Best Of Archives - Page 9 of 15

Best Of Archives - Page 9 of 15 - Itch.world

A three-minute escape to Italy.

Tuscany, travel, medieval village, Italy, festivals, celebrations, customs, cooking, recipes, living in Italy, moving to Italy, visiting, visit, restaurants, language

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January 12, 2020 In Best Of, Roam By Nancy

Genoa: from prostitutes to palaces

Genoa, or Genova to the Italians, was once a big deal city although it is a bit of an afterthought today. Italy’s sixth-largest city, and a major EU port, Genova has been all about the sea since its founding in the sixth-century B.C. by Phoenician and Etruscan sailors. It was an important Roman port, and a crucial supplier of goods and transport for the crusades during the 12th century, making it one of the wealthiest and most powerful cities in the world. The striped Cathedral of San Lorenzo is a testament to Genova’s past glory.

Always vying for dominance with Venice and Pisa, it also was under the control of the French and the Austrians at various points. It feels a bit dark, looming, and watching for danger, which is probably partially due to its geography. It’s wedged in a narrow band of flat land between the sea and the Apennine mountains 19 miles long. Even coming from San Francisco the vertical nature of the town is intimidating. It’s partially built on hills that are disorientingly steep. In some buildings you enter on street level, climb up four stories of high-ceilinged palazzo splendor, and exit the backside of the same building, again on street level.

The port is highly industrial and the part that isn’t has been refurbished by native son Renzo Piano into what, to me, is a less interesting version of Pier 39. But across the busy road paralleling the port is one of the most memorable and evocative maze of pedestrian streets I’ve seen since the back alleys of Fez and Marrakech.

Because the topography offered little land to build on it is medieval high-density living. Even with Google Maps it’s easy to get lost in the narrow alleys which are framed by six and seven story medieval buildings casting the ground level in constant nighttime. A half block away from some of the trendiest boutiques prostitutes abound—it is, and always has been, a seaport after all. Because of the narrow streets the prostitution is a bit more up close and personal than what I’m used to seeing occasionally. I literally had to squeeze past a woman leading her client by the hand into a building when I walking by in the other direction.

Slightly above the medieval warren is a grand pedestrian street, Via Garibaldi, lined by huge palaces. Created in the 16th century it is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. These palazzos are now mostly museums with a few nice pieces including Paganini’s famous “Il Cannone” violin—and surprisingly, two of his guitars.

One of the things I liked about the city is that there are a lot of 20 and 30-somethings due to the spillover of economic growth from Milan. It has a youth energy that’s often missing in Italian cities.

We found a neighborhood wine bar in the historic section notable not for its wine or food but because it’s a warm gathering place. The wine is actually all pretty fresh off the vine and not yet in a bottle but in huge vats. One local, when asked by the bartender which wine she wanted replied “The 1€ one.”

They don’t serve any food until after six when a woman arrives with freshly-baked focaccia from a local bakery. Everyone applauded when she arrived. They serve the fresh focaccia with simple salumi and cheese and it was delicious.

We sat next to a charming, nearly toothless, ancient, bedraggled guy who was clearly a regular. He couldn’t stop petting Lola and told us at length about his dog. The rest of the crowd were 20-somethings and young families (with some awesome dogs) all of whom knew each other. Best of all was the bill. Complete dinner with two glasses of wine each, 16.50€. We then splurged and bought two unmarked bottles to take home for 3€. This charmer is called Mescite and I’d run back in a heartbeat.

Nearby on the Via Garibaldi there is a designer homeware store on the second floor of one of the palaces called Via Garibaldi 12. The architecture of the store itself is stunning, but in additional they have an eclectic and very fancy mix of furniture, tableware, and home accessories. When we were in with Lola their small dog was running around playing with her, along with a young grandson, and the owners didn’t seem the least bit concerned, even when everyone was running around the large, leather, one-of-a-kind sofa designed by Zaha Hadid (price upon request…) or the wall of hand blown glass vases—you can see both below.

We stayed at a central, but tired hotel, Hotel Bristol Palace. Room was huge and the hotel has a great central staircase, but it didn’t charm me. Next time I will stay at a hotel we found on our wanderings in the medieval sector, Palazzo Grillo.

