If your name is MARCO.....

...then today is your day!  April 25 is St. Mark's Day, the date of the death of St. Mark, the patron saint of Venice. So yes, this is quite a day for Venetians. And, if your name is Marco, or Mark, it is also your name day.  That makes it about as big a day as your birthday.

Just when you think there is enough to celebrate today, the Italians throw in Liberation Day, commemorating the fall of Mussolini's Social Republic and the end of Nazi occupation of Italy in 1945. This makes the day an Italian national holiday, and a bank holiday. Yes, everyone has the day off.

But wait.. for Venetians, we're not done yet. April 25 is also Festa del Bocolo, or the Festival of the Red Rose. It is tradition for men to give a single long-stemmed rose blossom to the women he loves- mom, grandmother, sister, aunt, wife, girl friend, lover.  Legend has it that way back in the 8th century, a man of  low social status fell in love with a girl from the opposite side of the tracks- a noblewoman. In order to impress the girl's father in the hopes that he would allow them to marry, the young man went off to war. During battle he was wounded. As he was dying, he picked a rose bud from a bush, and asked one of his comrades to carry the bloodstained flower back home to his beloved. This is just one version of the story of this holiday, however it works for me, so that's the one I chose to share today.  And so , all over Venice on this day, men make a bee-line to a florist or street vendor selling roses.

Here's my red rose.

We opted to stay away from all the festivities going on in St. Mark's square and around Venice today. Instead, we hopped on a vaporetto with the intention of going a bit farther out in search of a nice fresh fish lunch.  Moeche, tiny soft shelled crabs of the Venetian lagoon who make their appearance in spring were the daily special, we could not pass them up. 

Springtime in Venice

Seems like we've had very little spring this year. March was almost all rain. So was the beginnning of April. Late last week we saw a few days of sunshine- about time, for sure. And this week, we're back into rain. But--- that little bit of sun brought out one of my favorite things here in Venice.

Buona Pasqua!

Happy Easter and Buona Pasqua!

Of all the things I've had to get accustomed to living here on the other side of the Atlantic ocean, learning about new traditions and how the locals celebrate holidays is one of my favorites.  I have learned that  somewhere around 2 -3 weeks before Easter I must make a stop at Drogheria Moscari near the Rialto Bridge (on the San Polo side) to check out their huge chocolate egg. Once I see their window display of chocolate eggs, chocolate bunnies and their one enormous chocolate egg covered with elaborate decorations, I know Easter is just around the corner. It's probably my favorite thing about this holiday.

Another Easter time favorite of mine is seeing all of the grocery stores and bakeries display the "Colombo" , a cake like dessert in the shape of a bird, in their windows.  This tastes a lot like the Christmas time Panetone, it has candied citrus baked in it, and almonds on the top, and has a consistency that is a cross between a bread and a cake.  Even though I see it in shop windows for most of the month preceeding Easter Sunday, I wait until a day or two prior to the holiday before I buy mine. The anticipation makes it so much more enjoyable. It isn't Easter without at least one Colombo!

Coloring hard boiled eggs is not a tradition here. In fact, I scouted all over this side of Venice the other day in search of white eggs. No luck. All I could find were brown eggs. I don't think those would be very good to color. I'm thinking Italian children might really like doing this. Did not find any Paas boxes of dye for eggs either.

Easter baskets are not common here either. Instead, children receive one fairly large chocolate egg about a foot tall that is already packaged and wrapped in fancy paper by some chocolate maker. Inside the egg is some little toy for the child.

And the Easter egg hunt doesn't exist here either. I mentioned it to a friend of mine the other day, and she told me she had only ever seen it in a movie. Sant'Elena has a lovely grassy park right in front of our apartment which might just become the site of a big American style Easter egg hunt next year. I'm already plotting!!!  

Papa Francesco!

By now the world saw white smoke coming from the smoke stacks at the Sistine Chapel, and we've seen the appearance of the new pope at the balcony in St. Peter's square.

                                            
Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina has been elected the 267th pope and has chosen the name Francesco.

I suspect all Venetians were on the edge of their seats hoping and praying Cardinal Angelo Scola would be the new pope.  He had been the Patriarch of Venice for many years, and was quite loved by the people of the Veneto. Three other popes have come from Venice-  Pope Pius X, Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul I.  Having Cardinal Scola as one of the front runners of the papabile (those who are pope-able) made all of us sit up and take a little bit more notice.  When the bells around Venice started ringing tonight, we all held our breath. It wasn't meant to be.

So that's the not so good news. The good news is we do have a new pope, the waiting is over.

