Italy Retreat

My friend, Steve, told me that Padova had the best food market in Italy. I'm not sure that's official, but I know that it was just as great as a museum visit for me! I loved being surrounded by the herbs (photo) and colorful fruits, vegetables, spices and clothing.



I grew up with a chestnut tree in my backyard in West Virginia. Every winter my Italian grandmother, who lived next door, would roast the nuts in a pan on her stove. The mess left from the prickly chestnut covering on the ground got the better of my dad, and sometime after I graduated from college, he cut the tree down. But when I saw all the chestnuts displayed in the market in Padua, they looked so exotic and beautiful. Round and brown protected in their porcupine bed.

Imagine walking in your neighborhood and every other shop is selling Italian brioche, crescents filled with chocolate, cream, local jams and alongside them is the best coffee you could ask for. In addition, well dressed grandmothers walking arm in arm, and an older gentleman riding by on his bicycle followed by another il biciletti ridden by a store owner in her high heeled shoes, tight skirt and Prada purse on her shoulder. Look ahead and another grandmother is walking eating her gelato.
Italians seem to live more slowly but drive faster, even the bus drivers race around the streets, taking the turns like they are in a race. (see my notebook?)
Last Sunday, I finally had a day to take it easy after 2 1/2 weeks of constant exploring and activity in the Italian Riviera and here in the Veneto. There was a 2 day international festival in every piazza in Verona-- Italians and visitors dancing, singing and playing games.

Around every corner were beautiful churches and Italians celebrating with music, dancing in the streets, while children played games with adults--chess, checkers and other traditional/ancient games until late into the evening. Some of the games involved slingshots and small spinning tops. The quality of the sunlight, the sounds, the love--all so much for the heart and eyes to take in.

Piazza Erbe was once a forum during the Roman Empire days in 100AD, but now it is filled with vendors selling food and souvenirs to tourists. However, in preparation for the Tocati Festival all the vendors booths were driven away and in the early morning, I took this photo of an empty Piazza L'erbe.

A beautiful river meanders around the town connecting outlying neighborhoods by old and new bridges. Buildings that are 500 to 2000 years old seem to have personalities of their own. I try to imagine life as it was when they built these incredible works of art. (One of the photos on top is a garden in my neighborhood, voted the best garden in Italy last recently--Gardino Giusti).

Thursday night as I walked the 15 minutes to my apt. from Piazza Erbe, I heard an incredible 20 piece orchestra performing in Piazza dei Signori. Surprises abound in Italy, not just in Verona, but each city.

I sadly leave Italy today after being here for 4 weeks. Now for the adventure of traveling back to the U.S.

Portovenere

Everyone must go to Portovenere! A picture perfect town.

QUOTE: Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. –Albert Einstein
Poster with this quote is in my flat in Verona on Via Paradiso (Paradise Street)

Although I've been in Verona for two weeks now studying Italian and visiting the Venoto area, I want to do a few more posts about the Liguria area on the western part of Italy where I taught the "Italy Retreat." (Stay tuned for next year's Italy retreat location.)

I agree with Albert Einstein about falling in love. It's not gravitation but a deep connection with someone or something. I think it's easy to fall in love with Italy. Not only are there beautiful towns everywhere, the food is delicious and varied in different regions. I take photos of the food I eat and of the produce displays, as they are part of the sense of style and art of Italy. I will share more food photos upcoming blogs. The photo of the counter is a display of olives, vegetables, olive oil, lemoncello and more local products. I bought artichoke hearts (carciofi) that melted in my mouth.

Portovenere is the peninsula that juts out as you enter the Golf of Poets. If you continue by boat you arrive at the port town of La Spezia and the smaller but beautiful Lerici. If you hopped a train from Monterosso you would reach La Spezia in about 30 minutes.
I highly recommend taking the one hour ferry ride from Monterosso (the western most Cinque Terre village) to Portovenere. I doubt that you would find a more beautiful other-worldly journey anywhere. I'm so glad we didn't take the train and then the bus to Portovenere. Thanks to my friends, Linda and Tom, and Fred for suggesting ferry rides in Liguria more than train rides (although we took plenty of train trips too.)

