letters from Europe...

November 23, 1998

I've been in Bellinzona for a week, now. This is on the Italian border, just north of Lake Maggiore. The Naegelis have a second home here. It's not that big, but I find it quite delightful. I already mentioned the grape harvest last October. Today we transferred this year's wine into clean carboys and discarded the sludge. (The garden will be happy)...

I love Bellinzona. It's cold and clear here at the moment (while in St. Moritz it's snowing and minus-16 degrees Celsius), and there have been sudden record snowfalls in Greece and Italy). Here the morning temperature's about minus-one or -two, and during the day it can get quite warm and pleasant unless there's a wind blowing. Besides helping with some of the chores around here and doing the driving, I've had time to take a few super walks and we've also driven out to various surrounding villages and valleys to get aquatinted with the area. You'd really love it here, too. The vegetation is Mediterranean - lots of palms, agave, persimmons (which I tried for the first time this week!), figs, and of course, grapes on every hillside. Above the thousands of little vineyards there rise mountains - up to the tree line, they are pretty well hardwood forests and above that, bare tundra. The day before yesterday, I climbed to Monti di Ravecchia, which you reach by walking out the iron gate here, turning left, following a narrow road paved with river rock (in a pattern, yet), between houses and vineyards, always uphill. After about fifteen minutes the little road turns into a wide path which is also paved, but with native rock. There are lots (and lots) of steps. It gets narrower and less formal as your climb - past a chapel in the forest, the odd scattered cottage (with granite - yes, granite - roofs), a little ruin - and sloshing through billions of dried leaves - sometimes knee-deep. When they're that deep it's hard to be sure of your footing - they're slippery, and you can't tell how far you might sink in. It's really quite intoxicating!

What kind of leaves? For most of the way they're chestnut (edible chestnut) leaves, with lots and lots of hedgehog-like pricklys which would definitely discourage anybody from going barefoot. And thousands of ungathered chestnuts. (We had a meal of them yesterday.) Now and again there's a mixed batch of trees, chestnut, oaks, beech and now and again a weeping birch or an evergreen. It was afternoon and part of the time I was in the sun and about half the time in shade. When I got to the top I followed a path to the south which let (a little scary) along some precipitous narrow rock ledges (but always in the forest) which were often knee deep in beech leaves and the mountain fell away steeply while the craggy outcroppings hung above. The steep slopes were covered with glowing leaves and the trunks and branches of the beeches rose smooth and grey... Truly, it was a glorious sight! Altogether the walk took about four hours...

...The town itself is a treat, as well. On Saturday morning there's always a market day - it's like walking through a stage set. Every turn, practically, presents a lovely view. There's a huge outcropping of granite in the middle of Bellinzona and on the top is Castello Grande - a massive fortress rising from the midst of the town. It's been sensitively restored and kept up - they have left large portions of the walls which go right through the city and its all open to the public - free. You can walk up to the castle or take a lift that's built right up through the rock. You can walk all around the ramparts and one wall leads to a second, even more magnificent fortress, Montebello. There's also a third, and it's on a hill right above the house here. They once spanned the entire valley and I understand they were built to keep the barbarians (us) from rushing down from the north and upsetting the status quo...

With my scanty historical knowledge, I can only guess at the significance of most of what I see. But you don't have to be an history expert to feel the drama of this place. I do know that the walk I took up the mountain on Saturday was used many times by families who climbed that very path during times of plague to try to escape the rampant infections raging in the valleys...

November 27, 1998

Well, here I am in the Zurich station waiting for the night train to Rome. I can't remember what I told you about on the e-mail this afternoon. At the risk of repeating myself, I'm going to Rome because the train gets there at 9:30, whereas it gets to Florence at 6:30. So I decided to go to Rome and then back-track on the same day. My Europass gives me all night and all day, so if I start at night, I still have free travel the next day...

Yesterday, I went with Alfred to a village which hangs (vertically) over L. Maggiore. It was fantastic! I thought about you and Corinne the whole time we were walking. The older part of Ronco has traditional Ticino houses which look quite Italian - they're generally 3 - 4 stories tall and of either native granite or plastered over and painted (gold, cream, pink, terra cotta). They're clustered and either touching each other or are very close to each other. They don't all front onto a street, but take advantage of any little shelf of rock and so they are staggered and the tiny streets and paths find their wiggly way between them. Some are joined together with archways, and there are often stone walks and steps going up between them - a door goes off into a house here or there on a landing or on a sloping part of the stairs. The ledges these houses stand on are usually extended out a bit and held in place by walls built of native stone. It's so organically 'grown' - and all around between houses, over actual door steps, there's a network of wandering paths all marked out so you could walk for hours - not in the village, of course, because it's not very big - but to other places - tops of mountains - down to the main road which winds along the edge of the lake. Outside the old village, rich guys have built a lot of villas, but although they lack the charm of the village, they're pretty impressive, too. Palm trees and gigantic aloe plants, some cactus and other trees and shrubs grow between the cracks and where a retaining wall has made a little garden or patio. It was a great experience, and once you've done a bit of this kind of wandering, your life can never be the same again.

