MINI-BREAK: florence-bologna-ravenna-ferarra

for my 16th birthday present, my wonderful dad hired my dream car for the weekend: a royal blue smart car. so when the opportunity came around to actually drive one from rome to emilia-romagna (the 16th birthday treat was simply for passenger purposes), i jumped at the chance without 2 second's thought. in those 2 seconds, i may have considered: a) a lack of satellite navigation, b) the fact that i was driving from the middle to the top of italy on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the car and in a semi-automatic, c) italian drivers, d) the 15, 000 euro charge for every mile of the autostrada used, e) the fact i couldn't enter the centre of any historical city on wheels, f) the small, one way, impossible, cobbled streets of italian towns, g) my own temper, and h) the well-being of my companion. oh well.

first stop florence. this part of the journey felt as though it was being carried out on a cloud. it was 28 degrees, i was surrounded by beautiful italian campagna, i had chubby checker on volume level 20, an arm on the window, and a packet of haribo on the passenger seat. despite arriving an hour and a half late for my travelling companion (alarm clock had been set for 8pm that evening), i parked the car, hopped on the tram and before i knew it, i was standing in front of the duomo in florence in a summer dress with wet feet, an umbrella in my hand and a smile on my face. i have only been to florence once for five days, but i do feel as though i have been there, done that, got the 4000 photos. so it was nice to have the pressure off and just meander the streets, shops and churches of this beautifully clean and historical city. after seeing the fantastic sunset from san miniato al monte (above the piazzale michelangelo; much quieter up there and worth climbing a few more steps), gorging on red wine pasta and tiramisu at osteria de' benci (yum by the way), i was one satisfied ragazza.

arriving late that night to bologna, we appeared at the communal breakfast table the following morning to hear that we had both slept straight through an earthquake that was level 6 on the richter scale, whose epicentre was just kilometres away. apparently the hostel had been all over the shop and i hadn't even flinched. later that day however we got our comeuppance. whilst admiring one of the largest basilicas in town during sunday mass, a blood curdling scream in the congregation turned me into mufasa and the church-goers into a herd of water buffalo as everyone rushed to escape through the basilica's entrance. as well as aftershocks, we unfortunately felt the presence of nature in the grey skies and heavy rain in bologna. but we were the ones laughing as the continuous network of porticoes around the city kept us nice and dry. sort of.

the university, founded in 1088, is one of the oldest universities in the world. there is no doubt that bologna is a university town; with cheap eats, on-the-go piadina cafes and a young, buzzy vibe, it couldn't be doing anything else than accommodating student life. i have to be honest, nothing in particular wowed me massively but the city certainly has a lovely feel to it. one thing i did notice in bologna, was an abundance of circular niches. Usually placed high up on buildings, with figures leaning out of them as though from a round window, they reminded me of some roman tombs where the faces of the deceased are place into circular frames:

i even had a whack at it...

on sunday night we were recommended a fantastic restaurant si chiama 'osteria dell' orsa'. truly italian in both content and style, we chose from the two fresh pasta dishes on offer. on the one hand, little choice is good for me (aka the world's most indecisive person), but on the other hand, my food envy is out of control and so the fear of choosing the wrong one... pudding was a delicious tiramasu without the su. so just marscapone. washed down with a 7 euro litre of vino rosso we were as content as anything.

ravenna up next. having been told twice that it was a 30-40 minute drive away, we both felt fairly frustrated arriving 1 hour and 45 minutes after leaving bologna. borrowing the sat nav from our wonderful hostel owner seemed like a fantastic idea at the outset but if i ever hear the words 'gira a sinistra' once again i will 'gira a sinistra' and smack the closest person to me. sat nav feuds aside, our day in ravenna certainly morphed from miserable to marvellous. rain turned to sun, ghostly streets became glittering mosaics (on purchasing an 11 euro ticket that allowed us into 5 of the 8 unesco world heritage sites. can you believe that there are 8 in ravenna? beyond me...) and roman tombs became places in which to take a break (see below).
ravenna is an extraordinarily glorious place and i would advise anyone and everyone to visit. briefly the capital of the western roman empire (that is instead of ROME. big. bloomin. deal.) and then later the seat of the byzantine government in italy, ravenna is sweet and unassuming but its chapels, churches, baptisteries and mausoleums all have the potential to blow ya maind. trust me, mosaics aren't usually my cup of lapsang, but ravenna really is very spectacular indeed. and if you've had enough, make sure you get to the basilica of sant' apollinare nuovo where hidden within the tesserae is a fashion statement 14 centuries ahead of its time:

making it back to bologna through what i thought was the apocalypse (worst rainstorm i have EVER been caught in. and i'm english...) i then spent an hour and a half parking the smart car nearly killing a couple of men, a dog and my passenger on my way. lovely stuff.

