Let there be Light (bulbs)

Several days ago Amy walked into the bedroom and flipped the switch on the bedside table lamp. A bright flash and loud “pop” was followed by darkness and a groan. We had blown yet another light bulb. This not infrequent occurrence creates an adventure of epic proportions. Quite seriously, no two light bulbs are the same anywhere in our apartment unless they are in the same fixture, and even then it isn’t guaranteed. One side of the light in our kitchen glows blue while the other is more orange.

While it is true that there are enough lighting options in the US to take up an entire aisle at Home Depot, there are even more here in Italy. Nothing is standardized. There are at least two different sizes of screw in fixtures. You have frosted vs. clear. You have various wattages and even within the same type of base, wattage and coating you can have physically different sized bulbs depending on what fixture you want to put them in. Throw in fluorescents and LEDs and you have an even wider selection of options. The next layer of fun comes in finding a store that carries the bulb you need. Lots of places sell bulbs, but it usually means several stops to find the exact one you need or even one that will do the trick. Then, to add insult to the whole process, there is the cost. A typical 60W incandescent bulb runs $3.25. Bump that up to a fluorescent and it hits $8. We usually blow a bulb every few months. Is it any wonder that Italians don’t bother to replace them?

Our friends the H-P’s discovered over a dozen blown bulbs when they moved into their apartment last year. The school graciously agreed to pick up the 40+ euro tab for replacement incandescent bulbs.

Internet Mayhem

While I love Italy, no one would accuse me of being an over-the-top Italophile. Our most recent go’round with the internet has reminded me of the contrasts between Italy and our home in the US. With technology in Italy, if it isn’t one thing it is another.

It is interesting that Italy skipped an entire generation of information infrastructure. Cable TV never made it big here. The process of laying that much copper and later fiber optic cable was never really feasible. It isn’t as simple as stringing another wire on a transmission pole that somebody already owns. Here, all the phone and power lines are tacked in conduits to the exterior walls of houses and running cable through 18” thick stone walls is a whole different experience than drilling a hole through a wooden sill and sticking a cable through. Italians found it more effective to pull in a signal off of a satellite. When the internet went fiber optic, Italians were stuck. Fortunately for them, the pace of technological change meant that they quickly leapfrogged to pulling their data off of their cell phone/data provider. Even now, a fair fraction of Italian homes don’t have internet in the way we think of it. They either surf on handhelds or use a phone company data dongle in a USB port to work wirelessly off a lap/desk top.

As part of our job, SYA provides internet access. They do it through the use of antiquated HDSL connections. It is many steps better than dial-up, but still full of wonderful issues. To recap our experiences. When we arrived 19 months ago, the telephone number we had been assigned had been blacklisted for non-payment of their bill. Left hand, right hand, yada, yada. It took almost two weeks for them to finally figure out that was the case and promise to hook us up. But, that didn’t happen because it turned out our phone number was on a double secret black list since it was formerly a company that skipped on its bills. In the end, it took almost a month to finally get service. Why they couldn’t have just assigned us a different telephone number a week into the process, I don’t know. Then, a few months later we were suddenly without internet or phone. The bill hadn’t been paid, but no bill had ever been received. Typical Italian snafu. That happened a total of two times before the automatic, online billing finally got squared away. Each time we were without service for a week or more. Then, we moved to our new apartment in August. This time the modem was so old it had no wireless and ran on dial-up. Of course, the school had been paying for HDSL service for years, but previous occupants of the apartment hadn’t realized the wireless wasn’t working because they had been pulling in free wireless from the bar below us. Working through all of that took weeks, although we did have service most of the time through the aforementioned Break Bar.

That brings us to the most recent round of internet mayhem. A few months after we moved in, we arranged for a cleaning lady to come once a week for a couple of hours and help keep the place respectable. She does a great job, but we noticed that after every cleaning the internet would be down and it was usually quite a struggle to get it back. We finally figured out that she was unplugging the power strip with modem, computers, etc. to plug in the vacuum cleaner. I put a polite note on the strip asking her not to do that, and everything was fine for 3-4 weeks. Then, I got tired of having a piece of paper on the floor, so I picked it up and recycled it. Stupid me. This Thursday, the very next time she came, what did we find when we came home? A non-functioning modem, of course. This time it was messed up so bad that we couldn’t get it to reboot. Fortunately, our Resident Director’s wife was an internet tech geek/trouble shooter in a former life a decade ogo, and she managed to get us back online again last night after several rounds of calls to the phone company, which neither Amy or I could have done, reloading the software on our machines, internally resetting the modem, etc. I’m thinking of getting the Italian equivalent of the bumper sticker you used to see in the US and attaching it to the power strip. You know, the one that says, “If you can read this, you’re too close!”

