Palazzo and bomb shelter

 This morning I did my usual jaunt to the beach.  I started at 8am this time and found that it is warm enough and quiet enough that that is going to be my start time for the next two days.  I swam for an hour.  So wonderful.  Then went home, got ready, and walked to a little bar (café) and had the best pistachio granita and brioche ever in the history of the world.  And I'm not exaggerating:

There are two sites on my list today.  First to the Bellomo Palace gallery.  This noble mansion lived a life of nobility for around 300 years.  From the 15th to the 18th century, the family lived in the huge and splendid palazzo that is very close to my apartment and looks out over the sea.  Now it is a gallery filled with some of the family's collection as well as diverse medieval and Baroque art and artifacts.

First you enter into the standard internal courtyard.  Very elegant and light.

Then I just enjoyed walking and looking at things.  Didn't read many placards.  Just wanted to absorb the color and beauty.

These vestments and objects from the celebration of the mass are pretty gorgeous:

Look at these inlaid with coral:

After this I walked over to the Giudecca, which is the old Jewish quarter.  During the middle ages there was a thriving Jewish population here.  But it was decimated in the late 15th century as one of the crusades (pogroms) launched by Ferdinand II of Spain. Under this unassuming church, the church of San Filippo Apostolo, are fascinating layers of history.

You have to go with a guide because it's kind of dangerous.  So you walk down these very steep, chiseled steps into what was once the crypt of this church.  There are the old frescoes on the walls, a small altar, and places to prepare bodies for burial.  Because this was actually used as a crypt by the early Christians.

What they were actually using were miles of aqueducts that were carved out by the Greeks, about 2700 years ago.  These tunnels are a network under the city of Ortigia, and actually connect certain churches to each other.  During World War II, this was used as an air raid shelter.  It goes on and on. 

Here is some graffiti left by some people taking shelter:

And some other photos:

Digging down further they found that this structure had a Jewish life as well.  Involving a well.  This spiral staircase leading down to a well was used as a place for ritual bathing.

After all this, you have to climb back up and up and up......

The Duomo of Siracusa

 In one of the prettiest piazzas in all of Italy sits the Cathedral (Duomo) of Siracusa.  Looking splendid in its theatrical Baroque style, it is actually made of of several manifestations of architecture.  And the most amazing, really, is its beginning as a Greek temple honoring Athena, the goddess of war.  Dating from 480 B.C., the temple's original steps are visible along the base of the current structure:

And when you enter this glorious place, you can see evidence of the different cultural influences: from Greek to Byzantine, then Arab, then Norman, then Baroque in the 18th century.

The interior is massive, and the original monolithic columns are visible.  These are HUGE, and they were cut from ONE stone.  Later the Romans would make huge columns like this but they were pieces that were stacked and held together with pins, essentially.  These are huge.  So elegant.  So awe-inspiring. 

In December of 2014, the cathedral came into possession of sacred relic of Santa Lucia, who is the patron saint of Sicily and was originally from Siracusa, I believe.  I told her story of martyrdom last month so you can look that up if you want.  Here we have a piece of her left arm:

And I love this inlaid marble cartouche of her eyeballs:

The façade of the Duomo is in the Baroque style of the 18th century.  That is because much of the building crumbled in the big earthquake of the late 17th century.  So it was rebuilt in the style of the day.

And nearby, there is an Italian film underway.  When I shot this video I didn't know what was going on.  Later I discovered they are doing a remake of Il Gattopardo (The Leopard).  This is based on Lampedusa's novel of the same name, and is largely autobiographical.  It is about the collapse of the aristocratic families who were descended from Spanish aristocracy dating back a couple hundred years.  With the Risorgimento of the 19th century, which led to the creation of Italy as a country, these old families and their lifestyle and privilege, just faded away.

Ciao!

Reason #105 why Italy is superior~ Public art quotes Ovid

 When public art quotes Ovid and all the locals are there nodding their heads in agreement and understanding, you know you're in a wonderful place.  Here is the Fountain of Arethusa. In Greek mythology, Arethusa was a nymph who gave her name to a spring here in Ortigia, that magically sprang from the ground as she received help from Artemis after the river god Alpheus fell in lust/love with her.  

