03 Tuesday Oct 2017
Posted in Travel
03 Tuesday Oct 2017
03 Tuesday Oct 2017
Posted in Travel
02 Monday Oct 2017
01 Sunday Oct 2017
The liquid Italian language makes it all sound so totally innocent.
What’s to be done with word parts that act as if they can’t help it
When they rhyme? “Recenti eventi sismici” come across less forcefully
Than “the recent earthquake.” And the same applies to “chiusa a causa.”
The long-awaited Basilica di S. Salvatore is well worth the walk,
If we could ever manage to get into the place, a full two years now
After the “recent” earthquake. With more time to study at least,
We are finding its story of composite construction all over town:
A characteristic element is the massive employment, in the construction, of quality materials coming from classical buildings, partly simply reused (columns, bases, capitals, inside lintels) and partly radically reprocessed (decorative elements of the facade, cornice of the presbytery) but perfectly integrated in a skilled and cultured new composition.
01 Sunday Oct 2017
Posted in Travel
Plus or minus a few days (and the wedding
Preparations therein lost in translation):
30 Saturday Sep 2017
Of course it starts out in another language:
All around town, the maps say
“Tu sei qui.” “You are here.”
In turn logic asks, “Where are the moons?”
And the word problem turns mathematically
On the number of orbs the artist started with
(Scattering them around the city in celebration)
Minus the unrepeated number of moons we’ve seen
(Without ever tripping over these cobbled streets).
Three here in a series of thirty three, more or less,
Depending on how many duplicates I have suppressed.
That leaves me far far short of the total of sixty moons,
One to commemorate each year of the festival’s enlightenment.
25 Monday Sep 2017
Which, according to our guide, could be up at La Rocca
Or, down below, somewhere around the Duomo.
Arriving from base camp by way of the moving stairs,
We stumble onto an exhibit that’s in the open air.
We know Piazza della Signoria well; have seen
In passing the paintings in Galleria poli D’Arte.
But we are surprised now by the outsider pieces and, when
We look back, amazed to find the frescoe we’ve never seen.
25 Monday Sep 2017
Like most things Italian, except for the trains, there is no roadmap nor timetable for the festival.
The closest they come: tiny pictures with the names of each venue, as seen on this card.
Except even the natives, stationed at the info centers, are unfamiliar with some of the sites or the designations.
So it’s been up and down, all around the town, for three days now: with some surprising discoveries along the way.
21 Thursday Sep 2017
Posted in Travel
