Having a Ball

Americans aren't generally as soccer-conscious as Europe and many other parts of the globe, so some of you may not even be aware that the European Cup is going on right now.

Trust me, it would be hard NOT to be aware of it over here.

Not that there's a lot of commercialization about it...at least not in local shops. But the local bars have TVs set out, and when there's a game on, it's hard to miss it. Everyone crowds the piazza with drinks or gelati in hand, chairs are clustered around the televisions, and flags are at the ready.

When something is about to happen, there is the crowd murmur, leading to cries of rage or delight, or alternatively decrescendoing to silence. The stereotypes of Italian manners come to the fore, though: lots of shouts of "Mamma Mia!", hand gestures galore, rambunctious embraces when goals are scored, and really no holds barred when it comes to expressing your emotion of the moment. And, yes, emotions run high.

All in all, it is really a delightful experience to spend $2.20 for a glass of prosecco and a nice bowl of roasted almonds and crowd watch...even if you're not a soccer fan.

Love,

Alexandra

p.s. Did I mention that upon winning, there is a parade of cars hooting loudly throughout the city?

A Damp Weekend

Sorry for the delay on this post; I was halfway hoping that it would write itself.

On Saturday, Sunday and Monday (two months ago), the archers came to town! On Saturday and Sunday, we had a competition. I say "a" competition because some people shot one day, the rest shot the other, but there was only one prizegiving for both days.

On Saturday, it was wet and misty, on Sunday, windy and rainy; I with my usual knack for choosing the worse of the two options had decided to shoot on Sunday. The targets were great, though, and we got to shoot in the school courtyard. Carrying a weapon into school is not as interesting as you'd think it would be. However, it is pretty cool to say that you come here all the time.

I'll post all of Mummy's photos. (Thank you for taking them!)

Monday, a couple of the archers volunteered to do shooting lessons for the general public, and there was a bit of a market all three days.

It was a lovely long (two day!) weekend.

Ciao,
Florence

This guy spun around...

There are two sets of "rings" which you have to pass through, one set is moving 

yes, we had to shoot while sitting on the swings 

I missed the target completely on this one... you can still see where my arrow hit the wall

A late update (swimming wise)

I know that it's been a while since I've written… To be frank I've been rather avoiding it. (I have a different post that is now two months late…)

So I bring you this week-old news: after a 3-day jaunt in Bucharest with Eleanor, I got back and immediately packed my bags for a much closer destination: Chianciano, a small town in Tuscany, where the swimming nationals were being held.

The day that we got there (Friday) I didn't have any races, so I stayed at the hotel and hung out.
The next day I had races in the afternoon, so I spent the morning with my swim buddies, and we hung out in the (chilly) pool on the hotel roof. In the afternoon, the swimmers who were doing relays and IM had to show up at the pool after lunch (at the hotel). The swimmers who had to do IM drove to the pool while everybody else walked. When we got to the pool it was one of the most confusing things you have ever seen; there was nobody around and, of course, the changing rooms were sort of split up. Usually you will have some changing stalls, an open area with lockers and benches, a toilet, some showers, and a hair drying station. Instead, they had the changing stalls and lockers in one area, and another area for benches and the hair drying station. If you wanted to shower or go to the bathroom, you had to go downstairs. The building was situated on a bit of a hill, so when you went downstairs, you could go through a corridor and either outside or onto the pool deck. There was only one door onto the pool deck (at least only one if you didn't want to go outside). This was very important, as some moron came up with the bright idea to have the corridor be the calling area. Meaning the athletes coming to be called and the athletes going to swim all had to use the same door. It was a disaster.

The pool management had also decided to string up seven lanes in a five-lane pool. They were changing it to five lanes as we were warming up. Another thing that wasn't taken into account was water displacement. After 150 people got into the pool, there wasn't much water left in it; they had us get out and warm up with no more than 10 people per lane. (The pool deck still got flooded.)

The next brilliant decision the organisers made was to have all the races of an age group in a row. That meant that I had to do my IM, free relay and medley relay all in a row, I probably would have done a lot better if they had given me a little bit more of a break: I mean, talk about giving an advantage to the people who only had one race…!

Apart from the poor organisation, the meet went fairly well. The way it worked, you could sign up for two 50-meter events (provided you had swum them during the year), an IM, and two relays, which is exactly what I did.

On the IM, I was really pleased about my butterfly and backstroke, because they felt really smooth. My breaststroke goal was simple: not to lose what little lead I might have; my freestyle, while not my best work ever, was okay.

The freestyle relay went well. It was Elena, Samuele, Matteo, and me. We did really well and placed third (after, if I understood correctly, another faster team was disqualified for an illegal start).
On the medley relay we never stood a chance… I was the youngest swimmer in the heat, apart from my teammates, who were all swimming up a year. In other words we were the youngest team, and we wouldn't even have been swimming in that age group if it weren't for me. But my technique for the backstroke was good (even if I did hit my wrist really hard against the wall). That relay was Elena, Alessandro Marccuci, Lorenzo Rancini and me.