It looks wonderful and it’s next to an enchanting church, Chiesa Santa Maria delle Vigne (the monks grew grapes in the cloister during the middle ages). When we passed the cloisters had been paved over and were being used as a soccer area for kids.

The pesto we had was wonderful, but with a distinctly different flavor and texture than pesto I’ve had elsewhere. It’s so emulsified that it’s creamier and less dark. To get the right texture you will clearly need one of these: A Pestobene. You gotta see this baby in action.

There’s a nice covered market, the Mercato Orientale. I’ve never been to a farmer’s market that sells white truffles before. Not to mention the stand specializing in tripe.

One of our favorite things was a walk along the sea to the small fishing village of Boccadasse (more in an earlier Itch article).

Don’t miss Il Profumo for gelato, which is not to be confused with the new official “logo fragrance” of Genova made by Euthalia and containing a mixture of basil, marjoram, thyme, bergamot, rosemary, coriander, and lavender. It was dispensed throughout the city in diffusers from Sept. 12 through the 13th of October of last year. Back to the gelato, Profumo was named the best gelato in Italy, according to the Italian food authorities at Gambero Rosso, and the owner/maker is a delight.

December 28, 2019 In Best Of, Roam By Nancy

Venice to Vienna on the Nightjet: what the NYTimes got wrong

I’m shockingly on trend this week having traveled from Venice to Vienna on the Nightjet, an overnight train service offered by the Austrian railway ÖBB, three days before the New York Times wrote an article about the same route and train. (ÖBB’s PR department has been working overtime — their sleeper train also popped up in a Bloomberg article.) The NYTimes article featured bright-eyed travelers arriving in Venice in the morning after their all-night journey feeling rested and refreshed. I would have liked to meet those people.

I have a bit of a thing about overnight trains which has deepened with the Greta-induced “flight shaming” trend. My journeys have ranged from the sitting upright on a night train across Spain in a compartment filled with soldiers (Eurail pass days) to a rather lovely single room with a bed and bath on a night train from Vienna to Paris years ago. I was looking forward to sharing a sleeper train experience with Donella and Sebastian.

When John was out of town — he’s less than enthusiastic about the overnight train concept — I got the idea that the kids and I, plus Lola the dog, would take a pre-holiday jaunt to Vienna to look at Christmas markets and take the Nightjet. Venice to Vienna sounded nicely alliterative so we packed up the car, drove to Venice, had dinner in one of our favorite places (a Jewish restaurant called Gam Gam), and boarded the Nightjet which leaves at 9:10. We were ready for adventure.

I’d booked a cabin for three people, but it would have been tight for one. The three of us stood in the corridor for a few minutes trying to figure out how we could physically fit in the space with our one small suitcase each and the dog. One at a time we squeezed in sideways between the sink and the ladder, passing bags over our heads, and scrambled to our bunks. The three couchette-type beds were set up one over the other. Sebastian took the top, which was really high up and needed a ladder to access. This gave him a bit of room to stash stuff over the top of the sink cabinet as well as a spot to stretch his legs. I took the middle, which also needed a ladder to get to, and Donella and Lola took the bottom. There wasn’t enough room to sit upright in the bunks so all of us assumed semi-prone positions as we negotiated over the order in which we’d get our stuff and use the sink in our cabin.

The bunks did come with sheets, a little duvet, and the thinnest and smallest pillow I’ve ever seen. And there was a breakfast menu to fill out with choices of bread, cheese, ham, yogurt, and a few other options.

We finally turned out the lights to settle in. But after five minutes they turned back on by themselves for about an hour until the staff could figure out the problem. Darkness came and we finally rolled over to go to sleep. At least some of us did. Our neighbors on both sides were very talkative and we could hear every word through the thin walls. They finally quieted down. And then around two in the morning the lights came back on by themselves.

Seemed like the higher the elevation of the bunk the sounder the sleep. Despite everything Sebastian went right to sleep and woke up the next morning rested. On the bottom Donella and Lola spent the whole night sleepless. Lola seemed to share John’s security concerns despite the fact that our door had a hotel-style key and several locks, and she was wide awake guarding the pack. Donella heroically prevented her from disturbing anyone else. I was literally, and experientially, somewhere in the middle.

