zena (Old Genova in dialect)–that has been recommended to him. We take a leisurely walk through the old city doing a little sightseeing along the way.

The food at lunch turns out to be a bit of a disappointment…the trofie with pesto that we have for a primi is very good but Livio’s baccala’ and my fritto misto are just so-so although Diana’s fried shrimp are excellent. We sit and talk-mostly about food and politics (Italian and American) and drink wine for a couple of hours, then walk back to the hotel and say our goodbyes to Livio. The most interesting part of the walk back was passing through the “red light” district and encountering a bunch of prostitutes angling for business.

In the later afternoon, I take another walk in yet another neighborhood near the hotel….a steep uphill route that takes me to a very pleasant neighborhood with nice houses and tree-lined streets.

Tonight we decide to eat lightly, which means pizza. We walk up the busy Via Assaroti to a neighborhood pizzeria with a wood burning oven…..Invexendo di Pala Davide. Invexendo is Genovese for noisy (we are told) and Davide makes the pizza. The pizza is only so-so but we have a ringside seat on the pizza making operation so we do get some entertainment with our dinner.

We take an alternate route back to the hotel, a steep path parallel to the main street but without the car, motorcycle and bus traffic it sort of feels like a country lane in the middle of the city. On our way, we encounter a group of about 12 men (near a gym) racing up this hill doing wind sprints….what a way to get into shape. Diana says that living (and walking) in Genoa would preclude the necessity of going to a gym.

Tomorrow, we will go to one of the other art museums and then take the car out of town for lunch.

Jim and Diana

Italy: Spring 2011: Day 7: Tuesday, May 3: Genova

2011-05-03T17:07:00.000-07:00

A nice morning and I am up early, so I go out for a pre-breakfast walk so I can check out the waterfront for our plans later in the day.

I cut through the Galleria Mazzini–parallel to the fancy via Roma shopping street. It is very grand but the stores are nowhere near as high end as the stores on the street.

On the way to the water, I pass by the distinctive Porta Soprana…one of the early entrances to the city…located right next to the purported house of the Columbus family. (Christopher Columbus’s reputation has had its ups and downs here over the years but all seemed to have been resolved with the big 500th anniversary party held in 1992.)

Also in the neighborhood is the 12th century cloister of St. Andrew.

The narrow, tangled streets of the old city open up suddenly at the waterfront, where as part of the re-development of the harbor, the city put a stretch of the busy street underground. This ended the separation of the harbor from the city, creating a broad piazza that connects the two districts. It is all much more pedestrian friendly than when we were last here.

After breakfast, we stroll through the narrow streets of old city….which are filled with people walking and shopping at the many stores of all descriptions.

Reaching the waterfront, we want to take a cruise around the harbor to get a sense of the size of the port and see all the different ships that are docked. Unfortunately, the ticket office for the cruise is empty and the tourist office doesn’t have any information, but we do learn–by calling the cruise company–that the next sailing is at 1 pm.

In between–it’s now 10:30–we buy tickets for the very touristy Il Bigo….essentially an enclosed observation platform hoisted into the air by one arm of a large crane.

The cabin goes up to 120 feet where it revolves, giving you a panoramic overview of the city and the harbor. I am a sucker for panoramic views so I enjoy the ride and snap a few pictures while suspended over the harbor.

Il Bigo (which is the name for large crane that represents the machinery used in the old port) is part of the redevelopment of this part of the harbor, the Porto Antico. It was designed by Renzo Piano and includes the world famous acquarium, new museums, theaters, playgrounds, shopping and other attractions…making the waterfront a popular destination.

One of the stars of the complex (at least for us) is the Genova branch of Eataly, the mega-food store that began in Turin and now has branches in several cities, including Manhattan. The Eataly here is located on the top floor of one of the new buildings and has views over the harbor almost as good as from Il Bigo. It’s a small branch of the chain, but we spend some time browsing the wonderful foodstuffs…vegetables, fish, olive oil, pasta, spices, meat…all beautifully displayed. And there are also about a half dozen places to eat …..

