Category Archives: Uncategorized
Your virtual gateway to Italy
Benvenuti! Here you will find information about Italy and all things Italian, from language instruction to Italian restaurant reviews, from Italian events in the Bay Area to travel tips, from Italian food recipes to glimpses of Italian life.
Browse our posts: they run the gamut from general culture to the history of Italian immigration, from interesting tidbits about Italian products and Italian lifestyle to fascinating historical details about places that you have never heard of. We go from big cities such as Rome and Naples to achingly beautiful mountaintop hamlets such as Dozza and Bertinoro. Brush up your Italian skills with our weekly Grammar Tidbit, or access our free online Italian Grammar, complete with pronunciation guide and most used phrases and words.
And let us hear from you. If you have an interesting story to contribute, if you have a question, if you have a compliment or (alas!) a complaint, let us know, and we will respond.
ARRIVEDERCI!
Italy in Europe
Everything Italian on one site!
Looking for Italian language instruction? Organizing a trip to Italy? What about finding the greatest Italian restaurant in the Bay Area or that ultimate recipe just like your grandma used to make? Or perhaps you spent too much time watching the game (alas!) with your buddies, and need a little Italian bauble to soothe your lovely wife’s ruffled feathers. All of these things you will find on our website. We have consolidated the contents of a couple of earlier sites to provide you with a seamless Italian experience.
Along with the new commercial elements there remains, on this site, the original focus on art, culture, and history. And we intend to grow: the ultimate aim is to provide all Italophiles of the Bay Area, and beyond, a one-stop electronic storefront that will provide intellectual stimulation alongside material possessions for gracious living. Our sister site, finestItalian.com, continues unchanged, though it, too, is slated for some enhancements.
So please come visit often, drop us a line, let us know how you feel. Buy some Italian art once in a while, or an Italian pendant for your sweetheart, or a gorgeous ceramics bowl for your holiday table. But even if you don’t, we hope to hear from you.
Mantova
Palazzo Te
The legacy of the Dukes of Mantova is most apparent today in the Palazzo Ducale, an architectural complex comprising several buildings connected by various corridors and galleries, and including internal gardens and courtyards. In the Palazzo Ducale one finds the famous Camera degli Sposi (Chamber of the Newlyweds), with frescoes by Andrea Mantegna, dedicated to Ludovico Gonzaga and to his wife Barbara of Brandenburg. Another must-see in Mantova is Palazzo Te, designed by Giulio Romano in 1525 at the behest of Federico II Gonzaga. This palace, home to Federico’s “official” lover Isabella Boschetti, was built on a small wooded island in the midst of a lake since vanished. It contains the famous Sala dei Giganti, the Sala di Amore and Psyche, and the Sala dei Cavalli (the Gonzaga horse stables were famous all over Europe at that time.) Of course the city contains many more buildings of note, both secular and religious (more about Mantova) The immense Piazza Sordello, bounded on one side by the Palazzo Ducale, is the center of the old city, reached immediately by crossing one of the bridges spanning the Mincio. Palazzo Te is at the other end of the city, presumably to keep wife and official lover as far apart as possible.
Mantova’s physical location is interesting. Sitting on the Mincio, a tributary of the Po river, it was since pre-Gonzaga days surrounded by water. This was accomplished by creating four artificial lakes around the city, for defensive purposes. Since that time one of the lakes has been eliminated, but the other three are still there, with the result that Mantova occupies a little peninsula, much like San Francisco.
The most famous self-proclaimed Mantovano is of course Virgilio, the greatest of Roman poets, author of the Aeneid, and a contemporary of Caesar, Augustus, and that whole bunch. Mantova is very proud of her illustrious son, and often honors him with exhibits, conferences, and the like. In the Aeneid Virgil gives an interesting mythical account of the founding of Mantua, which we will leave for another post.
Palazzuolo and Bertinoro
PALAZZUOLO
An enchanting borgo in the green heart of Italy, where Romagna becomes Tuscany, Palazzuolo sul Senio is a place in which to rediscover a life in contact with nature, a oasis in the midst of gently sloping mountains, far from traffic pollution and from the frenetic rhythms of city life. At Palazzuolo one can visit valleys large and small, uninhabited casolari, ruins of ancient castles and historic hamlets bathed in an atmosphere that whispers of a glorious past.
ACTIVITIES
The beautiful landscape abounds with hiking and horse trails. A leisurely walk through the borgo is an ideal way to spend a couple of hours and soak in the air of the “little Switzerland of the Appenine”. Summer evenings are animated with charming markets, musical events, culinary exhibitions and important cultural activities. In 1991 Palazzuolo won the designation of “Villaggio Ideale d’Italia”, awarded by the magazine Airone and by the CEE.
