The birth place of David

Last weekend was gleefully spent with a couple of Australian friends and one of the places we visited was Colonnata.

This is the birth place of that famous statue of (petite) David. Well,  the beautiful white marble he is made from is from the quarries in the Apuan Alps which tower over Colonnata. It is the only place in the world white marble is found according to 'Giorgipedia'.

The history of Colonnata dates back to 40BC as it was originally built to house the slaves that worked in the marble quarry.

From a distance the mountains appear to be covered in snow but in fact it is white marble glistening in the spring sunshine. The town oozes marble underfoot, and incorporated into the buildings in every way possible but this carving depicting the history of the quarries was my favorite. It prompted me to marvel at how incredibly difficult quarrying must have been in the days before modern machinery. Getting the huge chunks of heavy marble down the mountain must have been dangerous work. I wondered how many slaves would have died over the years as they toiled here.  

Colonnata's  church dating back to the 12th century oozes brilliant white marble every way you look. This beautiful carved artwork caught my eye.

The town felt imposing sandwiched in a valley between the mountains. We wandered the narrow streets with our eyes always returning  to that spectacular gleaming white mountainous backdrop. 

Every town in Italy is has a particular food it is famous for, a food that it boasts about, claiming that it was the first and best producer of the food. Colonnata's food is lard!! Not the icky pan drippings my mother called lard. It is  a thick layer of fat sliced off a pig and cured in marble with assorted spices. In his usual style Giorgio knew the perfect place to sample the best typical Colonnata food and we tried lard in two incredibly contrasting  and simple dishes. Bread and thinly sliced lard with strongly flavoured chestnut honey and a thin crisp bread with lard with salty sardines. Both were delicious but as I ate it I was imagining my hips getting wider with each swallow. Men labouring for long hours in the marble quarry would easily burn all those calories but I ate it sparingly and then enjoyed a pasta dish followed by a slice of amazing chocolate tart (oops). Fortunately I have walked up and down a few mountains this week to make up for it.

Here is the proof...

The trees are still naked but the forest floor is a delightful violet carpet of crocus flowers in some areas.

Several months ago I met Felicity, an Italian/English woman who invited me to join their weekly walking group. Immersing myself in women talk, even if I can't understand it all, has helped banish home sickness. Bras, chicken fillets (the slicone sort), sex education,  breast cancer, the challenges of parenting teens, toddlers and dogs have all been discussed as we slog up and down mountains.

Enis, Alessandra, Laura, Jen, Felicity

and Julia is behind the camera

 

The mountain we walked on had several historical stone burraria built into the hillsides in the second half of the 18th century for making butter. They were always built where there is a spring or small stream as fresh water was vital to the production process. These slopes were once pastures with cattle grazing.

If you are interested to know more about Colonnata's lard this link will be a wealth of info (thanks Lee-Anne).

http://www.academiabarilla.com/italian-recipes/meats-charcuterie/lardo-colonnata.aspx

Missing pics

One of the slight dilemmas I have found with writing blogs about specific things is that I have some great photos that I have not had an opportunity to share so here are a few that you missed out on along the way.

 

This is the wood heap at Claudio's cottage  near Lake Bolsagna, a bit north of Rome.  I am sure after all the snow in that area it must be almost empty of wood now.

This villa in the hills north west of Florence is well prepared for  cold winters and would need a huge wood heap to feed that many fire places. There were too many chimneys to count.

The extra security I see here in the form of huge wrought iron gates and fences makes me wonder if there is excessive property crime.  Or is it historic from the times of constant wars or perhaps an art form?

I keep a watch out for opportunities to take photos of the scary narrow streets around Florence but most times my camera is not handy for the best examples. Pedestrians are not catered for at all on this narrow walled street that leads to the pottery school I am attending.

I try to stay alert and at the first sound of an approaching vehicle I stand against the wall  taking care not to step in the piles of dog shit that always decorate the edges of the road. Picking up after your dog is another law that is not enforced here.

Italy is know all over the world for pizza and I am amused that the best 2 pizza places I have found have corny un-Italian  names.  Pizza Charlie is in Orvieto and in Florence we recommend  The Pizza Man where most of the staff are from Israel.