In Metamorphoses, Ovid writes:

"What are you rushing for, Arethusa? Alpheus called from the waves. "Why are you rushing?" He called again to me, in a strident voice. Just as I was, I fled, without my clothes: so much the more fiercely he pursued and burned. And being naked, I seemed readier for him.

I cried out, help me! I will be taken! Diana, help the one who bore your weapons for you!

The goddess was moved, and raising an impenetrable cloud, threw it over me.  The river god circled the concealing fog, and in ignorance searched about the hollow mist.  Twice, without understanding, he rounded the place. He did not go far.  Cold sweat poured down my imprisoned limbs, and dark drops trickled from my whole body, and moisture dripped from my hair, and faster than I can now tell the tale, I turned to liquid. 

And indeed, the river god saw his love in the water, and putting off the shape of a man he had assumed, he changed back to his own watery form, and mingled with mine.

The Metamorphoses are stories of transformation, and they are absolutely brilliant, fantastical, moving, and so insightful.  It's my favorite work by Ovid.  Exquisite. 

Una meraviglia stupenda!

My one goal while I'm in Sicily is to swim every day.  While I'm here in Siracusa, I shall swim in the Ionian Sea.  When I'm up in Cefalu next week, I shall swim in the Tyrrhenian Sea.  Che bello!  Here is the beach that is 50 meters from my apartment:

 I swam out a ways and I was astonished how clear the water is.  It is a sort of greenish blue, like Persian turquoise.  I kept swimming out and out, thinking, gosh, it's so shallow.  I can see the bottom clearly.  At one point I thought I would put my feet down and stand.  But oh no, my darlings.  It is not shallow.  I think it's quite deep, actually.  So I made my way back in, bobbed up and down in the buoyant salt water for about an hour.  And it took everything I had to get out of the water.

By the way, here is my front door.  It is literally one door down from San Martino.

And then you enter an internal courtyard:

 After my swim, a wander up to the open-air market to buy some glorious fruits and vegetables.  I passed the statue of Archimedes which is in the middle of the two bridges that lead into Ortigia.  

If you've ever wanted to jump out a window because you decided to take calculus, this is the guy you need to blame.  During Siracusa's time as a leading city-state of the Greek world, Siracusa's main man, its native son, Archimedes was working some serious magic....err... um... science and math.  After a long night of drinking, he invented the "Archimedes screw," ahem, and he was know for brilliance in naval engineering.  Massively creative, it is said that he set fire to an entire Roman fleet with mirrors reflecting the sunlight.  Whaaaaaa?????  He discovered a way to measure the density of precious metals with water displacement in a bathtub.  Upon doing so, he ran through the city naked, screaming, "Eureka" which is Greek for "I found it" and then he fainted.  He also did all sorts of math and calculus stuff.  He was killed by a Roman legionary.  Probably someone who had to take calculus as a Gen Ed core class.

Then I walked over to the Temple of Apollo, darlings.  The FIRST Doric temple in Sicily, this dates from about 580 BC.  It predates the Parthenon in Athens by 130 years.  It is the oldest peripterus stone temple in Sicily.  It had a second row of monolithic columns on the main façade; the cell was divided into three naves.  Over the centuries, the temple was transformed into a Byzantine church, an Arab mosque, a Norman church, and a Spanish military barracks, until the Fascist period, when it was stripped of all that and brought back to the original.

And then to lunch:

A Sicilian-style pizza with mortadella, fresh mozzarella and pistachios.  Wine from Mount Etna.

In Siracusa, Sicily!

 Siracusa is an ancient city that is made of the the typical blend of cultures that southern Italy is known for.  Ancient Siracusa (Syracuse) was a powerful city-state in the Greek world and at one point, even rivaled Athens.  Sicily is home to some of the most extraordinary ancient Greek ruins; actually even more than is left in Greece.  

Siracusa is built around a bay.  And jutting out from it, just on the tip and into the Ionian sea, is the little island of Ortigia.  And this is where I'm staying.  An apartment, about 50 yards from the sea, just looking out into splendor:

And here is a tour of my apartment.  I took the overnight train from Rome.  Taking an overnight train is kind of like camping but you're not in the woods, which is nice.  The train zooms down to Calabria, right at the tip of the boot.  They load the train onto a traghetto and it crosses the sea over to Sicily.  Then they unload the train, hook it all back together, and on you go.  

