Tag: Events

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Corona Virus in Rome

People are reaching out to me multiple times a day concerned about me here in Italy. So I just need to say, I’m fine. It’s not anything like the media has been describing. Though it might become that way soon; that’s actually changing while I’m writing this, so I’ll tack that on the end.

Italy is doing a pretty damn good job, IMO. There is honestly no other country I would rather be living in during this.

Tuesday all of Italy entered a “Lockdown” — as multiple English language headlines called it. A misleading term to say the least. It implies we’re all quarantined, and in fact Colbert and others started calling it a nation-wide quarantine shortly after. This is not the case, though as I mentioned, a new law today might change that.

As of yesterday, we’re just supposed to stay in our “community” and be able to justify travel between regions. Work is a justification, for example. Additionally, some “common sense” rules. School closures have been extended. Clubs are closed. Businesses are to minimize crowds.

For a while here the virus has been a major topic of conversation. Not panicked, just everyone was very aware. Though we were also still saying goodbye with a kiss on each cheek at the end of those conversations.

Now everyone is actually making adjustments to their lives. But I have to say– it’s not that bad! These “inconveniences” are things I would put up with if they even saved one life. At this point all we can do is slow the spread; doing so will save lives.

Businesses minimizing crowds

This means people wait outside the grocery store so it’s not crowded inside. Quite the visual, but then you don’t wait at the cashier, so it’s not that bad. And appointment businesses are to stagger appointments to avoid crowds in waiting rooms.

Yesterday (Wednesday) I was at the dentist. I was the only one there (plus the dentist and hygienist). Normally there are a few people in the large waiting room. Tomorrow I had a chiropractor appointment at 9. He moved me to 10:30 for the new staggered schedule. Frankly, he is always running very behind so this is a positive for me, haha. I also have a consultation Friday; that one looks like it will move to Skype. I had my nails done Tuesday. Most people’s arms are not long enough to keep the recommended 2 meters apart. So they gave everyone a mask at the door and no one inside ever lowered or removed their mask.

Still imagining me locked in my apartment? We also went on a picnic Monday. We are not under quarantine. But I’ve still never been within 2 meters of any human outside my family without them wearing a mask (I can hardly wear a mask myself at the dentist).

School closures

The change that affects me most (by a mile) is the schools being closed. I now have two small children to entertain all day. And I have to feed them all their meals! Che palle! I miss the hours I could expect them to be under their teachers care and plan non-mom tasks. And I miss knowing they were eating healthy 4-course lunches that I didn’t have to cook. I miss how much easier they were to entertain at home when they hadn’t already been home all day (for days in a row).

Still, as my kids are 1 and 4, this just puts me on level with every American mom who is stuck with their little angels until they can go to kindergarten at age 5.

Corona virus in Italy

My husband, an ICU nurse, has been following every minute update for months. He’s normally not one to be particularly glued to his phone, but he is these days. As such, I’m about as informed as any non-virologist out there. He’ll tell me about new studies published the day before over breakfast. Then I see the same thing on Twitter that night. I. Am. Informed. If information is more that 24hrs old, don’t bother sending it to me, I’ve seen it.

A summary of the outbreak in Italy

In January, we had 3 cases. A couple from China on a bus tour and one of the passengers on the government flight evacuating Italian Nationals from China. Later an additional single case on a second evacuation flight. The evacuees are not interesting because they got it in China and were quarantined the second they set foot back in Italy.

The bus tour couple was cared for here in Rome. The rest of the bus was quarantined in an out-of-use hospital that was converted for them; no others got sick; they’re all home now. The couple are still recovering here but doing well.

Yes, it takes that long. If you think it would be better to get it now before the peak, you’re wrong. Get it now and you will still be sick at the peak.

Back to the history summary. We went a month with just that one couple. During that time anyone who even sneezed and had any connection to them (e.g. was in the same hotel, even a different floor) was tested. Anyone with cold symptoms and an Asian face was tested. Anyone with cold symptoms that could claim any connection to Asia was tested.

Then everything changed the weekend of February 22. In a day we went from 4 to 11 cases. By Monday, 124.

These were all in small towns in the north. One town at the center of the outbreak is Vo’ Euganeo, a small town of 3k people in Veneto near Venice. The other is Codogno in Lombardia near Milan. These new cases didn’t have any connection to China. In Vo’ Euganeo none of the 3k residents had any connection to China. It was obvious the virus had been circulating and was estimated to be the 3rd or so generation.

The government reacted quickly. Venice carnevale (a big deal, possibly the most famous carnevale celebration after Rio) was cancelled. Fat Tuesday was February 25, so we’re talking very short notice. Schools all over the north closed — including for my poor pregnant sister in-law with her not-one-to-sit-still-at-home toddler.

Experts continue to try to track infection for the sake of understanding this new virus. For example, in that little town of 3k people they tested every soul to understand it better (89 were positive, that number has stayed stable). But now the focus has shifted from following the chain to slowing the spread.

Since that carnevale weekend, things have basically been growing at the expected exponential rate. Anyone who is calls Italy a “failure” is not particularly informed. Here you can see a table of cases in Italy compared to Germany, offset by 8 days. The missing numbers for Germany since that table was made are: March 9: 1224, March 10: 1565, March 11: 1966. They are exactly following our numbers.

Source: https://twitter.com/henrikenderlein/status/1236748772455170049?s=19

Someone also made it a chart and included more countries. You can see every western country is basically doing the same.

Source article: https://www.ft.com/content/a26fbf7e-48f8-11ea-aeb3-955839e06441
Source image: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ES31or1UYAEY3Ih.jpg

Note, the growth is exponential while the lines are straight because the y-axis of that chart is on a logarithmic scale. That means it is increasing by a multiple (in this case 10) rather than a number. The bottom of the chart is 100, halfway is 1,000, the top is 10,000. If your rusty on logarithmic and exponential growth and how they graph, this video is a nice refresher. And even if you’re not rusty, it’s a lovely visualization that makes a satisfying watch.

https://kottke.org/20/03/exponential-growth-and-epidemics

Back to the summary of what has been happening in Italy.