tomorrow was to be even more of an adventure, we would climb one of italy's tallest towers (and a fairly precarious one at that) and we were to head into the epicentre of the earthquake...unintentionally. playing a fantastic game of 'would you rather your girlfriend had a moustache or hallitosis', we zoomed passed a sign saying 'sant agostino' with a red cross through it. low and behold we had passed through the epicentre of the earthquake and had only realised after flying out of the other side. yikes. arriving in ferarra it was hard to be so ignorant. there was red and white tape, JCBs and cracked walls everywhere. i felt like i had just walked onto a murder scene.
the city of ferarra really is beautiful and the water-filled moat surrounding the castle (one of the only few left in europe mind) is a wonderful focal point. finding a park, hopping on some swings and having a last platter of tagliatelle bolognese (traditionally not spag but tag. bet you didn't know that one. 'tag bol'? it could work), i prepared myself for the long journey back to roma.
other than stopping for tre caffe, listening to my cd 5 times on repeat and taking a wrong turning before getting to rome to a place called flaminia whose wooded lanes told me the only thing in the close vicinity was a cimitero or a cemetry, the trip went lovelily.

hercules beating the centaur nessus, loggia dei lanzi, florence.

a 21st century caravaggio no?

ponte vecchio at sunset, florence.

'a lactating nereid', or to a 21st century audience, a fembot. fountain of neptune, bologna.

basilica of san vitale, ravenna.

basilica of san vitale, ravenna.

sarcophagus fun.

gelat-i

gelat-ii

sant' apollinare nuovo, ravenna.

arian baptistry, ravenna.

arrivederci bologna.

UNA GITA: ostia antica

when i labelled this post 'rome-ing around... the rest of italy', i was really living up to my exaggerative reputation. ostia antica is as much 'the rest of italy' to rome as the uffizi is to florence. what i mean by this, is that you can reach ostia antica with a 1 euro metro ticket and a 20 minute train ride from piramide station on the blue line. molto facile. thus, i couldn't bring myself to title this post 'MINI-BREAK' but have instead entitled it 'UNA GITA' or 'A TRIP'; much more appropriate.

in mary beard's much talked about recent bbc series entitled meet the romans (mainly commented on by a. a. gill with regards to his controversial opinion of beard's appearance as a television presenter) , she takes a day trip to this well-preserved ancient harbour town which, in its heyday, formed strong and important connections between rome and the rest of its empire. [just a quick NB at this point, i was shocked to hear that italy imported ALL of its olive oil in ancient times? spain and north africa were the suppliers for this; and along with wood, leather, grain and dye, rome received this from its neighbouring town, ostia]. beard had significantly hyped up the city for me, telling me that it is unique in an every-day-roman-life aspect as opposed to the splendours of the imperial monuments and buldings that are dispersed throughout rome. now i don't know if it is because i have recently visited pompeii and herculaneum, or whether ruins have now become as mundane to me as zebra crossings, but i liked ostia; i didn't LOVE it. but i know that this is just because i am spoilt. from an objective perspective, for the 'ruin virgin' (...sounds a bit odd) it is a fantastic spot. a quiet, bird-tweety haven just outside of italy's version of bradford (ostia, the modern town, is reputed to be far from beautiful). its size and preservation in relation to its proximity to rome shocked me and certainly humbled what i thought was a sightseeing addiction, making me feel embarassed that this was the first time i had been here in seven months.

the incredible condition of the scavi did make me think, in relation to pompeii and herculaneum, how much difference actually did the lava preservation make to the towns? obviously they were anomalous in that they had been untouched since 79AD when excavations started (whereas ostia was extended, developed and inhabited up until the 18th century), but what we have with ostica antica is a roman town, not dissimilar to those that lay in the shadows of vesuvius; just minus the fiorelli casts and preserved eggs and loaves of bread. a strong hint to humankind's morbid interest as opposed to it's historical curiosity me thinks...

