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8/4/2019 Art, Marble and Tourism - Newsletter 05 03 2008
1/12
Go to page 5
My wife and I first used the
apartments in Palazzo Ferretti
in October 2001. I really dontknow how we came to book itup the first time I think
wed been on our first Italian
holiday the year before on an
organised tour of Tuscany,
Umbria and Venezia and liked
what we saw in Lucca.
We fell on our feet when we
booked that holiday inPietrasanta the restaurants,
cafes, bustling streets, artists
studios and works of art that
festooned the town were just
what we loved. We like art butonly in small doses and in
Pietrasanta we could choose to
see as much or as little as we
liked. I think the main piazza
was littered with Botterosculptures that year as well ashis warrior on the main
approach to the town. The
studios especially the
sculptors are amazing, such
fantastic works of art litteringvast studios. The history weve
only scratched the surface of
and maybe on another visit
well get into that. I think thetour operators and organisers
sometimes think that the
(Go to page 5)
Travel diary
Not only art, by David Walker
Giosu Carducci was born at
Pietrasanta - in the town district
of Valdicastello - on 27th July
1835 and he died at Bologna on16 February 1907. Today,
tourists can visit his museum
house at Valdicastello. He was a
teacher. He was one of the mostimportant Italian poet, and
regarded as the unofficial
national poet of modern Italy .
In 1906 he became the first
Italian to win the Nobel Prize in
Literature. The other Italian
Nobel Prizes in Literatures havebeen Grazia Deledda (1926),
Luigi Pirandello (1951)
Salvatore
Quasimodo(1959), Eugenio
Montale(1975).He
received his
Ph.D. in 1856from the Scuola
Normale Superiore di Pisa and
began teaching school. The
following year, he published
his first collection of poems,
Rime.
In 1859, he married Elvira
Menicucci, and they had four
children. He briefly taught
Greek at a high school inPistoia, and then was
appointed Italian professor at
the university in Bologna. He
was a popular lecturer and a
fierce critic of literature and
society. His political viewswere consistently opposed to
the secular power of the
Catholic Church. Althoughhis reputation rests primarily
on his poetry, he also
produced a large body of
prose works. Carducci was
also an excellent translator
and translated some of
Goethe and the Greek poem
Iliad into Italian.
You can visit (free entrance)
the Carducci house at viaComunale Valdicastello,
Valdicastello, phone 0584-
795500, open on Tuesday 9-12, on Saturday and Sunday
15-18.
Whatso
natPietras
anta
anditssurroundings
W
W
W
.PIETRASANTARESORT.COM
Pietrasanta newsletter
Easter holiday issue
We found that the town was an
ideal place from which to explore
northern Tuscany and northwards
up to the Cinque Terre and even
Genova.
History and storiesIn the last issue we talked about Eugenio Barsanti. Today, we talk about another big name of the past ofPietrasanta: the poet Gious Carducci
Inside this issue: page
Travel diary1
History and stories 1
One artist at a glance 2
Do you know Pietrasanta ? And win! 2
Whats on: agenda of the season 3
Weather forecast: look at the past 3
One monument, one site, one town 4
Cooking at Pietrasanta 4
Italian language for smart tourist 6
Hic Manebimus Optime7
Less money, more holidays 10
Whats on: agenda of the year 11
Who are we ? 12
8/4/2019 Art, Marble and Tourism - Newsletter 05 03 2008
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Do you know where this
wall paint is located ?
The first who emails us
the right address will gain
one T-shirt (specify your
size) or a magnetic calen-
dar by Hic manebimus
optime.
PIETR ASANTA NEWSLETTER
There are a lot of artists at Pietrasanta.
Today we talk about Mira Yifat, a nice
woman from Israel.
Mira was born at Haifa, and she got a
BA in Archeology in 1975 and in 1985she graduated in Fashion Design.
After a work experience at internationallevel, she discovered Sculpture at local
sculptures' workshop (under Harry
Baron, teacher in Israel).
She s t a r t ed to a t t end
international workshop and to
organize exhibitions.
