Letter from fair Florence

I recently had the extreme pleasure of visiting the always lovely but overrun with English-speaking tourists mecca, otherwise known as Florence.  I confess, I hate to type that word about as much as typing Turin – Why, oh why, can’t we just use the Italian proper names for places?  It would make finding the correct train track and eventual stop so much easier for first-time visitors.  In any case, I found Florence’s young and remarkably pragmatic Mayor busily turning Florence into one huge gorgeous amusement park (sort of the antithesis of the American dress-down / eat-more versions, although I wouldn’t be surprised to find those gondolas zipping tourists from the rail station to the statue of David and across the Arno before long), making a marvelous Pedestrian Mall out of nearly every place with a piazza attached. 

A new sight to drink in in Florence

As if pissing off the taxi drivers wasn’t enough, in his far-reaching vision, the City also erected in Piazza Signoria a small little black hut that most certainly has city center retailers turning red.  Like the entrèe of the Reach™ toothbrush with its black packaging into the all-white pharmacy marketplace, this little black hut is a game changer indeed.  You can walk up and be handed clear water, still or sparkling, bubbling right up there on the premises – for free.  As the Mayor put it, (and as reported in The Florentine, an excellent English-language newspaper , but I paraphrase), 

“It’s high time tourists are no longer regarded as pigs to skin – selling small plastic bottles of water for €3 each ($4.50).  We’ll be saving on plastic, garbage pickup, and finally give tourists back something from the city."  

It’s an excellent start, despite the bickering about the aesthetics, and has by some accounts already saved 60000 bottles in its first week of operation.  I expect the hut to be burned down or reports stating the acqua is tainted to come out shortly, but in the meantime, Publiacqua has planted a shiny new bright yellow hut in nearby Prato.

They can afford to give the water away for free, because Florence is about to follow the footsteps of Rome in shaking down the unwary tourist with its “Tourist Tax.”  Since it was found not to hinder arrivals in Rome, nearly every city across the country is about to employ their own.  Again, our Mayor states, “Better this than taxing the residents.”  Great.  At least I believe that in Florence, unlike in Rome, the monies may actually go to improving some tourist services.  But, when they start to reiterate that, “Tourists are finally contributing to trash collection and other services they use,” I go apoplectic.  This is simply a bald-faced lie, my reasons for which you can read about here (click on grey area).  

Italians are loathe to charge ‘ticket entrances’ to their fair cities, for fear it will turn the country into one big amusement park, but here we are.  Look out Paris Disney.  We already have centurions walking all around Rome, just like Mickey & Pluto, photo opps with Lorenzo De Medici or Leonardo can’t be too far behind.

Tante Belle Cose - June in Italy

The month of June kicks off the enormous amount of summer concert series, events, outside cinema, and entire tent cities offering food & drinks, literature, gifts, you name it for all those on summer strolls.  As the Italians like to say, "You have an embarrassment of choice." But there are other lesser known items in the news that give us reason for applause.

• Mario Draghi was plucked to head the European Central Bank which shows how far Italians could go if they lived in a proper meritocracy (although how he got to the upper echelons of Italy's banking system in the first place remains to be seen).

• Italy's esteemed President, Giorgio Napolitano received an honorary law degree from Oxford (I know, I know, Italy has a President??!!)

• Neopolitan police caught the guys who killed the American cruise ship passenger for his watch - putting yet another nail in the coffin in the tourism coffers of this besieged city

• Italians formed a committee requesting the return to Florence of Leonardo's Mona Lisa  [and, in a non-related incident, we were told of a quip by Italy's Minister of Culture upon meeting his counterpart in France:   

It is said we possess more art in Italy than in all of France to wit the Frenchman responded, That may be true, but you'd have even more if it weren't for Napoleon (who pillaged Italy by "purchasing" much of the contents of the Louvre)

• And the Florentines disowned themselves from the gutter cast members of Jersey Shore, filming there for the summer (good to see that the Florentines have good taste - but, how many tune into Big Brother?)

