My favorite European country is Italy. You would think it would be either England or Germany since that is where all my ancestors are from, but it’s not.
I fell in love with Roman history in grade school. I’ve always love Italian food. So naturally, I wanted to visit Italy.
I’ve vacationed in Italy twice. If not for my accident, I would have visited Italy even more times. There is just so much history and beauty. Venice, Florence and Rome.
I’ve walked through Pompeii. I’ve seen the Amalfi coast. But my favorite is Rome. So much to see. Roman ruins like the Flavian Amphitheater (called the Colosseum because at one time there was a giant statue of Nero front of it) and the Baths of Caracella.
Then there is the Pantheon whose dome is the model for the domes of St. Peter’s, St. Paul’s, and our own Capitol.
You can walk down a street in Rome and walk inside a church and be amazed at the beauty.
I visited one church where they have excavated down many levels to an ancient street and a shrine to Mithras.
I’ve seen the sculptures of Moses and the Pieta by Michelangelo in Rome and the David in Florence.
And the food! I remember the first time I visited Italy many of my friends told me I wouldn’t like the food because it was different than the Italian food in America. Yep! It’s better!
So I really feel for the Italians and what they are going through with the Kung Flu. It’s hitting them hard. Sad to say, they have themselves to blame. They have idiots like the mayor of Florence who came out with the hug a Chinese person campaign. Must not be xenophobic even if it kills us. What a maroon! The only people dumber than this dude are the people who elected him.
The Italian gummint has failed its citizens big time. They imported a shit load of Chines and then when the virus hit China they didn’t stop travel to and from China. Once again, must not be xenophobic.
As we are now seeing, globalism is stupid and so is political correctness.
And look at all of the idiots in this country bashing Trump for not doing enough. These are the same people who claimed he was xenophobic for stopping travel to and from China.
Because of people like this we are doomed.
Italy is paying the price for its stupidity. Will we?
En-joyed my time in Italia. Went there twice on Med cruises in ’78 and ’79. Saw a lotta stuff, including the Pantheon, the Colloseum, La Scala, Etna spewing lava (Sicily, of course), and a very guarded tour (with Carabinieri) of Ercolano (before the revealing excavations were completed).
Saw John Cleese making some kind of commercial or PSA or something in Rome on a rainy afternoon. He was havin a REALLY bad day, cursing and snarking at everybody in earshot.
Also ran into Eric Idle in Palma in a bar one Sunday afternoon. Very interesting and stimulating time. Long story I won’t bother you with.
Collosseum was NASTY — fulla feral cats and a lotta putani hangin around.
Disappointed that I never got to see Greece. Wanted to just walk around the Acropolis (Athens) and see all the stuff associated with it that I’d read about in Toynbee and Lamb et al.
Would kinda like to have stood in the shadows of the rockpiles at Giza, but I’ve seen so much footage of those things that I don’t feel cheated.
Oh, yeah . . . played golf in an ancient caldera near Naples. Not much of a course, but a nice conversation topic for guys who’ve never been there.
Wish the Navy would have sent me to the Med but I got to go to Viet Nam instead. Multiple times. Made it to Greece on my own. Walked to the top of the Acropolis. Went on a bus tour and hit Mycenae, Olympia, and Delphi. Also got to Turkey and visited Troy. Was able to say that I stood on the heights of Mycenae and at the gates of Troy. Got to Egypt and stood in front of the Great Pyramid. Saw the Temple of Karnak in Luxor. I wish I could have made it to Jerusalem before my accident.
John Pinette did a hilarious bit about the divinity of Italian food. He was doing some work in southern France for a few weeks and was getting sick of French food and said he wanted Italian, and somebody remarked that Italy was only 45 minutes away, and he did a double-take and yelled, “Why didn’t anybody tell me!”
Italy is beautiful. I visited over Christmas in 1999 or 2000. Can’t remember now. Staying at San Gimignano was my highlight, although Rome was a close second.
The food is out of this world.
This may be worse than hug a China man..
