My Aunt Sissy, Sylvia Kaplan (nee Lotz), passed away last night. We got a call from her neighbor and dear friend, Laura, urging us to come to Coney Island Hospital where she had been taken in an unfruitful effort to revive her. She died peacefully and suddenly after spending a lovely day with her aide Norma. They had been cooped up inside for the past several days while the heavens poured out unending rain. But yesterday was clear and they spent several hours sitting on the green commons outside her Warbasse apartment in Brighton. Sissy was in a wonderful mood and greeted friends and strangers alike. She loved little children and a neighbor, Elena, was there with her kids and Norma said that Sissy was energized by talking to them. That evening she gave Sissy dinner "which she ate well and plentifully" and then washed her and put her to bed where she passed away, literally, in her arms.
Cory and Sissy at the Brooklyn, Botanic Garden April, 2009
I have memories of my aunt that go back to my earliest years. Married to my mom's youngest sibling, Seymour Kaplan, she lived in Brighton Beach in a small bungalow on one of that neigborhood's unique little passages: Brighton 3rd Place - it was more of an alley than a street. But the family lived happily there and their two children, my cousins Cory and Jay, grew up there, played, made lifelong friends and attended the neighborhood schools. Around the corner on Brighton 4th Street lived Grandma Lilian ("Bunya") and Grandpa Sol ("Zuzick"). So we were there often.
Standing out in my memory are the numerous birthday parties for Jay and Cory; barbecues in the front yard with the extended family all around and we kids racing up and down the path that fronted the house.
My mom adored her younger brother Seymour and counted him and Sissy among their close friends. In later years Sissy and Seymour lived in Manhattan Beach for a time and that relationship was even closer - mutual visits and lots of nights out at a favorite diner. The kids, of course, were long gone in those years - the 80's into the 90's - so Stacey and I, living in Manhattan Beach as well, didn't see them but contact was maintained though not as frequently.
In recent years, after Seymour's demise with a terrible bout of cancer and with Jay and Cory living far away, Stacey and I and a niece, Ellen, on Sissy's side of the family, looked after Sissy and dropped in on her frequently. There were many dinners and lunches or just outings. When Sissy had mostly lost her sense of taste we introduced her to Indian cuisine with its strong flavors and she enjoyed that. I remember a birthday party at our favorite Indian restaurant in Bay Ridge. Her boyfriend in those years was Hy who we included in our outings. Hy, too, passed away but Sissy continued on and had many good years.
She lived in the Warbasse development of high rises in West Brighton. She still went to the Brighton Baths which was a wonderful social environment that nourished both Seymour and Sissy with friends and activities. After it closed, she joined a beach club in Sea Gate and continued her socializing there. That was given up in more recent years as she aged and her health deteriorated somewhat.
In these last few years, Sissy began to lose her memory and her health continued to fade. There were injuries and falls, a broken hip and elbow and more memory loss and confusion. So it goes. But through it all there was a very sweet woman with a calm demeanor who was always happy to see us and greeted us with a smile and a kiss. We knew it was a genuine affection for us when we visited - it wasn't just a smile pasted on for effect.
I'm fortunate to have celebrated her 91st birthday with her just a week or so ago and that's how I will remember her: smiling, cheerful and happy to see me. When we made a sad farewell last night, viewing her lifeless body at the hospital, I was overcome with an intense sadness, realizing that death is so final - I would never see my dear Aunt Sissy again. We will miss her, almost the very last of her generation in our family. We miss her already.
To see a collection of photos of Aunt Sissy go here.
Our for Pizza at Il Fornino in Williamsburg. March, 2008.
-- Nov 16, 2010
from American Airlines flight No. 199, en route to New York from Milan.
We ended our Italian trip with a four day stay in Italy’s fashion and business center, Milano. You'll remember that we began our sojourn two weeks ago on November 2nd, landing in Milan’s Malpensa airport and then immediately boarding a plane for Palermo on Sicily. We joined our friends, Ellen and Brian in sharing a rental apartment in the ancient town of Modica in southeast Sicily - this trip was to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. After spending a week with them, Stacey and I drove off of Sicily and onto the Italy's mainland where we drove from the her toe to her heel; i.e. the region of Puglia. Though small in area, Italy has a wide diversity of culture and geography and we were able to savor a few of them with great delight over the course of two weeks.