She worked at Marble Carving
Studio ( Pietrasanta, 2005),Israeli sculptures' workshop(2003-2004), New York Art
Student league - under Mr. Seiji
Saito (2002-2003), Art
Institute of Boston (2000-
2001), Provincetown School of
Art, at Cape Code (2000).
On the other hand, she exhibited her works at
HTMS, Tel Aviv university, Ramat Aviv, 2006
; Gallery on the lake, Ra'anana, 2004; ASL
Gallery, New York, 2003; Eshkol Pais Gallery,Ramat Gan, 2002; AIB Gallery, Boston, 2001;
PSA Gallery, Cape Code, 2000.
Today, she is a full-time sculpture that spends
at least one month a year in Pietrasanta, where
she can work very hard from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
with just a small lunch on the
wonderful Dome Square in
downtown. In Pietrasanta, shemade nice marble sculptures,
such as Feather (look at
www.Mira-Yifat.com) that
she carved last summer.
In 2005, she created Pietra
Santa, a small 45x24x25 operathat has been dedicated to our
town.
She loves the Collodi
apartment, at Palazzo Ferretti,
because of its sunny
atmosphere and its small
terrace, where she relaxes at
breakfast.
Please, do not book it in
May!
Pagina 2
One artist at a glance: Mira Yifat
Do you know Pietrasanta ? (.and win !)
Send us your pictures abou t Pietrasanta, and well publish them !
Last December, David
Walker was the first
who emails us the
right answer. He wan
a wonderful T-Shirt.
Please, David, send
us a picture of you
dressing the new T-
Shirt !!
Pietrasanta 2007 by Mira Yifat
8/4/2019 Art, Marble and Tourism - Newsletter 05 03 2008
3/12
Weather forecast ? Look at the past !
15.7 degree C. Last year, we had 7 days
of rain, with a total of 45 mm of
precipitations. In comparison withLondon and New York, Pietrasanta is
In order to
forecast theweather of theEaster period,
we can
consider the
averagecharacteristics
of the last
years.
In general,
Easter
holidays are a
nice period in Pietrasanta. Springtime is
beginning and March is a sunny month,
even if it is fresh. At Pietrasanta, theaverage temperature is between 8 and
always warmer. In
London, we have amean temperaturethat goes from 3.8
to 10.3 degree C,
and in New York
the minimumtemperature is only
1.1 on average, and
the maximum is
8.9. In New York
and London thereare more rainy days
than in Pietrasanta, 9 and 13 days,
respectively.
PIETR ASANTA NEWSLETTER
What s on at Springtime:
2 March: antique-brocante open
market, Dome square, Pietrasanta
9 March: artisan open market, Dome
square, Pietrasanta
Every Thursday: open market at
Pietrasanta
Exibitions:
19 Jan-30 Mar: Photos by Erwin
Olaf at Palazzo Mediceo, -
Seravezza. Ph: 0584-756100, 0584-
757443; email:[email protected]
9 feb 9 mar: Lucilla Gattini, paints,
Ch ios t ro d i San t Agos t ino ,
Pietrasanta
9 feb 9 mar: Women at work,
sculture, Chiostro di SantAgostino,
P ie t rasanta Ph:0584-795500,
w w w . m u s e o d e i b o z z e t t i . i t .
March: Alvaro Torti: Alberi, India
Ink paints about trees of the
Migliarino-S.Rossore-Massaciuccoli
Park, at Saletta Neri, via Tonfano,
Marina di Pietrasanta, phone 380-
3941442, [email protected]
March-May: Enrico Baj: Apocalisse,
paints on wood, Chiostro of S.
Agostino, phone 0584-795500.
March-May: Shofik, sculptures and
paints, Church of S. Agostino.
