We will be in Monticello Amiata in Tuscany from Friday, August 31st (Happy Birthday, Mom!) until September 8th volunteering at a vineyard for la vendemmia (grape harvest).

Upon our return we’ll have a few posts ready to go up, including “Une Semaine a Paris” and “Lerici and Portovenere”.

See the video below for a little idea of what we may be up to this coming week. I, for one, am hoping our experience is very similar to what you will see.

A Presto!

Just in case the video doesn’t show below, click here.

Yesterday afternoon we went to pay our electric bill at the post office because that’s where you pay electric bills. The first post office we went to was closed because they have shortened hours in August. This was no big surprise because most everything in Italy is either closed or has reduced hours during August. We went over to the main post office, which does stay open all day, but found out that the window to pay electric bills is only open in the morning.

So we returned the next morning. We took a ticket for the electric bill service window, and our number was called immediately. The usual wait at the post office is at least 20 minutes, so we thought we caught a lucky break. We rushed over to the window…and waited. No one was there to service the window. We waited some more. Still no one. Then the electronic number counter above the window moved to the next number…then the next number…and the next. Still no one. A man whose number was called after ours asked the woman at a nearby window if ours was open. She said “yes.” Still no one. Finally, after 25 minutes, a heavyset man came meandering over to the window. He took one look at our receipt and told us we had to wait in line at the regular payment window because only customers with special accounts can pay at the electric company window. Of course, it would only make too much sense for us to pay our electric bill at the electric company’s window!

So we went back to the ticket machine, pushed the button for the regular payment service windows, and as expected got number that was about 70 numbers away from being called. At least this would give us time to try to puzzle together why our electric rate had suddenly doubled and we were being charged the higher rate retroactively.

Italy is closed for the month. Starting around the first weekend in August shops began shuttering their windows and posting signs that said “Closed for vacation.” Most companies shut down for the month so that taking a vacation becomes almost mandatory for workers. TV newscasts and newspapers have been full of reports and headlines about the traffic nightmares as millions of people flee the cities for vacation spots on the coast and in the mountains. One free daily newspaper has even stopped publishing for the month of August. Friends warned us that we would have a hard time finding grocery stores and fruit stands open during August, so we better plan ahead. August 15, or Ferragosto, is the grand-daddy of vacation days. The day has Roman Catholic origins, but now is more a symbol of the August vacation.

The flip-side of all this vacationing is that the less touristy cities become ghost towns, but in a good way. It becomes much more enjoyable to walk down empty streets that are normally too crowded to maneuver through, and you don’t have to wait in line for tables at restaurants (but you do have to make sure they’re open!)

Times are also changing. In the past, absolutely everyone went away for a month of vacation. This year, a newspaper reported that a higher than ever percentage of the population is either taking only one week of vacation or none at all, though this is mainly due to economic reasons. And as for those grocery stores, gone are the days when you had to consult the newspaper to find an open store. Now, most are at least open in the morning.

Not everyone enjoys the leisurely days of August. Beppe Grillo, an Italian political activist/comedian, has some interesting thoughts about the month.

Verona was one of the cities that made the short list of places to visit in Italy, mainly because of the summer opera performances staged in the Roman Arena. The city of Verona is centered around the Adige River, which flows through it in an S-shape pattern with the historic center tucked neatly inside one of the river’s curls.

The Arena stands proudly at the entrance to the historic center. It’s one of the best preserved Roman Arenas in the world, and you can stand and gaze at the completely intact pink and white limestone arches that form the inner shell of the Arena. At one end of the stadium a stretch of four taller arches indicate where the outer shell once was. Inside the Arena we saw a performance of Aida, and despite not knowing much about the plot we thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the first two acts which included a lot of colorful set dressings and exciting choreography. It was really incredible to be sitting on the marble grand stands thinking back to the spectators who were sitting in the same spot 2000 years ago.

Besides the Arena, the best known site in Verona is Juliet’s balcony. Even though Shakespeare probably never laid eyes on the balcony and the small courtyard below is jam packed with tourists from all corners of the world, it’s still an enchanting little area.

