Tellaro, Liguria
On a stormy August night in 1660, pirate ships approached the small village of Tellaro, tucked in the Ligurian coast of Italy. Their goal: the wealthy town of Barbazzano just beyond. Although Tellaro was a frequent site of raids, no one expected an approach from the tempestuous sea that night. Even the guard of the San Giorgio church, whose job it was to alert the town to possible danger by ringing the church bells, was fast asleep. As the pirates' ships grew closer, however, the bells suddenly began ringing wildly. The villagers awoke, seized their weapons, and successfully defended Tellaro from invasion. The pirates turned back in defeat. Seeing the belltower guard was himself among their midst, the villagers climbed the belltower to see who had rung the bell. There they found a giant octopus frantically ringing the bell with its long tentacles.
Every year in early August Tellaro holds an Octopus Festival to commemorate the rescue of their village. The festival features--what else?--octopus cooked in a variety of ways.
Tellaro, down the coast from the much better-known Cinque Terre, makes a convenient location to explore the Ligurian coast, having avoided mass tourism, yet being accessible by car, boat, and bus. It's an ideal location for hiking, swimming, and seafood (try the octopus!).
From my travel journal: The houses that line the harbor, in shades of peach, ochre, and terracotta, seem ready to tumble into the glistening sea. I look up at the seagulls mournfully calling overhead, searching for fish and tourist handouts. Lined up on the greenish-black rocks next to me are fishing boats painted in bright colors, safely tucked out of reach of the waves that jet up in a blue and white plume . The sea is never far from view, its salty perfume reaches into the alleyways. I can taste it on my tongue.
I have been in Tellaro only a few hours and already recognize familiar faces: a few green-grocers, an older man playing soccer with his grandson, the baristas from the two bars that compete with one another from either side of the piazza, and every once in a while a small group of tourists, usually German or British, who pass through the town on one of the coastal hiking trails. They look around with a bit of surprise at the beauty of this small town and its unexpected welcome, and I imagine they must be reluctant to continue their trek. I tip my aperol spritz and we gently salute each other with a “ciao” or “buon giorno” depending on age and formality, and already I feel I belong here.
Tellaro is the smallest of small towns that ring Italy’s Ligurian coast, with a rich history as a refuge for poets and artists. It somehow has avoided the massive crowds that descend from cruise ships and trains into the Cinque Terre, yet the locals seem quite content about that. You can get there by public transportation, but you’ll need to pack your patience. We rented a car, instead, leaving it outside the town as soon as we saw that the center of town allowed barely enough room for a car to pass, let alone turn around. Locals rely on busses that travel between neighboring villages, but there are also ancient trails that snake their way through the hillside, offering jawdropping views of the Mediterranean at every turn.
Before our stay in Tellaro, we visited an old friend in Florence, and I asked if she had ever been there. “Tellaro?” She said, “I was there for four hours and got a parking ticket. And it was absolutely worth it.” It is indeed.
On a stormy August night in 1660, pirate ships approached the small village of Tellaro, tucked in the Ligurian coast of Italy. Their goal: the wealthy town of Barbazzano just beyond. Although Tellaro was a frequent site of raids, no one expected an approach from the tempestuous sea that night. Even the guard of the San Giorgio church, whose job it was to alert the town to possible danger by ringing the church bells, was fast asleep. As the pirates' ships grew closer, however, the bells suddenly began ringing wildly. The villagers awoke, seized their weapons, and successfully defended Tellaro from invasion. The pirates turned back in defeat. Seeing the belltower guard was himself among their midst, the villagers climbed the belltower to see who had rung the bell. There they found a giant octopus frantically ringing the bell with its long tentacles.
Every year in early August Tellaro holds an Octopus Festival to commemorate the rescue of their village. The festival features--what else?--octopus cooked in a variety of ways.
Tellaro, down the coast from the much better-known Cinque Terre, makes a convenient location to explore the Ligurian coast, having avoided mass tourism, yet being accessible by car, boat, and bus. It's an ideal location for hiking, swimming, and seafood (try the octopus!).