Going without internet can be refreshing, IF it is intentional. We spent a fantastic three weeks in Peru and Argentina a number of years ago without missing it a bit. However, if you can’t get it and miss it, it is like being thirsty on a raft in the middle of an ocean. I was slowly adjusting to it: reading more books, taking walks, going to sleep earlier and even working on the computer without being connected. A few more days and I would have been OK with it. Now that I am back online, I am beginning to wonder if that wasn’t simply the Italian way of reminding me to slow down and enjoy life. In six months I will be in the US wishing I was back here, crappy HDSL and all.

Another Baby Step

I’m not sure what has changed. Perhaps it is a gradual wardrobe shift as our US clothes wear out and more Italian clothes are purchased. Perhaps it is the confidence we exude as we walk the streets. Perhaps people are just desperate for a friendly face among all the Italians. Whatever the reason, Amy and/or I have been approached on the streets of Viterbo and asked for directions twice in the past few days.

While we were walking back from the Mensa, a young couple asked us how to get to Porta Verita. Amy fielded the response, but I knew how to get there and even most of what to say to direct them there. Then, this morning, while walking up from school (which was canceled due to a half inch of wet snow which melted less than an hour later) I was asked how to get to the Prefetura. Much to my surprise, I actually know where that is and was able to give directions – in Italian!! Even better, the directions I gave will actually get the person there, unlike the vague, hand waving you get from the typical Italian. The icing on the cake? I discovered a few moments after going through it all, that the other person also speaks English.

It is still very slow going for me as second language acquisition is very hard for me. However, I am making progress, one baby step at a time.

La Befana

I doubt that I will ever truly understand the mix of paganism which permeates Christianity. No place is that more evident for me than the Viterbese celebration of Epiphany. I mean, please, what do you get when you cross a Halloween witch with Christmas? Why, la Befana. If you go to Google Translate, as I have been known to do, befana is Epiphany while la befana is the witch. Go figure! And, what better way to celebrate Epihpany than with a parade featuring a giant Christmas stocking, carried by witches and Fiat 500s!

The parade unfolds with a now familiar rhythm. Police whistles sound as the parking police clear the parade route, posted in advance with parking warnings. Almost every parade in Viterbo (and there are many) goes down most, if not all, of Via Cavour and Via Garibaldi. This time that is the entire route. A straight shot from Porta Romana to the Piazza del Plebescito. Next comes a small tempo group of drums marching along the parade route.

When we heard this, Amy and I exited our apartment and took up our position at the corner of our street at the intersection with Via Garibaldi. When we arrived the entire street was deserted, but within minutes the crowds had begun to arrive and there was quite a festive atmosphere a half hour later when the procession began by marching in reverse up along the parade route. The bearers, dressed as witches are preceded by a marching band and trailed by a small group of cars.

The witches are linked arm in arm, just as the faccini who carry the tower for Santa Rosa. Paying homage, tongue in cheek, mocking? Who knows? Once everyone arrives at Porta Romana, they arrange themselves and head back down the hill, this time escorting a giant, balloon filled sock supported on top of a dozen or so Fiat 500s. First up are 5 cars carrying witches throwing candy to the children along the route.

Next is the sock itself. This year’s creation is the longest yet at 53.2 m according to the local newspaper.

The witches who walk beside the cars are carrying long poles decorated as broomsticks which help support the portion of the sock which is suspended between the little cars.

Most watchers flood the street after the parade passes and trail the sock down to the piazza. However, Amy and I were done. We also did not participate the next day when the witch descended from a tower in the main square, throwing candy. Again, as someone passingly familiar with Christian traditions, I am baffled by the entire production. But, it is all good fun!

Bars

What better way to follow up a post on churches than with a post on bars. Coffee is something of a national religion in Italy. Last summer, as part of Caffeine, Amy attended a workshop on coffee and making the perfect cappuccino. You can go to school to learn to make it. While you can argue that there is such a thing as the perfect cup, 10 Italians will tell you 10 different detailed versions of what it takes to make it perfect. Those of you who have visited us have discovered that, while Amy drinks a lot of coffee, we rarely make coffee. That is because buying a cup is so inexpensive. In Viterbo, the standard price for a cappuccino is a euro.

