Today's the day we've been waiting for -- we're going to Italy!!! YAY - good food!!!!
The bad news is that David woke up this morning sick as a dog with whatever I had last week. The poor guy. He's got a fever, and he's throwing up... it's awful.
He said he might need to go to a doctor, or to the hospital. Oh my God -- NOT HERE! We at least have to get to Italy - where I have family, and the health care system is better, and I understand the language.
We had to get all our stuff to the airport and endure the flight, even though David could hardly stand up. But we made it.
It is made up of the towns of Milan, Bergamo, Pavia, Sondrio, Lecco, Varese, Como, Brescia, Lodi, Cremona, and Mantova.
My cousin Bruno Emanuelli picked us up at the airport in Milan, and brought us to the little town of Pavia to the apartment of his parents - Laura and Gianni Emanuelli.
Laura and GianniGianni is the first cousin of my father.
Gianni's dad, Cleto, was the brother of my grandfather, Luigi.
Laura was a nurse-midwife, and Gianni was president of an Italian furniture company.
Bruno and his wife Marina live upstairs from his parents, with their son Mattia. Bruno and Marina are chemists. Bruno works in Genoa, and Marina in Milan.Bruno looks very much like my dad and my brother.
Mattia Emanuelli - on his 19th birthday!David was very sick when we arrived. Since Laura is a nurse, she immediately took his temperature (over 101), gave him aspirin, and made him go to bed. I put cold wet facecloths on his head, and he slept for several hours.
I visited with the relatives, and got a good workout with using my Italian. We had a wonderful dinner that Laura had made, including the best lasagna I've ever had. There was also something I didn't recognize - these clear, gelatinous cubes in oil and onions. I always try to at least taste new things, and so I ate one. The texture was really weird, but the taste was pretty bland. Laura asked me if I liked it, and, not wanting to be a rude guest, I said yes, and asked what it was. Bruno said it was the cartiledge from cow's knees. Yum.
David woke up around 10, and said he felt better. I was so happy.
Tomorrow, Bruno got us tickets to see "the Last Supper" at 9:30 in the morning in Milan. They are hard to get, and they were the only ones he could get. So if we don't go in the morning, we won't get to see it. We went to bed, hoping David would be well enough in the morning to go.
Thursday, March 6 - Milan
David made a miraculous recovery - he felt well enough to set out this morning for Milan. Grazie Dio!!!
The Last Supper
We really wanted to see Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, which is in the Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan. I wasn't able to see it the other times I have been in Milan, because it was closed for restoration from 1978-1999. So I was thrilled to get to see it now.
The entrance to Il Cenacolo - "The Dining Room."
It takes up the whole end wall of the church's refectory (dining hall) - and measures 29 x 15 feet. It is incredible. I just stood and stared with tears running down my face.
(Notice the white rectangle in the center bottom - some schmo cut a door in the wall 157 years after it was painted....)
From left to right: Bartholomew, James, Andrew, Judas, Peter,John (or is it?????), Jesus in the center,
Thomas, James, Philip, Matthew, Jude Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot.
EVERYONE seems to have read "The DaVinci Code," so everyone wants to know: is it John, or is it Mary Magdalene? I don't know, but it looks like a woman to me. The figure appears to swoon - is it because he is the youngest, or because he is a she???? Totally up to personal interpretation....
The painting has deteriorated in the past 500 years (!). It's not a true fresco, which is done on wet plaster, and is fairly stable. Instead, to get more vivid colors, da Vinci sealed the wall with pitch, gesso, and mastic, waited until it was dry, and then applied tempera paint. It turns out that is not nearly as durable as a real fresco.
Painted.
1556
Only 61 years after it is painted, Leonardo's biographer described the painting as already ruined and unrecognizable.
1652
A door was cut through bottom of the painting, and later bricked up.
1726
The first restoration - missing sections filled in with oil paint, and the whole mural varnished.
1768
A curtain was hung over the painting for protection, but instead it trapped moisture on the surface so that whenever the curtain was pulled back, it scratched the flaking paint.
1770
Another restoration attempt by Giuseppe Mazza, who stripped off the work of the former restorer, and largely repainted the painting. Work was halted due to public outrage.
1796
Napoleon's troops use the room as an armory. They threw stones at the painting, and climbed ladders to scratch out the Apostles' eyes.
1800
The room is used as a prison - God knows what the prisoners did to the painting.
1821
The third restoration. Stefano Barezzi, an expert in removing whole frescoes intact from their walls, was called in to remove the painting to a safer location. He badly damaged the center section before realizing that it was not a fresco, and then tried to reattached damaged sections with glue.
1901
The painting was "cleaned."
1924
More cleaning, and parts stabilized with stucco.
1943
The building was struck by a bomb in World War II. It had been braced and protected with sandbags, so was not destroyed. But the roof was blown off, leaving the painting exposed to the elements for three years.
1951
Another clean-and-stabilize restoration.
1978-1999
The most recent restoration project, designed to permanently stabilize the painting and reverse the damage caused by dirt, pollution, and the misguided previous restoration attempts.
Here are some photos of the results of the bombing in WWII.
It was braced and sandbagged for protection.
The roof was blown off, and the painting was left exposed to the elements for three years.
By the grace of God, the masterpiece survived.....The most recent restoration, by renowned artist Pinin Brambilla Barcilon, was designed to repair areas where paint had flaked away, and to uncover fragments of the original painting covered by repainting from the earlier "restorations."
Her task was first and foremost to stop further deterioration. Chemical analysis suggested that the over-painting which remained was still eating away at Leonardo's original paint, and areas that were flaking away were taking parts of Leonardo's work with it as well. The most pressing project was to remove everything that had been added after Leonardo finished the painting.
