Tag: Photo guide

Celebrating the Italian Summer at the Seaside in Cesenatico

Italians find themselves at the sea nearly every summer weekend, whether they smartly rent or own a whole beach house, or just a few feet of sand under an umbrella.  Having lived in Bologna for years and living as any honorable Italian would do, I joined in the weekend beach-side adventures, fleeing as far as Ancona, but mostly sticking directly East of Bologna in Rimini, Riccione and Ravenna.  But mostly Rimini, because it was familiar.  As soon as the fan came down off the top shelf of my closet and propped up by my bed, the early Saturday morning train rides to Rimini commenced. So it was fitting that I spent my last weekend in Italy before my big return to the United States relaxing at the Italian seaside lifestyle that had defined my summers there.  But this time I didn’t have to wake up early and take the train.  Instead, my boyfriend at the time preferred to drive.  And he was a different sort of character.  He didn’t do things the same way everyone else did.  Instead, he suggested we go to the tiny town of Cesenatico.  I didn’t have the slightest idea what to expect, but as always, I was up for the adventure.

The canal leading to the sea in Cesenatico, Italy
The canal leading to the sea in Cesenatico, Italy

The non-eventful drive and the parking process played out like all of my other beach adventures.  The drive east toward the Adriatic Sea is flat with huge green fields broken up by an occasional ancient structure.  As you approach the sea, there are lots of trees shading the streets and houses.  I was unsuspecting as we parked in an ugly supermarket parking lot until we emerged onto the main walkway of the village.  Stretching before me was a long canal that ran to the sea, flanked by colorful buildings and sporting a long line of cleverly named boats.  But these weren’t recreational boats, they were fishing boats.  And the canal, apparently, is famous because it was once surveyed by Leonardo da Vinci.  Only in Italy.

Fishing boats in Cesenatico, Italy
Fishing boats in Cesenatico, Italy

I was surprised by my surroundings.  “Where are we again?” I asked him.  I’m bad with proper nouns. “Cesenatico,” he replied. “But this place is so cool – why doesn’t everyone come here?” “I don’t know,” he said. “But that’s why I like it.  Not everyone comes here.”

 A boy playing on the beach in Cesenatico, Italy
A boy playing on the beach in Cesenatico, Italy

He was right.  There were definitely other Italian tourists, but they were mostly families.  Instead of walking into a tourist trap, it felt instead like we were stepping into the seaside life of these lucky Italians that call Cesenatico home.

A girl taking a stroll along the beach on her own in Cesenatico, Italy
A girl taking a stroll along the beach on her own in Cesenatico, Italy

We walked down the crowded main stretch along the canal, toward the sea.  I almost felt like a voyeur, watching all the families and the family dogs enjoying their Saturday.  There was even a funky shaped boat that cost one euro that would take you to the other side of the canal if you so desired.

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We drifted until we couldn’t walk anymore, to the point at the end of the boardwalk.  Fishermen and teens and couples like us trickled around, but nothing overwhelming.  Near the boardwalk was a sprawling restaurant with whitewashed walls and tables.  We were led to a table in the sand.  A family with a toddler playing in the sand sat at the next table.  We sat a bit with our drinks, the sight and sounds of the sea releasing our stress, much of which stemmed from my impending departure.   “It seems impossible to believe that in a week you will be in New York.  From Cesenatico to New York – I can’t imagine a bigger change,” said my traveling companion.  I sat and munched my olive and took a sip of prosecco.  He was right.  At that moment, New York was absolutely worlds away from Cesenatico.

The scene of a small town that looks after itself in Cesenatico, Italy
The scene of a small town that looks after itself in Cesenatico, Italy

We eventually found ourselves making our way back up the canal.  A pair of sunglasses caught his eye, and as he tried them on I wandered a few steps and discovered a little fair on a tiny side street, so characteristic of Italy.  Everywhere I turned this little street was dripping with charm – a candy-cane striped awning and a retro bike, a gelato shop that tempted my traveling companion, and knitted jellyfish hanging from a string tied to streetlights.

