Because my class is producing a video about food, Filiberto has made an extra effort to incorporate special food-related trips. We went to a fish market. We saw the production of chocolate. Yesterday we went to a local gelateria. Not everywhere that sells gelato makes it, but "La Cremeria" does. In summer they make 3oo kilos (660 pounds) per DAY.

Here Filiberto (with freshly-made ice cream cone in hand) translates the process. The equipment he's showing cost the owner nearly $200,000.

The dining are was large enough to seat the entire class and then some, but the production area was small. Only half of us could watch at a time, and even then it was crowded. Here Angelica distributes cones so we could eat it seconds after it was made.

The first flavor he made was hazelnut: very popular in Italy. Flavors with nuts, chocolate,etc have a higher cream content than fruit flavors.

We are working hard here in Italy, but it does have its rewards.

The second flavor was pistacchio. He gets this paste from a supplier. This is a rather expensive paste, but he made note of the fact that it's pure - no additives of any kind. He advised the students that they always read food labels and know what it is they're consuming.

As you might expect, the main ingredient is milk.

The pistacchio is precisely weighed - not because it is so expensive, but to make sure the gelato is consistent. If you go into a place and order a particular flavor, you want it to taste the same every time you order it.

In the case of pistacchio, some milk must be mixed with the paste before it's added to the refrigerated mixer otherwise the flavor will congeal in small pieces rather than in a smooth cream.

The pisacchio/cream mixture is added to the mixer. The machine is combination mixer/quick chiller. As it is mixed the temperature is brought down and you can hear the machine sound change as the mixture becomes thicker.

The mixture volume increases as it chills and air is folded into the mix. A picture I didn't get was the quick deep freeze. Our gelato never went into it, but stuff that goes out into the serving case does. It quickly drops the temperature of the stuff sub zero (almost 40 below) in order to preserve it, and to prevent crystallization that occurs in our "regular" freezers.

The mixing took only a few minutes. It seemed like a lot longer because all of us were anxious to taste it. The finished product is placed quite precisely in stainless steel trays for display.

Nicole called to tell me I have a letter from Fulbright telling me I received an award. If I can work out the details with Ball State, Kim and I will be in Athens, Greece, Feb. through May 2009.

I need to clear out some old pictures. Today's entry will be a hodge-podge.



I neglected to get this grafitti shot posted in my last entry. I have no clue what it says, means or represents but it was colorful and obviously done with some degree of precision.







This is pretty interesting. When my brother was here last week, he told us of pay toilets (in Paris, I believe) where the entire room is sprayed and sanitized as the occupant leaves. Lo and behold when Kim went to San Marino with Jim and Linda, they found the same thing. Very clean - and discourages anyone from sneaking in while the
previous patron is using it (or they
will get sprayed).

We had a chocolate fair in Piazza della Liberta here March 8/9. There were about 15 tents set up, each with small, exclusive chocolatiers (none of the major brand sorts of things - all small shops that hand-make). Stuff was not cheap but as you might imagine it was
quite good. We sampled chocolates
with a wide variety of fillings,
including grappa and hot pepper.











Kim wanted to make sure to get this picture for Megan.

















These two pictures are the same "street" in Macerata. Obviously we're inside the city walls here, but we're actually just outside what were the old walls. In this picture, the wall to the right is the old city wall. The houses on the left are "new construction."








































You probably can't tell, but this is a bus shelter. Obviously it's covered with writing. As with the other graffiti entry, some is political, some personal, some just nonsense.











I took this picture of Hansel & Gretel's gingerbread house at the mall. The street sign above is pointing the way to them, and another arrow to Red Riding Hood.









You don't get to see much in this video, but we had a portion of a cross-country bike race here Sunday. Tirreno-Adriatico left Macerata at noon and went "only" about 17 miles, but it's pretty severe hills. The Swiss guy who won this leg did it in just under 34 minutes.

The reason for my smoking this Tuscan cigar in Piazza Mazzini in Macerata is the occasion of the birth of my grandson Luca. It was a beautiful Palm Sunday in Macerata, and after church and lunch, this is how I chose to celebrate.








Filiberto returned from the U.S., and we bumped
into him later in the afternoon. He had not visited his "house" over the past couple of weeks, so we took a drive 15 minutes outside Macerata to go. Actually, this is his house, but not one that he occupies (it's in pretty terrible shape). He hopes someday to have the money to be able to restore it, but for the time being it's his olive plantation. On the property he has more than 400 olive tress, and he makes his own oil. It's actually a pretty expensive habit. After paying for all the trees and the land (plus taxes), he still has to pay people to help with the pruning and harvesting the olives. I have to believe it would
be cheaper just to buy oil, but I know it would
not be the same quality. It also wouldn't give him the satisfaction I know he gets from the grove. It was a pleasure to walk around with him and watch him as he "visited" with his plants. He also described other fruit tress and wild herbs that grew there.