For a while the outbreak kept itself largely to the north. And the situation sounds much more dire there. We had a few cases here in Rome. On March 4th the city announced that all schools would be closed starting March 5th until at least the 15th.

Then Tuesday (March 10th), the so-called “Lockdown” went into effect nation wide. It was partially leaked and there was some panicking Monday night from people who thought it was going to be an actual quarantine.

There have also been prison riots. I confess I have not been following those stories. I believe the first ones were protesting limits to visits. I assume now it’s the opposite, that the prisoners are afraid they are primed for an outbreak and won’t get access to care.

Wednesday (between me starting this and uploading it) a new law went into effect which is much closer to a nation-wide quarantine. We’re really supposed to stay home now — except for work, medical reasons, or to buy necessities. Businesses are closed except those selling said necessities: supermarkets, pharmacies, Tabacchi, and some others. And only one person from the household is supposed to do that shopping. There are various restrictions on cars designed to limit travel.

I just got my nails done in the nick of time! My chiropractor appointment was cancelled. We’re not supposed to go outside for non necessities. It’s not clear if airing out children qualifies. We’re going to keep bringing them outside once a day at least to the building courtyard or roof or linger for a bit on the way to their Nonni. Places where there isn’t another soul anywhere near.

For our family, I believe our biggest risk factor is the same as it was before: getting it from Daniele. At the start, about 10% of infected in Italy were healthcare workers. Now it’s 13%. Maybe that number is inflated because it’s more clear when they’ve been exposed and they are tested. But either way.

As for us infecting other people… The vast majority of people that the girls and I interact with are from school. For them, their classmates. For us, their teachers or the other parents for a coffee after drop off. So that’s stopped. I stoped going to my co-working space a little while back. I normally would see my chiropractor twice a month, my manicurist once a month, and most weeks some other appointment (dentist, electrician, etc) — that’s all on pause and (stiff neck aside) I won’t miss those. Daniele normally does the shopping and I mostly keep in touch with friends on Slack, WhatsApp, Skype, and Hangouts for years now. I don’t interact with a lot of people in my normal life, and these small changes have effectively made it 0 outside Daniele, the girls, and Daniele’s parents. The x-factor here is my in-laws who could more-or-less be considered part of our nuclear family. I believe they are being more careful now for the sake of the girls, but I don’t know everything they do.

These changes from yesterday are pretty “drastic”. But it’s still not that big a deal. It’s not that different from when we keep the kids home for a cold normally. Frankly, its easier than being snowed in after a blizzard (we have power, we can go to the store). And it’s much easier than the extended power outages and fuel shortages in NJ after Sandy (what I time for me to go home for a visit!).

The Italian health care system

Switching gears back to Italy. Italy has a very good health care system. I’ve been living here 10 years — through surgeries and baby deliveries and plenty of preventative care. I get better care here than I did back in California with my fancy Adobe health insurance that even paid for massages in full (if done at my chiropractor’s office).

When people say Italy has one of the best health care systems in the world, it’s actually true. The best jobs in Italy are government jobs. And the best position for a doctor (or nurse) is a contract with the public healthcare system. So by having the best doctors, the public system keeps from being a system for the poor. There is a parallel private system. We sometimes use it because it’s not that expensive and the experience is what I imagine celebrities get in the US. Some public hospital doctors keep a private office one day a week (my gynecologist does this). But if the richest man in Italy needed bypass surgery, he’s having it done at a hospital (every hospital is public even the Catholic ones).

The situation in Italy

I’m pretty aware of the situation in Rome because of Daniele. For what’s happening in the North, I only have the same news and doctor Facebook posts that everyone else does.

Rome is nothing like what the doctors are describing up North. Just like NJ is not like Seattle (yet). Every US news story that describes the situation “in Italy” based on the doctors up north are misrepresenting us, IMO.

How is it possible to be fine here and a “war” up there?

Supplies are owned by the regions. I’m in Lazio (central Italy), Tuscany is directly north of here (where Florence is). Lombardi (Milan) and Veneto (Venice) are way up North. So while we’re sharing… Rome’s not about to give them everything just like the rest of the US isn’t offering everything to Seattle.

Couldn’t we at least move them to our empty hospitals? Nope. The pneumonia you get from corona is serious enough that patients can not be moved 5hrs away.

The response in Rome

Here in Rome the plan is to dedicate entire hospitals as either corona hospitals or clean hospitals. The first corona dedicated hospital has already been completely evacuated and has about 100 corona virus patients. This is almost all of Lazio’s infected; a few can not be transported. The second corona hospital is currently in the process of completely evacuating the normal patients.

Daniele works in the ICU of Ospedale San Giovanni, which for now is dedicated clean. There is a plan for converting more clean hospitals as needed.

If you come to the San Giovanni ER as a potential corona patient, you are sent to a temporary structure that’s tented and all the staff are in full gear. There you will be screened (temperature, chest x-ray, etc) and probably tested. If you’re in critical condition, you’ll be treated in an isolated area.

For non critical patients, the tests can take a day to come back. If you are not in critical condition and you live alone, you’ll optionally be sent home on quarantine. They add your info to an app where you check in every day. You can stay home using the app while “healthy” even after testing positive. If that’s not practical for you, you get a bed in that temporary structure. If positive, you’ll go to a dedicated corona hospital.

If you come to San Giovanni with something like a broken leg, you are sent to the regular old ER. The staff here are still in full protective gear. You’re screened just the same. Assuming no fever or anything, you proceed through the process as normal (just getting you temperature taken more). If you need surgery, there will be more screening than normal, specifically a CT scan.

