Italy…The El Dorado of Marble
Italy… The El Dorado of Marble
Due to some time constraints we decided to stay in Naples and not to take our connecting flight to Palermo Sicily. We did this so that my sister Sioux could catch all of the major stuff in Italy on her first trip, and that she is booked to fly out of Venice on the 8th of September, giving us hardly enough time to linger at any one place. I guess we will just have to return to catch Sicily next year, darn it all! Well we arrived at the car rental counter to pick up our car and found that the one we reserved had not arrived from Rome as of yet. They gave us 2 cars to use until the one we ordered was ready. This was fine except that both were stick shift cars and Tristi has never driven anything except automatics. It was a good thing Sioux had driven sticks before. Bad news is she hates to drive in tight, congested, winding roads, with suicide motorcyclists often borrowing your lane to pass another car. There are no rules to driving in Italy and the signage is merely a suggestion on how to drive or where to go. Well she did just fine, but commented later that she has never been so stressed in her life. OOPS…Sorry Sioux! With the above description of the roads, some of you may have had thoughts of the Amalfi Coast, and the Cliffside driving that the place is famous for. You would be correct, we dropped our bags at our place in Sorrento and headed directly to the Amalfi Coast for a meandering look at the place. The driving is crazy (not Rome crazy) but the views are spectacular. There are many places where the road was built off the side of a cliff, I mean hanging on the side of the cliff, projecting out into thin air, like a cantilevered balcony. It is an amazing piece of engineering. What is even more incredible are the old buildings rising from the cliffs on ancient stone foundations, and the caves dug from solid rock, now used as parking spaces. We made it to the town of Amalfi unscathed and ready for gelatos. We took a visit to the Amalfi Basilica, which gave Sioux and the kids their first look at a real Italian piece of artwork. Compared to the others that they will see, this is a minor sight but it was great to watch their eyes as they drooled over the marble work adorning the walls and the ornate groin vaulted ceilings covered with frescos. It is cool to know that they get much better, but I held this a secret, so when they arrive at the others they will share the same experience Tristi and I had as we viewed these amazing buildings.
We spent the first couple of days warming up to Italy, doing Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, like anyone needs time to warm up to Italy. From the moment Sioux set her eyes on Italy, she was in love. It happens to everyone! There is something about the old boot that calls to everyone; you must come back time and again even if you don’t throw the coin into the Trevi. Italy has become Noah’s favorite country as well as of course, yours truly. Ever since I visited two years ago, I could hardly stand to be away from the place. And so goes another romantic visit to my home away from home. From Sorrento, we went to Pompeii, the ancient city buried during the eruption of mount Vesuvious in 62 AD. Now this is a place that even non-building freaks will be amazed with. A complete ancient city, unburied and ready to explore. You need days to cover it all, but one full day will give you a good sense of it’s layout and what life must have been like back in the heyday of the Roman empire. One of the most sobering displays there is the mummified corpse of several of the town’s people that were on display. It gives perspective to the tragedy that took place nearly two thousand years ago.
Following Pompeii was Rome, the crazy madhouse I like to call the El Dorado of marble. Even the streets are paved with marble (yes many are paved with asphalt and or stone pavers, but the marble is everywhere). It is something to see, even the curb and gutter is hand carved marble, street drains, delineation markers, and the buildings, oh the buildings (can you see the lust in my eyes). Where do I begin… Ok, we stayed in an eleventh century castle about twenty minuets north of Rome, in the peaceful rolling hillsides dotted with cypress and olive trees. The history of the castle is a story in itself, of which I will spare you, but the fresco covered walls, and inlaid stone floors, accent the ancient stone tower and expansive layers of stone walls added over the centuries, until you now have what is called Castillo de Castaluccia. Needless to say, she has the attention of my affections. Oh yea Rome, each day we took down a different piece of Rome, visiting over twenty different sights. We are talking about Basilicas lying all over the place. Palaces, villas, museums, galleries, ancient ruins, the Pantheon, the Coliseum, the Vatican, the Sistine chapel, the forum, and countless buildings with amazing detail. Did I say twenty, try perhaps over thirty. I was like a kid in a candy store, only worse, I had no parent telling me to stop, only my family’s poor little feet calling an end to each days explorations. Oh yah, I have been to many of these places before, but they are so beautiful and so detailed that you could see them a hundred times and never get the same view twice. By the way, Basilica is short for Big ass Church, and St. Peters at the Vatican is the Crème de la Crème (my favorite is in Siena… More on that later). In my last Blog I vowed not to go into too much detail about the buildings, so I will not tell you about the intricate hand carved marble floors walls and ceilings, the beautiful inlayed mosaic masterpieces, the countless marble carvings that artfully imitate life, mind blowing eye popping multi colored frescos offering three dimensional perspective, and the many other secrets that fill every square inch of these buildings. There are so many colors of marble, that Crayola could double their pallet if they dared. As I was saying, we did Rome in 3 days and headed north to visit the small hill towns of Umbria and Tuscany.
