The ANNOTICO Report

The Second in a Continuing Series of Reports from Bob Masullo about his one
year 'sabbatical' in Italy.

The one comment of Bob's that struck me most was : "Like most
Italian-Americans, I have deep in my ethnic memory an impression of Italy
as a poor country....But widespread poverty has not been the rule for
decades. Italy is rich today. Very rich, in fact"

I share Bob's impression, especially when the European and American media
harp on the Negatives constantly,
and you hear very few positives. One gets the Impression that Italy is a
Roman and Renaissance Theme Park,
with "hired" locals for "reality", much like a Disneyland country.:) :(

Bob, I'm curious whether you are planning to visit "the South"? Does Sicily
and the South "share" in this
prosperity??

The area around Lago di Garda, like most others in Italy, has an
embarrassment of fascinating and beautiful attractions.

As I write this wife Eileen and I have only been in the zone for  a week.
So our outings have been tentative.

Mainly, we have been settling into our new life as wannabe Italians. But we
have already done some preliminary exploring in two delightful communities
–Desenzano, about 10 kilometers from our home, and Bergamo, about 50
kilometers away.

Ah yes, kilometers. Like everything else that is measurable, land distances
are different in the Bel Paese from what they are in the United States.
It’s not Italy’s fault, of course. It is in sync with most other countries.
The U.S. is the odd one.

I have found making exact conversions of kilometers to miles a near
impossible task. So, although it is not quite right, I figure half the
number of kilometers posted on a sign to make sense of distances. Actually,
one kilometer equals 0.62 miles; one mile equals 1.6 kilometers. But who
can remember those figures or mentally do the conversions while zipping
along the Italian countryside?

[RAA Note to Bob: Tell your reliable Navigator, Eileen: Kilometers to
Miles; Divide by 8, and Multiply by 5. :)]

Each day we get into our rented four-seat Lancia Ypsilon and go driving
about. Without exaggeration, every little town we come to is fascinating
and gorgeous. But here we’ll just concentrate on the aforementioned two.

DESENZANO -- This is the biggest town on the edge of Lake Garda and its
main port for ferries and pleasure boats. Like the other lakeside towns,
its architecture is a mixture of Renaissance classic and mid-20th century
resort chic. We pass through it on the way to most of our destinations. It
also has the biggest shopping mall near us, so we have visited it often in
search of necessities.

Like most Italian-Americans, I have deep in my ethnic memory an impression
of Italy as a poor country. I’ve heard the stories over and over again of
our ancestors coming to America with little more than the clothes on their
backs. But widespread poverty has not been the rule for decades. Italy is
rich today. Very rich, in fact.

If one needed a palpable demonstration of this, all he’d have to do is
visit Desenzano’s shopping mall where it’s like the week before Christmas
every day. Consumerism thrives in Italy!

If one is in search of more classical beauty, though, a visit of
Desenzano’s port area will do the job nicely. The church of Santa Maria
Maddalena, in the Piazza Malvezzi, is a fine starting point. It has a
striking “Last Supper” by Giambattista Tiepolo.

Also interesting is the Villa Romana, a third century Roman resort house
that was dug up in 1921. Its floors are decorated with brilliant hunting
and fishing scenes.

BERGAMO -- Our trip to Bergamo came about this way: Mario Ubiali, our
former exchange student, went looking for the most advantageous car rental
deal for us. He found it at Hertz for about 450 euros a month (a little
more than $500) but the Hertz office that had the ideal vehicle was in
Bergamo.

The day we went to pi ck it up we were so exhausted that Eileen
accidentally left a bag filled with important papers the Hertz office. So,
a few days later we went back to pick it up. And we gave this lovely
Lombardian city the touristic once over.

Actually, it is two cities in one – lower Bergamo, which is modern and
chic, and upper Bergamo, a medieval hilltop town that rivals any in Tuscany.

Connected by a winding auto road, a pedestrian trail and a funiculare, the
upper and lower cities complement each other as examples of what was best
in their respective eras – modern for the lower city and the 12th to 15th
centuries for the upper one.

Unless, you have business to transact, upper Bergamo is the more rewarding
one to visit.

As we went through the church of Santa Maria Maggiore (built between 1157
and 1521 and where opera composer Gaetano Donizetti is buried), we were
struck by the overwhelming number of artistic riches it contained; one
could spend a lifetime studying them, we thought. But of course, if one
did, the tremendous riches that lie just a few feet beyond Santa Maria’s
doors would be missed. These include the Cattedrale di Sant’Alessandro
right next door (yes two churches that almost touch; but this is not
unusual in Italy), the Donizetti Museum, La Rocca (castle) and San Michele
al Pozzo Bianco (church).

-- BOB MASULLO