From my travel journal: The houses that line the harbor, in shades of peach, ochre, and terracotta, seem ready to tumble into the glistening sea. I look up at the seagulls mournfully calling overhead, searching for fish and tourist handouts. Lined up on the greenish-black rocks next to me are fishing boats painted in bright colors, safely tucked out of reach of the waves that jet up in a blue and white plume . The sea is never far from view, its salty perfume reaches into the alleyways. I can taste it on my tongue.
I have been in Tellaro only a few hours and already recognize familiar faces: a few green-grocers, an older man playing soccer with his grandson, the baristas from the two bars that compete with one another from either side of the piazza, and every once in a while a small group of tourists, usually German or British, who pass through the town on one of the coastal hiking trails. They look around with a bit of surprise at the beauty of this small town and its unexpected welcome, and I imagine they must be reluctant to continue their trek. I tip my aperol spritz and we gently salute each other with a “ciao” or “buon giorno” depending on age and formality, and already I feel I belong here.
Tellaro is the smallest of small towns that ring Italy’s Ligurian coast, with a rich history as a refuge for poets and artists. It somehow has avoided the massive crowds that descend from cruise ships and trains into the Cinque Terre, yet the locals seem quite content about that. You can get there by public transportation, but you’ll need to pack your patience. We rented a car, instead, leaving it outside the town as soon as we saw that the center of town allowed barely enough room for a car to pass, let alone turn around. Locals rely on busses that travel between neighboring villages, but there are also ancient trails that snake their way through the hillside, offering jawdropping views of the Mediterranean at every turn.
Before our stay in Tellaro, we visited an old friend in Florence, and I asked if she had ever been there. “Tellaro?” She said, “I was there for four hours and got a parking ticket. And it was absolutely worth it.” It is indeed.
Carlo Levi, Christ Stopped in Eboli - Matera, Basilicata
Levi, Carlo. Christ Stopped at Eboli (Cristo si è fermato a Eboli). Trans. Frances Frenaye. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1988.
Aliano and Matera, Basilicata (Lucania)
Although originally from Turin, Carlo Levi is most associated with the southern-Italian region of Basilicata, traditionally known as Lucania, where he was forcibly sent from 1935-1936 for his anti-fascist views. The title Christ Stopped at Eboli comes from the residents themselves who tell Levi that Christ never got as far as their region, implying that their lands are beyond religion, political borders, even human history. Levi observes the locals with a journalist’s eye, ultimately moved by their kindness and authenticity. He includes shocking descriptions of poverty in Matera, a nearby town where Levi’s sister, also a physician, traveled, where townsfolk still dwelt in caves, called the Sassi.
The publication of Christ Stopped in Eboli brought the poverty of the area to light, and in 1952 the residents of the Sassi were evacuated and moved to modern housing. In the 1980s, forward-thinking entrepreneurs began to restore the Sassi dwellings, some of which have since become high-end hotels and restaurants. Today Matera offers several museums dedicated to peasant life, which reveal the engineering marvels of the traditional ways. In Aliano there is a Carlo Levi literary park and suggested itineraries to see places mentioned in the book. If you want to get a glimpse of Matera without leaving home, you can watch one of the many movies that have taken advantage of the unique locale, such as Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Gospel According to Saint Matthew, Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ, and the newest James Bond movie, No Time to Die.
To See in Matera:
Museo Laboratorio della Civiltà Contadina
Matera Olive Oil Museum
Storica Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario
Sassi in Miniatura
Aliano and Matera, Basilicata (Lucania)
Although originally from Turin, Carlo Levi is most associated with the southern-Italian region of Basilicata, traditionally known as Lucania, where he was forcibly sent from 1935-1936 for his anti-fascist views. The title Christ Stopped at Eboli comes from the residents themselves who tell Levi that Christ never got as far as their region, implying that their lands are beyond religion, political borders, even human history. Levi observes the locals with a journalist’s eye, ultimately moved by their kindness and authenticity. He includes shocking descriptions of poverty in Matera, a nearby town where Levi’s sister, also a physician, traveled, where townsfolk still dwelt in caves, called the Sassi.
