Religiously affiliated hospitality in Italy

It took me a while to come up with the title of this post. It will be about a new portal covering the vast number of accommodations for travelers in Italy that are related to the Catholic Church. But a few considerations are in order.

First of all, you need not be Catholic or even Christian. The purpose of your stay need not be religious or spiritual. Most importantly, the places included on the website are not necessarily what we consider Catholic structures e.g., monasteries and convents. Some are family-run farms, others look just like hotels. All have been approved and have some connection to the CEI (Conferenza Episcopale Italiana), the organization of Italian bishops. 

Now. There are a total of nearly 316,000 beds available in these facilities, which are wildly different and cover the entire country, from the Alps to Sicily. The greatest number are in Lazio, the area of which Rome is the capital, and Veneto, the area of which Venice is the capital. There are places with wifi, pools, air conditioning, and restaurants. The prices are usually quite competitive.

Here is just one example. Above you see one of the many offerings, a family-run house in Caprese Michelangelo, near Arezzo in Tuscany. It has a pool and a restaurant. Prices for singles are 30-35 euros, depending on the season. 

The portal is called Ospitalita' religiosa and can be found here. On the right side of the home page you will find access to the various translated versions, including English of course. Each entry gives detailed information on the specific facility. An excellent search function allows you to refine your search not only by location but by other fields such as amenities. You will not be able to make reservations from the site, but each entry has a form you may send to the place you are interested in.

Highly recommended.

Oratorio di San Protaso, Milan

This is the little church that could. You know the enormous cathedral of Milan, the Duomo, right in the center of town?

Well this Little Church That Could is the anti-Duomo. It is the smallest church in Milan, it is obscure, it is poor, it is plain, it has a terrible location and it is usually locked. It is also adorable.

Its story is irresistibly appealing. The Oratorio has been around for about a thousand years and was originally in the countryside around Milan. The city grew and grew, and in the twentieth century the Lorenteggio-Giambellino area went from being rural to being a part of Milan, with its own subway stop. My mother's youngest sister used to live there back in the Sixties, in a high-rise.

So why is it The Little Church That Could? It survived intact through the centuries. While other churches, farmhouses, and gardens were destroyed, The Little Church heroically avoided demolition, and now occupies the median strip of Via Lorenteggio. A group of local citizens strenuously opposed its razing. Yes, its tiny millennial self sits right there in the middle of Milan traffic. Personally, I think it speaks of spirituality more than the Duomo.

It wouldn't be The Little Church That Could without its very own website (in Italian.) Check it out here- it includes pictures of the fine artworks in the interior. The Little Church (did I mention that it was adorable?) is usually not open to the public, but is used from time to time for special events. Also see this excellent Flickr album, lovingly created by one of the many admirers of the Oratorio.

   

Tennessee Williams and Rome

Author Tennessee Williams resided for a long time in Rome. Who knew? Evidently the writer for the New York Times knew, and that's why she produced this piece in today's paper. The rather unhappy Mississippi native lived in the city for years, mostly at an address near the Villa Borghese (below.)

Having rejected Paris, he took to Rome immediately. Evidently he felt an affinity for Italy and its people- one of his closest friends was the great actress Anna Magnani, and his life partner was the Sicilian-American Frank Merlo. He set his novella The Roman spring of Mrs. Stone in the city. Interesting article with tips for visitors. Unfortunately it furthers the myth that fettuccine Alfredo is part of the Italian culinary tradition, and erroneously states that this unfortunate creation has "attained global renown."

Check it out.

New York Times article on Venice's Jewish ghetto

Did you know that the word "ghetto" is Venetian and derives from the Jewish ghetto in the Cannaregio area?  Closed Jewish ghettoes were found in all Italian cities where Jews lived, with the exception of relatively enlightened Livorno, where they were assigned certain streets.

This year will mark 500 years from the establishment of the Venice ghetto. The city is preparing a commemoration with an exhibition at the Doge's Palace, from June 19th to November 13th. There will also be The Merchant of Venice in the ghetto itself during the last week of July (for more information see The Merchant in Venice site here.)

