An American in Padua

Carnival's Here

2012-01-29T15:48:00.003+01:00

Padua is showing the signs of carnival. First it was the fritelle in the pasticceria. Then crostoni at the supermarket. Now some of the windows are decorated in the theme of carnevale. I already have seen confetti being sold at the tabaccaio and decorating the city center's pavement. Do you have your costume ready?

Crystalized Cobweb

2012-01-18T13:20:00.002+01:00

Good morning Padua

We woke to a crystalized wonderland

All the fog had turned to ice and rained down on every millimeter of life

Mystery Thieves or Just Pranksters?

2012-01-05T18:45:00.004+01:00

It's the season of the Nativity and Via Coi in Cencenighe has had numerous families set up their wares and creative designs dedicated to the little Jesus in a manger, including a fishing version of the scene made by some vacationing Venetians, a distinctly water culture. See last year's post for background and photos of the nativities.

This year even more displays have dotted the historic street. But then the thieves (or rather pranksters?) struck. Two days ago, one family discovered they were missing a sheep. Another house found a random donkey on their stoop that no one knows who is the rightful owner. Yesterday a nativity was reversed and all the figurines disappeared. The nativity with the missing sheep, which then had a sign asking for some collaboration in the return on the sheep, saw a cow go missing, too. Kids are roaming the street looking for their missing ceramic and straw animals. Families are now putting their nativities somewhere safe inside the four walls of their houses.

It's sad to see what started as a spontaneous event of fun participation become threatened what is probably a few teenagers that are being stupid and trying to just peeve a few families. But now I believe that this street will not display so many manger scenes in future years. They will be afraid of possible theives. I hope I will be proved wrong.

Surprise Attention

2012-01-05T18:25:00.003+01:00

Even though I have been doing little posting lately, I am discovering more and more about my silent following of readers. They are starting to communicate with me. Some are people that I know and see but never really tell me that they read my blog, until now. Others, who perhaps followed for years, finally sent me a comment to a post that is quite old. Still others are contacting me with compliments and scholarly publishing opportunities.

It's ironic. All this after 3 years of virtually nothing.

I read other bloggers with long strings of comments after almost every post: 13, 25, 38. I am lucky if I get 1. (Thank you, my actual historic commenters!)

I know I haven't been doing the blogger-type to the best of my abilities by commenting on lots of other blogs to get new interest on my site or being listed in a million other blogs with links. settled for just a dozen. Honestly, I don't have time because I work full time in a different field other than Italian culture and tourism, perhaps a natural link to this blog's theme.

I also seem to have a different mission and tone to my blog posts. I am not always hailing the glory of the bel paese. I am not using this blog to prove to future publishers that I can write. I am not advertising another profit business, such as a B&B, or promoting a book I just published about Italy.

My blog must age to be appreciated, like wine and my favorite cheese, I guess.

I must admit that I do like getting more intelligent solicitations like the recent ones.

By the way,
Buon 2012!
Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T22:46:00.004+01:00

This time, the greetings for a Merry Christmas are coming from the US. I am here for this holiday for the first time in eight years. The lights are fantastic to see, outlining the houses and decorating trees and bushes in the suburban wonderland. I've even had the thrill of witnesses the terrific and alternatively kitsch and creative Christmas light display called Miracle at 34th Street in Baltimore, a famous local event.

My project this visit has also been to dismantle my entire studio and former bedroom for good. No more clothing remnants. No more art supplies or paintings to leave tucked in a drawer or piled on a table. This is full and total closure. It's time I do it but its finality is strong.

I am opening a new chapter of my life in Italy with a new project of remodelling being finished in the mountain house that is part of my husband's family. There is also new work scheduled for our condominium soon.

I am closing one door as another is evolving, if not opening.

The night before the Epiphany, January 5th, in some areas of Italy, you burn all the excess and symbolically the negative aspects from the previous year to get ready for the new one. The objects burn in a big bonfire. See this post as reference. In Baltimore now and several days earlier and not necessarily on a negative note, I am not burning but throwing away massive amounts of my past. Twenty year of it to be precise. May this be a good omen.

Auguri a tutti!
Merry Christmas to everyone!

Before I Hear About the Festivities

2011-11-23T18:57:00.002+01:00

I just finished a full day of work. Now I remember that tomorrow is Thanksgiving for the Americans. I am about to open up my Facebook account and I know I will see a long list of posts related to turkey, the holiday and maybe even football references.

It's strange knowing that I will work a long day tomorrow. I won't be on vacation. Thanksgiving is going to wait until Saturday at my house. (There will be turkey, some sort of cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.)

I have lived abroad for over a decade and this sensation is still strange. Knowing that people are celebrating and I am not.

This is part of the package of being an expat. On the upside, I will get my birthday off: December 8th. That's something the Americans don't celebrate unless they are Catholic. And even then, they go to work like everybody else and just go to mass in the evening.

I'll get a long weekend this year here in Italy--il ponte dell'Immaculata.

Bang Bang

2011-11-08T11:50:00.000+01:00

If you look carefully, the blood becomes bats.

Taken from a column under the porticos on Via Roma near the Tabacconist

at the beginning of the street.

My Other Project on the Blogosphere

2011-11-07T11:26:00.000+01:00

I mentioned before that I have been kept away from An American in Padua for a while because of a project that had been lurking in the corners of my TO DO list for years. Well, I started it in September. It's a blog/showcase of contemporary art in Northeast Italy called NE-ARTE.

This blog is meant to feature the art of the this part of the country for a local and international audience, being written in Italian and English. This is especially important to me since I am a contemporary artist myself, when not blogging or teaching.

I also hope to see NE-ARTE become a valid community for the region with its artists, curators, gallery owners, art collectors and enthusiasts.

If you would like to be part of its followers and/or community, please click here.

New Blog on the Block

2011-11-06T09:58:00.003+01:00

There's a new blog featuring a woman's view on the city of Padua. It's called Galline Padovane and written by Cristina, an Italian who is passionate about Padova and writes her posts in both Italian and English. The name of the blog translates as "Paduan Hens"after the special local variety that is bred in this area.

She recently featured my blog on hers at this link. (Thank you, Cristina)

Now you can get more on the scoop here in town by checking "The Hens" out!

Galline Padovane

Desperate House Cleaners

2011-11-06T09:37:00.004+01:00

While recovering from surgery, the house got progressively dirtier. F only did so much and I couldn't do anything on crutches, so I placed an ad on a local internet site for help cleaning the house: 2 hours once a week. Just enough to do some basic cleaning like vacuuming and cleaning the bathroom.

To my surprise, I got over 80 responses. The calls kept coming at all hours from early morning to evening and weekends, too. My mobile phone's battery was completely drained at the end of everyday by the sheer volume of telephone calls. The emails popped up in my box, one after another. Foreigners, Italians, women, men and girls. I got printable CVs! They were willing to drive 30 minutes to get to our house to clean for just 2 hours. They wanted to be interviewed immediately. I was absolutely shocked. Even the 45-year-old daughter of the family that lives door happened to mention that she saw the announcement, figured out that it was me, and asked for the job.

If anyone tells you that the economy is just fine here, they're wrong. There are thousands of people who are trying to make ends meet by cleaning. Young girls doing poorly-paid internships who need a little extra money. Women out of work. Mothers who wanted to do a little extra work when the kids are at school. Men who lost their jobs.

I am lucky that F and I have a job.

Fiat Fun

2011-10-24T21:17:00.002+02:00

I have bought the quintessential car: the Fiat Punto.

Get a load of my scenery.

The car's not quite so fantastic.

10 years old

but only 40,000 miles

Gotta love Italian driving

casa-bottega

=virtually no mileage

Graffiti Continues

2011-10-23T21:02:00.001+02:00

This life-size image can be found in the Ghetto on Via dell'Arco 44.

It depicts the custom of drinking heavily in this part of town, especially among the college students. Their favorite night out is Wednesday, when most of the bars, pubs and clubs have special "spritz" events dedicated to the city's most famous drink. Some get quite drunk. But overall, it's just a lot of young people in a small area of the medieval city, trying to have some fun.

I Know I've Been Away

2011-10-13T21:42:00.002+02:00

If you are still checking in, I know that I haven't posted for a long time.

Forgive me.

Here are a few updates.

The Smart car has been an experience, one that will finish on Saturday.

I am buying a "new" used car the same day.

My physical therapy continues everyday.

One hour a day.

My town started preparing for the big sagra yesterday: lights, metal frame structures are popping up all along the main road.

I still walk with a crutch.

I am back to full-time work.

I still walk up stairs with 2 feet on each step.

I have started in a new project, one that has been on the back burner for years. It's satisfying but takes away time from An American in Padua.

I can walk my dog, but only 3 houses down the street and then back home. Slowly.

The weather finally turned from hot to somewhat autumn, with night temps just about right for October.

Life has been busy.

Life marches on.

The seasons change.

I blog.

I don't blog.

I don't walk.

I walk.

Thinking of you.

Pull Out

2011-09-22T10:53:00.004+02:00

Finally the last piece from surgery has come out of my leg today. It's called a "pull-out" (Italians use this word in English) and the doctors literally pulled its 10 cm out of my leg during a visit at the hospital today. I got the green light to start putting slight weight on my left foot.

It's such a satisfying moment.

After 2 months of hopping, crawling and walking with crutches and the leg up, I can start to feel a bit more normal as I move through my world. I even walked up the steps to my condo today. Those two floors of stairs were always a marathon to do before: hopping and trying to pass up and down my spare crutch to myself as I navigated them using one crutch and one hand firmly holding onto the railing, the only safe way to do stairs I found other than on my bottom.

I will also be able to take a regular shower and get my leg wet for the first time in two months.

It's the small things that become so exciting to get back after surgery.

A Beautiful Thing on September 11, 2001

2011-09-14T19:10:00.005+02:00

Since I live abroad, I didn't get quite as much of the publicity blitz regarding the build up to the anniversary of September 11th like most Americans stateside. I may be making a comment quite late according to the calendar's date, but I didn't feel I had very much to say or offer on this blog before today.

This is the story how I found out about the tragic events:

I was in Italy the day of the horrible event and saw the smoking towers from 40 television sets that were on display in the appliance store where I was buying a cell phone in Venice that day at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. You see, I was living in that city then. It was surreal to see that "absurd" picture repeated so many times across so many screens. Then I overhead some comments by the local salesman speaking in dialect to each other and realized that the images were something that was really happening. I had already made a special Internet appointment that day at one of the city libraries offering free access. (In those days, I didn't have my own computer or personal Internet access.) I remember being so happy and horrified as I got about 30 minutes of a email conversation in almost real time with people living in the New York area. Then the lines went dead, even my internet access to them. But I knew they were safe.

I found this video documentary about a heroic underbelly of action on the part of Americans that day in 2001. Boatlift chronicles the efforts of hundreds of boatmen who spontaneously evacuated lower Manhattan Island as the twin towers were smoking and continued after they fell. The men simply wanted to help others in need.

Una riflessione sull'undici settembre

The Quest for a Non-Stick Shift

2011-09-08T17:08:00.004+02:00

I am forced to find a car to rent with an automatic transmission because I can't put any weight or pressure on my left leg for another month or more. This rental purchase has been no small feat.

The reason why I need a special car is because buses won't get me where I need to go. Even though Europe is known for better public transportation than in the US, my area is not one of the best examples of how the system should work. The Veneto consists of several small, medium and large centers that have vast areas of development between them, including residential areas and industrial parks. When you are travelling, it is really difficult to see where one city district ends and another one begins, for this reason. The people of the Veneto decided to build out and not up (like New York or even Lombardia and the example of Milan).

The problem is connecting all the dots from all of this development. The individual cities have only drafted connections going from main outskirt areas, all toward the downtown area: example--from Noventa to downtown Padua. This is fine for students who all pool into the city center area, but not often for professionals like me. I need to get from my house to the industrial area and then out to another suburban area on the other side of Padua, all on a typical work day. To do so with public transportation, I would find myself on 2 different bus lines with 2 different fees and ticket offices to get to each destination. In total at least 4 buses a day. Travel times can reach one and a half hours to go 15 miles just to get to one of these destinations. Needless to say, I cannot consider public transportation to get to work these days. But I can't drive my car either because it is a stick shift. It requires two working legs.

So began the quest for a rental to get me through my recovery period.

And do you think it's easy and reasonable to be looking for this service around here? Well, of course not. We're in Italy and just about anything other than locating great wine gets complicated.

After phoning 10 rental car agencies, I found most places with time limits of no more than a 29-day rental period. Those must be designed only with tourists in mind. Or the ones that require a long-term rental of 2 years or more, designed for company business cars. And all of them didn't have any low-end cars available with an automatic transmission. Only luxury cars like Mercedes and Audi could possibly fit my request. "Davvero?" I replied. If only I was paid more to afford a luxury car....

Why is it so impossible to find a car with a non-stick shift? I always knew it wasn't very popular here in Italy. but NOTHING? Come on!

Well, in the end I finally found and settled on a SMART car. It's the best deal I could get, while still quite expensive. I'll be picking up a black two-seater called FORTWO just 2 days after my cast comes off. People say it's really fun to drive. Maybe like a very fancy and powerful go-kart? I will finally get the thrill of driving a truly tiny European car, yet I never really was interested in that, but that's OK.

Vroom

Waning Summer

2011-09-07T10:47:00.004+02:00

It's time to get the last walks in under big green canopies of leaves. The weather is going to turn soon. For now, "Goodbye" stifling heat. We shout a welcome Arrivederci to the worst of summer's humidity.

The leaves will soon change color and fall. The Veneto fog will envelop us all come November. Let's enjoy what we still have of the soft side of late summer.

This is a view of a section of Noventa Padovana's Via Roma with its grand old trees.

Sugarpulp: Contemporary Writing Culture

2011-09-01T22:03:00.006+02:00

Two years ago, Sugarpulp was founded in Padua by a former colleague of mine. Now it's got hundreds of people behind its mission.

It's a hip, young group with a passion for reading and writing.

They're going "a bomba" (like crazy) these days.

Lexus car company has recently supported their mission by presenting this viral commercial which,

"...[produced in collaboration with Current TV] profiles people that embody the unconfined spirit of the new Lexus CT200H, people who see things differently to escape convention without compromising.

The Sugarpulp commercial features Matteo Righetto, an up-and-coming Italian novelist who successfully created in his hometown of Padova, a literary movement called Sugarpulp."

Take a look at the viral commercial (with Matteo's great, thick Italian accent) that highlights not only the literary group's mission, but also the city and countryside around Padua:

I'll soon be posting about their upcoming literary festival scheduled for the end of the month and featuring an international (and rather American) roster of names.

Sugarpulp's website

Finished Cork Plate Debut

2011-08-30T16:27:00.004+02:00

Well I finished that cork plate project. After writing a post about how hard it was to find real corks these days, even in Italy, the original gift-giver sent me another package from the states. This time it was full of corks her friend saved, including French and South American wines.

Although I cheated myself out of authentically showing only my own history of wine bottles that had passed through the house in my life with F, I do have a completed project in much less time.

It's definitely one big hot plate. For now, I have it hanging on the kitchen wall.

Italian Life in a Leg Cast

2011-08-28T19:29:00.004+02:00

It's been 24 days since my operation. My stitches were taken out yesterday. The doctor says that everything is proceeding well. I still have two more weeks of life in a cast and another 25 days after that of life being every step=1 leg + 2 crutches. I'm at that horrible halfway point. I look back and say, "That was boring," or, "That was difficult." Now I have more of the same to look forward to.

