Someday When I Have More Time . . .

. . . and the weather is better, I would like to come back to Emilia-Romanga for another visit.  Although this region is not as glamorous as Tuscany, it is very rich in history.  I feel I have barely scratched the surface, and yet so much of the rest of Italy remains unexplored!  Right now I am pausing in my packing to have breakfast and a closing word with you.
This was not my best trip ever, but most of the time I enjoyed myself.  I saw some beautiful places, and I certainly ate well.  Ravenna was the highlight for me.
Bologna does make a good base.  The city is beautiful and elegant, and the historic center easy to navigate.  It has rail connections to anywhere in Italy you fancy.  If you like really long day trips (I don't) you can reach Milan, Venice, and Rome.  Florence would make a very reasonable day trip.  Good food and drink is abundant.  I just resent that I lost over an hour each day just getting to and from town.
The number of beggars also bothered me.  They are to be found anywhere in Europe, but they seemed particularly thick on the ground in Bologna.  Nearly every block in the town center had someone holding out a cup or a hand.  My theory is that in this kind of weather, the porticos provide some shelter.  Most of them are young and able bodied, so I don't know what the story is.  Maybe it's the bad economy?
And despite the efforts of the European Union, people smoke, and a lot of the puffers are young. Since they can't smoke indoors, they are smoking on the street.  It's hard to avoid.
But the place I am returning to has its own issues.  Compared to where I live, European cities seem so very livable.  They were created for people not automobiles, and the historic centers at least retain that human-centered quality.  The streets invite strolling and the licking of windows.  The bustle is pleasant not frantic.  Everything--even the grand buildings are on a human scale and many open spaces exist as piazzas and parks for people to gather and linger.  Everywhere you turn you will find something to please the eye.
Molto grazie for coming along with me on this trip!
Ciao

Revealing the Renaissance--Ferrara

Let's forget about yesterday shall we?  Today the sun came out and it was almost warm for my last full day this trip.  I went to Ferrara and had a good time.
I had a hard time deciding where to go, but I am glad I picked Ferrara. I'd certainly like to return and spend a few days there.  It's a lovely, historic--and easy place.  Because my time is so limited, I stuck to the palazzi of the Este Family. Yes, we met them in Modena, too.
Castello Estense dominates the center of town.  Now it's a Renaissance castle, not a Medieval one, but it is a true fortress--moat and all.  While most of the building is given over to city and regional offices within you will find the tourist information office and a museum that gives a glimpse into the life styles of the rich and ducal.  One thing I appreciated is the commentary in English on the purposes of the rooms and the history of the family.
I stopped for some gelato on my way to the next palazzo.  I got two traditional Italian favorites--crema--which was very like licking lemon frosting, and straticella which has choco bits.
It was a long walk out to the Palazzo Shifanoia, but Ferrara is very well sign posted.  This is the Este Family's "Palace of Joy."  Not all the rooms were open, so I got in free.  The frescos by Cosme Ture create an Arcadian World of elegant leisure.
Then I trudged back through town to the Palazzo Diamante.  It's an interesting building in itself, and one instantly realizes how it got its name, and no it's not shaped like a diamond, but the exterior looks rather like facets.  I wanted to see the art museum, but I am not having much luck with these, because I arrived just as it was closing.  Unreasonably early in my opinion.  It was only 2:00!
There's a whole lot more to Ferrara, and I barely scratched the surface, so as I said, I'd like to stay there a day or two.
Something interesting happened on the train ride back to Bologna.  The good looking guy who took the seat opposite me turned out to be train police.  He had luggage with him.  A cover?  And I could not help but notice he had two cell phones.  Now that seemed excessive even for Europeans, but later I figured one was personal and the other for work.  I also noticed he had no ticket.  He flashed something at the conductor, but I thought it must be a pass.  No such thing.  It was a badge.
I learned this when we stopped at one of Bologna's suburban stations.  The conductor insisted one passenger get off as his ticket was for this station.  The guy--who sounded like he was on drugs--refused.  And refused and kept refusing.
That's when my seatmate went into action.  He showed his badge and told the guy to get off and there was some other stuff in Italian that sounded like threats and fines.  The guy refused yet again.
One of the other passengers took pity on the man--or else just wanted the train to move--and paid his fare.  The train policeman was disgusted.  I would have been, too.
Ciao