Microscopic pictures showed how mold, glue, repaint, and smog had collected, while infrared reflectoscopy enabled restorers to see the artist's original painting under layers of other stuff.
Small diameter coring surveys also were performed, and samples were analyzed to provide information on colors and materials utilized by da Vinci. Miniature TV cameras inserted in the boreholes provided information on the cracks and cavities. Sonar and radar surveys were taken to provide information about the structural characteristics of the masonry base the painting resides upon.
It was an extremely slow and meticulous process, using solvents to remove multiple layers. Often, only an area the size of a postage stamp was cleaned each day.
Besides letting the original colors come through, Brambilla added some basic color to blank areas in a way that the addition cannot be confused by the viewer with the original color.
But the 20-year project proved to be quite successful, and the restorer believes that they regained "the expressive and chromatic intensity that we thought was lost forever."
The painting is now in a sealed climate-controlled room. You need to book tickets way in advance, and then you can only stay for 15 minutes. This was a highlight of the trip for me.
The refectory that holds The Last Supper is connected with the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, one of the most striking monuments of Lombard Renaissance.
It was built between 1466 and 1490 under the direction of architect Guiniforte Solari, and in 1492 the apsidal part was added by Donato Bramante, the architect who designed St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
The inside of the church with a double series of side chapels highlights Solari's Gothic background. The vaults bear frescoed decorations dating from the birth of the building, which had been hidden in 600.
The Basilica Sant' Ambrogio, is one of the most ancient churches in Italy, and one of the most symbolic sites in the city of Milan. And it contains the remains of one of the most important figures in Catholic history - Sant' Ambrogio, or Saint Ambrose (339-397).
It was built in 379-386 by St. Ambrose, who was Milan's great fourth-century bishop, in an area where numerous martyrs of the Roman persecutions had been buried.
(Ambrose was one of the most illustrious Fathers and Doctors of the Church. In Roman Catholicism, a 'Doctor of the Church' is a saint from whose writings the whole Christian Church is held to have derived great advantage and to whom "eminent learning" and "great sanctity" have been attributed by a proclamation of a pope or an ecumenical council. Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, and Pope Gregory I were the original Doctors of the Church named in 1298. They are known collectively as the Great Doctors of the Western Church.)
The entrance to the Basilica is through a vast rectangular arcaded atrium, built between 1088 and 1099. The gabled form of the façade is two superimposed loggias: the lower one with three arcades of equal dimensions joining the portico, and an upper loggia of five diminishing arches that follow the line of the roof.
The church is flanked by bell towers: the shorter one - the Torre dei Monaci ("of the Monks") - dates from the 9th century, while the second one - the Torre dei Canonici - was built between 1128 and 1144.
There is much to see inside, notably mosaics from the 4th-9th centuries and a beautifully carved golden altar.
The mosaic in the apse shows an enthroned Christ between Saint Gervasius and Saint Protasius and angels. Parts of it date back to the 5th and the 8th century.
Gervasius and Protasius were second century martyrs, and are the patron saints of Milan. Here's how they ended up here:
After St. Ambrose built the basilica, the people of Milan asked him to consecrate it as was done in Rome, and he said he would if he could obtain the necessary relics. In a dream, he was shown a place where they would be found, and he ordered excavations in a church cemetery outside the city, and found the relics of Gervasius and Protasius.
He wrote:
"I found the fitting signs, and on bringing in some on whom hands were to be laid, the power of the holy martyrs became so manifest, that even whilst I was still silent, one was seized and thrown prostrate at the holy burial-place."
He had the relics brought to the basilica, and specified that he wanted to be buried with the saints upon his death. And so he is:
This embossed silver urn, crafted in 1897, displays the skeletons of
Saint Ambrose, Saint Gervasius and Saint Protasius.
There are other interesting sights in the church as well.
This part of the building dates back to the 4th century; the mosaic to the second half of the 5th century. Saint Victor is in the center.
This is St. Ambrose.
The magnificent right side nave: "Anticappella di san Satiro" (1738).From there, we headed to the castle of Milan.
One of the primary landmarks of this great city is Castello Sforzesco, the Castle of the Sforza family. The construction began in the 1300s incorporating the defenses of Porta Giovia, one of the gates to the city.
In 1450 Francesco Sforza was called from Rome to defend Milan from the Venetians. He married the illegitimate daughter of the Visconti, current lord of the castle, and began an ambitious project to increase the defenses of the castle.
He employed the best military architects in the construction of the castle’s defenses, while his son dedicated his life to making the castle more livable for the ruling family. In fact, numerous artists added to the beautification of the castle, including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. The last unfinished sculpture of Michaelangelo, “Pieta’ Rondanini,” finds its home in the castle.
Over the years, and numerous emperors, the castle grew to about five times its original size, and then was reduced to the original construction by Napoleon. Towers were raised, some blown up, some torn down by the people during various rebellions but the castle remains.
The castle has been attacked, placed under siege for years, bombed in WWII, and seen various politicians over the ages that have attempted to tear it down to make room for “progress”, yet it remains.
It is a symbol of the power of Milan, its culture, its wealth and the tenacity of the people of Milan.
Here's Bruno, leading our charge out of the castle, and on to the cathedral.
The towering Gothic Duomo in Milan is the third largest church in the world after St. Peter’s in Rome and after the Cathedral of Seville.
Commissioned by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, construction of the Cathedral began in 1386, and took more than four centuries, resulting in a very evident mixture of styles. It was not completed until 1812 after Napoleon, about to be crowned King of Italy, spurred on work to finally complete the façade. It was finished in seven years.
It is made of gorgeous light pink marble, with immense statues, arches, pillars, and pinnacles. There are about 3,500 statues, including 96 gargoyles.