Find out more about the ghetto in this article in today's New York Times.

Apericena

Apericena is a portmanteau word made up of aperitivo and cena, and this relatively new custom in fact is a combination of a drink (usually alcoholic) and a buffet dinner, with an affordable all inclusive price tag.

The aperitivo has been around a long time, and the word refers both to the drink before the meal and the custom itself, which involves having a drink with perhaps a very light snack before a major meal.  The difference between aperitivo and apericena is that the latter does not precede the meal, but replaces the meal. And the meal is not the usual sit down affair with two or more courses, but a buffet. So that the apericena is a way to save both money and time and have some fun, too. In practice, there is often overlap in the usage of the two words.

It will be fairly obvious that this is similar to our happy hour. Music and (alas) karaoke are often featured. But, being in Italy, you can be sure that the drinks and food will be better. I'd definitely give it a try.

Umbrella pines

"What a beautiful thing the stone pine is!" said Ford Madox Ford in The Good Soldier. I read that novel many years ago, in Castagneto Carducci (near Livorno), on the Tyrrhenian sea (west coast of Italy), where these trees (also known as umbrella pines) are common. When I first went to live in Italy at the age of seven, it was in fact in Livorno. I suspect my love for them derives from these early impressions. I have retained my attachment to the Maremma area ever since then.

Umbrella pines (Pinus pinea) are called pini marittimi in Italian, although this term is also used in Italy for Pinus pinaster. The latter are more cold-resistant, less lovely and do not produce the delicious (and expensive) edible pine nuts that Pinus pinea do. Edible pine nuts can also come from other species, such as the Chinese nuts, generally considered inferior to the Italian ones.

The beautiful tree is associated with rural and seaside areas, but it is of course also found in urban areas, notably Rome (Naples, too). The composer Ottorino Respighi, from Bologna, was also besotted by the wonderful plants, composing his famed I pini di Roma in 1924.

Uber has been blocked in Italy

Uber is not uber alles, or at least not uber Italy. A judge, in his infinite wisdom, just ruled that UberPop in Italy is illegal because it constitutes concorrenza sleale, or unfair competition (the taxi drivers have to acquire a license, and Uber drivers don't.)

Now, as usual, to try and understand this, you have to apply your faculties of dietrologia, or behindology. The judge in question is in Milan, where the Expo has just begun, generating lots and lots of euros. Which seems to be the entire purpose for its existence. All the peeps who will attend over its six-month run will be needing transportation, and the protectionist taxi drivers want Uber out of the picture. Presto fatto.

Ah, Italians having problems dealing with the 21st century. Hell, Italians haven't come to terms with the 20th century yet. The sharing economy is here to stay. Technology is changing everything even as I speak (or write). At any rate, Uber is appealing in two weeks.

Expo Milano 2015

Tomorrow, Friday May 1st, the Expo held in Milan will open. This is a World's Fair and will continue for six months, till the beginning of October. Its theme will be food, both in the context of gastronomy and sustainability.

Predictably, there have already been protesters, mostly maintaining that this is a giant sell-out and is about business and development and not about its purported theme. Which takes me back to the late 80's, when I still lived In Italy (Padova) and some Italians were trying to promote the idea of an Expo in Venice. This ultimately failed, to my relief.

Well, Milan is no Venice, but the possibility, even probability, that this is money-driven remains. But this doesn't mean there won't plenty of interesting events. As I'll probably be in Italy, and Milan is my mother's hometown, it's likely I'll partake in some of the activities.

More about this later, as a lot will be be going on. Take a look yourself at their site.

New York Times article on Basilicata

Poor little Basilicata, so neglected by the mass of foreign tourists. Undeservedly so.

The New York Times has decided to spotlight the area, and in particular the spectacular Greek ruins that are its main attraction. Read about it here.