I thought I ought to include at least one picture of my students at work. Here are Callie (Oregon) and Clark (Ball State) editing her package about cheese for our documentary on food. This is in our apartment. It was the most convenient place to set up the "editing station."








I wanted to talk a little bit about graffiti. It's everywhere. This figure must mean something - I see it a lot.

That's a point to make about the graffiti: some of it is political, some of it is about love, some of it is quite artistic. I'm sorry I can't include some of the best stuff I saw because it's painted on the sides of trains and in railway yards, and I see it when I'm in a moving train, usually from a pretty dirty window.



I wanted to include this wall. Although not very artistic it shows a variety of styles. Freddy is evidently in love with Giulia. "T.A.T" stands for "ti amo tanto," or "I love you so much." The clearly stated political comment needs no explanation. The bottom has what looks like gang signs to me. The upper right translates to something like "Sept. 11, 2001 makes me happy." It's a reminder that not everyone likes America. Clearly the majority of Italians do like us, but it's worth remembering that some have a very strong opinion that we are not their flavor of the month.

Stencils are also used. I assume this was sprayed by someone who supports the Massachusetts- based punk band. This picture is only about 1 foot across.










Speaking of stencils, here's one for travelers to learn. It indicates a location where you can get a wireless connection. Someone nearby must have an unprotected transmitter, so you can connect here. This, too, is rather small - probably only about 8 inches high.

Not exactly a travel picture, but I wanted everyone to see my grandson, Luca DiMarco Caristi, born March 14, 2008. Mom Megan, Dad Anthony and he are all fine.

Kim and I were joined this week by our good friends Jim and Linda Needham. For those of you who don't know them, in addition to being our friends Jim is my colleague in TCOM at Ball State, and Linda is the realtor who sold us our house in Muncie. It's spring break at BSU, so Jim and Linda went to Rome for a couple of days, then drove here. I was able to spend some time with them in Macerata, but Kim took them on day trips. They arrived late afternoon Monday and went to Treija on Tuesday, San Marino on Wednesday and Tolentino on Thursday. As I am writing this, they are on their way to Florence. Kim will return via train and Jim and Linda will
drive on to Rome to return to the U.S.

It's not because I didn't want to travel around with them. You see, I'm teaching this class. It's getting to be crunch time on our project. Students have left things until the last minute, and now with due dates hitting them in the face, all of them need camera time and editing time. Back at BSU, they all arrange that themselves. They have card swipe access and can get into the editing rooms 24/7. Here, we decided to put the "editing station" (the Mac laptop, plus an external hard drive Clark brought) in our apartment, so students have been here at all
hours. I trust them enough to leave them alone in the apt., and often do once I know all is well, but I have to be there to let them in. Since this is the first time doing this for most of the students, I hang around as long as necessary to be sure everything is up and running OK. For some, that's a few minutes. For others I stay just about the whole time.

One thing we do is eat. We take all our guests to Trattoria da Ezio, where Mirella (shown here) hand makes the pasta every day. Note the bottle of olive oil on the table: it's made from the olives from their grove of 500 trees. I think I've provided this link to a demo of her cooking before. We also saw to it that they got some "walking pizza" (as opposed to the type in a plate that you sit to eat), as well as gelato.

I'll close with a brief portion of a flute performance. The gentleman is Prof. Antonio Zampa. He teaches "Modern Italy" to our students. Each semester he and a few friends get together and give a concert for our students. Since I know Diane is a regular reader, I decided to provide this flute duet out of the 20 or so numbers I could have chosen.

You may or may not be aware that Italy will have elections April 13 and 14th. There's a lot of news about candidates and lots of adverting. I haven't seen any TV ads yet, but tons of print, and especially posters and billboards. Here is a sample of three of them This first is for Walter Veltroni, of the Partito Democratico party. The ad says, "Don't change governments. Change Italy."

It's worth noting that the cost of everything seems to be rising here. Gasoline in Italy now sells for about $7.30 per gallon.

Pier Ferdinando Casini is the UDC candidate - Unione di Democratici Cristiani. He's from Bologna. This poster says, "It's time to help families."

Speaking of families, here's an interesting news story: pollution is evidently causing male fertility to decline in Italy.






I heard someone joke on TV that Silvio Berlusconi's posters don't have his picture because it might scare the pigeons. It confused me because it looked as if he was being crossed out, but it's supposed to be someone marking a ballot in favor. The poster says, "The left has brought the nation to its knees. Rise up, Italy." Berlusconi is part of "Forza Italia."