Orvieto is one of Italy's most beautiful  towns and I visit it regularly as my Australian friend from Perth lives there.  The views are awesome and beg to be photographed. Below is Kaye admiring one of the views from 'the rock' as the old town is known. It is a geological feature a bit like Stanley's Nut but covered in buildings that are centuries old.

The cathedral of Orvieto is one of the most most beautiful I have seen particularly in the sunshine. The details in the facade  have me mesmerised every visit and a photo just can't do it justice.  These Australian friends agreed  as we enjoyed a cuppa in Piazza Duoma.

The town has some great artisans, one of my favorites makes unique wooden sculptures. This is a table of sea creatures was in the window.

One of the things I dislike about living in Italy is the echo of gun shots every day in hunting season.   Orvieto is a traditional hunting area for wild boar and many have been taxidermied and are proudly displayed in the streets.   Cinghale, as it is called here, is offered on menus in most eateries around the town cooked in multiple ways. I find it  a tasty meal.

Arty Cats

It was great to have so many encouraging comments on face book when I announced that my cat creation was being exhibited in Faenza, Italy. And several people said show us your stuff.... so here are some pics from Artegatto Artefatto which translates to Arty Cat Artifact.

First I need to explain that creating this cat had a few extra challenges.

1. Different clay than I am used to which is  great for throwing pots on the wheel but not so great for sculpture work as it cracks very easily as it dries or is fired in the kiln. Hence several attempts cracked up literally.

2. I have to wait until the pottery school fills it's enormous kiln for my work to be fired... and as there have been less students this time of year the firings have been  infrequent ... fortunately one of my kind tutors with a small kiln at home offered to bisque fire for me at the last minute.

3. BUT that left no time for glazing so I had to go with the flow,  adapt and accept I had done my best in the circumstances and exhibit it  'unfinished' according to my original plan.

All of this makes me more impatient to get back home to Tassie and set up my own studio, wire in the kiln and wallow in clay to my hearts content. And the other thing my heart desires will have to go on the wait list indefinitely at this stage.

I was just a little excited...



It's called 'flat cat'.



The little gallery was packed with people for the opening of the exhibition at Bottega Bertaccini which is also a book shop.  

I felt reassured when I saw several other unglazed artworks  amongst those assorted arty cats. Just how many ways can you create a clay cat???  At least 60!

 

 And this spiky hissy cat was mostly made from metal.

Italy has traditionally produced majolica painted ceramics and this is the focus of the ceramic classes I have been attending. I am keen to learn to throw well but  don't want to spend hours then painting. I have tried to find ways to decorate a few pieces that are faster. Here are a few of my efforts:

And for those that don't know what sort of things I usually make here is an angel pig sculpture I made just before I came to Italy. The decorating techniques are really different and  I find majolica  more difficult. 

Savouring Sicily

Kaye and I had a delicious time exploring Sicily as you may have already read in my previous blog, and I am not only talking about the scrumptious food. Lonely Planet (LP) told us that Noto was a 'must visit' place but we decided Noto preferred not to have tourists visit as they have so few signposts to  point the way to the historic centre and other highlights.  

On our  first attempt to visit Noto we gave up looking for the raved about centre,  and visited Ispica instead. But as LP really did recommend it we ventured back equipped with a better map and our excellent map reading skills ... and still failed to find our way to the historic centre!  But the old man Kaye chatted up helped. And now we understand why Noto  is Unesco World Heritage listed for the stunning  baroque buildings all built after an earthquake destroyed the original town in 1693.

My favorite building was Palazzo Villadorata where the balconies are each supported by an amazing assortment of carved figures.



These buxom mermaids were my favorite.

The inside of these old Italian palaces are just as interesting and spectacular as the outsides. The fresco strip above those painted curtains had an intriguing variety of items including birds, animals, musical instruments and a spinning wheel.

Inside a little church we found this figure dressed in historical costume. It  had me  wondering whether the Ku Klux Klan had once been active in Noto.

We rounded off a pleasant day with a walk on the beach exclaiming over the amount of rubbish washed up on the shore  and discussing how many unfinished buildings dot this landscape.  That castle-like building below is an example where it appears the money ran out and it was abandoned half built years ago.

