Prima fetta d’Italia

But the map called.

First slice of Italy

We are spending 28 days in Italy, so 4 times 7 days.  So Pizza style this is the first of the Quattro Stagioni.

It was a long day from leaving the Hotel Alex in Freiburg.  Four trains, from Germany to Basel in Switzerland and then through the Alps to the lakes in Ticino, Swiss Italia.

The last train was from Monza to Varenna on the eastern side of Lake Como and then a ferry to Bellagio.

We thank Michael from Sfolgia one of Rob’s  lunch and coffee haunts in Dickson for convincing us to change our plans.  We were to stay just one night in transit at Como on the shore of Lake Como.  Michael’s advice was “Forget Como get on a boat to Bellagio” Beautiful Bellagio.  We stayed for two nights at the modest but incredibly beautiful Hotel Bellagio and we scored the best room in house.

The mountains, the lake just take over, its overwhelming in the best of ways.  Then the bells of the churches start to ring and more of your senses jangle (add gelato o’clock and another sense is on its way).

We headed out on the lake to Lenno a village on the other side to take a tour of the Villa del Balbianello.  Right on a point on Lake Como it began in 13^th Century as a small chapel for Franciscan monks, then bought by a Cardinal in 1785, and finally to businessman and explorer Count Guido Monzino (leader of the first Italian expedition to climb Mt Everest).

Due to assassinations and kidnappings in the 70’s and 80s by the Red Brigade. Monzino worried that he may be on their list, so he added a system of hidden passages, linking parts of the property.

We loved this – layers of history, from the humble monks with their vow of poverty to the uber wealthy businessman protecting himself with secret corridors.  (In the end he didn’t protect himself from smoking and died at 60 – his desk in the villa still has his last packet of cigarettes and his pipes).  Italy still sells cigarettes in vending machines.

Hotel Bellagio is in the same family as Hotel Du Lac (Alex had read Anita Brookner’s novel Hotel Du Lac many years ago).  It turns out the real story is much more romantic.  Jane, beautiful 18 year old Welsh girl is travelling with her parents.  Meets charming boy in Bellagio,  25 years later, 3 sons (one travelling in Australia) and Jane is integral part of family who run both Hotel Bellagio and Hotel Du Lac.

Venice or Venezia as the local say

Alex spent time in Venezia 28 year ago and had warned Rob not to go into shock about the number of tourists.  In the end it was Alex who was shocked.  Poor Venice.  Our first sight while on the crowded public ferry to our hotel was looking onto the Grand Canal to see a tourist sitting in the front of a Gondola just starring into her phone on a selfie stick. WARNING ALEX RANT.  Don’t get me started on Selfie Sticks.  Why do we have to insert ourselves into beautiful things?  Why can’t something just be beautiful all by itself?  They have been described in the New York Times as the tools of narcissists and psychopaths.   Angus Trumble was early to  ban them at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra.  RANT CONTINUES.  Love Locks.  Again just tell someone you love them, do not litter and damage beautiful bridges in Paris, Freiburg, Venice.  I just wonder how many people return to remove the “love lock” once the relationship breaks down?

Venice is still beautiful.  We had a great tour with Venetian Patrizia.  She was brought up in Venice but can’t afford to live there now.  She lives in Venezia Maestra, the city on the mainland.  That’s the story for so many Venetians.  They are being forced out by crowds, high costs and taxes.  And of course Airbnb: renting out apartments for a fortune.  The resident population of native Venetians has plummeted over the last few decades.

It is a very controversial topic in Venice, and a lot has been written about it.  The large cruise ships that flood the city with tourists each day, that bring little economic benefit and have little cultural sensitivity. The cheap flights from all over Europe mean that a quick trip to Venice is open to millions and the growing number of Chinese who are travelling the world.

But how do you control numbers?  Some cities in Europe are now clamping down on things like Airbnb to protect accomodation for locals.  Do you introduce a permit system, or have to be sponsored – as was suggested by our Hotel concierge?  On the big public holiday on May 1st this year the local government proposed that it would introduce gates to control numbers at two key pressure points, the Rialto Bridge and St Mark’s Square.  This approach was met by protests by locals who viewed this as turning Venice into a theme park – like Disneyland where people have to go through a gate.

The shops don’t serve Venetians they are for the rich.  Coming out of our hotel laneway we were greeted by Armani, Cartier, Max Mara, Gucci and standing in front a guard with a machine gun.

