Italian Interlude, Part III

Osimo and Bologna

On Sunday, February 19, we were treated to a tour of another hill town, Osimo.  The town was founded by Greek colonists and later conquered by the Romans.  It eventually became part of the Papal States until the reunification of Italy in 1861.  Cristina's good friend Gianluca lives in Osimo and he invited us to his home where we had a delicious lunch of lasagna, pastries and, of course, wine.  

Adam, Cristina, Gianluca and I in Osimo town sqaure

fountain in the town square

street in Osimo

day after concert unwinding

After lunch and a quick tour of Osimo, we left for Bologna from Ancona,  a seaport town north of Civitanova Marche and Osimo.   We had tickets for a 4:30 train to Bologna.  I was very pleased that I had easily booked the tickets online and got us assigned seats.    What I didn't remember is that there were two trains to Bologna leaving within minutes of each other.  We were booked on the second train, but when I saw a train coming that said Bologna (it was on the same track), I told everyone that was our train.   We had to run to the other end of the train because our seats were located in car 7.  We jumped on the train at car 6 since the train was about to leave, knowing we could get to car 7 through car 6.  However, when we got to the end of car 6, we realized there was no car 7. Thankfully, Cristina used her command of the Italian language and found that we were on the wrong train.  So we all jumped off quickly, dragging our luggage through the train with the conductor giving us nasty looks and some choice Italian phrases.  It was definitely a scene out of the Chevy Chase movie European Vacation!   Once we were back on the platform and had caught our breath, we had a good laugh.

Cristina and Adam relaxing finally on the right train

Even though I had visited other cities in Italy,  I didn't know much about Bologna and I was looking forward to learning more. These few pictures and descriptions can only give a snapshot of everything the city of Bologna has to offer. Besides being a large university city, it has spectacular history, art, music, culture and cuisine.  We stayed in the heart of the medieval part of Bologna and we could walk all over the city without having to take a cab. Bologna had just experienced a snowstorm and you can see the remains of the snow in the Piazza Maggiore, Bologna's main square.

Piazza Maggiore

an example of Bologna's archways

Bologna is famous for it's porticos.  It has over 25 miles of porticos around the city.  They were originally built to create more living space.  Bologna's university was world famous and had attracted thousands of immigrants.  In order to have more living space, the people began to build extensions to their buildings. They were built out over the sidewalks. The first portico dates to 1211.  It soon became a requirement to build a portico if you built a new building.  These archways protect from the sun in the summer and from rain and snow in the winter.  The first day we were in Bologna was cold and rainy.  The archways were a wonderful way to walk around the city on a rainy day.

Piazza del Nettuno with Neptune fountain in the background

The Neptune fountain is a well known sculpture in Bologna dating back to 1563.  The fountain was considered a profane, pagan symbol by the papal authorities. 

After Tom flew back to London on Monday, Adam, Cristina and I had some time to explore Bologna.  We found a wonderful store filled with all kinds of music so we had to stop and peruse the shelves for awhile.   It's hard to find this quality of music store in the U.S.

perusing a music store 

Tom and I happened to walk by this amazing university library.  Bologna's university was officially founded in 1088 and claims to be the oldest in the western world.  The library that we found had ceilings of monuments to lawyers, doctors and other professions.  It is still the center for law study in Italy.
Rossini's Stabat Mater was first performed in this hall. Seeing this hall was exciting to me because I had sung the Stabat Mater a year ago with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus.

the entrance to the Stabat Mater Hall 

The ceiling as you come
up the stairs in the library

 Bologna is a food lover's paradise.  The food is reasonably priced and even in the smaller trattorias, the food was excellent.   Tortellini and tagliatelle are original to Bologna.  Not too far from Bologna is Parma, the origins of Parma ham, Parmesan cheese and Balsamic vinegar.  This is a picture of our first meal in Bologna at Trattoria Anna Maria.  Outstanding!

Tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce

a display in a pastry shop

all varieties of tomatoes were out on this sunny day

olives, cheeses, mortadella, parma ham.  

I took this picture of tortellini in a pasta store.  I learned that tortellini is typically made with meat or cheese and smaller than tortelloni.  Tortellini in brodo is a common way to eat tortellini,
which is simply tortellini in a broth AND it's simply delicious.

Our extended weekend in Italy is over.  We will take wonderful memories with us of fantastic food, marvelous music, and good times with friends and family.