The huge slabs of pinkish-white marble that make up the facade were brought to the center of Milan by waterways along the "Navigli" canals from a quarry at Condoglia di Mergozzo, near Lake Maggiore.
The highest pinnacle is 356 feet high, and is topped with a statue of the Virgin Mary, known as the “Madonnina,” covered in gold. She watches out over Milan.
There are many interesting historical monuments and works of art, including the crypt of St. Carlo Borromeo (1538-1584), an influential cardinal of Milan and founder of a college in Pavia (where my family lives!) known as Almo Collegio Borromeo.
St. Carlo was one of the towering figures of the Catholic Reformation, a patron of learning and the arts, and though he achieved a position of great power, he used it with humility and unselfishness to reform the Church of the abuses so prevalent among the clergy and nobles of the times.There is also the tomb of Gian Giacomo Medici di Marignano (1495-1555), known as “Il Medeghino.”
He was a really interesting guy -- brother of Pope Pius IV, and Duke of Marignano and Marquess of Musso and Lecco; but he was also a murderer, outlaw, soldier of fortune, and bodyguard to Francesco Il Sforza, where he gained a reputation for unscrupulous violence on behalf of Sforza, the Duke of Milan who fortified the castle.
It was a gorgeous day, and we were able to go up on the roof and wander among the spires, where I took about a bazillion pictures.
Here's MY "Indiana Jones."
And I call this photo "Tre Uomini Belli" - 3 cute guys.
I don't know the guy in the middle.
Here's what Mark Twain had to say about the Cathedral in Milan in his book Innocents Abroad:
| “ | What a wonder it is! So grand, so solemn, so vast! And yet so delicate, so airy, so graceful! A very world of solid weight, and yet it seems ...a delusion of frostwork that might vanish with a breath!... The central one of its five great doors is bordered with a bas-relief of birds and fruits and beasts and insects, which have been so ingeniously carved out of the marble that they seem like living creatures-- and the figures are so numerous and the design so complex, that one might study it a week without exhausting its interest...everywhere that a niche or a perch can be found about the enormous building, from summit to base, there is a marble statue, and every statue is a study in itself...Away above, on the lofty roof, rank on rank of carved and fretted spires spring high in the air, and through their rich tracery one sees the sky beyond. ... (Up on) the roof...springing from its broad marble flagstones, were the long files of spires, looking very tall close at hand, but diminishing in the distance...We could see, now, that the statue on the top of each was the size of a large man, though they all looked like dolls from the street... They say that the Cathedral of Milan is second only to St. Peter's at Rome. I cannot understand how it can be second to anything made by human hands." |
In case you are wondering if this is dedicated to a relative of mine (!):
Victor Emanuele II (1820-1878), was the first King of a united Italy - a title he assumed in 1861 after serving as the King of Piedmont, Savoy, and Sardinia for 12 years. He held the title until his death in 1878.
So, was the King of Italy my ancestor???? I choose to think so.
For sheer belle époque splendor, this extravagant 19th-century glass-topped barrel-vaulted tunnel serves as a lively, noisy and colorful shopping mall, teeming with life and inviting you to people-watch. It was designed in 1861 and built 1865 to 1877 - in only 12 years!
It's a masonry building with iron & glass roof. Two intersecting streets make an arch with domed octagon at center.
A glass-roofed arcade with shops and cafes - that's an early mall!
The T-shaped Galleria serves as a shortcut between the Cathedral and La Scala Opera House, which is where we headed next.
La Scala
Inaugurated in 1778, La Scala is one of the most famous opera houses in the world, and is where many of the most famous operas by the greatest 19th-century composers were first performed.
It seats 3,000.
It was built according to the desire of the Empress Maria Teresa of Austria after Milan's opera house burned down in 1776. Building costs were borne by the box-holders in the old theater in exchange for the right to own a box in the new theater.
La Scala was designed by the distinguished Neoclassical architect Giuseppe Piermarini, who conceived his creation as a "stunning musical instrument" with exceptional acoustics.
La Scala was badly damaged by a bomb in August 1943. After the end of the war, priority was given to the reconstruction of La Scala exactly as it was before. Arturo Toscanini conducted a memorable inaugural concert to celebrate the reopening in 1946.
We got to tour the opera house as well as the La Scala museum, which houses mementos related to the history and tradition of the theater, such as portraits, sculpture, musical scores, playbills, and other interesting objects. It is a worthy tribute to the most important personalities of the world of music, ranging from Verdi and Puccini to Toscanini and de Sabata.
The museum was featuring an exhibition of costumes worn by opera singer Maria Callas (1923-1977), the most renowned opera singer of the 1950s, on the 30th anniversary of her death. This talented and versatile singer and actress, known as La Divina, made her debut at La Scala in 1951, and it became her artistic home for a decade.
Italian critic Eugenio Gara gave this summary of Callas's musical artistry:
- "Her secret is in her ability to transfer to the musical plane the suffering of the character she plays, the nostalgic longing for lost happiness, the anxious fluctuation between hope and despair, between pride and supplication, between irony and generosity, which in the end dissolve into a superhuman inner pain. The most diverse and opposite of sentiments, cruel deceptions, ambitious desires, burning tenderness, grievous sacrifices, all the torments of the heart, acquire in her singing that mysterious truth, I would like to say, that psychological sonority, which is the primary attraction of opera."
The costumes were magnificent.We left Milan in mid-afternoon, and headed back to Pavia. Since we had the time, we visited the famous Certosa, a 600-year-old monastery.
The Certosa of Pavia
The Certosa (built 1396-1465) was the home of the cloistered monastic order of Carthusians founded by St. Bruno in 1044 at Grande Chartreuse.t is renowned for the exuberance of its Gothic and Renaissance architecture, and for its collection of artworks which are particularly representative of the region.
