Dreaming In Italian

I’m chalking this up to bad luck. It seems a bit churlish to compare the visit of Papa Francesco to the sciopero (strike) of transportation workers in Torino but the effect is the same. The security measures threw the city (at least as it affected me) into chaos for two days. Many of the buses were rerouted. The major street that gave me access to the city center (via Saragozza) was closed as of 2 PM on Saturday to all traffic until Sunday night. The pope came in for a whirlwind tour on Sunday.

The security measure were quite substantial. A large number of streets were totally closed to traffic of any sort, including bicycles along the routes that he took. All parking was totally forbidden and any parked vehicles were towed. They removed all of the dumpsters that usually are along the streets as well as the trash-cans. After all you don’t need a very large container to hide a bomb. There were 20 special city buses used to move people to the stadium as well as added trains to transport people to and from the city. There were police, carabiniere and military in evidence. Even the firefighter were pressed into service as part of the security team as well as bunch of volunteers. In all the local paper said that there were over 600 police of one sort or another as well as over 1000 volunteers. On Saturday I went to the center to look around a bit before the Sunday arrival of Il Papa.

You have been warned – forced removal if parked within 50 meters

The normal Via Saragozza with dumpsters, cars and scooters parked there.

Via Saragozza ready for the pope.

Side streets free of cars for 50 meters.

Bidone (trash cans) removed from their stands along the street.

The normal arrangement – trashcan (bidone) below and ashtray (portacenere) above.

He had a full schedule. He arrived by helicopter at 10:30 on Sunday morning. He then met with immigrants housed nearby. Then went to the center of the city, Piazza Maggiore, where he recited “the Angelus” a catholic prayer before 5000 people in this magnificent piazza. Then there was a lunch for 1000 needy persons, selected by the church officials ,in San Petronio, the very large basilica in the very center of the city. Then onto the Cathedral of San Pietro (the duomo of the city) to meet with clerics of various sorts, and later to yet another church where he welcomed university students. Finally he left there and went to the soccer stadium to celebrate mass with 45 thousand before heading back to his helicopter. A pope needs a lot of stamina.

Lunch preparations inside the Basilica of San Petronio for 1000 of the needy with the pope on Sunday.

The media is ready to cover everything live.

On Sunday I made my way to the center. Not easy since most buses were either not running at all due to street closures or taking routes far out of my way. So I walked to the end of Saragozza ( about a kilometer) then took a bus to Porta Santo Stefano. That street was totally closed to buses so I walked to Piazza Maggiore (1.6 kilometers) – which was closed to those who had not obtained a ticket. So to return home, I took the same route so I walked over 5 km – about 3.2 miles – whew!

Line of security vehicles near the very center of town after the pope had already arrived. He was at that time inside San Petronio having lunch.

Another street closed near the center.

After returning I waited along Saragozza with lots of others for the pope to pass there on his way to the stadium.

People lined up in both directions.

Probably mostly people, like me, who live nearby.

And finally, here comes the pope!

Arriva Il Papa!

It’s been 20 years since the last papal visit and I think that a lot of the residents are hoping that it will be another 20 years before the next one. Still it was quite an event for the city. Despite it all, I like this pope and wish him well. He is clearly working hard to modernize the church which is very difficult for a huge and generally conservative institution with an almost 2000 year history.

When I went to Torino, I had decided to travel to Aosta. I had never been to that part of the county and was curious so see what it was like. It’s near the border of France in the midst of mountains. It’s not far from Mont Blanc in France – looks like about 15 miles (line of sight) and maybe 25 miles from the Matterhorn in Switzerland. There’s really another reason that this city came to mind. I’ve been reading books by Antonio Manzini. They are mysteries, the kind that I usually read when reading Italian. The protagonist is Rocco Schiavone, a police detective transferred there from his beloved Rome after stepping on the toes of some big shot. So anyway I took the train from Torino with a change in Ivrea and it took a total of two hours each way. A pretty easy trip at a cost of only 10 euros each way.

The marker is the location of Aosta

The region of  Valle d’Aosta (equivalent to a “state” in the U.S.) is one of a few “autonomous” regions with special internal administrative rights. It’s  also the smallest and least populated region and has two official languages – french and italian. So a lot of the signs there are in both languages although italian is the most commonly used language in conversation.

There’s a lot of evidence of the Roman presence there since it was conquered by the Romans in about 25 BC. Those guys certainly got around. Why they were that interested in this part of the country which is mountainous and pretty cold in the winter is beyond me. Still it’s certainly a pretty place and lots of chain stores clearly indicated that it is highly touristed. I saw lots of French and Italian tourists and of course at least this one American.

So I had a good time walking around taking picture and had an excellent (and expensive) meal of traditional food of the area before heading back to Torino.

The central piazza in Aosta. The first significant sight after walking from the train station.

The cathedral – built in 11th century with a new facade in the 19th.

Yes there are lots of mountains nearby

The Praetorian Gate – built in about 25 B.C. Look at the size of those blocks! Those Romans built things to last!

Arch of Augustus. Also said to be built in about 25 BC.  if true those Romans were busy rascals.

Roman walls around the original town are largely intact.

Roman amphitheater could house up to 4000 spectators.

The antipasto – meats. cheeses and preserved chestnuts.

