Italian Cities, Italy

COVID -19

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Since many of our friends have reached out to us during this rather difficult time, I thought I would send along some information about the conditions here in Padova and how we are doing.

First of all, I would like to assure all of you that Holly and I are fine and other than being under lock down and a little bored, life is fairly normal. We are doing everything we can to stay safe. Grocery stores and pharmacies are open and have plenty of everything (including toilet paper and hand sanitizer). When we do go out, we need to carry an official document (a form that we fill out) stating who we are, where we live and where we are going. It is pretty simple, and the authorities do check from time to time and are issuing citations if you are not carrying one. Also, we are supposed to go out alone, no traveling in pairs or groups.

Although there are cases here, Padova is not having anything like what is being portrayed in the news. The media is not the “fake news” that some seem to think, but they do like to sensationalize what is happening. But to be clear, there are places in Northern Italy, like Bergamo for instance, that are really having serious issues and our hearts goes out to them.

It seems rather strange that two of the world’s Covid-19 hot spots are here in Northern Italy and in the Seattle area. The first COVID-19 fatality of a person we know was the owner of the Leschi Mart where we used to do most of our food shopping while living in Madrona. That was a sad day for the community. Steve was a good man and will be missed.

I know that some of you are already in a situation like ours and if I understand correctly, some of the rest of you will be there soon. My only advice is that this virus seems to only be transmitted by close contact with an infected person or residue they leave on objects. The less person-to-person contact we have and the more we wash our hands right now the better it will be for us all. Respect social distancing and keep scrubbing.

We would love to hear how you are doing, so please leave a comment and let us know,

Our best to you all,

Jim & Holly

Uncategorized

Padova for real

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It has been a long time since I wrote a post on this site. We have now been in Padova for over a year and I guess I have kind of started living my life rather than writing about it. I am going to try to be better at adding to the blog as I think we have had some great adventures and seen some lovely places. This post was started months ago but just never finished. I am determined to not only finish this one but catch everyone up on what we have been doing.

On February 10, 2018, I wrote a post about our brief visit to Padova while we were driving around this area. Although we were quite taken with this city at the time, we had no intention of actually moving here. It was rather a cold and damp day when we visited, but Padova still stood out for its architecture, its 800 year old university and the market in the center of the city. I would like to give you a sense of this city we have chosen (at least for the present as we have renewed our lease for another year and a half) to plant ourselves, so I have selected some of my favorite pictures of Padova to explain its charm. Some I have posted before and some repeat different moods of the same place.

We live on one of the main piazzas (Piazza dei Signori) in the center of Padova and only 200 yards from one of the oldest and finest markets in Europe. I never cease to be amazed that I actually get to shop there everyday.

The legend here is that after the Trojan War, Antenore (one of the characters in the Iliad) founded the city after the fall of Troy when he led a group seeking refuge to northern Italy. The myth is an attempt to give Padova the same credentials as ancient Rome (which according to legend was also founded by Trojan refugees led by
Aeneas). There is a piazza named after Antenore that has a tomb that was once claimed to be his. Later research has debunked the idea of the Trojan hero actually being in the sarcophagus, but it is a great stop for all guided tours.

Antenore’s tomb

The university here was founded 1222 by students and faculty from Bologna who were looking for freedom from what they saw as stifling oversight of the university in that city. It includes in its famous alumni Copernicus and Galileo, who taught here for 18 years. The walls are covered with the family crests of graduates.

  • The large classroom
  • Galileo’s podium
  • The Anatomical Theater in Palazzo Bo
  • Palazzo Bo of the University with the family crests of rich alumni
  • Palazzo Bo of the University with the family crests of rich alumni
  • Palazzo Bo of the University with the family crests of rich alumni

Our Piazza is ever changing its’ personality. 5 days a week (Tuesday to Saturday) it is a market with clothing, housewares and plants until about 1 pm. Every night, when the weather is agreeable, it is filled with outdoor diners. It can be a parade ground and a place for protests. Once we had a slate of boxing matches right outside of our apartment.

As with many Italian cities, over the centuries Padova was fortified with numerous rings of walls and water. Nearly every evening we take a walk along one of the canals where we see various water features, an occasional Blue Heron .

I have posted pictures before of the Specola, but from the little bridge near it I can never resist taking one more picture. The tower was once part of a long destroyed fortification. When I realized that Galileo had taught here for 16 years and the city had this great observatory, my heart jumped. But alas, the observatory was added to the tower several centuries after Galileo left. He did many observations here from a different tower, but he had left Padova before he had his telescope.