On Sunday we had all of the 50-meter races in (thank goodness) the outdoor pool, which was much better set up for this kind of meet. In the morning, they were racing backstroke and breaststroke; butterfly and freestyle were in the afternoon.

I was racing backstroke and butterfly (which happened to be the only two strokes that I raced during the year). I came in 8th of about 16 on backstroke, nothing I'm too proud of. It is incredibly hard to transfer from an indoor 16-meter pool to an outdoor 50-meter one. I lost all points of reference, so I was continually bumping against the lane lines.

However, I came in second on my butterfly, and I did okay on it (it wasn't my best work, but nor was it my worst).

Of course I can tell you all about what happened in events, but really the best part was spending time with my team.

Ciao,
Florence

This COULD be me getting a second place medal for butterfly, but I'm not entirely sure. The snarky hired photographer wouldn't let anyone near enough for a good photo.

The freestyle relay 

Getting medals for the free relay

Wherefore Art Thou in Bagnoregio?

Last night, Eleanor, Jeremy, and I went to a production of Romeo and Juliet in Bagnoregio. A town that looks remarkably like a dribble castle, it behaves as one, too: the friable rock regularly gives way about the edges, leading to landslides and destruction of those buildings. St. Bonaventure was from Bagnoregio, and his house has long since crumbled away; the remains are presumably scattered in the surrounding valley.

The site is unbelievably picturesque: situated in a lunar landscape, it is on a high outcropping that is accessible only by a causeway. Only 10 people live in Bagnoregio still because of its inaccessibility; one is allowed across the causeway by motorbike or in an Ape (tiny utility truck) only twice a day in certain hours. "Causeway" sounds easy enough, but it is a huge climb with an (at points) 18% grade. It turns out to be quite a hike.

Bagnoregio in zoom from the parking area

The event was a sell-out, meaning that we couldn't get tickets for our preferred showtime (9 pm) but instead had to take the 11 pm or nothing. We took the 11 pm! The disappointment in that is that we didn't enjoy the town at dusk with sunset colors. But, hey, we got tickets!

After the 20-minute walk from the parking area across the causeway, we ended up in the entry piazzale of the town (through the archway you can see in the photo above). At slightly after the appointed start time, we were escorted through some of the narrow alleyways of this darling town and into the main piazza. There, we were confronted with rows of chairs, each chair having a burlap sack on it. Inside the sack? A mask and an invitation to a ball!

The opening scenes took place in the main piazza. Unfortunately, my camera has an irritating focusing light, so even with the flash off it can be a distraction. So, no more photos of actors!

In front of the church; sword fighting imminent

 After our initial scenes, it was time to move into a grassy courtyard...turning in our invitations and donning our masks. Party time!

Jeremy and Eleanor on the way to the ball!

There was a wonderful contralto who provided some musical accompaniment. We danced and partied for a few minutes, and then it was time for Romeo and Juliet to meet and fall in love. Back in the main piazza for the iconic balcony scene, using one of the side buildings, and the descent into death and destruction. At different points, the contralto reemerged to provide mood music, accompanied by a cellist.

Funny notes... behind Juliet, we could clearly see restaurant staff cleaning up after the evening's work. Also, at one point one of the actors declares, "Someone's coming!" Sure enough, on strolls a cat from stage right. The actor runs offstage, and the cat lopes off just behind him!

As we left, we looked back at the city from the causeway; it was shrouded in mist and was so romantic looking! A perfect end to a perfect evening.

Love,

Alexandra

Someone's Got Palle

This week, the Piazza del Popolo has been converted to a mini-soccer field. It all started Sunday, when I had to wonder at the general industry with metal pipes, netting, plywood, and then...astroturf?

Turns out that it's the local championships for calcetto (literally, "Little Soccer"), aka "futsal" (also in English). It's a mini-version of soccer that originated in Uruguay. Traditionally played indoors on hard surfaces, it's a five-a-side version of soccer...with some sense of "no holds barred." It's nearly balletic in its moves...or perhaps modern dance would be a better description, since there is a good bit of rolling around on the ground.

The teams are local. Very local. It appears that Todi centro alone hosts around 4 or 5 teams. The furthest away comes from Collevalenza (3 miles). We recognize many of the players and virtually all of the sponsors.

While it has been a big draw for the piazza, it is not unanimously welcomed. We'll say that the welcome has been universal minus one. The scuttlebutt is that a local who lives in Piazza marched up to the mayor on the opening night and openly castigated him for allowing such a "low" activity in the piazza; when the organizer tried to step in, she personally insulted his education, class, and more. Whoa! Anyway, there has been a little pushback, shall we say. The first goal scored was named in her honor, and there was a printed newspaper article which described the scene, including enough details about the "nameless signora" that it was clear to anyone local who it was. This even made the "local" section of the national newspaper...the only news from our town.