They pick a slow route for night trains so that the times are more convenient, leaving at 9pm and getting in Vienna around 8am, so there was plenty of time to relax and sleep. (The Caledonian Sleeper from London, which I’ve also taken, even pulls to a side track and stops for several hours a night to avoid arriving in Edinburgh in the wee hours of the morning.)

John joined us a day later in Vienna from the States and we all returned to Venice on Christmas Eve taking ÖBB’s daytime express train which was a seven and a half hour trip.

Pros and cons? If I were to do it over again I’d book more cabins — three in one cabin was too many and it would be nice not to have the middle bunk — if they were available. I’d put essentials in an easier to get to place than my suitcase, which was almost impossible to access in such a tiny space. I’d bring my own pillow and much better ear plugs than the ones they provided. And I’d probably not bring Lola. Bottom line? Mid-range cabin sleeper trains are still a bit rough.

I enjoyed the speedy day train on the return more because the scenery in Austria was gorgeous which we missed on the sleeper train. We’d also provisioned an epic picnic in Vienna which made the middle of the trip really nurturing.

But despite all the downsides there is still something romantic and alluring about a night train. Even had a crazy idea of going from Finland to Sicily by sleeper train. But I think I’d have to get fresh traveling companions.

December 8, 2019 In Best Of, Live By Nancy

Postcard from a lunch in the woods

I’m at the Antica Farmacia dei Monaci Camaldolesi and it is lunchtime and I am hungry. I have just driven through miles of lonely, misty forest to get to the monastery and I’m surprised to see a restaurant opposite that’s open. I cross a little bridge over a rushing stream in a gorge in the forest and go in. I am the only person there and am shown to a table near a small wood burning stove.

The menu features lots of wild boar, freshly made focaccia, and sausages cooked over a fire. I order and another woman comes in wearing a forestry uniform and packing a gun. The owner follows her to the table carrying a large, freshly peeled carrot on a plate and puts in in front of her as soon as she sits. She quickly eats the carrot. The owner than asks her how the health routine is going and if she’d like her usual salad for lunch. With cheese. And her usual quarter litre of white wine. She agrees.

Two men enter, both dressed in a similar uniform, and also carrying guns. They look over at the woman, and she looks back at them, and the most restrained greeting I’ve ever seen in Italy is exchanged. They are then seated at the other side of the otherwise empty restaurant.

She leaves soon after. I wonder what the real story is. I think of how lonely it would be to work with people in the middle of nowhere that you wouldn’t want to have lunch with.

December 8, 2019 In Best Of, Roam By Nancy

Gift inspirations: potions and lotions from monks

Last week I made the trek up into the mountains to the Monastery of Camaldoli to buy gifts at the Antica Farmacia dei Monaci Camaldolesi, or the Ancient Pharmacy of the Monks. Usually “ancient” can be a bit of an exaggeration but I think its use is justified in this case as they have been making healing medicine at this place since May 1048. A couple of monks, Guido and Pietro, rented some land (in perpetuity) located right outside the monastery to raise herbs for healing treatments for the newly established pilgrim hospital. The monks have been at it ever since. And they have quite the collections of books of botany and herbal recipes from over the years.

This place feels like it is on another planet. I visited once before for Itch (and wrote about the funny coincidence of this monastery having satellites in Big Sur and Berkeley) and both times I have visited it has been very misty and mysterious.

The monastery and the hermitage, which is a few miles further up the hill and deeper into the woods, are located in the Casentino Forest, one of the largest forested tracks in Europe famous for deer, wild boar, and wolves. The sounds of rushing water are everywhere and the smell of pine and clean air wonderful.

The products I’ve tried have been really good — from the kinda-life-changing foot cream to the teas to the soaps — and I love what they make because of the history, but also because I am becoming more and more aware of the thin thread by which so much of Italian “maker” heritage hangs. The artisans and small businesses creating so much of what Italy is known for are finding it harder to thrive, or to exist at all, in the face of global competition and the relentless drive towards lower prices (and quality). I love supporting this kind of enterprise, where things are still made locally, and not in a huge factory overseas and then a label slapped on.

The Farmacia ships worldwide, and has a 10% discount available on checkout. I found their US shipping prices a bit high so also found another site with lower shipping rates to the US, but not as full a range of Camaldoli products.