I spent just under 3 weeks trapped in a house with a beautiful view. I spent the longest time ever of my personal history in the mountains with sunny weather, yet crippled. I watched the sun rise and set in a hot blue sky everyday except for two. Meanwhile I could only watch the good weather from the terrace. Sunbathing was the best I could do to enjoy the great weather. Now I have a tan only on my arms, chest and tummy: the classic sunning chair position.

This year's experience was especially ironic because I have been coming to this location in the Dolomites in August for a decade and this was the first year that it didn't rain for at least 60% of the vacation. Some years, the percentage hit 90%. Instead it was sunny EVERYDAY this time. It rained a couple of times, but it was either sunny before or after the storm.

Leaving that house proved extremely tricky and tiring because of the street outside. The house is located in the oldest part of town and has a narrow and steep walkway that is several yards up or down from the nearest parking area. It's part of the charm, but you always have to walk it. In snow. In ice. On crutches. Even as the mountain climber I have become in recent years, I was huffing and puffing after short distances of navigating the stone walkway carefully and very physically with crutches.

A view of the stone walkway accessing several houses in the Dolomite region

In total, after almost 3 weeks, I left the house 5 times.

Streets like this one are part of the marvel of Italy, but prove potentially hazardous when you are not physcially fit. It's why the bel paese is una sfida (a challenge) for anyone who is handicapped. I am lucky this condition is only temporary.

But do not dispair. If you do find that you have handicapped concerns while travelling in Italy, read this Slow Travel article for insight and useful links. As the author says, it's possible but you need patience and a good sense of humor. (I wish I had some of that right now.)

Currently I am back in Padua where the terrain is flat. My new challenge is accessing my condo which is a 2-floor walk-up.

"Me"

2011-08-26T14:44:00.004+02:00

I'm going to be extremely dangerous tomorrow.

I am going to be threat to the USA.

Am I a terrorist?

No, I am a hurricane.

But I am also Irene, your blogger, sweating through a Padua heatwave.

Over the past few days, as weather channels and services all across my home country announce the developments of a hurricane given my name, I have been steadily contacted by many friends and family. Some of them are facing what could be a disaster.

Here's a call in the hopes that "my" hurricane won't devastate another part of the country, USA, which is already suffering from severe draught and unprecedented Mississippi flooding this year. But looking at these forecasts, the outlook doesn't seem so nice.

Meanwhile in Padua, we have blazing sun that will continue through at least tomorrow. For our weather, click here.

Photo sources : Nasa and The Weather Channel

Have a Nice Vacation

2011-08-15T13:31:00.003+02:00

And vacation it is!

Italy is officially on vacation. Today, Ferragosto, is the day when all Italians "should" be on vacation. And most of them are. Either at the beach (70%), in the mountains (15,7%) or in some foreign place, the USA being on their favorite destinations in recent years (10%). (The strong Euro against the dollar makes their US vacations cost-effective.) 33 million Italians are on vacation this summer, which is 55% of the population.

Some things have changed from last year. The average cost has come down Euro 100 to Euro 776, including room and board, transportation and entertainment. The average length of

the holiday has dwindled a day to 11 nights away from home. The time period to take vacation is also changing. June and September are becoming increasing popular with 4% increases for both, although August remains the favorite month with 52% choosing now as their time for the great escape.

On another front, Italians are increasingly borrowing money to go on vacation. Around 35K of them are borrowing anywhere from Euro 4500-7000 for this purpose. The average Italian asking for this kind of prestito is 40 years old and generally comes from the South, Sicily and Sardinia being at the top. However considering that it takes these borrowers 3 years to pay off the loan, it may not be a very wise choice over the long run.

Buone ferie!

Happy holidays!

Vacations statistics from here and here

Loan information source.

Is This Garden a True Improvement?

2011-08-12T15:42:00.007+02:00

This historic, central and hidden corner of the city looks so lovely, doesn't it? Unfortunately it's fake.

Fake in that the grass is plastic while the flowers and bushes are real. Yet that one important element of grass being fake compromises the whole beauty of the arrangement.

This is a picture of the courtyard behind Palazzo di Ezzelino, which dates back to the 12th century and is located off Via Santa Lucia. The courtyard is nestled behind the old palazzo and between several up-scale shops.

When I first came to Padua and discovered this little haven, it had a couple of marble benches and a wall full of spray-painted missives dedicated to lovers and local graffiti artists. The teenage population used its secluded nature to romantically sit together, kiss and make out.

I remember one May day in 2008 when a local artist, Sonia Furiato, decided to dedicate an art installation to the unique space for a roving exhibition I was curating, Libri d'artista per il centro di Padova (Artists' Books around the Center of Padua) . She laid dozens of white origami birds around the courtyard and something magical happened that afternoon. Kids and shoppers were drawn to the space and her action within it. They stopped in their tracks. Their faces lit up. (Unfortunately the shopkeepers didn't understand what was happening and seemed upset at the performance, as they came out and scolded her.)

Then fairly recently I walked through the space again and found it cleaned up (from the spray paint), landscaped and fake. It doesn't invite anyone to stay in the space anymore. The benches are gone. The garden looks great but lacks heart. There isn't any meaning to any of this, especially if it doesn't even have real grass.

I'm sure the shopkeepers splurged on the landscaping but don't want the hassle of cutting grass. Plus, glass needs to be weeded and no one wants to do that either. Solution: spruce it up with flowers and plastic! Such a gorgeous way to kill the spirit of a place.

Where is a city allowed to not be pristine? Only in the outskirts and under overpasses? We as humans often have an underbelly of our public persona, which is not always perfect. I believe our cities should be allowed to have similar "alternative" spaces, especially if they bring meaning to those who live there. The former version of this courtyard respected that loved, hidden and cruder part of ourselves.

Where do the teenagers have to go now to catch that minute of privacy, I ask?

The Wonders of Socialized Medicine

2011-08-06T10:23:00.008+02:00

While some people are complaining back home in the US about the planned "Obamacare", I am relishing the benefits of European socialized medicine.

It turns out that my achilles tendon was completely ruptured from jumping to the beats of Cindy Lauper, as explained in my recent post. An ultrasound on Tuesday sealed my fate. I needed surgery and fast. Within 36 hours of seeing the ultrasound results, I was on a hospital bed undergoing surgery.

Yesterday I came home from the hospital after orthopedic surgery lasting 1.5 hrs and just over 24 hours in the hospital in post-op recovery. I now have 5 stitches behind my ankle, nylon thread and special mesh holding my tendon together and a cast up to my knee. I may not be happy about being immobile for the rest of the summer and into the fall, but the service has been great and free.

This is not my first bit of surgery. I have already had 2 major operations on my arm in the US. I know what surgery and recovery involves. I also know that as a US patient, not only do you have to deal with the physical ramifications of surgery but also financial woes. Even as an insured US citizen, you risk paying for surgery out-of-pocket. That's exactly what I had to do years ago when I reinjured my arm. The insurance company did not provide coverage on that area of my body because it had already sustained an injury. I was faced with a $16,000 hospital bill for something that was not unlike what I underwent in the last couple of days in Italy. Needless to say, when the bills started pouring in within a month of surgery, I got progressively more depressed. Here I was, trying to get my arm back to health, and I had to deal with how to foot that kind of bill, which felt enormous for a 26-year old woman who was out of work at the time. That financial legacy lingered on long after the wounds were healed.

Fast forward to now. I can concentrate on my leg without worrying so much about my bank account. This is a real relief.

When the Italian hospital staff was asking me about life as an American, they were implying that everything seems better across the ocean. But I pointed out that the very action of their care, which was free for me, is one of the great differences between there and here. Then they smiled. "E' vero" (That's true).

My 7 (Sette) Links

2011-08-01T12:57:00.005+02:00

Currently, there is a ripple effect of the 7 Links washing over the expat blog world. Now I am participating. If you want to learn more, go here for the rules and an explanation.

As for my own blog's classification, this has been a great excuse to review my own work over the last couple of years, my evolution on the blogosphere. Here they go:

1. Most popular post: The Oldest Botanical Garden in Europe

2. Post I am most proud of, for its heartfelt opinion: Far Far Away

3. Most surprise success: Promising Forever

4 Most controversial post: Amanda Knox Conviction

5. Most beautiful post: Trees Raining Olives on a Lovely Sunny Day

6. Didn't get the attention it deserved: WWI on the Lagazuoi

7. Most helpful weekly series of posts: Friday's False Friends (no specific link, but you can do a search an find all of them using the Google search bar in the right column of this website)

These are the bloggers I would like to nominate:

Living Venice a comprehensive guide to nearby Venice

Becoming Italian Word by Word an eloquent online encyclopedia of the meanings behind the words and culture of the Italian language

Zoomata very interesting tidbits about Italy, written by a journalist working in Milan

Eternallycool great news and imagery related to art, architecture and advertising with the bel paese, and often Rome, as the main protagonists

Venetian Cat in-depth posts about cultural events in Venice

Enjoy your exploration of my blog space and those of others I particularly enjoy.

Buona lettura!

Have a good read!

Too Slow in the Slow Country

2011-07-31T12:17:00.004+02:00

Italy is famous for being the country that invented Slow Food.

Foreigners consider it a wonderful destination because life seems to slow down while you visit or live here. (I can attest to this, especially when living here during the summer. Almost everything slows down or comes to a standstill in the cities.)

I enjoy this to some degree, depending on where I am (beach) and what I need to get done (not anything important like getting official certification of any kind).

But right now, I am talking about the slow one being me.

I can barely walk.

I sprained my ankle two weeks ago while dancing to Cindy Lauper on the banks of Venice's Giudecca during the famed Redentore celebration. Everything was grand until my left foot came down hard on an uneven surface: where the grassy plot met the sidewalk. Bang. Rip. My achilles tendon has been killing me ever since.

I am getting frustrated after hobbling along for 15 days.

I have had to give up attending an outdoor concert among other fun activities.

I have a hard time walking my dog.

Driving can be painful. At least I have a moped and don't need to be using my feet for any clutch action on it!

Life has become INCREDIBLY slow.

I am even slow for Italian standards.

For now, the swelling has gone down. The bruised areas are healing. I am getting physical therapy. I am waiting. I am trying to enjoy summer with my feet up. But honestly, at this point, I'd rather have them down and ready to scale mountains or at least take a leisurely stroll with my pooch.

(Monte Rosa, please give me good weather at the end of August when I can finally climb your summits! I regret having to postpone my original trekking dates which were dedicated to you next week.)

I guess I'll have another glass of chilled white wine while I soak my ankle in the essence of lavender flowers, one of the many herbal therapies I am currently using to bring my tendon back to an active life.

Salute! Cheers/To my health!

Welcome from Big Brother in Italy

2011-07-19T19:32:00.008+02:00

Growing up and travelling in the states, I always liked the giant welcome signs that greeted you as you came into a new town or state. They were the extention of the handwave that Americans automatically give each. "Hi," "Howdy," "Hello," as they walk down a street and see someone else, whether a friend or a stranger.

Meanwhile Italy just has black print on sober white signs that indicate simply that you've crossed a limit. Now entering Padova. Now driving into Noventa Padovana.

Or Pazzano (Calabria) at 410 meters above sea level.

Then the Italians put a red slash over the same sign as you leave the town or city. No "Goodbye's" for anybody. You're just leaving.

When you thought that cool signage was bad enough, then you start looking around at other signs.

You're being taped everywhere!

Welcome, you're on candid camera!

Try to do something, Dude, and Big Brother will get ya'!

That's the message we get.

For as much as Italians should be a warm people, this message is chilling.

Photo credit: Florida sign: Robert English http://smashingusa.com/welcome-signs-from-50-american-states/

Pazzano sign: Flickr account: marcuscalabresus

Kenny Random #5

2011-07-13T14:31:00.004+02:00

Kenny Random on via Risorgimento near Piazza dell'Insurrezione.

Butterflies are not only trendy in Italian fashion this summer season, but they also play an important part in Kenny's new round of tags.

Butterfly Farfalla

= fire (Aztecs)

= love (Chinese)

= soul (Greek)

= stroke (swimming)

= nervous (in your stomach)

= rebirth (mankind)

What You Can Learn from a Box of Pasta

2011-07-12T18:32:00.004+02:00

I just love this box of pasta.

Although I realize the special military division of the Italian army called the Alpini are quite noteworthy in the country for their services and in the city of Bassano del Grappa because they are part of its identity, I didn't think I would find these components all on a box of pasta.

I found it in my local supermarket.

The pasta is the bigoli variety, which is basically spaghetti with a hole through the core so they look like little tubes when you eat them.

The bridge illustrated on the box depicts the most famous landmark of Bassano del Grappa, Ponte degli Alpini. "Bassan," as they say in dialect here, is a city north of Padua which was most significant during WWII. See my post for more about the town, which is always worth a visit.

The hat signifies the Alpini uniform. Alpini veterans are a proud bunch and they often have huge reunions around northern Italy, and often in Bassano itself. They form the oldest army troops specialized in mountain fighting in the world, founded in 1876. They are considered an elite group and Italy readily sends them to fight when only small groups depart on missions from the bel paese. They are currently involved in Afghanistan. Read here for more about them.

So now you see how this box of pasta is a cultural, historical and culinary lesson in yellow, black, red and white on cardboard.

Padova Pride Village

2011-07-07T15:02:00.006+02:00

Padua has a strong gay population and their summer extravaganza has been growing every year since I got here 7 years ago. Padova Pride Village packs a month of entertainment, food, dance and stands into the city's fairgrounds. This year, they started with a bang: Boy George in concert. I didn't go but I heard that he put on a fine show.

The Village will be running until July 28th. Doors open at 8 p.m. everyday except Monday. Get ready for more singers, Italian comedians, international DJ's and more to enjoy at the Fiera di Padova.

The organizers, Arcigay *Tralaltro*, even provide "Welcome" packages for out-of-towners including extra hotel services, discounts off entrance tickets and local restaurants.

Join the fun!

( I'm sure you'll have fun even if you're "straight"!)

Where?

Fiera di Padova, Entrance E, via Carlo Goldoni - Padova

8 p.m. opening, no Mondays

Jewelry Inspired by Caffè Pedrocchi

2011-07-05T15:01:00.007+02:00

Padua's most famous café, Caffè Pedrocchi, now has an exhibition running of original jewelry inspired by the coffee shop and space itself. Artist have taken motifs from the walls and windows of the café and themes of coffee consumption to make their pieces.

Visit the first floor showroom and marvel at the pieces. Curated by Francesca Canapa. Organized by Associazione Contemporanea Gioiellodentro. Show runs through July 20th.

"L'arte del Caffè Pedrocchi nel Gioiello Contemporaneo"

(The Art of Caffè Pedrocchi in Contemporary Jewelry)

Exhibition link, scroll down page for English.

Davide Penso, Incontro, glass bracelet with gold filigree

Angelo Verga, Gothicoffee: Don't Throw the Culture, silver ring, resin, coffee grounds

The Terrace Bears its First Fruit

2011-06-28T20:06:00.004+02:00

Tomatoes are technically

fruit,

right?

Well, I've got my first ripe cherry tomato from the terrace.

Small, very red and hopefully very tasty!

Summer's here-

Even though many people associate Italian cuisine with pasta and tomato sauce, the tomato was introduced to this country only after the discovery of America. So American land is responsible for an entire food culture on another continent. Pretty wild stuff.

Kenny Random's Evolution

2011-06-26T11:23:00.004+02:00

Kenny Random's painting/graffiti apparitions around town continue to brand the local identity. This picture highlights the evolution of his imagery. Recently he has updated his older work, in this case the gray melancholic figure, by painting over it the image silhouette of this sprayer with a top hat and a nearby cat.

