Let's do it in two parts, shall we?
The trouble with Italy is that it's not simply one country but rather a cluster of separate little universes, each with its own distinctive character and culture.
Italians - most unhelpfully - don't even actually speak Italian. They speak Fiorentino, or Romano, or Napoletano, or Siciliano, or Nonès, or Sardo, e cosi via. Some of them even speak German, just to keep us guessing. According to Lepschy and Lepschy, the only word they can all agree on is espresso.
I tend to be easily bored, so perhaps that's why I love visiting Italy so much.
I only had a week to spare so I made a whistle-stop tour of some old haunts in the central and northern regions of the country. We'll start with the centre and then I'll post the other half domani, domani...
Pisa:
Plenty of other things to see in Pisa
Look, it's all kind of wonky
Tower? No towers here...
Florence:
Rooftop terraces
The Duomo, playing hide and seek
The Porcellino protects his merchandise
A quiet moment in a side street
Sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo
Florence by night
Rooftop terraces
The Duomo, playing hide and seek
The Porcellino protects his merchandise
A quiet moment in a side street
Ponte Vecchio
Sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo
Florence by night
Posts
2 comments:
In Aosta - or Aoste - they speak French too. In fact, there is loads of graffiti on the walls saying things like 'Aoste libre' and 'Liberer Aoste!'.
I noticed with some surprise though that although the younger generation do speak French, they choose to use Italian. This is always a surprise to me because French is a more efficient language in terms of number of sylables you need to use to say something (try it).
But Mussolini moved loads of people from the south to Italianise the area. I think that between that and television, the children choose to use Italian.
A beautiful area of the country.
Magnifico-o-o-o
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