Staff outside the ER like Daniele, who works in a sub-department of the ICU for post-surgery patients, wear more protective hear than they used to (masks and goggles) but not the whole suit that the ER wears.

That’s where we are now.

However, exponential growth means things aren’t just changing quickly, the rate of change itself is increasing. Before February 22, our only cases were still just that one Chinese couple. Our schools closed March 5th. The first official nation-wide restrictions were put into law March 10. Then March 12 every non-essential business was closed.

There is nothing unique about Italy. There has been no particular failure of the government here. Granted, that’s cheeky of me to say when people have died. But I think there would have been riots if they had tried to close everything down sooner (or it would have just been ignored).

So to reiterate, we have actually had to make some drastic changes in the past few days. But other than getting less kid-free time, my life has not actually changed much.

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Wish I Was Here Italy Premiere

Zach Braff, Kaitlyn Hanrahan, and Daniele Isidori having drinks before the Italy premiere of Wish I Was Here

This weekend was the Italian premiere of Zach Braff’s new movie “Wish I Was Here”. It has already been out for a while in the US. It’s received mixed reviews, but I really enjoyed it. I cried through most of it actually.

Just like Zach described it, it’s a continuation in tone and feel from “Garden State” but not a sequel in story. For example he’s married to Kate Hudson in this movie, not Natalie Portman. Where “Garden State” was a story about a guy in his 20’s struggling to be an actor, “Wish I Was Here” is about a guy struggling to be an actor in his 30’s. It takes place in LA now and he has very different issues he deals with, like paying for his kids private school, his wife getting tired of supporting him, and generally accepting grown up responsibilities. Where in the last movie it was more finding himself and the juxtaposition of his NJ and LA lives.

The film is best known for the fact that Zach raised a good potion of the funding to make it via a Kickstarter campaign. Since he was the first to do this on such a large scale, it became a bit controversial. The naysayers I guess thinking that it wasn’t right for Zach to use his fame to raise money for his own project. I was a backer and I certainly don’t feel tricked in any way; if anything I feel that they over delivered on their promises.

I first showed Daniele the movie “Garden State” a few months before Zach launched the Kickstarter campaign. He really liked it and he also had his 30th birthday coming up (in July 2013, about a month after our wedding in June 2013). So I bought a “for two” benefit and told him about it on his birthday.

We then spent the past year getting regular updates on the film’s progression. These were normally in the form of short (well produced) videos on a specific topic, like shooting a tough scene, meeting key member of the crew and what their job was like, touring a facility that was providing his space suit or some fancy camera, casting selections, going to film festivals, and so many more.

And then just recently we were mailed two t-shirts (one designed by Zach another designed by a talented fellow backer) and two sets of prints (one of concept art one of movie stills).

Roof top bar were we had drinks before the Italy premiere of Wish I Was Here
Roof top bar were we had drinks before the Italy premiere of Wish I Was Here

The hallmark of our backer level benefits was meeting Zach for drinks before the Italy premiere. We had a few hours here at this great roof-top terrace, enjoying an open bar and appetizers, while hanging out with Zach, his publicist, and about 12 other backers.

Zach Braff, Kaitlyn Hanrahan, and Daniele Isidori having drinks before the Italy premiere of Wish I Was Here
Zach and Kait

Zach Braff and Daniele Isidori having drinks before the Italy premiere of Wish I Was Here
Zach and Daniele

He was clearly really tired, he flew in from Vienna that morning and to Berlin that same night. But was still high energy and great to all of us. We chatted, he signed things, took lots of pictures. Then we walked over to the nearby Cinema Barberini.

Zach Braff taking questions at the Italy Premiere of Wish I Was Here
Zach Braff taking questions at the Italy Premiere of Wish I Was Here

At Cinema Barberini there was a much bigger crowd waiting for us. He introduced the film. Then we all watched it (and it was great, like I said at the start), while he tried to see some Rome sites — unfortunately the two closest The Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain are both covered in scaffolding right now.

It was really cool to see the day dream scenes. We had been sent a video of them filming that scene months before. Or the the scenes from the stills that I have prints of. Or seeing Ashley Greene dressed as a furry, still funny even though I knew it was coming.

Zach Braff taking questions at the Italy Premiere of Wish I Was Here
Zach Braff taking questions at the Italy Premiere of Wish I Was Here

After the movie was over we had a Q&A. The questions were about everything from the story of making this movie, Scrubs, past movies of his that I had never even heard of but were big in Italy, and or course the Italy distribution issue.

There were some really big Scrub fans, including a few dressed up as doctors and a guy with a Scrubs tattoo. Really. Tweet: https://twitter.com/zachbraff/status/511148467432206337

Unfortunately, this will probably be the only projected screening of the film, because Italy was the only European country where they were not able to get a distribution partner. Not having a distribution partner also meant there was no one to add subtitles to the film, so I think a few Italians were not able to understand it very well. He said they may try again for dvd release. I’m disappointed in Italy on this.

Zach also said that he probably would not do a kickstarted movie again. While it was the only way this movie would have been made, because traditional movie funding would have demanded too many changes. Managing thousands — 46,520 to be exact — kickstarter backers was pretty demanding in itself. Not to mention that the kickstarter thing dominated how everyone talked about the film and besides organizing all of our rewards and demands, he had to spend a lot of time kind of pr-managing how people were talking about the kickstarter aspect, defending himself when others said he was somehow scamming all 46,520 of us. Oh yeah, and writing, directing, producing, and starting in the movie. Turned out all that was pretty time consuming.

Zach Braff taking questions at the Italy Premiere of Wish I Was Here
Zach Braff taking questions at the Italy Premiere of Wish I Was Here

Overall, it was an amazing day over a year in the making. I can’t thank enough Zach and all the other people who made the movie and the kickstarter possible!