Article here in Life in Italy

• Vogue Italy showed off gorgeous Italian women in all their curvy splendor...Could it be that the age of Sofia and Anna Magnani is making a comeback? 

click on grey areas for links to full stories

What's Wrong with this Picture II ?

There's been a huge tempest brewing in the internet teapot since last week, when Italy's Partito Democratico (the left and opposition party to Berlusconi's) launched their annual outdoor festival in Rome.  Women's groups were incensed to find the woman depicted headless & as a hot pair of legs, alà Marilyn Monroe, next to the businessman of the day, smiling and fully attired, in a necktie no less.

The Winds of Change

After women's groups started protesting, the PD answered the resulting polemic with their own - incredible - response:

The ad simply depicts a familiar icon and showing a pair of legs doesn't damage the image of women in the least.

They seemed to have forgotten that Marilyn is an icon for about 40% of the population - the heterosexual men amongst themselves...


As for me, while I'm heartened that women are finally taking note and speaking up, I take a more guerrilla approach: 

I find every single poster plastered by the politicos all across the country sexist - since they contain only all-male names running for offices, championing causes, speaking at conventions, rallying the crowds.  

Until the men release the women from their invisibility cloak burkhas (and not in the Berlusconi sense), it's still 'No Country for Women' - young or old.


What do you think?  Sexist?  Fun? Effective?

Hot Time-Summer in the City

Each June, Italy pulls out all the stops when it comes to providing the plebes with ‘panem et circensis’ and seriously, there’s no better place to be in terms of backdrops for your sensational events.  New York in the summer means concerts & Shakespeare in the park, street artists, picnics in Central Park.  But the boot – well, ‘lo fa la scarpa’ – meaning, gives it a run for its money as well…It’s as if the entire boot will burst its laces so full up with cool events for all and sundry.  Following is a brief recap of my last few weeks, with some ideas of what to look for should you be looking for fun in the sun.

My month really kicked in when the pool opened in Monteleone.  Life in the Lazio environs is filled with much more than lazy days under the olive trees.  Farmers markets (where, near Rieti you can buy a goat or sheep if they happen to catch your fancy), horseback riding, and “Sagre” fêting every type of food across every tiny town (mushrooms, pasta, sausage, you name it --one of my favorites, 'Sagra of the Spaghetti all'Amatriciana, held fittingly in its birthplace, Amatrice) keep everyone sated yet always hungry for more.  In Rome, the pool near the Colosseum opened in the “All’ombra del Colosseo” in a place that at night turns into a cabaret, music fest, and bar area as well.

While at the Colosseum, I treated friends & relatives to the Rome Rewind show nearby, but this summer's highlight is the show on Nero – while plans are underway for its restoration, sponsored by the Todd’s shoe company.  On Rome's Isola Tiberina, you can catch an outdoor movie, have drinks on bean bag chairs, or listen to music here and there – come autumn, you will truly miss nights out with the river roaring by you.

We held our Professional Woman’s Assoc year end party on the terraces of what will now host The Wine Club at via Veneto's Hotel Baglioni.  The view is something to behold as you enter, but elsewhere on the terrace, you lose the views completely.  I didn’t really care as I was busy cutting the immense sacher torte having been voted ‘Woman of the Year’! 

Dinners out under the stars have taken me to a few terrific places (see my last post for my fish extravaganza), but one of my favorites still remains the terrace of the Galleria d’Arte Moderna  (near Villa Borghese).  Other terraces worth the hefty price tags include the rooftop of the Hotel 47 (right by the Bocca della Verità), the top of the Hotel Minerva (Pantheon), and the Wine Academy overlooking the Spanish Steps run by the nearby Hassler Hotel. 