The train trip today took me up the Ticino valley to the St. Gothard Pass. I didn't see the pass because I was in a long dark tunnel, but when we emerged it was winter wonderland. It all looked pretty romantic - but the contrast was what was the surprise. Bellinzona was bright and clear, and 1 1/2 hours later, big snow flakes were falling all around and there was snow 6" deep on all the trees... Coming on to Zurich, it got milder and milder, and right now, Z. feels quite a lot like Vancouver - wet streets, small rain...

When I saw this Swiss cow, I absolutely had to send it to you. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I'm looking forward to hearing from you and will try e-mail in Florence.

December 5, 1998

I'm still having a blast, but since I signed up for this Italian course, I've been working my butt off!! But I'm glad I'm doing it. It's pretty demanding. The others in the course have been at it for two weeks, so I have to catch up if I expect to get anything out of it. So my evenings are pretty crammed. Yesterday we began the future tense. We're already supposed to be OK with present and past!! Today is Saturday, so I'm taking some time out, but I'll really have to do some work to make up for it tomorrow.

This morning I went to the Pitti Palace. The name is somewhat misleading, it's massive. It was a great four hours of inhaling art, though. There are Raphaels, Titians, Vasaris, Del Sartos, Filipo Lippis, and all the ippies and elos, and iis you can think of. Those Medicis and the afollowing houses of LORRAINE, etc sure were rolling in the dough, and they had great taste. Well, in painting, anyway. It was really an orgasmic expoerience. Florentine art is something really special, though. There seems to be a purity about it that I don't think I feel with paintings of Venice, for example. In spite of the masses of money etc, there is a kind of airiness about the painting. The architecture is pretty great, as well. What a feast!! There was also a lot of sculpture about, but it was somewhat overshadowed by the painting. By the way, if you need something to ask your internet friends, maybe they know what happened to all the pee-pees from all the sculpures of men. They're just GONE!!

After that I went down to the spot by the Arno and had my bread and water. It's been lovely weather today and as I looked up at the sky, I could see where all those puttis and floating saints, demons, gods and stuff came from. The sky was absolutely alive with them. The sky here IS different from others. There is a wonderfully vitality in it.

Yes there are masses of eating places in Florence, and some of them have great reputations. I may be spending a lot of money at the moment, but eating out really isn't in my price range, and it isn't much fun eating by yourself anyway. I was invited out by others in my class yesterday, but I declined, simply because I think that spending $12 a pop for every gallery is more important to me than sitting in a cafe. You can expect to spend at least $20 for a meal of any kind, and a proper (propah) meal can be anything from $40 to $80. The school has an evening meal together at a restaurant every Friday evening. I may go on the last day of classes. I discovered a super market the other day. Wow!! I just stocked up on peppers, olives, all the stuff for a massive Greek salad, and really had a feast. I've never bought such fresh produce in any market before, super or not. I didn't realize how hungry I had become. I also indulged in a special Christmas bread typical of Italy, and not really seen in other places. It's a sweet yeast bread with fruit in it. There are also some variations with chocolate chips and other modern introductions, but I go for the classic version. I think it must be one of the most delicious sweet breads I've ever tasted. Even better than my cinnamon buns!! It also keeps very well. I'm pretty sure you could get some on east Hastings in one of those Italian bakeries. It's called Panatone. (the final e is pronounced ay)

You'd just love Italy. You asked me about my preconceptions. I understood that it was a DANGEROUS place. You had to watch your wallet and watch your bum!! (But I think my bum has more or less got beyond the pinching age, anyway. People have told me that their friends have had their purses sliced open, etc and the contents taken. So far I've had no reason to feel threatened. Of course, on the other hand, people say that it's cheaper here than in some other parts of Europe. My experience would say it isn't. As a matter of fact, I think it's more expensive than Switzerland--but I can't really tell, becouse living in a major tourist city is pretty expensive anywhere, I guess. Italy is supposed to have 60% of the world's art treasures, and of those, Tuscany is supposed to have 40%. I can easily believe this. The place is rich, rich, rich in culture.

December 9, 1998

I understand that the weather there has sucked big time. I'm glad I'm in Florence. It's a little nippy, but the sun is shining and the sky is--you know, full of those floating animated things of every kind. It's too cold to stand around except in a sunny sheltered space, but it is exhillerating. Part of my celebration yesterday was going on a group walk with seven young woman students and a teacher to some of the hills north of Florence. I have to return to Fiesole. It is a village with a considerable church, a monastry of Franciscans, a number of picturesque houses and villas, a few shops, a museum and a Roman amphitheatre. The otheres didn't have the intense interest that i have, so we didn't do much exploring. That's why I want to return.My plans seem to be developing a bit. On the 18th I hope I can get a sleeper to Sicily and spend two weeks in Palermo or Syracuse. Then I think I will return to Florence for two more weeks of classes if I can find an acceptable accomodation before I leave. I'm not really comfortable in my place, even though my landlord did take me for a magnificent flight over Sienna.

Anyway, I'll go back to the school. The director is looking for another possible accomodation choice for January, and I want to make an appointment to see it this week.