No one ever sprays over his work, which is a sign of respect among graffiti artists, and the locals aren't particularly keen on painting over his work either. They usually can't wait to block out any "random" marking or "writing" on their property.

By now we are identifying ourselves with his big images.

Padua: Random's Land

Photo location: Via San Pietro, off Corso Milano

Get Hot in an Italian Villa

2011-06-23T15:40:00.004+02:00

I used to live very close to the city center of Padua. Houses and building are packed into small spaces because real estate is at a premium. So the gym I joined in that area was a tiny little hole-in-the-wall with great people, good prices, yet a horribly small space. See post. If there were more than 10 people inside, it felt like a crowd and you had to be very patient to get on the machine you wanted.

However last year I moved to, basically, the suburbs. I decided to find a new gym in my new neck of the woods (or rather-fields). The new choice happens to be Sportville, a big restored Italian villa on the riverbank of the River Brenta. There and to my eyes' delight, I can gaze at old restored wood beams in the ceilings, beautiful big windows and Italian-style awnings while sweating on a treadmill.

The owners reinvented this "house" to the contemporary needs of a 21st century gym culture. Sportville looks gracious and classic Italian on yhe outside and has state-of-the-art machinery on the inside. Many creature comforts are also embedded into this villa's sheath, such as a spa and café. The only thing that it doesn't have is a tanning bed, which I am happy about, but have seen in other gyms. Italians already tan enough as it is!

So I've gone from one extreme Italian gym experience to the other: tiny and cramped to lovely villa styling. Now I don't have to fight for a space in the aerobics room anymore. I can run along the nearby Brenta if it's a nice day, instead of having to wait for a treadmill to become free. I am in a villa, after all! Everything is better in a villa, right?

Although there are several Italian gym chains in the Padua area that completely mimick US versions, down to the big ugly structures and carving a space out of a big office building, I have ended up choosing something else, twice.

Sun-Standing Today

2011-06-21T15:08:00.002+02:00

...the literal translation of solstice

The term derives from the Latin sol (sun) and -stitium (stoppage).

In Padua, we had sunrise at 5:23 a.m. today and sunset will be at 9:05 p.m. It's a fabulously sunny and perfectly hot day. Lows at 17°C (62°F) and highs at 29°C (84°F). It's summer as we like it. We can just picture the beach! Too bad it's a workday.

Il 21 giugno è anche la giornata più lunga dell'anno. June 21 is also the longest day of the year.

Far Far Away

2011-06-20T23:17:00.003+02:00

It's times when all of my family get together and I cannot easily make the reunion that I realize just how far away I am. It's not a simple hop to see them. My father's side of the family united this past weekend for the biennial family shindig, with roots beginning before WWII, and which included just under 100 people this year. I wasn't there.

Although I decided I couldn't make the date months ago, it still stings a bit to have to miss it. There is a lot that builds up and culminates with this mega W______ gathering.

However I chose to make my life on another continent. It's an ocean and not a pond that divides me and my family, even though a famous expression begs for me to believe otherwise. Living in Italy can be exotic but comes with its sacrifices.

There will be another reunion in 2013 and maybe I can leap over the big divide of the Atlantic to make that one. Everyone will have kids that much bigger, a few more wrinkles and probably some new bambini entries.

'Til the next time, folks.

Un abbraccio

Your cousin italiana di adozione

Fishnets in the City

2011-05-22T12:12:00.003+02:00

Spring is here and the Italian women are breaking out this season's wares. Their style includes fishnet stockings, as usual for this time of year.

Italians are the only women who can pull off wearing fishnets without looking trashy. You can find businesswomen, bankers and lawyers wearing an assortment of fishnet colors from tan shades to even black that peak out from under classic skirts and pants--and they look great!

When I go to buy new nylons, I request that the shopkeeper sell me a pair that will not form holes at the big toe after only wearing them once, a typical problem I have. And what is her solution? Fishnets! The weaving of the construction makes them more resistant in critical areas, like the toes. So now I too am wearing fishnets. When in Rome, do as the Romans.

Kenny Random, Another Neighborhood

2011-05-05T22:54:00.002+02:00

Kenny Random sprays/paints another wall, this time under the porticos near the cathedral in Padua: Via del Vescovado.

Also notice the wonderful wicker basket on the typical old bike parked outside a shop.

Project Rugs: How to Make a Dog Happy

2011-05-03T13:33:00.002+02:00

Work on decorating the 1-year old house acquisition continues.

The latest projects have included photos, curtains and rugs. There was printing and framing a favorite picture of the mountains to hang on the walls. It was one of the chance opportunities where the light was just fantastic: slightly overcast with sunrays peeking out to light up just Mount Pelmo in all its massive glory. Now we can look at that scene everyday from our dining room wall.

Then the new bathroom curtain was installed with a handmade lace insert crafted by my mother-in-law. We took the bathroom tile pattern and turned it into a lace motif for a custom curtain.

However the most important money went into buying rugs. We waited a full year to get one for the living room so it's just perfect. After it was rolled out, it took the dog exactly 30 seconds to plop down on the new woolly floor feature. He treats it like his own personal extended bed area. It's the plushest rug in the house so he obviously spends the most time there. And now that the spring sun is out? We also have the dog camping out on the other new rug on the terrace. It was officially bought to add some color to the outdoor section of the house and cover some awful tiling. But the dog thinks every rug is for his canine comfort. He dedicates at least 20 minutes a day soaking up the sun on the terrace carpet's bright orange design.

Two more things to cross off the list of house 2011 projects.

Oh, and one very happy and comfortable dog.

A Pope Becomes All But a Saint

2011-05-01T20:00:00.005+02:00

Today marked the beatification of Pope John Paul II in a speedy 6 years. The inquiry into this status began before the usual 5 year period.

We all knew this would happen since the public was so obviously convinced about honoring the deceased leader fast. At his funeral in 2005, there were dozens of banners written by the mourning faithful with the words, "Santo Subito (Saint Now)." The point was strong and Benedict XVI listened, with a beatification (beatificazione) at this point. It technically takes 25 years for the saint designation to be given to someone. That will surely be another record to be set for Karol Wojtyla.

1 million crowded into Rome for this historic moment dedicated to this beloved pope.

Some people wonder if this beatification move was partially to rally support for the Catholic Church in this modern time that needs reminders of keeping faith.

Where does the line between faith and consumerism get defined? Isn't this part of giving the hoi polloi what the want? Everything immediately, even in terms of religious time? Putting the words "saint" and "now" together are a strange contemporary concoction. Even the Catholic Church, which is famous for being timeless and/or slow and unmoving, is stepping up its rhythm.

This is an image now hanging in Saint Peter's Cathedral.

Image of pope from La Repubblica

Image of banner from mondonews24

Click here for explanation of 2005 banners in Italian.

Padua in Bloom

2011-05-01T19:13:00.003+02:00

Recently this tower was in full bloom. I took this picture in Arcella, the part of Padua north of the train station.

This area of the city usually gets a bad wrap because some neighborhoods have been infested with dubious characters and some desperate immigrants in recent years. However, one look at this marvelous house covered is such buxom blossoms would make anyone want to move here in a flash.

Can't you just imagine having Sunday lunch on the terrace at the top of this turret with lilacs dripping from the canopy? Lovely, yes.

Buona primavera!

Happy Spring!

Italy's Most Famous Artist Was Born in Padua!

2011-04-16T22:37:00.004+02:00

Born September 21, 1960 in Padua, Maurizio Cattelan commands the position as the most famous, successful and controversial living Italian artist.

The artist's decorated career spans the globe while he primarily works in Milan and New York, but we know where he's from.

He's perhaps most famous for the sculpture, La Nona Ora (The Ninth Hour) of a meteorite that hit Pope John Paul II and shown at MOMA in NYC among other venues. (Only an Italian would make this an opera. Once you live here you realize how strong the Catholic Church's role grips the country and its pysche. This is obviously worth an artist's attention.)

La Nona Ora. 1999

Most recently, Mr. Cattelan caused controversy when he built and installed L.O.V.E., a marble sculpture of a hand with all fingers cut off except the middle one. It was placed in front of Italy's equivalent of Wall Street, in Piazza Affari. The initial public outcry turned into a kind of tacit acceptance, if not promotion of the artwork. The piece was originally scheduled to be installed for 2 weeks in September of last year, during a retrospective of the artist. Yet the mayor and city council of Milan has sistematically voted to keep the sculpture installed and now it is cleared until September 2011.

L.O.V.E. 2010

So if you are in Milan between now and then and want to see a powerful piece by a formidable personality in Italian international culture, go see L.O.V.E.

How Did Discount Get So Difficult?

2011-04-11T14:52:00.003+02:00

As an American, I always look for a deal. The problem is that I live in Italy where any discount is difficult to get, especially instantly.

To start, the official sale seasons are only twice a year: January into February and August into September. You have to wait a long time from when you first see those cute summer frocks in April and actually get them on sale! Then if you wait, sometimes you discover that the merchandise changes during the sale season. I have even been told by a saleswoman, in July for example, that a shop is expecting the arrival of their "sales" merchandise. What? Its arrival? Shouldn't it just be what I see on the shelves now, just at a lower price point? When I went back to see the "sales" merchandise, I realized that the "sales" products were either made with lower quality materials, such as thinner cotton for bed sheets, or included old merchandise, clothes from previous seasons and years.

Or then there is the repeat-shopper discount. If you buy, let's say, over Euro 50 in merchandise now, you get a coupon for a discount of Euro 10 on a second purchase of at least Euro 50 at a future date. This way they ensure that you come into the store twice and buy a minimum value of Euro 100 in the end. Buy what if I don't want to spend that much in their store or have the time to go back in 2 weeks to get the savings? I may be in mountains or sick at home, for that matter! Tough luck. No discount. Seldomly do you get the 20% right away if it isn't the official sales season. And this kind of sales trick is common at superstores like Interspar.

A third aspect of sales is when they really aren't sales. Some shops mark up their merchandise on the price tag so that when they apply the 30%, a typical initial sales season starting discount, the price looks like a deal when it isn't at all. Our local paper, Il Mattino, sometimes features journalists who hunt the town's window display prices before and after the first day of the sales season to see how honest everybody is being. An example, a pair of shoes retail for Euro 100. During the sales season, they mark the original price as Euro 130 with 30% discount, making the sale price Euro 100 (the same as before!).

All in all, we are all supposed to pay hefty retail prices for our merchandise or do a lot of work to get a discount. It makes life frustrating for someone who pays a mortgage, car payment and her taxes. I need some real sales, Italy! Give me a break!

Caffè Pedrocchi Expanding

2011-04-07T17:30:00.007+02:00

This is the place referred to by the local saying in Padua, "la città con un santo senza nome, un caffè senza porte e un prato senza erba" (a city with a saint without a name, a café without doors and a field without grass). The saint is Saint Anthony, but everyone here just refers to him as "il santo." The café is Caffè Pedrocchi, pictured above. The field is actually a square called Prato della Valle (Field of the Valley), one of the largest in Europe.

Caffè Pedrocchi commands great historic importance for this town. It was founded 180 years ago and witnessed a critical involvement in Italian revolutions and intellectual activity. (I will discuss this in a later post.)

The no-doors refers to the fact that it is always open to the public. In fact, there is a room, The Green Room, where you can sit quietly and read or do whatever you want that is silent without having to order anything from the bar. It's a great, quiet and elegant refuge between appointments for me sometimes when it's raining and I just want to read a magazine.

The important news now is that the café is expanding. The Museo del Risorgimento is going to move to Palazzo Zuchermann and open up all the upper levels of the historic building. The café plans to expand its seating area upstairs, maybe stay open later in the evening (after 8 p.m.) and build luxury rental spaces as a foresteria for artists, intellectuals, etc.

The city is debating whether they should raise the café's rent after the expansion (and natural increase in revenue). Currently it pays a subsidized Euro 500 ($715)/month while it charges nearly Euro 3 ($5) for a coffee! That rent is what I paid for an ugly 35-square-meter (380 square foot) apartment.

Caffè Pedrocchi link.

Il Mattino article about the subject.

Overcoming Tragedy, the Story of Alessandro Zanardi

2011-04-04T10:11:00.011+02:00

Nestled in Noventa Padovana, there lives a famous resident hero, Alessandro Zanardi. The ex-Formula 1 pilot from Bologna lost both legs in 2000 in a violent accident on the German race track, Eurospeedway. After coming out of a 2-week coma, the man not only recovered, but even became a winning pilot again in 2005 with BMW in the World Touring Car Championship. He achieved this goal with prosthetic legs! He was the first handicapped winner to acheive this against physically normal competitors.

Mr. Zanardi also got involved in other kinds of racing as a physically disabled person. He participated in the 2007 New York Marathon with a handbike, which I see him ride around town on. He came in fourth in that competition. Then he won the handicapped section of the Venice Marathon in 2009 riding the same gadget.

Last Fall, he hosted a TV series called E se domani (And if Tomorrow) on Rai 3, focusing on scientific advances.

He has written two book, his memoir, My Sweetest Victory, which received the prize, Premio Bancarella Sport 2003, and Alex Looks Skyward, written together with his friend Claudio Costa.

Now he's preparing for London's 2012 Paralympics. Let's be his tifosi (fans)! Join me in commending his positive attitude that, I believe, has made him more a winner now than when he was just a race car driver.

He is a husband to Daniela and father of Nicolò and a Jack-of-all-trades now with racing, TV and books behind his belt. Mr. Zanardi is a champion in so many ways. Nothing has stopped him from succeeding.

Complimenti Alessandro!

Japan's Emergency Makes Us in Italy Ask Questions

2011-03-20T14:28:00.006+01:00

The devastation in Japan has rocked the world. That population has suffered a tremendous earthquake, a horrible tsunami and now faces nuclear radiation problems, already knowing its effects all too well after my country's final military blow to the nation at the end of World War II.

So much has already been said about the subject in the last week. Many Americans on the West Coast have thought about their own preparedness, since they are also part of the Pacific Ring of Fire activity, including severe periodic earthquakes. If you haven't made your own emergency kit, which all the Japanese seem to have, and live in that area, consult this Blogher post with a professional list, advice and comments.

We in Italy find ourselves in an earthquake zone as well. Aquila had its terremoto just under 2 years ago at 5.8 on the Richter scale. See my post. The city still hasn't even started to rebuild the downtown historic area. Many questionable building practices in the area were questioned in light of how easily some of the structures fell during the quake, especially a university student housing complex which killed many youth.

Japan's recent experience was, some say, 30,000 times stronger than Aquila's. Hardly anything in Japan fell during the actual earthquake because the culture has been so careful about its construction regulations. But there were horrible effects anyway, coming from the "angry" water and damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Here in Italy, the government recently decided to push for a plan to build nuclear reactors to help alleviate the country's energy needs. After the nuclear disaster in 1986 in Chernobyl, Italy had passed a referendum to not build any nuclear power plants. Two years ago the tune changed. Nuclear energy has been an appetizing solution in addition to renewable energy. Plans were in place to start building soon.

Now even those in favor of the nuclear solution in Italy just started to serious reanalyze the need for that dangerous energy option. Italy could have a similar problem to any future nuclear reactors that are built. An earthquake could cause the reactors to malfunction and leak radiation. This is in addtion to other problems like human error and the eternal problem of where to deposit nuclear waste.