Many Americans enjoy Starbucks. The creator of Starbucks took his inspiration from the cafes/bars of Italy. In a touch of irony, Starbucks has yet to open a store anywhere in the country which inspired it. The café is a neighborhood gathering spot. Every person has their favorite and is a regular somewhere. In addition to coffee, you can read a paper, buy a snack, get a panini or even get a drink. Our neighborhood has a high density of bars/cafes. There are no fewer than 8 bars within a few minute walk of our apartment. As you enter the Porta Romana walking toward our apartment you first encounter the Red Rose Café. I can’t tell you much about it since I can’t remember ever having been inside.

 

In the same small piazza is the Café San Sisto. It is basically at the end of Via Vetulonia, where we lived last year, and Amy would stop whenever her first business of the day took her outside the walls. She stopped there this morning on our walk to the supermarket.

Further down Via Garibaldi you come to Caffe Bagaglino. It is right around the corner from our current apartment and is one of the few cafes which is open on Sundays, making it a regular stop for Amy.

Closer to home, in fact directly under our apartment, is the Break Bar. We don’t frequent it as much as we used to since, while Amy preferred their iced cappuccino during the summer, she’s not so keen on their regular one at this time of year. Whenever our internet connection goes down, we log on to the free wireless signal from the Break Bar. It is that close.

As you continue down Via Garibaldi, now heading away from our apartment, you come to the Fontana Grande and Bar Movie. This used to be Dick’s a.k.a. Ciocolini and was Amy’s go-to-bar until they closed over the summer. By the time they reopened under new management, the honeymoon was over and she had moved on. They will eventually win back customers, but they lost a huge slice of business since it was also previously the favorite of many SYA students and faculty.

Once again, there is a second bar in the same piazza. Bar 103 occupies a corner spot on the other side of the fountain. This bar also closed and reopened recently. It currently seems to attract a large number of eastern Europeans and does more of its business late in the day when alcohol is more likely the beverage of choice. It was formerly known as the “Bad Bar”, because it pretty much sucked, but it is better now and a few of our students call it home since it is relatively close to the school.

Directly across the street from the school is the Caffe Cavour. It used to be “The Place” to go to have coffee for SYA, but a few years ago it changed management and has become known as the “Sad Bar”. Still, it is so convenient that a few of our students flit across the street during break to grab a cup.

Around the corner, no longer on Via Cavour but within spitting distance, is Happiness Café. Happiness opened this summer and became an instant hit. They have a huge sitting area, fast service and friendly servers. By the way, as far as I can tell, Italians have no idea what a barista is so don’t bother to go there!

This is Amy’s current favorite. She went there today when we were fruit shopping for her second cup of the day. Did I say Amy drinks a lot of coffee?

A couple of obvious themes arise. There are lots of cafes and they change management often. It is a cutthroat business, but if you can build your clientele of regulars who call it home, you can definitely make a go of it.

Churches

Those of you who know me reasonably well realize that I am an agnostic bordering on an atheist. I certainly have no use for organized religion of any type, be it Christian, Muslim, etc. I freely admit there are questions which aren’t answered and perhaps can’t be answered, but I feel no need to fill that void with a belief in a divine being.

Drop me in a Catholic country, even one which isn’t nearly as devout as most of the church leaders would like, and what do you get? The number of churches in Italy is staggering. From the simple to the richly ornate, from the large to the tiny, from the ancient to the modern, it can all be found. My first response during our time here was to be effectively overwhelmed. Every church you go into offers a vast visual experience. Many in the smaller towns and cities such as Viterbo are bare and gray. There has been little time or money spent on their upkeep and there is an air of despair. Others such as the Duomo at Orvieto is as ornate as they come. The iconography bombards your senses. What is depicted in that fresco? Who is that a statue of? What is the symbolism of that mosaic? Is Jesus wearing anything in that one? Over time, I became numb to the experience. Been there, done that, times 100 or maybe it was times 1000. I was all churched out.

However, since our return this summer, I have found myself in a more contemplative mood and have gradually found a use for churches. They provide an oasis of calm. A place which is cool in the summer and warm in the winter. A spot where nobody bothers you if you stop and sit for a few minutes with your eyes closed or just staring at all the artwork around you. I can accept that opportunity without being troubled by all the rest of the mystical beliefs and goings on which accompany the space. This most recent trip brought a few more opportunities to visit churches. San Pietro in Vincoli provided an opportunity to view the Michelangelo’s masterpiece of Moses, the famous Moses with horns.

It is part of what was planned to be a much larger grouping. While the horned head is a traditional view of Moses following his conversation with the Lord, the Latin Vulgate translation of the Hebrew provided by St. Jerome might have mistaken. The term radiant or with a halo is argued to be a better translation.

While San Pietro in Vincoli is quite famous, there are hundreds of churches in Rome which the casual visitor seldom sees. We happened upon Santa Maria in Portico in Campitelli and went in for a look around and a few minutes of quiet contemplation in the warm space.