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Open House Roma


The courtyard and Italian style gardens inside the Academie Nationale de France, housed in Villa Medici

This weekend Rome had an event, “Open House Roma”, where lots of palaces, churches, and state buildings were open to the public, for free, and with guided tours. Depending on the place, there was one tour, tours every hour, reservations only, or walk-ins allowed. We found out about the even via a poster on our local piazza, then proceeded to forget about it for a few weeks. When we finally remembered and found the website to reserve spots, everything cool was booked solid. Luckily, Italians are pretty flaky as a general rule and enough people did not show up for their free reservations that we had no problem getting in anyway.

We spent the whole day Saturday on foot, walking from our house near Re di Roma, to the Colosseum, to Piazza Venezia, to Villa Borgese, and reverse. So I spent Sunday siting on my butt at my computer to compensate. I had tentatively thought about heading out again and trying to get into the Senate, but it will be open again.


Basilica San Giovanni in Laterano


Roman Forum

The city was really packed. I imagine it is a combination of Spring being a beautiful time of year for a European vacation and that it was the weekend, when more Italian and European visitors make a short trip to Rome. The Pope was also greeting a large group of school children today. And, finally, there was a protest in the afternoon. We did not see the protest (or maybe a parade?) itself and I have been unable to fine any news saying what it was. There are a lot of protests in Rome, so that’s not too surprising. We did pass the after effects: waves of openly smoking young people and drug dealers in a frequency that would have made me double-take even in Golden Gate Park, followed by streets blocked off and littered with trash and broken beer bottles, then finally hordes of police vehicles and geared-up officers who were taping off sections of streets as we got closer to home, were presumably the demonstration was headed but had not yet arrived.


Crowds outside the Colosseum

Our first Open House Roma stop was the French Academy in Rome, or “Académie de France à Rome” as the French call it, or “Accademia di Francia a Roma” as the Italians call it located in Villa Medici (Medici like the family who ruled Florence during the Renaissance). They say this villa is located “inside” Villa Borgese, but it would be more accurate to think of the Borgese and Medici as being neighbors. The Villa is on Pincio Hill, not one of the seven-hills of Rome, because it was outside the sacred wall of Ancient Rome (this was their “country estate”) but it is inside the Aurelian walls (built between 270 and 273 A.D and considered today the boundary of the historical center). While there was a Villa here in Ancient Roman times, what stands today was really built up in the Renaissance. From the Villa Medici website:

Ferdinando de’ Medici (1549-1609), cardinal at the age of 13, collector and sponsor, purchased it in 1576 and asked the Florentine architect Ammannati to build a palace worth the prestige of the Medici family. Devoted to Antiquity, like many of his contemporaries, Ferdinando conceived his Villa representing a museum. He added a gallery where he presented his collection of antique masterpieces. He inserted in the facade a series of antique bas-reliefs. Even the garden was designed in the same spirit of staging, like the botanic gardens of Pisa and Florence designed by his father several years before. Numerous rare species were gathered there, amongst antique statues. Further south, ruins of the Temple of Fortune were overlaid by a belvedere from where one’s sight could embrace the major part of the city and surrounding countryside.

[…]In 1587 Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici was called to Florence to replace Francois the First on the throne of Tuscany. He left the decoration of the Villa partly unfinished. The most precious statues and the comprehensive set of the collections were moved to Florence. The Lorraines, heirs of the Great Duchy of Tuscany sold the Villa in 1803.


The internal facade of the Academie Nationale de France, housed in Villa Medici. Note the Etruscan tombs incorperated into the design

The buyer in 1803 was Napoleon, who turned the Villa into the art academy which it still functions as today under the governance of the office of culture of France. Artists can apply to stay in this peaceful villa in the center of Rome, but silently surrounded by it’s vast 17+ acre gardens, to study their craft and Italian techniques. Originally only students of Art and Architecture could apply, today everything from Music to Culinary Arts are welcome.


A view of the Italian style gardens from the Cardinal’s chambers of the Academie Nationale de France, housed in Villa Medici

Our tour of the Villa started inside, with Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici’s personal apartments– still featuring their ornate furnishings and murals. We then came to the garden where we took in the internal facade. Etruscan tombs are attached to the facade for added decoration; they are actually well incorporated and I would not have realized they were tombs without our guide. This overlooks the classic “Italian Garden” featuring short green shrubs in geometric designs. To the side of this are 16 (four squares of four) perfectly square and equal gardens walled off by tall green shrubs, giving a maze effect. These are being restored to their original Renaissance purposes and some are growing vegetables and grapes. Along the sides of these 16 squares, between them and the Villa wall, are a few outbuildings. One was Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici’s personal studio. It is decorated with a study of all kinds of animals painted on its vaulted ceiling in the main room and a mural featuring different reincarnations of the Villa itself in a smaller room. The windows here were, at the time, a view into the unsettled forest surrounding Rome, now it overlooks the busy street Via del Muro Torto. There is also a staircase leading outside the walls of the Villa, which the Cardinal would have used to meet his secret girlfriends. Another small building is full of Medici busts. As we circle around the 4×4 garden squares, back to the building itself, there is a balcony view over the city, where you can see every major sight in Rome, which would have been very similar (if perhaps a bit less filled in between) in Ferdinando’s time.


View of Rome’s city center from the gardens of the Academie Nationale de France, housed in Villa Medici. Most prominent in the skyline are the Altare della Patria on the left and the dome of the Vatican center-right

More info:
wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Academy_in_Rome
www.villamedici.it
wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Medici

Our second stop on our Open House Roma tour was the Palazzo Venezia. Most tourists stop by Piazza Venezia to see the Altare della Patria (the Alter to Patriotism, some call it “the wedding cake”) which dominates the square. Facing said alter, you could zip off to the left and walk pass the Roman Forum before arriving at the Colosseum, or to the right and arrive at Campidoglio Hill (housing Rome’s City Hall and the Museum Capitolini). Or do an about-face and be looking down Via del Corso, an important landmark in itself having been the location for Rome’s famous Carnival (Mardi Gras) house races and today is a partially-pedestrian street (only buses, taxis, and politicians allowed) housing every brand in Europe. Continue down Via del Corso and you pass some other noble palaces (like Palazzo Doria Pamphilj) and the small streets leading to the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps before finishing in Piazza del Popolo. Piazza (and Palazzo) Venezia are about as central as you can get. Even Berlusconi thinks so, he owns a palace just a few yards down from Palazzo Venezia.