First it was off to Orvieto (in Umbria) a wonderful hill town filled with stunning hand painted ceramic pottery. Last time I came here (2007) I saw several pieces that were perfect for my house, but could not part with the money. These pieces are priced similar to gallery artwork, and it is hard to imagine paying that sort of price for dishes and pots. It was interesting to note that I had many thoughts of those colorful pieces of art during the two years since I have been here last and knew that I must get something this time around. I looked around quite a while before finding something that really caught my eye. I looked the pieces over for some time, got the gal to give me a decent discount, figured in shipping and all, and again I could not part with that kind of money. Granted it’s not like buying a car or anything (maybe more like a Rolex) but it is crazy money for a couple of pots. I walked around town enjoying the wonderful atmosphere and beautiful medieval buildings lining the streets, all the while thinking about the beautiful pottery I was denying myself of. I just hated the thought. I wandered into another store and looked around, but didn’t like the artist’s style nearly as much as the ones I had picked out earlier. My sister Sioux was across the way looking at some gift Items at another pottery store and I decided to join her. I was browsing the plates and found one that I really liked. I went thru my mind to see where I would be able to display the plate in my house (I know exactly where the pots would go). After some concerted thought I came to realize that two pieces were needed and in differing sizes. I looked around for a while and then the lady pointed me to a large piece she had by the same artist in the same color scheme. Immediately, I knew that these were going to look great together. I didn’t want to know the price so I kept on shopping. I picked out a few things for the kitchen while I was at it, and soon there was no room left on the counter. All the while I am still thinking about the pots I had picked out earlier, and walked away from (I really wanted those as well) but need to get a hold of myself. Now I am not a shopper, but I must admit I think I was getting the hang of it. I pulled out the plastic and spent some absolutely stupid money on a pile of ceramic stuff. I liked it! While I was in the mood (spending the kids college money) I stopped back by the other store for one more look at the other pieces I picked out. It was a damn good thing both hands were full, because those vases were really looking sweet about this time. Reality set in as I met back up with Tristi and the kids who saw me toting several large bags, they knew right away what I had done. All of the stuff I bought was wrapped so they never got a chance to see what I bought, and won’t until January when we return to the states.
It was a good thing we didn’t stay any longer in Orvieto, or I might be sending the kids to Hamburger University to work at Mc Donald’s. Well the next little hill town was not much better as it demanded its share of our money as well. Montpulciano is famous worldwide for its wineries. We arrived in the evening, but were wanting to walk the streets of the old city and get a feel for it’s unique vibe. The host at the place we were staying had recommended a great little restaurant, in the old walled city, that was situated inside a cave. The ambiance was spectacular, as was the food and of course the wine. Housed within this cave was a wine cellar and cheese aging room, a very nice touch. The following day we continued our sampling of the wines, cheeses and aged salamis, all of which commanded some attention from my already warmed up credit card. We visited several wineries outside of town, for quality control purposes only, and found the wines very suitable. In our search for great culinary delight we managed to pick up a fine collection of wines, a round of spiced and precisely aged cheese, and some “to die for” hard salami. In this round of shopping I picked up a magnum bottle (five liters) of Sangovisi (a full bodied red – and I’m not talking Italian women here) that I had sampled at the winery only moments earlier. This is crazy because there are six of us and twelve large bags, now ten bottles of wine plus one giant magnum, all of my ceramic collections, and what ever else Sioux and the kids bought. We had to pack all of this in our European Station Wagon. Tristi was the only one who had not bought anything, yet.