What can we say about Milan? We loved it. Coming from New York, we felt very much at home in this great Italian metropolis. For sure, there are vast differences. New York is tall and vertical. Milan is decidedly low-rise. And New York is not very old and changing its skyline almost daily it seems. Milan has been around a long time and even though it suffered much destruction from Allied bombs during World War II, it still feels and looks like an old, if not ancient, European city. New York City, and Manhattan in particular, are laid out on a grid. Not so Milan, whose streets emanate from Il Duomo in concentric fashion and then become a mumble-jumble of chaotic confusion where the name of a street changes at a whim as you travel along it.
But what really ingratiated itself to us was the electricity and rhythm - the vibrant buzz of the city. Milano is so alive! People are out and about, on foot, on bike or scooter, in the trams and buses and yes, alas, in their cars that clog the streets and foul the air. Italians do love their cars but at least they sip gas rather than devour it as do ours.
This is decidedly not a city of the working class. Milan is a bourgeois town and it's decorated with the iconography that announces it: the stock market is here and it is the banking and business center of the country. Here is the Quadrilatero della moda high-fashion district with the retail temples of Versace, Chanel, Fiorucci, Prada and Dolce and Gabbana. These are the designers for Italy's ruling class with prices that only the very wealthy can afford. Progessive politics is not very evident here - no graffiti demanding peace or victory for working people - as it might be in other Italian cities where the Left is stronger. No, this is the city of Berlusconi and his far-right partner, Fini (the former’s brother owns the major newspaper and Berlusconi, of course, owns virtually all the broadcast media throughout the country).
But it is also the most ethnically diverse city in Italy - with many Chinese and other Asians, Africans and Arabs evident in the neighborhoods that we walked through. As such, Milan has a more cosmopolitan and international feel than other Italian cities we’ve been to on this trip and before. It has an eclectic architecture - due to the devastation of the war - with an elegant mix of 19th and 20th century buildings. The apartment houses downtown, evidently home to wealthier Milanos, are elegant and substantial with their carved stone facades, corbelled terraces and grand doorways. The palazzi of former royalty surround Il Duomo and inform us that this is a neighborhood of the very rich and powerful.
Because it’s the center of design and fashion, the Milanese dress accordingly. We never saw a t-shirt on a man in a restaurant. Always, a buttoned shirt and a sweater as a minimum. More often, jackets and ties. Rarely jeans and sneakers.Women, too, are dressed formally and fashionably The retail shops, and particularly the clothing stores, are very avant, showing off their wares as if they were works of art. And food? Every few feet, another eating establishment - pizzeria, bar, café, ristorante, osteria, salumeria, frommageria and so on. Again, oozing luxury and elegantly designed to beckon one within. By the way, we never had a bad coffee in all of Italy - we drank café espresso (which we do at home as well) and it was always excellent, even at a gas station on the autostrada. The same goes for Italian tomatoes which, in every instance, exploded with flavor in their salads, pastas and pizza. The food throughout our trip was always high quality in taste and preparation and I often wondered why that’s not true in our country as well. Mostly, it seems, because small establishments still exist in Italy, throughout the country in small towns and big cities alike, where our cuisine has come to be dominated by the huge fast food chains and all that portends for the food we ingest.
Milan’s transit system is a thing of beauty. We’ve learned that this is true throughout Europe which, by and large, did not destroy their trams and trains in favor of the auto and truck. While we’re paying for that reckless lack of planning at home, Europeans have access to modern mass transit now as they have always had in the past. Our hotel, which was in a residential neighborhood on the outskirts of the city, was very convenient to the centro historico (historical center) via the No. 12 tram which stopped right on our corner. What a delight! It woved its way slowly, but methodically, downtown, passing one interesting neighborhood after another. With our 24-hour billetto (ticket) we were able to hop-on and hop-off as we pleased - and we did, riding and walking and exploring wherever we wanted. Other choices included a subway ride or a bus, part of an extensive system that covers the entire city and beyond to the surrounding metropolitan area.