And there are also great views over the harbor.

A short stroll in the old city takes us past the duomo…St. Stefano…which dominates its piazza with its massive, intricately carved doors and handsome lions. We go inside but are quickly kicked out – it closes at noon.

We pick up some foccaccia, a torta di bietole (swiss chard) and some farinata (a pizza like dish made of chickpea flour) and eat it on a bench while we wait to board the boat for the harbor tour.

The tour is almost cancelled due to engine trouble but after some confusion, they put another boat into service and we get underway. It’s very nice to be out on the water enjoying the sea breezes on this beautiful sunny day but the tour, while interesting, goes on a bit too long. We also don’t understand much of the Italian narration. But we do see views of the new tourist port with the acquarium and biosphere, the container port, the ferry terminal, the cruise ship port and La Laterna, the old Genovese lighthouse.

One of the other passengers on the cruise–a Russian tourist–passed the time while waiting for the boat to leave skyping with friends in Russia from his laptop.

A quick taxi ride back to the hotel for some rest and work….then out again for a stroll–through the Galleria and down the busy shopping street–Via XX Settembre. The street is covered with high porticoes and the pavement is beautifully decorated marble.

But the buses and motorcycles create a din that makes strolling unpleasant. We grab a gelato and make for a quieter street for the walk back towards the hotel.

Before going back, we take another break at an elegant cafe on the Piazza Corvetto, Cafe Mangini, to have a prosecco and do some people watching.

Before dinner, I do another scout to check out places and make a reservation at a nice looking neighborhood place called Fuori Orario, about a ten minute walk from the hotel (uphill). Then I climb a steep flight of stairs (since Genova is so hilly, there are flights of stairs and “salitas” (steep pedestrian walkways) all over as well funiculars and elevators (part of the bus and train system) that enable people to make their way up, down and around the various neighborhoods. On the way back to the hotel, I pass the Genova synagogue.

We will try to visit before we leave town.

An excellent dinner at Fuori Orari….the food is terrific and the waitress is extremely charming. Diana has a plate of spicy spaghetti with olives followed by a wonderful filet of branzino and I have an excellent steak tartare and another dish of lasagnetta with pesto. The wine–a local Vermintino from Luni–is very enjoyable and we split a tasty panna cotta garnished with fresh fruit.

It’s an easier walk downhill to the hotel….tomorrow, we will go to one of the art galleries and meet our friend Livio for lunch.

Jim and Diana

Italy: Spring 2011: Day 6: Monday, May 2: Genova

2011-05-02T17:04:00.000-07:00

A sunny day today…..looks like a good day for our drive down the coast towards Portofino.

Breakfast in the hotel is fine….I thought I had solved my Italy coffee dilemma–how to get a big cup of coffee that simulates my drip coffee at home…but asking for a cafe americano today gets me a cup of instant coffee. When I explain that I want a regular coffee (espresso) served in a large cup and some hot water (acqua calda), I finally get what I am looking for. Hopefully I can repeat this success tomorrow.

Before leaving town, we locate the laundromat (pretty easily–the GPS works well) where we will go this afternoon. Then it is off to Nervi, a Genova suburb located right on the water that is supposed to have lovely parks and waterfront promenades. The drive out of Genova is uneventful…lots of traffic in town and the air is heavy with pollution. The route takes us through residential areas….lots of big apartment buildings and shopping strips….punctuated with grand buildings with monumental carvings and decoration.

The Nervi expedition is not too successful….parking is at a premium and we really can't find a place to stop…and there are virtually no water views from the road through town. We continue on to Camogli, an old fishing town that has become a favorite tourist destination. Pay parking here is easy and we stroll along the waterfront promenade lined with restaurants and shops located above the rocky beach.

Camogli is the site of the annual Sagra del Pesce which is reputed to be the largest fish fry in the world.

and here on display are some of the old frying pans that are no longer in service.

Camogli seems to be a nice town (we had only been here briefly years ago) but we need to push on to see Santa Margherita Ligure.