highlights for me involved morphing oneself into a statue by standing behind those beheaded by the papacy on the via delle tombe, the theatrical masks by the theatre, the insulae (or apartment blocks) which enable one to see the cramped living conditions for the majority of roman people, and of course the mosaics for which ostia is famous. unfortunately the large, impressive mosaics in the baths of neptune were covered by large sheets of tarpaulin, leaving the (albeit fantastic) mosaics in the portico by the theatre to constitute ostia's whole mosaic collection. the piste de resistance however, were the latrines. mary beard famously sits on these and talks about the romans 'all s****** together'. i thought i'd give it a go...

so all in all, i give ostia 7/10. a fantastic escape from rome's busy-ness (but then so are the baths of caracalla?), easy to get to, culturally enlightening and a great place to get some photos for the family album...

for both historical and practical information on the site, visit Ostia Antica. to watch mary beard's meet the romans, visit BBC iPlayer/Meet the Romans (only available to residents of the UK).

MINI-BREAK: venice carnival

if i'm going to heaven, please god, could this be it?

venice during carnevale is one of those things that if you haven't done in your life, there is no way you can be wholly satisfied. now i know carnival in italy finished over a month ago, but as you can probably tell from the few-and-far-between posts on my blog, i have been a busy bee. scusami. despite all of this, there is absolutely NO way i am going to ignore this wonderful three day trip, as it has been one of the major highlights of life in italy so far.

the word carnival (or carnevale in italian) is derivative of the latin words 'carne' meaning meat and 'vale' meaning farewell. so 'farewell to meat'... now this seems a fairly appropriate term for a festival that takes place in the pre-lenten period, after which roman catholics would traditionally abstain from pleasures such as meat, dairy and fruit. however, having spent three days in venice during this period, the word carnevale does not strike up the image of a meatless world for me. instead, i see MASKS, i see COLOUR, i see GLITTER, i see COSTUMES, i see another era, another sphere, a DREAM WORLD.

having nearly missed our flight because i forgot my beret, realising the lady checking our tickets at easyjet was someone i had met before, and then listening to some fantastic minibus tunes in our shuttle from the airport (michael sembello's maniac. could i have been given a better welcome?), we eventually arrived at a derelict campsite near venice. whilst checking in and receiving the keys to our 'cabin', it was comforting to hear that the two ladies in front of us had no blankets, no heating and wet beds. fearing the worst, we teased our door open to find a simple, tiny, dry and hot portacabin room. it wasn't the four seasons, but for 15 euros a night during high season and booked only one week before, who were we to complain. having had just a few haribo smurfs to sustain us during the easyjet flight, it was time we found a pizza. now, despite all of its conveniences (or should i say its one convenience: price), camping fusina was a sorry sorry place. heading to the 'camp restaurant' for a rather wooden pizza and a beer, we glanced into the fish bowl of a bar to see 19 year old germans dancing away in sparkly cowboy hats to flo rida's get low. it was 10 o clock on a friday night during carnival and you choose to dance here. oh dear. having learnt that the last boat back (yes, fusina was a 10 minute boat ride away from venice) was at 9.30, i excused them 5%. after all, we did learn the following night that it was as easy as pie to return to the campsite from venice late at night...ahem. with a full tummy, and after an unsuccessful trip to find the ladies with the cold, wet cabin with no blankets (we had about 15 in ours), i walked 5 minutes down the road to brush my teeth and settled in for my first night in northern italy.