You almost wouldn’t notice that there is a little nook to the right of Piazza Venezia which has a different name, Piazza San Marco. Piazza San Marco is, of course, also the name of the main square in Venezia aka Venice. Piazza Venezia and the Altare della Patria are relativity (compared to the age of most landmarks in Rome) new, having been built up from 1911 to 1925.


The Altare della Patria in Piazza Venezia, Rome

It turns out there is history to all of these Venice references in this area, and once again, it comes back to a cardinal. In 1455 Venetian Cardinal Pietro Barbo was put in charge of the church located here, Basilica San Marco. Like most churches, the area in front of it was called piazza same-name, and this is where we get Rome’s Piazza San Marco. Nine years later, he would be named Pope Paul II. He would assign his cardinal-nephew, Marco Barbo, to his old post and enlarge the palace, at this point still called Palazzo San Marco. Several large additions were made. The grandeur was added to by artwork, even murals, which were scavenged from river-side palaces that were being demolished at this time in order to build up the (still in use) embankments. The final palace greatly outshined the basilica it was “supporting”.


Fresco ceiling in Palazzo Venezia that was taken and relocated here from another palazzo, which had to be destroyed to build Rome’s river embankments

In the following years, the palace was used as a summer home for the pope. Then in 1564 the pope (at this point Pius IV Medici) gifted the palace to the Republic of Venice, who in turn, used it as their embassy to Rome. From this point on, the palace became known as the Palace “of” Venice, or Palazzo Venezia.

The palace remained the property of Venice up until Italy unified in 1861. Then in the Treaty of Campo Formio it became the seat of the Austrian Diplomat. In 1910, one of the palace’s gardens was relocated to the other side of the palace to make room for Piazza Venezia (where we started our story). Then in 1916, shortly after completion, the Italian Royalty recovered ownership of the palace and established a museum, which opened in 1921.


View into the courtyard of Palazzo Venezia

The palace took a major turn from 1929 to 1943, when it served as the headquarters for the Italian Fascist government. They say they never turned the lights out, so the people would know their government was always working for them. We got to see Mussolini’s room, which was styled in a somewhat tacky zodiac design painted in a far inferior manor to the Renaissance works housed in the adjacent rooms. His final mistress (there were many, along with two different wives), Clara Petacci, apparently liked astronomy.


Zodiac themed ceiling in the room used by Mussolini and his Astrology-loving mistress, in Palazzo Venezia

After World War II, the palace reopened as a museum once again. Notably, there is an impressive collection of ceramics, ranging from early Asian-inspired designs to later works with a stronger European identity, no longer trying to imitate the original Asian styles. Not to mention the walls filled with paintings and the palace itself.


The marble stairway in Palazzo Venezia

More info:
www.museopalazzovenezia.beniculturali.it

If I had to compare the two, it would be difficult. Villa Medici has impressive gardens and still a beautiful interior. It is difficult to reconcile of such a large private open space sitting in the middle of a busy capital city. Palazzo Venezia is in the very heart of the city and even more grand inside– there is a large marble staircase, and room upon room of Renaissance art. Villa Medici, as the house of the French Academy, has no lack of art either, but it is mostly modern works hung on plain white walls, with a few exceptions. Both have made an effort to restore or maintain the Renaissance styles of their peak. Really, I would be happy to live in either one.

Pictures: https://plus.google.com/photos/+KaitlynHanrahanIsidori/albums/6012308555556852785

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Castello Santa Severa

Yesterday (actually yesterday, not uploading months old posts for once), Daniele and I visited the Castle of Santa Severa. The castle has changed hands many times, and now the town of Santa Severa* owns it and opened it for the week, by appointment, to see about making it into an open tourist attraction.

*Note, Santa Severa is not a town or “commune” in its own right. It is a “frazione” or borough of Santa Marinella, composed of a few grouped together houses. A clear distinction in Italy where every “commune” has certain amenities (the town hall, police station, train and/or bus station, post office, church, and almost certainly a bar, pizzeria, and tabacchi) and always a town center where you find most of these.

In true Italian style, the castle is a mix of structures all build on top of each other. The oldest date from 5th to 4th millennium B.C. — that’s millennium, not a typo. The location leads to people wanting to live there. The castle sits on its own micro-peninsula sticking out into the sea, with sandy beaches to the right, and rocks that were probably placed there to slow erosion to the left. Our guide said that they estimate the land used to stick out another mile, because they have found remnants that far out. It is easy to understand erosion being a concern for any sea-front castle owner.

The history of the castle is not very clear since it dates to prehistoric times. The consensus is that the area was frequented dating back to 5th to 4th millennium B.C. There are excavations dating from the Neolithic Period (7th to 6th millennium B.C.), the Bronze Age (2 millennium B.C.), and the Iron Age (9th to 8th century B.C.).

We know a little more about the Etruscan Period. The Etruscans were a civilization based in Tuscany from 7th to 6th century B.C. that evolved along with and were later conquered by the Ancient Romans. I first learned about them during my Volterra visit in 2010. In Etruscan times, the place was called Pyrgi and served as a commercial port connecting to all of the Mediterranean, especially Greece and Phoenicia. This Etruscan port mostly supported (and vice-versa) the nearby city of Caere, modern day Cerveteri. A very ancient sanctuary with temples to Apollo and a few other deities was also found outside of the residential area, which spread about 25 acres. Some important relics were found here, one of which is three tablets written in both Etruscan and Punic, proving the strong relationship between the Etruscans of Ceveteri and Cartharage.