The publication of Christ Stopped in Eboli brought the poverty of the area to light, and in 1952 the residents of the Sassi were evacuated and moved to modern housing. In the 1980s, forward-thinking entrepreneurs began to restore the Sassi dwellings, some of which have since become high-end hotels and restaurants. Today Matera offers several museums dedicated to peasant life, which reveal the engineering marvels of the traditional ways. In Aliano there is a Carlo Levi literary park and suggested itineraries to see places mentioned in the book. If you want to get a glimpse of Matera without leaving home, you can watch one of the many movies that have taken advantage of the unique locale, such as Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Gospel According to Saint Matthew, Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ, and the newest James Bond movie, No Time to Die.
To See in Matera:
Museo Laboratorio della Civiltà Contadina
Matera Olive Oil Museum
Storica Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario
Sassi in Miniatura
Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron - Florence |
While Dante has been well-known to non-Italian audiences for centuries, Giovanni Boccaccio has enjoyed a new popularity thanks to the setting of his Decameron during the 1348 plague. With the Black Death as a background, the Decameron consists of one hundred tales told by ten Florentine noblemen and women who have fled the city for ten days in order to find respite and peace in the Tuscan hillsides. Although many of the stories take place in Florence, there are also many others that taken place in various small towns and further cities. You can find the Decameron as well as history and commentary at the Decameron Web).
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Born in Nuoro on the island of Sardinia, Grazia Deledda was the second woman and second Italian to be awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Her stories frequently address the lives and customs of the Sardinian people, through love affairs, religious conflicts, and suffering. Reeds in the Wind recounts the story of three sisters from the noble Pintor family, who try desperately to hold onto their family home despite financial decline. The arrival of the son of the deceased fourth Pintor sister opening up a log-hidden family secret. In Deledda’s Sardinia fairies and sprites coexist with religious traditions, and the very land itself seems to speak through storms, streams, and forests.
Reading Deledda is to take a pilgrimage to Sardinia, to listen to the earth speak, “the laughter and tears of the world.” Take a virtual tour of Sardinia’s amazing beaches, just because, then visit Deledda’s birthplace in Nuoro, now a museum. Just over a half hour’s drive east from Nuoro, the town of Galtellì, which today celebrates itself as the setting for Reeds in the Wind, offers a literary park that traces various landmarks corresponding to places in Deledda’s book. And perhaps, if you time it right, you may even encounter some of the ghosts and spirits that wander through the surrounding lands. |
Grazie Deledda, Canne nel Vento/Reeds in the Wind -
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Dante Alighieri, Divina Commedia/The Divine Comedy
Florence, Tuscany
Dante’s most famous work, the Divine Comedy, traces the salvific journey of the character Dante, led by the love of his life, the saintly Beatrice, through Hell, Purgatory, and finally Paradise. Referring to himself as “a Florentine by birth, not by character,” Dante wrote the poem while in permanent exile from the city, and while Florence certainly receives the greatest attention in his poem, Dante also includes stories and places from around the peninsula, encountered, perhaps, during his travels. You can find more on Dante at the Princeton Dante Project,Columbia's Digital Dante, and UT Austin’s DanteWorlds.
And in Italy, you can trace a route from Dante’s birthplace to his tomb, with many sites in between. Begin at the Casa di Dante in Florence (a reconstruction built near the site of his birth), then walk down the street to Dante’s family church, Santa Margherita de’ Cerchi. There you will find a small shrine dedicated to Beatrice where the lovelorn leave notes and requests for aid, much as they do at Juliet’s balcony in Verona. Finally, head over to the Franciscan church of Santa Croce, final resting place of some of the most famous Italians (Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo to name just a few), and look for Dante’s statue outside and his tomb inside. The tomb stands empty, however, as Dante was actually buried in Ravenna, where he lived during the last few years of his life, and the city is determined to hold onto his remains. You can even take the “Cammino di Dante,” a 400km hiking trail that goes from Ravenna to Florence and back again, with suggested stops in several small towns either mentioned in the Comedy, or else visited by the poet himself.
