Again from June, 2002. This is the last of our little dispatches from Italy.
Dear All,
It’s hot… hot hot hot. Yes, I know from the CNN weather reports that it’s hot in Chicago right now… and in Michigan… and basically all around the States… but, I’ve got to tell you, here in Italy, it’s hot hot hot.
Yeah, I know… poor David and Jan. Poor, poor, hot David and hot Jan… I know you weep for us.
Thank you.
So, David sent out a dispatch to tell you about our morning with the Count (yes, he’s lovely, yes, we have photos… we’re supposed to keep in touch with him… Darice, I’ll work on it) and the incredible amount of information being loaded on us by the Ministry of Culture and all that (can anyone tell me why we have no Ministry of Culture in the US? I mean, other than the fact that we don’t have Ministries at all– there should be some sort of equivalent…)– but I think he left off before he told you about our walk with Daniella.
Daniella is a professor of art and art history at the University of Verona. She’s lovely and bright and incredibly energetic– for those of you who know Mary Locker, that’s your visual– and knows EVERYTHING about what’s around Verona. She started the tour by taking us down streets and pointing out arches and edges in the sides of buildings that are remnants of Roman buildings. Apparently there was a major earthquake in Verona in 1166 or thereabouts and the entire Roman city was pretty well trashed. By that time, this area was trapped in the mire of the Dark Ages and had lost most of the knowledge of building and such from Roman times… so they just built up their homes using pieces of the remains of the Roman city. I mean, to the point of building their houses in the arena so they would have at least one wall that wouldn’t fall down.
Anyway, Daniella showed us all of that– explaining enthusiastically in her pidgeon English about the time periods for the frescoes and such as we responded in our pidgeon Italian (not nearly as strong as her English) and asked questions. She lead us down strange little alleys that we hadn’t noticed before into courtyards full of medieval remains and paintings…
And then she took us into a shop. A regular old store like you’d find on any old Main Street, USA, and asked the woman behind the counter if we could see her basement. The woman said yes, and we went down some old stairs into their storage area… which also just happens to be an archeological dig of the Roman Forum.
Seriously.
There were digs all over town in the mid part of this century to find the Roman remains– and the digs all went on in the basements of the shops. And since everything they found is "public historical property" the merchants can’t cover it or build over it and they have to allow people who ask to see it. Only, no one really remembers it’s all down there anymore– other than the shopowners themselves who use the areas for wine cellars (we went into the basement of a four star restaurant and their wine cellar is a Roman street) and parking garages and storage rooms. The "dug-up" parts are covered over with some sort of plexiglass to allow the floors to be level, and it’s all just down there. Pillars and plynths and remnants of mosaics… everything I thought we would find in the Forum in Rome itself, which was such a disappointment in its decay, we ended up finding in the basements of the main shopping district of Verona.
Can I just say, Amazing?
Yesterday we took a day trip by train out to Vicenza (after David hit Castelvecchio) and wandered her lovely, if hot, streets. The problem for David’s research was that when the Venetians took Vicenza in the 15th century, they demolished everything and built Venetian-style (sans water). It makes for a lovely city– wow, it’s truly a walk through history to just wander those streets– but is a couple of centuries after what we are looking for.
And then, last night, we went to the Piazza Signoria for a poetry reading of Dantè’s Divine Comedy. Ok, not all of it… but set up in the town square was a pianist and a percussionist and a couple of music stands… and first the pianist played a few numbers, and then a lecturer came out and talked about Dantè (which probably would have been fascinating, but since we only understood every fifth or sixth word, the train of thought derailed quite often). And then the percussionist did a bit of "mood setting," and a young actor came out and read a couple of cantos from Il Inferno. And then there was percussion, and another, more seasoned, actor came out and read a couple of cantos from Il Purgatorio. And then there was some percussion, and a final, grande sire actor came out and read a couple of cantos from Il Paradiso. Now, again, it was all in Italian, so an awful lot of the meaning was lost– but it was still incredible to listen to the metre and rhythm of the original, and to see the differences in technique. The first actor was a young, dark, brooding actor type… all vocal pyrotechnics and physical motion. he was interesting to watch just for his displays… and his big, puffy, vinyl, black shirt. The second actor reminded both of us of Joe Regalbuto (Frank from Murphy Brown) mixed with Enrico Collasanto (the alien guy from the Tim Allen Star Trek parody)… a working actor who knows how to let the words themselves work, how to get out of the way of the text and just let the story tell itself. And the third actor was the story. He was older and totally calm and controlled, he spoke the words with no affect, but everyone was rivetted to him… Dave says, think Mike Nussbaum.
My thoughts were that I enjoyed the performance of the first actor, I really understood the words (even though I didn’t… funny, that) and the power of the poetry with the second actor. And the third actor I just wanted to keep talking and talking and talking– a definite "he could read the phone book" type.
So, David and I spent the evening the Piazza drinking Valpolicella (which they serve in thick earthenware pitchers to be poured into huge-bowled wine glasses), eating gelati and cheeses, and listening to Dantè.
No, really.
So, tonight we’re going to wander the city again. Verona by night is one of the most beautiful places on earth, and tomorrow we say farewell to Italy because it’s off to Paris.
Thank you all for paying attention this far… and if there’s anyone you can think of who should be receiving these and isn’t, please let us know (sorry Gwen… I changed the address)… and vice versa, there’s another month to go, and if you’re so sick of us that you can’t think straight, just let us know.
Hope you all are well and hope to hear from you soon.
Jan & David