From Montpulciano, we headed to the heart of Tuscany, Siena. This little hill town has it all. The wine, cheese, salami, spices, pizza and gelatos. It has churches and Basilicas, towers and city walls, crusty old buildings and cobbled streets, the arts and music are well represented, as is the annual horse races in July 2/August 15. There are parades with marching bands, led by the township (17 rival townships in Siena) that won the palio (horse race) and has earned divine bragging right for the entire year. This is the place where dolce vita (the good life – also translated as the art of doing nothing) was invented. I love to sit in the Piazza del Campo and people watch. It is a place where the whole world passes you by and time is of no consequence. It is a place where you can eat, rest and even take a siesta if you please. You can climb to the top of the bell tower and look out over the city and look at all the Siena colored rooftops. By the way, a cool piece of trivia… The artist colors of Umber, burnt umber, Siena and burnt Siena all come from the soil colors of Tuscany and Umbria as noted by the roof tiles of the respective areas. Oops, did I just talk about buildings again? While I’m on the subject I did say I would mention the Basilica in Siena, just a little. Some people are taken back by its striking black and white marble exterior, as the two tones fight each other all the way up to the top of the highest ridge. It looks as if the church is dressed in a jail uniform. I think we may find a piece of Irony here. One will either love it or hate it as the black and white marble also dominates the interior including the intricate inlaid marble floors. The contrast in marbles really accentuates the groin-vaulted ceilings and delivers an eyegasmic sense of overwhelming beauty. The stained glass panels and mosaic works give stability to the crazy black and white striped base that dominates the structure. There is so much going on in this one masterpiece that you need to stop every few feet and regain your composure, lest you miss many less obvious works within the body. This place is so fairytale that perhaps Dr Seuss had stopped for prayer and found answers within. It is hard to describe the feelings one gets while walking this place (no, not the neck-ache from looking up) but for me it evokes a disconnect from reality, a kind of fantasy land, a spiritual place but not in the sense of holy religious belief, the feeling is cool beyond description. It is not like driving a Ferrari, or jumping from a plane, nor is it like riding a bike with the wind in your face. It’s not like the peaceful serenity of diving, or the intimate heart pounding feeling of a first kiss. No, it’s different, but takes elements from all of these and delivers something uniquely Tuscan. I know already, it’s just a building!
Ok, where was I? Oh yea, Siena, ah beautiful Siena. By now many of you must think I am crazy, off my rocker, and a crazed lunatic building loving fanatic! But then again many of you already know this.
Now it’s off to my favorite little hill town (well I really can’t say that for sure because there are so many hill towns that I have not discovered as of yet). San Giminano is the home of the Smiths and Joneses of medieval Italy. During the peak of tower building there were over 70 towers built in this tiny little hill town. As the story goes, a family would build a tower (a fortification) as part of their home for security and protection from Invaders, as well as a sign of wealth or status within the community. As you walk the cobbled streets you can envision the Little Fiat tower or the bold and dominating Lamborghini Tower or perhaps the sleek and sexy Ferrari Tower each competing for their slice of the skyline. Today there are only fourteen remaining towers and one hundred percent of the original medieval charm that makes up this town. One of the little noticed details of this city is the ornate Iron horse rings attached to many of these wonderful buildings. I guess there is something I find intriguing about nine hundred-year-old hitching posts. The streets whisper a thousand years of Tuscan life, and each of those buildings hold the soles of those whispers. The past is so very present in this town of towers.
