Gonzaga and Parma

Yesterday our travels took us to the town of Gonzaga near Mantova (Mantua) and also Parma. It is about a two hour drive--to Florence, through the mountains to Bologna, and then across part of the Po Valley. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful drive.

We went to Gonzaga for a mostra scambio--auto/moto swap meet. Interestingly, I had to pay to get in but Dom was free, maybe because he is a pensionato (retired). The show had a lot of motorcycle bits and pieces and not a lot of car stuff. 

There were a couple of interesting vehicles including this Fiat 500 version--a Belvedere Cabrio. It was just adorable, like most Fiat 500s of a certain age.

The car below is a version of a Fiat Topelino--another adorable car. It is also a convertible or sorts. I love the striped awning that clips to the open roof to keep the sun off the driver and passengers.

We spent about an hour at the mostra scambio and then headed to Parma for lunch. The last time we were there was over 20 years ago. All I remembered about it was the crummy hotel we stayed in.

Walking around the city on a beautiful day gave me a completely different impression. Like much of Italy north of the Appenines, Parma seems more northern European than southern. It was neat and tidy and had good services like bike lanes and free bike rentals. It also had some great looking electric buses.

I thought this tower would be the center of town but it turned out not to be so. Note that it leans like many towers in Italy, especially northern Italy.

We finally arrived at the centro storico. There was a series of small pedestrian lanes. Some sort of "sidewalk sale" event was taking place. Many of the shops had merchandise, seating, or other intriguing displays set up outside. There were a number of small restaurants but it was difficult to find one that had seating in the shade. We finally stopped at a cafe/bar near the Duomo.

After lunch we walked the short distance to the Duomo. More scaffolding.

Nearby is the baptistery that is made of lovely pink stone and more decorated than the Duomo.

 There is quite a bit of delicate carving and small statues around the baptistery.

It is a pretty piazza but the day was far too hot. As you can see, everyone was somewhere cool.

We drove back to Capannori through the mountains along the A15 which runs between Parma and La Spezia. It was amazing how many German license plates there were on the cars. The vehicles seemed to be filled with families and camping equipment. A lot of vacation properties rent by the week here and Saturday is the traditional changeover day. Those folks were at the end of a long, hot drive but probably had a nice beach vacation to look forward to.

It has been quite warm. This coming week I suspect we might head for the beach or the mountains.

Livorno and Lunch Along the Coast

On Friday we visited Livorno and had lunch along the coast. The city is not high on the list of tourist destinations but the Central Market is well worth a visit.

Here is Dom along one of the canals in Livorno with the Central Market building beyond. The city if right on the coast and is one of the major ports for Italy. 

This church caught my eye as we were walking from our car. It is in sad condition--blocked from public access and obviously falling apart.

Inside the Central Market building our first stop was the toilets. What do you expect after coffee and an hour's drive!

At one time, most major cities in Italy (and much of the rest of Europe) had beautiful buildings dedicated to the sale of fresh produce, meat, and seafood. They were big and light and designed to promote air flow within to keep things cool. With the advent of the modern supermarket, many of them have been converted to other uses. The old Mercato Centrale near San Lorenzo church in Florence used to be just like this one in Livorno. Unfortunately, the stalls there now sell mostly tourist items. There are other traditional markets left in Florence such as the Sant'Ambrogio market to the east of Santa Croce.

Even in the Livorno market there were many empty stalls but business seemed to be brisk at those that remain. Because Livorno is not a major tourist destination there is no incentive for the city to increase rents and drive out the merchants catering to the needs of the local people.
 

Each stall is like a mini store. It is really fascinating to wander around and look at everything.

This frutta e verdure stall was a plethora of color.

The main hall of the market contains stalls selling meat, fruits and vegetables, breads and pastries, cheese, and dry goods. Along one side there are two halls dedicated to seafood. These have been modernized and have refrigerated cases and facilities for washing up at the end of the day.

Clams, mussels, and sea snails.

Outside the market to the north are more stalls. Part of it is more fruit and vegetables but others are shoes, clothing, housewares, jewelry, etc.

I love the colors and the displays. We bought some delicious cherries. They were labeled Vignola but tasted like Bings.

All of these stalls close up at 12:30 or 1 every day. Nothing much is happening at the market in the afternoon so go early and be prepared to do a little snacking.

After we finished at the market we wandered down to the port. There is a large small boat marina nearby and lots of recent development in the old port area. The last time we were there it looked a little dismal but it is going upmarket with new apartment and office buildings.

We drove down the coast and found a restaurant perched on the edge of the cliff. While not quite as picturesque as the Cinque Terre coastline, the area south of Livorno is another string of cliffs and small villages. The nice thing about it is almost no tourists!

We stopped at Ristorante Romito and ate lunch on the patio. The views were stupendous and it was fun to watch the people sunbathing on the rocks, fishing, and swimming in the sea. For a spot with no sand there were a lot of people down by the water. I never took any pictures but this link will take you to some on TripAdvisor.

We drove the long way back to Capannori, through Pontedera where there are HUGE modern windmills. Another fun day.

The Frederick Stibbert Museum in Florence

On Wednesday we went to Florence for the day. I had some shopping I wanted to do (purse, belts, and scarves!) but we also wanted to visit the Museo Stibbert. It is a collection amassed by Frederick Stibbert in the late 1800s and housed in his mansion on the outskirts of the city.

Stibbert was born to an English gentleman and his Italian wife. He was educated in England but lived most of his life in Italy, when he wasn't traveling. His grandfather--a big mucky-muck in the East India Company and Governor of Bengal--acquired a huge fortune. I believe Stibbert's father died before his grandfather and thus, when the latter died, young Stibbert inherited the fortune. He made excellent investments and died richer than he was born. When he died in 1906 he left his property to the City of Florence as a museum.

