Dreaming In Italian

Some people climb Everest. That’s a little much for me but I conquered Asinelli, one of the two towers that are one of the major symbols of Bologna.

                                      The challenge – La Torre Asinelli

I’ve been told that someone attending the university here should never climb to the top before they graduate because it brings bad luck so a lot of them do it right after they graduate. I had not really considered climbing to the top but my friend Andrea encouraged me so today I did it. It really wasn’t that bad. Yes, there are a lot of steps – 498 to be exact as the sign says. The total height is 97 meters and 20 centimeters – pretty exact. That 318.9 feet.

                                                                  How many steps and how high?

Yes sometimes the stairs are steep, especially the last flight but there are handrails the whole way so it’s not too bad.

                                                                The stairs looking down

After taking in the great views and coming back down we treated ourselves to a slice of very good and economical pizza at the very small pizza place nearby which is naturally called Due Torri.

                                 Andrea and I at the top

                 Looking down the main street(Rizzoli and Hugo Bassi)

                                Due Torri – highly recommended and always a line.

                                                                Good pizza by the slice

I keep learning new words in Italian but this is one I will never forget. Borseggiatore means “pickpocket”. As you can see from the photo below, it can happen anywhere. I think that this photo from the web is probably New York.

pickpocket!

I learned this the hard way. I travel a lot by bus so I always have a borsello (man-bag). It’s very convenient for carrying all kinds of stuff. I keep my billfold (portafoglio) in the front zippered pocket and am generally careful to keep that pocket always zipped closed.

borsello – and the pocket where I put my billfold (the new one now)

So I was going to a part of town that I’m not familiar with and there was not an stop announcement on this particular bus. So I was looking at google maps on my phone to make see when I was approaching the bus stop so that I wouldn’t miss it. For convenience I also put my phone in the same pocket to make it easier to extract it to check the map. The bus was crowded – always a good environment for a borseggiatore. So when I got off of the bus I started to zip up the pocket and – oh my god, my wallet is gone! I returned home as quickly as possible. I had enough change to buy a bus ticket on the first bus going back in the opposite direction. I immediately used Skype to call first the credit card company and then the bank to cancel the ATM card. I figured that the ATM card was safer since it required a PIN. So this happened on a Friday and I had a new credit card by the following Monday and a new ATM card by Wednesday. Fortunately some friends loaned me a couple of hundred euros. (Thanks Paolo and Gaudio!). The ATM (bancomat here) is the most important since I rarely use a credit card. Cash is definitely king in Italy and the exchange rate is better anyway.

So lessons learned:

1. ALWAYs be very wary if in a crowd. Keep a hand ON the bag to discourage sticky fingers.
2. If you don’t have a reason to carry the bancomat or credit card (or anything else important) leave them at the place where you are staying. How much worse would it be if you were carrying your passport for example? Now I leave both cards at the house unless I have plans to use them.
3. Don’t carry a lot of cash. I usually keep around 100 euros – enough for everyday expenses and an occasional splurge. Paolo has exactly the same bag and lost his wallet to a pickpocket during some kind of very crowded festival but he had 600 euros in it!
4. Women are just as vulnerable. Make sure that you keep that purse closed and follow all of the above rules. Cesarina had her wallet stolen from her purse – on a crowded bus naturally. In fact almost all of my italian friends have a similar story to tell.

So this all happened about 3 weeks ago I’m just getting around to telling the story. I hope that this advice can help to keep someone safe.

One last note. The borseggiatore never tried to use the credit card. Probably because it was obviously American he assuredly was not. He did try to use the bancomat about 45 minutes later (they record these things) but of course failed due to lack of pin.

Each time I go to Bologna I buy another moka (or sometimes moca). Also they are called various other things here. macchinetta (little machine) or caffettieria. In any case, by now I have a pretty sizable collection so I thought that this time I’d just buy something very cheap and function and leave it here for when we come back in January. But then I saw this stunning new moka from Alessi and fell in love. Not only is it very striking in appearance but perhaps functions better than any of the other that I have. Italians really have a way with design.

Also when I’m here I enjoy the wines at really quite good prices compared to the states. And of course there is the grappa. In the US I can find maybe 5 or 6 varieties of grappa, one or two relatively cheap (for good reason) and some very good (at prices to match). Here there is almost an infinite choice. I’ve started sampling some that are “secca” (dry) as opposed to my usual choice of “morbida” (smooth). I like both. The bottle shown is very high quality and cost about $27. A steal compared to what such a product would cost in California. The wine? about $6.

grappa e vino

In front of the library there has been for some time a temporary structure with signs on it saying “Foto/Industria”. It’s easy to guess that this is “Industrial photography”. I had largely ignored it since I’m not much of a museum goer but a new friend that I met doing volunteering in the library urged me to go. In fact he had gone to see some of them and we went together on Friday to see 5 of the exhibits. They scattered around town at many if not all of the museums and the entry is free. You get a badge at the little enclosed kiosk and a map with a description of the exhibits and off you go.

I was particularly struck by the photographs by Edward Burtynsky, a Canadian photographer. The exhibit consisted of a slide show projected onto a large screen. They were described as both beautiful and repellent and I agree wholeheartedly. Here are a couple of examples.

california oil field

dense metal scrap

nickle tailings canada

tires

The others that I saw were photographs by:

Hein Gorny, German industrial photographs from the 1930s

Pierre Gonnar, Photographs of Spanish miners and farmers

Leon Gimbel, photographs of Parisian lights in the 1925

David Lachapelle, photographs of models of industrial settings constructed of beer cans, etc.

You can see all of this by going to the website of the exhibit by clicking here:Foto/Industria Bologna 2015