ITALY IN PHOTOS

Nebbia in Italy

2009-01-03T21:05:00.002+01:00

Some places in Italy are so foggy in the winter! If you have lived in Piemonte, you know that the fog can seem almost suffocating at times and sometimes smells strange (the smell outside the polluted Turin air much preferable).

This photo was taken near Lucca, a nice little city in Tuscany that still has Medieval city walls intact.

Tellaro

2008-12-29T18:42:00.005+01:00

After thinking about Tellaro the other day I decided to go there. Now is the perfect time because everyone is elsewhere for the holidays, and it is actually possible to find a parking spot. During the summer it is almost impossible to find parking for a motorino in some places in Liguria.

Tellaro is one of the quaintest towns on the Italian Riviera, and still pretty unknown to many tourists. It is found in the Golfo dei Poeti (Gulf of the Poets). The Gulf, located near the city of La Spezia, was given this name for the poets/authors who visited and lived in its vicinity; among them Eugenio Montale, D.H. Lawrence, Mario Soldati, Shelley and Byron.
Shelley lived in San Terenzo, and died when his boat was hit by a storm on his way home from Livorno. There is a grotto dedicated to Lord Byron at Portovenere named Grotto Arpaia. It is said to be named after Byron because he is the point from which he left to swim across the gulf of La Spezia to San Terenzo to visit Shelley in Lerici, in 1822.

According to Italian writer Mario Soldati, Tellaro is “a nirvana between sea and sky, between the rocks and the green mountain.”

Waves Crashing in Camogli

2008-12-26T23:43:00.004+01:00

Sometimes you can be lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. I wasn't expecting to take any great photos this day in Camogli and was preparing to go home with a few banal shots. Then, just as I was about to call it a day I saw the water from the huge waves reflecting a beautiful color as the sun began to go down.

National Geographic has an interesting video on the painting of the outsides of houses in Liguria (it focuses on Camogli, but it is tradition in the whole region). They are painted in the trompe l'oleil style that was also used by Margritte (photo below). Things which are not real seem to take on a life and seem to be what they are not.

Tags: Camogli, Italy, Italy Photos, Sunset

Winter Colors in Liguria

2008-12-26T00:01:00.005+01:00

One of the beautiful things about winter in Liguria is that the colors are often more defined and sharp than during the hazy summer days. This sunset shot was taken near La Spezia, one of the four provinces of Liguira. Portovenere (La Spezia) and the small islands nearby (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto) were added to Unesco's World Heritage list in 1997. Then in 2001 the Liguria Region founded the Natural Park of Portovenere.

There are many breathtaking places in Liguria that are still little known. Portofino and the Cinque Terre are becoming ever more visited by tourists, but other places still remain untouched by mass international tourism, and hopefully will remain that way!

Tuscany in the Winter

2008-12-21T00:52:00.004+01:00

I love going to Tuscany during the low season. Florence to me is a nightmare during the summer, but if you get a nice fall or winter day it is much more peaceful and real without droves of tourists yelling and shoving.

This day in San Gimignano was just a little too cold, but it was worth it! San Gimignano is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany. It is a must see for tourists, but a tad artificial. Other Tuscan towns such as Montalcino and Pienza are more quaint and have not yet been ruined by mass tourism.

The best part of any trip to Tuscany (aside from the amazing panorama and quaint little towns) is the food. Steak in Tuscany is a meat-lovers dream come true. Fiorentina is a huge cut of meat, but if you have an appetite or someone to share with, it should not be missed. The meat is very tasty and tender, cooked to perfection on the grill. Most Italians eat it on the rare side, which actually gives it a different flavor than well done.

If you are not quite as hungry, ordering a tagliata is another delicious option. It is sliced meat often served with arugula and thinly sliced parmigiano cheese.

MC Escher travelled quite a bit in Italy. One of his drawings of San Gimignano:

Pantelleria: the Black Pearl of the Mediterranean

2008-12-19T20:32:00.004+01:00

The island Pantelleria is located halfway between Sicily, Italy and Tunisia. It is actually a little closer to the African coast than the to Italy and its African influence is apparent in the Pantesco dialect.

Reaching Pantelleria is quite time consuming a rather expensive endeaver. Unless you arrive in your own yacht like Armani, you can take a series of planes or boats from the mainland. The traghetto from Sicily takes about 6 hours, but it is worth the time.

"Pantelleria was formed more than 350,000 years ago in series of eight eruptions. Around 45,000 years ago the island imploded in a mass of volcanic activity, creating the mountains, valleys and hills which can be seen today. What also emerged was the 'Specchio di Venere', the so-called Mirror of Venus." M&C

Read more about Pantelleria in the LA Times.

