Italy

Juliet’s balcony

Posted by hil

When we started our overseas trip in 2008 and I said ‘What if we we get a taste for this?’ Michael said something like ‘ Oh, I don’t think that’s likely’! It was with a similar assurance that he said  that since Juliet’s balcony in Verona was entirely contrived we wouldn’t want to see it. But you can’t go to Verona and not at least walk by it, can you?

The balcony itself is completely unassuming.

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Down below is an absolute phenomenon. The saying is that if you rub the right breast of the statue of Juliet beneath the balcony, you will find a new lover. (I teased Michael that that is why he didn’t want me to go). So everyone mills around waiting their turn or cheering on and photographing friends doing it.

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And on every available surface there are love messages on chewing gum, paper, post-its and locks, or written straight onto bricks, pipes, branches and railings.

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The shop in the courtyard is well stocked with a good range of locks from tiny pink hearts to huge rectangular clunkers. The two sides of the entrance archway from the street are a mass of millions of love heart messages, too, and again people pose to have their photos taken in front of it.

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This amused me:

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There was also a brisk trade in machine embroidering items with love messages. This is another of those looping videos of one of the machinists doing a love heart for a young woman.

An aside…

Posted by hil

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When I saw this logo on the floor of the lift of the hotel we stayed in in Verona – the Firenze – I was joking around about how funny it was to have a kind of blobby lobster as one’s logo. It still took a while when I saw the ‘floral lobsters’ below for the the penny to drop! Of course, it was the emblem of Firenze! I guess someone was paid a lot to modify it just a little so that it suggested both the city and florentine paper, not to mention a lobster, without outright copying it. I don’t know why I notice these things and think about them, but I do!

I always associate Florentine paper with my maternal grandmother. I think she loved it on stationary; I do too, though I have little use for stationary these days. It was also the favoured stationary for ‘the fairies’ who sent messages to my kids when they were little, concerning the availability and delivery of magic wallets. The fairies wrote in very small squiggly writing on Florentine labels that were left under pillows…

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More theatricals in Verona

Posted by hil

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There were so many buskers in Verona!  Mostly of the standard statue variety, but there were a few new ideas. I thought this Tutankhamen was quite clever, since it did a lot with just a mask and shroud of shiny lycra. I always worry about the statue people who use a lot of paint since reading that metallic paint might have been implicated in the death of the Silver Man in Canberra, and this seemed much better from that point of view, and perhaps cooler (temperature-wise) than some, too.

Here you can see the back of Tutankhamen – very simple in terms of getting into, too. Behind him is a kind of Pinocchio little person and a Statue of Liberty. I was amused to see the Pinocchio standing tall outside the box later on. I wonder if an act like that would be too politically incorrect to stand in Australia?

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The following buskers were the best of the statues. I think I know how it’s done, and that they were probably quite comfortable apart from the sun. All of these buskers are there for full days, just changing personel every so often.

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I did like this silly baby in a pram! Puppets that have small bodies and real adult heads just are always funny. This is a looping video if you click the picture, and you can turn sound on in the top left corner. The noise would drive you nuts pretty quickly! I felt for the other statues nearby who couldn’t move on like the rest of the crowd.

There were also some unintentionally lame buskers – the plump middle aged Michael Jackson wasn’t doing too well. And some that were just a bit puzzling:

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Numerous centurions were doing a brisk trade outside the arena. This one was obligingly allowing his clients to set him up in an unlikely losing scenario.

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The Arena in Verona

Posted by hil

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Here are some images of the Arena in Verona, which dates from about AD30, and is made of huge blocks of rather lovely pink and white limestone. The tall outer ring was was destroyed by an earthquake in 1117, and only the small section you can see in the photo below survived.

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Bikes parked on railings outside the Arena at night.

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Around the outside of the Arena, the half that doesn’t face Piazza Bra is boarded off and chock-a-block with props for the opera! The Opera season is in summer and it appeared that preparations were well under way for the opening. There were cranes out the back moving things around, crew preparing the stage area inside, whole facades complete with cherubs lying in the sun and an enclosure with of every kind of spear, axe and prong coralled inside it. We were told that when an opera was on all the hotels booked out well in advance. It is obviously a major driver of the city’s economy, but one young waiter was telling us that there was some anxiety that it wasn’t drawing as many people as before, and that new attractions were needed.

Two giant gladiators frozen in combat out the back of the Arena.

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Some nice sphinx-y creatures.

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When we went inside we could go up close to the outer wall…

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… and look down at the piazza.

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Various views of the Arena inside.

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Michael in the balcony box area above the main entrance, which is about half way up the overall height.

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You can see that balcony box on the left in this photo.

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The blocks of stone were enormous! In the corridors underneath all the seating I was interested in the wedge construction with such huge blocks. In some lintels the blocks were actually even longer and went straight across.

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Orta San Giulio

Posted by hil

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Omenga was quiet; all the action was taking place in Orta San Giulio, a town further down Lake Orta, and on a small island a short distance off shore there, Isola San Giulio, whence we took a boat ride. The island buildings consist of a Romanesque Basillica and a big Benedictine monastry, and there’s a circular path dotted with small sign posts which have homilies or sayings on them. It was really busy, and the church, which is opulent and crammed with artwork, sculptures and a gruesome saint on show in a sacophagus, gave me the creeps.