And bicycles, once again, were in good use. Not, perhaps, nearly as much as in other European cities. But Milanese of all ages and classes use them quite a bit to get around easily; to avoid the traffic jams and to reach areas not serviced by a tram or bus. We saw elderly men and women, hip young women and businessmen in suits with briefcases, all cycling here and there on errands or on their way to work or wherever. The city also provides many locations to rent, very inexpensively, so-called city bikes that can be picked up at one spot and returned to another - a very convenient way to get around. Still, unlike even New York, there are few, if any, bike lanes and the streets are very often paved with large cobblestones and inlaid with tram rails, making, it seemed to me, a somewhat hazardous place to ride a bike.
We walked – a lot! That may be our saving grace as we ate much more than we are accustomed to. We must have walked quite a few miles each day that we were in Milano. From the Duomo to the Poldi Pezzoli museum; from the Centro to the Coin department store a while away; from one side of Parco Sempione to a hip bar scene near the Arca della Pace on the park’s other end – we walked and walked and walked. At the end of each day, yes - we were tired!
So, we loved Milan - even with our critical outlook of its fashion, banking and business demeanor. We love cities and the social cooperation that they foster and so we loved Milano for its city-ness; we loved it for its vibrancy, its big city feel, its elegance and for its people who, like people everywhere, were friendly and always willing to give directions and advice when asked by a tourist in need. We’d return again without hesitation.
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Now for some highlights, in words and pictures of our four days in Milan. By the time you read this, we will be back in Brooklyn - the joy of travel and our Italian trip will soon become a memory. One reason for writing about our travel is to commit our experience to paper something a bit more firm than my fleeting memory. This serves my purpose but I hope you’ve enjoyed reading, and travelling, along with us as well.
Buon giorno e ariverderci! Ciao, ciao! - Matteo
Day 1, Friday -
We arrived from Bari by plane to Milan’s Malpensa airport and rode into town and our hotel on the Malpensa Express - a train ride to Milan’s center. Our hotel, however, was not downtown - that kept expenses within reason since Milan is one of the ten most expensive cities in the world and Italy’s most expensive. We debarked the train at the Bovisa station, couldn’t find a taxi easily so we walked to the hotel - a big, and very tiring, mistake. We reached our hotel, luggage in tow, some 40 minutes later. That might have been easier a few years ago.
After a long nap, we ventured downtown, catching the No. 12 tram on our corner. It took us to the historic center and Milan’s marvelous cathedral: Il Duomo.
Our first glimpse of Milan's Duomo - was this an appartion of the night? Remember that you can click on any photo to see it clearer and larger.
Tonight was just for a first look. Tomorrow we'll explore the Duomo with a bit more energy.
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is a covered arcade built in grand style between 1865 and 1877. It connects the Duomo and La Scala plazas and is an incredible monument in its own right. It's filled with all the names of Italian high fashion and very fancy restaurants, shops and bars. Breathtaking just to see it or stand within and look up and around!
A place to see and be seen: the famous Milan Galleria - the progenitor of today's shopping malls. Built from 1865-77.
That's the famous La Scala opera house. Click any photo to see it larger.
We walked around the Duomo and La Scala plazas and then started off, following the GPS-Google map on my Blackberry. Our destination was about a mile away - Ristorante Maruzella. We would meet up with our friends Ellen and Brian who we had spent almost a week with on Sicily earlier in our trip, This was our first night in Milan but their last - they were flying back to Washington the next day.
Our firt night in Milan was Ellen and Bran's last night in Italy. We met them for dinner at a very popular pizzeria that they had been eating at over a few days: Ristorante Maruzella.
Our very friendly pizza maestros at Maruzella.
After dinner, posing in front of an elaborately-carved door of an apartment building.