Photos: Scene of Portovenere from the ferry. Ciao from Lenora with the castle in background at Portovenere. Every opening in the castle wall revealed breathtaking scenes of fascinating rock formations, ocean, sky and white albatross sailing high in the sky. Photo of Nancy and I at one of the portals left remaining from the ancient castle on the top of the mountain. The medieval village was an impregnable fortress belonging to Genoa. In the rocky background you can see the crags leaning towards the rocky Cinque Terre

Portovenere is comprised of 2 basic streets but they are magical and we all found ourselves just breathing more easily here. It seemed very spiritual peaceful here. The stores are unique, not hokey or too touristy. There is a more lake-like appearance to the Porto Venere. on the top of the rocky crags are the remains of a temple dedicated to Venus and also well preserved remains of a small early Christian Church and a restored Gothic temple built in 1256. I bought a handmade turtle from a very old lady sitting on a stoop outside the church because I collect turtles and I love that she made it from shells.

So many of the doors are even works of art. Here's a photo of one of them in Portovenere.

I started this blog in order to talk about beautiful Italy, and my workshop, but even more so to inspire all of you to do what you love to do. Find your heart's desire and follow it, even with baby steps. "Take the first step in faith", as Martin Luther King said, even though it may not be supported by others right away. It's really a matter of self-respect to do what you love!

PHOTOS of the torquoise waters of San Fruttuoso, a short ferry ride from Portofino on the Italian Riviera and some of us on the ferry.

It's a must to include travel by ferry when you're in Liguria because the view is extraordinary--almost other wordly. You experience a perspective of the region in a more expansive way than taking the train. The striated rock formations are unique and extraordinary. What is really surprising are the conglomeration of homes perched on the edge of nowhere (much further south of the five Cinque Terre villages and San Fruttuoso. The inhabitants must have to hike in as there were no roads to some of those tiny hamlets.

San Fruttuoso is a cove of torquoise water that’s quiet and idyllic. My friend, Jan, first told me to go there as she spent an afternoon swimming there last year. The monastary here is now vacant but was inhabited by monks.

The shore is rocky so wear water shoes or flip flops. My feet are tough but it still hurt being barefoot. The hike connecting San Fruttuoso to Portofino is high and steep but you are rewarded with a birds eye view of a heavenly scene of sky and water.

Wish you were here in Italy with me! Remember to follow your dreams as they are messages from your heart.

More on the Italy Retreat in days to come. I'm in Verona, Italy studying Italian and enjoying another region of Italy-the Veneto. Any suggestions for me to discover here?!
Just leave a comment.

There is something very charming about Monterosso even though it is bombarded with tourists each year from all over the world. Out of the five Cinque Terre towns, it has the best private and public beach areas and more restaurants and hotels. Here we are at Ristorante Carugio in Monterosso.

In my opinion, 4 of the 5 town are worth visiting as they are quaint in their own way.
Except for the entertaining bus driver, Corniglia is the town that could be missed. Not much happening at all there except it is connected to the trails that link all 5 villages. Since the trail was closed due to heavy rain the night before, we rode the bus up from the train station for dinner but the few restaurants that they do have were closed from 4-7:30. Since the last bus down to the train station stopped at 7:45, we opted to go home to eat at Monterosso.

On our final day in Monterosso (Nancy and I spent 10 nights there),several of us walked straight up the very narrow Via Buranco for 30 minutes or more. We were told it was a nice before-dinner stroll! We discovered Buranco Agriturismo where they were making wine from their vineyards. When we rounded the bend as we continued our climb, we were met with another sweet fragrance of pine needles and a breathtaking view above the town and sea, before arriving at the church where the monks were chanting. We couldn't see them, but the singing was beautiful. At first, we thought it was a recording, but it wasn't. So many things in Italy seem unreal to me! In the tunnel linking the historic section of Monterosso with the new area, we would hear beautiful classic or traditional Italian music most days, and we assumed it was being piped in. But each time we're greeted with live musicians on the corner.


Photo of Nancy and I overlooking Monterosso from our hike/stroll. Nancy was my assistant really helping pull together all the details during the week, so I was more free to teach the workshop. Thank you Nancy!


Anchovy Festival:
Saturday, September 19 was the Acciuche Sagra (Anchovy Festival) in Monterosso. I’ve read online that it usually takes place on the 2nd Saturday of September, but this was the third Saturday in September.
I was expecting something bigger, but it was small and... salty. I loved watching the local men make the bread dough and fry it for the salted anchovy, pepper sandwiches with extra garlic tossed in oil. A little white wine from local grapes growing on the hillsides rounded out the festival. I don’t really like anchovies, but I must say that the anchovies prepared with lemon juice and in a variety of ways, at most of the restaurants were actually tasty.

Part of the festival included about 10 artist's booths along the promenade outside the train station above the beach, in the newer area of Monterosso. As I walked by, one man was hanging a small poster from Fellini's film, "La Dolce Vita." I figured I'd go back to buy it since it was the title of my workshop, but the women on my workshop surprised me with it at our last meeting!