The façade of the church is famous for its fanciful decorations, every part being adorned with reliefs, inlaid marble, and statues.
In addition to applied sculpture, the facade itself has a rich sculptural quality because of the contrast between richly textured surfaces, projecting buttresses, horizontal courses, and arched openings, some of which are shadowed, while those in the small belfries are open to the sky.
The inside of the church is magnificent.
There are many notable decorative sculptural works, including the 42 carved wooden choir stalls created in the 1490s.
The high altar is from the late 16th century.
Here is the tomb of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who built the Certosa
at the request of his wife, Caterina.
The crypt sacristy contains, among other treasures, an ivory triptych by Baldassarre degli Embriachi, donated by Gian Galeazzo Visconti (see above).
It is seven feet wide, an is made of hippopotamus teeth and bits of bone. It's carvings tell the stories of the Virgin, the Magi, and the Prophet Balam.There are 94 exquisite small ivory statues in the niches. (If you'd like, you can click on the photo and get an enlarged version to see some of the amazing detail.)
This is the only significant remaining artefact from the original church after a thorough loot by Napoleonic troops at the end of the 1700s.
Here's my Bruno under the portrait of his namesake.
The Carthusian monastery was a community of hermits. Each monk had his own hermitage, a small dwelling with a bed, table for eating meals, desk for study, and a kneeler for prayer. Outside the apartment is a highly walled garden, where the monk meditated or gardened.
The 24 individual hermitages are lined up so that the doors all open to an interior corridor.The grand cloister measures 400x325 feet. The arcades have columns with precious decorations in terracotta, with carvings portraying saints, prophets, and angels, alternatively in white and pink Verona marble.
The monks here had no contact with the outside world. They lived most of their day in their rooms: meditating, praying, studying, writing scholarly and spiritual works, and working in the garden.
Their contribution was their life of prayer, which they undertook on behalf of the whole church and the whole world.
They left their cells daily only for three prayer services in the chapel.
Once a week, the monks took a 4-hour walk together, two by two, changing partners every half hour, during which they could speak.
On Sundays and feast days, a community meal was taken silently.
This is the lavabo made in 1466 where the monks washed their hands on the way into the refectory. The relief above the sink shows "the episode of the Samaritan to the well."
Twice a year there was a day-long community recreation day, when the monks received a visit from immediate family.
CELLS, BUT NO CELL PHONES!!!????!!!!! I'd never make it.
But David said he'd like to live in one of the monk's apartments; probably just an austerity move.
Friday, March 7 - Bergamo
-Anthony Peregrine, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, January 2008
Bergamo is a sweet little town north of Milan at the base of the Alps. I had never been there, and really wanted to see it, because my pal Carolyn lived there for a year in her wild and crazy younger years. The city has never recovered from her time there, really.
Bergamo occupies the site of the ancient town of Bergomum, founded as a settlement of a Celtic tribe. In 49 BC it became a Roman municipality, and it was destroyed in the 5th century by Attila the Hun - AKA "the Scourge of God". (He's the guy that attacked people on the east coast of Italy and forced them into the marshes, which later became the city of Venice.... BAAAAD dude.) For the next 1400 years, Bergamo was fought over and conquered and occupied and yadda yadda yadda until 1859, when Giuseppe Garibaldi freed it, and it became part of the Kingdom of Italy. End of history lesson.
Bergamo has two centers: "Città alta" (upper city), a hilltop medieval town, surrounded by 17th century defensive walls, and the "Città bassa" (lower city).
This is the upper city, the historical center of Bergamo.The two parts of the town are connected by funicular, roads, and foot-paths. The funicular was out of order when we were there.... It's a steep climb.
In the Old Square.
The Rocca, or castle in the upper city.
Palazzo della Ragione
Biblioteca Angelo Mai in the Old Square. Construction began in 1593, but was subsequently altered and renovated many times, the façade being completed only between 1927 and 1928. At one time it housed the city hall, whereas it now houses the civic library containing many ancient manuscripts.(The last two buildings were designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi, who we learned about in Vicenza - see previous trip, below.)
Giovanni da Campione's porch (1353) on the left transept.
The austere Romanesque exterior gives way inside to what I call "explosion-in-a-filigree-factory" Baroque.
The walls are covered with frescoes
and tapestries made in the late 1500s depicting the life of Mary and the Crucifixion.
This Flemish tapestry of the Crucifixion is part of what is called the Antwerp trilogy.
Next door to the basilica, the Colleoni Chapel was built in 1472-1476 as the personal shrine for the famous condottiere Bartolomeo Colleoni, a member of one of the most outstanding families of the city. It is a masterwork of Renaissance architecture and decorative art.
Notice how it nudges up next to the comparatively austere basilica?
Through a combination of the chapel's placement and visual contrast with the church, Colleoni challenged the representation of power in Bergamo. In particular, political meaning emerged out of the chapel's juxtaposition with the Gothic entrance of Santa Maria Maggiore, the city's principal civic church. The form, iconography, and placement of the chapel in relation to the church all suggested that the city should be ruled by a virtuous individual, such as Colleoni himself(!), and not by a body of elected oligarchs in the government
represented by Santa Maria Maggiore.
And you thought it was just a showy family chapel....
This is Colleoni's tomb.
Would you say that Colleoni had brass balls? ...
After looking at the churches, we stopped for a coffee in what could be my new favorite cafe of all time - The Caffe del Tasso (www.caffedeltasso.it). It's in the old town’s central piazza, which Le Corbusier called one of the world’s finest squares.
1476!?!?!?!
That was 532 years ago; before Columbus "discovered" America! Before Starbucks even!!!!
We had some great coffee and pastry, and rested our feet.
Bruno used the time to study his ever-present guide book.
After our coffee and a bit of a rest, we walked down through the old town.