An hour after the bells rang for the new pope, the high water sirens rang out for Venetians. A little Aqua Alta due to arrive around 11:30 pm tonight. Only 110 cm, nothing to worry about, there won't be tourists swimming in St. Mark's tonight.

News from the Conclave Day 1

Black smoke from the 1st vote - no new pope tonight.

The results of the first vote by the Cardinals holed up in the Sistine Chapel are in. They could not come to a majority agreement. I figured as much. I think getting a majority vote, 77  out of the 115 total cardinals voting, is going to be a difficult task.

Tomorrow morning the next two votes are scheduled. Stay tuned for my next smoke report. 

Buona Festa della Donna!

If you anywhere in Italy this week, including Venice, over the past few days you would have seen street vendors and florist shops selling small bunches of the yellow mimosa for Festa della Donna.  March 8 is  International Women's Day, a day which commemorates the 129 women who died in a factory fire in Chicago in 1908.   The day also commemorates a strike by women garment workers on March 8,  1857 in New York which prompted the first women's union.  The mimosa is given as a sign of solidarity and respect for women.

When I first came to Italy I remembered being very curious about all the mimosas, as I had never seen this in the US. I don't remember ever knowing about this special day. I know about Mother's day, but had not ever been introduced to International Day of Women, and I'd worked all my life too.
But here in Italy, it's a huge deal.  That I had never heard of this day bothered me enough to start doing a little research, and discovered that while the day has been celebrated around the world for over 100 years it has not yet gained that kind of attention in the US.

Seems like this is the perfect opportunity for another Hallmark occasion.  I'm going to need all of you in the US to chime in on whether this has become a bigger event in the US since I've been here. Are all  you ladies getting bunches of mimosas today?  We are in Venice.

Buona Festa della Donna to all of you, wherever you are in the world. I'm sending virtual mimoas.

Making heads or tails of the Italian election

And the winner is......

No, it wasn't Oscar night here in Italy. Even though I waited up until 1am, there was no announcement of who the winner was. Turns out, there is no winner. This is mind boggling to someone like me whose experiences with elections comes from the American two party system.

I sat glued to the TV all night, listening carefully to all of the political analysis and waiting along with the rest of Italy as the election results came in from all regions.  I struggled a little bit attempting to understand the sometimes complex Italian language, however what was more complex was trying to make comprehend the electoral rules of this country. With one ear tuned to the TV for updates, I searched the internet for information that would help me get a better handle on how the Italian parliamentary system works and what the election results all meant.

As I wrote in my last post - it's complex. On Monday night, the final reported results were Bersani's coalition had won the Chamber of Delegates by a very thin margin, trailed very closely by Berlusconi's coalition, and then Beppe Grillo's 5 Star Movement. Monte was way back in the pack with about 10%.
Mr. Berlusconi, miraculously, won the Senate by a small margin over Bersani, and again Beppe Grillo's party had a very strong showing. Since both sides of Parliament were not won by the same party/coalition, no one clear winner of Prime Minister is the end result.

The newspaper headlines Tuesday morning included " Miracolo Berlusconi", "Terremoto Grillo", and "Ingovernabili".  Love the word ingovernabili. Ungovernable. I love how it swirls around on my tongue when I pronounce it. It became my new vocabulary word of the week. Berlusconi surfacing again, and with such big number results, is - and there is no other word for it- miraculous.  I am convinced that the only reason he got votes was because his campaign promise was to repeal the new property tax and refund payments. He even did a late in the game mass mailing to Italians to make sure they knew his proposal right before going to the polls. At a time when Italy is facing an economic crisis ( you hear crisi every where you turn nowadays), Berlusconi's promise probably sounded pretty darned good. Good enough to forget all of Berlusconi's other faults long enough to get through checking off the X on the ballot.

So what happens now?  There will be some period of time where the Bersani, Berlusconi and Grillo, perhaps with Monte thrown into the mix, will jockey about trying to work some partnership in hopes of some government of some kind formed. Most likely, if this does come to pass, whatever government is formed will fall on it's face in short order. And that will mean Italians go back to the election booths for another round.

Until further notice, all of Italy is scratching their heads.

The Italian Election

In all of the larger campos in Venice you will find these metal placards holding political campaign posters. Ugly buggers, but at least it keeps the posters off of buildings and trees. They won't be eyesores for very long, as shortly after the election workers will begin deconstructing them. Packing them away until the next election.

Today and tomorrow all over the country, Italians will be voting in the 2013 parliamentary election, where not only senate and delegates will be elected, but also a new Prime Minister.  The former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigned in 2011. Mario Monti took over the role as an interim government.