Padova has what they say is the oldest botanical garden still occupying its’ original site in the world.

The Scrovegni Chapel with its Giotto frescoes is on everyone’s list when they come to Padova. The chapel is hermetically sealed, you have to make reservations at least one day in advance (I suggest that if you want to see it in high season, you make the reservations far in advance) and you only get to stay for about 15 minutes. Is it worth all of that? Quite simply, yes. Those of you who are art history buffs already know what I am talking about. Those who are not, just Google Giotto.

  • Scrovegni Chapel with the Giotto frescos

The last place on my virtual tour is the Basilica of San Antonio. It is one of my favorite churches in the world. With seven domes, lavish ornamentation and the tomb of San Antonio, it is a wonderland of visual stimulation. The tomb is a magnet for pilgrims from all over the world and I have never been there when there were not several people praying while touching the tomb. Because of its holy nature they ask you not to take pictures (it could also be because they want you to buy pictures and books from the gift shop and local vendors) so I do not have many of my own pictures of the interior, but I have been able to sneak a few.

  • The tomb of San Antonia
  • Freeze around the tomb
  • Freeze around the tomb
  • Freeze around the tomb

One of the main reasons we moved here was the ease with which we could travel. Since we have been here we have been able to visit Venice on a regular basis. We have also been on visits to Trieste, Vienna, Florence, Bologna, Ferrara, Milan, Lake Garda and the Italian alps. Although we miss the good friends we made in Lecce, it has been a good choice for us to be where it is a little easier to travel.

I will write again soon.

Italian Cities, Italy

Our Move to Padova: or How We Sold Our House in Seattle and found a home in italy

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As any of our Facebook friends know, last spring we came back to Seattle for a brief period to sell our house and then move back to Italy once that was complete. An agreement to sell the house was actually in place by the time we landed in Seattle and all that was left for us to do was find a place to move what little was left of our belongings from the basement to a storage facility.

We had already made the decision to find a place to live in Padova and landed here with only an Air B&B for 2 weeks and high hopes. As if it were fated to be, we immediately found a wonderful apartment (first place we looked at) on one of the main squares, Piazza dei Signori. It is in an older building but the apartment has been completely updated and modernized. It has a small balcony that overlooks the Piazza, where we have a ringside seat (sometimes literally) to everything that goes on there.

The day after we moved in was June 2nd and Republic Day in Italy. The piazza was filled with a parade and speeches. It was a grand welcome, although I think there may have been more people in the ceremony than were watching. It was a nice welcome.

  • Love the hat
  • Italy loves uniforms


The piazza, with a 15th century clock tower on one end (it has 24 hours and tracks the movement of the moon, stars and astrological signs) and the beautiful medieval Church of San Clemente The Pope, on the other, is always full of life. It hosts a market 5 days a week, 12 months a year (mainly clothing, linens, cookware and plants), outside dining for hundreds of people during the warm months, and special events: concerts, parades, protests and even a night of boxing.

There were several reasons for choosing Padova. First, with over 200,000 inhabitants and one of the oldest universities in Europe (with over 60,000 students, founded in 1222 and Galileo taught here for 16 years), it is very active and vibrant. Then, with Venezia and Verona nearby to attract all of the attention, it is not overly crowded with tourists. And lastly, it is well located on a main train line and within a couple of hours we can be in Venezia, Firenze, Milano, Roma, Lago di Garda or Torino. It takes less time to get to Napoli from here than it did from Lecce. We are close enough to
Venezia to go there for lunch and we have done just that several times.

We have been very active exploring our new neighborhood and I will update you later on that. For now we are studying Italian (and even teaching a little English) and waiting for spring to begin our travels again.

Just a little note, Facebook changed how I can feed these posts to my profile there and made me create a “Page” to link to. This is the first actual post since that change, so if anything weird happens let me know.

European Travel, Porto, Portugal. Lisbon

Portugal

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[I started this post before we returned to Seattle to sell our house, but just didn’t get around to finishing it before we got to the business that brought us back.  To keep things chronological, here are the notes on Portugal.]

Each time we traveled back to the United States, we have chosen a new place to stop over on our way.  Two years ago it was Ireland (thank you again Cooleen and Padraig for your remarkable hospitality), last year it was Amsterdam (thank you, Rosita for the use of your apartment) and this year we chose Portugal (no one to thank there, we are on our own).  We have had Portugal in our sites for a long time and its time had come.

