Tosca in the Verona arena

When I heard about the annual summer opera series that is held in the Roman arena in Verona, I knew I could convince Jim to go with me. He wouldn't be able to resist the opportunity to sit in the same arena as the proletariat who watched gladiatorial combats and mock battles. Finished in 30 AD, the arena in Verona is the third largest Roman coliseum, after Rome and Naples. The opera series this year includes Carmen, Aida, The Barber of Seville, Turandot, and Tosca. I wanted to see a Puccini opera because he lived in the nearby towns of Lucca and Viareggio. That narrowed it down to Turandot and Tosca. I queried our friend Jim B. who is an opera buff, and he described Tosca as "a tawdry little thing. A simple, lurid story with fabulous arias, and it is short, relatively speaking." Tawdry, lurid, and short...even Jim should like this!

Verona is a 2-1/2 hour drive from here on the autostrada. Verona, like many of the northern Italian cities, is very prosperous, so it is well preserved and maintained and has nice shopping districts with great restaurants and a lively arts scene. There is a lot to see and do in Verona in addition to the opera, but we found the best part of Verona was just riding our bicycles around the old town. We did stop in and visit the Basilica of San Zeno. Built mostly in the 12th century, it is the most ornate Romanesque church in northern Italy, with a beautiful wooden ceiling that replicates a boat's keel and a number of original frescoes, some of which have ancient graffiti etched into them. One guy had carved his name in a fancy script in 1755. The body of San Zeno--patron saint of Verona--is on display in the crypt. Creepy, but quite common in European churches.

For the opera, we had bought the cheap seats. It's festival seating on the highest marble steps, which will set you back about $45. The seating on the floor of the arena costs anywhere from $100 to $250. The atmosphere in our area was more like a baseball game than an opera with folks casually dressed and vendors selling cold drinks and renting cushions. This was in contrast to the scene on the floor, where wine was being served to women and men wearing their finest. The opera, which is in three acts, started at 9 and finished at 11:30. The short story of Tosca is that she tries to save her imprisoned lover by striking a deal with the general who lusts for her and holds her lover captive. She kills the general after she believes the deal is sealed, but the general, never had any intention to spare her lover. Tosca's lover is killed by a firing squad, and Tosca then jumps to her death as they come to arrest her for the general's murder. Not the most uplifting story, but the set was fascinating, the orchestra was fantastic, and, despite the size of the venue and no amplification, the singers voices magically found their way to our remote ears and, at times, with force! I had a wonderful time, and Jim conceded that he was willing to see another opera, but it had to be The Barber of Seville because of some connection with Bugs Bunny.

After I shot my obligatory Bella-and-Bruno-go-to-[famous town in Europe] photo, we drove home with a detour to the Valpolicella wine producing region near Lake Garda. Our guidebook suggested lunch in the tiny hamlet of San Giorgio. It was a good recommendation. We ordered a mixed plate of meats and cheeses and a half carafe of Valpolicella. We sat alone on a terrace overlooking the vineyards with Lake Garda in the distance and let some of Sunday afternoon slip away.

A few events

With the house shipment over, we are more able to travel about and do things. Last weekend, we drove an hour from here up into the Apennine mountains. This mountain range is small compared to the Alps, but is still impressive with 9,000-foot peaks, a number of ski areas, and a whole lot of marble mines. I've decided marble is to Italy like wood is to the U.S. Everything here is made of marble: floors, tables, window sills, base boards, countertops, sinks, tubs. In fact, Jim pointed out to me the other day that our driveway is made from crushed bits of marble! Marble isn't used structurally, like wood is in American homes, but it is used ornamentally everywhere. It is particularly common in this area because of the Carrara marble mines just south of us. (Remember the opening chase scene in the James Bond movie Quantum Solace? That's shot in the Carrara marble mines.) Our hike took us above the mines and the tree zone, and we walked an empty trail, most of which was on a stone road that could have only been built by the Romans, who also liked this area for its marble. We hiked to a pass where we had beautiful views of the Mediterranean below.

We also recently went to a concert in Lucca. Each summer the beautiful walled city of Lucca hosts a locally famous concert series. This year's lineup included Burt Bacharach, Dave Mathews Band, James Taylor, John Fogarty, and others. We decided to go see Moby, who's electronically produced music is a favorite of ours; it always seems to find its way into our slide and video shows. We were curious what the Lucca concert scene would be like, and we were interested in seeing how Moby's electronic music would be performed live. The concert scene was wonderful with a small crowd of about 2,000 in the immense, tree-lined Piazza Napoleone, which could have handled 10,000. It was beautiful star-filled night, and Moby come on the stage with his all-female band, except a token male drummer. In addition to the drummer and a bass player, he was supported by two violinists, who looked like young graduates of Juilliard's, and two awesome female vocalists who more than made up for Moby's very average voice. They played dance music for two hours, and the crowd obliged.

Our most recent outing was last Thursday. Neighbors who are interested in helping us learn Italian invited us to a dinner at an agriturismo. Agriturismos are Italian farms that offer accommodation and food. If you've never heard of agriturismos and you come to Italy, you must check them out. They range from rustic to rather elegant, and they can be wonderful places to stay at an excellent value. Most of them are working farms and many of them are wine producers, like the agriturismo that we went to for dinner. We joined about 30 people who are members of a dinner club for this six-course, five-hour meal, which included three varieties of the owner's wine. As much as we enjoyed the food and wine, Jim and I enjoyed listening to the lively discussions at the table. At one point, after a particularly long heated discussion, Jim turned to our neighbor Sonia and asked what they were talking about. He was sure it was politics or religion because of the passion around the discussion. No, Sonia said calmly, they are discussing how big the pieces of meat should be in a ragu sauce. Of course!

Moved In!

After resolving a problem with Italy customs, our household shipment arrived on July 20, three weeks after moving into our house. I think I wrote in an earlier blog that I didn't mind living without our stuff because our lives were simple and we were content. But after about 10 days, that feeling wore off and we were anxious to get our things. It was the little stuff that I wanted and needed: a garlic press, the dog nail trimmers, a change of sheets, my Italian cookbook. We also needed our bikes so that if Jim drove to work, I had a way to get off the hill, and if I needed the car, he could ride into work.

The unpacking went well after the movers found our house. This is becoming a common problem, and I'm having to learn phrases such as "the very end of the road," "the last house on the paved road," and "follow the signs for Via Prulla 72-76." You see, our address according to the owner is Via Prulla 1/A. It makes sense because our neighbor, who built this house, has a number 1 on her gate, but apparently the city has recently renumbered all of the houses, and we are no longer 1/A, although that is what's on every contract and document we've signed. Our neighbor's new number is 76, so we are either 77 or 76/A, but no one seems to know or care. I talked to the postman, and he says he will deliver the mail to us for 1/A, so now I just need to learn how to tell people to get here.

It took most of a week to get unpacked and set up. We're mostly satisfied with the 8,000+ pounds of gear that we chose to bring with us (fortunately we didn't bring the 12,000 pounds we originally planned); however, given this particular house, we should have left behind more of our photos and brought a chainsaw and our gas-powered weed trimmer instead. It's strange to see our furniture in this Italian farmhouse, but we are very comfortable, as this picture of Jim shows, and we are now accepting reservations for our spare bedroom!