Day 2, Saturday -
We again rode downtown, getting of the tram and walking through some neighborhoods near the Piccolo Theater. The streets were abuzz with people out and about for the weekend. Flea markets were here and there and the shops were open and beckoning buyers with beautiful displays of their wares - clothing, knicknacks, furniture and, always, food, food, food.
Press PLAY for a Milano street scene video.
Signs at many tran stops inform you when the next one will be arriving.
It's not Amsterdam, but bikes are plenty popular and used by all ages to easily get around town. Still, with cobbled streets and trolley tracks -- I wouldn't feel particulaly comfortable. A view from our tram as it passes Parco Sempione.
There are flower vendors everywhere.
Elegant apartments in downtown Milan.
One of the older tram cars. Some date from the late ‘20s, are well maintained and are beloved by Milan's riders.
A scooter store with a Vespa 150 in the window. I have always loved Italian design - classic!
Milano downtown - elegant apartment houses.
We walked until we reached Il Duomo and took in its grace and majesty again - this time in a gray daylight (it’s rainy season in Italy). It’s an amazing work of art, begun in the 1300's and not completed until the 1960's! As such, it’s quite an amalgam of different eras and architectures and architecturally controversial in that regard. What do we know -- to us, it just seemed magical.
Il Duomo.
Detail of Milan Duomo. Click to see larger & clearer.
Interior - altar and aisle, Milan Duomo.
We left the Duomo and walked north to the Brera district with its restaurants, shops and hi-fashion streets. We were hungry. Our hotel did not include breakfast so we were searching out a tourbook recommended eatery: Obiká, billed as the world’s first mozzarella bar. On Saturday they offered a buffet and it was fabulous. Along with four or five different mozzarellas made from the much-praised and admired milk of the buffalo, there was Italian salami and prociutto, arugola and tomato salads, potatoes (yes, potatoes - which were on the menu in virtually every restaurant we ate in throughout Italy - fried or roasted), pasta, soup and lots of pastries and fruit for desert.
On Saturday, our first full day in town, we had lunch at Obiká, billed as the world's first "mozzarella bar."
Milan street scene: bike, tram tracks cobbled pavement.
One of Milan's most famous salumieria (salami store) - Rossi and Grassi on Via Ponte Vetero. Mouth watering!
We headed back to the hotel and rested - we’ve discovered that travelling at 62 and 64 is not as easy as it used to be. However, that night we tried to recapture our youth by heading to one of the city’s hip bar areas where large portions of free aperativi are served along with your drinks - but, after a long walk along Parco Sempione to the Arca della Pace, we found the hip places there too young, too crowded, too smoky (oh boy! do they smoke!) and too noisy for our squarer tastes. It was quite late already - about 10:30 - when we finally found a quieter and very lovely place, the Ristorante de Nuova Arena, just off the park and we shared a delicious pizza and salad and then made our way back to the hotel, not with the greatest of ease - it was late and the trams were on a reduced Saturday night schedule, so we waited and waited and ... it finally did arrive. An adventure for sure.
Heading out again on Saturday night. We’re catching the No. 12 tram - right on the corner of our hotel on Via Villapizzone. This is one of the old cars - charming.
5782 Stacey on an old No. 12 tram. Charming.
Day 3, Sunday -
It was a drizzly, gray day but surprisingly mild in the mid 50s. Because of the rain we decided to take in one of Milan’s museums and we headed to the Poldi Pezzoli, east of Il Duomo. The museum was named after a wealthy and royal collector of the 19th century and is housed in his former palazzo. Much of the interior has been renovated to make it more accessible for use as a museum. But some of the groom still have the grandeur and furnishings of the former palazzo. It was a graphic display of the incredible wealth of yesterday’s (and today’s) aristocrati rulers. The museum was presently running an exhibition of the great Italian master, Botticelli and included two of hist most famous works.
Press PLAY to watch Pinnochio play some music in Piazza Cordusio.
A Botticelli exhibit at the Poldi Pezzoli museum. The museum is in a beautiful palazzo owned by a wealthy Milanese collector of art. This is the Madonna of the Book.