The rest of the historic center is quite beautiful, filled with interesting architecture, beautiful churches and open squares. In the heart of the old town are the adjoining Piazza Erbe and Piazza dei Signori. Piazza Erbe is a giant, busting square with an open air market in the middle and street traffic inching along the periphery. A glance up in any direction offers rewarding views to the towering Torre dei Lamberti or to one of the many frescoed palazzos. Through the archway from which a whale bone hangs is Piazza dei Signori, a quieter square but equally as beautiful. Palazzos topped with statues and cornicing look down upon a single marble statue of Dante as the centerpiece of the square. Just off Piazza dei Signori are the Arche Scaligeri, which are elaborately carved, gothic sarcophaguses, and the Scala della Ragione, a majestic brick and marble outdoor staircase that leads to the second floor of Palazzo della Ragione.

Throughout Verona there are numerous churches with beautiful facades. The Duomo, in particular, has unique carvings and statues as part of its façade. Across the river over the Pietra Bridge, which dates back to the first and second centuries, is the site of the Roman Theater where ruins still mark its existence. The area is used today for outdoor performances. Walking along the Adige River provides great views back in to the city. A particularly charming spot is where the river curves between the two curls of the S at Castelvecchio, an old defensive fortress covered with rows upon rows of brick cornicing. The Scaligero Bridge traverses the Adige at Castelvecchio, and just like the fortress, it’s laced with brick cornicing.

Walking the streets of this beautiful and historic city it’s no wonder Shakespeare called it “fair Verona.”

For more pictures from Verona, click here.

In one of our Liguria tourist brochures we found a brief reference to a brewery in Busalla, a little town just north of Genova. Any mention of beer in Italy has a way of jumping out at us. The brewery was a bit of a phantom, though, because we couldn’t find any more information about it. After confirming with our friends that the brewery does indeed exist we decided to seek it out for ourselves.

Armed with nothing more than images of fresh brewed beer bouncing through our minds and off our eager taste buds, we arrived in Busalla. It was lunch time, which in Italy, especially in the smaller towns, means that everyone is shuttered-up in their homes and seated around the dinner table for at least a couple hours. There’s also no tourist information office in Busalla, so we were on our own to find a way to the brewery.

We took a left out of the train station and headed towards the center of town, hoping to pass an informative map or street sign. Unfortunately, we had no such luck. We wandered through the streets of Busalla for at least another hour, following the main street from one end of the town to the other, and making a detour over a bridge across the river to a examine cluster of signs that turned out to have nothing more relevant than a banner advertising a beer festival in a different town on a previous week-end.

Finally, we came to our senses and asked a kind woman at the train station newspaper stand for directions. She enthusiastically instructed us to walk straight down the main road and take a left at the gas station. The brewery would be soon after that. Easy enough, but why hadn’t we already found the brewery ourselves? Turns out there are about 4 gas stations straight down the road, and none of them has an apparent left turn near-by. We walked for another hour, doing our best to figure out the instructions. Eventually, as we stared further down the road into the wilderness and back at the out-of-the-way track we had taken, we knew we were in the wrong place.

We flagged down the one and only person on the street, and asked him if he knew where the brewery was. As soon as he began his directions, we realized we had been mere meters away from the brewery earlier in the day. The Busalla brewery isn’t actually in Busalla, it’s just over the border in the neighboring town of Savignone!

In no time, we found the familiar sign for Savignone which we had turned back at earlier in the day. We rounded the corner behind it and came upon the welcoming sight of the brewery with picnic tables and umbrellas under the colorful sign of a woman dressed in 1920’s style party clothes admiring 3 tall glasses of beer. But wait, it was 4pm and the brewery was closed! A small sign on the front door informed us that it would open at 6pm. Now we had a big decision to make. Did we call it a day and return another time during open hours, or did we hang around Busalla for another few hours waiting for 6 o’clock? Our deprived taste buds won out, and we rested in the town park for awhile before returning to the Busalla Brewery at 6:00 on the dot.

The beer was worth the wait. They had four draughts on tap: Muller, Ambra, Rubin, and Castagnasca. Our favorites were Rubin a dark, mild tasting brew and Castagnasca, a blonde beer with the unusual flavor of chestnuts. Busalla Brewery also bottles its beer so we left with more than just the knowledge of how and when to go to the brewery, but also with a few bottles for later.