And in Italy, you can trace a route from Dante’s birthplace to his tomb, with many sites in between. Begin at the Casa di Dante in Florence (a reconstruction built near the site of his birth), then walk down the street to Dante’s family church, Santa Margherita de’ Cerchi. There you will find a small shrine dedicated to Beatrice where the lovelorn leave notes and requests for aid, much as they do at Juliet’s balcony in Verona. Finally, head over to the Franciscan church of Santa Croce, final resting place of some of the most famous Italians (Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo to name just a few), and look for Dante’s statue outside and his tomb inside. The tomb stands empty, however, as Dante was actually buried in Ravenna, where he lived during the last few years of his life, and the city is determined to hold onto his remains. You can even take the “Cammino di Dante,” a 400km hiking trail that goes from Ravenna to Florence and back again, with suggested stops in several small towns either mentioned in the Comedy, or else visited by the poet himself.
Francesco Petarca (Petrarch), Il Canonzoniere/Rime Sparse
Arezzo, Tuscany and Arquà Petrarca, Veneto
Referred to sometimes as the father of humanism and the Renaissance, Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch in English) is best known for his lyric poetry, which established a model in Europe for centuries. Petrarch was born in the city of Arezzo, about an hour southeast of Florence, where his father had fled after, like Dante, he was exiled from the city of Florence. Petrarch was a prolific traveler, and spent much of his adult life in many of the major courts in both Italy and France. This may have contributed to his vision of Italy as a cohesive political entity, rather than a fragmented collection of warring factions, as it had been for centuries. A renowned scholar and advocated for a study of the classics, Petrarch is best known for his book of poems, the Canzoniere, or Rime Sparse (Scattered Rhymes), a collection of 366 poems, most of which are love poems dedicated to Laura, his beloved (digitized manuscript can be found here)
Petrarch spent the latter part of his life in a small town called Arquà (now called Arquà Petrarca in the poet’s honor), about a half-hour southwest of the city of Padua. Literary tourism to Arquà Petrarca has existed for centuries, one of the earliest examples of a museum dedicated to a writer. Here you can visit Petrarch’s final home and his tomb. Unlike Dante’s tomb in Florence, the tomb in Arquà does indeed hold his body, however when it was exhumed in 2003 in anticipation of the celebration of the 700th anniversary of the poet’s birth, it was discovered that skull contained inside was not Petrarch’s at all, but that of an unknown woman. Presumably at some point in history Petrarch’s skull, along with several other bone fragments, was stolen, probably to be sold. The museum also includes the mummified remains of a cat, reputed to be Petrarch’s favorite pet, with a Latin inscription that proclaims: “The Etruscan poet burned with twin loves, I am the greater fire, Laura was the second.” Although there is no evidence the cat belonged to Petrarch at all, it makes a fun diversion, and has led tourists to this spot since the 16th century.
Petrarch spent the latter part of his life in a small town called Arquà (now called Arquà Petrarca in the poet’s honor), about a half-hour southwest of the city of Padua. Literary tourism to Arquà Petrarca has existed for centuries, one of the earliest examples of a museum dedicated to a writer. Here you can visit Petrarch’s final home and his tomb. Unlike Dante’s tomb in Florence, the tomb in Arquà does indeed hold his body, however when it was exhumed in 2003 in anticipation of the celebration of the 700th anniversary of the poet’s birth, it was discovered that skull contained inside was not Petrarch’s at all, but that of an unknown woman. Presumably at some point in history Petrarch’s skull, along with several other bone fragments, was stolen, probably to be sold. The museum also includes the mummified remains of a cat, reputed to be Petrarch’s favorite pet, with a Latin inscription that proclaims: “The Etruscan poet burned with twin loves, I am the greater fire, Laura was the second.” Although there is no evidence the cat belonged to Petrarch at all, it makes a fun diversion, and has led tourists to this spot since the 16th century.