A couple of products I have that would make lovely presents or stocking stuffers:

— The Foot Cream. Visitors to the house roll their eyes when I insist that they try this before bed. And then they steal mine. Get your own.

— Herbal Tisane Tea. I am sipping on #3 at the moment, which is a delicious mix of chamomile, lemon balm, and other mysterious things. It’s soothing but not boring.

— Shampoos. I’ve tried a variety of these and liked them all.

They offer a range of other products I want to try from toothpaste to arnica gel to honey to colognes, an increasing amount organic. I love the packaging and labels as well.

December 1, 2019 In Best Of, Roam By Nancy

Genoa sneak peek: Boccadasse

It’s always a bit of a challenge to figure out the appropriate thing to do for Thanksgiving when living outside the US. Since it is kind of a non-event for everyone around us (and clients are otherwise occupied) John and I decided to a road trip and explore Genoa (Genova) for a couple of days. Complicated, surprising, unexpected place and a fuller report coming soon to Itch.

I wanted to give you a sneak peek from a morning walk we did along the Corso Italia which leads from central Genoa along the coast. After about an hour of walking we passed by a small fishing village called Boccadasse where we had coffee and focaccia and watched the surprisingly large waves crash right next to us. Wanted to share the moment.

December 1, 2019 In Best Of, Roam By Nancy

Holiday gift inspirations: wearable history

As I described in a previous Itch, my saga to find an antique Roman coin ring has been achieved after many years of searching. But when I was thinking of special things I could share with you that would make great gifts, and easily ship outside of Italy, I decided to go back to the ring’s source and ask the owner what items he has at the moment that he particularly loves—it varies all the time as all pieces are one of a kind. The small store Serra, in Rome, mainly has beautiful china, silver, and crystal, but Alessandro (the fourth generation of the family to have the store) has a passion for history and antique coins and intaglio which he makes into jewelry. He speaks excellent English, can tell you the history of everything he sells, and the authenticity is guaranteed. And he is kindly offering Itch readers a 10% discount.

Something I learned from Alessandro while researching this article is that that making jewelry from coins and intaglio is far more ancient than I’d realized. As Alessandro wrote:

“The custom of encrusting coins to create jewelry is extremely ancient; its origins are to be found in the Greek world and the most widespread was in Rome between the first and third centuries AD. The Romans attributed a talismanic and amuletic power to the jewels thus made, giving the coin a much more complex task than that for which it was minted. Glyptics, or intaglio, are the “minute but not lesser” art of engraving precious and semi-precious stones (but also glass pastes). In Roman times they were widely used for rings, for men or women, necklaces, bracelets and earrings. The engraved stones were worked by skilled engravers — the themes of the figures were chosen by the customers or left to the aesthetic sense of the artist. Almost always the choice was of mythological or allegorical subjects. Still today there is a flourishing market of these ancient stones, which over time have been found because they were often removed and thrown away by those seeking only gold and silver, as by the Barbarians in the days of the invasions.”

Here are a few of Alessandro’s favorite things in the store at the moment. He, of course, has a much wider variety available. To purchase you can contact Alessandro directly at info@serra-roma.it. (I am passing this along because I love this jewelry … no commission.)

Silver ring with a Roman coin of a Gorgon DRACHM – NEAPOLIS (411-348 B.C.). Because of their legendary and powerful gaze that could turn one to stone, images of the Gorgons were put upon objects and buildings for protection. Reverse is Artemis. She was the Hellenic goddess of the hunt, wild animals, wilderness, childbirth, virginity and protector of young girls, bringing and relieving disease in women; she often was depicted as a huntress carrying a bow and arrows. € 670,00 + € 50,00 shipping with insurance (and don’t forget to ask for the 10% discount.)