The road to Santa Margherita Ligure (or SML) is winding and narrow (although it is the main highway along the coast) and there are great views of the Ligurian coastline. SML has always been a popular destination for tourists (starting back to the late 19th century when the British came to winter here) but we have only drove quickly through the town in the past. There is a long waterfront promenade with a nice park and many hotels–some of the them quite grand–and the place does seem to have a quiet appeal

After driving around the harbor, we park and look for an outdoor restaurant where we can get a light lunch. The Bar Columbo fills the bill with tables on the street and a view of the harbor. We weren't looking for anything special but we have a nice lunch….trofie with pesto for Diana and spaghetti alle vongole for me–both very good. Since we still have "work" to do this afternoon, we each have only a glass of white wine.

Next we drive along the narrow road from SML to Portofino….sometimes only a car and half wide necessitating some elaborate maneuvers for cars, trucks and buses to pass each other. Portofino of course is the picture perfect postcard harbor village….and knows it. Parking in the municipal garage (the only place to park in town) costs about $8.00 US an hour and the center boasts lots of designer shops as well as waterfront restaurants. There is a cruise ship anchored in the bay and lots of sailboats moored in the harbor.

But on a beautiful, warm Spring afternoon, there are probably few other places as nice to be, sitting on a bench eating a gelato and soaking up the rays.

We tear ourselves away from Portofino and head back to Genova to do our laundry. The GPS fails us and takes far out of our way before we realize it. We do get to explore yet another section of Genova on the roundabout way to the laundromat. I drop Diana off to get started and attempt to find a parking space. Interestingly this section of Genova appears to have a lot of free parking, both on the street and in public lots, so parking is not as much of a problem as I had feared. Another customer in the laundromat helps Diana get the wash started (this laundromat had yet another complicated system to pay and select the appropriate machine) but the laundry process goes smoothly and we are on our way back to the hotel in less than 90 minutes.

After we return to the hotel, I set out on my nightly mission scouting places for dinner in the neighborhood. We end up eating right around the corner at La Piazzetta, a small, informal but very popular neighborhood trattoria.

Luckily we beat the crowds because by the time we start eating all the tables are full. Dinner is fine…..an unusual (for us) minestrone with peas, pasta and lots of basil that is very tasty, and calves liver veneziana which is nicely prepared. Diana has a caprese with excellent mozzarella and less excellent tomatoes, and a very good steak. We both have fruit for dessert–strawberries for me, pineapple for Diana. The wine is not as good….we order a rosso di Montepulciano from the list but they are out of it and substitute an older one (from 2004) that I should have sent back because it turns out to be over the hill.

Tomorrow we will visit the revitalized harbor area in Genova….

Jim and Diana

Italy: Spring 2011: Day 5: Sunday, May 1: Prato to Genova

2011-05-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

Today is the first of May….a big holiday in Italy. We are concerned that there may not too many places open for breakfast and, in fact, the town is closed up tight……but the Cafe Buonamici, where we went a few days ago, is open and there is no problem.

While packing up and getting ready to leave, we hear a lot of noise outside and the sound of horns practicing which makes us curious about what’s going on. I walk over to bring the car to the Residence to pack it up. As we pull around the corner, we find the street blocked with marchers and musicians in Renaissance costumes ready to start a procession.

We quickly figure out that the ceremony for the display of the Sacred Girdle is going to take place now and not at 6 pm as the lady at the tourist office had told me yesterday. Since we are off to meet our friend Maddie in 30 minutes and given the potential difficulty of finding a place to park and getting back to the Piazza del Duomo in time, we give up on the idea of seeing the ceremony this time. But we do spend a few minutes grumbling about the ineptitude of the tourist office staff.

On the way to Poggio a Caiano to have coffee with Maddie (also a colleague of mine in the travel business), we drive through one of the industrial areas of Prato where dozens of textile establishments line the road….almost all of them have signs in both Italian and Chinese.

