Combination Holiday

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

It's Spring, Damn it!

Paduans, like me, are dying for Spring. It just doesn't want to come on full throttle.

After two days of overcast or hazy days and fairly cool temps, the sky decided to clear out this Sunday afternoon. Then the Paduan proceeded to literally flood the piazze. The café tables were sprawled all across Piazza dei Signori and everyone filled them! It was time for a wonderful spritz in the vanishing sun of a Spring day. Here, we are starting to worry that we are going to go from a very cool season to the preludes of summer next week, when the climate should finally click over. For now, it still seems like Spring is in some kind of slump.