NYC HEALTH COMMISIONER TOUTS GOING TO NY CHINATOWN CELEBRATION AFTER TRUMP CANCELLED TRAVEL WITH CHINA…AND THE REST IS HISTORY
https://www.timeout.com/newyork/news/coronavirus-prompts-cancellation-of-lunar-new-year-celebration-in-queens-012920
Someone had to step in to override her…and she still has the job..
As of Wednesday, Chinatown’s Lunar New Year Parade was still on for February 9 and the China Institute’s Family Festival was still on for this Sunday.
Barbot advised people to pay no mind to “misinformation” on social media, like that Chinatown should be avoided and that the virus could be contracted from a person not exhibiting symptoms.
“There is no reason to avoid subways or restaurants or to change your daily routine,” Barbot said.
NYC health Commisioner Twitter account..go back in time to beginning of February
https://twitter.com/NYCHealthCommr
A friend sent an email to her friends in Italy asking why Italy was getting hit so hard with the virus. Here’s their reply:
“Many Italians in Northern Italy sold their leather goods and textiles companies to China. Italy then allowed 100,000 Chinese from Wuhan/Wenzhou to move to Italy to work in these factories, with direct Wuhan flights.
Result: Northern Italy is Europe’s hotspot for Wuhan Coronavirus.”
I agree, Denny. Italy is a wonderful place and over the last 40 years have been there a number of times. Although, if you saw missing toilet seat or a light out in a public place you knew that they had probably been gone for quite a while with little chance of replacement in the near future. The trains don’t run on time and are not always on the displayed track for boarding which can be a bit confusing but I always found the people to be quite agreeable and kind to tourists…maybe too kind and trusting to the Chinese. BTW, Iran and NK have to be getting hammered since you hear nary a peep out of them.
The trains I took did run on time, Rome to Venice and back. What amazed me was when we got back to Rome the Italians politely queued up for taxis.
I travelled through Italy 3 times while stationed in Europe with the Air Force.
Loved Italy … Rome, Naples, Florence, Venice, Adriatic coast … it was like walking through a history book that you studied in school.
And the food … awesome! Local Italian wines, and salamis and pasta dishes. Great!
Diversity. It’s a dirty word and we’re now paying the price for “forcing” different culture to live together thinking it’s the “woke” thing to do. Just North of you Denny in the mountains. We’ve had a lot of “visitors” from urban Atlanta up here this way. You can tell by their ethnicity and the tags on their cars. I’ve been on a vendetta to be sure they know we (I have some support from local citizens) do not want them here during these times. Keep you virus in the urban cesspool that is the city. Folks wanna live like an insect in a hive, that’s their choice. But when they start paying the price (rampant spread of infectious diseases) don’t be bringing that shit out here to the country. We automatically “self quarantine” by just the way we live. Don’t need city slickers coming up here to mess that up for us.
We lived in Italy nine years when my husband was stationed with the Air Force; our son was born there. We were not “barracks rats”, we got out and saw as much of Italy as possible and I’m so glad we did. Out Italian neighbors were so gracious and the food was terrific.
Favorite region was Toscana – name a city there and we probably hit it. My parents came over several times and we visited the family “home town” of Anzano di Puglia – I was never so proud of my forebears for having left such grinding poverty when they emigrated to America.
I’m proud to say I’m an American through and through but I’m thrilled to say my DNA comes from Italy.
Denny……… When I worked for American Sterilizer “Once the worlds largest manufacturer of hospital Sterilizers Beds ,Operating tables & Lights ” I traveled a great deal to select machinery & systems for manufacturing.
Italy was one country I was scheduled to visit to conduct a run off for a Co-ordinate measuring system for our quality control department,set up training for our operation staff & maintenance department……….However a new MBA no nothing dude decided the run off was not necessary so the trip was canceled, with the understanding the run off could be conducted in house to save money. As you probably guessed the crap hit the fan!
It took 8 months to bring the system up to speed & cost $100,000 over budget to make the system operational . Even frustrared one of the contracted service engineers so much he had a heart attack & had to be rushed to the hospital.
Apparently my 20 years experience did not mean much to Mr MBA which stands for ” Might Be Able “.
Fortunatey the service engineer survived & I received a thank you from his family …..The MBA however was released “fired” to seek other opportunities.
I really would have enjoyed visiting Italy.