Maddie (along with her husband Marcello) take us to a nearby town–Quarrata (once described to us as the ugliest town in Tuscany)–to have coffee on the piazza. (It doesn’t seem to be ugly at all, just modern – certainly not the main piazza.) We encounter a big May 1 labor demonstration going on complete with a cavalcade of tractors which makes our get- together a bit noisy but we have a nice chat (business and personal) before we head off to Genova.

The drive to Genova takes just over 2 hours on the autostrada with a quick stop for lunch at an Autogrill. Our GPS is right on target and we find the hotel with no problems. (On our previous trips to Genova–pre-GPS–we had a great deal of difficulty navigating the city. This time it is easier, thanks also to it being a Sunday and holiday.)

The Hotel Plaza is a modern business hotel…the first room they gave us was very small and the desk clerk thought long and hard before giving us a slightly larger one next door. But the room is bright and modern and comfortable….the biggest downside is that internet is very expensive. Hopefully it will be fast and reliable for the price…..

After getting settled, we head out to explore the city. The day has turned warm and sunny and we head toward the main square (Piazza de Ferrari) walking down the Via Roma which is lined with fancy shops like Ferragamo and Louis Vuitton. The Piazza de Ferrari is huge with a spectacular fountain in the middle and people are hanging out in the piazza enjoying the holiday.

It is a far cry from our initial impressions of Genova on our previous visit where we got lost trying to find a laundromat down in the old city’s warren of alleys.

We walk through an antique show/flea market being held in the Palazzo Ducale and spilling out into the piazza below. I ask at the tourist office about laundromats and they mark out three places for me on the map–two in the old city and one which you can drive to…this is the most likely candidate.

We continue our stroll down Via Garibaldi, the street of grand palazzos from the 16th century when Genova was a world naval and commercial power. The buildings are massive and are decorated with statues, carvings, frescoes, trompe-l’oeil, etc.

Now some of the buildings have been turned into museums while others are still banks and insurance companies.

Since it is May 1 and a Sunday, many restaurants are closed and I make another exploratory walk to find a place for dinner tonight. Not far from the hotel, I find a place that is open (I am not even sure what the name is)…it is a very stylish place and has an extensive antipasto bar and lots of people drinking. I make a reservation for later without seeing the menu…I am told that it is recited by the server and he isn’t at work yet. So tonight we are living dangerously and spontaneously…..

All ends well….dinner is actually mostly very good. The server recites the menu in rapid fire Italian and we make our choices from the dishes we recognize. Only later do we learn that the waiter indeed does speak English….:)

Diana has a sformato (flan) of asparagus that is very nice and a less successful dish of gnocchi with asparagus and shrimp, while I have very tasty oysters wrapped in bacon (not what I think of as Italian) and a delicious plate of lasagnetta (flat wide noodles) with pesto. The wine is a ribolla giallo from Friuli–he first offered one for Euro 40.00 but we asked for a less expensive bottle and got one that was fine.

When I get back to the hotel and look at the recent NY Times Travel article “36 Hours in Genoa”, I find that Mua’ is listed as the best new restaurant in town and the place where the beautiful people in Genova hang out. :)

It’s a short, pleasant, mostly level walk back to the hotel…..unusual in this very hilly city.

Tomorrow we plan a day trip to Camogli, Santa Margherita Ligure and Portofino.

Jim and Diana

Day 4: Saturday, April 30: Prato

2011-04-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

The weather this morning is a bit uncertain….cool and overcast and some rain is forecast.

After breakfast–which we have standing up at the tiny bar/tabacchi just around the corner from the Residence–the weather improves so we set out on foot for our morning sightseeing. First stop is at the Biscottificio Antonio Mattei who make the most famous traditional

biscotti in Tuscany…we will bring a bag to our friends in Vicchio.

We walk around the corner to take a look inside Santa Maria in Carcere, a church with a simple Greek cross design, but there is a mass going on so we decide to come back later. It is only a few more blocks to the Museum of Textiles (it's amazing how much easier it is to navigate around Prato now compared to when we arrived three days ago.)