It seemed like all the shop windows had delicious looking food displayed, and David and I couldn't resist photographing it.
These little yellow cakes are "polenta e osei" - a take-off on the traditional favorite food of Bergamo, polenta (boiled corn meal) and little birds. This version is made of sponge cake topped with marzipan larks.
So I ordered some polenta with truffles. I liked it okay (I'm not a big fan of polenta in general...too much like grits for my taste) - but Bruno dove into it, so it must have been REALLY good.
Ciao, Bergamo. I think I love you.
Halfway home to Pavia, we stopped at Lodi, where Bruno went to college.Historical Highlights:
- Lodi became a Christian diocese in the fourth century, and its first bishop, Saint Bassianus (San Bassiano, 319-409),
- In 1423, Antipope John XXIII convened the Council of Constance from the Duomo of Lodi, which marked the end of the Great Schism. In 1454 representatives from all the regional states of Italy met in Lodi to sign the treaty known as the peace of Lodi, by which they intended to work in the direction of Italian unification, but this peace lasted only 40 years.
- In 1796, at the Battle of Lodi, the young general Napoleon Bonaparte won his first important battle, defeating the Austrians and later entering Milan. This is why in many towns there are streets dedicated to the famous bridge (for instance in Paris, Rue du Pont de Lodi).
The organ was built in 1507.
Fresco of the prophets in the arch of the choir stalls.
The oculus and dome with painting of the coronation of the virgin, and saints of Lodi.
Chapel of the high altar.A view from above tells the story of how it is plopped in here:
Architecturally, it is called a central plan, because it is a circle inside an octagon. In the Renaissance, this represented the most suitable for of the contemplation of the divine - eight are the celestial beatitudes, eight are the tones of the Gregorian chant, etc.
The fact that this church is called a "Civic Temple" witnesses the convergence of civil and religious interests in the 15th century. Lay people of noble and middle classes formed a "schola," a civic brotherhood, and did community service type activities. In this case, they built this building on the site of a brothel (!) to help reform the "area of ill repute." This is tied to a "miraculous image of the virgin:"Local chronicles tell of the decisive moment that granted the construction of the temple was in September 1487, when two men who had entered the house of ill repute fought for a woman. One of them, wounded, was going to receive the finishing stroke when they heard a celestial voice say: 'Stop now the many arguments and lasciviousness, this house is impure, it is to be consecrated to my Pudicizia.'
This incredible little place, unknown to most, was well worth a stop.
It makes me wonder what other amazing things are hidden in these little Italian towns, unappreciated by most of the world.
Saturday, March 8 - The "Country House" - Borgo Priolo
As if it is not awesome enough that the Emanuellis here live in a gorgeous little town in Lombardy, they also have a "country house" in the Oltrepo Hills south of here, in a little town called Borgo Priolo. They call it "la Cascinetta."
It is nestled in some beautiful vineyards.It's a modest little place - only sleeps 14!!!!
They call it "Casa Mattia" - Mattia's house, named after Bruno and Marina's son, who was small when they bought it.
It has this great old barn out back with a fantastic old hay wagon.
It was kind of chilly when we arrived, so Gianni built a fire in the living room fireplace.
During a house tour, we found the wine cellar - filled with wine made from the grapes grown right outside the doors!
The Emanuelli vineyards, thank you very much!
Bruno took us to the winery where the family grapes are processed.
These guys - the Bruggia family - tend and harvest the grapes, make the wine, and in return, Bruno gets a share.
This is the brochure from the winery. I'm working on a translation.
David thought this was pretty cool, and he
wanted to get in on the family winery action.
He now owns a small piece of the vineyards.
It was a rainy day, but we toured around the countryside anyway,
and even in the mist it was idyllic.
I love the clay tile roofs.
This is me, praying: "Please let me come back here to live!!!"Sunday, March 9 - Turin
Founded by the Romans in 28 BC, Turin today has a population of one million and is just an hour from both the Alps and the Mediterranean Sea.
It is well-known as the host of the 2006 Winter Olympics, headquarters of Fiat automobile manufacturers, and home of the famous soccer team Juventus.
But Turin is perhaps most famous as the home of the Shroud of Turin, an old linen cloth with an imprint of a man which is believed by many to be the cloth that covered Jesus in his grave.
The shroud is in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, (1491-1498). The church was closed when we were there; but at least we saw the outside. Even if the church had been open, we couldn't have seen the actual shroud, because it is only displayed every 25 years. (A copy of the shroud is on display all the time.) It was shown in the Cathedral in 2000 and is not scheduled to be out again until 2025. So we were 8 years late, or 17 years early.
The façade of Turin’s cathedral to her patron saint, St. John the Baptist, is the only remnant of Renaissance architecture in the city. The cathedral was designed by the Tuscan architect, Meo del Caprino, and has a classical white marble façade crowned with a typanum and three portals with carved reliefs.The 200-foot Romanesque bell tower soars above the campanile di Sant’Andrea, built in 1468, and Guarini’s famous octagonal cupola. It is a symbol of the city which, until a fire in 1997, housed the famous Shroud.
Arcades
Torino has the biggest pedestrian area of Europe, with 11 miles of arcades (8 miles of them continuous and connected) which were started in 1615. They vary in style and construction material.
More than a mile of them were built between the two main squares by King Vittorio Emanuele so that he and his family could go out walking when it was raining or snowing without getting wet.
We walked behind this little girl and her dad as they traveled under the arcades. She was quite a good driver in her little car. At one point, she stopped, got off, opened the car's little trunk, took out a juice box and had a drink before hopping back on and continuing on her way. Marina and I thought she was adorable.
The arcades are a unique urban, aesthetic, and social-economic symbol. They are filled with shops, cafes, and meeting places, and are quite unique.
