Autumn gleanings

Left behind fruit

In this part of Italy - Emilia Romagna - they have a tradition of leaving the less than perfect fruit on the trees for people to pick freely for their families, after the harvesters have done their work. It's a wonderful tradition and much appreciated by the locals. Luisella has already been out and you can see the results of her efforts in the photo.

Some of the hazel nuts Marilena and I picked up today

Even the squirrels over here respect this tradition of gleaning after the harvest. Marilena and I, when out on a stroll today, found nuts galore on the ground next the hedges. Very rare in the district where I live near Epsom. English squirrels don't appear to be such good sharers of Nature's bounty.

Six towns in one day!

Marilena poses in front of Vernazza.

Leaving Luisella's we travelled across the country from east to west over the Apeninies to a spot near Levanto, where we planned to visit the Cinque Terre National Park and visit the famous five fishing villages along the cliffs there. Unfortunately the campsite we selected there was infested with mosquitoes - we were afraid to go out in the open there were so many around. So, instead of walking around the park for a few days, we ended up crashing all five villages in one day (in fact we visited a sixth town - mistakenly we stayed on the train and overshot the last village and ended up in La Spezia).

Despite not having to walk between the
villages, we did a lot of walking up
hundreds of steps. The railway was at
sea level = sadly, not so the villages!

We got off at La Spezia (in error) but the city turned out to be excellent.

Another village, another view, another portrait.

The five towns are conveniently connected
by a railway line. Marilena poses here in
front of Monterosso station.

Birthday at Luisella and Franco's

Anna (with Chanel), Me, Luisella and Franco

This day 71 years ago I was born in Holles St Hospital in Dublin. My mother had spent the war with my grandparents at their farm in south Armagh and my dad, once demobbed, travelled over from England and got a job in the Customs & Excise in Newry, nearby. I fancy my mother preferred her baby to be born in the Republic rather than the North and so she betook herself to Dublin instead of Newry maternity hospital. Whatever - I ended up as part Irish and part English!

Marilena looks on as I make a wish.

The whole family cooked the lunch - thin escalopes of pork with mushrooms, twists of Italian sausage, super-thin fried slices of fried aubergine/courgettes - and Luisella made a special birthday cake. Delicious. Made me feel like a prince.

This evening some people from the other flats in the building will probably call in to give me their good wishes - and receive a slice of cake for their trouble. 

Visiting Brescia and Mantua

Approaching Mantova in the car.

Northern Italy broke up into small city states in medieval times and many modern cities today derive from these former city states. Whilst spending a few days in an agreeable campsite on the shore of Lake Iseo we took the opportunity to call in to see some of these cities.

Marilena and Luisella pose in Mantua.

We went to mass at Brescia Cathedral on Sunday morning, a stunning building set in the historic centre of town; more than matching the less than stunning parking ticket we found stuck to the van's windscreen when we returned later. Futurist architecture (favoured by Mussolini's fascist party) was much in evidence around the city centre; very modern and strong-looking.

Mantua on the other hand was very different indeed. Many of its best buildings are grouped together in the old centre of town around a couple of delightful squares. The architecture is more delicate here; one could easily imagine that one has stepped on to the stage of a Shakespeare play! We loved it! And to celebrate we had a couple of delicately-flavoured Italian ice-creams. Mmm.

Fighting the enemy . . . and losing

Needs little introduction.

We have been fantastically blessed with sunny  and dry weather on this trip. However, there's no denying that the warm weather does encourage the enemy. I'm talking about that enemy that skulks in shady corners, when the daylight begins to fade whilst you're sitting outside your camper enjoying the balmy air. And you're attacked on your legs, arms, fingers, feet - even your face, if you're not careful. I have in mind an insect enemy - namely the dastardly mosquito. We'd little trouble from mosquitoes in France but here in Italy it's a different story. The buggers are everywhere and at you even if you take precautions.
We have Autan cream which is supposed to be effective and we burn a citronella candle on the table but although these measures may mitigate the attacks, we still finish up with lumps on arms and legs - particularly Marilena who seems to attract them more than me! We have however been fortunate so far - we've managed to keep mosquitoes out of the van thereby allowing us to sleep peacefully at night. I hope I'm not tempting fate in writing these words.

Dining in upper Lombardy

Tucking into a menu di lavoro.

We said good bye to Luisella my sister-in-law and headed off again - this time to the Italian lakes, settling on a rather smart campsite on the shore of Lake Iseo (not far from Lake Garda). We're spending several days here and using it as a base to explore various places of interest. Today we took the train way up into the mountains to a small village called Edolo. Its idyllic setting is in a valley surrounded by high mountains with a river cutting across the centre of it. There's splendid medieval church with excellent frescoes depicting various scenes from the life of John the Baptist and a beautiful riverside walk which we followed for a while.

Roman bridge, Edolo. Marilena poses where Julius Caesar
possibly once crossed with his legions.

Up until now Marilena has cooked most of our meals but it was impractical to do so at Edolo, so we checked into a local friendly restaurant for lunch. For 11 euros a head they served us three delicious courses with coffee and a jug of wine and a bottle of water on the side. No complaints there. Indeed we ate out the following day when in Bergamo and had a similar experience - although the cuisine was different. These culinary bargains appear to come under a workers' menu, i.e. menu di lavoro.

The bells, the bells . . . ahhhh!

Poster in Mirandola (where a violent earthquake destroyed
the town's cathedral 5 years ago)

One of the things that has struck me (or my ears rather) since we crossed the channel is the ubiquity and frequency of church bells ringing. Back home we appear to have silenced  - or severely limited - many of our own church bells; My home is directly opposite All Saints CE church in Ewell and the bells ring for 10 minutes in the week on a Sunday before the main service. And that's it. Yet in France and Spain the bells have been allowed to carry on ringing freely throughout the day.

Bergamo - the old city.

Perhaps my most dramatic encounter with church bells so far was in the old city of Bergamo, Lombardy where at midday the bells of a cluster of large churches burst into sound together. Incredible.
My feelings are that church bells are a part of the cultural as well as religious soundscape and I think it's great that they have been preserved over here. Traditionally bells called the faithful to prayer or signalled an important community event such as a funeral or a cause for jubilation of some kind such as a wedding or suchlike. I know many people today are opposed to bell ringing on the basis that they are a noise nuisance and of course exaggerated usage is unacceptable. But I sense that after nearly 1400 years of ringing in England we may have  gone too far down the road of silencing bells and as a result our soundscape may well be the poorer for it.