The museum is housed in one of the oldest textile factories in Prato–the old Campolmi mill.

We are completely blown away by the exhibits at the museum….it starts off with a history of the textile industry in Prato and continues in the orientation section with amazingly clear explanations of the development of weaving techniques and the different materials that are used in the process. The translations of the exhibit text are a treat and the illustrations are clear and helpful–so even if you don't know the difference between a warp and a weft, you will learn something at the museum.

You can see one of the old boilers that powered the machinery

and get a good idea of the process that allows the steam to work all the different machines.

We catch the current exhibit on its last day….Ceramics and Fabrics: Dialogue between the arts of the Tuscan Renaissance. The show compares the concurrent development of similar artistic forms in the two mediums and there are stunning displays of fabrics and clothing as well as pottery from that time. A little of this exhibition went a long way for me but Diana was quite enchanted with it.

The upstairs gallery displays dozens of examples of different kinds of fabrics as well old machinery and tools and newer versions used in the industry.

The textile museum is obviously well funded by the industry but it is superbly done, the exhibits were terrific and we learned a lot.

Our friends, Jane and Carlo, live in the country outside of Vicchio which is located north of Florence in a green and mountainous area called the Mugello. Carlo is a great cook and we always enjoy our visits with them. After lunch, we get a tour of their "estate" and see the newly arrived chickens that they will raise.

Back in Prato, I walk over to the big Castello in the center of town…

it is completely empty but I climb up to the parapet and enjoy the views of the rooftops and church towers of Prato.

Tomorrow (May 1) is one of the five days of the year that the Sacra Cintola (Sacred Girdle) is taken out of its case and shown to the people. I stop by the tourist office to ask what time the ceremony is and, after searching on the internet, the lady tells me 6 pm…so it looks like we will miss the ceremony this time.

We decide to return to Il Baghino for our farewell dinner…..the lure of the steak tartare is too great to resist….and it doesn't disappoint. Before the main event, i have a hearty bean and farro soup and Diana has the house special of ravioli with spinach. For dessert, I have my first panna cotta of the trip–very good–and Diana has a "sgroppino"–a slushie made of lemon sorbetto and vodka–which is very refreshing. We say our good-byes to our "friends" at Il Baghino, take a quick walk in the Piazza Duomo and head back to the hotel. (I neglected to mention in earlier reports about Il Baghino that the bread is also terrific—three varieties each night including an addictive crisp version of the Tuscan flat bread schiacciata.)Tomorrow we leave for Genova.

Jim and Diana

Day 3: Friday, April 29th: Prato

2011-04-29T16:30:00.000-07:00

A very good night’s sleep in our new room (we switched for various reasons including the excessive street noise)……This room faces the interior courtyard and, while somewhat smaller, seems more comfortable and convenient.

I take this opportunity to go out for a morning walk…I really want to get a comfort level about the layout of the town and yesterday I felt somewhat at sea trying to navigate. It is cool but the sun is trying to break through and it looks like it will be a nice day. (The weather for the first two days was pretty good–even a little warm yesterday. So far, no rain.)

After breakfast at a bar down the street, our first destination is the Museo della Pittura Murale. This is a gem of a small museum…the paintings are beautifully displayed in a long gallery. There are a number of 13th and 14th century altar pieces which are in beautiful conditon with so much detail on the various levels that it is difficult to take them all in. One of the altar pieces by Mariotti di Nardo has just been restored and is included in city wide exhibition now going on called “Echi Preziosi (Precious Echoes).

There a number of memorable pieces in this small gallery, including a stunning Adoration of the Magi by Lippi with an angelic Mary and a remarkable Joseph that was shown in Paris and is now back in Prato

a breathtaking stained glass panel from the 15th century

and very vivid Mother and Child with Saints by Trombetto.

Again we were the only people in the museum and, while it is a shame that there isn’t a larger attendance, it is really nice to have the paintings all to yourself.