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I followed the jellyfish hanging from the sky, one by one, to a small, quiet piazza, full of families and a few curious adults, officially stepping over any remaining line between tourist and resident.  To my delight, there were nautical-inspired knittings livening up the ancient stone fountain, church, and doorways of the building facing the piazza, to match the hanging jellyfish.

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Children played under trees decorated with diamonds and more jellyfish.

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With a bit of internet research, I realized I had stumbled upon Cesenatico’s Urban Knitting Group “Il Mare in Conserva,” an installation art exhibit in the Piazzetta delle Conserve.

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I was utterly charmed to so unexpectedly wander into this peaceful, simple world.  I participated as an outsider, snapping photos of the happy children and cats, until realizing my travel companion had probably finished his gelato by now.

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I reluctantly followed the jellyfish back, and found him happy as a clam (no pun intended), taking advantage of his phone’s data plan as the celebrations went on around him.

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We made our way back to the car slowly, our departure marking a transition into a much more complicated world, void of knitted jellyfish and children playing jump-rope on the street.  It had not been just another beach adventure.  It was the end of an era of a naive American girl marveling in the oddities and delights of a beach life so different from my Southern California home.  And the beginning of a mysterious something else.

Kite flying at midnight, Notte Bianca, and how I fell in love with Bologna again

The infatuation for Italy that I arrived here with has been substituted with a real, sincere love based on a foundation of its awesomeness: the tangible, ever-present appreciation for enjoying the best things in life – food, people, traveling, and culture.  Bologna’s annual Notte Bianca, a.k.a. Art City White Night, is a great example of this.

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Similar events in the US (on a smaller scale) include Ray at Night in San Diego and the monthly Pittsburgh gallery crawl, but due to the infrequency of Art City White Night and the given respect for its sister event, Arte Fiera, Notte Bianca is truly an opportunity to see the beautiful nooks and crannies of Bologna’s heritage that are rarely open to the public. Really, it is kind of tourist’s dream.

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My first year in Bologna, Art City White Night was struck by bitter cold and it was all I could do to make it out of the house. Subsequent years I have made the fatal mistake of taking Art City White Night as an opportunity to eat and drink in good company. But I was overwhelmingly mistaken, because bars and restaurants are open every night, and during Art City White Night, they are an overcrowded nightmare.

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So, third time’s a charm. This year, my final year, I happened to be on photo assignment for a local contemporary art magazine, Droste Effect Magazine, and I was determined to visit as many participating locations as possible. Alone, and lugging a lot of equipment, I was not anticipating a great evening. But, as what you expect always seems to end up completely opposite, the evening was absolutely marvelous. I was continually floored by what I discovered…a constant grab bag of delights and possibly my best night ever in Bologna. I am no expert on visual art. But I love these events because you don’t have to know anything about art.  The city was bursting with people discovering their city and having fun.  Not bad.

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And, I tell ya, I will not soon forget the beauty I witnessed on Saturday. I stumbled into places I’ve been countless times, like the historic grocery market, that I will never see the same way after following the beautiful sound of an accordion only to discover a man passionately playing amongst the quiet stalls of vegetable merchants.

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Or the main piazza, Piazza Maggiore, which I walked through on my way to another gallery, only to find myself surrounded by people flying kites at midnight.  I was dumfounded for a moment…kites?  Midnight?  Winter? Only in Italy… 🙂  It will be forever burned into my memory.

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But really, the opportunity to go behind closed doors was the most memorable, from a famously transformed historical church boasting a contemporary art installation on the altar, which was an amazing juxtaposition of contemporary and historical art,

Flavio Favelli at Oratorio San Filippo Neri, Bologna

to skipping an art exhibit in favor of just enjoying the staircase leading to the show, which was hidden within city’s administration buildings. This is the most dramatic staircase I have ever encountered, and unfortunately, my photo doesn’t do it justice.

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Another highlight was being invited into the city’s more exclusive locations, like The Grand Hotel Majestic, where the likes of Elton John and Princess Diana have stayed while visiting Bologna,

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and marveling at the frescos on the ceilings of the beautiful buildings in the city center.