Romans dominated the area beginning in 3rd century B.C. Pyrgi became a maritime colony and a huge rectangular fortress was built, surrounded by polygonal wall. These were built on top of the Etruscan and prehistoric structures. This fortress continued to be used until 5th to 6th century A.D. (the Late-Ancient Period). It is believed that the structure was transformed to an important villa by this time. Also in the Late-Ancient Period, an early Christian church was build next to the port dedicated to Santa Severa. Santa Severa was a Pygrese martyr in the third century A.D. This early Christian church was only just discovered in excavations in 2007.

Santa Severa continued to develop on top of the older structures. During the Medieval and Renaissance periods, the village occupied only a quarter of the Roman fortress and had become a huge farming estate as well as a stopover port between Rome and Civitivechia (today where most cruse ships come in to visit Rome).

All of this history and building on top of things lead to a piecemeal fortress-style castle, not a palace like Versailles by any means. I kept low expectations of a pretty simple stone structure going in, and I was pleasantly surprised by what we found. There is a very castle-like Keep in the center, with towers and battlements. There are also impressive frescoes in the two “newer” churches and dug out excavations of the oldest church– an early christian structure build on the remains of an Ancient Roman villa, a grain refinery turned graveyard with evidence of grave robbing, and a secret stairway with direct access to the beach. The whole structure reminded me very much of all of the medieval hill towns here in Lazio that we frequently visit. Which makes sense, since ancient castles were basically walled-in towns. The main difference here being that this entire structure, which could be a small town, has been in the ownership of a single body since at least Ancient Roman times.

Now that the castle is in the hands of the town, the idea is to open it to the public. This week was a bit of an experiment along those lines. I’m not sure about the time-line on those goals or if the idea is to just open it up or keep the guided tour structure. There are already some shops in one of the three courtyards before passing the door where our tour began. We were told no one is allowed past that door unaccompanied. And I’m not sure if I would have enjoyed all of the sites within without our guide, who lucky for me spoke very clear Italian. He was one of the archeologists involved in the actual excavation of Castle Santa Severa and was able to point out all of the cool little things that I would have missed without him. You can follow along our tour with my heavily captioned photos.

We rounded off the day with lunch on the beach in front of the castle. We stayed on the rocky side since the sandy part looked a bit damp. The beach here has been open to the public and a popular spot all along. In fact it had been on our list of beaches to try out for quite some time before Daniele heard about the castle opening. After, we finished with a visit to the neighboring town of Santa Marinella before it started to rain and we headed home.

Photos from the day: https://plus.google.com/photos/+KaitlynHanrahanIsidori/albums/6008215300922876865

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Coronation Pope Francesco

It was pretty big news here in Rome, and everywhere, last month when Benedict XVI put in notice. It happened really fast, he announced on 11 February that his last day would be 28 February. I was mostly excited that I would be here in Rome for the Conclave. Unfortunately, conclave takes place over a period of time and you never know when the cardinals are going to come to consensus and send out that white smoke. They happened to decide very quickly, conclave started 12 March and they decided 13 March. I missed it. I watched on TV like everyone else, as they announced Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina Pope Francis, or Papa Francesco (after St. Francis of Assisi).

I was able to plan on being in the Vatican for the coronation of Papa Francesco. They call it a coronation from when the Pope was the ruler of the “Stato Pontificio” comprised of modern Lazio, Umbria, Marche, and southern-eastern Emilia-Romania. The new pope would hold a mass, which is special because the pope almost never does the mass, he just does the blessing.

We filled into St. Peter’s Square, passing through security. The square was crowded, but we were able to enter. There were walk ways fenced off separating large areas for the crowds. The round piazza is a bit bowl shaped, presumably for water drainage, however it is not the best design for a stadium-type event.

Before things kicked off, Papa Francesco took a few laps around the crowds on an open top vehicle of some sort. Everyone was going nuts trying to rush to the fence where he was. The only time I saw him get down was near what I referred to as “Campo Argentina”, there were supposedly some disabled people or children there.

The first part of the mass/ceremony took place inside of St Peter’s Cathedral. It was pretty short and we had big screens to view it. The procession leaving the cathedral to the altar set up just outside was rather impressive. There are a lot of cardinals. They all had on their matching robes and were just generally impressive.

The mass was pretty normal. As mentioned, there was an altar set up just outside the doors to the Cathedral. There was an amazing choir to the left, along with the other clergy. The diplomats were seated to the right. Pope Frank gave a great speech on how we are not just Christians, but humans and doing good in the world. This was also the mass of San Giuseppe (Italian Father’s Day), many people had books that they were following along with the mass and songs. I didn’t get one until the mass was over.

I admit I was a bit lost in the mass, as it was in Latin/Italian opposed to my more comfortable English/Latin mass, though I probably understood better than most of the crowd (minus the Italians). Where as the every Wednesday Vatican blessing is repeated in several languages, very few parts were done in multiple languages.

At one point soft yellow and blue (the colors of Argentina) umbrellas seemed to almost be floating down where I knew the fenced off corridors to be. This was shortly after the “peace be with you” bit which was surprisingly fun as no two people I shook hands with said the same thing back to me. Right around then there was also a lot of shuffling in front of me and I took the opportunity to get closer. Then I saw there was a yellow and blue umbrella just in front of us, and beneath it a priest giving communion… duh. Though not that big a ‘duh’ because they normally don’t give communion out in the square. In fact, Daniele says he’s never heard of it.