Gilded silver earrings with original Roman coins depicting Julia Mamea and Emperor Septimius Severus. -Coin 1: Denarius_Front: IVLIA MAMAEA, draped and diademated bust right. JVLIA MAMAEA (180-235 AC). She was the nephew of the emperor Septimius Severus—guy on on the other coin. -Coin 2: Denarius_Front: SEVERVS PIVS AVG. Head right. LVCIVS SEPTIMIVS SEVERVS ( 193-211 A.D.). Born in A.D. 146 at Leptis Magna in Africa, Severus was a soldier of outstanding ability, holding a series of increasingly important commands until, at the death of Commodus, he was governor of Upper Pannonia. Severus was saluted as emperor by the troops at Carnantum. He spent much of his reign in campaigning in different parts of the Empire and also visiting many of the provinces. He died at York on February 4th, A.D. 211. € 890,00 + € 50 shipping with insurance (before 10% Itch discount.)

Gold ring with a Roman intaglio (Ist century A.D. – engraved cornelian) depicting two winged Nike facing each other. Nike is the goddess of strength, speed and victory. €2.550,00 + €50 shipping including insurance (before 10% Itch discount.)

Silver and leather bracelet with original Roman coin depicting Apollo. Denarius_ Front: Laureated head of Apollo. PANSA behind. Apollo is the symbol of male beauty, god of music, art, knowledge, illness resolution, archery and the sun. He is always depicted as a beautiful man with the perfect body form. Rear: C. VIBIUS C. Minerva who leads a quadriga at a gallop. Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare and the sponsor of arts and trade. € 590,00 + € 50,00 shipping with insurance. (Before 10% discount.)

November 24, 2019 In Best Of, Live By Nancy

Holiday gift inspirations from Italy: Busatti

The love affair started started when Sebastian, then age eight, shot his Nerf gun through a window at a bride-to-be preparing for her wedding day. He managed to hit Anna-Sophie in the head with a foam bullet while she was doing her hair and got one of the best dirty looks in history. The first meeting was not promising.

We had moved to Tuscany that day and into a house in the countryside for a few weeks, so that the kids could start school, until our ten-month rental in town became available.

It was the same day that the son of the family who rented us the house, Livio, was marrying a lovely woman from Germany, Anna-Sophie, who was staying with her family in the house next door. The groom’s father explained away the Nerf incident by attributing it to the DNA of my husband, John, who he believed to be a part of the US Special Forces (for those who know John this is laughable) rather than the barbaric nature of eight-year old boys. How this very funny case of mistaken identity occurred we are still not sure even seven years later.

Despite the first encounter we all became fast friends and Anna-Sophie agreed to show Sebastian the Italian ropes for the first year or so, a curriculum much helped by liberal applications of Coca Cola, almost daily lunches with the extended family, and Angry Birds games every day after school at the local cafe during “study” sessions.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that Livio is the sixth generation of a family who makes some of the highest quality, and best designed textiles in the world, called Busatti. They have stores worldwide, and are represented in high-end stores (dog whistle here) like ABC, Aero Studios, and John Derian in New York, Diptyque in Paris, Sue Fisher King in San Francisco, and Neiman Marcus.

Busatti started (in the same building as the current headquarters) in 1755 as a bit of a catch-all mercantile that shifted to cloth production in 1797 when soldiers from Napoleon’s army moved into the top floors of the store and brought an enormous, steam-driven loom to make wool into uniforms and blankets which was installed in the basement. By 1799 the Busatti family had taken back control of their store and the weaving equipment which the army left behind—it’s massive. The machines still crank away in the basement, although now driven by electricity rather than steam.

After the equipment sat dormant for several decades Mario Busatti added eight wooden looms, a warping machine, and a staff of ten in 1842 . They’ve been at it ever since.

I love that Busatti products are a perfect mix of tradition, still largely produced on punch card driven looms, and innovative designs under the capable leadership of Livio and his brother Stefano. I go in frequently to get seasonal inspiration because there is always something new to see. Plus they will special order anything you can imagine—bedding and table linens to any dimension, color, etc.

But let me cut to the chase. I can recommend some things that would make great gifts and they ship worldwide. Best of all, Anna-Sophie and Livio are giving a special discount of 20% to Itch readers through the holiday season. Make sure to click on this link to get the discount.

Here are my three favorite things from Busatti for gifts—although your discount covers anything on the site.

I have many of these wonderful stripey dish/tea towels and they give me pleasure every time I use them.

They are 60% linen and 40% cotton, come in a wide range of colors, you can get them plain or with embroidery, and they wash beautifully because they are thread-dyed so they don’t fade. (They call this weave Melograno.) I also love the weave called Due Fragole which also comes in a wide range of beautiful colors.

