Fortunately, our schedules matched, so I had the pleasure of visiting my friend Monica in Bergamo, near Milan. I met Monica in Sardinia, maybe 10 years ago, when we were both lodging at the hotel of our common friend Lino, in Orgosolo, a small town in the highlands od Sardinia, with a distinctive artistic tradition (every available wall was decorated by a mural carrying a strong social message). Monica is a photography/visual artist and at the time was collecting the stories of the old nonnas, of who there are many in Orgosolo.
But I should start by relating the three hours drive from the highlands of Cortina d'Ampezzo down to the plain of the river Po. The road was very twisty but afforded me great views of the Dolomite peaks I was leaving behind. Once on the autostrada my main concern was to keep a close look on my speed, because Italians have gone crazy placing speed-control cameras everywhere! From the biggest city to the smallest hamlet Big Brother is always looking, sometimes every 300 m or so. I also took great care of collecting my entry ticket on every stretch of the autostrada, and paying through the nose for some tolls (I believe the highest was close to 30 euros ... ouch!).
Monica lives on the outskirts
of Bergamo, within the industrial complex of the factory of mannequins that his
father and uncle founded long ago. I had a tour of the factory five years ago
and still remember it as one of the strangest products but for which there is a
steady demand.
When I got to her house she had lunch ready with salad and a tasty steamed fish (with lots of bones). While we ate we caught up with what we were up to, and she told me her plans to retire from teaching in a couple of years or so, sell her house, and move to a smaller apartment somewhere in Tuscany to be close to her niece. Her plan is to devote more time to her artistic production, although I think that working with her middle school students has led her to some very creative projects. Two she shared with me is an animation of a world map showing countries at peace, and then successive shots showing with red florets the start and growth of war at different places. The other is a very simple piece of paper, folded into 8 sections, where students place photographs they have taken to create a storybook. I am going to steal her idea to use in my introductory geology classes to have students show what they learnt on a fieldtrip.
For the afternoon we went for a lovely walk around one of the alpine lakes on the mountains north of Bergamo. The lake is variously known as Lago di Endine or Spinone al Lago, and it is particularly pleasant because the crazy touristic development I saw in Lake Garda has not reach this much smaller lake and you can still take your time walking along the shore (7 hours of fast walking if you want to go all around it). We saw many people picnicking on the surrounding meadows, fishing, or just enjoying a lovely afternoon. We ourselves enjoyed a cool drink at the bar we had parked by.
For supper Monica took me to her local pizzeria, where you can buy pizza by the meter, in 20 cm intervals. We bought a 40 cm long pizza, with 20 cm vegetarian and 20 cm prosciutto and mushrooms. The pizza comes in one long strip, and once Monica bought a whole meter to entertain a group of friends. It was a very long pizza box!
Monica has a boyfriend, soon to be a fiancée, who lives in France, so every free time she has spends in France with her Albert. She is one of the most amazing polyglots I know, effortlessly shifting from Italian to French to English to Spanish (in fact, it was the fact that she spoke Spanish fluently who brought us and Lino together in Orgosolo all those many years ago). I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with her and look forward to the next one a few years from now, maybe in Tuscany.
No comments:
Post a Comment