19 Mar: St.Josephs fair: sundry
goods, farm tools, horse races
P h : 0 5 8 4 - 7 5 6 1 0 0 ; e m a i l :[email protected]
April and May: Marina in fiore:
flowers, plants and gardening
exhibition
Ph:0584-795292; 0584-23037
19-20 Apr: Enolia: lectures on
properties, use and comparative
tasting of high quality virgin olive
oil. Sale of typical local foods,Seravezza, Palazzo Mediceo,
Ph:0584-756100; email:
5-19 Apr: European Film Festival:
film reviews, debates and seminars,
ph: 06-58333145;0584-966334;
www.europacinema.it
e-mail: [email protected]
1-2-3-4 May: Demetra: strawberries,
flowers and typical food, Villa le
Pianore, Capezzano Pianore,
Ph:0584-986204
1-2-3-4 May: 42 Palio Madonna
del lago: Massaciuccoli Lake boat
race, Ph: 0584-979296First Sunday of May: Palio dei
Micci: Donkey race and parade in
traditional costumes, and art
exhibition at Palazzo Mediceo,
Seravezza , Ph:0584-756100,
Pagina 3
Whats on: agenda of the season
Weather I nformation History: March
Mean Temperature CMean Total
Precipitation
(mm)
Mean Number of
Precipitation
Days
Daily Daily
Minimum Maximum
Pietrasanta 8 15.7 45 7
New York 1.1 8.9 91.2 9
London 3.8 10.3 48 13.4
source: http://www.worldweather.org and www.lamma.it
8/4/2019 Art, Marble and Tourism - Newsletter 05 03 2008
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Camaiore hasRomanorigins:CampusMaior
PIETR ASANTA NEWSLETTER
heaven ly - sw ee t des se r t w ine ,
Sciacchetra, as well as limoncello
liquor. Corniglia offers birds-eye vistas
from its perch on the rocky cliffs high
above the Ligurian Sea. Manarola ishome to the beautiful baroque church of
San Lorenzo. Riomaggiore, with its
buildings seeming to tumble off the
cliffs above, is the most authentic,
"real" Italian village.
How to go there
These cities are connected by train, by
boat and by road.
I discourage you from taking the car,as it is very difficult (and expensive)to find a parking lot and the small
roads on the mountains are quite
dangerous.
By boat is the
best way to go
there and it is
t h e m o s texpensive too.
You can check
r a t e s a n d
timetable at
www.navigazionegolfodeipoeti.it. If
you reach the Cinque Terre by sea on
5 Terre (or Cinque Terre) is a series of five
villages that are connected by train or
hiking trail. 5 Terre are located in the
Riviera di Levante, the Liguria region,
on the border with Tuscany. The smallvillages (from West to Est) are
Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia,
Manarola, Riomaggiore (see the map).
Why to go there
The Cinque Terre are
a National Park,
where it is possible tohike from village to
village through lush
green areas with wild
b l u e b e r r i e s a n dapricots growing
trailside. A prestigious
acknowledgement hasrecently been made
also by UNESCO,
which has defined this
t e r r i t o r y a sHumanity's World
Heritage.
On July and Augustthere are flocks of
Europeans crowding
into the narrow streetsand pebbly beaches ofthe 5 villages. In any
case, it is worth to
spend a lazy day napping on the beach,
splashing in the clear turquoise water, or
wandering the cramped alleyways.Monterosso is home to the famed,
three whites of the egg (which you need
to whip up into a cream beforehand).
Butter the baking dish and sprinkle withbreadcrumbs. Make a caramel base for
the baking dish, add the rice and put in
the oven.
The oven must be preheated at 200
degrees. Then cook for a further 40
minutes.
For the savory version, or what is
locally known in Versilia as 'putta',substitute the sugar with salt, naturally
not 150 gr., but to taste. Leave the rice
Ingredients for the traditional 'Easter
Rice cake': 200 gr. of rice, 1 liter of
milk, 3 eggs, 3 egg reds, 150 gr. of
sugar, 100 gr. of chopped almonds,
lemon peel.
Cook the rice in the milk with sugar,
chopped almonds, lemon peel and a
pinch of salt.
After cooking the rice for 10 minutesturn off the gas, leaving the rice half
cooked and leave to cool. Once the riceis cold, add the six egg reds and the
to cook in the salted milk. Leave tocool. Add the eggs as for the sweat rice
cake, add an abundance of grated
seasoned pecorino cheese and pepper to
taste. Then bake in the oven for 40
minutes. The baking dish has not the
caramel but butter and breadcrumb.
