Some Italian news highlights from around…
Word to the wise: If you’ve got a First Century BC Roman funerary monument, chances are tough you’ll have a hard time selling it - even if you hack it up into pieces - on the black market.
Italy’s highest court ruled last week that soccer isn’t too rough for kids to play. Apparently they haven’t seen the many videos of the sport’s newest move.
I imagine it would be hard to pierce the earth in much of Italy without hitting something of historic and/or archaeological significance. A new dig in Puglia has uncovered prehistoric fertility rite temples.
The Ferrari 60 Relay began this week in Abu Dhabi, and “will involve the participation of over 10,000 Ferrari owners and fans who will be driving a vast array of Ferrari models from the past six decades.” If the husband owned a Ferrari (alas, not yet), he’d be all over this one.
Italy’s top wines are going on a tour of the United States. I wonder what the groupies will look like.
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When I first visited Florence in 2001, I remember seeing a gigantic menu outside what was supposed to be the best gelateria in the city. The list of flavors included carrot and avocado, and I was very disappointed to see that neither flavor was on offer during our stay in Florence. Apparently that list was just about the flavors they could make, or have made, but not the ones they regularly make. Hrmph. I still think carrot and avocado would make lovely gelato - both have a sweetness to them, so it’s not such a stretch to me that they could be dessert (carrot cake, anyone?). And this is coming from a girl who thinks buttered popcorn is not an appropriate flavor for a jelly bean, thank you very much.
Though I didn’t get carrot or avocado, I did eat a ton of gelato on that first trip. A friend of mine who lives in Italy says it’s a rule that you have to eat two scoops of gelato every day. Now, she’s an American expat who’s been living in Italy for several years, and I think this is her rule rather than a rule, but I like it. Here’s the list of gelato flavors I tried in that 16-day trip in 2001:
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For my trip to Italy last September, Bologna was on the itinerary from the get-go. The reasons for this were twofold - for one thing, it’s the sister city to Portland, where I live, and I thought that was cool. The other reason is that it’s the heart of the food region of what I consider to be “the” food country, and the husband is something of an amateur chef. The man had to worship at the church, if you will, of parmigiano-reggiano.
The immediate problem, however, was that Bologna isn’t a tourist city - it’s a business center and university town, which meant the hotel “deals” were few and far between. Most of the decently-priced hotels were near the city’s exhibition center - perfectly placed for business travelers, less than ideal for tourists who wanted to walk everywhere. I finally found a hotel that looked perfect for us, and it turned out to be excellent.
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Anyone who thinks the American political system is confusing is warned to not even attempt to figure out the Italian political system. (”System” might be a bit of a strong word to use there.) The husband actually did a bit of research into the whole process for an Italian class last year - I’ll try to get the electronic file from him to post it at a later date.
On the surface, it doesn’t seem like Italian elections would be so different from any other - they’re electing members to Parliament, they’re electing a Prime Minister. Sounds familiar, right? So far, it is relatively familiar. It’s when we start talking about Italian political parties that my eyes glaze over. There are political coalitions which form, but there are so many political parties within those coalitions that I’m convinced some of them are populated by only the members of one household. Each party has its own insignia, like the daisy at left, so the list of parties can be quite colorful.
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I’m sure some pet owners are content to leave their dogs and cats with family or friends in their home country rather than deal with the hassle of getting the furry creatures to a new home abroad. For the husband and I, that’s not an option. Our three (yes, three) cats are family, and if we move to Italy, they’re coming with us. Whether they like it or not. (That’s the eldest, Jasmine, at the left - keeping me company as I write for the Italy Logue.)
The husband found a couple websites for
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Last September we visited our friends in the north of Italy, and one day as we walked across a bridge in the town of Bassano del Grappa we heard music. Accordion music, to be exact. Maybe it’s cliche, but it made us turn to see what was going on. Shortly the accordion player was joined by a chorus of locals who, passing by on their walk home, stopped to sing along. It must have been a well-known song, because by the time I remembered to get out the camera, the accordion player was no longer visible.
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I’m going to acknowledge right up front that I’m completely biased here, but I think Italy is the food and fashion capital of the world (not necessarily in that order). While I can talk with some authority about food, in that I eat it pretty much every day, I’m not exactly a fashion expert. I know what I like, but that’s the extent of it. And frankly, most of the stuff that trots down runways is so over-the-top that no one would wear it (the secret is that most of the time, no one is actually meant to wear it). I think I’m going to have to take some crash course in fashion if the husband and I make it to Italy, especially if we end up in/near Milan…
In the meantime, here are a few fashion-related news snippets I found out and about:
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Want to see an Italian Formula 1 car in action, but don’t want to pay the high ticket prices at Monza or San Marino? Head to the Ferrari test track outside Bologna.
The husband went to Monza in 2004 and had a glorious time (Ferrari was first and second on the day, so the Italians were deliriously happy), but last year he decided not to repeat that trip. Instead, he got lucky - during our stay in Bologna, he read in the Italian sports daily that the Ferrari would be testing at the test track near the factory and museum in Maranello. We’d been to the museum in 2004, and seen where the track was, but nothing was going on then so we didn’t stay. This time was different.
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While the people I’ve talked to have divided opinions about Milan, it’s undeniably a tourist destination for at least some of the people who visit Italy every year. The main sites people want to see are La Scala (especially if you’re an opera buff), the Duomo and da Vinci’s The Last Supper. The first two are easy to see - but to get in to see Leonardo’s fading masterpiece, you’ll need a reservation. And those are hard to come by.
First, some history:
In the refectory of the domenican convent adjoining the church of Santa …
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Traveling in Italy on a budget used to be a breeze. When I first visited the country in 2001, the lira was still the currency, and I felt like I’d have to work pretty hard to spend a fortune on food and hotels. Even the trinkets I came home with were much less costly than I’d anticipated. The only thing I remember wanting that cost more than I was willing to spend was a giant ceramic urn, the kind that was once used for transporting olive oil. Of course, it also would never have fit in the overhead compartment, either.
Since Italy converted to the Euro, and since the dollar sucks against pretty much every other currency in the world, it’s become more of a luxury to visit Il Bel Paese, especially if you’re sticking to the “holy trinity” of Venice, Florence and Rome. Here are a few tips to enjoying the best of Italy without breaking the bank (and don’t forget to read up on how to save on airfare to Italy, too!):
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