DAY 1

and what a welcome...we were greeted off the ferry by this monochrome, two-faced lady. she was to remain my favourite costume of the whole weekend. the combination of this costume and a gondola winding its way down a canal on which a beautiful man sung the song 'santa lucia', both witnessed within the first 15 minutes of arriving in venezia, i knew that we were off to a good start. 

it was all just fantastic and i was blown away by the colourful, yet slightly eery (see eyes wide shut and you'll know what i'm on about) atmosphere of venice during carnival. but there was one problem: i didn't have a mask. both will and i, being dresser-uppers of high calibre, felt awkward in our own skin. after stopping for some breakfast with a kiss from a tranny on the side, I eventually found ‘the one’.
when it comes to choosing masks in venice, you'll just know. the plastic jobbies are sold everywhere, whereas the workshops are a little harder to find. both atelier marega (where will bought his) or la bauta (where i bought mine) provided us with fantassstic masks. you certainly pay for what you get. right next to the accademia bridge you will also find a brilliant piazza for purchasing outfits.
costumes and masks purchased, cameras started to turn on us. in one day i had turned from lucy to santa lucia (my masked alter-ego) and from a nobody to a star. this is stuff that only dreams are made of; it just shows you what a pouting face and a few feathers can do for oneself. this all being said, there are no two ways about it: masks are disconcerting things. every time i had my photo taken, i was smiling like an idiot behind my disguise. it got to the stage where i was fed up of looking so sad, and so i would lift up my mask when the camera was pointed so people knew that i was actually extremely happpppy.

although soaking up the atmosphere was our main priority, our cultural appetites needed satisfying before lunch. we headed to santa maria gloriosa dei frari (more commonly known as the 'frari'), costing us 1.50 with a student reduction (students, sure sure). we entered into this cavernous church which, without its magnificent tombs and paintings would feel soulless and hollow. immediately drawn to the tomb of canova, i had remembered this extraordinary design from my previous trip to venice. the hooded allegory of death and the beautiful lion of st. mark, connected by the lion's glance, complete this tomb for me.

a similar design had been drawn by the 18th century artist for a monument to titian, but the design had never been executed. so his pupils based canova's tomb on this original drawing by the artist himself. titian's tomb, which sits opposite to canova's, is less impressive. the relief which forms the back drop of the monument, depicting the assumption, can also be seen in oil on canvas in the apse of the church. this masterpiece by titian, along with bellini's madonna and child, is one of the main attractions of the church. the choir stalls by marco cozzi are also worth a ganders. in the side chapel where bellini's painting resides, there is a fantastic relief depicting the deposition of christ in which the figures, carved in deep relief, project out of the framework. make sure you also get a glimpse of the former monastery and its cloisters.

spending much of the rest of the day in st. mark's square admiring costumes and taking photos, we wound our way through the streets in search of one of these magical wine shops we had heard so much about. water bottles were refilled with local wines for as little as 2.10/litre. it was a miracle. unfortunately it was one we never witnessed and the closest we got was a plastic cup full of mulled wine. but we later realised that to find these nuggets of wonder you must head to campo santa margherita and calle de la bissa. instead we bought some wine, headed back to st. marks, and found some dinner. stumbling across open air live music post dinner was a real highlight and sue me for joining in with all of the other masked faces to dance by the canal side...

the journey home is actually not worth writing about. lets just say it consisted of a longgg walk, a crowed bus ride with an expensive mask in my hands, a 35 euro taxi, a grumpy lucy and a very patient will. never again were we to stay out later than 9.30...bar camp fusina it was for us from hereon.

DAY 2

unsurprisingly, we had a later start on the second day, and breakfast became lunch; and a fantastic one at that. i have never tasted buffalo mozzarella or olives like it. it was in a tinnnnny restaurant near the accademia gallery. vacci! after a short queue and making two new best friends, we found our way into the gallery, which had been shut in the morning for no reason at all. as we entered, we bumped into the israeli tour guide we had met the night before at dinner. what a small world venice felt in comparison to the large hub of rome. i hadn't remembered much from the accademia, and re-visiting it this time reminded me why. i think it is probably a case of being spoilt for choice museum-wise in rome, but despite a number of fantastic works of art, the museum didn't blow me away. it is currently undergoing massive restoration which might have something to do with the fact that we were unable to see titian's pieta and leonardo da vinci's vitruvian man; two of the major highlights in the gallery. the ceiling of the first room and a couple of the paintings did stand out however...


ceiling of first room. the
building used to be venice's
 school of painting.

jealous? no idea who this is by
but i thought it was highly
amusing. never seen a maddonna
and child like it.