Buon appetito! from Assunta
Cooking classes for foreign gourmets
www.tuscanyinstyle.com
Pagina 4
One monument, one site, one townA day trip from Pietrasanta to 5 Terre
Cooking at Pietrasanta: Traditional Easter Rice Cake
8/4/2019 Art, Marble and Tourism - Newsletter 05 03 2008
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churches and the history and art are all
English tourists go to Italy for but
theyre wrong. There are lots of people
like us who just love strolling round themediaeval towns and spending time
with a glass of wine and maybe a snack
at a caf in the piazza just enjoying the
atmosphere and the company of their
partner.
We found that the town was an ideal
place from which to explore northern
Tuscany and northwards up to the
Cinque Terre and even Genova. Wehired a car on that occasion and a couple
more since but last year we used the
trains and buses and were pleasantly
surprised at the reliability and cheapnessof them. From Pietrasanta we went into
the Cinque Terre and the Garfagnana by
train as well as visiting more local
places like Pisa, Lucca and Viareggio.
When we had a hire car wed got as far
(from page 1)
away as Siena, San Gimignano, Volterra
and even Grossetto on a day out but
some of those would be difficult to get
to using the train.
On all our trips to Pietrasanta we liked to
get back to the town by early evening andenjoy the quietness of the walled garden
before going out for our evening
meal. The standard of food in allthe restaurants that we tried in
the town was so high from the
trattorias with limited menus
scribbled on blackboards to the
more upmarket a la carterestaurants. I think it was in Da
Sci that I asked for the bill in my
best Italian and in return received
the torn off corner of a used
place mat with 20 euros scribbled
on it but the food wasdelicious. Our visits have always
been outside the summer season
and not all the restaurants were
always open but there were
enough to allow us to use a
different one every night of our stay there.
Page 5
Continued from p.1 Travel Diary
PIETR ASANTA NEWSLETTER
Wonderful capper plant in the courtyard
Two of us: Mrs. and Mr. Walker (U.K.)
8/4/2019 Art, Marble and Tourism - Newsletter 05 03 2008
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AT THE PIETRASANTA TRAIN
STATION
First of all, you have to understand theItalian attidute towards train service: we
know exactly when the train start, butwe do not know when they arrive at
destination.
When they arrive on time, Italians think
about an exceptional case; when they
arrive in delay, its normal.
Secondly, even if the train ticket is very
cheap, Italians think that it is very
expensive, and that Government should
enforce the train service company to
reduce prices.
Thirdly, Italians love cars, every kind ofcars and mainly Ferrari or convertible
cars.
Of course, Im not such an Italian, and I
think the opposite: when I can, I use
trains because I can read, I can work, I
can watch beautiful panoramas.
From Pietrasanta it is very easy to take a
train for visiting Florence, Pisa,Viareggio and so on, but you have to
make attention at some important rules.First golden rule: in Florence, Milan,
Rome, Naples the train station are full
of police and full of pickwallers
borsaioli
Pay attention to the seconds, by putting
your money and credit cards into an
underwear pocket.
Another important rule is about the
scheduled platform: it is not sure thatyour train is going to arrive at the
platform written on the yellow sheet
timetable. CONTROLLAREVery often, there is a speaker that
announces you have to change the
platform. Of course, he speaks only in
English, but you can understand it if youlook at the other travelers: follow the
gregge and you will get the new
platform.
IDIOMS AT THE TRAIN
STATION:
- Obliterare il biglietto: it means
that you have to check-in the ticket
before taking the train.
- Treno locale: it means that the
train stops at every station.
- Prendere il treno al volo: You
catch the train at the very last second
- Perdere il treno per un pelo:
You do not get on the train because of
one second of delay (see: "snatch
victory from the jaws of defeat)
TEST IT !!
This is a small test for your Italian (send
us your answer, and well correct them).
This time you can check your Italian by
reading the same receipt in two different
languages. Here there is the same dish
you read about in the cooking section.
In order to check your Italian you canprepare it twice: the first time, you
follow the Italian receipt; the second
time you follow the English one. If the
results are the same, your Italian is OK !
