I arrive in Piacenza on a Sunday, and the streets are empty. As it’s the time of Ferragosto, everyone is at the beach. I have a very eerie feeling that I am the only person in the entire town. The impressive Piazza dei Cavalli stands empty. Across the way the Palazzo del Governatore also looks …
Every so often while walking around Parma I come across signs entitled “The City of Women.” This plaque stands in front of a building that housed a women’s union formed by former partisans after the World War II to encourage women to enter politics. It’s great to see this acknowledgement of women’s role in the …
The train from Genova to Parma travels by fertile agricultural fields. At the Parma train station, the elevator is broken. Surprise!! (hardly) and panic!! Usually the police at every station are there to help. But then I see a sign that says that the thoughtful Italian train service has provided a porter for just this …
Today on our last day, we visit the art studio of Paolo Medici, a master in frottage, the art of creating images through rubbing over a textured surface. Paolo has created a work based on three very large paintings by the Florentine painter Paolo Uccello depicting events that took place at the Battle of San Romano between …
Today we visit the Labirinto della Masone in a town called Fontanellato in the fields outside Parma. Franco Maria Ricci, a publisher and designer of the fine arts magazine FMR, created the site after promising his friend, Jorge Luis Borges, the Argentinian writer, that he would create a labyrinth in the place where they took …
We pass flat lands on the way up the coast to Ravenna. I pop into a cafe to use the restroom. This friendly woman prepares balls of dough for making yummy sandwiches. The gate to the Basilica di San Vitale and the the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, built between 425 and 450. The 6th century …
This morning I took a tour sponsored by the Ravenna Tourist Office. The guide gave excellent explanations, taking us first to the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, which was constructed during the reign of the Ostrogoth ruler Theodoric the Great as his palace chapel in the 6th century. It was founded as an Arian church for …
The train passes agricultural fields on the way from Vicenza to Padua to Ferrara then Ravenna. Lots of stops with my enormous suitcase, which I needed to carry my steamer pot to the Val Taleggio. Fortunately there are friendly and helpful people all along the way to help me lug the luggage. The rain stopped …
Another event in Perugia this morning.. the Grifonissimo…a type of athletic event including a foot race. Masses of people wearing Grifonissimo t-shirts, especially parents with kids, participating in the event. Sponsored by a bank, the event featured a loud and enthusiastic moderator, loud and catchy music, and a periodic chorus of “Money, money, money.” By …