About a year ago I splurged and bought a linen robe which makes me happy every morning. Mine is in this beautiful not-too-light blue and washes well—I line dry and don’t iron and it’s soft and for me, nicely wrinkled.

But the slate gray robe is also jaw-dropping to me (and several friends who have succumbed.)

Busatti has just launched Mario the Blanket in honor of Mario Busatti. I haven’t purchased it yet, but really want one. It’s not quite large enough for a bed, but would be fantastic to cuddle up with on a sofa. It’s made of an interesting mix of cotton, wool, and seaweed fibers, which are supposed to have potent antioxidant properties and looks and feels lovely.

To shop, make sure you enter through shop.busatti.com/discount/ITCH20 to get the 20% discount. They ship to the outside Italy using UPS at reasonable rates and you will be supporting a fantastic family business as well as giving a lovely gift.

(Thanks to Busatti for the wonderful photos, which are all their copyright with the exception of the video and wrinkly robe photo, which are mine.)

November 10, 2019 In Best Of, Live By Nancy

Happily Ever After

I was very excited to hear the news that Carlo and Armando got married — the first same sex marriage in the 1,000 history of the village. I have been impressed by the support and openness the village has shown the gay couples who have chosen to live here but the majority have been from America or other parts of Europe. Carlo was born and bred here and I wanted to find out how a tiny Tuscan village with a largely older population feels about one of their own taking a less traditional path, so I invited Carlo for a coffee.

When I say born and bred here I am not exaggerating. Carlo actually sleeps in the same bed he was born in, in the same room, in the same house. In his teens and early twenties he dated a girl for about six years but slowly realized that his sexuality was taking him in a different direction. He moved to the US for several years, Rome after that, and also lived in Arezzo, but the whole time life in his village was calling him back. He returned in his 40s to live in the house with his mother and would go out on weekends to clubs that were gay-friendly as far away as Rome or Florence.

One evening eighteen years ago he met Armando and they have been together ever since. He and Armando started spending weekends together as Armando had a cabin the the country and both were living at home at the time. One day Carlo’s mother said “Why are you always packing your bags and going away for the weekend? If you have someone in your life I want to meet her.” Carlo admitted to being deeply in love, but with a man. Without missing a beat his mother said to bring him over for dinner so she could see what kind of a person he was. Carlo still remembers the tension of the evening, but at the end his mother was nearly as in love with Armando as he was.

Armando’s parents both died as all this was going on, and Carlo’s father had died a few years previously, so both decided to move into Carlo’s birth home with his mother. Carlo remembers how close and welcoming his mother was from the start, treating Armando like another son. All of them would even go on vacations together. When she got sick with cancer both of them took care of her during the four-year course of the disease until she passed away.

The official coming out of the couple was equally supported by the village. Carlo said that he never constructed his identity around being gay, but just who he was, loving who he loved. He said that the village treated him the same before and after Armando was on the scene, and Armando was quickly accepted by everyone as being a lovely addition to the community.

Carlo and Armando had talked about getting married for the last few years and finally, rather spur of the moment, decided to do it. (Partially because the political climate here in Italy —as in so many other places — is always on the verge of shifting more extremely to the right and they wanted to take advantage of having this right to marry.) They didn’t send out any formal invitations but there was a notice posted, as for all things official, at the comune, or City Hall. There was a huge outpouring of support and enthusiasm as the word spread and over 100 people came from far and wide to help them celebrate. The outpouring on social media was equally impressive.

After 1,000 years some things were ripe for change. And I can’t imagine a more deserving couple to initiate it.

November 3, 2019 In Best Of, Live By Nancy

Halloween in Italy

My Halloween week started with a really disturbing dream involving the reappearance of my Mom who passed away three years ago. I don’t want to go into any details but in my dream she was decidedly, very certainly, unmistakably dead. And I was not pleased to have her visiting me in that state.

I was telling a friend about the dream who it turns out believes that this time of year, exactly around Halloween, is when the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest, and that this has been known and celebrated around the world since pagan times. The Celtic Druids marked the midway point between the Fall Equinox and the Winter Solstice with their celebration, Samhain, that is an early forebear of Halloween. It coincided (at that time in history) with the Pleiades star cluster culminating at midnight, which is somehow very relevant. The spirits of the dead were thought to be the most restless and present to the living world on this special night and needed to be shepherded back to the land of rest.