Ingredienti:
200 g. di riso, 1litro di latte, 3 uova
intere, 3 tuorli duovo, 150 g di
zucchero, 1etto di mandorle tritate
"Cuocere il riso nel latte con lo
zucchero e le mandorle tritate, e unodore di scorza di limone, e una presa di
sale. Spegnere il fuoco dopo 10 minutiin modo che il riso sia a met cottura.
Fare raffreddare bene il composto,
aggiungere i sei tuorli e i tre albumi
montati a neve. Fare il caramello sulfondo di una tortiera, mettere l'impasto einfornare nel forno preriscaldato a 200
gradi, per circa 40 minuti.
Servire freddo.
Per la variante salata, chiamata putta
in Versilia, sostituire lo zucchero con il
sale (naturalmente non 150 g.), far
cuocere il riso nel latte salato, far
raffreddare ed aggiungere le uova ed
una abbondante manciata di pecorinostagionato e parecchio pepe. Lo stampo
della torta sar imburrato e cosparso dipangrattato.
Buon appetito!
Italian language for smart tourist
PIETR ASANTA NEWSLETTER Page 6
Marina di Pietrasanta: the
Princes bridge in the night(photo by GV)
8/4/2019 Art, Marble and Tourism - Newsletter 05 03 2008
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HIC MANEBIMUS OPTIME
PIETR ASANTA NEWSLETTER Page 7
This is our new motto.
The words are not English or
Italian, but they come from Latin,
our dead language that youngItalians study at the secondary
school.
What does Hic manebimus
optime mean ?
Titus Livius reports about it.
Titus Livius, known as Livy, was
a Roman historian who wrote a
monumental history of Rome. The
name of the book is Ab Urbe
Condita and it talks about the
origin of Rome (traditionally dated
to 753 BC) through the reign of
Augustus (the age when Jesus
Christ was born).
In this book, Titus Livius wrote
that the sentence was pronounced
by a soldier during the civil war
between plebei (poors) and
patrizi (aristocrats). Plebei were
against Patrizi due to their poor
condition of life: plebei were not
slaves but working poors underthe orders of Patrizi families.
At that time, Marcus Furius
Camillus, a very importantsenator, addressed to the plebei
who intended to abandon the city
and commute to Velio, an old city
that was gained by Rome in
nearby.
Marcus Furius Camillus didnt
success to convince the plebei to
remain at Rome, and they were onthe point to leave Rome when a
centuriore (a Roman soldier),
that was coming back from the
battle against Velio, stopped in the
area and said: Hic manebimus
optime, i.e. Here well stay very
well. The plebei understood that
Rome was a good place to live,
even if working poors had a lot
of problems. The Rome history
went on thanks to the thatcenturione and the Hic
manebimus optime sentence.
What about Palazzo Ferretti ?
Why we like this sentence ?
We want to use this motto because
we think that Pietrasanta is a nice
place to enjoy, have holidays,
relax, study art and history, carvemarble.
Do you agree ? Do you like this
Latin motto ? Let us know your
comments.
8/4/2019 Art, Marble and Tourism - Newsletter 05 03 2008
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a ferryboat, you have a great view of thecoast and you can hop on and off at every
village. There are five daily runs and you
can hop on and off on the route connecting
Monterosso, Vernazza, Manarola andRiomaggiore (Corniglia hasnt any port,
and you have to there on walk). Don't missthe last boat ! In any case, the last train
back in the evening is at midnight). The
boat tours start from Marina di Pisa,
Viareggio, Forte dei Marmi, Marina di
Carrara, Marina di Massa, Portovenere, La
Spezia.
The tour from Massa di Carrara toPortovenere is exceptional because you get
to see the coast from Bocca di Magra along
to the bay before Lerici which is an
incredible sight that you can't really seevery well from the road. Then you can stop
off at Portovenere (wear your swimsuit
under your clothes because you can take a
dip in the beautiful bay hidden behind the
fort on the point where a lot of youngpeople go) and have a walk around town.
Then the boat circles around the facing
islands of Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto and
you can see some oyster cultivations in the
sea.
