big chris, little chris (11. 717)

Venerated on this day in German-speaking dioceses (the following day on the General Roman Calendar of the Saints) on the occasion of his martyrdom in 251 in Anatolia, the Canaanite of legendary stature, imposing and standing at five cubits (2,3 metres), called Reprobus (reprobate and also by some accounts and portrayals, dog-headed due to a misunderstanding of the Latin demonym Cananeus for suggesting cynocephaly) was determined to be in service to the greatest king of all, and upon seeing his ruler blessing

himself with the sacrament of the sign of the cross at the mention of Satan and reasoning that the devil able to inspire such trepidation must certainly be more powerful abandoned his post and sought out this master to service. Falling in with a gang of robbers claiming to be in league with the devil, the giant of a man was again disappointed by seeing the leader avoiding Christian iconography and sought out the faith under the guidance of a hermit he had encountered. Responding with prayer and fasting when asked how to best serve Christ, Reprobus answered that would be unable to comply with either of those tasks. The hermit reasoned due his size and strength he could please Christ by helping people ford a treacherous river. One day after many successful and easy crossings, a young boy sought passage with the burden becoming almost too much to bear and the river difficult to trudge across, the rapids becoming leaden around his legs. After the arduous journey, the passenger revealed himself to be Christ his king, whom was well served by this work. The ferryman henceforth was known as Christopher (Χριστόφορος, the Christ-bearer), ultimately beheaded in Lycia for his evangelising and refusing to sacrifice to the local pagan gods. Patron saint of Baden, Mecklenburg and Braunschweig, Rab in Croatia, Vilnius, Riga and St Kitts, Christopher is also the protector of athletes, mariners and travellers, as well as invoked as an intercessor against sudden death (owing to the dangerous river-crossing) an toothaches. This spurious association comes from a donation of a supposed relic in the form of a giant moral to a group of friars in the Piedmontese town of Vercelli in the late Middle Ages. Described by one of the numerous pilgrims seeking relief over centuries, the silver and gold reliquary as dena molaris pugno major (a tooth bigger than a fist), the inheriting order of the Barnabites had the attraction examined scientifically in the late eighteenth century and was determined to have belonged to a hippopotamus. The object was summarily deaccessioned and forbidden to be treated with idolatry. The community apparently keeps the tooth out of public view as a curiosity in their monastery.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the death of Twitter (with synchronoptica) plus AI and dragnet surveillance

seven years ago: a Tagalong word for overwhelming cuteness plus an act to prevent pernicious political activities

eight years ago: acts of terrorism across Europe, visiting Château d’Oléron, a coup in Turkey, presidential commercial interests, colouring black and white photos per algorithm, lanterns of the dead plus punditry in America

nine years ago: a Venus flytrap, assorted links worth revisiting plus Samuel Taylor Coleridge on Cologne

eleven years ago: the frequency illusion

cascata della froda (11. 662)

Returning to the Castelvecca area, we took a nice stroll the the forest to see the waterfalls cascading from the top of Monte Cuvignone from a height of a hundred meters and carving out a space suggesting an amphitheater above the collecting pools.  

Along the trail through Montegrino-Valtravaglia, part of the fiefdom of il Quattro Valli, there is evidence of past use for aquaculture and raising trout with characteristic enclosures as well as the remains of an ancient stone quarry where petroglyphs have been recently discovered and are under study.

maccagno inferiore (11. 660)

We took a nice stroll through the village and explored the oldest part of the settlement with the Oratorium Madonna della Punta, a sanctuary with grottoes at the head of the old harbour. 

A path around the road tunnel at the beginning of the city crossed over the street and continued into the maze of alleyways and picturesque residences that formed around the core of the imperial tower and mint (Zecca). 

We got a little lost in the passageways but eventually found our way and returned via the promenade along the beach, the weather turning stormy again and the water roiling with waves.

 

synchronoptica

 

one year ago: superlative drone photos (with synchronoptica), Ziggy Star-Dust retires, assorted links to revisit plus composer Ligeti

 

seven years ago: farming brackish land plus election integrity commissions

 

eight years ago: more links to enjoy, more recycled calendars, machine made logos plus the socio-economics of Star Wars vs Star Trek

 

nine years ago: philosopher Avicenna, even more links worth revisiting plus the American Revolution framed as a mistake

 

ten years ago: shifting contractions

maccagno superiore (11. 659)

Slowly scaling the mountain rising behind our lakefront campsite, we were afford some amazing views and walked the path around Lago Delio, a reservoir first constructed in 1911 and dammed in the 1960s for hydroelectric power. 

