Thursday 12 June 2014

italy week: high-rise or equus caballus

After passing Liguria and on to Tuscany, we made our first stop in the town Pietrasanta (meaning Holy Stone) to admire and take note of the transition in architectural styles.  The piazza, high brick tower (campanili or more generally torre), cathedral and church were certainly unique but also a highly typical ensemble for the towns and villages of the region and distinctive different than the layout for settlements elsewhere in Italy.
This place on the Italian Riviera on the foothills of the Alps neighbours the marble quarries of Carrara, which is the main building material and artistic medium for the whole area.  The main square featured also a rather brutal-looking exhibition of sculpted skeletal horses—including one huge steel installation with human skulls in the mid-section, like some dread, decaying Trojan horse.
The high tower was an impressive landmark and its design was promulgated to towns throughout the region, like the proto-skyscrapers of San Gimignano (which we visited later) whose skyline is unique for the Tuscan countryside and is visible for great distances with fourteen tall structures, commissioned by competing wealthy families, despite an ordinance issued by Florentine authorities in Middle Ages that buildings ought to be no higher than twenty-six meters.  Abstract artist M.C. Escher made an early wood-cut of the fine towers.
The towers of this region not only the free standing belfries of the adjacent churches, many eventually installed with a clockworks but were also strategic look-out points, with vantage from sea to mountains.



Wednesday 11 June 2014

amnestรญa or the children's crusade

The United States has a penchant for decades of turning a problem into an absolute disaster, although these upgrades seem to be happening at a much quicker pace lately—mass surveillance, Iraq, Afghanistan, the health care system, kleptocracy, gun control, environmental stewardship.   And now America is fomenting a grave humanitarian crisis with immigration policy with an overwhelming (if the medium is to be believed) incursion of children and youth walking great distances, unaccompanied, to cross into States.  It not as if this situation materialised overnight but tens of thousands of young people have been placed in temporary shelters or released to live with friends or family.  As attention turns to this situation, the government has responded by designating military bases as temporary homes, flying the children away from the border region, and providing legal champions to assist the young people with the naturalization process.  Politicians, from all persuasions, are afraid to say anything cross about the situation and broader repercussion it inevitably bring for fear of appearing racist or xenophobic—or simply uncaring for these refugees that have walked, alone, from Central America to Texas.  Parents apparently were willing to abandon their children to such an arduous and dangerous march lured by promises of a better life in America and what’s being interpreted as a lure, an open invitation to come to America, where no one—especially children, is being turned away.

This is unspeakably irresponsible in the short-term and in the long-term, as immigration authorities do not have the means to keep track of all these young people (as they are undocumented and unlikely to have already surrendered their identities to the internet and competent authorities) as they arrive and are sent off to destinations unknown.  There is no process in place to handle this sort of influx, or fairly apportion benefits and support promised which the US cannot or is lacking the political will to provide to its own citizens and no way to follow up on these baptisms by trafficking.  Aside from an already over-burdened delivery system for financial support (backed by script that’s of highly subjective value), what about America’s schools, hospitals and jobs-market?  Those institutions, failing by many estimations already, I think, would completely buckle under the added weight.   More immediately, the conditions under which the children are sheltered are rapidly deteriorating and there is a very serious threat of disease, not to mention the crowding and the heat.  Such a welcoming reception is dangerous and underhanded and most cruel.  America has long gone overboard with its security theatre but these measures run counter to its enshrined institutions of bullying and limitless scrutiny—undignified treatment by deputized goons at the airport, the need for vetting of clearances for any regular person to gain access to military installations (or to be a day-care provider) that’s applied universally yet lifted in this circumstance.  Governments like to poor-mouth when social programmes are mentioned yet there seems to boundless optimism in this situation.  What do you think?  How did the US come to this point and who manufactured the crisis and was the migration really in response to dire conditions in Central America or because of touts?

italy week: backseat driver

Though I am sure my perspective as just a passenger was quite different, driving in urban Italy was certainly a challenging and formative experience.
We have visited other parts of the country before but had not yet been confronted with the swarms of Vespas zipping pass on both sides and the fact that although lanes were clearly marked, there was no customary lane usage.  Somehow it all worked and we are certainly not ones to buck the system and impose an order to perceived chaos or road-anarchy.  I guess the biggest huddle to overcome was the change in attentiveness and reaction—certainly it is difficult to forecast ones next move but it was easier in the end to relinquish trying to make a prediction.

Also, those mopeds deftly negotiating are not wanting or expecting special accommodations—and to try to yield to them would be a unwelcome kindness, with more potential to cause an accident.  I found these traffic sign decals by a Florentine graffiti artist profiled on-line some time ago and was pleased to see in person that some of the clever additions still remain.  I can appreciate the humour and message even more now.

