Al Mare

This is the "American Beach" at Pisa. The only thing American about it is the number of soldiers from Camp Darby and the burgers at the concession stand. Otherwise, it's like every other hyper-developed Italian beach--from the wall of orange umbrellas and beach chairs to the Caprese Salad and Speedos.

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday...

Public Education Cuts, Italian Style

Here's what happens when government cuts funding for the public schools in Italy: Thousands of Tuscans with kids in tow march along the Lungarno to criticize slicing away at art and music--"fundamental" programs for a good education.

They're also upset about a new law that requires schools to hire "local"--but not necessarily the best qualified or most experienced--teachers.

It all made me wonder what would happen if Utahns took to the streets to protest the state's "We're No. 49!" per-pupil spending...

Memorial Day in Italy

Like most Americans, I'd forgotten the military history of this holiday. It always seems to be overshadowed by barbecues, start-of-summer sales and white shoe season...

Not this year. At the Florence American Cemetery, it's impossible to ignore the 4,400 marble crosses and stars of David and the massive wall carved with the names of many of the young American GIs killed in 1944-45 during the campaign to liberate Italy.

Current Italian and American soldiers and airmen turn out in force every year. Italian re-enactors don pristine woolen American uniforms and proudly pose for pictures with the kids. This year, Brig. General Charles Estes, a Utah native stationed in Germany, tried to shore up the alliance by noting Italians and Americans have been fighting side by side for 65 years (if you include Iraq and Afghanistan).

And there was a slight controversy as his Italian Counterpart, Gen. D. Marco Bertolini, Tuscany Regional Commander of the Italian Army, chastised his own country today for neglecting to honor the soldiers who gave their lives in the war and the veterans still alive today.

Inevitably, April 25 commemorations of "Liberation Day" turn into political debates between the current Communist Party and the ruling Conservatives. The Communists have co-opted the history of World War II Italian partisans who fought alongside the Allies and declared themselves the political party that saved Italy. And the conservatives hate being compared to Mussolini's fascists who nominally shared similar ideology 70 years ago. Add to that the tension between the middle of the country (a communist/liberal stronghold) and conservative blocks in the north and south.

One Italian woman said she'd been waiting years to hear that from another Italian's lips. "Without the Americans," she said, "we'd be speaking German or Russian."

But then, we looked around us at hillside villas, many gobbled up by German investors in the 80s and 90s. Ah, she said with a shrug, "We say: What the Panzer couldn't conquer, the (deutsch)mark did."

Typical Italian humor...

Wild Greens

Driving through Tuscany in the spring you'll happen upon natives clambering up and down the hillsides, clutching bunches of what looks like grass in their hands. A few weeks later, the bunches appear in town: Agretti, or Barba di Frate (Friar's Beard). They look a bit like chives and have a slight onion-y smell.

I had to search UK websites for a recipes. Turns out, a bit of olive oil, garlic, and salt and pepper was all it required...

Summer Fashion

A sea of linen has appeared in the markets--sundresses, tunics and camp shirts in white, navy, tan and, occasionally, red. But those are for women of a certain generation (over 25).

Younger fashionistas seem to prefer long, tight t-shirts printed with faces. Audrey Hepburn from "Breakfast at Tiffany's," Charlise Theron and rhinestone cowgirls are the favorites.

And, of course, there's always Marilyn...

Oltrarno Guerillas

The more uptight residents of Oltrarno (the neighborhood across the river) are upset about counterculture incursions into what was -- and still is -- the alt part of the city:

At the end of April, a group calling itself the Movement for the Emancipation of Poetry plastered amateur prose throughout the Santo Spirito neighborhood: odes to "Arianna," for example, or the line above-- "I'm wonderful. Everyone else is crazy."

Then, May 3, police discovered vegetables, camomile and fruit trees planted in the planters around the church. According to The Florentine, authorities also found a small pot plant. (Oh the humanity! Marijuana found in an artistic enclave!) The guerilla gardeners pledged (threatened) to retake the piazza this summer.

Residents complain that the poetry will damage the historic buildings. MEP guerillas claim the paper is attached using a mixture of water, sugar and tonic--all it needs is a good rainstorm, they say.

They may be wrong about that: Where the poetry has been scraped off, it seems to take the first layer of paint with it.

I guess we'll see if there are lingering bad feelings about that "all-natural" glue....

New Fruit

The fruit is changing with the season. Oranges are being replaced by ciliegia (cherries), albicocca (apricots) and these....

The color of apricots, in the shape and texture of kiwis with alarming seeds the size of olives. We'd call them loquats. The Italian word is "nespole."