Tuscan Histories: The Etruscans
Why go to Tuscany in the Winter, when you can go to Sicily, Crete, or Costa Rica? Everyone has read or seen Under the Tuscan Sun, but who wants to endure “Under the Tuscan Wind, Rain, and Flooding?”
Tagged: Italy
Ritorno III
Florence, over the weekend, seemed unchanged. The hordes of ill-dressed people are still shoving each other to get into see the Baptistery, cafes and restaurants are overcrowded, and prices even higher than in previous years. After our required visit to San Marco to see the Fra Angelico frescoes and breathe the spirit of Savonarola, we make our way to Fonticine, which a half dozen websites assure us is open. They lied, but who expects anything but lies from online sources (except this one, of course). Walking back by way of the Mercato Centrale, my wife spots a restaurant she remembers....
Ritorno II
The initial auspices for an endurable trip turned out to be justified. Most people were unmasked at O’Hare and on the plane, we left Chicago and arrived in Rome on time, and, although we arrived early at the Azeglio on Via Cavour, two blocks from Stazione Termini, the hotel had one of our rooms ready so we could stash the bags, take a walk, and eat a lunch that, while it was not offensive, was nothing to write home—or this website—about. Rome has changed in two years but the signs are not dramatic. A significant minority wear masks on the...
Ritorno, I
The trip begins on an auspicious note. Yesterday a Trump-appointed Federal judge in Florida struck down the Biden administration’s imprudent and unlawful extension of the mask mandate in airports, airplanes, etc.
Cabbages and Kings, I: Independence Day on the Po
September 15th, the day of liberty for Independent Padania, dawns fair and warm. I hurry into the center of Olginate–a small village, now suburbanized like so much of Lombardia–where I board a bus with the the local leghisti.