this painting entitled la vecchia
portrays 'vanitas' (or the
reminder of death) through her 'talking face'
and the sign in her hands saying 'col tempo'
or 'with time'














but it wasn't these or the extensive bellinis and tintorettos that caught my eye; if anything i became immune to them after a while (spoilt?). instead, it was this painting by francesco hayez called distruzione del tempio del gerusalemme. looking at the painting, i was immediately reminded of the photos taken of the world trade centre on the 11^th September 2001. placing the images side by side may help to explain what I mean:

the smoking buildings and the falling people in both pictures are reminiscent of one other and the reasons for both incidents can be traced back to a conflict between religions. the two events are obviously not connected in the slightest but it was an interesting comparison I thought.

back to st. marks for more staring and more being stared at. this time, we found what seemed to be a sort of tea room (with your back facing the basilica, its on the right hand side of st. mark's). looking through the window was like looking into a time capsule. not just one person, but every single person in there was drinking tea and coffee and wearing period costume: wigs, dresses, suits and make-up. that was until the avatar popped his head inside for an espresso...

face paint on and ready to go (who needs to pay 5 euros for a butterfly over your eye when you could have this...), dinner called, and unfortunately so did the boat at 9.30...

DAY 3

today it was most definitely raining. the sort of day when you don’t want to be trekking across venice to the train station to leave your luggage before a day of activity. well that’s exactly what we did. however, this could not have been easier and is highly advisable if you have an evening flight/train. you catch the traghetto (ferry) up the grand canal and bob's your uncle you can leave your bags (and an arm and a leg) at the train station for the day. convenient but not cheap.

purchasing a lovely tartan umbrella which conveniently broke within the first 30 seconds of buying it, we heading into the jewish quarter of town, canareggio. stopping off at la casa del tintoretto, we made our way to my favourite church in venice, and arguably one of my favourite churches ever... it is called santa maria in assunto. it is a gesuit church and is found right in the northern part of the city. the intricacy of the green in-laid marble baffles me. i have still never seen anything like it and don’t think i ever will. every green pattern you see in the photo below (excluding some higher up which are painted) has been fitted into the surrounding white marble like a jigsaw piece. chucked out for il padre's lunch break, we only just managed to see this magical place which i cannot recommend more.

murano, on the other hand...

murano is an island near venice, well-known for its blown glass. neither of us had been there so we thought it a good idea to go, see what all the fuss was about, and have a bite to eat. and to be honest, other than the lunch (which was delicious) and a 3 minute glass-blowing display (during which we sat like lemons on tiered seating whilst a man stood there and recounted what was happening like a parrot) nothing really excited me...not even the glass. it turns out i like plane coloured glass in simple designs, so i may as well have gone to ikea to do my shopping. having said that, i was perhaps a bit carnival-sick and i'm sure that on the loveliest of summer days, murano would provide a lovely escape from the sweaty and narrow streets of venice...

on our return to st. marks by traghetto, we realised it was either half an hour in st. mark's basilica or an hour in the doge's palace before closing time; so we split forces. i headed into the palace and will to the basilica. now the palazzo ducale is something i could not recommend more. it was the pope's apartments at the vatican fused with buckingham palace...and on a much littler and more manageable scale. just fantastic. you are also able to cross the bridge of sighs which i didn't think possible. that was a real highlight, as well as seeing the prison cells on the other side where criminals from centuries past were sent after their fate had been decided in the palace's courts. the largest canvas ever painted (news to me) also casually resides in one of the rooms: tintoretto's paradise. the sala del maggiore consiglio in which it is displayed is the largest room in the palace and is certainly not to be missed.

so we were homeward bound. a traghetto to the station, a bus to the airport and an easyjet flight home. seating ourselves on the flight, we soon came to realise that our adventures were not yet over. one of the passengers on board had had a problem getting her hand luggage through the gate as it did not fit ‘within the dimensions’. we had screaming women, crying flight attendants, angry men in spotty bowties and then the WHOLE plane (and i am not exaggerating, the WHOLE plane) erupting into 'brute parole' when the argument reached its peak. nowhere else in the world would an argument like this take place on what is the world's most boring and non-eventful airline. thank you italy.

i love venice. it was my third visit and it never fails to amaze. a town surrounded and invaded by water; no cars, no motorinos, a fascinating and unique architectural image and a history that i still have a lot to learn about. perhaps i will have to go back next year...

for more information about the venice carnival, check out Venice Carnival Italy

and here are some more treats: