Brilliant Beer Bar

I went twice this week to an excellent beer bar that is, ironically, just around the corner from my old Campo d'Fiori apartment.  It was right there for two months and -- because it's on an obscurely located side-street -- I never noticed it.

Anyway, Open Baladin has a huge collection of Italian craft (and other) beers, it has an awesome look and feel, and very good service.  I have not tried out the food yet, but I hope to do so soon.  If you want a change of pace from the constant vino the next time you're here -- and you would rather not have cocktails at Barnum -- look for it.  Actually, Barnum and Open Baladin are only 5 minutes apart.  It's easy to do both.  That's what a friend and I did last night!

The Anti-Mafia Ristorante

Some of you may have heard about Antica Focacceria San Francesco.  The NYT wrote about it in July:

travel.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/travel/taking-a-bite-out-of-crime-in-rome.html

The owner of this Sicilian ristorante, Vincenzo Conticello, made waves by standing up to the Mafia.  Mr. Conticello has refused to comply with the Mafia "shake-downs" that you always hear about or see in the movies -- he would not pay the pizzo, or protection fee, that the Mafia in Palermo (in Sicily) demanded.  Read the article.  You'll hear about what happened after Conticello refused.

What's more relevant for our purposes is that Conticello opened two relatively new branches of Antica Focacceria San Francesco in Roma.  I'm going to one of them tomorrow night with some friends.  I'll report back on the food.  On the politics, you can make your own judgments.

My First Selfie

With all this traveling, and all these photos, it's hard to believe that I just now have snapped my first selfie!

Four Magical Days Up North

Wow.  This anno sabatico has been loaded with experiences, days, trips, etc., that I will never forget.  But last Thursday through Sunday were 4 days that rank right up there with the best of them.  The hospitality and warmth I received, along with the beauty I enjoyed seeing -- and tasting -- are prime examples of why this time in Italia has been so amazing.

I drove east from Torino to the Monferrato wine region on Thursday morning.  I knew the gods were smiling when, although I was prepared to tempt the fates and brave the drive in a car with a manual transmission, the kind people at Avis reported that there was one car with an automatic transmission available.  Given the gorgeous but windy roads in Monferrato, and all the hairpin turns I had to execute, this turned out to be a huge plus.

Thursday and Friday were then tastings from Cascina Gilli (www.cascinagilli.it/#/en/winery/cascina-gilli) and Cascina Garitina (www.cascinagaritina.com).  My California wine-growing friend was right to recommend both of these wineries.  I'm not sure you could have more fun than driving through this astounding landscape, enjoying conversations with the hosts at Gilli and Garitina, and tasting some outstanding Piemonte wines.  Just wonderful.

Chiara at Cascina Gilli was also kind enough to recommend an abbey and old church up in the hills of Monferrato.  Wonderful.  So peaceful.  Nobody else was at the Abbazia di Vezzolano, so wandering around the grounds of this 12th Century abbey was a soothing and peaceful stop.  Look for the Vezzolano Abbey (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vezzolano_Abbey) if you ever go tasting in Monferrato.

In addition to the relaxing drives and great wines, the little Friday night wine-and-art soiree at Cascina Gilli was a terrific way to cap off a couple of days in the region -- and to practice my Italian.  (OK, that's an overstatement).  I don't think there were any other tourists in attendance.

And, before I forget, if you are in Monferrato and want a great B&B, look up Cascina Rosengale.  (www.cascinarosengana.it/default.asp?LANG=en.)  Not super fancy, but incredibly helpful owners and staff, and totally awesome food and vino.  I lost track of all the dishes they serve for the 4-antipasti (appetizers), 4-primi (first course), and 4-secondi (second course) dinner, but I had to turn down several of them; it was just too much food.  The folks at Rosengale really helped me enjoy my couple of days in this Piemonte wine region.

It then got even better.  One development from the past couple of weeks is that my original tutor Paola has returned from her summer in the Puglia region.  (Valentina did a remarkable job in Paola's absence!)  While I was in Piemonte last week, it turned out that Paola was visiting her parents in the nearby Lombardia region.  Paola invited me to spend a day or two at her parents' house -- it was an offer I could not refuse.  

On Saturday morning, I took off from the Monferrato region for my visit to Paola's family in Pavia -- a city of 70,000 that is 20 miles or so south of Milano.  Before I got there, I took a little detour to the town of Casale Monferrato.  This town has an active synagogue that was built in 1595.  (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synagogue_of_Casale_Monferrato.)  Given that I was driving and -- as discussed below -- eating and drinking on Yom Kippur, I thought that the least I could do was to stop in at an historic synagogue.  I only spent 5 minutes inside, but it felt nice.  I'm not sure I have attended both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services in the same year (even for just 5 minutes) since the late '80s or early '90s!

I then arrived in Pavia.  Paola's genitori (parents) and their long-time friend Lina were the best.  Although they barely spoke any English, we had great conversations about Pavia, other regions in Italy, their family history, my family, food, vino, and everything else.  My goodness did Paola's mom cook a ton for us.  We finished a massive lunch at maybe 3:30.  Paola and I then went for a walk around the sites (mostly churches) of Pavia.  By 7:30 we were back at the house -- for dinner.  I'm sure I have never consumed so many calories in a 6-7 hour span.  We weren't done, of course.  Paola and I then went to meet 2 of her friends at Pavia's best dessert shop.  Yummmm.

On Sunday, Paola and I hit the road early and drove up to Milano.  I really thought that I would not have a chance to visit Milan on this trip.  But Paola offered to guide me around.  Totally psyched to have seen it.  I don't think Milano will make my top 5 list of the places I'm visiting, but the Duomo there is truly outstanding.  So imposing, both inside and out.

I was exhausted when I made it back to Roma at midnight on Sunday night.  More than that though, I was overwhelmed by the kind generosity that Paola's family, Chiara at Cascina Gilli, and Gianluca at Cascina Garitina all extended to me over a whirlwind post-Torino 4 days up north.

The Milan cathedral

The very impressive Certosa di Pavia -- the Carthusian monastery that is 5 miles outside of Pavia

One of Pavia's nice churches

One of the hallways outside of the Casale Monferrato synagogue

One Last Post On Turin: Nietzsche

Speaking of Turin legends, there is a big one that cuts way closer to home for me than the Shroud.  I was a voracious reader of Nietzsche during my last couple of years of college and then during law school.  During Christmas and summer breaks, I couldn’t put his books down. 

The 1880s were a prolific period for Friedrich Nietzsche, and he spent the last few years of that period living in Torino.  But Nietzsche famously suffered from a complete mental breakdown in January 1889.  Although he lived for another decade, he was catatonic and insane for the rest of his life.  This is undisputed. 

A tale attached to his breakdown, however, might not be true.  Nietzsche was living in an apartment on the Piazza Carlo Alberto in downtown Torino.  I now know that this is an incredibly elegant piazza – it was my favorite in Torino.  The story goes that, one day, while walking around near his apartment, Nietzsche saw a coach driver beating his horse.  Nietzsche supposedly flung his arms around the horse’s neck to protect it, and then collapsed to the ground unconscious.  He never again uttered a sane sentence.  (Milan Kundera writes of the episode in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being.”) 

The point is that I could not visit Turin without stopping by Nietzsche’s apartment, and seeing the site of his home and collapse.  It turns out that the Piazza Carlo Alberto is one of the best spots in town anyway – replete with some cafes, an impeccably-manicured center lawn, and a couple of museums with wonderful architecture – so you don’t have to go out of your way to see the historical spot.  Some pics: 

Nietzsche's apartment is the one with the orange curtain -- second one in on the second floor.  

The Museo Rissorgimento - a museum telling the history of Italy's formation in the 19th Century

Piazza Carlo Alberto

Shruggin' At The Shroud

If you're in Turin, it stands to reason that you need to go see the famed Shroud of Turin, si?  Not so fast.  The Shroud is only made visible to the public every 10 years or so.  The best you can do -- unless you happen to be in Torino during a jubilee year or something -- is to go to a museum that explains the history of the Shroud, and that presents the evidence that it once was wrapped around a post-Crucifixion Jesus.  I did that yesterday morning.  I visited the Museo della Sindone (the Holy Shroud Museum).

The museum is charming.  There is a pleasant staff that did its best to chaperone me around.  They set up the English version of the 13-minute introductory DVD that every visitor gets to see, showed me into the follow-on rooms that showcase around 25 photos of the Shroud from the past 125 years or so, and then walked me down to the under-groud level that contains other exhibits intended to demonstrate the evidence backing up the Shroud's providence.  I appreciated their hospitality.  But count me as a skeptic.

Their evidence at best shows that the Shroud covered some dead guy at some point in time.  It perhaps shows that this man suffered some torture and a savage beating.  They presented no evidence as to the man's identity.  They presented no evidence regarding when he died and got shrouded.  On the claim that this man was the historical Jesus, I would grant summary judgment and dismiss the claim.  

The "Mole Antonelliana:" Turin's Landmark Tower, Turin's Jews, Martin Scorsese, And The Fibonacci Numbers All Rolled Into One

That's a mouthful, huh?  Well, this building -- which I'd never heard of before -- is fascinating on several levels.

For starters, the Mole Antonelliana is Torino's most iconic structure.  It is a huge and beautiful building that has an amazing history and that was the inspiration for the symbol of the 2006 Winter Olympics that Torino hosted.  The Mole Antonelliana is so tall -- and the streets around it are so narrow -- that it's difficult to get the whole thing in pictures.  But the design is beautiful, especially at night.

The end product, however, is just part of the story.  The Mole Antonelliana's history is stupendous too.  When construction began in 1863, the Mole Antonelliana was going to be Torino's synagogue.  Jews achieved full civil rights in Torino in 1848.  By 1860, the city was Italy's capital.  The Jewish community in Torino wanted to celebrate its emancipation with a synagogue that befitted the city's capital status.  They therefore hired renowned architect Alessandro Antonelli to build their synagogue.

The relationship soon went south.  Antonelli kept building higher and higher, and he kept exceeding the Jewish community's budget.  The city eventually bought the property from the Jews, and Antonelli eventually finished his masterpiece.

Since 2000, the Mole Antonelliana has had another role.  It houses the Museo Nazionale del Cinema (National Museum of Cinema).  This is a pretty good museum of cinematic history.  I had mixed feelings about it.  On the one hand, the exhibits look great and the treatment of actual movie history is darn good.  For my taste, though, there is way too much geek stuff on the science of film going back into the 1800s.  Others might like that kind of stuff.  (I'm speaking to the patent lawyers among you.....)

But, then there are the temporary exhibitions, including the one that is ending now: a very comprehensive exhibit dedicated to the works of Martin Scorsese.  One word: wow!  This was awesome.  There were loads of incredible on-location photos from all of Scorsese's films going way way back into the '60s.  There were some really interesting letters and notes relating to Scorsese's early correspondence with studios, etc.  There were screens playing short bits of more than a dozen Scorsese movies.  Interviews with Scorsese about his family history in Sicily and then NYC.  Anecdotal photos and documents about Scorsese's place in pop culture and film history.  Etc., etc.  And it's all done in quite a polished style.
 

Working with Leonardo on The Departed

With the Stones

From the night when Scorsese won his only Best Director Oscar, for The Departed

So, I was already thinking that this Mole Antonelliana was just downright superb.  How could it get any better?  Here's how.  When doing some research yesterday, I read that one side of the stratospheric tower has a vertical column of the Fibonacci numbers lit up in red at night.  Unbelievable, right?!?!?  Just do a Google search for "mole antonelliana fibonacci" and look at the "Images" it yields.  You'll see what I mean.  I tell you that, when I read this, I thought that this whole awesome landmark was put on Earth for me.  I mean, I thought I'd go over there and see a bunch of Dalmatians wandering around, and hear the dulcet tones of Manilow being piped in over the sound system!

Not so much.  I don't know what's going on, but I went down to the Mole Antonelliana both last night and tonight.  There ain't no red numbers on any side of the spire.  I'll have to do further research to find out what happened.

Doesn't change the conclusion, however.  This is a wonderful site if you're ever in Torino.  Oh, and I almost forgot to mention what for many people is actually the highlight.  You can take a super fast and sleek elevator up to the top.  You get very good views of the entire city.