Wishing all of you la dolce vita!! More about the Italian Riviera later.

PHOTO of the 6 members of our La Dolce Vita Retreat by the entrance to the Via Dell’ Amore hike from Rio Maggiore to Manarola.
The days are zooming by in Cinque Terre at my La Dolce Vita Italy Retreat.
On Tuesday, September 15, the 7 minute ferry ride to Vernazza was fun and breezy with extraordinary views of mountains and terraced grape vineyards.
One of our goals for this workshop is to do something everyday that’s out of our comfort zone or something we’re afraid of doing.
Several of us have a history of getting seasick, so we took the chance to board the ferry. Of course it was a quick ride but if the weather permits, we’ll be journeying for up to an hour on other ferries in the next few days.
We hung out in 3 towns on Tuesday.

Vernazza flowers for sale in the little town center.
In Vernazza, we enjoyed pesto pizza under colorful umbrellas on the jetty. As far as I understand, the restaurants in Cinque Terre make their pesto fresh each day. I wanted to check out the Ristorante Castello that had a view of the sea, but after climbing 75 steep steps up to it, and seeing the opaque plastic that surrounded the outdoor tables, I didn’t think it was worth the climb if we didn’t have a clear expansive view plus I did have to stop and catch my breath a couple times.
In Manarola, red and white boats were docked on the streets—parked in front of their homes, like we would park our cars. Usually about 6 fishermen and other men and women transport the boats from the high sea walls, several blocks up the street, once they are moved onto wheels. We saw the pullies on the top of the high docks that lift the boats down to the sea and then up again at the end of the day.
I thought Manarola was very sweet as there weren’t so many tourists there as there are in the other Cinque Terre villages. We had a delicious dinner outside at Ristorante Porticiolla. Several of us ate the fresh catch of the day (sea bass), served with deep fried then grilled vegetables (onion, carrot, zucchini, eggplant, red bell pepper). Dessert was nut cake with ground walnuts inside almost like pecan pie with whole walnuts on top.
Beautiful ceramic stores are found in most cities in Italy, but I really enjoyed the small one in Manarola.
It’s Thursday and we’re catching the one hour ferry ride to Portovenere, Port of Venus. Did I mention that we are constantly changing all the plans that I’ve meticulously made because we are dodging rains storms? That means that many of the trails are closed. They’ve arrived early this year and there is rain in many parts of Italy right now.
We loved the easy hike we did on Tuesday, so I’ll fill you in on the Via Dell’ Amore Trail between Rio Maggiore and Manarola in the next post. It was a breathtaking walk high above the sea.

In January 2009, I started this Italy Retreat Blog about my workshop on the Italian Riviera.
Well, I have arrived and this is my second day in paradise, staying at La Colonnina Hotel
in Monterosso. It's a wonderful hotel in the heart of the historical center of town, a 5 minute walk from (the Ligurian Sea) which is a part of the Mediterranean. Turquoise refreshingly clear water at the end of a gorgeous mountainous hike that connects to Vernazza and then the other 3 Cinque Terre towns.

The flight over on Luftansa was very smooth and enjoyable. The airline stewardesses were actually friendly, efficient, and made sure we were all comfortable, and had lots to eat and drink. The pillows were soft, not the hard rectuangular ones airlines usually provide. Even the blankets were soft and cottony, not polyester. My Asian vegetarian meal was deliciously spiced panir, curried vegetables and rice. Kudos to Luftansa Airlines!
Today Nancy and I hopped on the train to Levanto to try to find a SIM card for the Italian phone my friend gave me. No SIM cards in the 5 villages of the Cinque Terre. But with all this beauty surrounding us, who needs cell phones?! Anyway, the Telephone shop closed at 12:30 for siesta and didn’t open again until 4:30, so no phone for the week as we didn't want to wait for four hours.

The Italy Retreat begins tomorrow and there won't be time to go back to Levanto as I have a busy week planned for all the workshop participants (who just arrived this evening after a 24 hour trip from the U.S and South Africa).

Our dinner last night at Pizzeria Ely was divine. Homemade ricotta ravioli with pesto sauce, minestrone soup that was the most flavorable soup I've ever eaten. We completed our meal with panna cotta (translated: cooked cream) dessert with fresh berries. I had to suppress my loud oohs and aahs. Delizioso!

I hope will keep you updated!

PHOTOS: That's me in Monterosso, Colorful fishing boats and signature umbrellas on the Monterosso beach,the arch leading to our Hotel La Colonnina.