Tuesday 10 June 2014

italy week: la superba

The city of Genoa is known as La Superba, the proud one, for its illustrious history punctuated with many treasures and landmarks as testament to its past and current achievements. The name of Genoa, like Geneva, means the knee—but possibly not because the Italian peninsula below looks like a boot.
We toured the old harbor with its ancient and iconic light house and wide berths.  The galleon that was the principle setting of Roman Polanski’s swashbuckling film Pirates is moored there as well.   The Port of Genoa, though with a lot of quays for cruise ships and flashy yachts, is one of the most logistical sophisticated and well-designed cargo marinas in the world, and also features a very fine aquarium that we’ll have to make it a point to visit next time—when we have more time to see it and the wealth of museums here properly.
We also visited Piazza de Ferrari with its large fountain, behind the Duomo and buffered by the Palace of the Doges and the Genovesi Bourse and get our bearings.
The fountain’s water was dyed orange for, as stated, multiple sclerosis awareness.  We strolled in a covered arcade and we walked through the maze of narrow alleyways (caruggi) of the oldest parts of the city to admire the rows of aristocratic palazzi along Via Balbi, constructed as residences for the Republic’s powerful families.  Cristoforo Colombo also hailed from Genoa (though there is some dispute among scholars and various countries and regions try to claim him as their own, like Charlemagne), though voyaged West to reach the East under the patronage of the Castillian crown.
Other powers rejected his requests for financial aid not because they believed the world was flat but rather that the explorer had majorly under-estimated the accepted size of the globe, known since antiquity.
In fact, Columbus never did acknowledge the existence of the intervening continent as anything other than an unknown part of Asia.  Against the advice of council, the Spanish court eventually agreed to fund the exploration, including Columbus’ request to be named admiral of the seas and royalties from any property claimed for the monarchs.  Some scholars believe that Spain conceded to such terms because they did not really expect him to return—and just in case, did not want him to take his plans elsewhere.
Despite Genoa’s decision not to vet its native son, the republic’s independent existence that spanned almost eight hundred years saw many conquests and colonies and outposts a world away, including Galata in Constantinople, the Crimea and other lands on the Black Sea, much of the Greek Isles, Flanders, Tunisia, Algeria, and Gibraltar (though often these colonies were just gated communities, sometimes just a single building, but with extra-territorial rights for merchants and their families—like a consul), with trade connections extending La Superba’s influence even further.

Monday 9 June 2014

italy week: square of miracles

Even for the Ancient Romans, Pisa was considered an old city and the glory and tumult comes through with its architecture. The chief draw—though there were many other treasures to discover, is of course the so-called Piazza dei Miracoli, which was began in the year 1076 and went through nearly two centuries of refinement before taking its present form but has always been an allegory of the life of man, beginning with a charity hospital in the front adjacent corner (now housing a museum) and across the lawn, a baptism fount, preceded by a cathedral, with its free-standing belfry to herald important events like marriages and funerals, and finally a peaceful and serene cemetery for the symbolic ensemble.
The tower was raised here despite warnings that the foundation was too weak to support such a structure, and I seem to recall that native son Galileo Galilei helped prove that gravity was a compounded constant by dropping and timing canon balls and prop wooden ones off the tower, whose exaggerated angle of pitch helped with the calculations—as well as being mesmerized by the pendulous motion of the incense chandelier in the Duomo so as to describe it mathematically and reverse-engineer periodicity.
This city on the confluence of the Arno and Serchio rivers—though without direct access to the sea—albeit the sea itself might have receded over the millennia, was a mighty maritime power, culling the marble for its showcase square from exploits in the Holy Land and recycling building materials from its conquests.
Pisa also had far-flung colonies in Jaffa and Constantinople among other places. Pisa lost prominence under constant one-upsmanship from the neighbouring sea-going republics of Genoa and Florence but fared better than others during the following economic collapse and unrest that came after the Crusades, by controlling the inland waterways that linked former rivals, spanning all the way from the Genovesi to the Venetians and profiting from trade and tariffs, and retaining its importance through the ages.