Obviously at this point the mass was almost over, but I had a really great spot now! I hung around for a little hoping that Papa Francesco might make another round and we could spend more quality time together. But as that looked less likely I asked the Swiss Guard in front of me if anything else was planed, and it was not, so I headed out.

Pictures from the mass:
https://plus.google.com/photos/111221349198606775660/albums/5857941830730346881

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Rome at the Holidays

This year I came back to Rome right after Christmas. This allowed me to spend New Years with my sweetie and to see the holiday decorations in Rome that I normally miss. They strictly take them down after Epiphany. They put trees up in most of the big piazzas but their big thing are the Nativity scenes.

We started with an old special Nativity that was made by the garbageman. It is called the “Presepe dei Netturbini”. It is actually open all year long, so coming this time of year when there is a line to get in may not have been the best idea. It is made to look like Jerusalem and incorporates pieces of rock from all over the world.

Next we went to Saint Peter’s Square (the Vatican) where they had both a beautiful tree and nativity. Different countries in Europe alternate donating the tree to the Vatican. This year the tree came from Southern Italy. It was lit during a ceremony on December 14th. After the holidays the wood is donated to several groups that manufacture toys for children in need.

The nativity at Saint Peter’s Square this year was modeled after Basilicata in Southern Italy, from where it was made and donated. It was very impressive. It had just been revealed Christmas Eve.

The city of Rome also decorated most of its streets with lights. Including a ribbon of lights down Via Del Corso and lamps down the high-end shopping street Via Condotti. Different shops alternate sponsoring the lamps on Condotti, this year they were from Mercedes who also put up a tree at the head of the street where it intersects Via del Corso. Fendi, who have their giant store at the location also have a tree there made of baguette bags. Most of the little side streets in the historical center are decorated as well.


Ribbon of lights down Via Del Corso


Mercedes lamps down the high-end shopping street Via Condotti. That’s the Spanish Steps at the end.


Mercedes tree at Via Condotti and Via del Corso


Fendi tree at Via Condotti and Via del Corso

Piazza del Spagna (Spanish Steps) was probably the most impressive. The church at the top was all lit up and there was a giant tree with a nativity below. Approaching it by way of the sparkling Via Condotti made it all the more magical.

Nativity under the tree at Piazza del Spagna

We didn’t think there was anything at Piazza del Popolo, but walking through there on our way home we found another tree!

We came back for another round on Saturday, January 5. We still hadn’t seen all the big piazzas and that night they would be having Epiphany celebrations in Piazza Navona, so I could check that out, too.

We started with Campidoglio Hill. They had a tree and a small detailed nativity behind glass. They were also setting up another life-size nativity that would be revealed the next day as part of the Epiphany celebrations along with a concert I gathered. But we weren’t free Sunday to come back.

We went next to the Colosseum. I just can’t get used to turning a corner and seeing the Colosseum no matter how long I’m here.

From there we headed to Piazza Navona where it was full of people. Full. Navona is possibly the largest piazza in Rome. It is the ovular one with the three fountains, the middle one is themed after the four great known (at the time) rivers. It is the one they used to flood and stage naval battles in– a big piazza. Along the sides there were vendors selling donut-like sweets and cotton candy, as well as toys and La Befana dolls.

A side note on the history and Italian traditions of Epiphany. While in the United States the Christmas Season is unofficially observed from Thanksgiving to Christmas day, in Italy on the other hand it is very officially observed from Christmas Eve night through Epiphany (January 6). These “Twelve Days of Christmas” are a celebration of the period from Christ’s birth through the visit of the Magi / Three Kings / Three Wise Men. While you may have a Christmas party with coworkers or friends before this 12 day period, generally Christmas and its decorations and hoopla don’t ooze too much out of it. This period is almost immediately followed by the start of Carnevale celebrations, which we in the US are completely lacking or think of as a single Tuesday. Perhaps that’s why we like to make Christmas a month long.

Italian Epiphany traditions are largely aimed at children, and having grown up in the US I can’t describe them first hand. What I have gathered is there is a type of witch named La Befana who is neither good nor bad. She enters children’s homes from the chimney and leaves them candy or small toys in their stockings; bad children get coal.

A few days later we happened to be in Saint Peter’s Cathedral and we saw they had a Nativity set up inside besides the one set up out in the piazza. It was so crowded and the photo can’t do it justice, it was the most beautiful we saw.

The complete album:
https://plus.google.com/photos/111221349198606775660/albums/5836296191021293377

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Update on the ground, Sandy edition

Note, I wrote the following on 11/2 but was unable to get internet to post until 11/4, there is an update at the bottom

I flew back to NJ on the red-eye from San Francisco last night. Things here are about as I expected, wide spread power outages, but people getting by alright. Many people have generators after last years storm.

Personally, my parents have been without power since the storm hit on Monday. They had my grandmother over then since they have a generator and brought her back home once she had power again. Still no power here, but the generator runs everything, including the water pump. We just don’t have TV/Internet. My dad was pretty excited I was bringing the internet home with me via my smartphone. Rest of the family either is back on power or also running a generator as far as I’ve heard.

LBI is almost definitely flooded, they say the ocean met the bay, but the island is still closed off, so haven’t been down to check on the house yet. By a miracle my Aunt Linda, who always floods, hasn’t so far so hopefully won’t.

My mom is back at work, as Flemington is back on power. My dad is hanging out at home with me (and picked me up this morning) as the port is still closed. Note, port Newark has been closed without power for days. Be cautious buying refrigerated goods in your supermarkets for the next week or so– everybody, not just NJ (your food/everything comes from here). The stuff should all be thrown out, but who knows.

The only thing that caught me off guard was that NJ seems to be going through a gas crisis. I had seen photos of people lining up with their gas cans at stations, but didn’t really internalize the extent of it until this morning.

