Karla Verdugo, Artrist

I met Karla Verdugo on my first days back here in Genova. 

She was exhibiting her art on Via San Lorenzo, nestled in amongst Amadeo, Franco, Angelo, Santo, Jane, Luciano, and Rossi.  Little did I know that this group would open and let a wandering kiwi into their midst in the most generous of ways.

Yesterday, I went back and spent the day with them, and Karla was my tireless translator.  We laughed often and there are so many stories totell about these delicious people but not today.  This is simply to post my photograph of Karla and to thank her for translating a most magical day.

Amedeo Baldovino, Artist

I met Amedeo Baldovino on my first day back in Genova.  He displays his work with a group of artists on Genova’s Via San Lorenzo.  I had noticed his work on past visits but didn’t like to bother him.  Each time I would think, ‘next time’ and wait for the courage to converse.

This time we talked, via another artist there on the street, Karla Verdugo ... a kind and patient translator of Italian to English and back again.  And I’m so glad that we did.

A plan was made to meet up yesterday, a photography session, a blog creation, and so much intense conversation and laughter.  Shannon is in the process of creating a blog for Amadeo, and others, and I photographed the bulk of his work on display yesterday.

Next weekend, I’m going back to get the stories of everyone else there.  I don’t quite have the names of everyone but there is an 83 year old who looks like he might be in his late 50s or early 60s, there is the artist who used to be a musician and traveled the world on cruise ships, and there is the man who is so proud of his grandchild. 

I love the warmth I find here in Genova.  The people have been so very kind but for now, here is a small taste of Amedeo Baldovino’s work.  This work is my particular favourite ...

 

On Knowing Thy Bus ...

Can I just tell you how good my New Zealand soul felt, strolling alongside the sea on Corso Italia, here in Genova tonight ...

Living in Belgium I miss the kind of Nature I used to know in New Zealand but I find something of it here in this beautiful Italian city, surrounded by hills, on the edge of the Ligurian Sea.

Of course, the bliss I found there wandering was tempered when I realised that my particular bus stopped running at 8.35 ... it was 9.45pm.

Fortunately, an innocent bystander was okay with my English, and I was surely grateful for his.  Yes, that particular bus really did stop running and yes, I was stuck miles from the city ... ‘miles’ when it comes to walking back through the night.

No money for a taxi, I am one of those creatures who rarely have money, and so ... sadness and woe until he mentioned there was another bus, round the corner over there.

‘Home’ ... to this borrowed home I love so well, to a late dinner of trofie (pasta), pesto (of course), red wine ... Adele playing too.  The kitchen window is open, the street is still full of the noise of lives being lived.
I love being here.

That House I Love, Boccadasse

And there at the end of Corso Italia was Boccadasse ... still.

But they have painted the house I’ve been photographing since that first time I wandered here.  Not only that, it’s a restaurant now.

I need to pass by and casually case the joint one day soon, just to see if it’s a place I can afford to eat, maybe one time.  It was a house I would have loved to have lived in.  A dinner, out there on the terrace, seems like something almost as delightful.

We’ll see ...

A presto.


Genova, after the storm

I had to wander down to the port this evening, and it’s not really my favourite part of town to wander alone, here in this beautiful city but I had to check up on boats trips and times.

The light was calling me ... a siren song really however I just left the big camera safely in its bag, chicken-hearted creature I sometimes am. 

Then wandering back up via San Lorenzo, I couldn’t resist.  I think you can see why ...

Maddalena

I spent just 24 hours in Lerici but there was so much and so many packed into that small window of time that pulling each thing out to hold up to the light so I could write of it all has been more difficult than I could have imagined ...

And Maddalena, like Stefano in Genova, has kindly put up with my outpourings about them but really ... I must.

So ... last Sunday, Maddalena, GP and Orazio, with Francesco joining us near the end, headed up into the hills above Lerici for a feast.  The sky was a deep blue, the sun was warm and the restaurant was the ARCI place in Solaro and, honestly, the food was extraordinary.

Our feast was as follows (grazie Maddalena, because I couldn’t remember everything and had names for even less): We had marinated tuna and swordfish served on large platters, then fresh oysters still in their shells - a presentation that took me straight back my childhood in New Zealand.  There was a platter of shrimps and another of salmon, and a tagliolini al nero di seppia and zucchine (squid), served up next to the most delicious pasta I have ever tasted - a spaghetti alla bottarga (made from dried fish roe).

