taxi bus donkey

Arezzo is Roberto Benigni land, and although he no longer lives there he has left many relatives behind. Walking the streets can be something of a head turning experience if you happen to be a fan of the man.

My favourite roberto lookalike was a guy who ran the newsstand near the station, one of the first people i saw in Arezzo and had the whole johnny stechino look going for him. I never asked him if he was related, it was just so unnecesary, but i did take to asking him stupid questions just to get a free of charge roberto benigni type response,.. he didnt have the lines … but he had those million dollar expressions down pat.

Some of the questions I asked him included

Vorrei parchare mio dischi volare qui… va bene?
I would like to park my flying saucer here… ok?

Vorrei il giornale per domani perche io preferisco pesche fresci
I would like tomorrows newspaper because i prefer fresh fish

Ho bisogno una caramello due chilogrami pesante
I need a 2 kilo lolly.

By the end of my stay he was giving it a go and would greet me with a wink and a buongiorno principessa …

Arezzo had gradually whipped itself into a frenzy over the giostra that was to take place this saturday night. I had watched the various pageants parades and also watched as they constructed the jousting surface across the centre of Arezzo’s Piazza Maggiore. (more…)

True to form after 3 days in a town the local bums and regular faces started saying hello to me, and me in my effort to be conspicuous placed myself in one of the main town squares and happily “buona sera”d passers by.

After a while a local gent came and sat on the wall near me, didnt say hello, but sat so close to me that it would have been rude of me not to make the initial effort…. “sssseeeera” i said… dying to be taken for a local. “Sei straniero?” was his reponse,.. hmm.. guess that pretend to be a local approach lasted an entire 0.0 seconds.. but he seemed to be ok with the idea of me not being frrom these parts and so i gave him my abbreviated life story. (more…)

The next morning the sun was out, the sky was once again that science fiction uncapturable blue, i had spotted a few places for some photo opprtunities the previous evening and made my way to them before the crowds, the crowds I refer to being the crowds I would later find out don’t actually exist.I walked to the highest point of the town where the fortress walls that were once used as a convenient spot to pour burning oil on attacking hordes have now been converted to a cute little playground for the kiddies and a series of oval paths focusing on a simple piazza complete with a statue the purpose of which i couldnt quite get my head around. (more…)

With the number of anti inflammataries in my system graadually on the decline and the town of Arezzo returning me to an environment I found somewhat appealing I found my spirits once again buoyed.

I had spent some time yesterday afternoon wandering the streets, found a little place for dinner which seemed to have lots of locals in it, fumbled my way through the menu and ordered way too much but was also just as overindulgent on thecompliments i bestowed on .. the cook, the cook’s parents, the people who taught the cook how to cook, the waiter, his apron,.. his shoes, the colour of the walls … and the eggplantiness of the eggplants… yes it was one of those stick a litre of the local red in me and i wont let poor grammar get in the way of me having a good time kind of nights. (more…)

Having licked my wounds clean enough to parade before the public, and attempting to keep an open mind about Firenze really being as good as people say it is… I packed my bags, left my humble lodgings at la Giaconda and headed back to the train station to make my suave departure.

I used the 10 minute walk to Santa Maria Novella to decide on where to go, although I have had a rather organic time table for this trip, I have almost managed to plan at least a few days ahead, this was the first time I was looking to hop towns without having some klind of lodging waiting for me at the other end. No sweat, (more…)

My trip from Bologna to Firenze was reasonably uneventful, aside from the nagging heat, the only point of excitement was on platform 3 in Bologna station where … having managed to secure a patch of shade I sat and watched the other passengers arrive and fumble around like fools just like i did… when suddenly,.. he emerged from the underpass, the last of the great explorers. An American tourist who had obviously spent some time studying old tarzan movies before selecting the appropriate garments to accompany him on his no doubt adventure-packed package tour of Italy.

I don’t think kontiki stop in Bologna, mayhaps he is a scout for future expeditions. Now he wasn’t wearing a pith helmet,.. but if you were thinking along those lines you would have been rather close because i would wager Florence’s coldest beer on the fact that he had forgotten the helmet on a bus somewhere because the outfit was screaming for it. (more…)

The heatwave that has swamped this part of Italy continues unabated, it gets to about 40 on most days but the humidity and the breezelessness of it all make it hard to deal with.

I have managed to do more wandering but as the days passed this has become rather aimless. There has been some interesting indulging in the food and bevvy departments however.The highlights were, a simple gnocci gorgonzola, with walnuts, a single layer of home made gnocci coated with a thick gorgonzola sauce covering 2 thirds of a large plate with a sprinkling of parsley and basil scattering the portion of the plate closest to its consumer, marvellous,.. followed this up with salsicce grilliata, which translats as grilled snags,.. but these were magic, char grilled and hefty. (more…)

The heat wave continues but the desire to feast upon the local food and bevvy is still strong. The other day i wandered into the bizzarely named ”nu lounge bar’ which is right up there with the strange english names for businesses, My other favourite in this category is the ”PIZZA UP!” in Urbania but the winnder has to be Italian mobile phone company called ”WIND” thats wind like the breeze not like the clock, they have large banners around the place which simply say ”avete wind?” translating, without need for massaging into ” do you have wind?”At the nu i dined on carpaccio with carciofi and rucola, its the second time i have had carpacio here and both times its more like a slab of raw meat that gets delivered to you rather than the thin shavings i had become accustomed to in australia, but accompanied by the local oil and cheese it went down an sbolute treat, knocked down a couple of glasses of (gasp) semillon and one of the local semifreddo with chocolate specialties and i was anyones. (more…)

It usually takes around 3 days for the town drunks to start to speak to me. This formula held true in bologna. (more…)