BERTINORO
Another captivating hamlet in the hills of Romagna is Bertinoro, the “land of Ruby and Gold”. A little town with an illustrious history dating back to the 4th century, it boasts a fortress in which famous guests resided for various amounts of time, including Dante, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, Cardinal Albornoz, and others. The name itself comes from the Italian verb “bere” (to drink) and the noun “oro” (gold), and it means “drinking from a golden goblet”. The Fortress still offers hospitality in 21 rooms, as does also an ancient seminary not far from the town center.
ACTIVITIES
Bertinoro is in the midst of olive oil and wine country, so a stop at some tasting establishment hidden away in the countryside is a must. Once in the village itself, a terraced restaurant offers breathtaking views of the rolling hills with manicured rows of vines and fruit trees. Across the narrow street another restaurant provides top notch typical Romagnole fare. A low-cost alternative is the neighbouring fresh pasta shop, where you can not only buy various kinds of pasta to take home, but ask them to cook you a plate right then and there and serve it to you with their excellent Bolognese ragu’.
BERTINORO AND PALAZZUOLO
Both these villages exhibit a fascinating blend of modern and traditional. The latest Fiats and Peugeots glide along the narrow cobbled streets, but in small numbers: the streets of these towns, mercifully, belong to pedestrians. Ancients doors and stone walls hide modern interiors that sport wireless connections, digital TV’s, and designer plumbing. They encapsulate, on a small the scale, the seductive paradox that is Italy.
Naples Redux
Naples’ artistic and cultural patrimony dates back two millennia, but there IS a vibrant, young Naples of music and spectacle awaiting the adventurous visitor. A place of modern entertainment, where various types of contemporary music can be enjoyed, is Galleria 19 (read: Galleria Diciannove), which is located on via San Sebastiano, in Naples’ historical center, very close to Via dei Tribunali.
As glossy and hip as any equivalent establishment in the Haight or in SoHo, Galleria 19 offers disco, contemporary pop, jazz, instrumental and vocal, often with local musicians and singers performing live. The locale, reached by going down a few steps from street level, is a remodeled old book repository, long and narrow, with the stage at the far end and a hypermodern bar along the left side. Comfortable chairs and love seats are strewn along the right side, leaving a center space for dancing. Want to rearrange the furniture to suit your group’s seating preferences? By all means forget stuffy american rules and redecorate: this is free-form Naples, where rules are kept to a minimum.
History
The ambience is a suggestive, atmospheric blend of severe ancient walls wearing the latest fashion in art and lighting. Most of the clientele, young people in their twenties and early thirties, are there in their evening best. Nowhere else in all of Naples will you see such expanses of long, stockinged female legs, ending in feet encased in pumps sporting 8-centimeter stiletto heels. As for the quintessential little black dress, this is the place to show it off, and they are little indeed. The young men do their best to keep up, in their form-fitting short coats and pants from Fusco. Definitely a feast for the eyes.
Galleria 19 was launched nine years ago by a group of young friends, among whom is Richard, an Italian-American who lived in Washington DC before settling down in Pozzuoli (a suburb of Naples) and launching the discotheque. If you get there ask for him; he’s friendly and personable, and represents an oasis of English in a sea of Italian, to mix metaphors. Which brings us to HOW you get in: before 10:00 pm don’t even bother, they will think you are an American bumpkin. If you have a car consider carefully before trying to use it to get there: this area is a ZTL (Zona a Traffico Limitato), and good luck trying to park anyhow! Your best bet is to make your way to Piazza Dante or Piazza Bellini, then to walk to via San Sebastiano number 19. Once you get there don’t look for outdoor bright lights or garish signs. The entrance is a discreet narrow doorway guarded by black-clad gladiators who screen all comers (and turn a fair number away.) To get in will cost you 5 euro (one-time membership fee), plus 10 euro for the evening, which includes one drink (ditto for your date, natch!)
So, park your jeans and sweatshirt for an evening and visit Galleria 19. You’ve seen the Tesoro di San Gennaro and San Giovanni a Carbonara in the morning, you’ve promenaded in Piazza San Domenico and had an aperitif at Scaturchio, you’ve had dinner at Palazzo Petrucci – now go ahead and help yourself to a dose of contemporary Naples. Tomorrow you’ll do Via dei Mille e Piazza dei Martiri, visit the Bourbon Tunnel, and dine at La Bersagliera – if there’s a better way to spend your days I don’t know what it is!
Dozza and Brisighella
Dozza's Painted Walls
La Valle del Senio, in Romagna, like a necklace encrusted with precious jewels, is dotted with fascinating little borghi in which history and art live side by side and which offer a glimpse of contemporary Italian life apparently immune to the demands of modernity. Two such magical places are Brisighella and Dozza.
