Dreaming In Italian

It all started in Chioggio. I had gone there last year and returned for a day trip with the lovely K this year. It was a week day way out of tourist season so when we arrived in the town there were parking spaces everywhere. I saw no signs indicating that we must pay for parking but when we returned from lunch and ready to leave there it was on the windshield – a multa (ticket). I scanned the street and saw nothing until I looked at the other side of the street and sure enough saw a sign indicating payment was required for parking. When I got back to Bologna the rental guy said that I could pay at any tabacchaia (tobacconist) or at the post office. You can pay at the tobacconist but only for a local ticket so I paid up at the post office – about $38. Lesson learned – scan the entire horizon for signs the next time.

Next up – the iPhone. Death and resurrection. In Giulianova I had no wi-fi. I’m so used to constant internet connection that it’s like withdrawal to not have a connection to the net. Fortunately I had the phone which is a little small but workable until I woke up one morning to find the screen nothing but a black line down the middle with shades of gray on either side. The normal shut down did nothing but pressing the two keys at once did finally shut it down but on reboot I got several lines of geek-speak messages indicating “no way Jose”. It seemed to be a problem with flash memory as far as I could tell. OMG! All of my contacts with Italian friends, info on prepaid train trips,etc was in the phone! Thankfully K also has an iPhone so we were not totally cut off from the web but still I was practically hyperventilating. I am so hooked on connectedness. After I started breathing again I finally relaxed a little and decided it could be worse (I could have been hit by a bus or something) then we went off to dinner. After returning while I was in brushing my teeth getting ready for bed I heard a sound that I use for a notification when I get a Whatsapp message on my phone. Karen brought me my phone and miracle of miracles it was fully functional. I have decided to start the church of the iPhone – blessed be the miracle of it rising from the dead.

But no, we’re not done yet. The evening before leaving Giulianova I tripped on the wildly uneven sidewalk near the apartment and sprained my right wrist. The same one that had an operation 9 months before. At first it didn’t seem like such a horrible thing but after an hour or so became more and more painful. I had some pain-killers left over from post operative recovery and took some but still the pain was such that I could not sleep and probably got no more than an hour or two sleep the whole night. I had pretty much come to the conclusion that this time I had actually broken it so I spent the sleepless night considering alternative plans. If the wrist continued as it was there was no way that I could drive the car that we were to pick up in 2 days and that trashed all of the further plans in Puglia. Also if it really was broken I could envision an early departure from Italy and an agonizing 10 hour flight with a broken wrist. Fortunately the pain subsided substantially by the middle of the next morning and we were able to continue on. Now whenever there is a rough sidewalk I walk in the street.

We were so impressed with Teramo that we went back for another day trip. I have never heard of it but it is quite old complete with ruins of a Roman amphitheater and another set of ruins that are being excavated with the help of a professor from Modesto California no less.

A gate to the city

Amphitheater at night

Part of the amphitheater

Depiction of the amphitheater in all it’s glory

Roman excavation organized by a professor at Modesto California (Italian surname – local boy?)

We had arrived early and in addition to window shopping (which we both love) we visited the duomo. It is incredibly old and impressive with wooden beams on the ceiling that all have different designs on them. After marveling at the interior we walked along one of the main streets which was totally crowded with people. I thought that it was a demonstration or something but was just a normal evening passeggiata. We returned to sit on the steps on the rear of the church in the principal piazza of Teramo and dodged balls from the pickup soccer games from the young kids.

The front of the duomo

Part of the rafters of the duomo

The duomo – very old

The main piazza – as the evening dims the light two or three different groups of boys played soccer amidst pedestrian traffic

We also, naturally had lunch and found a place that was highly recommended. I’d say that the food was good although not outstanding but the prices were quite incredible and the portions were huge. We had been forewarned about portions and decided to split a pasta. When it arrived each portion was still large but the waiter assured us that this was all one order of pasta. Still we enjoyed the meal including a complementary small glass of what the waiter said was acqua (water) and in fact the label said “Acqua” but also said that it was 70% alcohol. It was surprisingly good for something so potent but I didn’t finish the glass – I still needed to walk.

Mauro’s place

The interior at Mauro’s

The happy well-fed couple

Giulianova is not a particularly famous or noteworthy town in Abruzzo. It is one of those beach resorts on the Adriatic to which people in the area (and even from Rome) flock to in the summer. There are two towns, the alta (high one) and the low one, also called the lido. So why did we spend a week there? This began a year ago when I rented a car and set out to explore the Adriatic coast. I met a family through an organization called Servas. They have a nice house in the Giulianova alta and also have an apartment that they bought some years ago in the lido just a block or so from the sea. The latter they bought primarily for the use of their kids so they wouldn’t continually have to schlep them to and from the beach all summer. Last year they let me stay there for a couple of days (you can see the post that I did by clicking here). I had some correspondence with Aurelia, the mom, during last year and she offered me the use of the apartment for a week in October rent free. I like Abruzzo and figured that it would be worth exploring the town and the surrounding area a bit so we took a train from Bologna to Giulianova. Aurelia met us at the station and the beach apartment is surprisingly close to the station – a good thing since the suitcase weighs a ton and is a bit unwieldy even on wheels.

We thoroughly explored Giulianova, at least as much as possible without a car, but that’s not that hard because it is not too big. We had a great dinner at Osteria Moro with the 9 course seafood antipasto and a frittura of little fish and frutti di mare. We arrived on a Friday and the next day to a half hour train ride to Teramo (the capital city of the province) where we met Aurelia and her husband Paolo at a great traditional Abruzzo restaurant for dinner (on us of course).

Fritto misto at Osteria Moro

Those strange critters again – mantis shrimp

One of the highlights of the trip was a little bar close to the apartment where we got to know the proprietory Jimi – at least a little bit. He’s an Albanian who came to Italy 18 years ago and purchased the bar “Bar dagli Amici” about 3 years ago which he operates most of the time alone but with a little help from his wife. He was very nice and generous and that’s one of those special memories that come about when traveling and one of those special treats that flow from having at least a reasonable command of the language.

Stairs to the upper (and older) town of Giulianova

Principle square at the upper town,

View of the “lido” of Giulianova

With Jimi and spouse at his bar.

I’m not much of a museum goer but the lovely K picked out a couple that seemed like my kind of places. They are not major visual art museums and probably are little touristed. Certainly when we went to them there were very few people. The first, the museum of the resistance, had half a dozen people other than us (all italians) and the industry museum had nobody else other than us. The museum of the resistance was very moving. Bologna was very resistant to the German occupation. There were photos giving the background showing propaganda against any resistance and urging people to not be traitors and to stand with il Duce (Mussolini). There were pages from newspapers noting the arrest and execution of resistance members, pictures of groups with small arms. Both men and women were participants. There were also a number of photos, some from the American military archives, of bombardments of Bologna (so sad!) and of the liberation of Bologna. Apparently the germans were routed by polish troops first prior to the triumphal entry into the city by American and British troops.

From American military archives. Welcoming American troops to Bologna

The other museum also really fascinating and well done. It had a lot of machines both modern and ancient used, and often invented by Bolognese. Probably the most spectacular was a half scale model of a complicated wooden contraption that spun silk thread. The model didn’t actually make the thread but did move around as if it were actually doing the job. Who would have guessed that Bologna was a major silk center for a couple of centuries before competition from France and advances in technology decimated the Bolognese silk industry.

Small model of silk threat manufacturing machine

1/2 scale “almost” working model of the silk machine