If you're really interested in the Italian elections, here's a detailed explanation.

BUT, that's not what interests me most. Let's talk about TV: The Top 10 rated shows for the week of February 26 were:

1. Sanremo Music Festival: more than 9 million viewers and a 35 percent share
2. Stricia la Notizia (mentioned before - news satire)
3. I cesaroni (mentioned before - extended family comedy)
4. Don Matteo 6 - a drama/comedy about a priest and his friend a policeman
5. Usual suspects (mentioned before - game show "identity")
6. Amici - a kind of Big Brother meets Idol - groups live together ad compete against one another
7. I migliori anni (The Best Years) - variety show where decades compete to be voted "the best years" - music, dance, fashion, movies, etc
8. Heredity (game show mentioned earlier)
9. Big Brother
10. The highest rated US program, "House" (here called Dr. House)

We lived in Slovenia in 1995, Macerata in 2002, Rome/Florence 2005 and this weekend was the first time I ever had any Italian relatives visit me. My cousin Cetta and her husband drove down from Bologna with my brother on Saturday and left today (Sunday). We went out to dinner Saturday night but came back to the apartment for dessert Kim had made. Sunday after church, Kim had an extravagant meal, complete with Profiterol for dessert. Mmmmmm.

Part 3 of Bologna

I think I have the problem figured out....

I couldn't get my Bologna report to post. I think the reason is that the video of the meridian line was too long. So this is the 3rd of 3 posts about our trip to Bologna. It will make the most sense if you scroll down 3 posts, read that one, then read up.

The church is probably best known, however, for "La Meridiana," the astronomical clock. A hole in the ceiling allows light to come in twice a year, on the equinoxes, and it lights a meridian line along the floor. It's quite fascinating and I encourage you to read the link provided. Perhaps because of the mathematical/scientific implication of the meridian, in recent years the church has put Foucault's Pendulum in one of the side chapels, thus further demonstrating the rotation of the Earth.

One of the interesting facts Cetta told us was about the statue of Neptune in the square. Lots of Italian cities have Neptune. This picture is not very detailed, but Maserati actually based their logo on the trident of this particular Neptune. The statue caused a little controversy a few hundred years ago due to his nudity. Some wanted to put bronze underwear on him. Unmentioned by any of the links provided is the fact that, from this particular angle, the statue's left hand actually appears to be his "maleness," making him look quite well endowed indeed.

We made an afternoon trip up the hill to San Luca, the church that sits on a hill above Bologna. The city has the longest continuous portico in the world (over 5 miles, I believe), and you can walk up to San Luca from the center of town. A lot of students do it after a successful exam score. We hadn't taken a test so we drove up. In any event, it was a cloudy day so panorama shots weren't very good. Here's a shot of us Cetta took, including another cousin, Maria Nina, who we met up with at the church.


After we came down the hill, we went to visit my aunt and uncle, Cetta's parents. Zio Nini is a retired head of the police.

In Italy, there are two police forces: "polizia," the locals, and carabinieri, the military police. My uncle was the latter, and achieved quite a high post. With only a fifth grade formal education, he surpassed most of the members of his class and finished 13th of 180. He is now a Knight of the Order of Merit of the Republic. He has certificates from three different heads of state on his wall. His question to me was, "do you know who I used to be?" I do, and he had quite an impressive career. He is largely responsible for the fact that so many members of my family are in Bologna rather than Sicily - he personally found them work and got them relocated.

He is married to my Zia Maria - my mom's younger sister. She and my mom are two peas in a pod. After having breakfast at Cetta's, we went to their house. My aunt asked what I wanted and I told her nothing, that we had already had breakfast. She asked again and again until I said I'd have coffee. Zio and Zia are in their 80s and have had some health problems, so they don't get out as much as they used to. On our first visit to Italy in 1995, Nicole was with my uncle constantly, sitting in his lap, holding his hand, etc.

I absolutely had to include this picture, even if you can't see the details. I'll explain. I took this picture just outside the Bologna train station. The sign says "Do not park bicycles here."

Jack walked us back to the train station, where we bought tickets to come back on the 3:29 p.m. train. Most trains really do run on time, but it happens ours was running about 40 minuted behind. We had lots of time to sit in the train station. The waiting room has a memorial to the dozens of victims of a 1980 terrorist bombing at the station, complete with a piece of wall and floor that still show the damage.

Kim and Jack just saw this side road and thought it looked characteristic, so I took a picture - nothing more to say about it, really.

Part2 of Bologna post



The piazza is packed in nicer weather (it was about 40 degrees and overcast) day and night. The square is dominated by the church of San Petronio, the fifth largest church in the world, according to Cetta (digression - before we came, she did a bunch of research and had printed out notes to be able to serve as a knowledgeable guide). The church was to be in the shape of a cross, but the construction of the two "arms" extending out was stopped by Rome, because it would have made the church larger than St. Peter's.

