A Passionate Life

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Christmas celebrations Italian style

Christmas table setting

My first christmas in Italy and what a celebration! In fact, two days of it. Christmas eve  (vigilia di Natale) with my dear friend Emi and her wonderful family, including i nonni. Christmas day  (il giorno di Natale) with my other special friends Rosa and Roberto and their families.

After a few days of pre-christmas frenzied activity—the Italians are as crazy as we are when it comes to food preparation, gift buying and last minute catching up to wish each other for the festive season—it’s all about the food… and family… and gifts.

A typical christmas menu

Antipasti

Served with different types of bread and foccacia

  • carciofi  artichokes
  • melanzane picante & ripieni eggplant
  • peperoncini capsicum
  • insalata russa potato salad, including finely chopped vegetables, boiled eggs and mayonnaise
  • acchiughe anchovies
  • frittelle  di baccala battered and fried fish

Primi piatti

gnocchi al pesto
Gnocchi al pesto
  • i pansotti stuffed pasta
  • i ravioli al tocco
  • le lasagne al pesto
  • i gnocchi al pesto

Secondi

Stoccafisso
Stoccafisso – loving made by Rosa
  • la carne arrosto roasted lamb or beef
  • stoccafisso alla Genovese stew made with stockfish or cod

I  dolci

Panettone Genovese
Panettone Genovese
Meringa con crema allo zabaione
Meringa con crema alla zabaione
  • panettone Genovese delicious christmas cake baked with dried fruit
  • meringa con crema alla zabaione a featherlight meringue with a creamy filling made with eggs and marsala

I confess that over the two days I ate everything on the menu and more, for research purposes (well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!).

Buon appetito! 

Colleen

Christmas markets in Italy

Italians love celebrations and christmas is a big one! They are out and about buying gifts and christmas ornaments, christmas trees and beautiful wreaths and trimmings.

Christmas markets italy

Christmas markets are  very popular, especially in towns like Bolzano where the mercatino di natale attracts crowds of people. The stalls (bancarelle) sell mostly handmade ornaments and gifts and everything is beautifully decorated.

Christmas markets in Bolzano sell mostly handmade christmas ornaments
Christmas markets in Bolzano sell mostly handmade christmas ornaments
Sunset, al mercatino di natale, Bolzano
Sunset al mercatino di natale, Bolzano
Beautiful decorations at the Christmas markets, Bolzano
Beautiful decorations at the Christmas markets, Bolzano at night

The german style christmas market in Piazza dei Signori (commonly called Piazza Dante) in Verona sells handmade items and german specialty foodstuffs. On a cold night you can sip vin brulé, eat wurst and specialty breads while the children visit babbo natale to whisper their christmas wishes.

Christmas markets, Piazza dei Signori, VeronaC

Christmas markets, Piazza dei Signori, Verona

Christmas market stall, Verona
Sip vin brulé at a christmas market stall, Verona
Freshly baked artisan breads
Freshly baked artisan breads
Christmas market stall selling wooden utensils and cooking implements
Christmas market stall selling wooden utensils and cooking implements

Buon natale! 

Colleen

Cultural visits in the Veneto and Lombardy

Italy is a dream that keeps returning for the rest of your life.

                                                                              ~ Anna Akhmatova

The Veneto region is rich in culture

Like many regions is Italy, the Veneto region is a rich cultural centre. Along with Mantua in Lombardy, there’s lots to see and do at any time of the year. These are a few of the exhibitions I visited over a few days in the winter.

Verona

Gianni Berengo Gardin – Stories of a photographer

Currently, there is an exhibition ‘tracing the most important moments in the photographic career of Gianni Berengo Gardin’ one of Italy’s most renowned photo journalists.  Entitled The Story of a Photographer, with more than 180 photographs, the exhibition is located in  the Scavi Scaligeri Musem. This is a unique underground setting, perfect for Gianni Berengo Gardin’s black and white photos which really do tell stories from the perspective of the people he photographs.

Gianni Berengo Gardin

The museum itself is very interesting and is the result of excavations carried out in the 1980s when Roman and early medieval remains were discovered.  The museum was created to show the roman stone roads and sewers and  mosaic floors from the first century A.D., as well a Lombard tomb and the foundation work of medieval towers. All in their original setting.

There is also a fascinating video of an interview with the photographer. Audio guides are available in English as well as Italian. Audio guides are available for explanations of some of the photos by the photographer.