Personally, I prefer the train, because it
makes very easy to commute back and forth
from Pietrasanta. You can take a train fromthe Pietrasanta railway station to La Spezia
(47 minutes; ticket is 3.40 euros), and
another train from La Spezia to Monterosso
(20 minutes; ticket is 2 euros). Timetable is
at http://www.trenitalia.com/en/index.html
At the tourist office in La Spezia train
station, you can take a 5-euro-tourist ticket
that allow you to hop on and off at each
village, as you like, for all day long.
History
Monterosso, the first place we meet by
overtaking Cape Mesco, has the prettiest
beach of the Cinque Terre, placed beyondthe promontory of the castle in the Fegina's
bay, formerly surrounded by some woods
of cedars, orange-trees and lemon-trees, and
now occupied by touristic residences.
The ancient centre of Monterosso lies on
the summit of the hill of San Cristoforo,
which separates the present village intotwo. During the 12th and 13th century there
was an increase in population and families
began to move down the slope of the hill,
setting up house on the banks of the streamcalled Branco (now covered). This part of
the village, known as Monterosso Vecchio(Old Monterosso), has remained practically
intact and exhibits the same 'linear'
characteristic as the other villages of the
Cinque Terre. A large part of it is made upof the remains of the 'castrum' Obertengo,
(castrum is the Roman name for the
campsite) with the beautiful parish of SanGiovanni Battista at the crossroads of the
main streets.
The village took origin in the Middle Ages,
when with the expulsion of the Saracens
(972), the hills' inhabitants moved to the
coast it was part of the Obertenga Duke andthen became a feud of the Da Passanos,
who were succeeded by the Republic of
Genoa.
The defensive tower built by the Genoese
as well as the castle (13th - 14th centuries),
whose ruins are now preserved in the
cemetery of the little town, rise sheer to thesea. The church and the monastery of San
Francesco, consecrated in 1623, still stand
out on the little promontory. They hold
conspicuous works by Luca Cambiaso,
Bernardo Castello and a Crucifixion
attributed by someone to Van Dyck.
Close to the beach of the village there is theparish of San Giovanni Battista, important
medieval building finished in 1307. On the
facade, with bychrome bands, a great
marble rose-window assigned to themasters Matteo and Pietro da Campiglio
stands out. Beside the church there is the
eighteenth-century oratory with central
plant, dedicated to Santa Maria di Porto
Salvo.
On the hill behind the village, along thecarriage road between Levanto and
Pignone, there is the sanctuary of Nostra
Signora di Soviore, founded, according tothe tradition, at the time of the Longobard
invasion (641).
Monterosso's beach is the longest of the
Cinque Terre coast and this, along with the
housing development of the new quarter,
has determined the wealth of tourismenjoyed by the village. Monterosso's main
features are the beach and the seaside; morethan the others it's a small touristic resort
with some nightlife. This different feel
complements the quietness of Manarola and
Corniglia. Very suggestive the'carruggi' (small streets) of Monterosso
Vecchio; wide spaces and some car traffic
in Fegina and on the seaside
Vernazza probably rose in the 11th centuryand became active in sea trade particularly
after having passed under the control of the
Genoese (13th century). To these ones is
due the improvement of the port structures
and the defensive works, whose someimportant ruins remain. The entire old core
dominated by the fortress, on which the
sighting tower rises, deserves a visit. The
nice parish of Santa Margherita diAntiochia - stretched out to the sea on a
false cliff - was built towards 1318, and
afterwards made longer through two spans.
An excursion to the sanctuary of Nostra
Signora di Reggio, on the hill which
dominates the village, is recommended,
where the miraculous image of Our Ladythat the legend attributes to San Luca, is
venerated.
Vernazza is the only natural port of the
Cinque Terre and its port can host small/
mid size boats and provides sufficient
shelter for mid-sized waves, but it's not
enough for the great winter sea storms.
Vernazza is the main point of attraction of
Cinque Terre, together with Monterosso,
and due to this it's often very crowded.