After a quick stop in the Church of San Domenico next door, we walk down the street to the Palazzo Datini, home of the “Merchant of Prato”. Bernardo Datini was one of the richest businessmen in the world in the 15th century. Iris Origo wrote a favorite book of ours “The Merchant of Prato” based on the large store of records and letters that he left. He made a fortune in the wool trade (Prato is still an important textile center) but also is known for his development of accounting principles and economic analysis. He traveled all over the world promoting his businesses and kept painstaking records which documented what he saw and how the businesses were doing. After his death, he left his fortune to a charitable organization in Prato dedicated to helping the poor….the foundation (the Ceppo) is still active.

The outside of the palazzo was heavily frescoed in his honor after his death.

There is also a statue of Datini prominently located in the Piazza del Comune.

His palazzo is now open as a museum and has painstakingly detailed (and ultimately a bit dense) exhibits about the house, his life and his work…..but we are happy to make the “pilgrimage”.

We have lunch at a sandwich place on the Piazza Mercatale that I had seen the day before…a lampredotto (cow stomach) sandwich–a Florentine specialty–for me and a porchetta sandwich for Diana–both delicious.

After lunch, we walk back to the hotel for rest and work. In the late afternoon, with rain threatening we get in the car for an expedition to a couple of museums. The less said about the expedition, the better. Our first destination–the Museo del Tessuto (Museum of Textiles)–turns out to be closed; I had somehow misread the opening hours. And the second–the Luigi Pecci Center for Contemporary Art–is just closed with no explanation. And to top it all off, it is raining and we get caught up in heavy rush hour traffic making the trip back to the hotel very difficult.

We have to circle around once before finding a parking space and make it back to the room without getting wet. Once the rain stops, we decide to have an apertivo at a nearby bar. The prosecco is fine but the outdoor tables are full of noisy school kids….we will have to pick a different bar next time.

Back at the hotel, we have a long discussion with the manager of the hotel while we settle up the bill. She complains how difficult it is to drum up any tourist trade from Americans even though she uses all the social media–Facebook, Skype et al. I tell her that I have never convinced any clients to give Prato a try and don’t think it will be an easy sell, even though we like Prato very much.

We also discuss the presence of many Chinese in Prato..it has the second largest Chinatown in Italy (after Milan). Chinese companies are now very active in the textile industry and they bring in Chinese workers who undercut wages of Italians and are said to produce inferior products that have the “Made in Italy” label. Other people we spoke to share the resentment of the Chinese in Prato and blame the government for not doing more to discourage the increase.

We have dinner at a nearby place–an informal, old-style trattoria listed in the Slow Food Guide. Trattoria Soldano is a treat–a no-nonsense place with low prices, little style, a welcoming atmosphere and terrific food. Diana has a dish of prosciutto, stracchino and “coccole”, a fried bread that we have also had in Emilia-Romagna – followed by a beautifully fried “fritto misto”. I try the local specialty–mortadella di Prato–which is different than the Bolognese version–a little less delicate–but still good and a plate of very good pici (thick homemade pasta) with a sauce of wild boar (cinghiale). The house wine is okay and the bread is very good.

We have a nice time talking to the Italian couple sitting next to us who are there with their one month old baby son…we show them pictures of our grandchildren and talk a bit (in our limited Italian and their limited English) about Prato, the United States and having babies. All in all, a very nice evening…

Tomorrow we will try again for the Museum of Textiles and then drive to Vicchio (north of Florence) to have lunch with our friends Jane and Carlo at their house.

Jim and Diana

Day 2: Thursday, April 28: Prato

2011-04-28T16:29:00.000-07:00

We were tired after the long travel day(s) and are able to sleep past 9:00, even with a significant amount of noise from the hotel and the street.

But that means that we are hopefully over our jet lag. The hotel–the Residence Manassei–is located an old palazzo steps just off the Piazza del Duomo in the center of Prato. The rooms are large and quirkily furnished and there is a small kitchenette hidden away in a large cabinet.

http://www.mresidence.it/photogallery_eng.htm

The Residence–not a full service hotel and the staff only work six hours a day, five days a week–also doesn't serve breakfast, so we go down the street to a local bar for our coffee, tea and cornetti. Our first stop is the Duomo and the main attraction is the fresco cycle behind the altar portraying the lives of St. Stephen (the patron saint of the Cathedral) and St. John the Baptist done by Fillippo Lippi in the mid-15th century.