Sciacchetrà Wine from Cinque Terre, Italy

2007-05-19T03:41:00.000+02:00

Well, I have been really bad about blogging the past few months. At this point "few" would be an understatement since I haven't written anything since early October! Since I was talking to an American friend about wine from the Cinque Terre the other day, I figured it was a good topic to write about.
Sciacchetrà, possibly the only decent wine from Liguria, is a passito wine. Passito wines have a higher sugar concentration because the grapes are laid out to partially dry. This process eliminates much of the grape's water and concentrates its sugar and flavor components. According to numerous websites, it is a "rare white wine. The thing that I find strange is that it is not quite as "rare" as it should be given the amount of land that is actually cultivated in the Cinque Terre. It is amazing that they are able to terrace the steep land that extends to the sea, but it seems like the wine supply far exceeds the amount possibly produced.

Tags: Cinque Terre, wine, vino, Sciacchetra', terraced vineyards, Italian cities, passito, Vernazza, Italian wines

Why don't non Torinese Italians like Torino?

2006-10-07T02:36:00.000+02:00

I can't understand why Turin is so unpopular with non Torinese Italians. Yes, it is a very gray city with many winter mornings and nights filled with fog...but so are many other cities!

I think that Torino is the perfect size to have city-like qualities (huge market at Porta Palazzo, good size downtown area with lots of shops, cultural diversity, architecture, events, history, etc.) and yet it is managable. You can get from one end of the city to another in an amazingly short amount of time. Unlike many other Italian cities, you can actually find parking. One negative aspect is that the drivers are insane. Watch out of you have a green light to cross the street because they will run you over...it doesn't matter that the light is red for them - there is a good chance they won't stop! This is normal in S. Italy, but most of the northerners outside Torino actually follow traffic rules.

Beware that it might take a lot of extra effort to make friends in Torino, as most people keep the same friends from nursery school for their entire lives. If you plan on moving there I suggest finding some foreign friends...fast....or it might be very lonely! Once you make friends you will find Torino to be a very fun place to be. you can go to Murazzi or many other quaint little bars for aperitivo (the Italian version of happy hour, which is even happier because you get food with your drinks). The Christmas lights around the city are unbeatable, as are the Egyptian and Cinema Museums.

Tags: Torino, Turin, Porta Palazzo, Murazzi, aperitivo, Italian cities, Egyptian Museuma, fog, traffic, Italian drivers

Boat in Mazara Port, Italy

2006-07-30T00:28:00.000+02:00

I came across this boat in the Mazara Port while waiting for the ferry to Pantelleria. I liked the character that the worn white paint with the red star gave the boat, as well as the depth effect the various color ropes added.

Tags: Mazara, Mazara del Vallo, Italy, Italia, ferry, Pantelleria, nave, boat, rope, port, porto, traghetto

What is a vicolo?

2006-06-16T22:30:00.000+02:00

According to the Oxford Paravia dictionary (one of the best Italian - English dictionaries in my opinion) a vicolo is: an alleyway, back alley, back lane.
None of these words sound very romantic in English, and just do not do justice to vicolos. While there are vicoli in other places, there just is no comparison to those of Genoa. They were actually quite dangerous for a number of years, but have recently become quite trendy and new bars and interesting restaurants are popping up all over the place. If you know Italian, vicoli.com is a great source of information on restaurants and stores in Genova's vicoli.
The part of town with vicoli is usually "centro storico" or historical center...or "caruggio" in the Genovese dialect

Tags: vicolo, vicoli, genoa, genova, restaurants, centro storico, caruggio, alleyway, trendy

Hanging out to dry in Portofino

2006-06-09T17:21:00.000+02:00

I always wondered if the people that have amazing houses in exceptional locations (such as the one in the picture - perfectly painted window in Portofino) feel the need to keep the outside perfect to keep up a certain image. How is it possible that they only wash 5 articles of clothing at a time, all of which seem to come together in a well balanced color coordinated harmony? I don't know about you, but I tend to wash all whites or light colors together and do the same for darks. I happen to have some clothes that I wear hanging around the house, so if I were to hang them out to dry, they certainly wouldn't look like I brought them home from the store yesterday.

Tags: portofino, houses, photo, window, villas, clothes, locations, color coordinated, Italy

Istice contrada, Siena

2006-06-02T16:50:00.000+02:00

The istice (hedgehog or porcupine) contrada is one of Siena's 17 contrade or neighborhoods. From July 2 and August 16, Siena is where the famous Palio horse race takes place. It is a well known fact that Italians feel more attached to their towns and cities than Italy on a whole, but in Siena this goes even farther: everyone for their contrada. I haven't ever seen the palio in Siena or Asti because I hate huge crowds of people pushing each other, but supposedly it is an event not to miss.