We spent another day exploring Syracusa and its beautiful shores. The fish market intrigued me and I wandered by there again stopping to watch some men preparing sea urchins for eating. There is not much inside those spiny balls that makes it to the table no wonder it is expensive. (10 euros for one of those little cups of orange bits)

Sorry...the computer gremlin who won't let me paste photos up the right way has struck again

We walked up to the fascinating papyrus museum and discovered how many items are traditionally made from this fibrous plant. Sicily is the only place it grows outside of North Africa. Paintings on papyrus  'paper' are a unique offering to tourists here. It appears easier to make than Burnie's roo poo paper. 

Then I was drawn back to the marinas to admire the assortment of little boats (and a few burly fishermen mending nets.)

Later we just had to return to savour Syracusa's unique cathedral. Those enormous columns visible both inside and out were built in the 5th century BC by the Greeks and later St Paul came along and had it converted into a  Catholic cathedral.

There was no special event happening in the piazza to draw this crowd. Every Sunday Italians don their designer label clothes and stroll around town. The sea front restaurants where packed and long lines of people waited in the sunshine for  tables.  

We waved farewell to beautiful Syracusa and caught a bus to Catania where over 300,000 people, cars and motos cram into  the seething noisy city. We quickly decided one of the best things there was the FOOD and we wound out way through bustling streets to 'Spinella' having been assured we would find the best arancini there. As there was hardly standing room in the shop we asked for our arancini take away and was surprised when it was so carefully packaged on a silver tray, double wrapped and tied with ribbon. And these stuffed rice balls  cost us less than two euro each.

Fed and watered  we set off to explore the city and it's assorted creations  built from lava and sandstone which include this  black lava elephant and Egyptian obelisk in the main piazza. According to  legend  it keeps  Mount Etna calm, she's the imposing active volcano  towering over the city. 

 

Of course there is also an impressive array of churches, palaces, statues, etc to check out but I confess that we had a touch of 'baroque over load' by the time we arrived at Catania and didn't muster great enthusiasm for sight seeing.  We hopped onto the hop-on-and-off bus and stayed on for a circuit and then headed back to our excellent B&B for a rest before dinner. A slow food feast that you should be envious of -  oh yum!  The best thing I ate  was a dish called 'stinco', despite the odd name it was divine, I need to wipe the drool from my chin just remembering  the flavour of that baked pickled pork shank.

The only reason we stayed in Catania 2 days was to visit majestic Mount Etna, Europe's largest and most active volcano. It can even be seen from the moon - that's really big.

We arranged a tour and climbed aboard a rattly old 'landy' and excitedly headed  off to tour the smoking volcano with an extroverted Italian and 2 cheerful German tourists. 

We trekked across a lava field which is hard yakka on such an uneven unstable surface.  Over time lichen and moss begins to grow on those sharp lava rocks as you can see in the foreground below.

Mt Etna is over 3,000 metres high so always has a snow cap which was XXL sized after a recent 1.5m snow fall.

As you can see not all lava is black, sometimes it is light brown or rust colored. Our self titled legendary guide proved he is not super human after all.

There is a constant stream of smoke and ash from the main crater at the top of Mt Etna which makes it safer than some volcanos by stopping the internal pressure building up to a full scale eruption. The white snow was speckled with black ash giving it a dirty grey appearance.

Along a fault line there is a line of craters left by previous eruptions and we walked around this one.

The tour continued after an incredibly yummy and huge lunch of typical Sicilian food: antipasto of bruscetta and frittata, followed by spaghetti with'norma' sauce, then a large serving of pork chops and horse meat patties and vegetables ... phew .. mandarins for desert, washed down with local red wine of course. I hope a grateful dog  received my abundant left overs.

I was pleased I had not eaten too much of that lunch to manage the 230 plus steps into this gorge to see the swirling basalt walls  towering above a churning river swollen after heavy recent rain.

All that eating and drinking led to other things... including this fabulous example of 'Italian English.'

Mmmm... I am sure some of my Italian attempts cause just as much amusement like when my mispronounced key (chiave) became  f#$%...   Oops.

On that note 'arrivederci' until next blog.