Main course – polenta with venison. Hearty food for a cold climate

I had been to Turin a couple of times in the past. The last time was 3 or 4 years ago when I went to visit my friend Massimiliano. So I thought that it was a good time to get together again. So I took a high speed train (.Italo) from Bologna – which takes only 2 hours traveling at speeds up to 180 mph.

I had rented a cheapo AirBnB not too far where Max lives but far from the center. While the price was right it turned out to not be such a great choice since it took generally at least 30 minute by bus to arrive at the historic center which is much more interesting than where I was staying. After arriving on Friday evening I took the subway to the stop at the end of the line and as I was exiting the subway there was a sign. It said that the next day, Saturday, there would be a sciopero (strike) by transit workers. The way this usually works in Italy is that the strike is only for part of the day (thank goodness). So the strike started at 9:00 AM and lasted for 3 hours, then the bus/tram/subway service was to resume at 12:00 for 3 hours and then shut down again. What a pain!

So the next morning I got up early enough to take a bus to the center and I went to the Museum of Cinema in, of course, the historic center. It is housed in what seems a strange building called “Il Mole” which is a major symbol of the city.

Il Mole

Usually I can only tolerate an hour or may a bit more in a museum before everything seems to look the same but this time I was in the museum for an amazing 4 hours. It started with very primitive attempts to provide images (other than paintings) and progressed to projectors, mechanical means of showing motion and finally to film itself. Included were a lot of film clips from various movies and also those showing the process of making the movies – think of lights, some sort of crane that moves the camera along with cameraman, sound stage construction, etc. There are script writers, costumers, composers and musicians – the list goes on. I really had never quite realized how complicated the movie making business is.

Early projectors

Series of images to form a VERY brief moving image

Not a lot of faith in film at first

Movie projectors – a lot of progress here

There was a special exhibit of animals in movies. The real ones and fake ones. There were film clips of the animals in actual movies as well as films of animals with their trainers. I was especially taken with one of  a trainer with an enormous bear that acted almost like a big dog who liked to have his ears scratched.

A sign for the special exhibit

Fake animals

Animatronic sea turtle

There is this great room where there are lounges in front of big screens. There’s also an elevator that goes from the ground floor to the top of the building for a grand panoramic view of the city.

The lounges and screens – note the big bear with his trainer on the left.

View of the museum exhibits surrounding the big central room – note the elevator descending.

The ceiling with the elevator ascending.

There are also a few permanent and sometime humorous exhibits.

Entrance to one exhibit

Inside the above exhibit

I had wanted to take Massimiliano and his wife out to a nice dinner of Piedmont cuisine on Saturday and asked him to make reservations. A couple of days before I arrived he sent me a message that there was a problem. Torino has to soccer teams, Juventus and Torino. When a city has more than one team it seems that they play each other one a year and this is called a “derby”. A new (and relatively useless) word for me. In any case Max is a HUGE fan of Juventus and it would be sin to miss watching the game. So we had pizza and beer at his house and watched Juventus (on of the best teams in the country) crush Torino.

The day I left I had some time to kill so I went into the city to look around and see the Royal Palace. Originally built in the 16th century it was was seat of the House of Savoy. So there is a lot of history there and since Italy had a king until 1946, he resided there after the unification of Italy in the 19th century. It is now a museum and like almost all of the museums in Torino was unfortunately closed on Mondays.

The Royal Palace

I’ve been here almost a month and yet to write a post. So maybe I’ll make up for lost time.

First up- the Germans in the church. A tour guide that I know mentioned one evening that since she also spoke German she was going to be busy the next day. 300 Germans were to arrive from Rome in a fleet of tour buses and after a walking tour around the center of the city, at 3 PM (insert joke about German precision here) would all go to the biggest basilica in the city – San Petronio and sing. So I went and indeed they did. There are more behind me so there were certainly at least 300. It turns out that September 8th is thought to be the birthday of the virgin Mary.

300 germans singing in San Petronio

I had seen this restaurant at a piazza where I often change buses and Paolo suggested that we go to dinner there. The tree is considered the oldest one in the city and makes for a great dining environment when the weather is nice.

Dining under a 400 year old plane tree (sycamore family) at Osteria Bartolini

So what do you do when you need to repair a street in the historic center of a medieval city? Do you just throw down some asphalt as we would do in the states. Well, that’s kind a mute point since we don’t have any cities even close to that old. Here you save the cobblestones and put them back down. A lot of work but it maintains the look of the city. It’s worth it.

Repairing a street in Bologna – via Saragozza

A lot done – still more to do.

When I’m in the center and want a cheap satisfying lunch I walk to the Due Torri – so named because it’s right across the street from those towers – duh. Good and cheap – stand or sit on the edge of the sidewalk.

Pizzeria Due Torri

Takeout only – mostly by the slice

2 euro for the slice and one for the water – good cheap lunch

Destroyed moka

So I started some coffee then decided to make a quick trip to bathroom. Starting back I noticed my phone in the bedroom. Ah, that’s where I left it. Someone sent me a message so I need to respond. Oh yes, I search for some info and include a link in the message, etc, etc. So after 1/2 hour I walked back and found the kitchen full of smoke. Oh, well, it can be replaced with a new one for less than 10 euros. I related the story to a conversation partner at the library and she said, yes, she’s done that a couple of times.

More posts to come soon.