For more information the Comune di Verona Portal is a good place to start.

Verso Monet
(Around Monet) The history of landscape art from the 17th to the 20th century

The exhibition shows the evolution of landscape art from the 17th to the 20th centuries and includes paintings from Van Gogh, Renoir, Turner, Canaletto and degas to name a few. The exhibition is separated into 5 sections and there are twenty works by Claude Monet.

Palazzo della Gran Guardia, Verona
Palazzo della Gran Guardia, Verona

The exhibition is on at the Palazzo del Gran Guardia, an impressive building in Piazza Bra. Unfortunately, the long-winded accompanying text is in Italian with no English translations.

The Tourism Verona portal has more information.

Mantova

Amore e Psiche (Love and Psyche  -The tale of the Soul)

Palazzo Te gardens
Palazzo Te gardens

At the magnificent Palazzo Te with its beautiful gardens, this exhibition takes you on a journey through the myth of the love of Cupid and Psyche and includes contemporary works by Rodin, Canova and Salvador Dali.

It tells the story of Psyche, the mortal beauty who becomes Cupid’s bride (the god of love) without ever being able to see his face. One night, she is urged by her jealous sisters to shine a light on his face, but a drop of hot wax falls on him and he takes flight. Psyche has to face a series of tests, at the end of which she becomes immortal and rejoins her husband.

A wonderful exhibition for all the romantics out there with the story told in English and Italian.

As well as the exhibition you’ll see  Psyche’s Room, The hall of the giants and The hall of the horses, all with beautiful, vivid frescoes – truly magnificent to behold!

For more information, visit Mantova City guide

Palazzo Ducale

Palazzo Ducale, Mantova
Palazzo Ducale, Mantova

The palazzo is a  complex of buildings built between the 14th and the 17th century for the noble family of  Gonzaga as their royal residence. The buildings are connected by corridors and galleries and have beautiful internal courtyards and wide gardens.

Courtyard, Palazzo Ducale
Courtyard, Palazzo Ducale

It includes around 500 rooms and occupies a huge area. Although most famous for Mantegna’s frescos in the Camera degli sposi (Wedding room), there are many other beautiful rooms including the Tapestry hall and Isabella D’Este’s apartment.

Make sure that you have a few hours to explore, and if you visit during winter, wear warm clothes as the palace is freezing!

Cari saluti …

Colleen

 

 

PS: Look forward to my next post with a few photos of Mantova

 

Marvellous Mantova

I love places that have an incredible history.
I love the Italian way of life.
I love the food. I love the people.
I love the attitudes of Italians.

                                    ~ Elton John

Palazzo Te, Mantova
Palazzo Te, Mantova with its beautiful frescoes

Mantova is a beautiful city just 40 minutes by train from Verona. Many people bypass this city but it is well worth a visit if only to sample the specialty of the region, Tortelli di zucca con burro e salvia a pasta dish prepared with pumpkin, served in a light butter sauce with sage… delicious!

Tortelli di zucca
Tortelli di zucca

After lunch, wander through the three beautiful piazzas which are adjacent to each other. Across the piazza Sordello you’ll find the Palazzo Ducale which was home to the powerful Gonzaga family for more than 400 years.

Palazzo Ducale, Mantova

The palazzo has around 500 rooms, internal courtyards and beautiful gardens. Although many of the rooms are closed there are wonderful galleries as well as the beautiful tapestry room and a mirror gallery. The lifestyles of the nobility in medieval times must have been sumptuous!

Gallery, Palazzo Ducale, Mantova
Gallery, Palazzo Ducale, Mantova

If gardens are your thing, hop on the city loop bus or take a 25 minute walk to Palazzo Te, a beautiful rennaisance building with extensive gardens.  The amazing frescoes, especially in the Sala dei Giganti (The room of the giants) are a marvel to behold!

Palazzo Te, Mantova
Palazzo Te, Mantova

The city itself is small enough to explore on foot and there are many beautiful buildings such as the Rotonda di San Lorenzo, built in the 11th century and the Teatro Bibiena, a fabulous example of rococo architecture and the theatre where the 13-year-old Mozart once performed. 

Gardens surrounding the Palazzo Ducale, Mantova
Gardens surrounding the Palazzo Ducale, Mantova

Marvellous Mantova, well worth a visit.

Buona visita! 