Tags: palio, contrada, siena, horse race, istice, porcupine

Bad spring for swimming!

2006-06-01T19:07:00.000+02:00

This spring the weather hasn't been that great. It has been rather gray and on the cold side. Sometimes it is possible to go swimming in May, but definitely not this year! I took this photo while waiting for dinner in Viareggio. These are the first swimmers of the season hanging out on the beach as the sun set. Usually in Italy if you see people swimming so early on in the season, 90% of the time they are tourists from colder countries. The beaches in this area have fine sand are huge - very wide and long, unlike a lot of other Italian beaches, which can be small and have mountainous cliffs or small rocks instead of sand.

Tags: viareggio, beaches, Italy, Italian beaches, sunset, photo, photography

Giro d'Italia

2006-05-28T18:32:00.000+02:00

Last weekend the Giro d'Italia came by my house! Well, it wasn't on my doorstep, but it was about 5 minutes away. I got there about half an hour before they were supposed to arrive to get a good spot on the side of the road they would be coming down. As you can see from the sequence of photos, first came the police- about 10 of them on their motorcycles. Then the first pack of cyclists, which had the famous "pink shirt" (whomever is winning the race at the time gets to wear the pink shirt). Between packs of cyclists, along came the team cars with their extra bicycles on top. Note: the photo of the random woman who whizzed along with the giro d'italia bikers - she has her tongue sticking out!
The funniest part of the race were the giro d'italia trucks that kept pulling up before the racers got to each point. The drivers of these ice cream looking trucks were were shouting with loudspeakers trying to sell giro d'italia stuff (t-shirts, stuffed mascots, etc.)

Great Photos of Italy Squidoo Lens

2006-05-16T13:57:00.000+02:00

I'm working on a Squidoo Lens called "Great Photos of Italy". It presently has a link to this blog, my website, my flickr pictures, and my cafepress shop (where I sell all of my cool posters, t-shirts, framed prints, etc.). All of these contain my best Italy photographs and are updated regularly.

Patron Saint: Santa Monica

2006-05-16T11:48:00.000+02:00

All towns in Italy have patron saints. Particular saints are associated with different trades, groups or geographical areas (ex: Saint Anthony of Padua one of the most famous saints, is often called upon by Catholics to help find lost possessions). Wikipedia has a good description and list of many patron saints. However, it does not include Saint Monica, who is the parton of the little town I live in on the weekend. Saint Monica is the namesake of the Santa Monica, California in western Los Angeles County, which was first visited by missionaries on the saint's feast day. She is the patron saint of wives, mothers, and abuse victims.

Every year they have fireworks for Santa Monica. Last year they were so close that they we thought they would land on our terrace. Probably for safety reasons they were shooting them a little farther away this year. We were actually looking down on them, whereas last year they seemed to be at the same height as us

Cambiano, Italy: quaint town

2006-05-12T09:52:00.000+02:00

cambiano

We were heading towards Parma on all of the windy backroads instead of taking the highway, when we came upon this place called Cambiano and decided to stop. It is the Italy you always imagine with old yet clean buildings, grannies sitting around out chatting... but never quite find when you go to the major tourist destinations that are filled with crowds of tourists (surprise), souvenirs, tourist menus, shops, shops and more shops. One of the restaurants in town was planning a special dinner that night with local products. We were really hoping to be able to check it out, but apparently it was fully booked...by the entire town.

Valentino Park, Turin

2006-05-09T08:54:00.000+02:00

magnolia_tree

Since Turin is a "city", many people rush to its parks on nice weekend days. (I put word city in quotes because I am still shocked after living here for years that you can drive almost anywhere in a matter of minutes with the exception of peak rush hour). Turin is definitely starting to get a little more international than a few years ago. There is actually a huge Romanian population, so some billboards have ads in Romanian. When we went to Valentino Park on a Sunday, it was like being in a foreign country with all of the languages that were flying about!

Monterosso on a beatiful spring day

2006-04-28T22:20:00.000+02:00

The Cinque Terre are one my favorite places to go walking. They not only give you a workout, but also a scenic field day for your eyes. It can take 5 or more hours to walk the Cinque Terre from start to finish. I prefer to walk them in spring or fall, when the weather is not unbearable and there are not tourists swarming about. The summer is when I throw down a beach towel and grab my snorkling gear because the water is great - especially in Monterosso.