As for the most magnificent terrace of all, but whose views you should take in on a full stomach as the food offering is crummy at best, is on the Castel Sant’Angelo.  Summers there used to mean music, night life, comedians, jugglers, cabaret, and fun for kids…It unfortunately proved to be too excellent an enterprise and was put to an end last year for no apparent reason [Reason given: wear & tear on the monument but alas 6 months later there was talk of turning it into a gigantic theme park so go figure].  
Hot off the press: The Castle will be open on Saturday nights (like many Roman museums until 1am, with Tuesdays & Sundays openings of hidden places (like the dungeons), and Wednesdays & Sundays, readings, music, & theatre taking place.

A quick jaunt to Florence brought me to enjoy the New York University's Villa La Pietra campus year end affair, including a theatrical performance in the gardens followed by a buffet and concert by Italy’s most talented jazz pianist, Marco Fumo, playing a repertoire of all the Scott Joplin greats (& more).  Set in a grotto and overlooking all of Florence, it just couldn’t get better than that.

That is, until I found myself racing back to Rome to attend the inauguration of the site that once seated the Temple of Hercules in Tivoli.  We were treated to a video reconstruction of the site brought to us by Piero Angela, my favorite TV presenter for all things ancient, a musical ensemble of Tarantella while we (tried) to eat – the catering dis-organization left a lousy taste in your mouth – followed by a concert by one of Italy’s top folklore guitarists, Eugenio Bennato.  All with a stunning view of all of Rome and Lazio below, and a sunset that seemed to have been carried across by Mercury himself.

The night after, we had to go one better - so ran with friends down to the Pino Daniele – Eric Clapton concert in lovely Salerno.  Welcomed into the stands by the locals, listening to thousands sing along or chanting PI-NO! and going wild over Clapton’s “Cocaine”, pretty soon we were all dancing, passing beers, and having a generally excellent time.  Staying just outside of Naples, we recovered with a day at the beach and the southern hospitality of friends who fed us a perfect leisurely lunch at – 3pm!

Next up:  Fourth of July celebrations, the magnificent fireworks displays of the Feast Day of Rome's Patron Saints, Peter & Paul (June 29th) and in Venice, the Redentore, and of course Umbria Jazz in Perugia.  Music festivals, outdoor jazz concerts in Villa Celemontana,  the Casa del Jazz, Villa Ada (world music), and pretty much every other park across the country.

If my summer keeps going at this pace I don’t know if I’ll make it to the fall. 

What's Wrong with this Picture?

I recently came across the official website of the City of Monreale, a sort of suburb of Palermo, Sicily.  Although we're in the deep south, I was still amazed at the women's participation in local politics, or lack thereof as the case may be.  Down in Sicily, even the mafia has more women heads at the helm of the 'family'.  

It's a scene played out in Rome, Bari, heck probably most of America's south as well.  Review the names, and you'll find that the (two) women come at the very end, as a sort of after-thought. So much so, they're represented by little mini-men as well (although if we asked about it, we'd probably be told it was for the sake of equality).  Or perhaps we'd be told it was deliberate so the site wouldn't look like the doors to the office restrooms.  

Call me a simpleton, but what seems to behoove all of these well-paid politicos from Trapani to Trieste (and over to Texas & Tennessee as well), is that, the dishes are pretty much done, cleaned up and put away on the success of enterprises, organizations, communities, and even entire nations. The simple notion that   When women are involved truly in the process, things improve for all involved (and not just their cronies).  

Every day, we hear politicians and businessmen drone on and on, up & down the boot while wringing their hands as to how to keep Italy competitive on the world scene.  

Stop showing us the same old picture. That's how.

Fish on Fridays - Roman Style

Every Friday, the gourmet shoppe on the corner posts a charming sign, Oggi Ceci & Baccalà - just one of those sweet reminders that you're still in the 'Old Country' despite the SUVs, the Happy Hours, the kids on Ecstasy and other imported accoutrements that remind you of home.  And while I've never eaten the cod from my local deli (I tend to save it for forays into Venice whereby I eat it 'til my gills burst), I must say, when it comes to imbibing in invertebrates, the Romans really know how to do it.  