From the street where we parked (there is also easy bus access from central Florence) you could see the top of the Duomo. I suspect at one time the view into the city was much better.

Here is the entrance to the museum. There was a special exhibit of Islamic pieces from the collection.

Across the street from the house was a neighborhood church. When Stibbert was alive this area was probably all rural--farmhouses, olive trees, and grapevines.

The house/museum is a bit of a fantasy in itself. It is surrounded by a large park. Visitors are only allowed into the museum on the hour and we were accompanied by a guide. We arrived about 20 minutes early so we wandered around in the gardens by the house for a bit.

The exterior of the building has a large number of bas relief pieces such as coats of arms and small sculptures affixed to the walls. This one is a Della Robia style depiction of St. George and the Dragon. There are a number of St. Georges around the museum including a life-size one with a dragon constructed from crocodile skins.

As we toured the museum and private house we learned the ballroom and dining room both opened out onto this terrace. What a spot for a party!

The grounds have a number of sculptures including this row of Roman-style busts. Stibbert collected a lot of copies of famous pieces. He was interested in costume/clothing design so, I suspect, it mattered less to him if the piece was original than if it was a good depiction of clothing of an era.

A closer look at one of the busts:

Dom wandering the pathways.

This pretty little rotonda was in the garden.

The interior of the rotonda. Once upon a time it was probably a good spot to get out of the sun during the heat of the day.

At the far end of the park there is an old limonaia (lemon house) that has been expanded and obviously is used for parties. There is a separate entrance from the street directly into the building.

Another look at the back of the house.

Inside the museum no photos are allowed. The museum is an extension of his family home and the interiors are stunning even without the collection. His passion was collecting arms and armor but he also was an artist. The first rooms (of about 50!) were full of paintings and arms and armor. One room held a "cavalcade" of horse soldiers--mannequins that Stibbert built clothed man and horse in full armor. 

Further on we visited the private rooms of the house furnished much as they were when Stibbert was alive. Stibbert was an early adopter of new technology so the house had indoor plumbing with a flush toilet and central heating of a sort. The ballroom was beautiful with an amazing fresco about five feet tall around the upper part of the two story room. 

There were so many amazing things to see that we meandered through the rooms and had to be hurried along periodically by our guide. Luckily, the woman was friendly and gave good explanations of the collection, the rooms, and the family history. Tours are supposed to last an hour but our group of seven was there for about an hour and twenty minutes. It is definitely the sort of museum one wants to return to again.

After our tour we went back into the park. The guide told us there was a replica of an Egyptian temple on the grounds. The park is open to the public daily at no cost. It has some sweet water features.

There is a variety of wildlife in the park--ducks and turtles.

The Egyptian temple was a little disappointing. It is small and run down but still evocative of the land of the Pharoahs with steps running down to the Nile river.

The turtles were more fascinating. There were dozens of them. Some of them were stacked on rocks!

There were pigeons resting on a branch in the pond...

...and a large goose resting in the shade of the temple.

After we finished at Museo Stibbert we went into central Florence and had panini for lunch near the San Lorenzo market. I found everything I wanted and then we walked around a bit. It was hot and there were a LOT of tourists. 

We had no itinerary so I suggested we head for my favorite Florentine gelateria near the Il Porcellino statue. Here is a tourist rubbing Il Porcellino's nose.

Venchi is a fabulous gelateria! A lot of people think so. My favorite flavor is Azteca, a particularly rich chocolate.

After finishing our gelato, we meandered around to a few other shops and then headed home. 

Cronoscalata Bologna-Raticosa

Yesterday (Saturday) we drove over towards Bologna (but not quite all the way) and watched the first run of the Bologna-Raticosa hill climb race. We were there really early so we had time to visit all the paddocks (pits), drive the six kilometer course, and have lunch.

It's always interesting to wander around the pits for these events. There are no restrictions as to where you can go.

Dom got a kick out of the pedals on this car. They reminded him of the extenders they used to put on bike pedals if you weren't tall enough to reach them.

This trailer was like a giant car roof cargo carrier!

Small cars require small trailers and smaller tow vehicles and less money...

In the parking lot at one of the paddocks was a water dispenser. Still water was free but fizzy/carbonated water cost 5 cents a liter. It's a little strange how prevalent bottled water is in Italy given the fact that all the tap water is safe to drink. I buy it here because I like fizzy water and it is less than $3 for six liters.

There was also a dispenser for "latte crudo" which I think means raw milk. You can buy bottles from the vending machine and then fill them up. One liter of milk was Euro 1. The plastic cow kept an eye on things and was chained to the fence. How many do you think went missing before Bessie got a leash?

I guess it is easier to unload the trailer if it's propped up. Actually Dom explained that this is helpful if one has a low clearance racer.

This is classic Fiat 500 all tricked out. They are incredibly loud when they speed off up the hill.

We found a wall to sit on not far from the start. The view was good but it was tough to take pictures there. After a while we got stiff and moved down to just below the start.

I was fascinated by the fact that there was a guy with a little tool to chock the wheels whenever the cars stopped as they crept up to the start line. The cars took off individually every 30 seconds.

The vehicles are lined up down the road waiting for their turn.

The larger, more powerful vehicles were sent off at one minute intervals.

Some of the vehicles did not have powerful enough batteries to start them if they had to shut off their engines. Periodically they did (maybe something happening on the course) so some of the vehicles had a battery person alongside. Here is one with the battery connected so the car can restart the engine.

Some of the vehicles had all their fasteners tapes over. They try to match paint colors.

By the time they finished sending off nearly 200 cars it was about 3:30. We had had enough sun for the day so we headed back home for a nice quiet evening.