Colleen

Winter shopping in Verona

If shopping is one of your favourite things, you’ll love shopping in Verona. On the main thoroughfares like via Mazzini you’ll find everything from high fashion (think Versace, Prada, Max Mara and Trussardi) to chain stores like Sisley, Intimissimi and Goldenpoint  (a favourite of mine for socks and stockings).

High fashion, Verona
Alta moda, Verona

 

Winter gear for the well dressed man
Winter gear for the well-dressed man

There are also department stores like Zara and Coin – another favourite – which sells trendy gear as well as smart outfits for the mature woman (and man) as well as accessories, homeware and tons of other stuff.

Coin department store, Verona
Coin department store, Verona

The small avenues however, are where you’ll find unusual pieces, handmade articles and one of a kind treasures. The boutiques are brimming with piumini, coats, scarves and gloves and specialty stores sell everything from knives to christmas decorations, kitchen gadgets and handmade paper. Christmas gifts, trimmings and everything for the best laid tables are also to be found.

 

I am working through my christmas list, but there are so many choices and only one suitcase to fill.  Yet each day I return to Palazzo Gelmi with another treasure.

Winter shopping in Verona, Italy
A few of my favourite finds

Buon divertimento  …Isabella

 

 

Nelson Mandela, the end of a journey

Hello everyone!

Although Italy is a long way from South Africa, the death of Nelson Mandela has brought back memories of my birthplace and events which were a catalyst to my family’s emigration.  Having read a number of articles over the last few hours, I decided to share a piece I wrote whilst at university. It is a moment in time — an experience — that is stamped indelibly in my memory. And yes, I was one of the disenfranchised.

In protest statue of Nelson Mandela

South Africa, 1976

It  was the year when the illusion of passive acceptance and the thin veneer of apathy erupted. Latent frustration and anger over inequality and the loss of freedom simmered, gathered momentum, then boiled over in another generation of disenfranchised South Africans.

On a clear, sunny day in October 1976,  we filed outside to form orderly rows in front of the school building. There was an unaccustomed silence, broken only by the swish of cars moving along the freeway, the city’s artery to the distant plains and currently the heart of dissent and rebellion in Cape Town.

At the forefront, two seniors stood holding a large banner with the words ‘freedom from oppression’ in large black lettering. To the side, a few teachers stood quietly with Mr Ritchie, our sometimes feared, but greatly respected principal, looking dignified and upright as usual. The other teachers – white South Africans – stayed upstairs, out of sight; this was not their fight.

We waited.

Freeway drivers tooted their horns in support, but no-one stopped. People did not want to get involved. They did not want to be around when the anti-riot squad turned up.

And they would. We were expecting them.

Our only uncertainty was what would happen when they turned up.

Suddenly, one, two, a dozen army jeeps came to a screeching halt and what seemed to us to be the entire South African army, came pouring out. In camouflage gear and replete with gas masks, canisters and truncheons and brandishing menacing looking guns they formed a semi-circle facing us.

They were prepared to quell any uprising.

They aimed their guns at us whilst the leader shouted in Afrikaans – one of the tools of oppression we were protesting. The books in that language had recently served as fuel for the fires of protest at other schools across the city.

We stood, uncertain.

But also defiant.

Mr Ritchie stepped forward. Instantly, a dozen guns were trained on him. The leader now had a focus for his vituperation. Ostensibly out of control, or maybe just drunk with power, he shouted abuse at this dignified man, who in turn, stayed quiet and steadfast.  With no reaction from this quarter, the man gesticulated with his weapon, shouting that he wanted us to move inside.

At once, or else.

We had heard the stories and seen the destruction wreaked by these squads. To incite riots and then use tear gas and rubber bullets was a common theme. Students had been thrown from the second storey of a building and then tossed into the backs of trucks not a week before.

We knew that those tear gas canisters were real and that in an instant, our peaceful protest could deteriorate into a nightmare. Everything hinged on our reaction.

Mr Ritchie came toward us, his back to the guns, and in his usual quiet, measured tones said, ‘I want you to turn around and move back into the building in an orderly fashion’.

Nobody moved.

‘Now’, he said.

Guns may have been the language of the South African police but here, his word was law. We walked quietly back into the building. There would be no chaos here today, no tear gas or rubber bullets sprayed indiscriminately into an unruly crowd.

It had been a successful protest.

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 Rest in peace Nelson Mandela

Alla prossima …Isabella