After having an outstanding meal including a simple plate of sea bream covered in salt at Il Gabriello (near the Spanish Steps), I can tell you that all of the diners were thrilled with their respective fishes in the dishes as well.  The locale is charming, in an ancient Osteria (sort of a wine cellar), the staff outstanding as the use pet rocks to indicate (I surmised) what course you were waiting for, and you were surrounded by artworks.  Lone businessmen, couples and large tables were treated to plate after plate of some of the best food I've ever seen served [the place is small and tables quite smartly arranged within, so you could pretty much see what was going down the aisle without trying too hard].  And dining surrounded by artworks by one of the sons of the original owner, who goes by B.Zarro.  Reservations a must.


My usual favorite has always been Pierluigi's down via Monserrato near Palazzo Farnese.  The fish from front to finish is exceptional.  I personally love the Catalan dish (shrimp, tomato, potato-they add calamari as well), followed by an exquisitely prepared Rombo [translating fish names is not one of my specialties - no matter what you're eating, in my book, fish=fish] or Turbot.  The problem is, while the wait staff could not be more efficient, attentive, and just plain charming, when Pierluigi expanded with a zillion tables  out into the even more charming piazzetta, they seemed to have forgotten to tell the kitchen staff that they would be serving 300 more people a night.  So, a 90 min. wait for that fish to fry is not unusual.  Again, if you want to eat at prime Roman time (8:30pm to 10pm), reservations a must.


There are other places around, with fish flowing out of the storefront windows.  I simply haven't gone there.  But, another 'eating adventure' is a tiny Osteria in Trastevere, called Il Gensola.  Elbow to elbow with the other diners, the fish was outstanding - and we had ordered most of it uncooked.  Diners are packed in there tight as sardines, so it's a place I prefer to frequent in winter.


Please let me know where you like to go when things start to get fishy...

Hilarious Italian Names

While comedians were having a wild Bacchanal over the gift from the gods of the Weiner-Penis scandal, I couldn't help but think of one thing:  How is it that this guy went through life - especially elementary school and college - with that last name?  I always thought that Americans were very quick to change 'inconvenient' last names, especially if it was a bit embarrassing, like Pork or Hamburger or Hardon or something of that nature.  
I suppose based on the sexting (after all, isn't a picture worth a thousand words?), Weiner was clearly proud of his family name (as well as the family jewels) and wanted to 'uphold' the brand, so to speak.


I have always gotten a big kick out of the last names you come across in Italy.  In Italy, up until very very recently, and I'm quite certain in most city offices it's still not allowed, you couldn't change your name if you were armed with a Papal decree to do so.  While I've almost never come across truly embarrassing last names (the Italians clearly since time began have always kept in check their Bella Figura), you still happen upon names that never fail to put a smile on your face.


My coworkers and I used to keep a running list whenever we met a client that had one of those.  What I wouldn't give to have it now.  

Buongiorno

Mangiapane   Mr. Eatbread

Bevilacqua    Mrs. Drinkwater

Bugiardini     Little liars

Poverelli      Poor little souls
Malinconico  Melancholic

Inganno        Trickster

Tagliabue     Ox-cutter
Quattrocchi     Four-eyes

Culetto        Little ass

Bastardo
Amore
Scopacasa   Sweep house

You also come across cities that give you a chuckle, like Bastardo (Umbria) or Scopa (Screw or Sweep, near Milan), or Malpensa (Ill-thought) - one place in which I for one wouldn't want to live...

What are they putting in the drinking water in this town?A friend was tickled pink to come across this doorbell listing: 
Frega = Rip-Off | Felici = Happy | Troiani = Trojans or Whores 
[so now we know why condoms are named Trojans]

You can find another enjoyable listing here, replete with photos (just click on 'listing here') but in any case, feel free to add to mine in the comments below!

More on Italian last names - Click here