FYI the province of Padua is one of the strongest areas in the research and development of alternative energy. We have many businesses that have sprung up recently, especially for the photovoltaic option: ex) Helios Technology S.p.a., Solon S.p.a., and XGroup S.p.a. Exactly a year ago, the city of Padua announced that it would install the panels for free on your house after an analysis of the architectural and urbanistic situation. The city teamed up with banks and the companies mentioned above to start installing not only for private people, but also on public schools and other public buildings. The city has at least 20 schools with solar panels, at this point.

Recently the government froze incentives on renewable energy sources like photovoltaic, real options that would cut the demand for nuclear plants. Some suggest this is exactly the reason why the funds were cut. Nuclear had to be the clear and single need. The Paduan companies are suffering the consequences with a drop in business. They have been worried about their future as well as the progress of renewable energy in Italy.

But Madre Natura (Mother Nature) has spoken. Japan's example makes the choices very clear for us in Italy. Nuclear is too risky.

Let's keep the money flowing into renewables.

Combination Holiday

2011-03-17T15:59:00.006+01:00

So today marks 150 years since Italy's unification. On the Irish (and American) calendar, this date is known as Saint Patrick's Day. Since I belong to both cultures in one sort of way or another, here's my visual dedication to the split/unificazione.

I am 35% Irish, and have adopted Italy as my "land" to live in.

I wonder if I can find green beer in the city center this evening? Green for not only Ireland, but also Italy? Probably not, since the spritz does the colors well: red for Aperol or Campari and green for its famous olive.

Do you know the meaning of the colors in the Italian flag?

GREEN for the fields of the plains

WHITE for the snow of the mountains

RED for the blood which was shed to make the country

Cheers!

Spritz photo from http://www.lucianopignataro.it

The Lion Comes Out of Her Den

2011-03-06T21:05:00.008+01:00

Last year's lion waited a year to spring out of her hibernation for Venice's Carnevale. I just got back from the most spectacular sunny and warm Sunday carnival, perhaps in history! The weather was absolutely beautiful in the lagoon this year during a late carnevale that boasted VERY spring temps today. Hooray! (It's not always fun to tread Venice's streets in the freezing Febuary cold, during the usual holiday's dates.)

I got out the costume that I never got to wear last year because I got a bad cold the only weekend I could make it to the event. See post. So the lion "queen" finally made her debut and was especially appreciated by the kiddies (under 10 years old). The best part was roaring in their little faces and getting both excited eyes and a tinge of fear.

Every year I go to Venice, I find fewer people wearing costumes, and even fewer that are wearing costumes that they have not rented, but have made with their own hands and imaginations. It's sad to see this evolution of the "business" of carnevale and a general laziness by the public. Everyone is more interested in taking pictures or getting their face painted or wearing a funny wig, rather than truly transforming themselves in some total way: the real reason for the season.

Another horrifying addition to this year's event was witnessing a fenced-off area in Piazza San Marco near the stage, where a fee ranging from Euro 5-100 was being charged to enter certain areas. The city has thousands of ways that it takes our money, from expensive hotels to myriads of mask stands to exorbitant parking and boat transport fees. Now tickets in the main square, too! Just plain pathetic.

On the up side, one of the costume highlights from this edition of Carnevale features groups of 20-somethings from the area that band together and dress up with a group theme in mind. This year I saw or heard about Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs, a CSI crime scene set-up including victim, assassin, scientific police team and fake TV journalist on the scene, and 6 friendly clowns.

Here are some pictures of a few interesting costumes I found today in the piazza and captured on my camera, while fumbling with a lion mask on my face.

A Blog Toddler's Anniversary

2011-03-03T21:12:00.003+01:00

It's An American in Padua's

2 year anniversary.

2 years of words.

2 years of posts.

2 years of thoughts.

I hope you have enjoyed the ride. Let me know what has been worthwhile for you on my blog.

Thanks.

Chain Coffee Shops, Oh No!

2011-02-27T15:47:00.006+01:00

The CHAIN is hitting Italy. They are quickly replacing many kinds of shops, like lingerie and teen clothing stores, and now is even replacing coffee and gelato shops that once were in the hands of only small, family-run businesses.

Italy was known for its great hole-in-the-wall shops with character and good quality eats and drinks. In every shop or cafè in every town, you never knew exactly what you would get but you were always pleasantly surprised with what you found, in quality and taste.

In this post I want to talk about how coffee is being taken over by Caffé Dersut chain versions of a slightly Starbucks-esque style shop. The famous Veneto brand of coffee is not just sponsoring the coffee of its faithful Italian bar owners, but it also is encouraging them to open shops that all look the same, from Padua to Agordo and maybe even Milano. (I have personally seen the Paduan and Agordino versions.) The coffee may be good, but I am worried about the consequences: coffee shops becoming uniform across the bel paese.

The shops have fake hand-written signage announcing all the wonderful versions of coffees and "frappucino-style" coffee cocktails you can drink there. (Hence the Starbucks connection.) The environment is bright and friendly. It looks good, if you don't think about how it's all the SAME.

I wanted to leave that stuff behind in America, but after a decade, it's caught up with me.

Starbucks never was able to break into the Italian coffee market by opening up its own stores, but Caffè Dersut is copying the US company's style and successful marketing graphics and aesthetics.

Will this just be a fad or is Italy on the path to become a land of coffee chain shops, too?

Home Owner's Delight

2011-02-26T17:13:00.004+01:00

Yesterday marked one year from the date of the rogito and officially buying our house. F and I are going to celebrate tonight.

Chocolate Festival in Padua

2011-02-20T12:34:00.005+01:00

CIOCCOLANDO 2011

Padua's hosting Day 2 of its chocolate festival, Cioccolando. Come join the fun in downtown Padua. You missed yesterday's parade, but there's still fun to be had in and around Palazzo Moroni. Let your eyes delight and mouth savor chocolate's marvels. There is also other kinds of entertainment going on such as clowns, bands, dancers, baton twirlers and street performers of all kinds.

Featured chocolate treats:

ciocco-latini, praline e cioccolatini in tantissimi gusti diversi
ciocco-calda, la gustosa cioccolata calda
ciocco-frutta, gustose fragole intinte nel cioccolato fuso
ciocco-pasta, la pasta fatta in casa aromatizzata al cacao
ciocco-yogurt alla stracciatella e morettino
ciocco-crêpes con ripieno alla crema di cacao
dolce salame di cioccolato

Is your mouth salivating yet?

Proceeds will go to the hospital's Pediatric Department.

For more information, go to www.cioccolando.org.
Photo credit, Flickr's EuroMagic.

Ciao e buon cioccolato!

The Unfinished Cork Project

2011-02-17T12:25:00.006+01:00

Shortly after throwing away a bag full of supposedly useless wine corks, I received a gift in the mail: a wooden frame to use to make a big cork hot plate. The idea is that you fill in the center area with all the corks you would otherwise throw away and have a unique hot plate to show for it.

That was 2 (or even 3?) years ago. I don't remember exactly. I started to collect the corks again. But in the meantime the wine industry changed gears. It stopped making wine stoppers out of cork, using a plastic substitute instead. Perhaps it was for environmental reasons, like saving the cork trees from over harvesting. Or maybe the aziende agrigole realized that there was no risk is selling a bad bottle that tasted like cork without real cork stoppers. Anyway, the fact remains that it has become virtually impossible to regularly find real cork, even in Italy.

This is a picture of the state of my cork project:

I buy wine. I live in Italy, so I often drink wine. I like a glass at dinner. But here I am with only these corks to count after all these years! I need double that to finish the plate! I even thought of asking a café or enoteca (wine shop) owner to pass on some of her stoppers to speed up the process, but then my plate would lack my own history in its completion. I want to know I actually drank those different wines featured by the corks. I also want to see the visual variety of the various brands. The enoteca owner will probably just give me dozens of corks from the same brands of tocai and merlot (popular regional choices).

The funny thing is that now a new labor protest in going on, led by the cork peelers. These people are losing their jobs because of the drop in worldwide cork sales. The country of Portugal claims part of its bad economy on the drop in this single field! Now the workers are campaigning to get the wine industry to start using the real stuff again, claiming that it is environmentally better because it's natural. But is it sustainable?

In Italy, Sardegna's the largest cork producer. I haven't seen any Sardinian cork protesters picketing during this crisis season, but they are probably suffering, too.

So is topping bottles with cork good or bad for the environment? I'm confused.

What's your opinion?

It's just such a great material: soft yet hard, light, solid yet airy, and heat-resistant, best of all.

Read and watch more about the cork scene at Time magazine and at Sughero Naturale.

Kenny Random Paints the Town

2011-01-28T18:26:00.004+01:00

Our local painter/graffiti artist nicknamed "Kenny Random" has struck the streets of Padua again. This wall painting is off of Piazza dei Signori.

For other work by him in town, click for: Piazza Capitaniato and Via Dante.

Paduans Take Control of Historic Venetian Gem

2011-01-25T22:32:00.005+01:00

Caffé Quadri, the historic café in Venice's Saint Mark's Square, is now being managed with a primary share by Alajmo SpA. This Paduan family and company runs the famous Le Calandre restaurant in Sarmeola di Rubano, just outside of Padua. The family of cooks/businessmen have taken the reins from Ligabue SpA, another historic business in the Venetian scene.

The new ownership's modo is, "Ciò che diventa era (What is to come, once was.)." They don't want to come in and change everything or make the Venetian landmark a copy of their famous Paduan space and dining experience.

Reasons for Ligabue's sell-out include too much recent acqua alta (high water, a.k.a. flood) damage over the past couple of years, including 202 out of 365 days of high water levels last year. (Saint Mark's Square is the lowest area in Venice so it gets flooded more often than any other place in the lagoon city.)

A blog post for Le Caladre which announces the merger is found here.

Photo from Flickr's Rita Crane Photography.

#!!?**!%! Dog Owner

2011-01-21T13:28:00.004+01:00

The Italians get bent out of shape when it comes to dog poop removal because so many owners just don't bother to pick up the stuff. As a dog owner myself, I understand both ends of the stick.

On one hand, you are the owner walking your dog and have virtually no public trash cans to deposit your "baggie" for your entire walk, sometimes. That can last upward of 30 minutes in my case. (It's not fun carrying around a smelly bag that long!) The comune has only installed any sort of trash bin in the most downtown section of town: along the main street. If you don't walk your dog there, tough luck. And who does when that's the area with the most car traffic, confusion and air pollution? You might just decide to leave the droppings in the frustration of not having any comfortable solution to taking it away. Or you might forget your plastic baggy one day and find yourself leaving a poop in a bad place, too far from home to come back and retrieve easily.

On the other hand, the people living in the houses with the droppings found outside their property are right in feeling frustrated when they step in brown stuff with their new boots. They can be upset even by seeing the dirty mounds.

The Italian home owner's retaliation comes in the form of elaborate messages hung near the critical areas. This one is recent from my area: angry and rather funny. Translation below.

Italiano:

Gentile signore...sì proprio tu che continui a far defecare proprio davanti al cancello di questa abitazione il tuo cane, mi chiedo se nella tua testa ci sia un briciolo di cervello....evidentamente no, perchè se sono ne avessi un po' capiresti che questo non è un posto idoneo per i bisogni del tuo cane. Sicuramente l'unica presenza di materia all'interno della tua testa non è la stessa di tutte le persone educate e civili, ma è uguale a quella lasciata dal tuo cane.

Se solo un
ignorante, maleducato, incivile..........Il vero animale sei tu.............Impara l'educazione, me mai te l'hanno mai insegnata!!!

English translation:

Dear Sir or Madam ...yes you, the person who continues to have her* dog defecate right in front of the fence of this housing. I ask myself if you have a brain... obviously not, because if you did, you would realize this is not the place for the needs of your dog. So surely the only brains you have are not the kind that most normal and civil people have. It is the same consistency as what your dog leaves.

You are simply
ignorant, unpolite, incivil..............the real animal is you.................learn your manners if anyone ever taught you them!!!

* Note from translator: I used "her" to indicate singular third person on this blog with many links to women's websites, although it could also translate as a "his".

Number 4 of these message adorn the fence in question.

Debut of the Mural

2011-01-16T11:56:00.014+01:00

One of the beauties of being a home owner is the fact that you can do anything you want to your house and walls. I decided to create a large mural for the end of the hallway. This was on my latest to-do list posts for the house. Thanks to the holiday season's gift of time off of work, I was able to get down to painting.

F and I thought it would be interesting and appropriate to paint a compound map in scale that takes into consideration the three geographical areas that make up our lives: 1) Towson in Baltimore county, USA: where I am from 2) Noventa Padovana in the province of Padua, Italy: where our house is located and 3) Venice, Italy: where F is from and where we met. They are layered over each other with a gold star corresponding to the exact location of these three places. As the areas overlap, the colors change. Brown: Baltimore County. Yellow: la Provincia di Padova. Blue: 2 Areas overlap. Violet: 3 Overlap.

Painting a large map system makes me think of the Gallery of Maps in the Vatican Museums. It includes the 40 topographical maps of the regions of Italy, that Gregory XIII commissioned between 1580-1583. They are one of the best displays of cartography of the country from the sixteenth century. I always love that part of the museum, as you make your way eventually to the Raphael Rooms and Sistine Chapel. It's a hidden gem of the Vatican.

During the process of completing the mural, I realized that the proportions were wrong for Venice. It was too big compared to the larger county and province, so I had to sand out some painting and draw it again, in better scale.

In the end, this mural has us reflect on just how tiny Venice is, despite its colossal fame. And as usual, we can see how big anything American is. Even a single county overwhelms anything else in size, according to European standards.

Here is the evolution of the mural:

Day 1: Paint in Baltimore county, USA, in brown. Plus gold star.

Day 2: Paint in yellow and blue

Day 3: Cancel out mistaken proportions of Venice, redraw

Day 4: Layer over more yellow, 3rd coat of paint. Cover mistaken areas of blue with brown and repaint the blue sections

Day 5: Gold Star, 2nd coat
Day 6: Violet sections painted in

The dog enjoying the paint throw as a temporary blanket in the hallway: much softer than tile

Completed mural: close, hallway shot, entryway shot

FINITO!

One thing to cross off the list!

Plentiful Holidays and Painful Reentry

2011-01-11T09:14:00.005+01:00

You have to love Italy for its long and many holidays. There's virtually one a month. Some short. Others longer. We just finished over two weeks of holidays for many people, including students, some factories and for thousands of workers. It started on Christmas Eve, December 24th, and usually lasts until the Epiphany, January 6th. But this year since that day fell on a Thursday, we got either another ponte (long weekend) or another 3 days off, bringing us to Monday, January 10th as the official back-to-work date. That was yesterday. And oh how awful it was. Dreary and endless rain in the Veneto. Everyone sending urgent emails and making phone calls at once to get the ball rolling again.

It's fabulous to have so much time off. You can really remove yourself from your work to focus on other things like the people you love, hobbies, sports and travelling. A long sustained time away from work cleans the mind and boosts the spirit.

But then you risk forgetting how to work. You come back groggy and bump your way through your activities. You have forgotten some of the details of what's next to do in that list of your daily, weekly and monthly tasks.

Even though yesterday was hard, getting back into my job's rhythm, my clients said I looked rested. I had a rosier skin color. It probably came from all that sleep I had gotten! Then the outdoors always helps, I think. (I was snowshoeing all of last week.)

Alas, it's time to make money again. You gotta have it. At least some. It makes the world go 'round these days. For me, the final frontier is getting paid vacation. It is something I don't get to take advantage of as a freelancer. Maybe one day that will happen.