Botticelli's masterpiece: the Lamentation over the Dead Christ.
After the museum, we perused the famous Quartolateral fashion district, so-named because its rectangle is defined by four thoroughfares. Here were the big names of fashion, in shops that oozed the extravagant and avant garde designs that have made Milan one of the centers of fashion and design.
Walking through Milan's high fashion district, the so-called Quadrilatero della moda (quadrilateral of fashion). Prices are as outrageous as the fashions themselves. Who wears this stuff? Click the picture to see it larger.
Handbag envy.
Ogling Dolce & Gabbana in the rain on Milano's famous Via della Spiga.
After our walk through fashionista alley we headed, via subway this time, to a neighborhood southwest of the Duomo - the Navigli. This part of Milan contains the remnants of canals, now drained and no-longer used, that were designed by Leonardo DaVinci to enhance commerce in the city. The neighborhood is one of the city’s new, young and hip areas, filled with bars, cafes and shops. That reminded us of New York which, it seems, constantly reinvents itself with new, vibrant neighborhoods. At the same time, we wondered if the same process of gentrification in our neighborhoods that displaces poor residents with new, well-heeled ones is at work in Milan and concluded that it probably is.
Having not fared so well the previous evening, searching for Milan’s aperativi during their version of happy hour, we were willing to try again at a bar touted for the some of the best (free) appetizers in town. And we found them at Le Biciclette (The Bicycles), a very modern bar, decorated with bicycles and bicycle wheels. The place was empty at 6:30 when we showed up. The crowds don’t show up until 7:30 or so and these places, as we had learned the night before, get really hot and packed at eight or nine and into the wee hours.
At the Navigli - canals, now drained, that were designed by Leonardo to improve commerce in the city. Previously seedy and run down; now hip and youthful with lots of shops and eateries.
Sunday night "dinner" was in the Navigli where happy hours means lots of free aperativos when you buy a drink and hang out. A Milano tradition. This place, decorated with bicycle ephemera was called, naturally enough, Le Biciclette - The Bicycles. Click photo to see larger.
On our way back we took the tram and, while waiting for it, I shot this photo of Milan’s rain-soaked streets.
Day 4, Sunday -
This was our lazy day and our last day in Milan. It rained, fairly hard and steadily, most of the day. We had to pick up a few more gifts for our grandchildren so Stacey suggested we visit an Italian department store and our No. 12 tram would take us all the way there without any switching and standing in the rain waiting for the next one to come along. We were going to check out the Coin (Cohen’s) department store, a ubiquitous Italian chain. We took the tram to striking distance and then got off because, again, the neighborhood looked interesting and we still had the explorer itch in us. We walked several blocks and came across the Camera Dei Lavori Milanese - it was the headquarters for one of the trade union confederations in the city. Just around the corner was a pizzeria that was crowded with people - usually a good sign - and we entered the Ristorante Porta Vittoria. The joint was filled with people from the union hall and the staff was friendly and welcoming. The food was also welcoming - very! We shared another pizza and a plate of risoto ai porcini e branzino. Wonderful on both counts. A cute waitress tried out her English on us and I tried out my Italian - her attempts were much better than mine.
On our way to Coin (in English - "Cohen"), the Italian Department Store, we found this restaurant next to the trade union headquarters and frequented by thir workers. We had a superb risotto with porcini mushrooms and branzino and a great pizza (is there any other kind in Italy?)
We thought that that would be it for food on our last day and went back to the hotel and a long rest. But we’ve found out that the more you heat the hungrier you get. Why? So I fired up the laptop and Googled our hotel and searched the environs for a restaurant. The hotel staff had told us that there were none since we were in a residential neighborhood. But how wrong they were! We had dinner at L’imagine Bistrot, just a few minutes walk away, and what a treat that was! First, the effusive welcome when we walked in and then at our table with clementines and oranges, wonderful crusty bread and marinated sun-dried tomatoes that the owner had prepared. Next two glasses of sparkling prosecco were brought to the table. After the risotto for lunch, Stacey decided she had to have a bit more, so we ordered the Milanese version which adds saffron to the mix - Oh -- So good! This was a meat restaurant so I ordered the tagliata di bisteca - tender and tasty steak cut in strips with an arugala salad and the omnipresent roast potatoes on the side. Great also. “No desert please” I demurred. So they sent a bottle of limoncello, cookies and a dish of peanuts and almonds to the table instead. Then, as we parted company, the young owner insisted that we have a glass of grappa with him ... which we did. Then we sort of staggered the few blocks back to our hotel. It was a memorable night out, and perhaps the best dinner of our trip, though that’s hard to say, food in Italy being so good..