We actually have seen the frescoes before….in 2004 (while we were staying in Florence) we visited Prato to see the frescoes while they were "in restauro", a thrilling experience where we were able climb on scaffolding (wearing hard hats) and see the works "up close and personal"

Here is the link to my 2004 report describing the experience.

http://www.zurer.com/italy200410/2004/10/day-10-florence.html

On this visit, we are initially a bit confused and have trouble figuring out exactly which chapel houses which work and the brochure distributed by the Duomo is not much help. But after a while, we rent one of the audioguides and the descriptions help us get oriented and appreciate the works.

Both walls of the main chapel behind the altar are covered with the scenes from the saints' lives…the main thing that catches your attention are the depictions of the people…they are lovingly drawn and full of life. The most spectacular panel deals with Salome's dance and subsequent beheading of St. John the Baptist and, of course, you can pick out the details of the lower panels much more easily than the top-most panels high above your head.

I am including a few of my pictures of the frescoes but you are advised to go to this link to pictures of the frescoes to get a better sense of their beauty.

Lippi frescoes in Prato Duomo

Lippi, though a cleric, had quite a tumultuous love life and ending up marrying one of the nuns who was his student. She became his model and later the mother of his child, the artist Fillippino Lippi, whose work we'll see tomorrow.

We take a quick look around the rest of the Duomo with a brief stop at the Chapel of the Sacred Cintola (translated as girdle but really a belt) but the relic is kept securely locked up and the chapel is enclosed with an imposing wrought iron fence that obscures all the art work contained within.

Briefly, the "cintola" was believed to have belonged to Mary and was given to St. Thomas on her death. It ended up in Jerusalem and was later brought back to Prato where it is now the city's version of the "Shroud of Turin"–with much less fanfare.

The other distinctive feature of the Duomo is the pulpit on the exterior which was crafted by Donatello. This is a copy…the original is in the Duomo museum.

Diana was quite taken with the intricate designs on the underside….

We next visit the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo….the museum next door where many of the original works from the cathedral are housed along with treasures from other churches in the region. As with many smaller Italian museums, it is a treat to have the place to yourself with the chance to see a few masterpieces and lots of lesser works–some of which have considerable charm.

We were glad to see the chest that formerly held the "cintola"

crafted by Maso di Bartolomeo in 1456 and this Pala by Fillippo Lippi

When we leave the museum, we stroll around the city for a while until we are ready for lunch at 2 pm. Since the sun is out, we walk to a bar with outside tables. At first, we (and all the other patrons) are ignored by the waiters and we are ready to leave. But finally our order is taken and the lunch is actually very good…a caprese salad for Diana and carpaccio for me as well as a delicious dish of spinach baked with cheese.

After lunch, we take the car out and head for the mountains just to the north of Prato in the direction of Bologna. The first part of the drive is not so pleasant–we pass through seemingly endless suburbs and then drive through a number of industrial towns. Finally we start to climb and drive up to the pass at Montepiano (about 2,500 feet). There are thick pine forests

and beautiful panoramic vistas

as we begin our descent and drive back to Prato. We get caught in some fierce rush hour traffic and it is almost 7 pm by the time we get back to town. We next have the challenge of finding a parking space. We have to circle our neighborhood twice before we find an empty space on a permitted street….I am almost ready to give in and park in a lot. :)

We hang out in the room before making the short walk back to Ristorante Baghino for dinner. The restaurant is much less full tonight and we get the same table as the night before. Dinner is again terrific….Diana has "pinzimonio" (raw vegetable that you dip in olive oil) to start, followed by a delicious filet. I have a "spedino" of bread and mozzarella dressed with anchovies and capers, served on wooden skewers (very unique and very delicious) and an order of "trippa fiorentina", which is just about the best tripe dish I have ever had. We drink a fantastic rosso di Montalcino and Diana has a great torta di ricotta for dessert.

