St. John the Baptist Day

Today is Florence's most important holiday which celebrates their Patron Saint, San Giovanni Battista (St. John the Baptist).  The day is filled with celebrations all over town including a parade (in period costume), regatta races, a city marathon, historical soccer championship (more about this in the next blog), and a big fireworks display over the river.  Florence's patron saint, or protector, was originally the God Marte, but when the city was transformed to Christianity around the 6th century, it became St. John.  Like most things in Italy, the festival has been around for a while.  About 800 years give or take.  Anyway, here are a few pictures I took from the Ponte (bridge) Santa Trinita which is about a block down from our apartment.  You can see the Ponte Vecchio (subject of another future post) in the foreground.

The Leaning Tower and more.

The last stop before we returned to Florence was its rival down river, Pisa.  One of the most recognizable sites in all of Italy proved to be a real kid pleaser.  We spent a few hours just lounging on the perfectly manicured lawns of the Campo Dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) that includes the Duomo, Bell Tower (Leaning Tower), Bapistery (largest in Italy), and Camposanto Cemetery.  After a quick break back at the hotel, it was time for Luminaria.  We happen to catch Pisa on the eve of the festival celebrating their patron saint, San Ranieri.  Each city in Italy seems to celebrate their own patron saint with a huge festival, in fact we'll catch Florence's version next week.  This festival dates back to 1688 and turns Pisa into a fairy tale setting.  Every building along the river receives a framework to highlight its architectural details that is then loaded with small candles.  Then at 9pm they light over 70,000 candles creating a beautiful scene.  The only problem was, it felt like everyone in Italy had come, as we tried to make our way down the street.  After a quick gelato stop it was time for the fireworks.  The kids going to bed at or after midnight sure seems like a regular thing these days, but that’s Italian!

This last photo is taken in front of the Universita di Pisa (University of Pisa).  It is one of the oldest in Europe running continuously since 1343, although it's law department has roots back to the 11th century.  One of it's more famous (and controversial) professors was Galileo Galilei, while more recently Andrea Bocelli the singer was a graduate.  The statue in front is our old friend Cosimo from Florence.

The Cinque Terre

Oh my! The Cinque Terre (5 lands) is hard to describe. It is so amazingly beautiful and quaint you can’t stand it. No museums in sight; just sun, sea, sand, and five tiny villages clinging to the cliffs. Tourism is the main industry today, but you’ll find no cars (the train connects the villages) and no building is allowed, so other than a fresh coat of paint it should always look the same. We’re told that in the summer it gets very crowded, so we felt fortunate to find the crowds small. It was especially quiet at night when all the day-trippers headed home. While we did a little hiking, most of the trails connecting the villages are a bit too strenuous for the kids. Our apartment was located on the main street (aka the only street) in Vernazza. We shared an entrance with one of the local fisherman and his dog Toby. Thus our porch was full of nets, poles, and buoys. Around 9am he would return with his catch of the day, usually made up of various fish, clams, octopus and lobster. At dinner Ella gravitated to the octopus, Cole to the clams and mussels, while Mia stuck with her pasta. (She did try everything though.) A small church, beach and castle (to watch for marauding pirates until around 1400) encircled our small harbor while the steep slopes were filled with vineyards. That's about all I can say as the photos speak for themselves, and I took plenty of them.

Vernazza Harbor.
Vernazza from the top of the castle. Notice the sea on the right and left.



Angie and Cole on the front porch.
The next three photos are looking down on Vernazza.


RiomaggioreA unique flower we found on the cliffs of Riomaggiore.
The water taxi loading outside Riomaggiore. You can see the hiking trail in the background and foreground along the cliffs.
A couple of shots of Manarola.

Vernazza harbor with the moon shining bright.
Vernazza through the church window.
The Cinque Terre area is one of the oldest grape growing regions in Europe. And because of the very steep slopes, farmers use these little carnival rides to help gather the grapes. These roller coasters snake all along the cliffs at strategic spots to help make harvesting easier.

Pasta, Pasta, Pasta

Our other day out took us to the Martelli Pasta Factory and the Tyrrhenian Sea.  While it’s common to stroll through town and find fresh pasta being made, this factory makes dry pasta and ships around the world.  As impressive as “around the world” sounds, the place was modest to say the least.  They had one machine to make the pasta (using a whopping 2 ingredients – semolina and water), lots of places to hang it to dry, and then one machine to cut it.  Then they hand pack it and ship it out.  After our tour it was off to the coast where we spent the afternoon in a little seaside town called Vada.

Lovin' Lucca!

First up this week was Lucca. What a fun city, and the size of Lucca is perfect to fill an entire afternoon. We started with a stroll through town and then up the local clock tower. The giant hand-wound Swiss clock has not stopped since 1754. It clangs every quarter hour and gave the kids quite a jolt when it rang only a few feet above our heads. Next was another tower, Torre Guinigi. What makes this family tower unique is that it still has a little garden with trees at the top. Very few of these towers still remain in the various hill towns, but back 500-1000 years ago they dominated the skyline. Each wealthy family built a tower taller than the next to protect themselves from attack. The front door was usually on the second floor, reached by a ladder that could be raised once inside. The ground floor was the shop, then single rooms stacked on top of each other with the kitchen on top for fire safety. The roof was generally a vegetable garden with trees for shade. Later these wealthy city folk traded their towers for the country estate and villa. But as much fun as we had climbing, our favorite thing about Lucca was the biking. In 1799 Napoleon gave Lucca to his sister as a gift. It was later passed on to his widow, whom is credited with adding a feminine touch and creating a city park around the entire 2.5-mile fortified wall. It had been awhile since we’d been on bikes, and what a perfect spot to do it.

Lucca's main piazza is circular and sits on the footprint of what was once a 10,000 seat Roman Coliseum. After the fall of Rome, it was gradually pillaged for it's stones and replaced by the piazza.
hDon't ask me what this cat was fixated on but he wouldn't move.

Tuscan Poppies

Another Holiday in Assisi

Okay, so I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t even remember the name of the holiday whom these townspeople of Assisi are celebrating. Yes, my first guess would be the ascension of St. Francis, or the feast of St. Francis, maybe it’s the first encounter of Poor Clare and St Francis frolicking in the hillside, cherishing the newest spring flora. I am not sure. But what I do know, is that the people of Italy celebrate everything, and I mean everything.  Feasts, parades, religious processions in the middle of the night, singing, chanting, sporting events carried out in the same bare-chested, animalistic fashion as they were hundreds of years ago. The passion and emotion of these people swirl around like a dancing fire in a wood burning oven. It’s a flame that has been burning forever. And when the fire does die down, they know it’s time to throw in more kindling. Time for another holiday. And yes, these Italians all have their own laundry list of holidays, all varied by individual city or neighborhood.

Here are a few pictures from our visit to Assisi. We stumbled upon these locals adoringly tending to their flower petal street designs. A parade was scheduled to cascade its way through these back little alleyways that afternoon. Time was clicking and we could sense the dedication and urgency of these volunteers. Wish we could have stayed and celebrated with them, but we were on a holiday schedule of our own.