But putting all that aside we had a great tour of the Doge’s Palace and learnt about Venetian history.  Venice was established on marshy islands in a lagoon as a refuge for protection as the Roman empire fell. Its isolation led to an independence from papal and feudal squabbles that were rife across mainland Italy. As an independent Republic it focussed on its own mercantile empire to the east.  It was the most free and liberal state in Europe during the middle ages and was the worlds longest lasting republic.

We found a haven at The Flora Hotel, right near San Marco, old fashioned Venetian elegance.

And if you get up early you can still find beautiful Venice.

The Nun series

The Art

The train from Venice to Ravenna

We travelled through a lot of flat and highly cultivated country and could see why the Italians had made themselves so much at home on the flat plains in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area – spring crops of wheat, rows of grape and kiwi fruit vines, stone fruits, and closer the the villages broad beans, onions and garlic.  Red Poppies line the railway tracks and sometimes solar panels.

While we were in Paris we caught up with Marilyn Chalkley and Hugh Saddler.  Dr Hugh Saddler is one of Australia’s key energy experts told us to look out for Solar in Italy: “They’re way ahead”.

Here are few shots out of the train window (generally poor quality as taken through dirty windows at high speed).  We found solar installations of all types in paddocks, on top of farm sheds, on top of factories, as car parks in sports stadiums and on houses.  It was everywhere.

 

Ravenna

We had a strange reason for coming to Ravenna.  We are so glad we did.  Ravenna was for a period the capital of the Roman Empire, it has buildings going back as far as 100AD and 8 UNESCO World Heritage sites, with some of the world’s best mosaics.

Ravenna today incorporates the old town, which other than taxis and delivery vehicles is car free.  Everyone gets around on bicycles – people of all ages including lots grandparents with children on small seats in front of them.  People have time to stop and talk as the move around the city.

The network of small plazas, connected by walkways and arches between buildings that was designed over 1000 years ago still encourages huge social interaction.  We saw people stop, lean on their bikes and talk.

 

 

 

 

 

So, to the slightly random reason we originally chose to come to Ravenna.  Rob gets a few online newsletters including some architectural ones.  As we (Alex) were planning our trip last year a post came through about a Social Housing project in Romea near Ravenna. It was “the result of an international competition  won in 2005 and completed many years later”.  I flicked it to Alex, along with many other random posts at that time, and said maybe we could go here?  She replied “Great! We can go there after Venice.  Ravenna is on the way to Florence”.

I found it a bit hard to follow up on the project, the architects had moved on and people moved in, but I did locate it with the help of Google maps just on the outskirts of the city, but hadn’t done any more than that.   In the end we had a few spare hours on the morning we were leaving Ravenna so we grabbed a Taxi and went out to the site asking our fantastic driver Liviana if she could wait while we had a quick walk around and took some photos. She ended up giving us an interesting guided tour pointing out the old Venetian Fort and various social housing projects.  Like us, they are trying to reduce the concentration of social housing in single buildings and their recent developments are townhouse style houses with the Government selling most privately and maintaining a number of properties scattered throughout for social housing.

 

 

Italians pretend they are quite unmoved by the visits of the rich, famous and infamous.  But the references to George Clooney and Lord Byron were frequent.  Our guide at the Villa on Lake Como made references to him being in residence 20 kms up the lake. Without us asking (and really we’re not that interested) Patrizia got the water taxi in Venice to take us to the place where George married Amal. And Lord Byron lives on in the names of Hotels and in street-art.  We did love that the street art in Ravenna depicted famous people from Dante to Fellini all on bicycles.  Ravenna is all about bikes.

 

Reggio Emilia

So, we have come to rest in a B & B outside Reggio Emilia. Le Dimore del Borgo is a cluster of 17th century buildings, home to 3 generations of the Crotti family who produce award-winning balsamic vinegar, aged in old wood barrels in a room high above we’re we are sleeping.

The rooms and the gardens are idyllic.  In an ideal world you need to have a car because we’re out of town and to walk to the local village requires you to take your chances on a very narrow, very busy two lane road.  Italian drivers whizz up and down and we found ourselves flattening against the hedge about 2 feet from the road’s edge.  Terrifying.

And it’s lightly raining – so we find ourselves learning about true aged balsamic vinegar, doing our washing, writing this blog and soon pilates!

Firenze next…