Month: April 2019

Last Thursday, April 25, has been designated Liberation Day. This is when Italy finally threw off Mussolini and got out from under the Germans at the end of WWII. It’s a big day all over the country. In fact, this was a huge week altogether because the previous Sunday was Easter and Easter is a very big deal here.There were many Feste everywhere for these two days.

Another Feste approaches too: May 1st, International Workers Day, which also has lots of events going on.

For Easter, I went to see the “Illuminaria” in Seravezza, which is only held every three years. It was spectacular! All the buildings had candles in their windows, the river was full of candles, and there were several sets of 3 crosses in the hills above town.

For Liberation Day, a couple friends and I did the Fiacollata della Pace, which is a 15k run from a nearby hill town that was massacred one day in 1944 by the Germans. Grandparents and babies alike, all killed. Most were told to go into the church and then they were locked in and the building burned down. Now they commemorate with a run down into town with torches. It was a beautiful event.

We gathered at dusk below the memorial up on the hill. A man played Taps on his trumpet. Very moving to hear the single clear notes in the evening air. Btw, this music is called “Silenzio” (silence) in Italian.We lit our torches and started running.

It took about an hour and a half. At the halfway point, there was an aid station, which had sweet week black tea, water, small triangles of lemons, and cubes of sugar. Wow. What were we supposed to do with the lemons? Fortunately I had an apple I could eat.

At Marignana, where the run ended, they had a group of bombs in the churchyard. I must find out the story behind them. They fed us great pasta, with wine and sandwiches. We finished the run at 10pm. Sheesh!

Oh yes, we had an escort providing plenty of light and safety as we can: An ambulance went first sounding its siren to clear the roads, then a police car at the front, and behind us another ambulance to give us enough light to run by… We ran in two lines. It was so wonderful to run with the torches. To see the countryside as dusk and night descended was an incredible experience.

As I drove home with my new Swiss friend Silena, we saw fireworks, so I pulled over and we sat while the sky was lit up with color and light. Such a treat!

My Italian school arranged an afternoon tour of Pisa. There were only three of us on the tour, a German guy, a Swiss woman, and me. Our guide spoke Italian. Lots of interesting stuff…

One thing I hadn’t known is that it was a Polish architect/engineer who finally figured out what was wrong with the tower. It’s not that it’s sinking but that the upper side is constantly pushing upwards due to too much water in that part of the monument grounds. OMG, who knew?! They have done much to address this and apparently it’s guaranteed for two hundred years.

We went up into the baptistry, which is the largest in Europe, and I got a good shot right across to the cathedral, right through the chain link on the window.

We wandered town in the rain, and I got a few decent shots. This is in the Piazza dei Cavalieri.

Last week, the tour was to Pietrasanta. I met the group at the train station and we walked around town. I learned that many artists, many of whom I know, have one or two maquettes (small plaster models of their larger marble sculptures) upstairs in the public library. Here’s a relatively large maquette by my neighbor, Maria Gamundi.

Finally, a leftover photo from my visit to Todi. The town projected a set of religious paintings against the cathedral. Here’s one of the best ones.

I’m in Italian class every day for a month this time. It’s great. My Italian is making great strides. I guess I’m ready to pick up grammar again. 🙂

Things to know: Everything has a gender, even foreign words. Whisky and picnic are masculine, but web designer and hit parade are feminine. Who knew?!

It’s also wonderful to meet the other students and learn about their countries and customs. I discover how limited my world view has become.

The school is in Viareggio, which is 15 minute past my apartment, but since I’m not living there but on the other side of town, it takes me 45-50 minutes to get there. Sigh. But it’s just what I need right now. Yay!

Last week was busy for apartment tasks, especially choosing the wood flooring and the bathroom tiles. John went with me to get the wood, so that’s all set. I did the tiles on my own.

Here are some examples. I’m going traditional Italian in the smaller bathroom, with a tile called “Maria Teresa.”

In the larger bathroom, I’m going with brown geometric on the floor:

On the walls, a white textured tile. In the studio I’m using large tools that look a lot like cement but cooler.

The biggest question I have left is what to use as a backsplash in the kitchen. Here are some tiles that are fun:

This is some of the fun part of house fixing…

This is a guest post by Sanborn’s brother Charles. My wife Kathryn & I have been in Todi in Umbria for the last month and I thought I’d post a few photos of the main square in town before and after they erected 4 sculptures by Beverly Pepper. These were originally displayed here in the 70s but now that she is 97, she decided to donate 22 of these sculptures to the town of Todi which is where she has lived and worked most of her adult life.

I’m renting the top floor of a restored farm house. I’m glad there is a nice Italian couple downstairs because it’s so remote here. No houses anywhere nearby.

You drive down from the road. All very private.

Solitude and beauty though! When you turn around and look away from the house up the valley, there are impressive marble-streaked mountains.

The farm house used to be a mill. Here’s the creek it ran on:

The reason I’m here is that my apartment is a complete construction site. Here you can see the main room (15′ x 40′) prepared for the underfloor radiant heat that’s going in tomorrow.

Today was an intense day starting with 3 hours of Italian class, then a “worker’s lunch” with John, my project manager. After that we spent an inordinate amount of time learning from the extremely enthusiastic owner of a flooring store about exactly the right kind of oak floor boards we should use. I understood most of the discussion but I had to concentrate hard. Very tiring!

To celebrate surviving the day, I finally went into the central Pietrasanta pizza and had an Aperol. Whew!

I was there right as the light faded and dusk settled in. You can see it’s not summer yet: so few people. And in the cafes I hear almost entirely Italian. But in another month or so, this place will be hopping late at night and you’ll be able to hear so many different European languages plus American. 🙂

I’m not entirely over jetlag yet, which helps with late dinner parties. It’s now almost 1am and I’m wide awake. Sigh. Must get up before 7 to get to class on time. Uhoh…

Buona notte! Dormite bene!! (Good night! Sleep well!!)

I’ve got some new Italy posts to publish, but I’m way up a remote valley and the wifi is lame. Stay tuned…!

-s