Italy's Taxis-What's Wrong with this Picture?

I know there's a joke in there somewhere...about how you can spot a tourist on the streets of Italy.  In the old days, it was the awful way they dressed, but now everyone has co-opted the ridiculously casual-everyday-look.  The elderly still stick out like sore thumbs, usually due to their dove white skin vis-a-vis Italy's elderly, who are more likely soaking up the rays at their beach house.  Men with socks in their sandals are still a dead giveaway. Living in Rome, the tourists are, of course, the ones on pretty much every street corner looking with some bewilderment at their maps.  So, aside from those, how else can you tell the tourists?  Ah yes...they are the ones on every street waving their arms frantically...at the sea of white taxis whizzing by them.  
That's because, in Italy, like in many other countries, you have to call a cab by name.  Or, you need to head over to the spots where the taxis are beached and catch your cab.  They're easy to spot, because there are dozens upon dozens of these white elephants lounging as if they have just had their mid-day snack in the Bush. A few blocks away, dozens of people are busying themselves waving their arms as if trying to keep away a swarm of bees.  
There are plenty of sites dealing with the dilemma of taking taxis in Italy, and I've listed some tips in the Caveat Emptor section on my Travel Tips Page on my official blog.  Rome was recently voted the worst place in Europe for getting ripped off by taxis, but generally, that has not been my experience.  And besides...it would seem that Naples wasn't in the running, or most people just don't bother with the Naples taxis in the first place - which is a very good thing.  As for the Roman taxi drivers, they're way nicer than those chip-on-the-shoulder Milanese ones but then again, the Milanese never ever refuse a doggie passenger.  In that business capital of Italy, they know a customer when they see one.

Picture from http://www.mollicone.it
Italian Taxis wait for a fare

But what to this day still never ceases to amaze me is the standstill of the Roman cabbies.  They cite the cost of gas, which I can understand, although they pay less than the rest of us.  It's also by law that they can only pick up at the cab stands, so there is that to contend with as well.  But, every time I see them amassed there, swapping stories, reading newspapers, while the vast majority would rather hop in a cab than wait upwards of 30 mins for a bus ride, it just makes me wince.  

Picture from http://www.vostrisoldi.it
New York City cabbies - always on the move

With the tough economic situation in Italy, taxi drivers continue to plead poverty while waging mass protests until they can up the cost of a ride.  My Econ 101 Professor taught me that, actually, they needed to lower the price to attract the passengers.  
I don't know how one could ever break the literal standstill of Italy's taxis without suffering politically, but just once -- I would love to take the whole cabbie union on a field trip to New York City.  Heck, we don't even have to go that far.  Barcelona or Màlaga would do.  Finally, they could see firsthand what a dynamic day they could be having in their aerodynamic vehicles, whisking people here, there and everywhere--instead of using their time to catch up on the news and soccer scores.
And just think--tourists would love it, because then, not only would they no longer need to wave their arms in the feeble attempt to catch a cabbie's attention, they'd finally blend right in with everyone else on the sidewalk.

Who is stealing the great statues of Italy?

Which could be the title of a fabulous upcoming film.  It seems that the economic crisis  has brought out the worst in people, and now those nefarious thieves have set their sights on statues and churches (that is, if you believe the papers) --They have always had their sights on statues and churches, just check out the number of headless statues there are around town (or in the world's top museums, for that matter.)  A stunning Raphael now in the Galleria Borghese was made when another scene was purloined from the church who had commissioned it.
In any case, there seems to be a lot of heists these days - this jury's still out on whether it's that they're just getting reported more, or if it's something to be truly worried about.  [Although, given how hard it is to actually sell a piece of fine art on the open market, you might want to pull off an amazing heist right out of Hollywood like the recent one in which the thieves overturned a truck, stopped a truck filled with money, setting off smokebombs - and escaping by helicopter with millions].
So, here's a quick rundown on statue stealing in just the first few months of 2013 -- But, if you are to judge by what they've taken, actually, thieves need a quick course in Art History 101:

• ROME - The beheading of one of Rome's 'Talking Statues' was probably an attempt to silence our Magistrate or Abbot Luigi.  He held fort in a small garden next to the centrally located (and busy) Basilica of Sant'Andrea delle Valle.  He was even fenced in of late due to restoration works.  But, why the confusion of identity?  Because he had already lost his head a few other times in the past.  The one they took was a 1800s copy (not of original head) and probably not worth so much either. 
• In Lipari, an island off the coast of Sicily, someone had the audacity to take the Madonna Addolorata's earrings, pin and ampules from the Church of Santa Margherita.  While valuable, they left other, more valuable pieces behind.  One man was quoted as hoping his Saint is a punitive one at that. 
• In Varese, it was all the gold off the Madonna of the Rosary and in Crema in the north, they made off with her rosary, ex voto, and rings.
• In Brindisi, they took off with the Madonna Addolorata's crown and her knife - but turns out, these were made in shiny bronze.  Her golden ornaments are sewed onto her robes and were left behind.
  
  • While I don't condone any of this, my favorite caper was from this statue here, in Latina.  Not being a Madonna, what do you think they made off with?  The bronze spectacles.
  
  Another commented dryly..."Who knows what they'll use them for - though I know what I'd use them for... "
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Italian Art History-A comic look as it goes up in smoke

I just completed the Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue, which given its sheer density, is probably why I haven't posted in awhile...In it, was a beautiful portrait of the life of many movie greats, including Sophia Loren.  Although I was familiar with most of what was written (clearly VFs valiant attempt to educate the Generation Xers and uninitiated), I was surprised to learn that she started out working for Sogno, a popular publisher of photo-novels comic strips, a sort of print soap opera series, or what the Italians call, fumetti.  I often relish in the Italian language and its magnificent array of words to convey ideas, and this term didn't fail to please:  What we in English refer to as the 'bubbles' where the words appear, actually look like puffs of smoke = fumo.  Thus, fumetti.

They also are commonly called vignette while in English, we call them cartoons.  If you go to Wikipedia, you will see black on white, the demotion of the lovely cartoons over the course of the centuries.  I was bemused by the preparatory sketches for the huge tapestries hanging in the Palazzo Doria in Genova (Genoa) when I first laid eyes on them.  I was told these carbon drawings on basically packing paper were called cartoons.  If it weren't for the artist's ability, it did remind me of a 4th grade class project, when we'd all crowd on the floor in order to make a huge battle scene on brown paper stretching across the room.  Although the figures are crowded in much the same way as I recall my classmates and I drawing, clearly Michelangelo knew what he was doing with this preparatory sketch for a chapel fresco in the Vatican.      Picture from: 
http://diversirobi.weebly.com/galleria-nazcapodimonte.html

I can't find in my search for the etymology of cartoons how we took such a leap from the gorgeous preparatory sketches of masterworks to the annals of Peanuts in the space of just 500 years or so, give or take a century or two.  But I'm sure it had much to do with the carbon pencil sketches used, and the points to make sure the perspective would work on a chapel ceiling as well as in a 1 inch square drawing.  To think that when Mr. Walt Disney showed up in Hollywood with his simple mouse drawings under his arm, he was just following in the footsteps of his multi-talented artistic forebears, like Raphael and Leonardo. No wonder Americans treat a visit to Disneyland like the holy place that is the Sistine Chapel.
In any case, we have now compliments of The New Yorker, come full circle.  We live in a time where we laud the creative geniuses giving us the comics of the day [I myself am a huge fan of Italian satirical cartoonists, even dedicating an entire blog page to my wonderful book illustrator, Gianfalco].  On their pages they combine the talented artist with the tongue-in-cheek cartoonist, check out the tribute to (and by) the inimitable Ed Fisher, who recently passed away.  His vignette perfectly sums up the devolution - or, evolution, depending how you look at it - of the humble cartoon: 

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/cartoonists/2013/04/in-memoriam-ed-fisher.html

** Check out the live links throughout the entry above, in the colored areas