While we are finishing, we watch as the waiter prepares an elaborate tableside preparation of steak tartare for another party…we may have to come back again to try it.

We take a quick turn around the Piazza Duomo before going back to hotel and bed. Tomorrow, a few more Prato museums are on the schedule.

Jim and Diana

PS A couple of notes from Day 1…

I neglected to mention that when I set out to find a parking space after we arrived, I turned too close to an obstruction extending out from the building at ground level and scratched the left side of our new rental car…..thank goodness for zero deductible insurance. Then, while stopping at a crosswalk to let pedestrians walk by, the car behind us bumped into us. No harm done to either car, but we've certainly given the car its proper welcome.

Also I forgot that we both had our first gelati of the trip….stracciatella and fior di latte for me, pistacchio and crema for Diana–the first of many I am sure.

Day 1: Wednesday, April 27: Prato

2011-04-27T04:29:00.000-07:00

The US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Rome is--amazingly enough--not full and we both have empty seats next to us. We arrive in Rome pretty much on time--9 am; I have gotten a few hours of sleep and Diana has gotten less.

Our luggage arrives quickly and we are on the road north by 10 am.

Traffic on the autostada is pretty heavy through Chianti and around Florence but we make to it to the Prato exit before 2 pm. Our drive into town is complicated because our GPS seems to have lost its detailed Italian maps and there are no specific street by street directions to reach the hotel. We have to rely on the hotel signage, which turns out to be fine and we are at the Residence Massanei after only a couple of missed turns.

After getting into the room, I set out to find a parking space for the car. The Residence desk is unmanned at mid-day (the entrance key had been left under a doormat) and it is tricky trying to locate the streets where parking is allowed with the hotel permit. But after a while, I find one and make my way back to the hotel.

Once we get settled in the room, I head out for an exploratory walk in Prato to orient myself while Diana takes a nap. Later in the afternoon, we head out together and walk through the Piazza del Duomo

and around the "centro storico". At the Piazza del Comune, we stop to listen to an accordion orchestra--students from Germany--playing some tunes reminiscent of klezmer music before an small but appreciate audience of Pratese.

We have dinner at a restaurant just around the corner from the hotel...we need to have an early night after our very long day...and find a gem. Ristorante Baghino is terrific...the staff is friendly, the place has a nice buzz and the food is wonderful.

We split an order of antipasto Toscano and fett'unta (toasted bread with toppings of olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, liver pate, white beans and lardo). Diana has a beautifully prepared risotto with parmigiano and my parpardelle (wide flat noodles) with duck is great. The house wine is very good and Diana finishes with an order of pineapple. The bill is Euro 54 (very reasonable)...about $80.00 US.This is a place that we will return to before we leave Prato....

Luckily, it is only steps back to the hotel and we are asleep in no time. But we are very happy to be back in Italy.

Jim and Diana

Itinerary for Zurers in Italy - Spring 2011

2011-04-25T11:28:00.001-07:00

We are off again....for another month of research in Italy. Here is
our itinerary for this trip.

Itinerary for Zurers in Italy - Spring 2011

April 26: Fly to Rome by way of Philadelphia.
April 27-May 1: Prato (Tuscany) (near Florence) (A)
May 1-6: Genova (Liguria) (B)
May 6-10: Sulzano (Lago d'Iseo) (Lombardy) (C)
May 10-11: Sesto Calende (Lombardy) (near Malpensa Airport) (D)
May 11-18: Paris France
May 19-20: Sesto Calende (Lombardy) (near Malpensa Airport) (D)
May 19-22: Lerici (Liguria) (E)
May 22-26: Rome (Lazio) (F)
May 26: Return to US

You will note that we are spending a week in Paris in the middle of
our trip....a revolutionary idea. :)

Here is a link to a Google route map showing the towns where we are staying.
http://goo.gl/maps/RUHu

Jim and Diana