New York Times article on Cinque Terre

Although I lived in Italy twenty years, I didn't see everything. Nobody can. One of the things I missed was, regrettably, the Cinque Terre area of Liguria, in Northwestern Italy.

Here is an article in today's New York Times on how to see the beautiful area on a budget.

New York Times article on Lecce

No, I haven't seen everything in Italy (nobody has, or ever can), and this is one of my big gaps. The town of Lecce (LEH-cheh) is a major attraction in Southern Italy, with spectacular architecture, food and wine. In fact the entire Salento area of Puglia (the heel of the boot) is worthy of consideration, and might well be the focus of your next vacation.

Here is today's New York Times article on the lovely city.

New York Times article about Turin

Poor Turin. The Rodney Dangerfield of major Italian cities; can't get no respect. Well, it should, damn it!

As part of its 36 hours in ... Travel series, the New York Times is featuring the neglected city west of Milan. Check it out here and give it the attention it deserves.

Sir Paul turns 70 in Tuscany

Paul, I hear it's your birthday. And you're not turning 64 either. Don't fib. You've hit the big (very big) 7-0.

Yes, my favorite Beatle turned 70 today, and reportedly he did it in Tuscany, like any proper anglosassone. To be precise, he went to the Val d'Orcia (a UNESCO World heritage site) and is staying at the exclusive Castiglion del Bosco resort near Montalcino.

Tanti auguri a lui!

New high speed Italo train

This is an exciting development in travel within Italy. A few weeks ago, an entirely new company, Italo, began its own high speed service in the country (high speed travel already exists from Trenitalia). It is the only private high speed train in Europe, so far. Brought forth by Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemolo, the trains do have an association with the beloved automobile. The color is red (although more of a burgundy), the design is snazzy, and speeds can top 185 miles an hour (about 300 kph), although it could go even faster if the existing tracks allowed it.

Watching videos of the interior reminded me of the Acela train here on the East coast of the United States, or an airline. The cars don't have compartments like the old-fashioned Italian trains, which may improve security, especially for women travelling alone. The windows don't open and there is climate control, finally putting an end to bickering with Italians wanting to close the windows in August because of the corrente (draft). The company says they don't have classes, but of course they do, under different names.

Everything is very high-tech, with free wi-fi, and screens popping out from the sides of seats. There is an entire movie carriage. There is also a Relax car, where noise is held to a minimum. Food is provided by Eataly, which means it should be good, although on their site the meals looked like box lunches or airplane fare. The higher-priced seats have service, but all meals are extra, at around 20 euros. Wine not included (drats). There are also special vending machines, with coffee. The train has access for the mobility-impaired.

This sounds very promising, and I will certainly try it the next time I'm in Italy. Prices are competitive. For now, the only route open is Milan-Naples, with stops at Bologna, Florence and Rome. The trains do not stop at the main stations of Milan and Rome. Extensions of the line will be added this year.  The only thing is that all this leaves me with a wistful feeling for the old Italian trains, where people in the compartments would actually talk to each other (not only about the draft), and I could stick my head out the window with the wind in my hair, against the posted prohibition on all Italian trains. Not to mention that I doubt you can see much from your window at those speeds. Can you imagine the Italian countryside at 150 miles an hour? A blur.

Read more in this informative article from the English-language version of Der Spiegel. Explore the company's English-language site here.

A site dedicated to Abruzzo

Found the site Life in Abruzzo which is entirely dedicated to the Abruzzo region and is kept by two Brits who have a home there. It is unusually well-done; it would be nice if every Italian region had such a site.

The Abruzzo region is situated in central Italy to the east of Lazio (the region of which Rome is the capital), although culturally and economically it is traditionally seen as part of the South. While it has similarities to the ever-popular Tuscany and Umbria, to be frank, it is nowhere near either of them esthetically and artistically. It is however significantly cheaper, and offers little hill towns, the sea, a great national park, and even skiing in the Apennines (in the photo, Roccaraso, two hours from Naples).