This morning my dad drove me to several bagel places before we found one open with power, a Dunken Donuts with a line out the door. Some people were getting breakfast for their whole families. Everyone was talking about gas. The guy in front of me had driven from two counties over, without finding an open gas station until the one across the street, where he waited two-hours for gas. Another waited an hour and a half yesterday, only to have them go dry before he got any. My dad drove far out west into PA until there were no lines, but he only has two gas cans so could only buy 10 gallons after that drive. He drove eight hours looking for more cans, can’t find them.

Many gas stations are just closed with the power out. You need electric to pump gas. Some are using generators to pump, but running dry with the demand.

The guy at Dunks was apologizing for not having ice for iced coffee, or cup holders, or various other things. He hasn’t had any deliveries. I would guess no deliveries would have to do with a lot of issues.

Update from 11/4
This morning my mom and I went out to do some errands, rather than sit at home and stare at each other all day. We found Clinton had partial power back but most places did not and were still closed. So not only is there no TV/Internet at home, there is nothing open outside. With nothing else to do we were forced to do yard work. We made about an SUV-sized pile of branches that had fallen in the yard, not counting larger ones that went into our firewood pile. There are still many more out there, we were just tired and it was getting dark. Plus a few trees that my dad will need to cut up before we can clear.

About an hour ago the electricity came back on here. So we are back to normal. We were able to do most things with the generator, but you hate to waste gas running non-necessary things and my dad has to turn it on in the morning. So tomorrow morning I’ll be able to wash my face and brush my teeth without boiling water on the wood stove.

The gas shortage is a real thing and the governor, Chris Christie, has mandated an odd/even gas purchasing rule that started today/Saturday. Basically the last digit in your license plate number determines if can get gas on odd or even days; even plates can go on even days, and vice versa. Personally we are about 10 minutes from the PA boarder so it will not effect us, even if we need gas on an off day, which now that we have power should not be an issue.

I checked on LBI and they are still evacuating and not letting anyone on the island. They hope sometime this week to let homeowners in for a few hours to get some essentials. No word yet on when it will be open for people to do cleaning and repairs.

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Blue Angels in SF

Our friends Chris and Lori have a Blue Angels party every year. It’s also a fundraiser for the YMCA where Lori is on the board, which is really nice. They have the perfect location to watch the airshow, they are up on Nob Hill and have a great roof deck.

They also have a million friends who are all great people, so it’s guaranteed good times. I got a few pictures.

Album with rest of pictures of the Blue Angel’s Air Show 10/07/12 in San Francisco:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20121007BlueAngels#

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Rome Summer 2012

I’m just finishing another round in Rome. This trip was a bit shorter because I have to return to NJ for my Italian citizenship appointment, which I’ve had for a year and could not be moved. After that I’ll be state-side until 2013.

I wanted to give a recap of the trip. I was here July 24 through September 17, so only a month and a half really.

We went to the beach any day off we had. Last year we went to Ostia more, which is “Rome’s beach”. It’s a bit crowded there, but they have a great gelateria! This year we mostly went to Fregene, which is a bit north, so easier for us. It’s considered a bit more high class, for whatever reason. I liked it because I like walking around the area and looking at the beautiful villas. However there are less shops, so we pack our own lunch to come here.

We also made it into the center pretty often. Went to happy hours, markets, or just walked around taking pictures. Along the river in the summer temporary bars, restaurants, and markets set up. They are open late at night and light up the whole river. Daniele has been going a bit crazy buying happy hours and dinners on online coupon sites.


Rome’s “Isola Tiberina” all lit up for summer

There is always a lot going on in summer. We were able to organize Daniele’s friends Gerlano and Valentina as well as family for dinners and different things. We went to Magic Land, a medieval kingdom themed park. And we had a nice BBQ picnic for Ferragosto, a holiday the 15th of August.


Gerlando and Daniele at the BBQ

The big thing we did was take two back to back mini-vacations to Umbria. First to stay with cousins, second just for a weekend away. I wrote about those already is separate posts.

All in all a pretty good summer and a good trip, even though it had to be so short.

Next up is a two-week stop back home in NJ. I have that citizenship appointment, my birthday, a bunch of wedding stuff to do (including bridesmaid dress shopping), and a few family parties. Then I’m off to San Francisco for October!

The full photo album from this trip:
https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20120724Roma#

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Carnevale in Ronciglione

This write-up and photos are from almost a year ago, Carnevale 2012, but they never made it up. I’m trying to upload old pictures and the accompanying stories now with back dates so they are archived in order.

Today we continued breaking me into the Canevale tradition with a different style celebration. The town of Ronciglione has the oldest Carnevale in central Italy, dating back to 1465. Because it has such a rich history, they put on a big show and Italians come from hours away to see the parade in this small medieval town.

The town has a population just under 9k people and 1,200 of them participate in the parade. They are broken down into different “Mascherte” of themed costumed groups with floats and parade down the main street for two hours.

There are also a few horses, but nothing like what we saw yesterday in Rome, just a few and not nearly as well trained. The town used to hold unmanned races, like the ones on Rome’s Via del Corso. While the ones in Rome stopped in 1874, these continued just until last year. During the 2011 Carnevale a horse died in the race and due to the up cry after, the races no longer take place.

This is one of the biggest Carnevales in Italy. It gets super crowded and we were warned about going there on Sunday, the most popular Carnevale day (you would think Fat Tuesday, but lots of people are at work). However, lucky for us (I guess) it was raining and Italians hate to go out in the rain. So, there were less people than normal. I thought there were a lot of people, but the MC said we’re “few but good”. Unfortunately there was going to be a show in the morning that was canceled because of the rain, so, we missed out on that and ended up with a lot of time to kill until the parade in the evening. Luckily it was a really cool medieval hill town to walk around and the rain was just an on and off drizzle. Italians really do hate the rain.

Pictures of Carnevale:
https://plus.google.com/photos/111221349198606775660/albums/5834394206060841921?authkey=CKXm3ffE8rD9vwE