Being civilised Italians, the others all drank a white wine and were gentle about my barbarian self choosing a small jug of red wine (but it really is my favourite drink in the world, she whispers). 

Of course, there was water throughout, and this tasty little sorbetto al limone that you drank through a straw - a mix of lemon gelato and limoncello, blended together.  It was delicious.  We ended our feasting with a crema catalana! and then wandered slowly back down the hill to meet up with the others back on the shores of the Ligurian Sea.

Bliss!

Grazie Maddalena, GP and Orazio, Francesco too, for a beautiful afternoon.

A taste of Heaven, Lerici

There was this stunning lunch had while I was staying with Maddalena and GP in Lerici ... and I have been so scared of attempting to write of it and failing, that I have risked losing the best of it in my mind.

I didn’t photograph the stunning food because we were so busy eating it.  Perhaps I regret that now ...  because there were so many delicious things new to me, or old friends forgotten - like that plate of raw oysters in their shells.

Sitting way up there, in the hills above Lerici ... blue skies and sunlight, talking and eating with excellent people ... it was the happiest I’ve been in a long time.  Grazie to the lovely people who shared their world with me.

Roberto ...

This is Roberto, the lovely man who charmed me with his willingness to take me by the arm and show me around Lerici ... explaining in Italian while I replied in my English, with that smattering of Italian I have.

Maddalena translated Roberto explaining that, next time, we’re cycling to a village nearby’.  I’m worried about my level of fitness and will have to go into training to keep up with him.  I can still see his quietly bemused smile, on that Sunday morning when I huffed and puffed my way up the castle stairs.

Maddalena and GP were so very good to me during my stay there in Leirici, and meeting their friend Roberto was just another delightful moment that mixed with so many other delightful moments in bella Lerici.

Art and Ancient City Gates, Genoa

In good times arts are magical, and in tough times they are essential. That’s when you need them the most.
Art makes you human.
Bruce Dethlefsen, Wisconsin Poet Laureate

I love the beauty of this ancient gate, especially that painting catching the sun on the day I took this particular photograph. The lovely thing is that this particular gate takes me back to Paola’s place and so I passed through it daily.

Porta Soprana is one of Genova’s five medieval gates and it was constructed back in the 12th century to deter Emperor Barbarossa.

Chiavari ... an evening out

I wanted to return to the story of Stefano, Miriam and a lovely evening spent in Chiavari, just half an hour's drive from Genova.

We actually drove through evening sleet to arrive in this small town on the Italian Riviera, in the region of Liguria.  It was dark but I saw enough to make me want to return one day.

Our first port of call was Paola’s beautiful clothing boutique, C’è chi c’ha, and after picking her up we wandered on to meet up with other friends of Stefano and Miriam’s.

Our destination was Ristorante Da Felice, the beginning point for my journey into the cuisine of the Ligurian Sea.  One that, unbeknown to me, would be continuing in Lerici in the days ahead.

Whenever I eat with Stefano, I always leave it to him to advise me on the menu, as no one knows more than a local.  The proof would be in the fact that I have never had a bad meal with him.  And that evening was no exception.

I began with this delightful shrimp dish before moving on to the mighty Palamite nell’ Arbanella ... and I may or may not have that correctly written but it was a startling dish.  The fish is a Palamita and is a predator, like tuna, as you can see in the youtube I hunted down.

The photograph gives you an idea of the unusual presentation - Stefano persevered, in low light and with his cellphone camera, wanting to capture this dish that was unusual even to them.  The fish was served up in a small glass preserving jar, seasoned with a little lemon and herb ... it tasted delightful.

Dessert was a small selection of deliciousness, as the waiter and Stefano plotted a serving that worked around my problems with fresh fruit.

It was a lovely evening with good people and delicious food in a beautiful place.  Grazie to the very kind people from Genova, who included me in an evening I won’t forget.

La dolce vita ...

Returning to Genova from Lerici on the train tonight,  I felt ‘la dolce vita’ was the only way to describe my experiences these last few days ...