Unfortunately this year, 2011, will bring us less vacation than ever, according to Italian standards. Most of the holidays fall on the weekend: Labor Day is on a Saturday. Christmas is on Sunday. New Year's Eve will be on a Saturday and the day to recoup will be Sunday! Ugh!

Burn Last Year's Woes

2011-01-09T19:08:00.007+01:00

In the town of Cencenighe in the Agordino, the locals celebrate the entrance of the new year with hands-on fire.

Several brave individuals hike up to the top of all the visible mountain peaks and make giant bonfires to be seen below, in town. Those include places like Cime Pape (2503 m/8212 ft), Monte Pelsa (2255 m/7398 ft) and many others around and in between. The bonfires begin at sunset the night before the Epiphany. This year, that occured on January 5th.

In town, the neighborhoods and individual streets gather its people together to light their own bonfires at the same time. The idea is that they are burning all their woes, problems, issues and misfortunes from last year in those big flames that rise at the beginning of the new year. They will start the new year with a clean plate, and hopefully it will be a better one.

Cencenighe center with bonfires in the lower fields of a fraction of town, Bastiani, and Monte Pelsa above

Then fireworks accompany the event from the peaks as well as a few shot up from the town fires.

Cencenighe river front, bonfire at the Cordevole river bank

Neighborhood "Inter"-bonfire in all its glory

It's impressive to think about the souls who climb up the mountain to set the upper flames aglow. After a heavy hike like what they have to do to get up to those altitudes, your sweat turns to ice in about 5 minutes, once your body stops moving. Honestly I don't know how they stay warm up there, waiting for sunset. I know that they take wine and grappa to drink, but I still can't believe that's enough to stay warm for more than half an hour.

Then, the same hikers have to come back down the mountain in the black of night. It takes about 2-3 hours to get down those mountains on snowshoes. Skiing down, the faster solution, is too dangerous without any light.

After the fires have all waned, the locals crowd into the town hall, Nof Filò, and eat gnocchi and polenta that the old ladies prepare. It's offered by the Comune (Town), so everything is free. It's a real event! Everyone is warm, slightly drunk and full of comradery. They dedicate a special table to the hikers that went to the mountain peaks. They are considered the guests of honor in this situation.

I've seen this event several times over the years and each year they are adding more bonfires and locations. It is growing in its importance.

Most of all, it's authentic, not turistic and as the Italians say, "suggestivo" (evocative).

Approaching Inter's bonfire along the hillside

Europe's Partial Solar Eclipse

2011-01-04T18:28:00.004+01:00

An eery light hovered over the mountains as F and I were snowshoeing under Monte Pelmo. Not only were we in the mountain's great shadow, but also under the moon's ombra in front of the sun this morning. Unfortunately a thin viel of clouds over our portion of Dolomites blocked a direct view of the spectacle of this partial solar eclipse, but we still sensed the world wth a strange vibrancy for a short while.

Here is a graphic of today's eclipse situation. For more information about how to better read the image and find out more, click here.

Dates for more eclipses to be seen around the world in 2011:

1 June - partial solar
15 June - total lunar
1 July - partial solar
25 November - partial solar
10 December - total lunar

How Many Care Takers Do You Have? Seven!

2011-01-03T18:19:00.004+01:00

Padova, la truffa di colf e badanti: solo il 19% è stato messo in regola

Padua, the scam with care takers: only 19% had been legalized

This was in the local Padua news in December. The police did some local investigations and found that several families had up to seven care takers for a single elderly person. The police found that either there were too many badanti, or they were not properly legalized. Obviously some people are trying to help the immigrants in this work category stay in Italy. They are often women coming from such countries as Romania, Moldavia and Ukraine. Other Italians involved in the investigation did not even know that their names were on documents responsible for the legalization of these workers. Still others are probably associated with human trafficking and channelling Chinese and North Africans into Italy this way.

The question of immigration is a hot topic in Italy and these findings don't help simmer down the turmult.

Source article from 21 December, 2010: Il Mattino di Padova

New Year's Eve in Prato della Valle

2010-12-30T14:05:00.005+01:00

It's time to ring in a new year. This time we meet 11 in the third millennium after Christ's birth. This is the year of the Rabbit according to the Chinese calendar, which will be coming up soo.

Padua will be having its usual New Year's Eve celebrations, but a bit more subdued. There will be a concert stage with live music and DJs in Prato della Valle by the church Santa Giustina, organized by Radio Company and Radio 80. Festivities will start at 10 p.m. Fireworks and a light show will be put on by Parente Fireworks at midnight. Click here for their demo, including an excerpt of a Padua past display at the 1 minute mark. Since the city of Padua decided to shift two-thirds of the fireworks funding to the recent flood victims in the Veneto region, the pirotecnico display will most likely be more simplified and/or shorter than usual.

Funds will be raised that night for the "Save Guinea" cause.

All is free and open to the public.

Hopefully it won't be too cold to have fun!

For more information, go to Radio Company.

Selling Second Hand in Italy

2010-12-30T13:04:00.001+01:00

It took me forever to find a few second hand shops in the Padua area.

I had grown up in the States, visiting them at least once a month. I pratically lived in clothes from there as a child. I found great, cheap and funky things as a teenager. Once at art college, I located some more objects to convert into art assignments such as a compound found-glass sculpture and a cigar box memory trove.

While living in New York City, I bought some odd evening wear.

Then I moved to Italy and these special stores didn't seem to exist.

Italians push through the latest fashions with new clothes and shoes to don every year. I wondered where all of last year's abiti and scarpe had gone? I could only see big yellow donation containers on some streets to explain their end. These are designed for donations to the poor. But what about people who don't want to spend full retail price, but aren't "officially poor"? What about getting furniture at rock-bottom prices, but not going to IKEA?

Finally I found my solution: Il Mercatino chain and a few other shops. I could start to peruse used wares again. It has come in very handy, especially since I have a house to furnish now.

After buying a few things, I also wanted to unload some other items from my closet and garage. I decided to sell in these venues. I started with clothes. But this is where things got culturally very different. They wouldn't accept half of the items! "They are out-of-fashion," the girl said. Even classic fully-lined wool pants were put into the pile of unacceptable merchandise. "Wow!" I thought, "Couldn't they be appropriate for a middle aged woman, perhaps?" No, either the cut was too wide for the pants or the sweaters too short. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to sell them. So I realized that even the second hand shops are quite trendy in Italy. You're supposed to be selling your clothes only a year after you buy them, while the styles are still fairly current.

In the end, I did unload some clothes. My funky hats were sold immediately. (Leopard-print and transparent vinyl are all the rage, I guess!) The others items are still waiting to find homes. Anyone looking for a violet wool jumper set from Benetton?

Italians take their clothes seriously, even at the second hand stage. Now I am taking a better look at Il Mercatino's fashion section. If I can buy a great jacket which retailed for Euro 150 last year at one of the big brand name stores and is being displayed on these racks this year at Euro 20, I would say that's a good buy!

Nativities Galore

2010-12-28T13:42:00.000+01:00

Along the most historic street in Cencenighe Agordino, Via Coi, there seems to be a nativity outside of virtually every house. It's interesting that the magi have already arrived. They came early to the baby Jesus, here in the Dolomites.

Destructive Waters for Christmas

2010-12-27T16:34:00.005+01:00

The rivers rose again. It was during another holiday weekend: Christmas! 250 people were evacuated from there homes on Christmas Eve from Bovolenta, in the province of Padua. The Bacchiglione reared its ugly head again. This makes two floods in less than two months. No warm fires at the hearth while opening presents for those children.

Click here for more images of the flooding.

Image taken from Il Mattino di Padova

Interesting Seasons Greetings from Padua

2010-12-24T10:05:00.008+01:00

I received this most interesting email from XMountain Guide Alpine Padova for this Christmas season. Here it goes with translation below:

NATALE 2010

A
chi
ama
dormire
ma si sveglia
sempre di buon
umore, a chi saluta
ancora con un bacio, a
chi lavora molto e si diverte di
più, a chi va in fretta in auto, ma
non suona ai semafori, a chi arriva
in ritardo ma non cerca scuse, a chi spegne
la televisione per fare due chiacchiere, a chi è
felice il doppio quando fa a metà, a chi si alza presto
per aiutare un amico, a chi ha l'entusiasmo di un bambino
e pensieri da uomo, a chi vede nero solo quando è buio

A chi non aspetta Natale

per essere

Migliore

Buon Natale
e Felice 2011

CHRISTMAS 2010

To
he
who
loves to
sleep but
always wakes
up in good spirits, who
still greets you with a kiss,
who works a lot and has even
more fun, who speeds in his car but
doesn't honk at lights, who arrives late
but doesn't make excuses, who turns off the
television to chat, who gets up early to help a friend,
who has the enthusiasm of a child and thoughts like a man,
who only sees black when it's dark

To he who doesn't wait for Christmas

to be

Better

Merry Christmas
and Happy 2011

Traces of Christmas at my House

2010-12-22T14:43:00.009+01:00

Buon Natale

Merry Christmas

AUGURI

from An American in Padua

Goodies from America

2010-12-21T14:50:00.000+01:00

I saw a friend from the States last night. She brought me and other friends a goodies bag from the US. I've taken a picture of the assortment inside:

It got me thinking about what best represents our US food, and cravings, when abroad. Peanut butter is an obvious choice. Now eveything seems to be Bio. I've been introduced to Justin's brand for the first time with this packet. Maple syrup lets us dream of New England snow and bright maple tree colors in Fall. I love the tiny Tabasco sauce bottle, although I can easily find this product at Italian supermarkets now. My husband insists on using it in many recipes, including yesterday's Tuna Melt sandwich (with a kick!). The symbol of American money--our greenbacks-- in miniature containing chocolate. Ghiradelli chocolates cannot match Gianduia in the mother country. I have to admit I never ate Altoid's in all my years in America. Then since this friend was coming from CA, there's a new snack to taste: California Crunchies. I'm from the East Coast so this is a novelty. Do they sell it in Baltimore, nowadays, even though it's from the state of "Eureka!"?

I really appreciated the thought. Thank you D!

Readers, what would you put in a little treat sack to pack away from Italy, if you lived here (or do live here) and want to take over something fun? Please leave me your comments.

Christmas on the Streets of Padua

2010-12-20T10:48:00.007+01:00

Via Altinate, Coin Department Store

The Christmas season is upon us. Even snow has arrived in Padua to boost the festive spirit. (About 3 inches fell on Friday, but has already melted in the downtown area.)

Droves of Paduans are pounding the city streets under giant strings, balls and bells of light. They are all searching for that special something for friends and loved ones.

5 days to go and counting....

to a Buon Natale

Via Santa Lucia, with lights and red carpet in front of one of my favorite bars, The Gufo, and underground tavern

a quiet Via Sauro

List of Home Projects

2010-12-17T17:13:00.004+01:00

Now that F and I are home owners, there are always new projects to think about, prepare, execute and save for.
I should be writing Santa Claus my Wish List but instead, I am preparing this one.
(Bare in mind we have been living in our place for just over 6 months.)

Paint wall mural already pencilled in at end of hallway
Sand and varnish windows next summer
Install a work table in small bedroom
Frame prints and photographs for bedroom and hall
Paint a bright pink pattern on the bathroom ceiling to give it personality
Buy a nice rug for the living room
Draft a lace insert for the bathroom curtain
Put up shelves in garage
Get information about creating personalized wallpaper for one wall
Get a small heavy-duty outdoor table for the terrace (old one blew away during a storm in July)
Put up shelf in bedroom above chest of drawers
Decide on what to do artistically with wall space in living room (ongoing discussion)
Put up curtain in small bedroom
Make new dog throws for now brown sofa in living room
Get plumber to come back and pipe up non-functional radiators

Happy to have accomplished recently:

Install new wooden tiolet seat
Fix plumbing problem in kitchen
Change key locks for all major doors

Veneto's Flooding Crisis

2010-12-13T11:48:00.005+01:00

A month ago a deluge of rain hit my area very hard. Flooding ripped through the province of Padua and Vicenza, not to mention areas of Treviso. The rain started hard on Halloween night, as I was complaining about my lanterns being blown out by the water. Then it just kept coming down: torrential and constant for over 36 hours. The mountains were spitting the water from every crevice. I happened to be there, in the Dolomites, for the beginning of it.

Then in the valley, the earth stopped absorbing the rain. The rivers couldn't handle the overflow. The tides pushed the fresh water back from spilling into the Adriatic. This meant FLOODING. The Bacchiglione River became one of the main culprits.

In my town of Noventa along the Piovegò, the bridge had about one foot of clearance before overflowing. Schools closed early in Padua on November 2nd. Other areas actually had water in their garages, basements and taverne (typical Veneto ground floor rustic dining rooms). Businesses were flooded out and farm land washed away. One of my clients from Veggiano had 3 meters (10 ft) of water in her family house.

For a video of Bovolenta's flooding effects as of November 6, click here. Casalserugo can be seen here, with a simple commentary in Italian. There is even a boat passing over what should be the road, during the video.

The region came under criticism for overbuilding many formerly agricultural areas, partly to blame for the water's effects. Several cities had been lazy about river bank maintenance and prevention work in recent years. After all, nothing like this has happened since 1966. There is a mixture of intense local pride to get back to work and recover the area and the need for help by the government and generous donations. The Veneto people are not used to "handouts" from anybody.

In the case you would like to make a donation to the cause within the nation, you can send an sms message to 45501 from a cell phone "Alluvione Veneto" (Flood in Veneto).The donation is for Euro 2,00.

For foreigners, please send donations to the Red Cross:

To the bank account: Conto Corrente del Comitato Regionale CRI del Veneto
Subject: "pro alluvione veneto"
IBAN: IT82 B063 4502 0100 6700 5001 62B

For the Italian Red Cross website: go here.

Time has passed but the groups are still raising funds and the work effort will go on for months, surely. During this Christmas season, think about helping the Veneto's recovery after November's flood.

Meanwhile here, the supermarkets and local government are inventing every way possible to raise money for the flood victims: matching gift donations and Christmas concerts.

Happy holidays and stay dry.

Image from flickr account Fritz Forelle at Ponte Pusterla (VI)

Trying to Celebrate Halloween

2010-11-01T19:33:00.005+01:00

It's not always so easy here. This year I resorted to making mini-Jack o' Lanterns from Melinda-brand golden delicious apples instead of sculpting a nice orange American pumpkin. I was in the Dolomites for Halloween this year and it is not as easy to get American-style things there. Then I was further disappointed last night because my lanterns were outside during the rainiest eve of the last 5 years, in my opinion. There wasn't a soul outside to even enjoy them during the deluge that hit this area this weekend.

Next year will be better I'm sure. Then again, I'm not in the US so I shouldn't expect much. Yet in recent years Italy has put more and more effort into promoting this American tradition. What started as an excuse for extra sales in shops like the cartoleria selling masks and witch hats and theme-nights for pubs and bars, has become an authentically borrowed festivity.

The kids in my building hanged pumpkin streamers in the stairwell 10 days ago. The elementary school teachers are doing units about the Halloween traditions. The Italians can now go trick-or-treating in the malls like many US childen do. At least this is what happens in the city.

However this year in the Dolomites, Halloween did not seem to have any impact. Rather, the people were more concerned about their own holidays: Ognissanti (All Saints' Day) today and La Festa dei Morti (The Holiday of the Dead) tomorrow. In their tradition, church was in order today to honor the saints and tomorrow they will be visiting the cemetaries and their deceased relatives to pay respects.

