April 17, 2007
Is that real fur Your Holiness?
Pope Benedict XVI will be hoping for a peaceful 80th birthday (16 April), and most importantly one without any lavish fur gifts. The head of the Catholic Church was under the spotlight of Italy’s Anti-Vivisection League over the weekend for wearing fur. The Vatican has not yet responded to requests for a ban based on ethical and religious grounds, the animal rights group said.
April 16, 2007
Calabria
This is the deep south of Italy - the ‘toe’ of the country, as it pushes out into the Mediterranean to kick Sicily. Second only to Basilicata next door, Calabria is also the quintessence of the ‘Mezzogiorno’, the poorest part of the country, the most bypassed by development and modernity, the most in thrall to neglect and financial corruption. Organised crime is as much a cancer here as on neighbouring Sicily, and many a half-finished building project, a magnet for money from central government or the EU bears testament to the graft that goes on. Writer Carlo Levi’s memoir ‘Christ Stopped at Eboli’, written about his internal exile to the south during the Fascist era was an eye-opener to many Italians, ignorant of how the southern half lived. For over a century, the south has been steadily depopulating (not unlike Irish in New York, there are more Calabrese in the US than in Calabria). The exodus was for jobs, and an existence beyone scratching an agrarian living from the dry soil.
Okay, now to take a break from our part-time gig with the Calabria tourist board … why would anyone want to come to this sun-scorched hellhole!? A good few reasons, not least of which is the topography of the place. Check the map - you have coastline on three sides, Tyrrhenian to the west, Ionian Sea to the east. The narrow litoral within is largely national park and spectacular mountain scenery. There are three mountain ranges in fact - the Sila, Aspromonte and Pollino. This is a haven for rare flora and fauna. You have dense woods, enormous plateaus that never see a soul from one year to the next (the Sila plateau stretches for around 2000 square kilometres, pitted with lakes and dotted with forest).
You have extraordinary history here - this was a capital of Magna Graecia, from where the Ancient Greeks masterminded their conquest of the western Mediterranean thousands of years before. The narrow channel between Calabria and Sicily is the Straits of Messina, with Scylla and Charybdis, the clashing rocks of Greek mythology. Check the coastline and there is the town of Scilla to this day. There are villages in Calabria that seem untouched by the 20th century let alone the 21st, and you’ll find a bewildering diversity of dialects (indeed languages quite distinct from Standard Italian): Albanian, Franco-Provencal, Griko, French and Sicilian.
More than anything there is lots of coastline, sandy beaches, soaring cliffs, rocky shorelines. Poet Gabriele D’Annunzio called the coast facing Sicily at Reggio Calabria il più bel chilometro d’Italia’. What we really like about this region is that you have lots of pretty, historic and happening seaside towns, but you can quickly be in wilderness, and quite stunning wilderness … just a few miles away. The word unspoiled has been, well, spoilt, by the tourist industry. We think it’s apt here though.
Things to see in Calabria
April 6, 2007
Further to the piece about Mirabilandia, Nick has been in contact asking for a pointer to other theme parks in Italy. If you want to write it Nick! Seriously though, this IS a thing I want to put together. In the Ravenna/Rimini area alone there isn’t just Mirabilandia but Italia in Miniatura and a number of others (not all Alton Towers/Thorpe Park quite stuff, but very useful for parents tearing their hair after a week or so in an Italian hotel or campsite). So watch this space and if there are any suggestions please let me know.
April 6, 2007
Lugo was been most famous (if you can call it fame) in recent years as the frontline of fighting between German and Allied troops in the last days of World War 2. The bombardment that rained over the Serio River did enormous damage to the Emilia-Romagna town, which lies west of Ravenna. Miraculously, much survived, and this makes historic Lugo a fairly interesting stop between Ravenna and Bologna. The city of Ferrara lies to the north, we have the Adriatic coast and Ravenna just to the east - Emilia-Romagna region is the heart of northern Italy, sandwiched between Tuscany and Lombardy. An affluent region, it was, in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, carved up into a series of fiefdoms and city states centred on Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Ravenna, Ferrara, Rimini and the rest.