We spent the first week in Lisbon, where we visited the seaside resort of Cascais and the rather mountainous town of Sintra with its former royal residence and an 11th century Moorish castle.  We then moved our base to Porto and explored not only the city but some of the surrounding area.  Both cities are located on rivers, Lisbon on the Tagus and Porto on the Douro, with the Atlantic Ocean not far away.

Lisbon

The capital city of Portugal is every bit as beautiful as we had heard.  Everywhere in Portugal you will find fantastic tile work.  From building facades, to sidewalks to murals, they produce some of the nicest tile work I have ever seen and it is a joy to turn the next corner to see what comes next.

For several centuries Portugal was one of the more powerful countries on earth.  They were navigators (rumor has it that Columbus sailed out of Spain with purloined Portuguese maps) traders and explorers.  In the middle of the 18th century, November 1, 1755 (All Saints Day) to be exact, an earthquake hit Lisbon with an estimated magnitude of 8.5 to 9.0.  It was centered just off the coast and destroyed 85% of the buildings in the city.  Between the earthquake, tsunamis and fires the death toll reached into the tens of thousands, including many outside of Lisbon, and brought not only the city but the entire Portuguese empire to its knees.  Even Morocco experienced thousands of casualties.  Walking around this beautiful city today it is hard to imagine the devastation or how they managed to recover from it.

Tiled walkways and plazas
Beautiful buildings
Tiled buildings
Tiled buildings
Tiled buildings
Tiled buildings
The streetcar
Street car from the inside
Funicular
Street music
Coach Museum
Coach Museum
Coach Museum
Coach Museum
Padrão dos Descobrimentos
Padrão dos Descobrimentos
The old monastery
The old monastery
Torre de Belém
The elevator
The elevator
The elevator
Tiled walkways and plazas
Old private club
Old private club
Old private club
They like uniforms almost as much as the Italians
And yes, a store for only sardines

Cascais

This is a small resort city on the Atlantic Ocean just past the mouth of the Tagus River.  It was an easy train ride from Lisbon and well worth the trip.  We only stayed for lunch and a little exploring.  This is absolutely a place that could occupy more time than we allotted it.  As in the rest of Portugal, the tiled, patterned walkways are lovely.

Sintra

Again a short train ride from Lisbon, Sintra sits in the mountains and sports a former royal residence in its center and an old Moorish castle on the hill above.  We enjoyed breathtaking views from the castle and were able to watch a storm roll in.  We had to hurry down and duck into some nooks and crannies to avoid getting totally soaked.

The old palace
Inside the palace
The Moorish fort from the palace
Palace from the Moorish fort
The Moorish fort
The storm rolls in

Porto

We have been asked several times which city we liked better, Lisbon or Porto, and all I can say is that is an impossible question to answer.  We loved both cities and found them similar in several ways.  First, they both speak Spanish but with a thick Russian accent.  Well okay, they call it Portuguese, but it sounds like Spanish with a Russian accent to me.  They are both port cities located on a river several miles from the Atlantic Ocean with more hills than my old knees really wanted to walk up and down.  And they are both extremely beautiful and charming places to visit.  Most people also spoke enough English for us to get by.  Our Italian helped a little, but not much.

The tiled train station, the iconic dual-level, Eiffel company designed bridge over the Douro River and the classic art nouveau Cafè Majestic are just a few of the delights we encountered in Porto.

We even got to attend our first major league soccer game in Europe when we braved a rain storm (got completely soaked) to see the home team, Porto, beat Aves 2-0.

Porto’s port
Porto’s port
Bridge designed and built by the Eiffel Company
And the Douro runs through it
The tiled inside of the train station
The train station
Majestic Café
Inside the Majestic Cafè
Inside the Majestic Cafè
The first goal on a PK
Home side up 2-0 in the 12th minute
They do know how to make monuments
Not quite sure what that lion is doing to that eagle
Henry the Navagator
Tiled buildings
Beautiful English style garden
Rapunzel I believe

Povoa de Varzim

Like Lisbon, if you travel a few miles west, you come to the Atlantic Ocean.  Povoa de Varzim is easily reachable by public transportation and is a summer resort town with beautiful beaches that were almost deserted in mid-April when we visited.  There was a bit of a wind the day we went and the waves produced some great spray.

