Shrines Religious and Secular

It seems everywhere in Italy there are shrines - my favorite are the almost spontaneous roadside ones. They all seem to be well-maintained, with flowers, candles and offerings at each one. Most are to Mary, and some are for specific saints. I haven't taken pictures of all of them, but just a few that caught my eye or when I had my camera handy.

 Niche in the wall of the villa

In 'downtown' Castelraimondo

Saint Anthony of Padua!

San Severino

And then there is, apparently, an Italian fascination with Snow White. A lot of shops (touristy and non-) have Snow White things, but there are actual Snow White garden gnomes. And in more than one place - Castelraimondo and Capri. That seems far enough apart not to be related unless it's a bigger cult of interest. Just one question: why?

 Castelraimondo

 Capri

Weekend Part II: Southern Italy

Or, How to fit Napoli, Sorrento, Positano, Capri, and Pompeii into one weekend

We got up early to get the train to Napoli and on to Sorrento. Because of various ticket issues/lines/the Italian train system, Matt and I (with URail passes) took a different, faster train from the rest, giving us just enough time in Napoli to have a cappuccino outside of the station. I’d heard the coffee in Naples was great (particularly espresso, but it was still morning), and it was. It was a bit sketchy outside the station, confirming the other things I’d heard about Naples too. Va bene.

We continued on the Circumvesuviana train to Sorrento, and after a bit of wandering, found our hostel. I’d like to point out that the giant circle we went in (instead of the one minute walk from the station) was the only time on the trip I was not navigating. I got a map as soon as we got to the hostel. It worked out because we saw the main part of Sorrento.

Our hostel - not much room to move around, but it fit 6 of us!

 After settling in to our decent lodging we had lunch and then separated to do different things – I’d been told that Positano and the drive to it along the coast was gorgeous, so we got a group together to go. It was breathtaking in more than one way (it's a long way down those cliffs).

That wall is definitely not tall enough.

Positano was very cute once we got down the many steps, and we explored and got gelato before heading back to Sorrento on the bus to meet up with the rest for dinner.

The bus stop in Positano - a local hangout

Positano

The next morning we headed to the island Capri. A boat ride there, a boat to get to the famous Blue Grotto, a boat to get into the Blue Grotto (and yes, you had to pay for each one, including an “entrance tax” for the last one), and then we were inside. I’ll let the pictures describe the wonderful blue. The boat rowers sing snatches of Italian opera, a cacophony that echoes around the grotto in a strangely melodious way.

Wait, we have to fit through that?

After, some of us walked up (more stairs!) to the town of Capri, which is pretty and definitely designed to lure tourists’ money with all the shopping. But we continued on because we wanted to see the famous rocks at the other side of the island. Many stairs later, we had stumbled on some beautiful views and the ancient Roman Villa Jovis, but could not see THE DAMN ROCKS. Still, the walk was definitely worth it, and pretty hilarious at times. We made it back and had the Capri specialty, lemon granita, before getting on the ferry to return to Sorrento.

Sunday morning, we visited Pompeii on our way back (a convenient train stop). It was touristy and reconstructed, as I’d been told, but the few wall paintings and cast bodies that were there were incredible. The modern restaurant in the city was just a bit much. It was great to see though, and hopefully someday I’ll get to Herculaneum too. After some train travel Twister (by which I mean navigating snafus, confusion and communication), we made it back to Castelraimondo in the evening, just in time for dinner. (We eat late here, usually around 8.) First weekend: success.

Cosimo, our tour guide and the Italian version of the dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Vesuvius

Ok...

Pretty sad. There is an adoption program

Roman Holiday Part II

I wanted to subtitle this post: How Rome Can Be Built in A Day (or Night), but it seemed excessive.

This past weekend was, in a word, packed. But wonderfully so. Thursday afternoon we packed panini for the train to Rome and left after class (I’ve learned that the singular is a panino; I’ve been asking for multiple sandwiches all my life. And worse, I haven’t been getting them.) We arrived at our hotel/apartments, which were nice and not far from the Termini station. All thirteen of us travelled together, but we split up to do different things during the weekend. Thursday night we decided to do a night walk of Rome, organized by Matt, aka “Mr. King,” aka the only guy on our trip, who wanted to do his project on it. We ended up hitting a ton of sights in the city, influenced by whatever people were most interested in. Having just been there, I was ready with a map. I’ve discovered how much I like navigating and knowing where I’m going, so that was partly my role on the trip. (Matteo gets huge credit for organizing it all.)

     Hey, weren't we just here a week ago? 

              

Arch of Constantine

 

It was great to see things in the evening/at night when there were no tourists (and only a few hawkers) left. We walked all over the city, stopping for a late dinner and heading back early in the morning. The Coliseum, the Forums (beautiful at sunset), the Arch of Constantine, the Arch of Titus, Palatine Hill, Trajan’s Column, Piazza Navona, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and the Spanish Steps…all in one night. It was pretty great.

Pantheon 

Piazza della Rotunda

Piazza Navona

I loved the Trevi at one in the morning – there were still people, but most were sitting around talking and relaxing, and some had brought drinks. It seemed like a great idea that I might borrow for the last night I’m here. The Spanish Steps were empty, in contrast to when we saw them in the afternoon last week (was it only last week?).

Day

...and night.

Rome in daylight (when things are actually open) is already great, but Rome at night was wonderful.

 Trevi Fountain

Italian Escapism

I realized that I’ve mentioned a movie, book or song in pretty much every post so far. Obviously, most have to do with Italy. I went over the ones I’ve mentioned (A Room With a View, Enchanted April, Roman Holiday, Under the Tuscan Sun, Letters to Juliet, Dangerous Beauty) and I’ve concluded that I much prefer the English fantasy (and they are all fantasies) of Italy to the American one. Not much of a surprise given my news sources. In the English portrayals, Italy is a place to open up gently - “you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens.” The Americans tend to bang around until they’re hit over the head with what they’ve been looking for. I’d definitely like to watch more Italian cinema to see how they portray their own country – probably much less escapist beauty.

P.S. Quote is from e.e. cummings’ poem “somewhere i have never travelled…”

Rereading the whole thing I realized how suitable it was (and realized again how perfect a poem it is).

“nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility: whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing”

Italy: Land of Giant Lemons

We returned to the villa today after a packed weekend in the south along the coast (more on that later). I thought I'd share a few pictures of one of the most surprising and interesting things I saw there - the GIANT lemons.

They were everywhere - it seems like the Amalfi Coast area is a lot like California, with all the orange and lemon trees. They put the lemons to good use, too - limoncello, lemon granita, and lemon gelato.

Street Scenes

Milano

 

Sirmione

Verona

Venezia

Ravenna

Roma

 

So I think these pictures are worth many thousands of my words, but I thought I'd mention my favorite things about the architecture of Italy: the bright, varied colors of the buildings, the balconies and flowerboxes, the narrow cobblestone streets, the roof tiling, the history and age of everything. Often confusing to navigate, but so much fun to wander. It's very conducive to just giving up on directions (when the road name has changed five times) and just finding your way as you go, letting you get lost in looking and discovering.