It was begun in 1863, and was originally intended to be a Jewish synagogue. But for the first six years, the architect had disagreements with the Jewish community, mainly about changes he wanted to make that would raise the final height of the building from 217 feet to 371, and increase the cost and construction time. Construction was halted in 1869 with a provisional roof.
Four years later, the city gave the Jewish community another piece of land for a synagogue, and construction began again on the Mole, which was to be dedicated to Victor Emanuel II.
Antonelli worked on the building for 20 more years, and he increased the height several times, from 217 feet to 371 to 479, and then 502, and finally 548 feet. The building was completed in 1889.
It looks like 7 or 8 buildings stacked one on top of the other.
The Mole is visible from many points in the city. It is so iconic that it appears on the reverse of the two cent Italian euro coins, and was the official emblem of the 2006 Winter Olympics, the 2005 World Bocce Championships, and the 2006 World Fencing Championships.
In 1953, a very violent cloudburst accompanied by a tornado destroyed the topmost 154 feet of the pinnacle. It was rebuilt in 1961 as a metal structure covered with stone.
Since 2000, the building has housed the National Museum of Film, and is the world's tallest museum.
Castle Square
From there we went to see the main square in Turin, the Piazza Castello (Castle Square).
Here's Marina and Bruno showing us around the square in Turin.
On one side of the square is the amazing Palazzo Madama (Madame's Palace), a magnificent edifice with nearly 2,000 years of history.
It takes its name from its most famous resident, Madame Marie Jeanne Baptiste de Savoie-Nemours, the widow of Vittorio Amedeo, the 17th-century duke of Savoy. The massive structure incorporates a Roman gate, a medieval castle, a Baroque facade, and several Renaissance additions - quite a melange!
Born as one of the Roman gates to the city, it became a "castle" for hosting official ceremonies at the beginning of the 1400s. And from the back, you can still see the original castle walls and tower.
But the facade is a different story! It is gorgeous; a white marble confection that is a fine example of Baroque architecture designed by Filippo Juvarra. Completed in 1721, it is considered an architectural masterpiece.
The building has served over the years as not only as the home of the Savoy family, but also as the Sardinian Senate in 1848–60, and the Italian Senate in 1861–64, when Turin was the capital of Italy. Napoleon made it his Turin residence.
The interior is amazing.
Today the Palazzo Madama houses the Museum of Ancient Arts, and the holdings focus on the medieval and Renaissance periods, shown off against the castle's unaltered, stony medieval interior. And since the building was built on top of pre-existing Roman fortification, you can look at the remnants of the ancient original Roman West Gate to the inner walled city under plexiglass planks in the lobby.
bedroom
The Palazzo Reale, Turin’s Buckingham Palace, is the architectural ledger par excellence of the city’s royal history. The palace is linked by interconnecting corridors and passages to the former royal state buildings to the right and to the cathedral and chapel to the left.
There is a touch of Paris about the grand entrance flanked by the two equestrian statues of Castor and Pollux, but the façade, with its squat towers at either end, is more reminiscent of a grand Italian country villa. Recently restored, the 350-foot façade by Amedeo di Castellemonte is the only original piece of the palace complex left, the rest being changed by subsequent centuries and architects.
Commissioned by Carlo Emanuele II, work began in 1646 on the site of the old bishop’s palace. The initial construction was completed in 14 years and it was the home of the House of Savoy until 1865.
The interior truly bears the stamp of royalty. It has a birthday cake of chandeliers and a sequence of rooms with heraldic names such as La Sala delle Vittorie and La Sala delle Dignita, furnished with Chinese vases, sculptures, paintings, frescoes, gold leaf and coffered ceilings.
Juvarra, the architect who did the facade of the Palazzo Madama, contributed the masterpiece for which the Palazzo Reale is most famous – the amazing architectural feat of the Scala delle Forbici (Scissor Staircase), so-called due to its ornate criss-cross design.
It was designed in anticipation of the arrival of the bride of Carlo Emanuele III, Anna Christina of Bavaria, and heralds a sequence of glorious reception rooms and private apartments.
Inside the palace, there is a great cafe in a room that has floor to ceiling cases full of the royal silver collection. We enjoyed our lunch there.
We passed the Vittorio Emanuele I Bridge over the River Po, which was built in 1810 in the center of the city. The building that looks like the Pantheon across the bridge is the Chiesa de La Gran Madre di Dio (Church of the Great Mother of God.)
Legend has it that the Holy Grail lies buried beneath this neoclassical church. The church was commissioned in the 1830s to celebrate the return of Vittorio Emanuele I after the Congress of Vienna. 
I like Turin, and I'd happily go back.Maybe in 2025, to see the shroud.
Monday, March 10 - Pavia
Pavia, where my family lives, is located in Lombardy, a Northern Region of Italy, about 30 miles south of Milan. It is a quiet university town with a population of approximately 90,000 residents, and serves as the center of a fertile and eminently agricultural province.
This link has a good history of Pavia.
Although dating back to pre-Roman times, Pavia achieved distinction as the capital of the Longobards Rule from 578 to 754. Testimony to is important past can be found in its many grand Romanesque and Renaissance buildings and monuments.
Pavia yielded in 1359 to the Visconti family, rulers of Milan, and under them became an intellectual and artistic center.
The Castello Visconti, at the northern end of the medieval center, was built in 1360. In spite of its being fortified, the Castello (built by Galeazzo II Visconti) actually was used as a private residence rather than a stronghold. Although only two of its four massive towers remain it is still a very impressive castle. The Civic Museum, useo del Risorgimento, and an art gallery are housed inside the castle.
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An unconfirmed legend wants the Castle to be connected by a secret underground tunnel to the Certosa.