The trail was nice but one could not get too close to the water and continued upwards to the top of Monte Cadrigna and the alpine pass at Forcora. 

It would be an equivocation to say we had climbed the mountain but did trek the last fee hundred metres along the gondola stanchions to the summit for a really breathtaking look at Lago Maggiore’s expanse from two sides.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica) plus a miscellany of Americana

eight years ago: a cancelled vacation

nine years ago: artist Peter Max, fantasy politics plus bans on yoga

ten years ago: diplomatic blackmail 

eleven years ago: check-out line etiquette plus dragnet surveillance

sacro monte di varese (11. 656)

One of nine UNESCO designated sites, the holy mountains of Lombardi and Piedmont were came into their present form after the 1571 Battle of Lepanto, in gratitude for the decisive maritime victory for the Holy League over the Ottoman Empire, a mediative pilgrimage to the summit and sanctuary that showcases religious artistic and architectural skill of the Duchy of Milan while in harmony with the natural landscape. 

The sacred location above the provincial capital has a series of fourteen chapels decorated with polychromatic figures illustrating not the usual stations of the cross but with each triplet representing one of the joyful, sorrowful and glorious Mysteries of the rosary as one ascends the mountain. 

At the top is the cloister—a community of the order of the Romite Ambrosiane—a sisterhood who promoted public conveniences and sanitation, among other good works, a Marian church and a small village called Santa Maria del Monte originally built to accommodate pilgrims and church staff but now with a few dining establishments and hotels.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: the US supreme court strikes down Biden’s student loan amnesty (with synchronoptica) plus Night of the Long Knives (1934)

seven year ago: more telephone trivia, German marriage equality plus assorted links worth revisiting

eight years ago: Mid-Century Modern library posters, a robot lawyer, the place of English in the EU post-Brexit plus mobile beach-changing rooms

nine years ago: the Greek drachma, more links to enjoy plus more independence, secessionist movements

ten years ago: electromagnet forensics plus essential oils

il rocco di caldè (11.655)

Visiting the comune of between Luino and Laveno Castleveccana and took a hike through the frazione of Caldè to the Rocco, a promontory that first hosted a defensive castello in the early tenth century but was breached during the campaigns of Otto I against Berengar II. 

We first passed the line processing furnaces in a rather venerable industrial park, in operation from 1280 to 1970 these kilns made quicklime for mortar, pottery and plaster and for use in agriculture by superheating limestone, the techniques superannuated by the rise of cheap petroleum. The design of the furnaces and technique were virtually unchanged since the Middle Ages. 

We next came to the a sixteenth century church dedicated to Saint Veronica that was originally a chapel and shelter for farm workers and shepherds in service of a second fortification built on the Rocco, destroyed by the Swiss in 1513 during rivalries between the French and the Holy Roman Empire and allies, the sanctuary being the only part not in complete ruins and overtaken by nature.

synchronoptica

one year ago: Dancing in the Streets (with synchronoptica), an animatronic facelift, We Didn’t Start the Fire updated plus US supreme court ends affirmative action

seven years ago: the parable of the second arrow, rolling back regulations on pesticide use in the US, Trump goes to Paris plus the US united in quackery

eight years ago: weaponising toxic-masculinity, more on ISOTYPEs plus a Golden Mean pocket scope

nine years ago: a word for relating to pigeons plus assorted links worth revisiting

ten years ago: social engineering, an optical muezzin plus placebos and nocebos

isola boromee (11. 654)

Though island-hopping was not as logistically easy as we thought—an all day commitment and much of the archipelago did not allow dogs, we nonetheless enjoyed our excursion via ferry to the Lago Maggiore island group in the bay of Stresa.  

One of a number of merchant and banking dynasties to carry the title Buon Romei—trustworthy Romans, the House that began acquiring the properties in the mid-fifteenth century were eventually ennobled and still to this day retain much of their holdings. Isola Bella contains a summer palace and Isola Madre has an English-style botanical garden. Isola Superiore (dei Pescatori, the Island of the Fishermen) where we disembarked, is the only one with a permanent—albeit a small one and far outnumbered by the staff of the many restaurants—and never owned by the House Borromeo.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica) plus The Wizard of Oz x Pink Floyd

seven years ago: Grenfell Tower, colonial Americans’ expanding settlements plus Germany legalises same-sex marriage

eight years ago: biometric passwords plus Invisibilia returns

nine years ago: more on the Right of Panorama plus a trip to the Wetterau

ten years ago: obscure sorrows plus pataphysics and Alfred Jarre