Aventine Hill

Our second day in Rome found us revising our theme of ancient sites. Max expressed an interest in seeing some of the green spaces of the city. The ancient city of Rome was built upon 7 hills which were all inside the original city wall. The two most frequently visited are the Capitoline, where we were the day before, and the Palatine. Unfortunately, or perhaps not, the Palatine can only be visited as part of the archaeological site. It is the place where the Emperors built their palaces and homes.

We set out, winding our way past the Roman Forum and Colosseum and entered the Aventino, home of the third most visited hill of Rome, the Aventine Hill. On our way there we passed the Circus Maximus, a huge, open field which originally housed a chariot race-course with seating for 150,000 spectators. While not much remains of the original structure, they are undertaking excavations and it appears as though there will eventually be some sort of visitor site at the eastern end.

The circus is in a small valley between the Capitoline and Aventine Hills. Ruins of the lower portions of the palaces on the Palatine are easily seen as you begin up the slopes of the Aventine.

The Aventine Hill is actually quite small. In ancient times it was a place where many foreigners lived, including many Greeks who visited. It is still has a distinctly foreign flavor and is one of Amy’s favorite places in Rome. The Parco Savello, an orange grove next to the Chiesa di Santa Sabina, offers some of the best views of the city you can find. The Tiber flows just under the base of the park.

The waters are still quite high, but have receded somewhat from the flooding seen a month or so ago. At least now the bicycle path which borders the river isn’t flooded. From there you also get a very nice view of the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica.

One of the unique views of the city is found a few doors down from Santa Sabina at a building owned by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Looking through a keyhole in the door, you see a tree lined path which looks out over Rome and provides a perfectly framed view of St. Peter’s Dome. Thus, you are able to view three sovereign nations through a single keyhole. Pretty nifty, but damnably hard to get a decent picture of due to the multiple layers of focus and the fact that you are shooting through a literal keyhole with a line of people impatiently waiting behind you. We wound our way off the hill

and headed for the street market at the Porta Portese. This famous market is held only on Sunday’s and we timed our trip to be able to see it. It was, unfortunately, a complete bust. It was essentially the Viterbo Saturday market on steroids. I guess if you were looking for that kind of stuff you wouldn’t have been disappointed, but we were. A bus ride along the river brought us to L’Orso 80, our favorite lunch spot, for their antipasti extravaganza. We followed that up with a stop at Giolitti, a well known gelateria near Piazza Novona.

A stop by the Piazza di Spagna to see the Spanish steps and a walk home completed our day.

Ancient Rome

We decided to spend the final two days of Emily’s visit in Rome. It made for a convenient return trip to the airport for them and meant that we didn’t have to try to find another time to see the city. While it is true that they were interested in seeing most of the same sites as our other guests, they also had a number of different requests and a bit more time to get everything done. So, we packed up our bags and took the mid-morning train from Viterbo, arriving at Ostiense a few minutes before noon and making our way by subway to the Hotel Orlanda near Termini, the main train station for Rome. We headed out to lunch and a trip to the ancient sites, stopping along the way to mail some postcards. Yes, they might eventually get there in anywhere from one to six weeks. We do have the pictorial evidence, but don’t hold your breath waiting.

We spent quite a bit of time near the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. Here is a picture of the ladies in front of the Arch of Constantine with the Flavian Amphitheater in the background.

Instead of just cruising past the ruins, we decided to climb the Capitoline Hill and saw some of the forum which we don’t usually get much of a look at, even at those times when we go into the ruins themselves. Here we have the Portico of the Dei Consenti, near the base of the Capitoline museum.

Next is the Column of Phocis, the remains of one of the individual columns and pieces of temples which jut up from the sunken area of the dig site.

Finally, a picture of the Arch of Septimius Severus, one of the three arches in the area. The other two are the Arch of Constantine, pictured earlier, and the Arch of Titus, shown in a post from last year.

After our trip around the forum, we stopped at the Theater of Marcellus which has some interesting “modern” apartments on top of the original theater structure. Modern is relative, since the living space was added in the 16^th century. The land for the theater was cleared by Julius Caesar, the building was done on the orders of Augustus and it is named in honor of Augustus’ favorite nephew who died before its completion.

To round out our tour of the ancient sites for the day, we stopped by the Pantheon, but were denied entry due to an imminent mass which none of us desired to see. We finished off by visiting Piazza Navona, now famous for its fountains and Christmas fair, but originally the site of the Stadium of Domitian and was originally used for athletic contests, such as foot races. We headed back to our hotel, footweary and ready for dinner.