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I am trying to compare this evening to a similar evening in my life, but I really can’t think of anything that can compare.  I felt like Alice in Wonderland, wandering through Bologna with no idea what marvel or magical character I would find next. And in the end, a powerful reminder of what a gift it has been to live in this beautiful place.

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A Night in Venice

A few weeks ago I was on a commuter train headed to Venice on a cold, quiet Saturday evening in Italy.  Despite the rain and my exhaustion from a long week of teaching English and a late night the night before in Bologna, I decided to follow through with my plan to catch the last day of the Venice Biennale exhibition that weekend.
My English student appeared on the train from out of nowhere, jumping on seconds before the departure.  He’s a captain with the Italian military police and was on his way home from work to his hometown of Ferrara, a short train ride from Bologna.


He sat down next to me.  “Teacher! Where are you going?”


Caught in the middle of a daydream, I had to think a moment about my answer.  “To Venice!”


He gives me a knowing look.  “Alone?  And looking so tired?”


These were legitimate questions.  But I had a good answer.  “I love to travel alone.  I always make new friends.”


He thought a moment about my answer.  “It could be.”


“But,” I continued, “tonight is going to be a quiet night at my hotel.  I am exhausted.”

Famous. Last. Words.


I was finally in my room two and a half hours later, after a long and beautiful – albeit wet – stroll to Venice’s Dorsoduro district to my hotel near the Peggy Guggenheim museum.  Too tired to put effort into my outfit, I stuck with my jeans (normally an absolute no-no for me on a Saturday night), grabbed my iPad, and set out immediately to begin the daunting task of finding a not-too-touristy restaurant for dinner.

Long ago a student friend of mine took me to a piazza in the Accademia area of Venice that was full of bars and restaurants.  Pretty far from Piazza San Marco, I thought this was a good bet for finding a less touristy restaurant.  Problem was, I had no idea how to get there.  And direction is not so easy in Venice.  Details!  No biggie.  I burst out of my hotel and walked in the general direction of the Accademia area.


After some helpful signs and some strategic following of the crowds around Venice’s infamous small and windy streets, I found the piazza.  Campo Santa Margherita it was called.  I was proud of myself for getting myself there.  It was buzzing with people having drinks and aperitivo and preparing for the Saturday night festivities.  Perfect.  I had an excellent 4 euro glass of wine and examined the Google map of the area on my iPad.  This is my shortcut for finding a decent restaurant on-the-go: I check out the restaurants that are actually on the Google map because they are usually good.


Google showed me three options around the Campo Santa Margherita area.  En route to the first Google option, a restaurant called Osteria alla Bifora caught my eye.  The windows were steamy, and it was packed.  The atmosphere was great…not too elegant, not too straightforward.  The menu was short and specialized.  Good.  But, no vegetarian option.  I sighed and kept walking to the Google recommendation around the corner.  A no-go: boring menu.  The next restaurant was also a no-go: bad ambiance.  I found myself walking in circles…what should I do?  I was tired, and it was getting late.


I decided to trust my gut.  I went back to the steamy restaurant with no vegetarian options.  But as soon as I walked in, my heart sank.  The seating was communal.  There was no place for a single traveler.


But, I was hungry.  I flagged down the hostess and explained my predicament in Italian. “I have two issues:  I’m a vegetarian.  And I’m alone.”  She responded, “We’ll make a vegetarian plate for you.  And…wait here.”  She approached a full table near the door and said something to a man at the table, and then returned to me. “You can sit with them.”  She pointed to the table she had just visited.  I was mortified. “No, no, that’s ok.  I just was hoping to take a chair at a table, I don’t need to join anyone.”  Her expression didn’t change.  “You can sit with them,” she repeated.  Like a deer caught in the headlights, I looked back at the table.  They were all looking at me.  The guy she had spoken to stood up and offered me his chair.  My feet carried me to the table but in my mind I was running away.
I paused for a moment at the head of the table.  I was trying to understand the situation.  Four guys and two girls.  Their girlfriends perhaps?  Are these girls going to hate me for butting in on their date night?  No time for thinking, they were waiting for me to sit down.  So I sat down.  I don’t even remember the introductions, except that they loved my name and started calling me Peggy Guggenheim.  It was all a blur.