L'Imagine Bistrot - a gem of a restaurant and a 4 minute walk from our hotel.
Besides wonderful food, a very warm welcome with fruit, sundried tomatoes, crusty bread and prosecca - all courtesy of the house. This was our last night in italy.
Day 5, Tuesday -
Today we rose early at 5:30, brought our luggage to the lobby and called a cab which came promptly. We asked to be brought to the Bovisa station where we’d catch the Malpensa Express train to the airport. But the driver promptly informed us, in broken English, that the train was not running due to electrical problems. He could drive us the 30 miles to the airport for the fixed fee of 85 Euros. My New York City antennae went up - were we being scammed? He seemed so nice and genuine. But when he said he would cut the fare to 80 Euro I knew we were being had. “No, just take us to Bovisa station and then wait for us,” I told him. Stacey went inside to find out the status of the train. Sure enough, it was running. There were no problems. It was a sad little coda to an otherwise wonderful few days in Milan. There’s always one bad apple.
This was Stacey’s fifth trip to Italy and my fourth. We’ll probably come back again - it has the perfect blend of ingredients that make travelling so rewarding - beautiful scenery, great food, wonderful people. Then again, there is that book: “One Thousand Places To See Before You Die.” Thanks for travelling with us. Until the next time.
We left Lecce on Thursday, with regrets, because it's a romantic and beautiful Italian town that we rapidly became attached to. With its graceful streets and beautiful architecture and its college town atmosphere, it's the kind of place one can relax in and feel very much at home fairly quickly.
I did promise you in my last post, a few more pictures of Lecce's most impressive Baroque building - the incredible Basilica di Santa Croce (Basilica of the Holy Cross). You may have already peaked at those pictures on my SmugMug site but in case not, here's one or two to gawk at. Gawk is what we did when we first came across this amazing church. As my sister-in-law Lori wrote to me - "it's spectacular but almost ungapatchka "(to use an Italian phrase.)
And the first prize for the craziest Barocco Leccese architecture goes to.... La Basilica di Santa Croce (The Basilica of the Holy Cross). It took 100 years to build in the 1600's and bears the imprint of several famous architects, most notably Giuseppe Zimbalo (1670 - 1710).Click any photo to see more detail.
The rose window of the Basilica is surrounded by stone with amazing detail. You don't know where to look first.
We drove north toward Bari and the Valle d'Itria, (the Valley of Itria), which contains some of Italy's most beautiful and unusual villages. They are very close together so, on our way to Corato (a town outside of Bari and our stopover for the night before an early flight on Friday to Milano) we decided to tour the valley and its towns.
First stop was Ostuni- also known as The White Town because of its gleaming whitewashed buildings and street paving. It sits atop a hill and is visible from the distance, appearing almost dreamlike as if it were a bleached-white version of Oz. Actually, all the buildings of this small valley's towns were white and very unusual for Italy They were more like Greek villages in that respet.
It began to rain and my back was aching, preventing much walking, so we drove on to the next town, Cisternino, known for its macellerias - butcher shops that will cook your selection on the spot, for an eat-in-the-rough or take-home meal. But it was siesta time and the shops were closed so we opted for a restaurant that performed the same duty - the various meats were in a butcher counter up front; in back was a lovely hosteria, Da Mimmo, where one could enjoy traditional meals or the cooked meat specialties (which I, of course, opted for -- I always have to try everything).
A piazza in Cisternino, one of the Valle d'Itria villages. We stopped for lunch here.