We chose to Stay just outside of town at a small winery and farmhouse. The view of the towers from our place was great. The guy who checked us in walked me thru the winery and gave me a bottle of his finest. Tristi and I enjoyed a nice romantic evening at this well-appointed little villa. In the morning we walked the vineyards and checked out all of the Prechuto on the hoof. There were pens of wild hogs, angora rabbits as well as some chickens. We were the only guests there and were greeted by those who tended the animals and grapes, on this peaceful Tuscan morning. The Italians call these places Agriturismo, as they give tourists the chance to experience life in the Tuscan countryside. We really enjoyed our stay but as always had a full plate of sights to see. After finishing up in San Giminano we headed for Pisa to see some crazy Architecture.
Pisa was one of those sights we had passed up on during our last trip because we only had ten days on the ground. I felt it was a lesser sight to the others we were visiting, but this time we needed to at least see the tower. I am glad that we stopped in to see the leaning tower of Pisa, as it was much better then imagined. It is strange that the tower was started in the early twelfth century and soon began to fail structurally. Instead of fixing the building foundation, they chose to leave it as it was and build the upper floors on a new basis of level. It continued to lean thru the years and finally had to be structurally corrected in the twenty first century to keep it from reaching critical center of balance. As it stands today, the tower is a beautiful work of art, that receives huge attention because of its off center camber, but is worthy of viewing even if it was never given its unique non vertical positioning. The Basilica just opposite of the tower is well worth a visit as well. Most of all it is just a fun town to visit and the kids loved the shopping in and around the piazza. I had to pull the kids away from the shops because Florence was next on the list and offers some great shopping as well.
Besides shopping, Florence offers some of the finest art works in all of Italy and perhaps the world. The Uffici Gallery is filled to the brim with all of the masters of both stone and brush, and Galleria de Academia holds the David and the prisoners by Michelangelo, as well as rooms of other wonderful works not to be missed. There are many other galleries across this great city but the buildings are calling for my attention. The Duomo is the beautiful red dome dominating the Florence sky, which calls to you from all corners of the town. The Basilica is one of the most ornate and beautifully decorated buildings in Italy and holds its own with Saint Peters at the Vatican and Saint Marks in Venice. Aside from the Duomo, there are several other great Basilicas to visit while in town. The hardest part of any tour to Florence is not getting glazed eyes from staring at all of the beauty around you. It is easy to miss some fabulous buildings when running from one masterpiece to the next. Along many side streets are incredible buildings with ornate details and wonderfully decorated walls and ceilings that go completely undiscovered mainly because of all of the top rated stuff. The same is true of statues and reliefs. While the crowds are running to the masters, there are sometimes far more stunning pieces by lesser artists that get little to no attention mostly due to the critics and guide books directing our attention to the masters. What I am saying is that there are so many incredible pieces that many get passed up without notice. I think all of the lesser pieces should be moved to my house where they would be admired every day.
Florence is to art as Venice is to Architecture. Now this is a place that gives equal attention to all of its buildings. But here I am again exercising adjectives normally reserved only for Paris fashion runways. I said I would try to keep the building talk to a minimum and true to my word I will not mention anything else about these timeless beauties for the rest of this Blog.
Venice was the highlight of our trip because we had my sister visiting with us as well as our dear friends from Arizona, the Covells. Yes we toured the B things and looked at the art stuff, but best of all we spent our sunny afternoons just strolling the streets and making small talk in a town of timeless beauty. We took a vaporetti to Murano, caught a glass blowing show and did some aimless meandering down dead end streets. I vowed to spend some stupid money on a gondola ride, and we found a gondolier we liked. We wandered off to get some lunch and never returned to take the ride, something I now regret. All of the motorized watercraft were banned from the canals after two in the afternoon due to a special parade and rowing race scheduled for the afternoon. It is a rare occasion when the canals are smooth and quiet, and we let this opportunity slip away. We had a nice Italian dinner with our friends and family, a fitting end to our time in Venice.
The following morning we dropped Sioux at the airport and said our goodbyes. She hated to leave, almost as much as we hated to see her go. It was great to be able to spend nearly a month with my sister, where work and the daily grind of life was not a competing issue on our time together. From Venice, we headed to Milan where we sampled the city, and made plans to see the rest of Western Europe.