Once settled, I went for a walk.  Following the coastline:

Looking into the horizon:

Then back to just roaming the very windy streets.  Endless, narrow streets. Greek, Roman, medieval, Norman... and plenty of Baroque.

I had to stop and have a lemon granita and a brioche.  Absolutely required.

Protests in Rome ~ Italy at its finest!

 In Rome this morning and noticed many people, many many people, wandering around with various flags.  I asked the driver, Cos'e? He said, "E una manisfazione oggi" and rolled his eyes.  That is the word for a protest, a march.  A manifestation.  It's so glorious.  

What is it about?  Chi sa?  Who knows?  But here they were when I left the Palazzo Barberini after viewing a fabulous exhibit of the personal art collection of Pope Urban VIII:

A nice sea of red, so of course I'm thinking it is one of the socialist parties having a demonstration.  But then later in the afternoon, the whole thing comes streaming by my hotel window, preceded by military police:

There is lots of name-calling and accusations.  But what is so classically Italian about it is that it's not just one party or organization that is protesting.  It's many!  Many!  I noted a group that is accusing the government of taking away health care for workers, another is pro-immigration, another for the human rights guarantees that are supposed to be a part of the Italian constitution, another for the fair pay to immigrants, another with a housing complaint, one group for 'demilitarizing the schools.' 

Uhhhh...... guys.  There's too much going on.  When everyone is screaming, no one is heard.  

Ugh. 

Le Logge ~ Michelin restaurant

 Final evening in Montepulciano.... what to do?  Oh!  Why not just try out ONE of the Michelin star restaurants in town, just casually.  My Canadian friend from school, Shannon, and I decided to go to Le Logge.  The restaurant is named for the Loggia that is just down the street that was designed by Michelozzo.  Andiamo!

Elegant, white tablecloths, exquisite service.  At the beginning of your experience you are given what the French call an amuse bouche (literally, something to amuse the mouth).  We were given a tiny pot of pureed spring peas, and two croquettes, one eggplant and one potato.  

For an antipasto, we shared the Tuscan vegetable fritti featuring carrots, zucchini, onions and served with black salt and a spicy pepperoncini sauce.

And for the primo, I had pici con cacio e pepe, with black garlic, pecorino fondue and break crumbles, cooked in a sack of some sort.  Anyway, they do a lot of molecular gastronomy here so there is always something very unique:

For the secondo, I had lamb with plums, smoke eggplant cream and mascarpone.

Shannon had the pigeon with vin santo sauce, a chocolate macaron with foie gras, and orange accents.

And for dessert... if you can believe it.... I had the "egg in a nest," which is a chocolate egg that has an interior of salted caramel and eggnog sauce, served on top of shredded grain.  And Shannon the "flaming chocolate ball with pistachio mouse and pineapple and mango sauce.  Watch this:

In addition to our dessert order, we were given this tiny selection of lovely bites of goodness:

I know, it's all very bourgeoise.  Mi dispiace.  

Cinta Senese pigs

Today's excursion was a 45 minute walk down the hill and way into the Valdichiana, through vineyards and orchards, to a very special pig farm.

This farm has been in this one family for several generations.  First the focus was olives.  Roberto took us around and pointed out some of the aspects of the trees.  See here how a centuries old tree had died, but then the root sent up some shoots on either side of the trunk and it started producing again.

This is all organic, all DOC production, so there is no chemical interference of any kind.  For example, to keep away pests, which are mostly a kind of fly that burrows into the seeds, they put up these plastic containers that have honey and vinegar in them.  The scent attracts the fly, they go in and can't get out.

He's got some old trees, some at 200 years.  They're big, but nothing like the colossal ones I saw in Puglia last year that were, if you remember, anywhere from 500-1500 years old.

 About 10 years ago, they decided to raise pigs.  Not just any pigs, but Cinta Senese pigs!  They are so-called because they are black pigs with a white 'belt' around their middles (cintura= belt).  This is an ancient breed that was brought back from extinction in the 1940s.  They are protected.  And their products are all DOC (Denominazione Origine Controllata). 

This is a retired stud .... just enjoying being in pensione

They are pretty huge, and cute.

But then this happens:

And then this....

We had a lovely aperitivo, overlooking the farm and enjoying some of their homemade wine:

And then the long trek home and UP the hill.  Whew.  Molto caldo oggi!