Brisighella was founded in the 13th century by the Italian condottiere Maghinardo Pagano. The lords of Faenza began building the Rock of Brisighella a century later, which then took its final form during the lordship of Venice, in the 16th century. The borgo is formed of a labyrinth of ancient narrow streets, of which the most famous is Via degli Asini (Street of the Donkeys.) Over the town dominates the Pieve di S. Giovanni Ottavo, erected in the fifth century and enlarged between the 11th and 12th centuries. The lore of Brisighella is filled with interesting anecdotes and historical tidbits from ancient to contemporary times, and the town is perfect for leisurely walks – distances are short, the streets are well-kept, the traffic is minimal, opportunities for gelati and cappuccini abound. A local guide with detailed knowledge is available and will add immensely to the understanding of the town.
Dozza, another little artistic jewel, is only a few kilometers from Brisighella and is known for two things: one is the Rocca Sforzesca, built by Caterina Sforza in the late Quattrocento and later used as a palazzo signorile. The borgo itself is of ancient origin, probably founded by the Gauls well before the Roman conquest. The Rock is powerful, massive, and was inhabited by the descendants of the Malvezzi, lords during the Renaissance, until 1960. Today the Rock houses a museum and a sophisticated wine bar in which all manner of local wines can be tasted and purchased.
The second noteworthy thing about Dozza is the biannual festival of the Muro Dipinto (Painted Wall.) Every other year selected artists from all over Italy converge on Dozza and paint works of art on the walls of its palazzi, so that a walk through the town becomes a walk through an outdoors art gallery. Like Brisighella, Dozza offers the opportunity of a leisurely promenade with beautiful vistas across the Valle del Senio, and, above all, the opportunity to experience an Italy largely unspoiled by the influx of tourists and the pressures of modern commercialism.
Brisighella - Via degli Asini
Under the Flag at Dozza
Rocca Di Dozza
A Tale of two Ferraris
Ferrari 330GTC
)
There were more macho cars coming out of Maranello at that time, notably the much-desired 275GTB/4, and of course there had been the GTO, but none that could match the understated elegance of the GTC’s flowing lines. The green paint was a non-Ferrari color, but it was hard to take issue with its soft metallic translucence. Of course the oval grille in the front shouted FERRARI at a distance. The car was robust and non-temperamental, a perfect rebuttal to all those silly stories about the unreliability of Italian cars. I owned it for several years, then, one fateful day, probably under the influence of some alien ray that completely befuddled my brain, I traded it in.
Its successor was a 1984 308GTSi. This was the storied Quattrovalvole model, 3 liters, 8 cylinders only, choked down by aftermarket emission control equipment. In fact the early 80′s were not auspicious years for street Ferrari’s, performance-wise. It took them a while optimize their engines for the ever-stricter American EPA rules, and in the interim they simply slapped catalytic converters on existing engines, twiddled with the timing, leaned out the mixture, and voila’. But it was still every inch a Ferrari, exuding quality and performance. Best results were obtained starting in second, with a little clutch slippage, until the engine was up the torque curve a bit. I had a child in junior high school at that time, and it was fun picking her up in the 308, watching the little boys line up to ogle the car, and answering their questions. I wish each of them a Ferrari in their lives.
I no longer own Ferraris. When asked the reason why, I say I traded them in for children, which is only partly right. The truer reason is more difficult to articulate. There are phases in a man’s life, the ebbs and flows of shifting circumstances and priorities, there is the clamor of conflicting demands. There had to be a “Ferrari phase” in my life, but, having had it, having enjoyed it to the utmost, it had to naturally come to an end. Time to move on. So now I ride a Moto Guzzi Breva, an 1100cc twin built on the Lago di Como. Perhaps one day I will write about it.
Hello world!
Naples with Vesuvius
I want to tell you about a book I have just finished reading. It is called “Ancient Shore – Dispatches from Naples”. A slim, poetic, endearing little book, full of the innocence of the stranger who alights on these shores and is seduced by the Siren song of Parthenope. It is written by Shirley Hazzard. We natives are always a bit put off by, and suspicious of, such books. Basically we are unwilling to credit foreigners with the sensitivity and the expansiveness of mind required for a thorough understanding of the City and its culture.
Nevertheless, Ms Hazzard has written a lovely little book, and she is, on prima facie evidence, a lovely lady. I should be pleased and honored to offer her a cappuccino at the Gambrinus. And I am looking forward to reading her “The Bay of Noon”, the story of Jenny and Gioconda in Naples.
finestItalian