In any case, we are vastly amused by the play and the players. Balls are perpetually flying different directions over the protective netting, the players are putting new balls on or taking extras off, and mayhem would be a gentle word for what is happening. On the other hand, the players are generally being good sports with the opposing side's players...although there are a few tantrums and much gesturing when goals are scored. The histrionics are there, but they're generally not ill-tempered.

The commenter deserves his own paragraph. I didn't understand all he said by any means, but..."he's sweating out all of his karma" was one, and "give the goalie for Collevalenza an applause because he's old and doing his best" were fairly memorable. He teases many of the players as the game progresses, and is extremely entertaining.

Needless to say, I have had several fun-filled evenings that have provided major belly laughs.

Love,

Alexandra

Complete with built-in stands!

Small goal, but fast-moving ball means lots of diving goalies

Tonight's commenter

Nice socks! Love the uniform!

The waiter at La Mangiatoia, one of our haunts

How to Have Your Car Towed

In our little town, there are fairly consistent closures in the alley where I park. The issue is that it is the only cut through to the main way out of town if the Piazza is closed. And it is used for processions.

The police will place a sign in front of the alleyway (generally a few days in advance) to let you know that it will be closed and strictly no parking; mind you, this is an alley that isn't marked as legitimate parking to begin with, but it's a pragmatic response to the tight parking situation for residents.

The week before last, I had noted that there was a sign that the alley would be closed on Corpus Domini, which was completely unexpected. The day before, though (a Saturday), Eleanor, Michael, and I went out of town on an excursion in the Panda. I deliberately left the Fiat 500 in the alley, since tourists love seeing it and taking photos of it and with it.

Sure enough, as we were settled nicely into lunch, I got a call from Jeremy. "The police rang the doorbell and told me that we have to move the 500. They said the sign had been there for several days. What should we do?"

Panic. I was an hour away, and I don't know offhand how many people still know how to drive a 500.

"Okay, J, give Fabrizio the keys and ask him to move the 500 up to San Fortunato."

Then I realized to my horror that Fabrizio was probably working (he is maitre d' for the family's restaurant). I called him directly to apologize and to ask if he was working...obviously, if he was we would find another solution. "No, no, I'm not working right now," he responded quite cheerfully.

Problem solved.

I arrived home (with a bottle for Fabrizio) only to see the police outside the door. (The town was SWARMING with carabinieri, police, and other peacekeepers. Whoa! Turned out later that our Fascist friends are opening a campaign office here.) I told them that I was sorry for the delay in moving the car, and that I had misread that the sign was for the next day. Their smiling response? "No problem, we actually had to change the date of the road closure at the last minute!"

Love,

Alexandra

p.s. Fabrizio had told the literal truth: when I called him, he wasn't working, but only because he was walking towards my car...

Corpus Domini has worn us out!

I was very disappointed to realize that Florence's swim team meal was a lunch, until brilliant Eleanor pointed out that we could probably go to Spello AND get to the lunch.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Today is Corpus Domini, a major feast day hereabouts; different towns celebrate in different ways. A few years ago, Jeremy and I went with a friend of ours to a big procession in Orvieto. However, the most famous show around for Corpus Domini is the Fiorata di Spello. This is a form of sidewalk art in which flower petals by the billion are used to create the most magnificent images. After Mass, the images are scattered during a procession that proceeds down the flowered way; in Spello, it's a bit different, because only a few of the images (and the less elaborate) are spoilt for the procession. The rest are judged in various categories.

Although I didn't really capture the flavor of the event (the town was heaving with people), I did capture some of the images. The shading and texture were outstanding!

I'm a bit confused, though, because these flower petals were fresh, and I've been told that the flower petals are taken from Castelluccio for drying and then using in this art. Hmm, sounds like I need to research that further. With luck, we'll get to Castelluccio before Eleanor leaves, so she can also see the amazing flowers in situ.

The swords/crosses were raised

There were rickety stepladders for better viewing
and photography, but I wasn't that brave.

Michael enjoying!

I think these may have been passed over during the procession

This was also on the procession route

Brief shower!

This was a complete showstopper;
 I have included some of the details below

The butterfly was about a meter across

These were balsam twigs that were carefully oriented

Eyelashes...10 inches long?

Entrance to the church

I loved the top edge...softer and incorporating the pavement

Another viewing platform

View from Spello

Oh! They also had contests for pretty alleys, windows, and doorways

Spello from a distance

After this extravaganza, we went to San Terenziano for Florence's swim team lunch. It was a lovely affair, although we were worn out!

We got home just in time for afternoon Mass and our procession, only to be greeted by this beautiful work in our own piazza!

And another procession, complete with band, confraternities, and more.

I have to confess that we were too tired to participate in the procession all the way to Consolazione, so we bailed and enjoyed coffee in the piazza...

Love,

Alexandra