I have fond memories of visiting the village of Sant'Omero as a child, where an uncle by marriage came from. While in the hills, during the day we could go down to Giulianova, a seaside resort. I also had (for Easter) perhaps the richest dish I've ever tasted, the timballo, which I've never forgotten. It's a multi-layered marvel which is very labor-intensive to make (not that I've tried, or will try- it would probably be easier just to hop on a plane from Boston). If you are intrigued, and you should be, here is the recipe.

Check it out.

Foursquare for travel to Italy

Everyone knows about Facebook and Twitter, and many know about Google+. But do you know about Foursquare?

Foursquare is a newish social network based on geolocalization, that is, finding out where people and places are on the Internet based on their location. Example: you're in Venice at the Accademia Museum and you want to know where nearby restaurants are. Or you're in Milan for a day and want to see where people you know are (only possible if they're on Foursquare). I checked under the search term "restaurants" in Padova, the town I know best, and found a long list, but without much other info besides type and contact info. There are some "tips" (micro-reviews) but they were relatively few and they were in Italian. So, at this point, this is best used in conjunction with other sites i.e. find the places near you and get more info by googling the name you've found.

You can register at Foursquare on your computer and explore it, but it is optimally used on a smartphone, for obvious reasons of mobility. Check it out here.

New Enzo Ferrari Museum opens today

Who doesn't love a Ferrari? Even I, a non-car lover and a non-red lover, am entranced by the flaming Testarossa. What a car!

So ole Enzo's birthplace museum is opening today in Modena, near Bologna. To tell the truth it looks a bit strange, with his old 19th century house and the ultra-modern museum with the bright yellow roof beside it.

See the New York Times article in today's paper here. The site for the museum is here (for English version, click upper right corner).

Renzo Piano and the Gardner Museum

Italians don't always do it better.

Renzo Piano is a world-famous and hyper-successful architect from Genoa. He is perhaps best known (along with Richard Rogers) for the Beaubourg building in Paris. When I was there in 1990, I asked a Frenchman where it was. With a twinkle in his eye, he pointed and answered: "C'est cette grande usine la'." It's that big factory there. 'nuff said.

Fast forward three and a half decades from the construction of the factory in Paris in 1977.

Renzo Piano completes the addition to Boston's distinguished Isabella Stewart Gardner museum, to the tune of 118 million smackeroonies. This project was approved under director Anne Hawley, under whose watch (so to speak) a Vermeer, a Rembrandt and other irreplaceable stuff disappeared from the Gardner. If you only realized how much I love Dutch art and Vermeer in particular, you would understand that I already resent this Hawley person. It wasn't the best Vermeer, but still.

So they approved Renzo's project, which will basically house functions and objects not originally part of Isabella's home museum. It is indeed a home museum, like Milan's Poldi Pezzoli (which partly inspired Gardner). What we have now in the new wing is a glass box that could be anywhere (just like a mall or a chain store). In the process, they tore down Gardner's original carriage house and greenhouse.

The Italian daily La Repubblica rather triumphantly reported this in a fatuous article/interview called "I'm bringing Italy to Boston." Give me a break. The Italian presence has already been strong in Boston for a century, and American Isabella Stewart Gardner did infinitely more to enhance this presence than Renzo Piano ever could.

The glass box opens to the public on January 19th.

(In the photo- a new university library in the Midwest? A neuroscience research center in Holland? An office building in Abu Dhabi? No, it's Italy in Boston.)

Save on travel

Hoping to go to Italy this year?

The New York Times published a list of 19 websites today to help you plan your travel and save while you're at it. Check it out here.

Flooding in Cinque Terre

The Cinque Terre is an area of Italy in Liguria (in the North West), along the sea. It literally means "five lands" and is comprised of the lovely villages of Vernazza (in the photo), Monterosso, Manarola, Corniglia and Riomaggiore.

This week's flooding in Italy has hit the area particularly hard. For more info, see this article in The Guardian.