WWI on the Lagazuoi

2010-09-21T10:09:00.016+02:00

I've been away from the blog for a while because I was hiking with my father in the mountains.
Now that he is gone, I would like to share one trail and location with you. It combines history with glorious mountain panoramas. That is the Mount Lagazuoi, a stronghold for the Italian and Austrian troops during WWI.

View of Lagazuoi with cable car from Passo Falzarego

We started our hike up the Austrian side, leaving Passo Val Parola and following the route Kaiserjaeger. The Austrians had this side and the top of Lagazuoi as its defence. Along with the neigbouring Sas de Stria (see post), it created and almost invincible defence strategy because they could see far into the valleys and along the only paths that the Italians needed to gain territory.

Val Parola Pass and the Austrian fort Tre Sassi

A view of Sas de Stria and the Marmolada (with glacier) in the distance

The trail features a suspended bridge that is a special treat along the hike. This is not the most common route to take up the mountain since it is a little bit more difficult than the one going up the front of the mountain at Passo Falzarego. However, I find it more interesting to take since it focuses on the Austrian front before we will switch over to the Italian section. It also presents the hiker with a separate side of the mountain and its views to take in, which differ from the second section of the day's walk.

The summit is always gratifying, here at 9029 ft.

Me with Mount Marmolada in the background, where there is a small museum dedicated to the Great War.

Rifugio Lagazuoi

After a short lunch, we passed the Rifugio Lagazuoi (which is reachable directly by cable car) and headed into the gallerie (tunnels) which were carved 1 km long through the mountain. The darkness, dampness, tight quarters and slippery steps make you think hard about the soldiers' problems while fighting that war. The winters were devastating. It was hard to survive, let alone fight in those conditions. My father hit his helmet-protected head about a dozen times on the ceiling while trying to make it down the tunnel just once. He is tall, but I don't think the soldiers had it too easy avoiding the same bumps a century ago. And the soldiers were there for 4 long years.

Tunnel

Artillery perch

Every so often, hikers now catch a view a great view from what used to be the artillery points and defensive holes which act as windows now.

The tunnel ends at the Cengia (Ridge) Martini, an Italian position under the Austrian line, protected by some rock formations.

The last half an hour of walking is an easy stroll down to Passo Falzarego.

If you are a WWI buff and like to hike, this is the place to go!

For more information about WWI , consult the following site: click Museo della Guerra, focusing on the nearby Trentino region but also including information about the Veneto front; Museum of the First World War in Marmolada; Five Towers open air museum in Lagazuoi area featuring still lifes of the war scenes with mannequins.

For more information about hikes in the area: click Cortina.Dolomiti.org

Local Headlines

2010-09-06T12:10:00.004+02:00

Sacchi di pane fresco gettati nell'immodizia

Bags of fresh bread thrown in the trash

Leggo, giovedì 2 settembre, p. 20

The city was up in arms about the wasteful gesture on the part of the supermarket on via Gattamelata, Eurospar. Last Wednesday afternoon, they threw away kilos of fresh bread. This was probably because they did not sell everything that was baked in the morning and all food stores are closed on Wednesday afternoons. The local poor and homeless steadily arrived at the public trash container in question and took advantage of the boon.

I have seen homeless pilfering from that exact trash spot for years. There are two men in particular that gather their fruits and vegetables there just about everyday. There must have been more poor coming by that particular day, with the overflowing bread. In general, I have never seen anyone upset by these people going through the trash. The sight is an affirmation that poverty exists and that we are a wasteful society nowadays, throwing away things that are still usable and edible. It's an old and sad story...

In Italy, tons of unused bread ends up as rubbish from bakeries, food markets and individual houses. In January, the Corriere della Sera reported that Italy averages 24,230 tons of bread ending up in the waste bin a month. Not everybody uses their day-old bread. We can buy pane gratttugiato (bread crumbs) for very cheap, and even if Italian grate up the old crusty bread, there is only so much they can use of it at once. It's an interesting dilemna. Fresh is great but can be wasteful. Long-lasting is convenient but can be terrible as far as taste and health is concerned. We already consume enough preservatives in other food stuffs, right?

Veneto bread does not last as long as some other varieties on the penisola. I remember the bread I ate in Tuscany and other more southern areas of Italy would last up to a week. You just cut off slices as you go. The crust is thicker and must protect the bread from the air better. Here the bread shapes are all rather small and have thin crusts. Most of the bread is sandwich size: mantovani, zoccoletti, francesini, ecc.

F is buying some as I write. We just better make sure we finish off what we buy today. Panini are in order for lunch.

After the Holidays

2010-09-02T10:13:00.004+02:00

The city streets are crowded again with cars, motorcycles and mopeds. Just about everyone has come back from their summer holidays.

The kids have to start thinking about school which will open in my area on September 13th. There are tests to take in "deficient" subjects to make sure they can continue into their next year.

All the shops are open again. No more surprises of showing up somewhere to find the serranda down and a little sign with Ferie (Vacation) written in marker.

People of all ages are extremely brown after a month of serious tanning. Hair is blonder than usual from the great bleacher: the sun.

Italians have forgotten how to work. They can't remember their work passwords and details of office life. They are glowing when they talk about their vacations. There is a bit of a contest of who had the best one. Is it better to have been on the beach, relaxing in the mountains or travelling around the world?

Padua's relentless heat and humidity have subsided. We can breathe again. It's actually fun to be outside and in the sun. We even put on jackets in the evening, something we haven't done here for over 2 months.

Bentornati (Welcome back) Padovani!

Lick Your Lips in New York

2010-08-31T15:28:00.004+02:00

What should be the absolute best place to find fine Italian food products is opening today!

It's called Eataly,part of a chain that first opened in Turin, expanded to Tokyo and now is opening its doors in the Big Apple. Visit it at 200 5th Avenue, at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway.

You'll be able to eat in one of 8 ristoranti, choose from a coffee in the Grande Caffè Lavazza, a delicious scoop or two at the agrigelateria, chew on a quick sandwich at the paninoteca or go for the rosticceria and/or pizzeria sections of the 7000 square meter extravaganza.

The signage will all be bilingual, with explanations about all products in English and italiano. The founders believe in the Slow Food approach which will be appreciated in the fast pace of Manhattan, I hope.

The owner, Oscar Farinetti, boasts that this location will be the Harrods of Italian food in NY. Go and see for yourself. Let me know how the mozzarella tastes: with American milk and Italian savior-faire.

For the video preview of Eataly presented by the news journal La Stampa and dated 28 June, click here. Language: Italian.

From Benetton to Wines and Olive Oil

2010-08-25T21:35:00.006+02:00

Only in Italy do you become famous, get rich and then create your own line of wines and olive oil. Oliviero Toscani has done just that.

He is best known for his controversial work for Benetton, a Veneto company from the Treviso area near Padua, including over 20 years of photos as part of the clothing manufacturer's advertising campaign. Some particularly memorable images for me growing up were a nun kissing a priest and close-ups of bloody death and slimy birth, featuring a newborn still attached to the umbilical cord. The billboards, magazine ads and COLORS magazine, which develops a journalistic aspect to the research, all ruffled many feathers and got millions of people talking about society's contemporary issues and problems.

Toscani was even responsible for founding Benetton's creative think-tank of young designers and artists from around the world who win residencies to work on-site at the company's compound space called Fabrica. The work produced there receives accolades across the art and design spheres as well as helping continue making innovative shop displays and ad campaigns for the mother company, United Colors of Benetton.

In recent years, Toscani has slowed down on his direct contributions to all-things Benetton. He's got a new project: he has chosen to produce and promote his own wine and olive oil collections named OT. As for the wine, it is colorfully labeled in separately yellow, cyan and magenta. By the way, those are the three colors used to create all printed material, of course with the addition of a fourth component, black. He may be making wine, but he's still a graphic designer and photographer at heart! And in fact, he is still doing his trade, but not with the big B. Go to La Sterpaia for that.

Another noted (clothing) designer who has a winery is Diesel brand apparel's founder Renzo Rosso. For my post about those wine and olive oil lines, click here. But that stuff's got the company's brand name on the label.

I have to admit I have never casually found either of these wines or olive oils in my giri around town, the region or Italy, but maybe one day I will actually get to taste them and see how they stack up to their founders' reputations. If you do first, let me know what you think. Grazie.

Local Headlines

2010-08-21T18:00:00.002+02:00

Marijuana nell'orto della scuola
Marijuana in the school garden

Saturday August 21, 2010 Il Gazzettino, Belluno edition, p. 9

A dozen marijuana plants of various sizes were found in the little botantical garden at the "Anna Frank" elementary school in Spinea (Venice). The school's director spotted the "Cannabis sativa" and promptly called police.

The plants were dispersed among the many others being used for educational purposes by the students, faculty and parents.

___________
So how is the next Parents' Board meeting going to go at that school, might I ask?

A Special Birthday Gift

2010-08-20T10:51:00.004+02:00

I wish I had a birthday gift like hers when I was her age. I am talking about a 13-year-old whose father finances a trip to any country in the world for each of his children on that special birthday.

I met this father-daughter duo from North Carolina at the Rifugio Città di Fiume on Mount Pelmo last week.

I rarely hear American accents while hiking in the Dolomites, so I usually introduce myself out of curiosity. In this manner, I was told the reason for this American couple's visit to Italy. The father's pact is on condition that there is some sort of "adventure" involved in the trip to the child's country of choice. The young blond teenager chose Italy and I was meeting them on the adventure leg of the journey. They had started in Venice for 3 days, followed by 6 days of continuous hiking in alta quota and would finish with 5 days in Rome, possibly hitting Pompei before returning back to the US.

I was amazed at the magnitude of this amazing birthday present. Of course, the father got some fun out of the deal, too.

I remember that I was thrilled to get to go to the Rockies for a week, compliments of my Girl Scout troop when I was that age. My leader promised her girls a trip to anywhere (in the US) if they stayed in Girl Scouts beyond the age of 13. (At that point in teenage life, it becomes quite unpopular to be a Girl Scout.) Her family's company donated to help pay for the trip. We all thought we were the luckiest East Coast girls to see the mountains out West! But that must have been how things were 20 years ago in the US. Now it's Europe on the youngster's minds!

Day Trip to Bassano del Grappa

2010-08-16T11:14:00.020+02:00

This town provides a wonderful day-trip solution from Padua or Venice. Located 70 km from Padua, Bassano del Grappa is most famous for its grappa production, ceramic traditions and wooden bridge over the River Brenta.

Currently the cultural life in Bassano del Grappa is percolating with the programming for Opera Estate 2010. From the end of June to early September, a series of international dance companies, theatre groups, readings and opera will be performed in the area. For more information, click here.

Take a walk through the town and visit the many museums, dedicated to ceramics, the artist Jacopo Bassano, the tower and the civic museum. Visit the tourist information point near the old city walls by the train station for more information about all of them and a map of the city.

Around the old bridge, several shops sell Bassano's famous ceramics and stoneware. They feature painted plates and bowls, elaborate white stoneware and delicate ceramic fruit compositions.

Piazza del Libertà during a summer shower

A café in Piazza Garibaldi with ceramic art on the outside walls

The lion with wings that marks all the towns that were once dominated by the Serenissima (Venetian Republic). After it's protection for a while in the 13th century by a Paduan, Ezzelino II, the Ventians took hold in the 15th century, followed by Napolean's reign. Eventually Bassano became officially part of the province of Vicenza, which it still maintains today.

The oldest building in town, built in the 13th century
A clock tower, the Torre Civica
Another clock (building)

Local specialties on display in the historic bread shop, here featuring ciamballone.
An antique shop in the city center
The large wooden bridge has many names: Ponte di Legno, Ponte degli Alpini (in honor of those who last rebuilt it) and Ponte Vecchio. Even Andrea Palladio was involved in designing and building this large bridge which crosses a rough river, the Brenta. A wood structure was thought to be able to withstand the river's force. Unfortunately that wasn't always true. The bridge has crumbled many times over the centuries, although the last demise came at the hands of the Nazi Germans. The bridge was bombarded during WWII. What you see now is the 1947 reconstruction, based on Palladio's original plans from 1569.

Ponte degli Alpini

A plaque on the bridge in honor of the fallen during WWII.

The most elegant outdoor ash tray I've ever seen.

When visiting the town, don't miss a trip to the bar Distilleria Nardini at the end of the Ponte degli Alpini. Have a shot of Italy's strongest spirit, grappa, and take home a bottle. I prefer the Acquavite stagionato (aged grappa) with its golden coloring. But beware, it is quite strong at 50% alcohol content. Drinking a shot in the old bar proves special since the decor envelopes you in heavy dark wood impregnated with the acquavite scent.

At the very least, Bassano del Grappa is a pleasant afternoon stroll with characteristic architecture and little local delicacies as wells as souvenirs to satisfy most touristy souls. Enjoy a day at the edge between the northern Italian plains and mountains. Witness how people can restore their splendor after the devastation of war. Make a jaunt to Bassano.

To get to Bassano, you can take the regional train or buses (SITA or FTV) from Padua. The trip takes about an hour. Or you can make Bassano your homebase by staying a couple of nights and exploring the nearby mountains and Padana plains. Bassano is strategic since it sits at the foot of the Prealpi (Pre-alps) of Vicenza.

Photo sources:
Overall bridge view: fulviatour.com
Ceramics store: Cippetta-Vicenza @ flickr.com

How Much Do You Make?

2010-08-05T11:25:00.004+02:00

First of all, this question doesn't get brought up very fast in Italian conversation. As an American, I was used to hearing this question asked much more often. We are internationally famous for how much we talk about money.

But when money matters do come up in Italy, the way to interpret them differs radically.

In the US, we talk about earnings in terms of yearly gross sums. For example, Jenny makes $45,000 a year. Meanwhile Italians cite their net monthly income. Giovanna might say,"I earn Euro 1200." That means she makes Euro 1200 a month net, after taxes and INPS (Italian Social Security).

This really small amount shocks Americans. But although it is true that the average Italian makes much less than her comparable American colleague in the same job and position, some pieces of the puzzle are missing in this statement of earnings.

What the American needs to realize is that the Italian, if she has a full-time contract, gets paid in 13 or 14 "monthly" installments within the 12-month year. You might be asking how this is possible now. Well, she gets paid a double salary in December (13th month) and even August (14th), depending on the contract. Essentially she gets big lump sums just in time for the major holidays. It helps pay for Christmas gifts and August rent at the beach. Those extra 2 months salary add 20-30% to annual income overall.

How can Italian employers get away with paying their people so little? Partially this is due to the huge taxes paid for each official employee. To pay someone Euro 1200/month, the company may be paying the government an additional Euro 800-1000 in income tax and INPS contributions. The country's heavy tax burden almost entirely lies on the shoulders of employees who declare their salary. Their earnings get mightily taxed because so many other Italians are not declaring their income and subsequently avoid paying taxes on it. There are plenty of examples of doctors, plumbers, gondoliers and shop owners who declare Euro 18000 annual gross income while they are actually pocketing over Euro 100,000. This feeds Italy's continual frustration with the tax burden of honest citizens and the idea of fairness for everyone in the Repubblica.

It's true that Italians can survive on less because so many do not have a mortgage to pay. They are living in family homes, perhaps left by a deceased grandmother, or one purchased by their parents with a lifetime of savings. Since Italians don't have to spend very much on putting their children through college, funded publicly, they squirrel away savings to put toward real estate. If one family cannot give their child an entire house, sometimes they split the expense 50/50 with the future son-in-law's family. Italy has the largest per capita home ownership statistics in all of Europe. They avoid paying rent as much as possible by living with mamma and papà until they get married and then they buy many properties cash-in-hand, maybe with their parents' money.