Italian politics are complicated. Candidates don't run, a party or coalition runs. The entire parliament is voted on at the same time, both Chamber of Delegates and the Senate. Whichever coalition gets the most popular vote nationwide receives 54% of the seats in the Chamber. The second highest coalition regionally gets 55% of the seats in the Senate for that region. things get trickier after this, there is no way I can give an adequate explanation of the process, I don't fully understand it myself.

To make things even more complex, there are over 20 different coalitions and parties participating in this election. Only three coalitions are the main competition, with a few other smaller parties also in the mix. Who are the contenders?

In order of the recnet poles, the three top contenders are :

Pier Luigi Bersani, head of the Democratic Party (PD)

Silvio Berlusconi, head of the People of Freedom

Mario Monti, head of Scelta Civica (Civic Choice)

 Beppe Grillo, head of the 5 Star Movement

 It's just too hard to believe that Berlusconi is running again, and even harder to comprehend that he is running very closely behind Bersani. So closely that Berlusconi could actually become Prime Minister for a fourth term. Yes, even after all of his scandals and legal entanglements.  His campaign promises of repealing  the property tax law that was enacted under Monti and refunding those taxes paid in 2012 is a very popular topic with Italians. This could possibly get him the votes.

It seems Bersani's only claim to fame is that he has been in politics forever. Hmm. The lesser of 4 evils??

Monti has done an adequate job of handling his interim post. But is that enough?

And, if there could possibly be anything even more comical than that, there actually is. Beppe Grillo, a comedian, has been running very high in the current polls, and could potentially be the winner.

It's anybody's guess what the outcome will be. We'll know that tomorrow night.  It's an important vote for Italy. Let's just hope we get it right.

More controversy on the Calatrava bridge

The Calatrava bridge is making headlines once more in Venice. This time it's the delay in the scheduled inauguration on Saturday of the "Ovovia"  (translation=gondola)  which has been installed on the side of the bridge to transport handicapped people from one side to the other. The problem is the ovovia has not yet passed all of  it's functional  tests. What's absolutely laughable about this is this Pod-like thing has been in the works for around 2 years already, and is estimated to be around 80 percent over budget, according to local papers.


                                               


This bridge, also known as the Ponte della Costituzione (Constitution Bridge) opened to the public on September 11, 2008 amidst massive controversy. Firstly, the bridge was not constructed for handicap accessibility. Secondly, many felt this bridge was not necessary as it is so closely located to the existing Ponte degli Scalzi. Thirdly, the bridge's very contemporary design is not in keeping with any of Venice's architecture. All three of these issues get my dander up.

I would love to know what these bridge designers were thinking when they came up with this pod as a solution for handling wheelchairs. The pod hangs over the side of the bridge. What handicapped person in their right mind would get into this contraption for a ride hanging over the Grand Canal???? It's  more like an amusement park ride. Seriously. Who is going to get in it?  And then there is the question of whether the pod will be accessible 24/7.  Do they have to hire Pod operators who are specially trained to run the thing?  Seems to me they could have hired a whole staff of porters to push anyone in a wheelchair across the bridge for a whole lot less than constructing this non-functional pod.

Not withstanding this new pod thing and the issues surrounding it's viability and costs, the bridge has other issues. In cold weather, ice forms on the steps which make it hazardous and barely passable.  On normal days, the steps themselves are dangerous because of the abnormal height and length of the each one. It's impossible to walk over the bridge using a normal gait, thus if you aren't extremely careful you will trip and fall down.  And, this one is the best in my opinion, the steps that are made of glass are broken frequently.  Why have glass steps when you have to cover them up with temporary metal sheets ?  I wonder how much each glass step costs to replace?

My "quasi" Venetian-ness rears it's ugly head whenever I think about this bridge.  Venice has many other critical issues to deal with, probably most important is the problem of rapidly declining population.

Post Carnevale- Snow!

Last week, at the very tail end of the Carnevale season, the weather forecasts were so dire it was all we could think about. All the costumes and masks were forgotten. Snow and exceptional aqua alta were on the way.  And we did get it. In my little corner of the world the snow stayed on the ground for 3 days- almost unheard of for Venice. Very fortunately for everyone, the predicted 160 cm of water only turned out to be 143 cm, thanks to a sudden shifting of the winds. Who are we kidding! 143 cm of water is high enough. I can't even imagine what 160 cm would have been like.

Snow in Sant'Elena

The forecast for the next 2 days is more snow. Based on how cold yesterday and today have been, I believe we will definitely get it.  We'll  have to wait and see just how much actually comes down.  I'll be at my position at the window waiting and watching.