Italian Interlude, Part II

The concert~

The concert was held on Saturday evening in the village of Civitanova Alta, which is an amazing medieval town on a hill.  Italy is famous for its hill towns built to protect them from invaders.  There are three main regions in this part of Italy -- Tuscany, Umbria and Le Marche.  Civitanova Alta is in the region of Le Marche, which is a much less discovered area, so we experienced Italian living away from the traditional tourist areas.  Cristina was our translator (thanks, Cristina). It made it so much easier to have someone with us that was fluent in Italian!

Because the concert was not until later Saturday evening, Tom and I had some time to explore the town.  It is a ten minute drive up the hill from Civitanova Marche.  Parts of Europe had just experienced some record snowfall, so we were lucky to have been here the week after the snow.   As you can see, there was still some leftover snow.

Civitanova Alta.
  Lots of small alleys and cobblestone streets
 gave us an idea of what it would have been like  in the 1400's.  

These stairs were much steeper than the picture shows.
  This is the Via Porta Zoppa, one of the four "doors" to the city.

This is the door of the Teatro Annibal Caro.
 The stone portal dates back to 1480 and came from a nearby palace.
  It includes portraits of ancient Roman emperors and important people of the 15th century.  

By looking down the narrow streets, you can see in the distance
 the  stunning views of the rolling hills and courntryside of Le Marche.

We knew that Adam and Cristina would be busy practicing and getting ready for the concert, so we entertained ourselves walking around the town, stopping for some cappuccino along the way.   As we were walking around the town, we turned the corner and saw Adam unloading the marimba that had been shipped from the Netherlands for the concert.   Adam's group, So Percussion, are artists for Adams Marimba (great name for a marimba company, don't you think?),  so they made special arrangements to provide him an instrument of outstanding quality for this performance.

I warned Adam when he was in fourth grade that maybe he should consider the flute or piccolo as a choice of instrument, but he insisted on playing percussion.  Little did he realize then that much of a percussionist's life is moving multiple instruments everywhere.

The concert was held in the charming theater , Teatro Annibal Caro.  

Annibal Caro was  a famous writer and poet, most famous for his translation of the Aeneid.

This is a view of the theater from the stage.

The entrance into the concert hall

As Adam set up the marimba, Cristina was already warming up at the piano.   It's hard to realize what goes into preparations for a concert like this until you sit and watch all of the happenings. Cristina had flown in on Thursday from New York and Adam arrived on Friday from Texas, so jet lag alone would have been plenty for me to handle, let alone playing an entire concert the next day.  They seemed to handle it without a problem.

The repertoire that they played included a mix of solos and  duets.  Tom and I thought the concert was superb, but of course, what else would we think!

Post concert smiles.  

After the concert, everyone was ready to sit down and relax. However,  the marimba had to be disassembled, put back in the crates for shipment back to the Netherlands on Monday morning.  Flute, piccolo?  Is it too late to change instruments?

Everyone was ready for some vino, a pizzeria that was open until 4:00 a.m. and late night conversation. It was an evening filled with beautiful music in a beautiful space played by amazing musicians.  

Arrivederci, Civitanova.    

Civitanova Alta with the Adriatic Sea in the background

                              

Italian Interlude, part 1

  You may have the universe if I may have Italy.   Giuseppi Verdi

On Thursday,  February 16, Tom and I left London for an extended weekend in Italy. Adam and Cristina had been contracted to play a concert together in a town south of Bologna on the Adriatic and we were fortunate to be able to spend the weekend with them and to hear the concert.  We flew out of Gatwick Airport and had a beautiful view of  the Alps the day after a record snowfall. As I took this picture with my Iphone, I found it hard to believe we were flying over the Alps.

We spent the first night in the captivating city of Bologna (which I will come back to in Italian Interlude, Part III)  and on Friday morning we boarded a train to Civitanova Marche.  Civitanova Marche is a seaside resort on the Adriatic which was probably founded around the 8th century BC.  In 50 AD, the Romans captured it and started a new settlement Civitanova Alta on a hill near the sea.  

The first things we saw when we entered the town were posters and billboards of Adam and Cristina's concert!  Of course, I had to take a picture of all of them.  

The seaside town of Civitanova Marche was a charming town with palm trees, great shopping, colorfully painted buildings and of course, fantastic food.    

apartment building on the square in Civitanova Marche

the town square with palm trees and leftover snow!

town center in the square of Civitanova Marche

Easter chocolates were already displayed in the store 

Fresh pasta was everywhere                                                  

 

Thanks to Trip Advisor we found a delicious restaurant for lunch.  A two hour lunch with complimentary dessert  and dessert wine.  This was our dessert at ZERO733 restaurant.  The filling in this piadina was chocolate and vanilla .  The piadina is an Italian flatbread from this region in Italy (the Romagna region) 

The sunset from our hotel, hilltop town of Civitanova Alta in the distance.