On the flip side, this tradition makes life more complicated when you ask for a mortgage, like I did recently. The banks are extremely cautious, especially in light of the American fall-out.

This is a classic example of how everything gets interpreted uniquely based on the culture. Society colors how we think about money and spend it. There are several layers to every question and answer, based on where we come from.

Just Sign at the Top

2010-08-02T10:53:00.006+02:00

Well, I have moved to mountains for 3 weeks in August to escape the heat, enjoy some fresh air and get my heart rate up while hiking and climbing. This is the famous Ferragosto in Italy--lots and lots of vacation time.

Shifting to mountain topics, today I'll talk about a dear tradition surrounding the libro di vetta (Book of the Peak). Many mountains feature a book where you can sign and comment on your feelings and experience. It is especially satisfying to fill in when your hike was long and challenging. A record remains for posterity that you were there. You typically include a comment, the date, your name and can mention where you are from. By reading others' entries, you can see just how far some people came to climb that mountain and make that comment.

Here is a picture from Monte Fertazza, which is not a difficult walk but you get the idea. The peaks in the Dolomites always have a metal cross to indicate the tallest point. It is a wonderful sight to see, especially after 6-9 hours of a steep climb. You know you are almost there!

This cross has a compartment that houses the libro.
Once you write your entry, you can tuck it back into its nook on the cross, which usually also includes a pen.

These are the entries from July 31. Italians can be so poetic and emotional about nature.

Trascribed entries:

1. Oggi una bella giornata di sole che brilla come le stelle. Qui il nome Fertazza molto bello da visione comunque bello.

2. Ho veramente toccato il cielo con le dita.

3. Questo posto è un paradiso terrestre, gli angeli dominano tutto, è una bella giornata

Translations:

1. Today is a beautiful day where the sun shines like the stars. Here the very nice name Fertazza gives way to a lovely sight.

2. I really touched the sky with my fingers.

3. This place is heaven on earth, the angels preside over everything, it's a wonderful day

There can also be a very pratical aspect to this tradition. A record remains of your presence. In fact, this was important in reconstructing the series of events involved in the death of a noted priest in the area this past winter, Claudio Sacco. This man of God was also an avid alpine skier and had opened some new routes in the Dolomites over the years. He was killed during an avalanche on Monte Pore in December during a solo night ascent. The rescuers were able to establish that he was killed on the way down, and not while going up, because he had signed the libro di vetta at 11: 30 p.m.

Don Sacco, may you rest in peace.

For article from the Corriere del Veneto in italiano, click here.

Impressive Recycling

2010-07-29T14:05:00.008+02:00

The recycling system is one aspect of the new surburb where I live, just outside of Padua, that has been most noticeable. Its autonomous government administration takes recycling very seriously.

Things were a bit different in Padua. I used to just take my recycling bucket to the two giant bins that asked me to divide into the following categories: yellow for paper products and blue for tins, plastic and glass. Sometimes there was also a small brown bin for umido (organic waste). Then at a nearby spot, you could open the big metal trash bins for all other non-recyclable trash. The plastic bins, especially for paper, would get emptied about once every 2 weeks and you hoped that the bin wasn't already overflowing 5 days before the trucks came by.

A picture from a former post:

Now in Noventa, I've been presented with a near rainbow of recycle bins.
YELLOW for paper
ORANGE for plastic
BLUE for tins, cans and glass
GRAY for non-recylables
GREEN for organic
BROWN for grass and plant clippings

I don't understand why everything is colored differently except the 2 blue and gray containers that almost look the same color, especially after dark. You need to read the fine print on the bin to understand the difference. Did they run out of available colors? What about trendy purple, for example? The tins could go there.

Anyway, they are all lined up at the foot of my building or hidden within the property of each of my neighbors' individual houses. You have to put the correct bins out on the right days, according to the official calendar provided by the city. This is nothing different from many American towns, I presume. But there is barely enough space in the lousy 2 bins we have for the non-recyclables. This is especially when I consider I live with another 8 families. The paper bins get filled in record time, too, but we have 3 of them.

Not only do we have the above-listed divisions, but my new town has yet another category: bins for used diapers. There are so many young families brimming with children, and inevitably their thousands of pannolini (diapers), that you see these special containers dotting the municipality.

This system is in stark contrast to places like Naples, which had its citizens burning excess trash that was overflowing in the streets from the lack of pick-up at the normal city on-street trash bins. This was big news and considered a national disaster in 2008. Information also came out that very little recycling was done at all in that area, therefore aggravating the situation of general trash collection for the city. There was just too much trash and awful trash management (maybe due to the Naples' mafia involvement in waste removal?).

Meanwhile we are here in the Northeast, dividing and dragging out bins to the streets after dusk almost every night. So far F and I haven't had to do it for our building but we will be on duty for the whole month of September. That will be "fun", I'm sure. In the end, we'll be doing our civic duty.

Hot US Celebs Buy Property in Northern Italy

2010-07-24T11:24:00.010+02:00

It wasn't enough to only have one of the sexiest American men alive with a beautiful luxury villa in Italy since 2002. That is George Clooney, who has also been in the news over the last couple of years because of his romantic liason with Italian TV sweetheart Elisabetta Canalis. He bought Villa L'Oleandra in 2002 on Lake Como.

Now there is another sexy duo on the Italian scene--in Northern Italy! Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are reported to have recently bought a mega villa in the hills of Valpolicella, the region famous for its red wine of the same name. Paying a mere $40,000,000 their new abode includes a park, two swimming pools with waterfalls and jacuzzi tubs, a cinema room and a well-equipped gym. They have supposedly been in Italy for the last 10 months while Jolie has been working on the film, The Tourist in Venice. According to the property firm owner Alexander Proto, "They wanted something more exclusive and in record time to spend the summer vacation in Italy."

So Brad, Angelina and family, any plans to come to Padua soon?

Photo credits:
Clooney's villa: MailOnline
Clooney and Canalis: cinema-tv.guidone.it
Pitt and Jolie: myluxury.it

Local Headlines

2010-07-22T14:38:00.004+02:00

This is the first in a new series of featured headlines from local newpapers. They go from funny to tragic.

Today's feature:

VIAGGI, SCOUT OCCUPANO L'AGENZIA
Il Mattino di Padova, front page story

"TRIPS, SCOUTS OCCUPY THE TRAVEL AGENCY"

A group of 20 boy and girl scouts based in Crespano del Grappa found out their tickets had never been purchased to go to Brazil. They found this out yesterday when they showed up at the airport, bags in hand. It is suspected that the Euro 15,000 they spent back in January for the July departure had just been pocketed by the travel agency's owner, Vito Barbieri. The scouts had planned a 20-day mission in the South American country.

Once the group and its organizers realized the truffa (scam), they promptly occupied the travel agency in Padua, where they had deposited their money. Despite spending all day there, no real answers were given.

Now the police are on Vito's tail.

Requests by Friends and Family as an Expat

2010-07-21T10:29:00.001+02:00

It's not your normal affair. My guests come half way around the world. Very often they are on some sort of European tour and let me know they want to stop in Padua. Other times they come specifically to see me and this part of Italy for a longer stay. But that is just the point. The visit is heavily laden with touring on their minds. After all, they are on vacation for a week or more. They have a city, country or all of Europe to discover.

Meanwhile I am settled in this place. I have lived here for over twelve years now, off and on, and the last six have been steady in one city. I have a normal job with hours, clients and basically mandatory vacation time periods, just when the work naturally wanes. Officially I am freelance but it's quite a scam here in Italy--the freelance status, I mean. It's not as "free" as it is designed to be, especially in my field of teaching. (Maybe I'll do a post on it soon?)

This contrast is significant because it creates conflict between their desires and my capabilities. Most of the time, I am barely on vacation myself during their stay in Padua. I desperately want to enjoy their company but have the pressures of work, the money loss of not working if I do take off time to be with them, as well as house to cater to and husband to keep in the mix.

Every moment weighs heavily as I spend time with these beloved people. We haven't seen each other for between 6 months and 3 years. Everything should be perfect as we spend time together since we haven't seen each other for so long and won't see each other again for quite a while, most likely. Meanwhile I am working...as well as seeing them.

It's out of the question to be in a bad mood or talk poorly about anything. Those words get imprinted forever by these special listeners, who have come from across the ocean.

I try to be a tour guide. I do love talking about the places I know well. I am even good at it. However it can get tiring. I am often visiting what I have seen many times before. My friends and family rely on me to prepare many, many aspects of their trip. They are often timid about making reservations and plans themselves for fear of a language or cultural problem. Irene can do it so much more easily, right? I usually help, but it goes beyond my normal relationship as friend or family. Since when does an American friend ask you to put together hotel accomodations, tours and travel tips when you want to visit San Francisco or Santa Fe? Can't the guide books help out with 80% of that, if not more? But in a foreign country, these requests just seem normal for the American to ask of me. Meanwhile I haven't visited some of the places on their tour for 5-10 years because they are in distant regions from me in Northeast Italy.

Or then there are those who get the information about possible hotels, for example, and then don't use it. Of course, that's their right but it sure makes my effort feel insignificant and not particularly appreciated.

What bothers me most is the pressure to make everything perfect. I have to be "on" all the time. I wish the visitors could better understand that the imperfections don't have to be indelible. Sometimes, they are just witnessing temporary lapses of an expat that is experiencing her regular life with special guests while their visit may be during the vacation of a lifetime.

Mysterious Identity

2010-07-20T09:38:00.006+02:00

It was another walk around the neighborhood, but this time, there was a mystery animal to meet. My dog got instantly curious when he happened to see this curious robot, which is about the size of a medium dog but quite silent as it rolls around the lawn and cuts grass.

Automation is the new frontier in Noventa's lawn grooming. You don't have to push or even sit on a machine to do it. Just set the robot on the grass and let it do all the work. These were pictures taken at dinner time. I could hear the plates clanking in the background while the black robot was at work.

The dog has since remembered the strange being at this house and jumps up to look for it every time we pass by. His doggie brain can't get around this human invention. He was expecting it to bark but it never did. It just rolled on.

Extreme Hot Hits ...

2010-07-14T19:38:00.005+02:00

...my living room
...my bedroom

It's been incredibly hot this week and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. I know it's July but this is getting out of hand.

We're at the point that the computer is not working properly due to excess heat. We already serviced it, only to find out that nothing seems to be wrong with it....except the Paduan heat. The dog can do nothing but pant and sprawl out across the tiled floors in the hopes of keeping his naturally hot doggie body temperature as low as possible.

On that note, when we went to take the dog to the vet 2 days ago, by the time the vet saw the dog, he was suffering from a doggie fever caused by the heat and excitement of waiting around too many other dogs. His temperature was 2°C above normal. The vet then promptly refused to administer the routine shots we had come for. We are hoping for better results tomorrow morning when we do the same thing again, but this time in the morning by appointment, which was a small feat to get from this particular vet.

Fans are distributed throughout the house and rotated as we move through the spaces and rooms. At night, 2 are blasting on either side of the master bed. I have given up on wearing clothing at night. Nothing is cool enough! And forget sheets. They just absorb the sweat!

The lights are kept low. Blinds are kept down all day. We even shut some doors during the afternoon to keep more heat from seeping in. The windows are only open wide from about 10 p.m. to midnight, when the heat finally wanes.

Our terrace walls are so hot during the day and much of the evening that we could roast meat on them for a barbeque.

The sky is white from haze that appears as early as 9 in the morning now.

We average 2 or 3 showers a day to try to stay cool and sane. The dog is having one a day as a "refresher", otherwise we think he might explode.

We are starting to invent any and every way to stay away from home at night when inside is hotter than outside: open air film festivals, air conditioned pizzerie or restaurants, bars with outdoor seating and late-night superstore shopping with climate contol.

Luckily, in a couple of weeks we will escape to the mountains while other friends and fellow Paduans will hit the beaches.

Meanwhile, the dog days of summer have our dog a pezzi (literally "in pieces").

A Color Match

2010-07-08T16:04:00.009+02:00

Any orange would not do. If is was too bright, it would overpower the tiles and make them look drab. If it was too dark it would make the room feel heavy and gloomy. But too light and it would come out looking like peach, right?

What were we to do? Exactly this kind of questioning accompanied our thinking as F and I tried to come up with a solution to a new living room, while keeping existing flooring.

The house came with groovy tiling. At first we just about hated it but finances kept us from ripping it up like we did for the kitchen. After all, the endless spending had to stop somewhere. We decided to embrace the pattern and color choices instead. However, getting a suitable color to go with it proved to be a challenge.

The sofa and wood furniture were easy: go with brown fabric and dark wood. On the other hand, the wall was the battlefield. I didn't want all white which is such a plain solution that would look horrible with the tiles, as I had seen when I visited the house with the real estate agent. F and I agreed that an orange wall or area could be the solution, but then we ran into all those questions about which color of orange.

Additionally frustrating are color memory and sample factors. Memory alone does not help when choosing a paint color for a delicate home remodelling situation while physically choosing it in a hardware store. You can't remember the nuances of tone and hue of your original. Bringing a digital photo, in the camera or printed, does not really help either because the photo process changes the colors too much for them to be reliable color samples. In my case, the camera adds a blue tinge to everything so the tiling colors don't seem as warm as they are in reality. In the end, I painted myself a true color copy of the tiles which I took to the store to select the paint. I am lucky enough to have painted for most of my life and know how to copy exact colors, but this would be an almost impossible feat for some people.

So then I got to the point of checking potential oranges to match against my watercolor tile sample. Since the colors from the sample book were 0.5 cm tall and 2 cm wide, it added to the challenge. I had to imagine that tiny spec of color from the book projected 2.5 m high and on 2 walls! After an hour of looking, making a list of semi-finalist oranges until I got to the finalists which were 2 colori di arancione, I ordered my 1 liter sample buckets of each and went to the new house (in the pouring rain) to paint some big swatches of the colors directly onto the wall, for better effect. I was doing this the night before I was leaving for 2 weeks in the US, in which the painter would be completely painting the new house in Padua. I had to instruct him on what color to buy before leaving and I couldn't trust F to do. I let the paint dry overnight and F drove me by the new house on the way to the airport so we could look at the dried paint color and make a decision together. The softer orange hue was the winner.

Peach was it. Luckily, it doesn't feel like peach in the context of the final furnished room.

Here are some other computer-generated color combinations I experimented with along the way.

The final paint job with a custom-made sofa and retro crystal and metal coffee table. Model is Satchmo, as usual.

Wedding Bells

2010-07-04T11:10:00.002+02:00

That time of year is temporarily closing. That is, the wedding season in Italy. The favorite months to tie the knot are May, June and September. July and August are considered a bit too sticky to be comfortable for the sposi (bride and groom), friends and family, although a few brave souls do sweat out their ceremonies during those high-summer months.

Above is my neighborhood's announcement about the marriage between Erika and Gennaro on June 19th. Italian tradition has the friends of the bride and groom, on the wedding day, make posters that are stuck around town on any and all surfaces: poles, plastic street bins, phone booths, street signs and more. This way everyone knows about who's getting hitched. The posters are often whimsical. White bows are placed on the couple's house and car as further status indicators. The bows on the car seem to stay there for about a month afterward, as a mobile declaration to everyone that the person (especially for the woman) has gotten married. Copies of this poster are still sticking to many places, even though 3 weeks have gone by and water has damaged some of them to the point that they are grey and red washes of color on standard white A4 paper. The picture below shows one poster in better condition but overpowered in importance by the street sign.