Cold and Miserable

Ahhhh.  Hot green tea.  And internet in my room.  The two best things that have happened to me all day. It's not the wireless the network I'm supposed to be on, but that one doesn't work.  So.
One has to bank on a certain amount of frustration and disappointment when one travels as often as I do.  Today was it.  It rained all night.  It's going to rain all day.  The temperature is 7C, and I don't think I want to know what that is in Fahrenheit.
I started off my day nicely enough with the trip to the bancomat and the grocery store.  Then I set out well bundled but still cold for the Modern Art Museum of Bologna--its initials in Italian spell out MAMBO.  On my way three people asked me for directions.  I couldn't help any of them.
So I've walked by this MAMBO place three times while going elsewhere, but--it figures--when I was actually looking for it, I couldn't find it.  I wandered around for an hour before hitting the target.  And you know what, I really didn't want to see it but picked it because it was fairly close and open, and so I was not disappointed by the meh collection.
Then on to what I really wanted to see--the Pinacoteca Nationale--chock full of Late Medieval and Early Modern Art.  Hot puppies!  I hauled my carcass all the way across town in the rain and cold figuring on a couple of hours inside with some delightful art.
I found the place.
Closed.
What?  Even the sign on the door said it was supposed to be open.  I had no plan B, so I faced an hour long trudge home.
But at least I'm here, warming up and drying out.  And I have good food.  Ravioli di quattro fromaggi is on the menu with Lambrusco to wash it down.  For ante pasto I have prosciutto and mortadella. Breakfast will be whole grain bread--very tasty! spread with stracchino, which is a mild, but rich and creamy cheese from way north in Lombardy.  I drink it with plenty of strong black tea.
Here's hoping tomorrow will be drier and more fruitful.
Ciao!

Ravenna!!!

Ever since I learned the place existed--and that was Way Back in college, I have longed to go to Ravenna.  Today the dream was fulfilled.
And did it answer your expectations?
Oh yes!
Ravenna is about two and a half hours from Bologna by train--east nearly to the coast.  The train ride was prettier and more interesting than the one to Modena.  From the window I saw the wooded Emilian hills, freshly plowed fields, a small, spikey trees covered in pink blossoms--no leaves--just the blossoms.  I do not know what kind they are, but they are cultivated in orchards.
Ravenna is a lovely place and easy to navigate.  I got a combination ticket for five sights, hoping I'd have time to see them all, and as they are close together I did.  The combo ticket is a very good deal at 11.50 euro, because if you paid single entry for each one it would come out to twice that, and every sight is very worth seeing.  Ravenna is the capital of Byzantine Art.  Most of it in Constantinople was pried out or white washed.
I began with San Vitale.  Built in the shape of an octogon, it is a centrally planned church whose exterior gives no hint of the wonders within.  Now I have seen photographs, and I have taught these mosaics, but nothing prepares one for the real thing.  Even in the dimly lit church, the light glitters and dances off the glass, giving the figures a life no photograph could ever catch.  San Vitale is famous for Justinian and Theodora and their attendants.  They never came here, but their images survive nowhere else.  The rest of the church is just as glorious.
I visited the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia--also encrusted with fabulous mosaics.  She was the sister to one emperor and mother to another.  In between time she was captured by barbarians and ended up marrying one of them.  The tribe returned her to Rome when her husband died, and her brother fixed her up again.
There's a museum with other Byzantine Art--carvings, the archbishop's throne, intricately carved in ivory which I think is a must see as well.  I also visited the Neroian Baptistry--also full of wonderful mosaics.  I think the male saints were standing in contraposto, which surprised me greatly.
I paid my respect to Dante Aligheri, who is buried in San Francesco, having lived as a bitter exile from his home city Florence.  All he did was take the Tuscan dialect and turn it into Italian.
I saved San Apollinare Nuovo for last.  It is a basilica in the Early Christian style with aisles marked out by a colonnade.  There's a finely restored coffered ceiling--and oh yes--mosaics.  The famous one is of the three wise men proffering gifts to the Christ Child seated on his mother's lap.  A procession of female saints follows.  On the opposite wall is the adult Christ Enthroned with Angels, and a procession of male saints.  Just glorious.
The sun came out for me in Ravenna, and although it was still cold, it was warm enough for gelato.  I had more niocchiola and amarena, but this time I added chocolate.
Back in Bologna the cold and gloom returned, but I carried the light of the mosaics home with me.