The women were on my left.  They were Germans and also in town for the Biennale.  They didn’t know the guys either, and they didn’t speak Italian.


The guy across from me asks in Italian, “Do you like white or red?”


“Oh, whatever you are having is fine with me.”


“White?”


“Sure.  I’ll pay you back after.”


He gave me a little wave of disagreement and shouted to the waitress, “A bottle of prosecco!”


And that is when my vision of a quiet night officially came to a screeching halt.


The guys were very Northern Italian looking.  Their light complexions and elegant dress were a welcome change from Bologna, a university town full of casually dressed students from across Italy.   They told me they were from Venice.  Wow.  Awesome.


And what commenced can only be described as a feast.  We enjoyed a cross-continental multi-lingual dinner over platters of one of everything on the menu and never-ending prosecco.  And no one would touch my veggie plate, so I had it all to myself.

A platter at Osteria alla Bifora
A platter at Osteria alla Bifora.

“You’re fun!” says the German girl next to me.  “Come with us to the Biennale tomorrow!”
“But tonight, you guys are going dancing with us!” said the guy across from me.
“It depends where,” I responded.  Venice is not known for its night life.
The guy at the end of the table who had given me his chair chimed in. “It is a beautiful place.  You will love it.”
“Maybe,” I said.
Then came the after dinner drinks.  We played a bit of musical chairs, put the new Daft Punk album on my iPad, and the party was on.  Even the restaurant owner’s dog came over to join us.  The hostess was watching me from across the room.  She seemed surprised things had worked out so well.  Somehow, I wasn’t.  My gut had known it.

After dinner drinks come with a cookie.
After dinner drinks come with a cookie.

Finally, the moment arrived.  To dance, or not to dance.  Did I really have a choice?


I left this restaurant that I had entered alone just hours earlier, now accompanied by six new friends.  We walked back across the piazza, through the windy Venetian streets, across the Grand Canal, and then I lost track.  At the end of a small, dark street, a handsomely dressed man beckoned us into a beautiful, unmarked building.  I found myself in a sea of wealthy Venetians in a gorgeous room I can only liken to a lounge at the Four Seasons Hotel.  And there I was, just a normal girl from El Centro, California.  In my jeans.


But I only worried about my state of being under dressed for a few seconds before other priorities took over: having fun.  Music, dancing, new friends, mingling.  But eventually the reality of life began to dawn on me and I realized my carriage was about to turn into a pumpkin.  Problem was, my carriage didn’t know how to get home.  Details.  Again.
I remembered hearing that the guy that had given me his seat at the restaurant, Adrian, lived near my hotel.  And, as my luck that night would have it, he was incredibly crushable.  Well, let’s just be honest.  I already had a crush on him.


And then, as if he had read my mind, Adrian appeared out of nowhere.  “Peggy!!”


“You’re walking me home, right?” I responded.


“Of course!”


My new friends and I left the club together, and then as quickly as they had come into my life, they disappeared.  It was just Adrian and I crossing back over the Grand Canal.  And I can now say, with certainty, that the romance of Venice is not just a myth.  Whatever it is, whatever it was, we took the long way home.


And then, the knocking and shouting of the hotel maid asking if I needed a clean towel. The sun was up, everything was as I had left it.  No sign at all of of my beautiful night in Venice.


I got up.  I went to the Biennale.  It was amazing.  And as I was walking back to my hotel, I got a text.  It was Adrian.
So I guess it wasn’t a dream.  But I haven’t seen any of my new friends again.  I’ve had nights like these before…Dublin, Brooklyn, Denver, Rimini, Paris, Stockholm…but somehow Venice has been the most unforgettable.

The next day, a quiet Sunday in Venice.

The hardest thing about these incredible experiences and finding these wonderful people in their own environments is accepting that these experiences are unique, like a gift from the heavens.  And trying to recreate them is like playing with fate.


But that doesn’t mean a girl can’t have a little hope.


I think the next one will be sooner than later.  And if so, you’ll be the first to know…