As for the house bows, I remember that mine were put up on our wedding day by our neighbors/landlords. By the time we got back from our 2-week honeymoon, the bows had turned grey from the local air pollution so I took them down. Basically the bows were there for as long as we weren't physically in the house.

Another thing friends often do on the wedding day is spray paint a message to the bride and groom on the street outside of their house. It could be something like, "You finally did it!" or "Do you want to look back now before it's too late?" A lot of Italians believe their life is basically over, or at least the fun part, when they get married. Perhaps that explains why they never seems to be under 30 before they make their union official.

Thanks to the bows and wedding signs, now I know the names of two neighbors who live across the street from me, although they know nothing about me.

Amanda Knox Conviction

2010-07-03T12:03:00.004+02:00

A fellow expat blogger, Michelle, has read the 400+ published notes produced by the Italian courts referring to the contested Amanda Knox conviction and summarized the information along with her own comments about the case on this post on her Bleeding Espresso blog. Since many Americans were heavily questioning me on the case during my last visit to the US in March, I would like to refer them to this informative update from the Italian system's viewpoint, which had little coverage by the US media for obvious reasons. I did not know about several points until reading her post, despite having witnessed the media bonanza over the few years. My only point that differs from Michelle is the amount of Italian attention that was given to the case. I believe many Italians were focusing on it, rather constantly.

Several key pieces of evidence and problems with alibi are outlined in Michelle's post, including DNA and evidence of early morning phone calls and computer use by Sollecito, the boyfriend, which Knox did not cite in her testimony. This meant that she probably wasn't at his house at the time, as stated to police.

I think the motivazioni della sentenza will be very interesting to read for you, especially my American readers.

Terribly Mistaken

2010-07-03T10:18:00.004+02:00

And I thought the national Italian soccer team would easily pass to the second round of World Cup Finals. How wrong was I!

From reigning world champions, four years later, Italy has left South Africa ashamed and embarrassed after a final defeat in Group F against Slovakia: 2-3.

In that last game, the Italians only seemed to wake up and even attempt to win in the last ten minutes. Real pressure on the Slovakia goal area happened at the very end. Some problems could be explained because there were a couple key players like the goalie, Buffon, and midfielder, Pirlo, who could not play at all or only for a short time due to injuries. Maybe the coach, Lippi, made a mistake in his original invitations of who should play at these events. For example, Casson, a brilliant young striker was not invited to participate on the national team. He possibly could have scored that much-needed goal that might have tied the game and allowed Italy to move on to the next round. In the end for the Italians, there was a general lackadaisical approach to playing soccer, while the other teams couldn't wait to beat Italy. And they did.

That Thursday match, on June 24, witnessed most of Italy at a standstill. Businesses were all but closed. Everyone was in front of a TV monitor. My neighbors had a party with the husband's friends, all home from work and in the back yard even though it was 4 p.m.

As a funny anecdote, I had to call the phone company that day about a recent bill. Since I called them during the game, I was connected to an operator immediately! This had never happened while living in Italy. I always have to wait at least 5 minutes to talk to someone. Obviously that day, I was benefiting from the fact that the entire country was glued to their TV and not thinking about mundane things like phone service.

Anyway, World Cup dreams have crashed to a depressing end. Italy's head coach, Lippi is getting hassled by reporters back in Italy while trying to be on vacation after the defeat. Italians were now rooting for Ghana, until they were defeated yesterday by Uruguay. Holland is really kicking butt, even beating Brazil. All the usually big players are basically out of the World Cup scene at this point, save Germany. Who will win this 2010 edition? We're coming down the home stretch. Finals are on July 11th. Stay tuned, but alas without Italian players on the field.

Ilaria, Beer and Soccer

2010-06-18T13:19:00.005+02:00

One of the official sponsors of the World Cup 2010 in South Africa is Budweiser Brewing Company. They are currently broadcasting a reality TV show, BudHouse, for the duration of the championship with one person representing each country that is playing in this year's competition. During the Modiali, they all live together, watch the games together, talk about soccer, meet the famous athletes and do odd and different things in South Africa, such as riding an ostrich.

I was curious about this house of people and who Bud chose to put inside. A woman named Ilaria was chosen as the Italian participant.

Italy is reigning world champion, but who knows if the title will be defended this summer. We do know that they dominated their first game against Paraguay, but the final score was 1-1. The other traditionally strong teams like Spain and Germany are not performing as well as expected. Brazil will be one to watch, of course.

For now, Italy is in a fairly easy girone (group) so they should make it to the finals without much of a problem. It has to now beat Slovakia and New Zealand in its assigned Group F.

Click here for a YouTube segment of BudHouse after watching Italy play its first game. There really seems to be a reality show for everything nowadays!

At our house, F decided to get us a little keg to drink during the first game. It sure wasn't Budweiser, thank goodness.

Next game: Italy vs. Slovakia at 4 p.m. Italian time on Sunday, June 20.

Scooter Reality Below

2010-06-15T11:01:00.002+02:00

Just a note to call attention to my newest post, which got published as an "older" one below. Click here for my reflections on life on two wheels in the Veneto.

Fresh Milk

2010-06-13T17:10:00.007+02:00

Recently, milk distributors have sprung up around town to allow individuals to buy milk directly from the makers. It's a wonderful project that has become even more important, considering the latest news about Italian milk production.

This is the one I go to in Camin, managed by a farm in Villa del Conte, north of the city. For 1 Euro, you get a liter of fresh, unpastorized milk. That's 20% less than prices available at the supermarket and some people prefer the lack of pastorizing treatment, which takes some properties away from the milk. The Italians call it latte crudo (raw milk) It definitely has a fuller, thicker taste.

Just drop a coin into the machine and the window opens. Cute "milk" music begins playing as a woman's voice instructs you on how to proceed in getting the milk into your bottle. After the requested milk amount comes out, the window automatically closes and the space self-cleans with water inside. Outside, they have provided paper towels in case you need to wipe your hands or bottle. They have even thought about helping those who came without their own bottle to recycle: you can buy a plastic or glass one from the vending machine on the right. Other milk-based products are available, too, such as yoghurt.

A famous television news magazine, Anno Zero, dedicated its last episode of the season to the milk crisis in Italy. Last week's Padania al Verde showed how Italian milk farmers are being paid too little for their milk to stay in business while thousands of gallons of milk destined for the Italian market are coming from Germany and countries in Eastern Europe, as well as evidence that powdered milk is being watered down and mixed with fresh milk. The show also called for reflection about hazardous breeding has led to cows that produce too much milk a day to maintain their health and live a long life. (Click here to watch the recording online.)

Basically, after seeing the show, I never want to buy milk again from the big companies and want to stay clear of the long-lasting milk, which mostly uses the foreign milk. (Latte a lunga conservazione is a milk product that can be stored at room temperature until the container is opened and lasts longer in the fridge than regular milk.)

So, I'm cleaning up my glass bottle, hopping on my moped and filling up with fresh, creamy, local milk.

For a map of latte crudo distributors in the Padua area, go here. The site also has more detailed information about the milk and its characteristics.

A Snag in the Joy

2010-06-11T20:04:00.006+02:00

Local tradition dictates that on the last day of school, this year June 9, the students jump in the fountain in Prato della Valle. This year was no exception. Teenagers started to play in the water in Padua's most famous and one of Europe's largest squares. In fact, the fountain is located at the center of Isola Memmia within the square, as they call it.

However this year the medics had to come on the scene and help some injured people. In all of the joy of the event, things got rough when the city decided to send in the police to drain the water while the students were in the fountain. The students didn't want to stop the party. In the end a few got thrown onto the solid marble, probably by overly enthusiastic friends, and 3 ended up even in the hospital with serious injuries.

Now, 2 days later, the fountain is still not running, despite plenty of Padana heat. It is surrounded by temporary barriers.

Honestly, I blame the administration for trying to squelch the fun. Let's let kids be physically excited about the end of school, please! It's like we are afraid of anything out of the normal day-to-day routine of life. Let's live a little more people, or rather, popolo (as a certain political party would say here).

The above picture of the running fountain was found on Internet, and obviously comes from the winter season, since the trees still don't have leaves. (Piero Tasso, January 2006, Creative Commons)

Italian TGPadova article here.

Scooter Reality

2010-06-11T10:40:00.007+02:00

After 3000 km and an entire winter's experience behind me, I now get the full thrill of having a scooter to ride around Padua.

Feeling cool air rush over your skin while the sun beats down is a great summer benefit that a moped provides. I can also dart past long lines of cars stuck waiting at city traffic lights. My skinny transport machine allows me to stealthily weave in and out of slow traffic, too. Driving becomes a faster and cooler pursuit with a scooter. The hair that sticks out of the bottom of my helmet jumps around in a frenetic dance.

We bought our first moped in October. Too bad it was the beginning of the cold and rainy season.

The winds and rain can really pound, especially when going 40 mph. I had never felt a raindrop hurt before having to travel to some work locations outside of town during heavy showers. The innocent water turned aggressive as it crashed against my cheeks at near-freezing temps. Many Italians don't even use their scooters during the winter because of the chill factor and inconvenience but since ours was new, we just had to start using it! For next winter, I will be prepared with a full face helmet. The "zip" version (as they call it in Italian: open face, in English) I currently have is convenient because it fits under the sella (seat), which is necessary when the bauletto (carrier) is filled by my husband's helmet. This is necessary when we ride around together. However, the open face helmet only covers half of your head. Air easily whips under the visor and rips across your cheeks, nose and chin. What I need to cover my head completely is called integrale in Italian.

I am lucky that I already had rainproof alpine outer-clothing. That apparel now doubles as urban rain gear for the moped: jacket, pants and gloves.

During the first few months, I also had to get used to pushing around the weight of the scooter: 115 kg (250 lbs). Parking it, reversing, and moving it when the engine is off are typical moments when you have to manoeuvre its full weight. The bike even fell a couple of times, luckily on grass, while I was getting the hang of shifting its mass.

As for other aspects of driving, it can get a bit dangerous to do so when the schools let out. All the teenage drivers hit the roads at the same time with "Fast and Furious" on their minds. You risk getting swarmed by them, your machine enveloped in a madly nervous buzzing cloud of other scooters.

Having a moped makes it now easy for my husband and I to get into the downtown city for a night out, a single drink or a quick shopping jaunt. We used to have to park the car and walk about 10 minutes to get to our usual haunts. Now we can park literally in front of them.

My teenage students seem to have a new respect for me, the American who now rides a moped like them. They were so cute when they saw me with it for the first time. They sounded like their parents when they said, "Be careful."

In some ways, you're not completely Italianized until you've driven a scooter in Italy. And this, I have finally tasted over a decade after arriving here.

A dear picture of me from my first day with the brand new bike in October:

Over the Top in Newness

2010-06-08T15:36:00.001+02:00

I've never had so many new things at once.

I moved into a house last month that my husband and I bought, after 6 years of renting fully furnished apartments. In Italy, the rentals normally come with furniture; yet once you buy, you need to get EVERYTHING from normal furniture such as sofas and beds to bathroom sets, light fixtures, curtains, rods and all appliances.

We could have used the old kitchen, from the former tenants, but my last post showed you why that was not an option for us.

So we embarqued on a crazy shopping spree. Trying to critically decide on best value for your money on every single item needed in a new house, all at the same time, was torture. Washing machines, dishwashers, oven, lights, sofas, beds, mattresses, wardrobes and more: all purchased in 30 days or less.

Eventually everything was bought and installed and assembled, some by us, and some by professionals. But then we had to learn how to use all the stuff! The appliances had strange light sequences and odd cycles that we weren't familiar with. For example, the washing machine basically gets "turned on" twice, by 2 separate buttons.

In addition, we weren't very experienced with all of these contraptions. F had never had a dishwasher in his tiny house while growing up in Venice, and I hadn't used one seriously since I left the States in 1993. The technology has changed. The products and instructions are different. We were reading manuals and getting depressed at night because we would discover we didn't have certain materials to allow us to use the machines properly, especially for the first time: e.g. special dishwasher salt. So then another day or two would go by and we still didn't know if the machines even worked! That's what you get for only being able to read manuals after the shops close at 8 p.m., after a long day of work.

Then there is the oven mystery: why is there an "extra" metal piece when the oven has supposedly been put together and installed? It seems to work fine without this certain piece but we should probably use it anyway. The problem is that it probably needs to go in the very back of the oven, which is now well sealed off by cabinets and floorboards.

The complications of newness made me think about how seemingly different this experience would have been in the US. My husband and I would have met and moved in together with our old furniture from previous apartments, some dating back to the first move while in college which included rummaging through the second-hand stores and Salvation Army. We would have taken the good old stuff and chosen to buy only certain new things based on finances, space and necessity. Here, it feels like all or nothing. Before I owned nothing. Now I own everything. And it's all new!

Funny thing is that most Italians gut their newly-acquired property even more than we did, only focusing on the kitchen and a few fixtures in the bathroom. Italians typically walk into completely, spankin' new digs with fresh flooring everywhere, new wood, new doors, often new walls and plaster and paint, not to mention brand new furniture, even when their building may be over 300 years old! They usually take 6 months to 2 years to accomplish this mission. Now much of this can happen because so many Italians never rent property. They go from their family's house to their fancy remodelled house, maybe just after coming back from their honeymoon. Often both sides of the family pitch in to help with the high costs and the rest was saved by the couple by years of not renting while working. It's all very traditional and formal, in many ways.

In the end, we have accepted much of the "old" house elements like groovy '70s tiling for most of the flooring (will display soon) but changed what bothered us most, while also being forced to buy all our furniture at once. You could say we did our move and remodelling with a mixture of Italian and American mentality.

Debut of the New Kitchen

2010-06-06T18:02:00.010+02:00

The kitchen was the largest project to improve our new house, built in 1971, before moving in. Since we thought both the old kitchen in-place and the tiles were awful, we gutted it all.

We started with this in February:

After the first phase of gutting all the wall and floor tiling:

Then the new tiles were installed after a week: white for the walls and grey for the floor:

Model: Satchmo

Finally the black and steel kitchen set was installed:

The best part about the remodelled kitchen is that it includes a dishwasher. It took me about 10 years to get one since all my other apartment situations were too small to accomodate one or I lived with people, mostly students, who were not interested in installing a dishwasher. No one cooked enough to feel the need for it.

The dishwasher is such a great appliance! So many precious minutes of evening time can now be spent in a different activity, other than doing the dishes. I have a new appreciation for this machine which helped in the women's liberation movement.

Don't get me wrong. My husband did the dishes too, but not as often as me.

We are enjoying cooking in a new and modern way in our new kitchen.

A Job Offer

2010-06-02T23:07:00.004+02:00

I have been teaching Italian teens for years. Some of them complain that they cannot find work, even when they are of legal age, 18 in this country. It often comes up in a conversation about how industrious American adolescents are and how they work throughout high school and college.

Usually the problem stems from age and contracts; there isn't enough work to go around in Italy even for the adults, so teens don't get included in the mix.

I was caught off-guard this week in my new neighborhood by a girl, who I think is about 14 years old. As soon as she saw me walking my dog, she came to her house's gate, pet my dog for exactly 5 seconds and then offered her services as a dog-sitter, should I ever be interested. Honestly, I barely knew how to react. I wasn't used to this kind of entrepeneurship by such a young girl in this country. I had never met her before. She didn't know my dog, unless she had met him on a walk with my husband. It did explain why I had seen some older ladies in the same house eying me from the terrace as I passed by the house at other times. Maybe they had been scouting me as potential new customer for the adolescent/family side business.

In the end I said, "Grazie e buona sapersi (good to know)."