The pathway on the island…

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… and a nice circular window.

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A ceramic tile that was a cut above the other homilies, outside a door.

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Onshore in Orta San Giulio there are lovely old faded buildings and lots of gelati shops. This church, Chiesa dell’Assunta was founded in the 15th century, and stands up the hill a little way.

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I love this photo of Tim taking a photo in the town.

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Window boxes.

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The main square and foreshore as we left by boat in the late afternoon.

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Looking back at the island in the late afternoon.

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One of the smaller towns we passed on the way home, with the side wash of the boat in the foreground.

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Omenga

Posted by hil

We zipped up to Lausanne again on our Eurail passes as Tim and Tanya had a long weekend, and then together we travelled to Omenga at the head of Lake Orta in northern Italy. The town and lake were both very pretty, but initially it was hard to look past these two giant pink plastic snails. They were stationed on a pontoon just by the place we stayed (to the right of centre in this photo). Later we saw a matching snail in another part of town.

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Googling tells me that these must be friends of others made by Italy’s Cracking Art Group (CAP), in conjunction with Galleria Ca d’Oro, that have appeared en masse in various famous cities over the last few years

‘to inspire a community-wide conversation about the importance of recycling and its environmental impact, while leaving a potent artistic trace’

I wonder how Omenga got hold of a few, as well as a number of similarly large and oversized meercats that were standing on balconies around the town?

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Looking north towards the town from our place.

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I liked this street art.

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A woman on a pink Vespa!

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A lovely blaze of yellows.

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When we went down the lake to Orta by boat on the Saturday we had a great sight of the Alps that are the backdrop to the town.

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Odds and ends

Posted by hil

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Here are a few random images. One of the things I like best about wandering around the towns in every place we’ve been is finding the pathways, steps and areas where everyday life is going on. This pathway above, in such an area between Atrani and Amalfi, was wonderfully narrow!

There were many places selling ceramics, but at this one in Ravello we bought a beautiful bowl and plate. We also had a nice conversation with the people running it, who were telling us about how difficult it was now under new government regulations on small business to employ enough people in their factory. It was a nice glimpse into their life.

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There are lots of small religious markers such as this in numerous places we’ve been, but I just really like this as a photo.

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There were lots of these beautiful bright-green-backed lizards wherever we walked. I guess they are skinks of some sort? They would be sunning themselves on walls or stones and flick back into the greenery too quickly for me to take a photo. I spent too much time trying!

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Amalfi coast beaches

Posted by hil

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In Australia we really are spoilt for great beaches. I found the ones on the Amalfi coast, which I assume are part of the attraction of all the places along the Amalfi coast, quite challenging to my notion of what a good beach should be. These photos are from Atrani.

The entrance to the beach is from the town square through this rather nice archway.

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Looking back from the beach you can see the archway on the right in this photo.

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The backdrop to the beach is spectacular.

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I find the ranks of umbrellas and lounges amusing!

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This last photo is of the beach at Amalfi.

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Path of the Gods, Amalfi coast

Posted by hil

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On the Amalfi coast we walked the very beautiful Path of the Gods, which goes from Bomerano to Positano. The weather had lifted but some mist still clung to the tops of the mountains all day. The route is about 7 kilometres long, following a high contour that winds around many spurs and rocky outcrops, and then at the end descends via many steps into Positano. It’s not nearly as rugged a walk as Samaria Gorge. Around the city we would usually knock off that distance in a bit over an hour, but with a bit of terrain, many photo stops and some lunch along the way it took us about 4 hours.

Near the beginning there are houses built into the cliff face. In one there was a horse in a stable, too.

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The hills are steep and heavily terraced and cultivated.

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Crossing one of the spurs you suddenly get this dreamy view of the coastline to the west. I think it’s likely that Capri is the furthermost point you can see there.

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I watched this boat all the way that the wake shows.

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An encouraging signpost. I was a little worried by people online saying one really should have a guide to do this walk, because it doesn’t seem to appear often on maps and it’s easy to get lost, but in the end it was quite easy to find our way. Also, there were enough other people around that we could have consulted with. And it is marked on Pocket Earth, a fabulous phone app that we have been using extensively, which gives you your GPS position on zoomable maps that you can download and use offline.

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A grass photo for Tim!

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A cool ceramic in Nocelle.

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For lunch we stopped by a very unassuming-looking place called Il Ristoro de which was hidden some steps down from the path just past Nocelle. It was built into a cave in the cliff face, looking out to the sea, and we had a simple but memorable meal of grilled veges and antipasto meats and cheese, which included the best olives I’ve ever eaten.

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Around Positano I was aware of lots of expensive cars, garages jockeying for the drivers’ trade, and many boutiques. I didn’t find it particularly attractive and was pleased we had ended up staying in Ravello. All the limoncello looked pretty good though – a lovely colour and a lovely drink!

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Looking back at Positano.

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Clouds settling over the coast.

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A strip of late afternoon sun catching the hillside.

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