Corniglia represents a singular exception incomparison with the other villages of the
Cinque Terre, because it is perched on a
promontory over the sea of a hundredmetres. It is located on a cape, a terrace on
the sea, like that of Volastra, a hundred orso metres above the sea, which descends
steeply and is inaccessible from the sea. To
reach it one has to climb the 'Lardarina', a
long series of steps in brick: 33 flightstotaling 377 steps; there is also a road that
leads from the railway to the village. Thevillage layout of Corniglia also differs from
that of the other villages: the houses are
shorter, only recently have floors been
added, making them similar to those of
inland villages. The residential area
develops along the main road, via Fieschi;on one side the houses look on to the
opposite side of the street and on the other,
they look out onto the sea.
Continued from p.4 A day trip to 5 Terre
Monterosso
PIETR ASANTA NEWSLETTER Page 8
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The shore, after having passed the village,presents a small creek with a narrow pebbly
beach named "spiaggione di Corniglia".
The parish church of San Pietro lies on a
low hill not far from the main core of the
village. The facade, with squared stone
ashlars, is made precious with a remarkable
marble rose window (1351), work by the
masters Matteo and Pietro da Campiglio.
Perched on a steep cape of dark rock, with
its small port enclosed by two rockyboulders, we find Manarola, a village of
ancient origins found by the inhabitants of
the (probably Roman) Volastra settlement.
The layout of the village develops around
the subsurface course of the Groppo streamwhich marks out its main axis. From the
sunken stream a series of narrow stone-
paved streets lead off towards houses and
vegetable gardens on both sides of the cape.Parallel to the main axis runs the Via di
Mezzo (Middle Street) that used to be a
particularly important byway before the
stream was covered over. Above the houses
there lies an interesting square in which all
the religious buildings are
located. Another peculiarityof Manarola is a pyramid in
white cement whose peak can
be seen rising between the
taller houses and is used as anavigational reference point
for all those at sea.
The village belonged to the
Marquesses of Carpena, to
the Fieschis and, since 1276,
to Genoa. The main artistic
work is the church of theNativit di Maria Vergine or
of San Michele, placed in the
North of the village. It was
built in 1338 by the Atelamimasters, authors of almost all
the churches of the Cinque
Terre. It keeps a polyptych
illustrating the Madonna with
Holy Child among Saints by
the Master of the Cinque
Terre (14th - 15th centuries). On the hillsurrounding the village, there is the hamlet
of Volastra, where we find the sanctuary of
Nostra Signora della Salute, dating back to
the 12th century. Though it has beenadapted in successive periods, it keeps the
original visible stone ashlars facade.
Manarola has to be consider the quietest of
the five villages. Even in full season one
can always appreciate the peacefulness of
its streets and the relaxing walks on theshort paths surrounding the village.
Setting off from La Spezia, the first village
one encounters is Riomaggiore, which
boasts the typical terraced structure of
villages in torrential valleys, with steepsides and restricted valley floor. The
landscape is therefore typically vertical and
stairs and steps make up the roads. The
main road is a covered canal beneath which
runs the Rivus Maior stream from which
the village takes its name. The housing is ofthe typical tower-house variety, developed
on three or four floors with no more thantwo rooms per floor, side by side to each
other in parallel rows. The building material
is local: stone for the walls, slate for
roofing, and yellow or pink plaster for the
houses' facades. One can enter the housesboth from the main entrance and from the
back of the house, entering at one of the
higher floors.
The church of San Giovanni Battista was
built in 1340, but was modified during the
19th century The interior presents a naveand two aisles separated by pointed arches.
It keeps a triptych illustrating the Madonna
with Holy Child on the throne between the
Sts. Sebastian and Rocco by the Master of
the Cinque Terre.
To the North-West of the village there arethe ruins of the castle, from which we can
enjoy a wonderful panorama on the coast.
On the outskirts of Riomaggiore there is the
sanctuary of Nostra Signora di Montenero
of very ancient origin, but largely
rearranged during the centuries.
Riomaggiore hosts the chief seat of CinqueTerre National Park, evidenced by an
intensive promotional activity in the whole
town. The upper part of the town is
characterized by new modern residential
quarter, whereas the 'carruggi' departingfrom the central street Via Colombo and
from the marina are the most particular in
Cinque Terre. Very suggestive the shot of
the marina, surrounded by high tower-
houses and impregnable to the ancient
pirates of the Ligurian Sea.
