Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa

In the background, behind the fountain, you can see a part of Teatro Carlo Felice ... reputed to be the most technological theatre in Italy.  It has a stage set that allows twelve complete sets at the same time.

Dedicated to King Carlo Felice of Savona in 1828, and designed by Carlo Barabino - it was neoclassical in style, with two sections joined at right angles however the original theatre was destroyed during WWII.

Apparently, during the reconstruction of the theatre, all of the architects working on it died.  Due to this incredible misfortune, the theatre didn’t reopen until 1991, when its restoration was completed by Aldi Rossi.

Reading from edizioni KINA Italia/L.E.G.O - today the theatre has an interior geometrical structure made of iron, stone, wood and marble. 

Having photographed it and read about it, it seems important that one day I actually wander inside and attend an event.  I’ll let you know.

The light today, in Genoa

It’s been a footsore and wearisome day in some ways but in other ways, it was completely sublime.

The light was exciting as I wandered the city, wending my way down to Via San Luca, repeatedly, trying to resolve the mystery of where precisely the shop was, so I could get my usb modem reloaded.

And then I was punished for not understanding everything first time and penance took the form of walking down ... and yes, back up, from the shop I was buying the hours from.  In a twist of ouch that those who know me will enjoy, my lack of any other fluent language in telephone/internet instructions, meant that after being given painstaking instructions in Italian ... my laptop threw that information back at me in Nederlands, making everything as clear as mud.

I could have cried ... but crying never solved anything.  So I went back down to the shop however it was lunchtime and all was locked until 3pm.

I wandered and returned however the assistant there didn’t speak English and, even worse, I couldn’t explain in Italian.

I thought, ‘Okay, this is my punishment for not learning the language’.  The English-speaking guy was gone and anyway, what sort of internet addict was I?

Well ... obviously quite a bad one, as an hour later I resolved not to waste my 20 euro reloading fee, and wandered back down.  I found him!  But I had to bring my laptop back.

My feet were all but broken.  I’ve really struggled with recovering from last week’s cold.  It’s been a complete pain but I did it - that usb modem has been reloaded.  I'm a little sweaty and footsore,  and slightly mortified by the whole process but it's done.

Other rewards from my day?
Well there are some photographs I think I might be rather pleased with.
And yes, I have internet here at the apartment as of tonight.
There is also fresh pasta - the famous trofie, to be accompanied by fresh pesto from the ladies down in Il Lungho. 

Red wine?
Why yes, there is a little of that too.

Anyway, this first photograph from today is a slice of Giuseppe Corsa di Vergagni’s fountain (1936) located in Piazza de Ferrari.  The light and the wind blowing the water around, simply delighted me.

A Sunday in Genoa

This time, being in Genova seems to be all about sleeping ... sleeping like I haven’t slept in years.

Perhaps I needed it but I am bemused to find myself sleeping more than my usual 5-6 hours.  I have slept 10 hours+ on each of these first two days in this city that I love.

Still, the buildings I enjoy attempting to photograph have been here for a long time and they’re not going to notice me being tardy about getting up and out of bed early. 

I photographed Cattedrale di San Lorenzo this morning.  It was built to hold Saint John the Baptist’s ashes, or so they tell me, and these were brought to Genova after the crusade in 1098.  The cathedral was begun in 1155 and its facade is a gothic masterpiece, no less. 

I love it.  I think you can see why ...

Back in Genoa

Yesterday I woke at 4.45am for a 5.30 taxi, and had the luck to have a lovely driver, a man who had been in the merchant navy when he was younger.  He seemed happy to chat all the way there and carried my suitcase into and out of the taxi. 

I caught the 6am bus to the airport for the 8.50am one hour and 40 minute flight, the one that I slept through until we passed over the alps ... at which point I almost climbed out the window, so impressed was I by the beauty of those snow-covered mountains that cut a path from France, through Italy into Austria, as well as passing through Switzerland and the south of Germany.

There was the bus from Milano Malpensa airport, the train from central station to Genova and the walk along Via XX Settembre to Paola’s Place, this place that I love so well.

I slept 10 hours last night.  I never ever sleep 10 hours.

And today was about wandering ... to the forno for a slice of the very best focaccia in Genova (probably the world, actually), stopping off for a delicious espresso.  It was about reclaiming this cityscape before heading out on the 2.40euro train to Camogli.

Stating the obvious, I just have to write that it’s so very good to be back in this very beautiful city.

I saw a beautiful street, the Via Aurelia, and now I am in a beautiful town, a really beautiful town, Genoa.  I walk on marble, everything is made of marble: stairs, balconies, palaces.
Gustave Flaubert, 1845, extract from a letter to a friend.

I could spend an entire day here in Via XX Settembre, in Genova, just photographing the light as it changes under this beautiful covered sidewalk.

A Holy Place, Genoa

A lovely elderly gentleman saw me taking a photograph and took me to another shop window, showing me its contents, and then on round the corner, telling me that I must see inside this church pictured below.

I think we did all of this in Italiano which I really don’t speak but sometimes, or oftentimes, you just ‘get’ what people are trying to tell you because your passion and curiousity meets them halfway.

Grazie to the Genovese man whose name I don’t know, for knowing that I might love this beautiful church, up a side street and almost round a corner ... a place I might never have found on my own.

Missing Genoa ...

The oddest thing is the fact that I begin missing Genova as I pass through that halfway-through-my-stay mark.

I notice suitcases rolling along the alleyway below Paola’s apartment and I know it’s silly to think of them because I still have the other half of my time there left to experience ... but I begin noticing them anyway.

I think I’ve lived one of those lives where I am always searching for someplace else ... someplace perfect.  And sometimes I’ve come so close to finding it but life has seen me pack up and move on again.

‘So close’ is knowing where to put my desk and having a place to restore my soul.  The crazy falling-down cottage in Broad Bay was something like that ... out on Portobello Road, and the wooden cottage with the exquisite verandah on Matariki Street too.  I loved life in Te Anau because of the lakes and mountains and a friendship with a potter there. I loved Blenheim for Anakiwa and Cromwell for Arrrowtown and Queenstown.

Maybe the next half of my life has to be about finding my place.
Let’s see it.

Meanwhile, I took this photograph while wandering on Via Garibaldi I think, or perhaps Via Cairoli.  I loved the painting and loved the reflections.  I have hundreds, if not 1000s, of photographs from my time spent wandering Genovese streets. I think there's a book ...

The Way Home ... when in Genoa

I love this gate called Porta Soprana.  It was built in the 12th century, with the help of the citizens of Genova, as the government of the time attempted to defend the independence of the city from Emperor Barbarossa.

However, Barbarossa apparently knew that he needed the people of Genova, with their rapidly developing economic and maritime strength, and he never attacked.  There was an oath of allegience and some levies instead.

And here I am, a 21st century woman, passing through Porta Soprana, goodness knows how many times on a given day as my wandering feet take me all over this Italian city that I love so well.
Source for historical information: the Genoa Guide (in English), published by Sagep Editori Turismo.


Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy

I want to write of the remarkable people we’ve spent time with these last two days but we’re preparing to leave, exhausted after a day scaling hills in the hot Italian sun ... only slightly revived after an exquisite dinner in the company of some lovely people.  I want to write the story of meeting these people but when I’m home and settled again and so, instead, I will leave you with some photographs taken today in Cinque Terre.

As always, I am most happy when I return to Genova city however I did enjoy leaving the tourist beat in Vernazza and wandering lost in the narrow alleyways of the small village.