One of the interesting things there was a small history of the town in blue and white tile. From a woman waiting for her fisherman to return, to the saving of the fishing fleet during a storm, to the rescue of survivors of a ship caught on a reef just off the coast, it told a great story of the high points of this one-time-fishing-village-turned-resort.

The rescue of the fishing fleet
Waiting for her fisherman
The Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean
Lighthouse

Sale of the house in Seattle and our move to Padova will be next.

 

 

Italy

Sicily

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The last couple of years after Thanksgiving, we have taken a trip with my son, Zach, and his partner, Shannon.  Last year we visited Malta (see post from March of 2017) and this year we decided on Sicily.  With all of the traveling for work that Zach and Shannon do, they accumulate a lot of rewards points and they have been generous with the sharing of those with us on these trips.

Let me just say that Sicily is absolutely beautiful, the people are very friendly and the food is great.

Palermo

Palermo is the largest and most important city in Sicily.  After all, it is where the final scene in Godfather III takes place (see opera house pictures below).  Its history goes back to the beginnings of Mediterranean civilization, through the Phoenicians, the Greeks and the Romans. It was the capital of Sicily and spent time as one of the capitals of the Two Sicilies (Naples and Sicily combined). It has been destroyed many times and the old port was completely wrecked by Allied bombing during World War II. We spent several days there exploring this beautiful city as well as many great markets and buildings.  Above the town, we went to the village of Montreale with a great panoramic view of the city and the sea beyond.

View from our apartment
Model of the opera house
Inside the opera house
View from the royal booth (remember the Godfather movie?)
Fish market
Vegetable market
Vegetable market
Cathedral in Monreale
Inside the cathedral
View of Palermo from Monreale

Valle dei Templi near Agrigento, Sicily

From Palermo we drove south (through the village of Corleone, again for the Godfather fans) to Agrigento to visit the ancient ruins of the Greek city of Akragas in the Valley of the Temples.  “Valley” is a misnomer, the ruins sit on a ridge just below the modern city of Agrigento.  It is considered the largest archaeological  site in the world.

Temple of Concordia
Temple of Concordia
Icarus
Olive tree
Love the horns on these goats
Our great travel companions
My best friend
Sunset at the ruins
Sunset at the ruins

Taormina and Mount Etna

We then drove to the east side of the island and got a close up look at the most active volcano in Europe, Mount Etna, and the lovely resort town of Taormina.

Etna was always smoking and when we drove up the side it was a moonscape of pumice. You can take a gondola to the rim of the upper crater and helicopter tours are available.  It was cold and late in the day and we did not avail ourselves of either.  It was an eerie place to be.

View from Taormina
Etna from Taormina
Roman theater in Taormina
Above taormina
Taormina theater from a distance
Etna
Streets of Taormina at dusk
Etna smoking
Etna smoking
Cinder cone on Etna
Gondola to the top of Etna
Bottom of the small crater
Never underestimate the power of a volcano

Siracusa

We took a day drive to Syracuse.  It was at one time the second largest city in ancient Greece and rivaled Athens in splendor.  It is now a rather subdued small town on the coast with few indications of its former splendor.

The cathedral
Shannon and Zach
You have to love Italian uniforms
And the men in those uniforms acting like everyone else
Fish market
Outdoor vevetable market
One of the few remnants of the Greeks

Messina

Messina is a port city on the northeast corner of Sicily and has a clear view of Calabria on the Italian mainland.  It is also home to what they claim to be the largest astrological clock tower in the world.  Every hour there are cocks crowing, lions roaring and bells ringing with a parade of saints and animals.  It is actually quite a piece of craftsmanship.  It displays not only the time but the month and the phase of the moon.

Port of Messina with Calabria in the distance
Port of Messina from the clock tower
The clock tower
The inner workings of the clock
The inner workings of the clock
The inner workings of the clock

Cefalù

On our way back to Palermo, we stopped through the small port city of Cefalù on the northern coast.  It was one of my favorites. It has a great 11th century cathedral, a castle on the hill and great views.

Cefalù
The Cathedral
Inside the cathedral
The castle wall on the hill
Sunset

After a night at the opera in Bari, the last view of our two travel buddies.

Italian Cities, Italy

Roma con Amici

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Visiting great cities is always fun.  Visiting great cities with great friends is even better.  Visiting Rome is one of my favorite adventures.  But visiting Rome with great Italian friends is a rare once-in-a-lifetime treat and that is what we did late last year.