Riomaggiore is joined with Manarola by
the "via dell'Amore", a foot-way made outof the rock during the Twenties that links.
The Lover's Pathway is a very nice and
easy-to-walk path, and has
wonderful views on the sea as
well as on the hills.
Things to do
There are paths connecting the
Cinque Terre along the seasideand carved into the rocks. To
hike all five towns takes 5
hours. Or go up along the hills
through pinewoods to a church
or a sanctuary which could be 2hours depending on which
footpath you choose and where
you start from. Take the Lover's
Pathway between Manarola and
Riomaggiore which is about 35
minutes. There are unlimitedchoices to suit the ability and
the interest of the hiker.
Eating out
Local fresh fish is generally small in size
and is served either fried, charcoal grilled,
with potatoes or as a soup.
Continued from p.8 A day trip to 5 Terre
Vernazza
Corniglia
Manarola
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Riviera anchovies are a highly prized dish,
especially those coming from the Cinque
Terre and Monterosso areas. They areeasily recognized by their small size, hardly
ever exceeding ten centimeters in length,
and their color, the head and belly a silvery
light gray with a dark blue-black back.These anchovies may be served in a variety
of ways: raw with an olive oil and lemon
dressing; with garlic and parsley; pan-cooked with potatoes; fried or better still,
pickled. The bianchetti, anchovy and
sardine fry fished in January and February,
are a rare morsel indeed. They may be
served either raw or dunked in boiling
water and then dressed with just a few
drops of olive oil and lemon or, as is more
customary, mixed with flour and egg and
fashioned into small fritters.
Last but by no means least, the wines: wineproduction on Liguria's typical terraced hill
sides has a well established and long
standing tradition. Sciacchetr, a very
particular sweet wine produced in theCinque Terre district, is one of the best
Riomaggiore
In red lines: Walk paths at 5 Terre
CLASSIFIED (write us your
classified ads)
Are you looking for a teacherof carving or Italian language ?
Would you like to share a large
apartment ?
Would you like to buy a bike ?
LOW-COST SECTION
Write here your experience in saving
money: something about low cost
flights, worthy shopping, etc.
Your experience is useful for our
Community.
We suggest:
- Special offer from Delta Air-
lines: New York (JFK) to Pisa,
at 390 euro (taxes included),
round trip, April and May, not
refundable;
- special offer from Ryanair:
London to Pisa, at 15 euro(taxes included), one way,
from 15/3/2008 to 30/6/2008,
not refundable.
P A L A Z Z O F E R R E T T I
SPECIAL OFFER
Palazzo Ferretti is pleased tooffer one week in March or
April at 500 euros, all fees are
included. This is a special offer
only for old clients and their
friends.
Bookings at:
Less money, more holidays
Continued from p.9 A day trip to 5 Terre
PIETR ASANTA NEWSLETTER
Page 10
8/4/2019 Art, Marble and Tourism - Newsletter 05 03 2008
11/12
8/4/2019 Art, Marble and Tourism - Newsletter 05 03 2008
12/12
Who are we ?
This is a quarterly newsletter for foreign tourists and
international artists.
Its about Pietrasanta and its surroundings.
The newsletter is mainly made by you: your comments, your
experience, your true stories. We want to collect and publish
them on the newsletter.
Please, dont be shy, and email us your personal experience
about your stay and your holidays in Pietrasanta: write
about one nice day, one nice trip , one nice friend you met
there. Well publish it on the next issue. This issue (Easter
holidays) has been emailed to about 200 foreign tourists.
Please, send it to your friends: maybe they will become
Pietrasanta friends, too.
All the best
Giampaolo Vitali (Palazzo Ferretti)
Palazzo Ferretti
Via del Paduletto 10/12
55045 Pietrasanta
WWW.PIETRASANTARESORT.COM
For bookings:
Giampaolo Vitali
Phone +39 328 2259111
email: [email protected]
Your holiday rentals in downtown
Pietrasanta 2001: all the family at work
PIETR ASANTA NEWSLETTER Page 12