Italian Cat from Gavi

2006-04-28T21:44:00.000+02:00

cat_on_roof
Originally uploaded by lapona.

This Italian cat was just posing away for me in Gavi, Italy. I've never seen anything quite like it - I was actually the one who got bored first! Gavi is a cute little town in Piedmont that is famous for it's white wine with its name (Gavi).

Tuscan fields

2006-04-19T19:46:00.000+02:00

tuscany_tricolor
Originally uploaded by lapona.

Why is it cloudy, hazy, foggy or rainy every time I go to Tuscany? I won't even mention the fact that it has rained or was very cloudy almost every weekend for the past two years in Liguria. Where is this beautiful Italian sun that everyone dreams of? The day I took this shot wasn't too bad, but I'm hoping to get back to Tuscany again in the next month or so.

Boat in Monterosso

2006-04-07T12:38:00.000+02:00

boat in monterosso

Just got this photo printed and am very excited about how it came out - too bad the screen just doesn't do justice to the magnificent green/blue tones of the slightly breeze blown sea. It was taken in Monterosso (the first of the Cinque Terre heading away from Genoa and towards La Spezia). This one of the "5 lands" is one of my favorites because it has a great sandy beach and usually has the clearest, cleanest of waters that you'll find in Liguria. You can usually swim out very far and still see the bottom (despite the fact that it's sandy - somehow it doesn't get kicked up as much as other sandy beaches in Liguria).

Laura in sunflower field

2006-04-07T09:23:00.000+02:00

laura_sunflower

This is me last year near Siena, Italy in mid July. Somehow, every year I have managed to miss the sunflower season in Tuscany. Last year I was lucky enough to make it in time to find this one, last miracly humid and therefore not yet wilted field. (I also missed rasberry picking season last year - it was so hot so early in the season that everything came and went in the blink of an eye!). This year I am determined to get to Tuscany at the right time to photograph some of those beautiful rolling green Tuscan hills and sunflower fields before they get dried up and burned out by the sun!!

Vinci, Italy - birthplace of Leonardo

2006-03-28T11:46:00.000+02:00

This photo was taken from the Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Vinci, Italy. It is located in the Florence Province of Tuscany. Vinci is actually where Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452 (hence the name "da Vinci" or "from Vinci" - since he was an illegitimate child, he was not able to take his father's last name). A little background information for those who don't already know exactly what that Leonardo da Vinci is so famous for: he is a primary example of a "Renaissance Man", otherwise known as polymath - is a person who excels in multiple fields, particularly in both arts and sciences. He is known to have been not only an engineer and an artist, but also an anatomist and physiologist just to name a few of his other other fields of expertise. I consulted Wikipedia to get some more detailed facts: "Leonardo is famous for his paintings, such as the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, as well as for influential drawings such as the Vitruvian Man. He designed many inventions that anticipated modern technology, such as the helicopter, tank, use of solar power, the calculator, etc., though few of these designs were constructed or were feasible in his lifetime"
Although most of Leonardo's inventions were not built during his lifetime, IBM has helped make little models, which are on display at the Leonardo da Vinci Museum in Guidi Castle in Vinci, Italy. The museum also has copies of his drawings, however does not have any of his original works. I found this rather strange, but the museum was definitely still worth visiting. The town was very quiet unlike nearby Florence, which is bustling with tourists at all times of the year. Somehow Vinci doesn't quite make it to most tourists' itineraries. Sometimes I like to go to these less touristy places to get an idea of how their inhabitants actually spend their days.

Sunset in La Spezia, Italy

2006-03-23T23:09:00.000+01:00

Spectacular colors on a special coastline. These intense red-oranges and yellows that blend into deep blue daytime tones are found only on the clearest winter days in Liguria, since it is generally rather hazy there. It's defnitely not your tropical island sunset, but Italian sunsets can surely hold their own. This shot was taken of La Spezia from Tellaro.

The Liguria Region is made up of 4 Provinces: (starting from France) Imperia, Savona, Genova, La Spezia. La Spezia the part of Liguria that borders Tuscany, and has notable similarities, such as the abundant pine trees almost surrounding the large, vast beaches. The Cinque Terre are found in this province - about halfway between Genoa and La Spezia - and are part of a National Park which includes all five of the lands (Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, Riomaggiore), Portovenere, and 3 small islands just off the coast (Palmaria, Tino, Tinetto). It has been named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

This is the view from the San Pietro Church in Portovenere (Portovenere is very close to La Spezia). There is a memorial outside the church dedicated to Lord Byron (the poet) who is said to have swum from this exact spot to the Cinque Terre.