I arrived in Lerici, and stepped off the bus into the sunset you see at the end of the post and that was only the beginning.  I had been invited to visit by Maddalena, a truly lovely woman I met online more than ten years ago ...back when we were both locals in a chatroom called Travel.  We met so many good people there, there was Mary Lou, Diede, Marco in Rome ... and many many more.  We were talking of them as we wandered in her Lerici these last 24 hours, realising just how lucky we had been to find a space like that in those days.

So, there was a train trip from Genova to Lerici late yesterday afternoon, to finally meet Maddalena and her lovely GP, having been invited to their weekend studio there in that beautiful town.  We dropped my gear at her place and wandered down to a roadside ... bar (Maddalena will laugh when she reads that) but there was prosecco and it was good.  I was introduced to Roberto, a delightful man who was just leaving as we arrived ... but more on him later.  A little prosecco and then we were off to meet Elisabetta, her son Marco and his friend Davide ... the teenage boys were booked for an impromtu Saturday night English test.  They were very good-natured about it and we enjoyed their English.

It was there that I was introduced to an interesting red wine, one that I must get the name of, and then we were off to dinner.  This was a continuation of me tasting most of what the Ligurian Sea has to offer ... a journey begun with Stefano, Miriam and their friends during the week.  The fish-filled ravioli was divine and my main fish-dish was also rather exquisite ...

I was fascinated to learn that Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley had lived close-by, and had anchored their sailing boat in Lerici. 

I woke early and, having mentioned I might, I slipped out with my camera leaving the others asleep.  It was 8am, the light was stunning ... although it has to be said that it never stopped being stunning while I was there. I was wandering along by the harbour, knowing no-one and heading to ‘the rocks’ when I met Roberto again.  He remembered me.

Roberto is lovely. He took me by the arm and off we went.  He’s in his 70’s and was really rather delighted over having to wait for my younger, rather unfit, self at the top of the stairs as we made our way up to the castle.  He was still chuckling about that when we said goodbye to him tonight.  It reminded me, yet again, that I live a rather sedentary life over in the flatlands of Belgium.  I need to go into training, as he told me we’re going cycling next time I am there ...

Anyway, the story of our morning stroll takes on a whole new dimension when you realise that I don’t really speak Italian ... I just know a few words.  And Roberto doesn’t speak English however ... we talked the whole way.  We made our way up to the castle, then on over the back to look at the stunning seascape ... then down through the narrow back streets of Lerici to the piazza and into a cafe for coffee. 

I just adored him, although I felt quite the idiot for not having more Italian.  We were fortunate, we did find a very kind woman who translated for us for a while.

An entirely delicious day followed but it is too much to fit into one single blog post and so, more another time.
Grazie, Maddalena and GP.  It was truly delightful!

The Caruggi, Genoa

I want to return to the caruggi of Genova, with a tripod and someone to wander with ... as they aren’t always the wisest of places to pull out a big camera and get lost in your work however, that said, I’ve never had any trouble in there.

I love the ancient alleyways here in the historical heart of Genova.  The general rule of thumb is that if the street lights aren’t working, then avoid them.  But some have been renovated and I find most of them beautiful, even the dilapidated crumbling ones.

One story goes that, for military reasons, the streets were made narrow and the houses were built close together to slow down the invaders, most particularly the Moors, who frequently attacked this ancient city.  I read that the people of Lombard, the Normans and the Saracen also attacked Genova. 

Actually, talking of invaders, in 1155, the hugely impressive city wall was built to protect the city from Emperor Federico Barbarossa ... the man I had only previously known as Barbarossa.  And then the 16th century was known as the Century of the Genovese and local banks here were lending money to the European monarchs, making it one of the most powerful cities of the time.

Oh yes, an impressive city, an impressive history.

The Lion of Cattedrale Di San Lorenzo, Genoa

I love this particular lion guarding Cattedrale Di San Lorenzo.  I can’t resist taking more photographs each time I walk by.

Today, it seemed like I caught him asleep.  Anyway, San Lorenzo’s Cathedral is Genova’s main cathedral and was begun back in 1155.  Like so many old buildings in Europe, there was fire, back in 1296.  The facade, is a gothic masterpiece completed between 1307 and 1312.

There is so much more about the cathedral but me, I’m in love with the lion.