Stacey at Da Mimmo in Cisternino.
We continued along our way, driving west and passed by Locorotundo, known for its Prosecco sparkling wine. But it was getting late and we were getting tired. A storm seemed to be brewing and the sky turned almost black, setting a dramatic backdrop to the brilliant white town. So we stopped to take some photos of that scene and then drove on to the final and most famous town of Alberobello.
The town of Locorotundo (crazy and fat??) seemed an appartion as we drove toward it and a storm that was coming toward us. >> Click the photo to see it more clearly.
The Valley of Itria was quite lovely - it lies on a limestone upland that provides acreage for fertile farmland and that was evident all around us - myriad olive groves and vineyards were visible throughout the day. Some of the trees must have been very old, twisted and knarled as they were.
But the most peculiar feature of the valley was its unique style of home, called a Trullo. These were, it's said, originally shepherd's huts but later came to be used as dwellings. They are built of the native stone in conical form and without any mortar. As the story goes, they could be rapidly disassembled to avoid taxation when the taxman came to call. Looks like, mortar or not, that would not be an easy job but who am I to knock the legend?
There were hundreds and hundreds of Trulli throughut the valley and they have, in recent years, become the hot property of gentry from other parts of Europe looking for interesting and unique real estate investments. As such, they've been modernized and restored and are really quite interesting. Some have several connected cones making a tiny room into a multi-tiny-roomed dwelling; each cone comprises one room.
We came across this lovely Trullo on the road to Locorotundo. Click the photo to see it larger and clearer.
When it comes to Trulli, it is said, you must go to Alberobello, the last town on our valley tour. There are more Trulli here than anywhere else and the town has been declared a Unesco World Heritage site because of it. It is also a tourist mecca and a Trulli cottage industry (no pun intended) has grown up there. Fortunately, we're visiting in November. We hate to think what this place looks like during high season.
Trulli town: Alberobello. Why and how this came to be and how come it's nowhere else is a mystery that remained unanswered.
Alberobello at dusk.
It was time to set our GPS for Corato, outside of Bari, and our stopping over point for the fight to Milan on Friday. We'd spend four nights in Milan, Italy's high fashion and business center. We didn't know what to expect. To find out you should tune back in when I file my next post.
In the meantime, take a look at ALL of today's photos by CLICKING HERE.
We left Modica and Sicily on Monday by taking the ferry to cross the Straights of Messina at the Sicilian city of the same name. We had borrowed Dani's GPS and I found a European chip for it on Ebay before we left. It gave us maps of the roads we needed. Problem was, it might have been a couple of years old and road building is proceeding at a rapid pace on Sicily. Here and there, we came to dead ends where there should have been an entry ramp or an Autrostrada where the map said there was no road at all! A little bit stressful making our way north to Messina. Once we found ourself in an industrial backwash of Catania, Mount Etna in the distance, a huge garbage dump to our west and a few scantily dressed prostitutes soliciting the occasional driver who passed by. It was a scene out of a Fellini movie I thought. The beauty part of GPS, however, is you really can't get lost. It just keeps correcting you and pointing you to your final direction - maybe not the best route but you will get there in the end. And we did.
We boarded the ferry at the big and bustling city of Messina. You could see the mainland across the choppy waters, a few miles away. Before we knew it, we were on the A3 Autostrada and heading North out of Messina's twin across the straights, San Giovanni. The road took us through breathtaking vistas of mountain and sea as we headed north up Italy's "instep." To our west was the vast Tyrrhennian Sea and all around us the towering Appenine mountains. The Italians are master road builders - the Autostrada went through tunnel after tunnel as it cut a path right through the mountains. At other times we spanned wide valleys on bridges that balanced on concrete stilts hundreds of feet high. Awesome!
From Modica to Lecce - a beautiful car ride. We stopped on Monday nigh at "A" - the capital of Calabria province. Click the map to see it larger.
On the Ferry at Messina, Sicily. The mainland of Italy - the "toe" - is visible across the Straits of Messina. Remember - you can click on any photo to see it larger and clearer.