Those of you that follow this blog, should be somewhat familiar with our friends Gianfranco and Paula.  In addition to being our friends, they have acted as our tutors, chauffeurs, translators, dinner guides and Sunday-night-movies-at-Dario’s companions.  Gianfranco was the first person we met in Lecce and we shall be forever grateful for that piece of luck.  When they suggested that we go to Rome together and visit several gracious people we had met a couple of times before at Porto Cesareo, we jumped at the chance.

The Major Cast

Gianfranco and Paula on the train to Roma
Paula
Gianfranco
Yours truly with the gfirls
Holly and I

Caravaggio

One of the major reason that Paula wanted to take this trip with us was to visit as many of the Caravaggio paintings housed in Rome as possible.  I sometimes felt like we were characters in a Dan Brown novel scurrying around town in search of the next hidden painting.  One of the works is featured in the Angels and Demons movie.  I know that his paintings will not be new to many of you, but seeing them in person is breathtaking.  His use of light is something every lighting designer should study.

Italian Dinners

I am always traveling around with a camera slung over my shoulder waiting for the next opportunity to find a scene I cannot resist.  We were invited to dinner on consecutive nights to two homes of the friends we had met at Porto Cesareo.  I took a camera the first night, but it felt a little awkward.  That is a long way around to the fact that I have pictures of the first dinner, but not the second.  In hindsight, I am not sure I made the right decision.  Just know that both dinners were spectacular meals and we ate way too much at each of them.  You just cannot say no to Italians set on feeding you, and the food just keeps coming.

The table
Gianni (our chauffeur) and Holly
Rosaura and Gianni
Dessert

Just a few of the regular sites

 

Ponte Sant’Angelo
Can’t go to Rome and not take a picture of the Coloseum
The Pantheon – one of my favorite buildings in the world

Just before we left to return to Lecce, we had a lunch buffet at the restaurant run by Gianni’s son, Alessandro.  By the time we rolled ourselves onto our train, I thought we would never be able to eat again.

Italy

Grandchildren and Pompeii

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Lecce is difficult enough to get to that even when they come to Italy, many friends and family cannot find the time to actually travel that far south to visit us there.  Zach, Shannon, Jamie and the Thanksgiving gang all made the effort and I hope they felt handsomely rewarded for their efforts.  The only other exception was my daughter Jessica, her husband Matt, and their three children, Ethan, Brooklyn and Benson.  They decided to make the trip last summer and we had a great time.

For those of you that still have some notion about southern Italy being somehow off limits, you are missing some incredible food, beautiful scenery, historic cities and friendly people.  Perhaps we all need to see the great cities of the north, Venice, Florence, Rome and Milan, but once you have had your fill of too many tourists, try the south.  You will find it fascinating.

We met Jessica and her family in the modern town of Pompeii and spent a day visiting the ancient ruins there and then returned to Lecce where all seven of us packed into our small apartment and spent a week exploring, eating, swimming and just relaxing.  Traveling can be very tiring for all of us and I think it can be especially hard on young people.  All I have to say is that this group never seemed to get bored or complain about the heat, the antiques or anything else.  I cannot think of any better way to spend our precious time than sharing the wonders of the world with loved ones.

The Group

From left to right at the table, Jessica, Benson, Matt, Brooklyn and Benson.

The gang of five

Pompeii

Since it is one of the most visited sites in the world, I know many of you have been to Pompeii and wandered through this ancient city, but for those of you who haven’t, here are a few pictures to give you a feel for the place.

One of the reasons this place is so special is that because it was completely buried for so many centuries, nothing was destroyed by the ongoing urban development like so many other places.  They are also doing some restoration (not sure how I feel about that) so that at times you can almost imagine yourself walking  through the town nearly 2,000 years ago.

We started our day early when there were few people there.  By the time we finished several hours later, the place was packed.  I did my best to keep most of those people out of the pictures.

In the modern city of Pompeii
One of the main streets of Pompeii
An atrium
An atrium
Frescos
Frescos
Frescos
Frescos
The Faun of the famous “House of the Faun”
Stepping stones in the middle of the street
The culprit looming in the background
Centaur
Bronze statue
Plaster cast of one of the victims
Inside the bathhouse
It was hot, but not a wimper

Lecce and points south

We not only spent time in Lecce, but also took trips to Gallipoli and Porto Cesareo on the Ionian side and Otranto on the Adriatic.

Under the castle walls
Got his phone thing going on
The joy of swimming in the Adriatic
The Adriatic
Hot day and cool water
Just about done for the day
Brooklyn and Ethan in Lecce
My buddy Benson

The farewell

It was rather sad to say goodbye at the train station, but it had been such an extraordinarily good time, who could complain?

Just about to hop on the train for the trip home

Italy

Thanksgiving in Italy – Take 2

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This is a long past due post that Holly has told me I must write before I am allowed to write anything more on this blog.

Most of you who know me understand that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year.  There are several reasons for this and I could probably write a long treatise on the subject, but to spare you from my ramblings I will make it short.

It is a holiday that we seem to all be able to relate to.  Without being blind to the imperfections in our lives and the troubles around the world, most of us can look around us and  see the good we do have; family, friends and those good things that we see happening.  You don’t need to be an adherent to a specific religion, political party or be a super patriot. You just need to be able to take time once a year to recognize the good you do have and not dwell on the negative for at least one day.

For around 30 years, Holly and I hosted a Thanksgiving Day dinner at our house on 34th and Denny in Seattle.  (As a matter of fact, since I left to go to graduate school in Detroit in 1972, with only a few exceptions, I have hosted a Thanksgiving dinner at my house.) Those dinners have included children, grandchildren, siblings, nieces, nephews, parents, grandparents, friends and anyone else that needed a place at a table on this holiday.   During those last 30 years we had anywhere between 23-32 people to celebrate with us and always had a wonderful time of feasting and sharing with everyone involved.  To be quite honest, losing this tradition was one of my personal reservations about our move to Italy.  But life moves on and new traditions always evolve.

Both years we have been here in Italy, our daughter, Jamie, our son, Zach, and his partner, Shannon, have traveled all of the way to Lecce, Italy to share this special holiday with us.  This year Jamie brought three of her friends, Lizzie, Molly and Kim, and Zach brought his friend Ipo along for the occasion.  Adding our Italian friends, we had a total of 23 people sharing our dinner and listening to my ever-present Thanksgiving toast (this year in both English and broken Italian).

The Cast from the U.S.

The group on our rooftop terrace (without Shannon, not sure where she was)
Jamie
Zach
Shannon
Lizzie
Molly
Ipo
Kim
The girls: Kim, Lizzie, Molly and Jamie

In the United States, it was always hard for me to find a 30 pound turkey for our dinner.  In Italy the smallest I could find was around 33 pounds.  Our local butcher, Ermano, always likes to clown around and picking up the whole turkey (they sell the pieces, but rarely a whole bird) was no exception.  The turkeys here are very juicy and if you are not careful at the end of the roasting your pan can be very full of that juice.  Imagine (or look at the photo below) my surprise when all of that hot juice came spilling out of the pan as I took the bird out of the oven.  Thankfully there were no injuries, just a mess to be cleaned up as I was trying carve a turkey for 23 guests.

The Turkey

The bird and the butcher, Ermano
Takes two to carry that big bird home
Stuffed and ready to go
Into the oven
Perfect fit
Oops
The mess
The finished product

We had a great dinner and our Italian  friends always seen to enjoy the traditions as much as we do.  They all bring food and so the dinner is a delightful blend of traditional American and Italian food.  It was an absolute joyous evening of eating, drinking and conversing.

The Dinner

The dinner
The dinner
Our wonderful friend Dario
The dinner
The women
The aftermath
The aftermath

Since our American guests were only going to be in Italy for a few short days, it was decided that we needed to take a trip the day after our celebration and Matera was chosen as the place to go.  Since we held our dinner on Friday evening to accommodate our Italian guests (dinner starting around 8:30) we didn’t finish the cleanup until around 3 am.  At 9 am the next morning, we got everyone out of bed to trek off to Matera in a rented van.  Along with our American guests, Gianfranco and Paula also joined the excursion.  Although I had originally disagreed with the prudence of trying for an outing the day after our dinner (there was some sleeping on the 2 hour drive back) Matera worked its magic, and everyone was totally enchanted.

The Day After Trip to Matera

The whole gang in Matera
Holly and Paola
Magical Matera
Magical Matera

Before we leave Portugal next week, I will be posting several long overdue stories and hopefully will have time to write-up our time in Lisbon and Porto.

 

Italian Cities

The Tuscan Hills

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Since it can prove to be difficult to travel to the small hill towns in Tuscany using public transportation,  we rented a car and took several drives into the surrounding hills and down the coast.