The University of Pavia was founded here in 1361 - an expansion of a college already established in 825 that was mainly devoted to ecclesiastical and civil law as well as divinity studies. It is 1183 years old -- take that Elms College, youngster at age 80!
Christopher Columbus and Alessandro Volta are among its graduates.
We walked around the campus, which is quite beautiful. The Cortile degli Spiriti Magni hosts the statues of some of the most important scholars and alumni of the school.
In the 12th century, Pavia was said to be a licentious town due to the university students.
The Archipoet from Cologne wrote:
"Who is the one who won’t burn once put into the fire?
Who is the one who will be able to remain chaste although living in Pavia,
where Venus catches young men with her finger,
chains them with her sight and conquers them with her presence?
Every road lead to Venus’ beds;
among many towers the missing one is the Virtue’s."
Ponte Vecchio
We walked to the Old Bridge (ponte vecchio) on the Ticino river, which is a symbol of Pavia. It is a reproduction of a 14th century bridge destroyed during the war, which itself replaced an ancient Roman bridge.
- Cathedral of Pavia
- San Theodoro
- Santa Maria del Carmine Church
- Basilica of San Michele Maggiore
- Chiesa di San Francesco Grande
- San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro
The big boy in town is the Cathedral of Pavia - the Duomo.
The dome is a jewel of Renaissance style designed by Bramante, and was completed in 1885. It is the third highest dome in Italy, after St. Peter's in Rome and the Duomo in Florence. It measures 320 feet high, and weighs 20,000 tons.
S. Teodoro (1117), third romanesque basilica in Pavia, though smaller than the former ones. It lays on the slopes leading down to Ticino river and served the fishermen. The apses and the three-level tiburium are a sample of the effective simplicity of romanesque decoration. Inside are two outstanding bird's eye view frescoes of the city (1525) attributed to the painter Bernardino Lanzani. Both are impressively detailed, and the beholder realises how little Pavia urban design has changed in the last 500 years.
Santa Maria del Carmine Church is one of the best known examples of Gothic brickwork architecture in northern Italy.
It is the second largest church in the city after the Cathedral, and is on the Latin cross plan, with a perimeter of 80 x 40 meters comprising a nave and two aisles.
The characteristic façade has a large rose window and seven cusps.
Basilica of San Michele Maggiore (1090-1155)
Its broad sandstone facade is carved with a menagerie of snake-tailed fish, griffins, dragons and other beasts, some locked in a struggle with humans, representing the fight between good and evil.
This important church was the site of the coronation of Louis III (900), and where Frederick Barbarossa was crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1155.
I particularly loved the big silver "Teodote's Crucifix" from the 10th century.
There is also a beautiful ancient high marble altar (1383).
On the front is a figure of St. Michael the Archangel weighing souls with the "scales of psicostasis." Kneeling in front of the Archangel is Canonico Giovanni Sangregorio, who donated the altar. It was carved by Giovannino de Grassi, who was working also on the Duomo in Milan.
The altar houses the remains of St. Ennodius (473-521), a bishop of Pavia, and St. Eleucadius, archbishop of Ravenna and theologian, who is said to have written commentaries on the books of the Old and New Testaments.
The crypt, located immediately under the altar, houses beautifully decorated capitals...
...and the monument of the Blessed Martino Salimbene (1491), a notary in Pavia in the 15th century. There’s an inscription: « Oculi mei semper ad Dominum » - "My eyes are ever towards the Lord." The epigraph below certifies that the Ecclesiastic Authority recognized the pious Notary’s virtues, explaining why he merits this monument.
San Francesco Grande Church, built in the 13th century.
In the northern side of the transept was built a chapel between 1711 and 1750 dedicated to the Immaculate Virgin Mary following the plans of Giovanni Ruggeri and Antonio Longoni. It is richly decorated with marble and gold plated bronzes, with a “trompe l’oeil” in the cupola decorated with a clouded sky.
San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro (604)
The name of this Romanesque Augustinian basilica ("Saint Peter's in the Golden Sky") refers to the gold leaf mosaics that formerly decorated the ceiling. The original church was built in 604; it was renovated between 720 and 725, and the present church was consecrated in 1132. It's biggest claim to fame is that it holds the tomb of St. Augustine, who died in 430.
After his death in 430, St. Augustine's body was removed to Sardinia by Catholic bishops. It was subsequently redeemed from there by Peter, bishop of Pavia and uncle of the Lombard king — who purchased it for its weight in gold and deposited it here about the year 720.
St. Augustine (354-430), son of St. Monica, was born in Africa and was brought up a Christian. He spent many years of his life in wicked living until a conversion when he became very devout, was baptized, became a priest, a famous Catholic writer, and a saint. St. Augustine is the patron of brewers. His complete turnaround has been an inspiration to many who struggle with a particular vice.
The marble ark of St. Augustine is a masterpiece of Lombard sculpture from the 14th century. It is decorated with 95 statues and 50 bas-reliefs that tell the story of the saint's life.
In January 1327, Pope John XXII appointed the Augustinians guardians of the tomb, which was remade in 1362 and elaborately carved with scenes from Augustine's life. The Augustinians were expelled in 1700, taking refuge in Milan with the relics of Augustine, which were moved to the cathedral there. The cathedral in Pavia fell into disrepair; it was a military magazine under the Napoleonic occupation. It was not reconstructed until the 1870s, and reconsecrated in 1896 when the relics of Augustine and the shrine were again reinstalled.
I enjoyed reading St. Augustine's Confessions.
"In his own day the dominant personality of the Western Church, Augustine of Hippo today stands
as perhaps the greatest thinker of Christian antiquity, and his Confessions is one of the great works
of Western literature. In this intensely personal narrative, Augustine relates his rare ascent
from a humble Algerian farm to the edge of the corridors of power at the imperial court in Milan,
his struggle against the domination of his sexual nature, his renunciation of secular ambition
and marriage, and the recovery of the faith his mother Monica had taught him during his childhood.