Sunday 8 June 2014

italy week: oultrejordain

During our tour of the Mediterranean coast and the Bay of Genoa, we had the chance to explore the stunning and secluded coves of Porto Fino and the fishing villages of Cinque Terre. These sites were absolutely amazing and edifying as well. It was hard to believe that such jewels, essentially untouched but possibly re-touched as there seemed to be an element of keeping up appearances what with the carefully placed boats lolling in the harbour and in the way of cruise ships but nothing phony, existed and we wondered how such refined but remote places came to be and came to be regaled with such treasures. The picturesque quality was certainly endearing but seemed to be a little elevated out of proportion—nothing disappointing and certainly leagues better than a block of luxury hotels, just incongruous, somehow.
Though it is no account of all the incidents and accidents by any means, the elevation of Genoa and other maritime superpowers originated in the power of vacuum created with the fall of the Roman and Byzantine Empires. With new-found sovereignty and a need for a uniting mission among the independent powers, the houses of Europe went crusading. It was then that Genoa secured its place as an expanding empire, and for its missives to the Middle East, these protected coves sheltered their armada and acted as their commissariat.
Porto Fino, for instance, earned this bounty from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, with this church that housed the plundered relics of Saint George (the dragon-slayer), and many other holy treasures were heaped up as tribute from the long list of short-lived Crusader States established.
It certainly sounded like a legitimate and worthy adventure, despite the costs and the potential reward was of course great and enduring.  This hybridized form of colonization created all sorts grasping exclaves that were never quite reconciled and who can say whether forgiven, among the combatants and much less among the sending-forces.

The claims and honours were various with duchies and marches granted often under dubious authority—like everything to the west of the River Jordan. Incidentally, the Crusades were not limited to the Holy Lands but was also a claim-jump in Greece and neighbours as well—referred to as Frankokratia, the period of rule by the French and the Germans.
This incursion cemented the division between the Western and the Eastern Church, with other repercussions down to this day.
Do not believe for a second that we were not dazzled and relaxed, but rather knowing a bit of the history and context of what's resisted time and tide and what's been preserved and dismissed certainly enhanced our experience.

alles wurst

There have been cults of devotion to the figure of Saint Uncumber (Saint Wilgefortis) for centuries—especially in Bavaria and Austria, but also all over Europe—as the champion and patron saint of women battered, abused and otherwise marginalized by either their husbands or society, but The Local's local edition formulates a clever allusion, that connects the bearded lady to Austria's new Eurovision Song Contest winner.
Tradition holds that the maiden was promised to a pagan king—however Wilgefortis would not deny her Christianity. Her betrothed and her father that hoped to gain prestige through this union would have none of this nonsense. Desperate, Wilgefortis prayed to the Virgin Mary to be unencumbered from such an awful arrangement and to be made so repulsive (here is where the compliment becomes a little backhanded) that the pagan king would no longer want her. Intercession came over night in the form of a full beard. The pagan king was disgusted but so was her father, humiliated and wrathful, and he had her crucified for her disobedience. This harsh punishment, however, lead to her veneration and establishment as a symbol for those in abusive relationships or bumping up against societal ceilings.

italy week: renaissance men

Here are some more images and impression from what we did for our summer vacation (the first installment): though I know intellectually that there is little to no elbow room in the lands of Italy when it comes to historic and cultural significance and the locations of important events and the famous and infamous sons and daughters of the towns and villages have to hail from somewhere, I was pleased and surprised to come to the village of Vinci, a little settlement amongst the groves of ancient silver-leaved olive trees and craggy vineyards where Chianti is produced.
It was here that one of the world's most influential individuals, regarded with the due awe of super-genius, was born in 1452 and baptized (though out of wedlock, his sire was no dead-beat dad) as Leonardo da Vinci. We toured the church and later the birth house (Casa Natale) and the town was regaled with icons of da Vinci's creativity and endless curiosity.
Another leg of our adventures brought us to a nearby village where literary figure Giovanni Boccaccio retired (and also was possibly born) after finishing his seminal work, the Decameron—a story within a story, like 1001 Arabian Nights or the Canterbury Tales, a century earlier in 1353 called Certaldo Alto. The Decameron is a collection of a hundred fables exchanged by ten companions who fled plague-ridden Florence during the height of the Black Death. In this fictional, though semi-autobiographical work, the refugees, waiting for the sickness to pass were holed up in an abandoned villa on the outskirts of the city.
After we settled in at our final campsite in Tuscany, until next time, we discovered that the village of Fiesole, with a breath-taking view of the metropolis of Florence sprawling below, was Boccaccio's setting. A compact but complete conurbation in itself, people have been escaping the city for the hills for centuries—including Frank Lloyd-Wright, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas and other expatriates, Fiesole enjoyed city-rights and even was a rival to Florence below.
Not having known beforehand, we could speculate on which of the many fine and ancient villas that inspired the author. There was an open field just up the hill from the camp-grounds, known for its unique veins of marble with a bluish-grey hue, and another luminous individual in the person of Leonardo himself visited that field and experimented with his flying machine. Da Vinci, though never discouraged, apparently made wider forays into all disciplines, and though errors were recorded as well as something visionary—he did not bother disclosing his studies that he felt did not further the arts or sciences. I wonder what other connections we stumbled over without even noticing.