Chiani

Our first stop was Chiani.  It is a very small town with little to no tourists (at least when we were there).  Holly had seen an ad for an apartment there and although we thought the town might be too small, we thought we would take a look while we were in the area.  The apartment was a very nice place in the corner of town with a magnificent view of the Tuscan countryside and plenty of space, but as we suspected, the town was just too small for us to want to stay put there for any length of time.

The rooftop terrace
The view from the rooftop terrace

Volterra

Like many of the places we have visited, the history of Volterra goes back thousands of years.  There are the remains of the Etruscan acropolis on top of the hill and the Roman theater on the side of the hill.  During the time of the Medici, the place was fought over for the alum deposits nearby.  There are traces of all of that and more in this spectacular hilltop city.

Volterra from a distance
The walls of Volterra
The walls of Volterra
The Etruscan ruins
The old castle still used as a prison
The Roman theater
View through one of the city gates
The views just keep coming

San Gimignano

If you are looking for great medieval architecture in a small Tuscan city, this just might be the place for you.  It is stunningly preserved and you can easily imagine yourself wandering these streets 600 year ago (well except for the occasional car that passes you at a speed that always seems too fast).  The fun part of this place is that during the middle ages, the families that lived here got into a “my tower is bigger than your tower” match.  The result of this competition was that at one time there were as many as 72 tower houses distributed around the city.  The city fathers finally put an end to the whole thing by putting a limit on the height of any new tower.  While many of the towers are gone, there are still 14 to bemuse your spirit and as in all of the hill towns in this region, there are great views in every direction.

The Tuscan Coast

With all of the attention that the Tuscan hills get, it is good to remember that Tuscany has a beautiful coast line and it can be a very rewarding experience to spend some time there.

We are currently in Porto, Portugal.  This is a stop over on our way back to Seattle.  Not to worry, we are only coming back to sell our house and return to Italy as soon as we have taken care of the sale and the business that follows.  I am determined to finish at least most of the posts that I meant to write over that last few months, so be prepared for the onslaught.  Hopefully, that will be a good thing for most of you.

Italian Cities

Livorno

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As we looked for a strategy to explore more of Tuscany (we have both been to Florence several times and we stayed in Lucca for a month in 2016 just after we moved here), we decided to stay on the sea at Livorno and rent a car so we could drive into the hills to explore places that are somewhat difficult by train or bus.  This turned out to be a good choice for us and we had a great time.

Livorno is a port city of approximately 160,000 inhabitants located on the west coast of Tuscany.  When the port of Pisa silted up in the 13th century, Livorno (once known to the English as Leghorn) became the major port city for Tuscany.  The Medici family had a major influence here and their traces can be seen everywhere.

At one point the city decided to install a series of canals and waterways and there is even one neighborhood that is referred to as “Venezia Nuova” (New Venice).  We stayed in an apartment with a view of one of those canals and the Fortezza Nuova (a Medicean fortress that is now a park).

The Ever Changing View From our Apartment

I think this may have been my favorite view from any stay we have had here in Italy.  It seemed that every time I looked out the window, it was different, but always a wonder to behold.

Morning
Evening
Sunset

The Various views of Livorno

We spent one day exploring Livorno and wondering around its streets, canals and the seaside plaza/walkway.  It was a little cool, but the skies were beautiful and at this time of year nothing was over crowded.  We had great food, great wine and a great time.

From the Fortezza toward our apartment
Always the laundry on a nice day
The Fortezza Nuova
From the Fortezza
Couldn’t resist
Beautiful houses
The plaza/walkway
The plaza/walkway with a beautiful lady

The Market

Full of all the fresh fish,  meat,  cheese, baked goods, fruits and vegetables you could want, this indoor market, with skylights to provide all of the illumination you need, was a delight to shop for our food during our stay in Livorno.

Quattro mori

Perhaps the most famous statue in Livorno, the Four Moors was commissioned by Cosimo II de’ Medici in the 17th century to commemorate the various victories of his father, Ferdinando I de’ Medici, over the Moors.  Perhaps, like the monument to Christopher Columbus in Genova, with a bare breasted native american maiden sitting at his feet like a prize from the new world (see post on Genova), it may seem a little politically incorrect (Holly says that by today’s standards, it is horribly incorrect), but the bronze figures in chains , subjugated as they are, are magnificent pieces unto themselves.

Next up will be some views of the Tuscan hills.