We witness the future saint's fascination with astrology and with the Manichees, and then
follow him through scepticism and disillusion with pagan myths until he finally reaches Christian faith.
There are brilliant philosophical musings about Platonism and the nature of God, and touching portraits of Augustine's beloved mother, of St. Ambrose of Milan, and of other early Christians like Victorinus,
who gave up a distinguished career as a rhetorician to adopt the orthodox faith.
Augustine's concerns are often strikingly contemporary, yet his work contains
many references and allusions that are easily understood only with background
information about the ancient social and intellectual setting.
The religious and philosophical value of The Confessions is unquestionable.
In what is probably his most famous quotation, Augustine declared to God:
"You made us for yourself and our hearts find no peace until they rest in you."
(Confessions 1, 1)
Boethius' Tomb
Also in the crypt of this cathedral is the tomb of Roman statesman/philosopher/theologian Boethius, one of the last notable philosophers in the classical Roman tradition. He is considered a martyr for the Catholic faith and was canonized under the name St. Severinus.
Boethius authored translations of Aristotle, treatises on the Holy Trinity (De Sancti Trinitate) and orthodox Christology, and a biography of the monk Cassiodorus. In his most famous work, The Consolation of Philosophy, he proposed that the study of philosophy made knowledge of virtue and God attainable.
Dante mentions Boethios' tomb in the tenth canto of Il Paradiso, and a tablet on the right side of the church's façade cites the passage:
I'm working on a translation:
The body ______ expelled lies ___ in ___
and from martyr and from exile it came to this peace.
Liutprand
There is also the tomb of Liutprand, who was King of the Lombards from 712-744. Under his rule the Lombard kingdom of Italy reached its zenith. He is also the one who brought the body of St. Augustine here from Sardinia in 724, bought for its weight in gold from the Saracens.
King Luitprand is known for his long reign, negotiating peace treaties, and coming closer to bringing all of Italy under one rule than any of his predecessors.
Buona compleano, Mattia!
David's cut was very chic in an Italiano way.
Here are the two beautiful people after their salon visits.Later we went to the supermarket to get ingredients for dinner,
and I took these pictures of interesting looking "groceries."
David had never eaten fresh artichokes, so it was an adventure.
After dinner, we said goodbye to everyone, and were sad to know we had to leave Italy and my beloved family in the morning.Tuesday, March 11 - Back to Prague
After tearful goodbyes with Laura this morning, Marina drove us to the Milan airport and we headed back to Prague for one last day.
We arrived just after one in the afternoon, and took a cab to our hotel, the Barcelo Praha, which I had booked on Hotwire for $35. It was nice; nicer than our other hotel in Prague.
We went downtown, where there were street vendors setting up in advance of Easter, which is 10 days away. They are famous for these hand-decorated egg shells.
Since we are flying home first thing tomorrow morning, we had to pick the one last thing we wanted to do this afternoon - and that was to tour the Art Nouveau masterpiece the Municipal House.
Municipal House
The mosaic above the entrance, Homage to Prague, is set between sculptures representing the oppression and rebirth of the Czech people; other sculptures ranged along the top of the façade represent history, literature, painting, music, and architecture.
You pass beneath a wrought-iron and stained-glass canopy into an interior that is Art Nouveau down to the doorknobs.
I just love the details.
A highlight was the Smetana Hall, Prague's biggest concert hall, with seating for 1,200 beneath an Art Nouveau glass dome. The stage is framed by sculptures representing the Vyšehrad legend and Slavonic dances.
On October 28, 1918 an independent Czech Republic was declared here in Smetana Hall.
Upstairs we toured half-a-dozen halls and assembly rooms which were used by the beautiful people for receptions and parties.
Riegr Hall is named after the prominent politician of the Czech National Revival, Frantisdek Ladislav Riegr (1818-1903). It features gorgeous original Art Nouveau furniture, sculpture, and murals depicting Czech artists, composers, and writers.
Palacky Hall is named after historian/politician Franstisek Palacky (1798-1876) - known as "Father of the Nation." This is the glass-paned wall above the main door. 
This is the Confectionery - with its original refreshment bar.
The highlight was the octagonal Lord Mayor's Hall (Primatorský sál), where every aspect of decoration was designed by Alfons Mucha.
Mucha painted the superbly moody murals that adorn the walls and ceiling. Above you is an allegory of Slavic Concord, with intertwined figures representing the various Slavic peoples watched over by the Czech eagle.
Figures from Czech history and mythology, representing the civic virtues, occupy the spaces between the eight arches, including Jan Hus as Spravedlnost (justice), Jan Žižka as Bojovnost (militancy), and the Chodové (medieval Bohemian border guards) as beady-eyed Ostražitost (vigilance).
The kavárna (café) flanking the entrance of the Municipal House is like a walk-in museum of Art Nouveau design. After the tour, we decided to have a drink there before we headed off for dinner. 
There was an art nouveau menu, 
The chandeliers were incredible.
Pilsner Urquell, which my friend Bob had raved about.
Cheers, Bob.
We had to eat one last dinner in Prague tonight, but we were not up for Czech food. Luckily, we found an Italian restaurant. I guess the waiter could tell we were avoiding local specialties, because when he borught out my dinner, he said, "And for you, the famous Czech goulosh with potatoes!" When I said "NOOOOO!!", he laughed and said, "Just kidding!" and put down a plate of spaghetti.
The waiter took this photo of us; the last night of our vacation.
We walked back to the metro slowly, as the sun set over Prague.Wednesday, March 12 - Going Home
This kid had the right idea -just wheel me and my luggage onto the plane, okay?