This rumbling in my subconscious caused me to look at Halloween in a different light. I’ve always heard about Day of the Dead celebrations but before moving to Italy had never lived in a culture where this aspect accompanies, and overshadows, Halloween. When we first arrived seven years ago Halloween was barely a blip on the local scene. I was really worried that Sebastian would nix our move as this was the first holiday he’d celebrate in Italy, so his then eight-year old self and I dressed up in some pieced-together costumes, me carrying an arsenal of nerf-guns and armed with a supply of American Halloween candy, and set out in the mist to the deserted square to trick or treat. We were told to stick to the stores. Most shopkeepers were mystified about what we were up to but glad to receive a dolcetto Americano, an exotic treat called a miniature Snickers bar, in a kind of reverse exchange. All good-naturedly contributed something. Our favorite “treat” was a sausage from the butcher. I will never forget Sebastian’s face when the butcher handed it to him over the counter.

Much has changed in seven years. Now you commonly see carved pumpkins, there are a few activities for kids, and there’s a general festive atmosphere in towns and villages. The next major town has a Halloween disco. The grocery store features a small selection of kids’ costumes. But it’s not the big event.

The main focus is November 1st, All Saints Day, and November 2nd, the more inclusive All Souls Day, both of which are full-on holidays with most businesses closed. All the action happens at the cemeteries. Right before the holidays cars are double parked around every local cemetery (even the smallest hamlet has one) so that families can come and decorate the graves with new fake flowers, battery-operated candles, photos, and small ceramic figurines of angels and the like. (Many graves touchingly come in pairs of husbands and wives.) The supermarket display of plastic and fresh flowers dwarfs the section of costumes, and tents selling flowers are set up around the cemeteries. Traffic around our nearby cemetery is routed in a one-way direction to prevent collisions. Inside the walls of the cemetery it is a cheery, convivial scene with crowds of people of all ages talking and laughing and tending the graves. I wrote about the Italian approach to death, cemeteries, and recycling graves in last year’s Itch.

The very spiffy graves after much work by the families.

It’s a revelation for me to see the trivialized American Halloween tradition reunited with its more ancient and profound roots about death and those who have passed beyond our worlds.

It has even started to make me question my plan for eventual cremation and wondering if it wouldn’t be nice to have a little niche, right beside John, with a photo and plastic flowers and perhaps a clay figurine of Lola. That way if I do wander into the butcher, in a less than fleshy form, demanding a sausage on the night of October 31st, I will know my way back home on November 1st.

November 3, 2019 In Best Of, Roam By Nancy

Terme di Saturnia

It seems that at least once a week on social media I am seeing a photo of the rather otherworldly Terme di Saturnia. I wanted to see what it was really like and went during the fantastic Itch getaway to Sorano.

Just to get this out of the way, it is truly beautiful. This cascade, the Cascate del Mulino, is part of a large complex of hot springs. Hot, sulphurous water (99.5 degrees) is warmed by the volcano underneath and gushes from the earth at 800 liters per second, coursing down the hill into these perfect little pools. It’s free, unfenced, and always accessible.

The downside is that you do have to come prepared. There’s nowhere to change but in your car, the pools and parking can get really crowded, water shoes are a good idea as the rocks get very slippery, and there are minimal food and facilities available, so it’s all very do it yourself.

We were wimps and came and explored around the pools and then headed further towards the source to the Spa and Golf Resort Terme di Saturnia to “take the waters.” I find the thermal spa culture in Italy fascinating and was eager to compare this to my prior experience at the Terme San Giovanni, among others. People of all ages and body shapes come, very intently going back and forth between linked swimming pools of different temperatures and scooping of handfuls of white sulphur and other minerals from the bottom of the pools to slather all over their bodies. Robes and slippers around the pools are a must. The Terme di Saturnia has just moved to a “Wellness Wears White” slogan (yeah, I know) and new policy dictating that all robes and towels have to be white (which they provide for an extra fee if you don’t bring your own). It’s a very, very Italian crowd and was a fantastic afternoon.