We awoke Tuesday morning to continue our ride. Now we were heading east to Italy's "heel" - the province of Puglia. Our destination, the beautiful Baroque town of Lecce filled with palazzi and chiese (palaces and churches) built of Piedra Leccese (stone of Lecce, which to this day is the city's largest export) in a Baroque-Rococco manner that some have described as either fabulously beautiful or over-the-top maniacal - such was the extravagance of design that led one architect to outdo the work of another. The city is a masterpiece of design and construction and we immediatly fell in love with it on our first walk its piazzas and pedestrianized streets.
The triangular staircase (you're looking straight down from the fourth floor) of our Hotel, La Casa Dei Mercanti, in Lecce. Many hotels we've been to are on upper floors of a building and share the occupancy with other residences or, as in this case, with offices.
Our Lecce Hotel, La Casa dei Mercanti, is located on this lovely square: the Piazza de Oronzo. The piazza is the center of the historic district. We have a "Junior Suite" with bedroom, bath, living room, Kitchen and dining area. Quite nice but we later found out, very noisy at night with party goers roaming the piazza and adjacent streets till late at night.
This is a university town. So Lecce's old streets and plazas (many of which are barred to car traffic) are teeming with students, walking or biking to and fro. It also seems to be a wealthy town, or perhaps an attractor of wealthy tourists, as the streets are lined with expensive, upscale shops. It's known for its papier-mache and terra-cotta crafts - there are dozens of "laboratories" where artisans create their artwork.
Lecce has a system of inexpensive-to-rent city bikes. Hop on, Hop off. And tour the city on two wheels. A fabulous way to see the town - and, by and large, no cars to strike fear in you.
The Roman amphitheater (the largest in all of Puglia) was discovered not too long ago when excavation was made for the foundation of a bank. Remember - you can click on any photo to see it larger and clearer.
When they talk of Lecce, they talk of its over-the-top Baroque architecture.
The history of Lecce is too complicated to describe here - needless to say it is the same story of Italy and Europe as a whole - internecine strife and war with endless conquests and conquering. From the 15th century Lecce became one of the most important cites in southern Italy and beginning around 1630 it was restored with its precious Baroque design, in favor at the time, to showcase the wealth and power of its various Roman Catholic orders - the Jesuits, Celestines and Benedictines. Palaces of the wealthy merchants, many from Venice, were also renovated during that period and survive to this day and give the town its elegant appearance.
This is Il Duomo de Lecce - it stands in all its glory on the piazza of the same name - a serene and beautiful courtyard.
The Duomo's bell ower in a fading sunlight.
We walked some more and understood why Lecce is known as the "city of churches." At every turn, it seemed, there was another lovely old church, all with the hallmark Barocco Leccese decorations. Quite an amazing collection and preserved for us to admire hundreds of years later.
We headed back to our hotel as the light faded on our fist day in Lecce. Passing by the Duomo, the courtyard was now illuminated but also bathed in the fading dayling - quite a lovely sight.
Dinner was at a local restaurant that served typical Luccese fare: we shared a pasta - cece con vongole - chickpeas with clams, that was quite delicious. And then we shared marvelous lamb chops (agnello) that sat in an intense balsamic reduction. Served with some fantastic Pugliese onion bread and a bottle of the local wine, Salice Salentino, it was a wonderful and memorable dinner. A short walk home and a sweet night of repose and rest - the better to explore the town the next day.
Down the street from the fabulous Duomo, still another church with fanciful decoration. The architects spared nothing to cover every inch with their artwork.
We headed back to our hotel as sunset turned the lovely streets dark.
We passed by Il Duomo on our way back to the hotel. Now it was bathed in the last bits of sunlight and was quite something to behold.
The next day we just strolled around taking in Lecce which we had grown pretty fond of. A visit to the Basilica of the Holy Cross (Chiesa de Santa Croce) was on our list as it's considered the ultimate example of the Leccese style of Baroque architect. And, indeed, it took our breath way when we came upon it.
But for that, you'll have to return to our next post. Arriverdci! - Matteo