‘Lucus’ as it was originally known, was a possession of the Counts of Cunio in the 12th century before passing through the Da Polenta, Pepoil and Visconti families to the Dukes of Este, who eventually lost Lugo to the Papal States in 1597. The Battle of Lugo/of Zagonara Castle in 1424 saw Florence defeat Milan here. The castle no longer stands. Lugo voted to join the new Kingdom of Italy in 1859.
Main sights in the town include the Rocca Estense (Castle of the Estes), which is now the town hall - a massive and imposing building. There is the 18th century Collegiata church, and San Franceso di Paola, with a 15th century terracotta sculpture of The Dead Christ.
April 5, 2007
There comes a time in every family holiday when you just want to pour the kids into some readymade fun and sit with a coffee. If you’re holidaying on the Italian Adriatic coast around Rimini (as many thousands of Italians do each year) then you’ll find Mirabilandia, one of Italy’s biggest and best theme parks, a godsend. There are three genuine white-knuckle experiences for the older ones (teenagers may sneer, but Thundering Sierra, Katun and Columbia & Discovery are all the stomach turning we’ll ever want to experience). There are some charming rides for younger children with The Friendly Whale, Crazy House, Fantasyland and a host more. And there’s all-round family fun with Ghostville, Las Vegas, London Bus and a couple of dozen more. It’s pretty impressive actually, and rather more affordable than UK theme parks at least.
We won’t attempt to give a definitive guide to Mirabilandia and its prices here, best to go to the official site, which rather cleverly automatically loads in English if you’re going from www.google.co.uk or www.google.com. But speaking as a parent who has felt his bank account whimper at the very thought of Alton Towers, Legoland or Thorpe Park, we’d have to say Mirabilandia is superb value for money. A standard two-day ticket is €25 (this doesn’t give access to the beach but you aren’t going there to use the beach are you?) Most children pay €19 for a two-day ticket and the smaller ones go free.
April 4, 2007
Sir Alex Ferguson once claimed before a European Cup tie in Milan that “when an Italian tells me it’s pasta I check under the sauce to make sure”. He has chosen his words more carefully ahead of tonight’s quarter-final against Roma but Manchester United’s capacity for upsetting Italian hosts has resurfaced in the form of an extraordinary diplomatic row.
April 4, 2007
Cervia - the town built on salt
Follow the Adriatic Riviera south out of Ravenna and you find yourself in Cervia, (it’s about 25km north of Rimini). This is the stretch of coast where the Italians go on holiday. Other nearby towns include Cesenatico, Villamarina Di Cesenatico, Bellaria, Cesena, Ravenna, Viserbella Di Rimini, Viserba, Forlì and Marina Di Ravenna. We’re talking long sandy beaches, the warm blue Adriatic and plenty of sunshine.
Cervia does have some history behind it. Once called Ficocle it was probably a Greek town, but was destroyed by the Byzantines in 709AD for being allied with Ravenna. The town was re-established in the Salina, the salt pans of this stretch of Adriatic Coast, and during the Middle Ages began to grow rich on the precious salt extracted from the marshlands. The city acquired three fortified gates, a castle and seven churches (supposedly built by Barbarossa). Later part of the Papal States, and moved and rebuilt by Pope Innocent XII in 1697.
Interesting things to see in the town include the Cathedral (Santa Maria Assunta) erected in 1699-1702, the Palazzo Comunale, St Michael Tower and - but of course - the Museum of Salt. Other sights around Cervia include Atlantica Park, Mirabilandia, the Dante Museum, the Ravenna Mosaics and San Vitale.
Some handy local sites and places to Stay in Cervia
Cervia comune is in English too. Very useful information on sustainable tourism, the various wildlife parks and green spaces. Very good too on the history and the heritage areas from the old salt pan days (salt production continues to this day).
April 3, 2007
Ravenna … a brief history lesson
Had history taken a different course then we would never have heard of Ravenna. But the Emperor Honorius, getting understandably twitchy as the various Goths and Vandals got ever closer to his capital of Milan around the year 400AD, decided to make a strategic withdrawal to the coast. He chose obscure Ravenna on the Romagna coast (the city is now in Emilia-Romagna region) and surrounded by marshland, thus easy to defend. It was also close to Classis, then the largest Roman naval base on the Adriatic. Honorius got it right. The Goths swept south, burning Rome in 410, blissfully unaware that ‘Rome’ was in fact on holiday up the coast. Ravenna grew rich, until the Goths fetched up there too in 476.
However, their incursions into southern Europe had seen the hairy neo-Viking hordes (okay a bit of a cultural reduction but bear with us) going native. The Goths, who had been sweeping south over Europe for centuries (from their original home in Scandinavia) had now become Christians, and rather than sack Ravenna, they embellished it further. The city became famous for its wealth and fine buildings and, unsurprisingly, became a target for the newest bunch of empire builders - the Byzantines, inheritors of the Eastern Emprire. (The overstretched Roman Empire of course had long since split into a Western and an Eastern Empire). Byzantium is a byword today for opulence and decorative excess - think of the Baroque but a millennium early. The Byzantines actively pursued this, determined to make Ravenna a world showpiece: the city with the best palaces, churches and civic buildings; patron to the greatest artists and sculptors.
Ravenna was by now in a prosperous part of the Adriatic too, with Venice an increasing power, and trade grew the wealth of the town. As ever, wealth brought envy, and Ravenna was sacked in the 16th century, and then absorbed into the Papal States (back under the aegis of Rome then).
The observant among you will have noticed that the Romans moved to the coast … but Ravenna isn’t actually on the coast of Emilia-Romagna?! Two millennia ago it was a sea town, but the Adriatic gradually receded, till today the city is marooned 11km inland, a canal linking the modern town to the sea. A very grim canal trip it is too through the industrial outsprawl of a modern Italian city.
Ravenna - city of mosaics
A fascinating history … but what of the present? There’s family fun nearby at the Mirabilandia theme park, but the real reason for visiting Ravenna is the mosaics and the churches. Although badly bombed during World War II and enthusiastically redeveloped by Mussolini prior to that (and thus having quite a modern feel) Ravenna retains the gems of its glorious past. The heart of town is the Piazza del Popolo, built by Venetians in the 15th century, and with lots of cafes and bars. Check out the Tomba di Dante, last resting place of Italy’s greatest poet. There is a Dante Museum too - one for Dante completists only we feel. Behind the Duomo you’ll find the Museo Arcivescovile in the Bishop’s Palace, with some mosaics. Fascinating too is the Neonian Baptistery, a Roman bath house before it was pressed into devotional use. The Basilica of Sant’Appollinare Nuovo (one of Ravenna’s octet of important early churches) has some superb mosaics. The most impressive collection, though, is in the Baslica of San Vitale. More mosaic on show at the Mausoleo di Galla Placidia, and then on to the Museo Nazionale, with Byzantine glass and some early icons.
The main sights of Ravenna
April 2, 2007
Piemonte, or Piedmont to Anglicise literally means ‘foot of the mountain’ and that describes the region’s position, in the north-west corner of Italy, with neighbours France and Switzerland lying on the other side of the Alps. No coastline, though that is just a few miles south, through the seaboard of Liguria. Other regional neighbours include Valle d’Aosta and Lombardy.
Main city is Turin (Torino), very industrial though a fantastic city to visit with some superb Baroque streets. Other towns include Asti, home to some surprisingly good spumante, and nearby Alba, spiritual home of the truffle and other funghi. You get great red wines in this area as well as whites. Other towns include Novara, Cuneo and Acqui Terme. Lots of good skiing, some beautiful mountain scenery (so good hiking and walking too) and the Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso, shared with little Valle d’Aosta.
Where to stay in Piemonte