I'm having trouble getting my post about Bologna to publish. I got it to publish text, so now I'll publish "chunks"


Kim and I made a two-day excursion to Bologna. We left Macerata on the 6:29 a.m. train to Civitanova, where we had to wait 43 minutes for our connection. Our train got into Bologna just after 10:30 a.m. (what would be a 2 1/2 hour drive ends up 4 hours by train). A digression about the cost: we paid 19 Euros each to go to Bologna and 22 to return. There was a promotion to get people through Civitanova, I guess, and so that was discounted. You know, I just pay what they tell me.
In Bologna we met up with family. The picture shows my cousin Nico (who I haven't seen since 1972), Kim, my cousin Cetta and my brother Jack.
Bologna is well-known, among Italians and Americans, as a real city for foodies. I'm standing in front of Tamburini, a well-known and oft-visited shop with fresh pastas, meats and cheeses. Several US public TV cooking shows have visited, as well as Lynn Rosetto Kaspar, host of "The Splendid Table" on public radio and author of the definitive Emiglia Romagna regional cookbook of the same name. As you might expect we ate in Bologna. For lunch, Cetta took us to lunch at Trattoria del Rosso, a good place with traditional regional foods. For appetizer we got crescentine, a sort of fried bread that is served with all sorts of accompaniments. We had mortadella, sausage, cheese (if you get it for dessert, you can get it with Nutella). For dinner, Cetta and her husband Stefano took us to Ristorante Merlo, more upscale than where we went for lunch but also a good restaurant with an excellent offering of authentic regional food. As always, I wanted authentic local food, so I opted for the tortellini in a butter and sage sauce.

Don't you think Stefano looks like the old actor James Coco (he died in '87 - you younger readers won't remember him)? Cetta and Stefano are the ones I referred to in an earlier post, who visited the US and commented on the lack of gates/outer doors. She told me when she read my blog, she knew I was talking about them and told Stefano "he's talking about us!" Cetta walked us around the center of Bologna, dominated by Piazza Maggiore.

Yesterday's weather was fantastic. After church we just walked around for a while enjoying it. Later in the afternoon I just sat in a piazza, smoked a cigar and watched people for about an hour.

We decided to go to church at Santa Maria delle Vergini, the church 2 kilometers from town that we visited but it was closed last time we walked out there. The church is from the 16th century, but that's not what struck me most. We've seen plenty of centuries-old churches. What I noticed was how contemporary mass was. I could've been back at my home parish. Before mass, a woman came up to us asking if we'd help with readings. Back home, Kim is often mass coordinator and has to recruit volunteers to assist with the service (although lectors are predetermined). Second, there was a youth choir, accompanied by guitars. Third, the priest took his hand-held wireless mic and came out to the congregation to deliver the homily. The parish supports a mission in the Congo. Finally, when mass ended people hung around in the church talking.

This might be a good opportunity to make some observations about churches and religion. Standard disclaimer applies: these are based on my limited experiences.

• Inside the walls in Macerata, there are at least a half-dozen churches. A couple are not open. One is still undergoing reconstruction due to major earthquake damage more than a decade ago. Another I'm not sure about. Outside the walls there are more churches of varying sizes. Interesting that some are located so close to each other.
  
• I am told regular church attendance is down but most people still claim to be Catholic. You will often see people make the sign of the cross as they walk past a church.
  
• There is also no shortage of crucifixes, religious artwork or other outward signs. You'll not only find them in people's homes, but also in shops and restaurants.
  
• The confluence of religion and politics is no less complicated here than in the US. Some politicians are vocally pro-church, but just as many are anti. The majority try to remain silent. History here is much more complicated. Many parts of the country were once part of the State of the Church and only were secularized when Napoleon conquered most of the country. The story of the ups and downs of the church/state relationship of the last 200 years are far too complicated to recount here (and I know I wouldn't do it justice), but let it suffice to say that it has swung from all church property confiscated to declaration of Catholicism as the official state religion in 1929, and all gradations in between.
  
• Not sure how churches here survive. As I see the collection basket passed, many people put nothing in, and the majority of those who do put in only coins - no paper. Kim and I wonder if they make larger contributions more directly.
• A TV news story last night speculated on the prospects of sainthood for Padre Pio. Interestingly, just today the NY Times has an op ed piece on the procedure, and how the Vatican needs to be cautious and purposeful. A note to my non-Catholic friends: we do NOT pray TO saints (or are not supposed to). Their lives are examples for us, and we may ask for them to intercede on our behalf, just as a child might ask a sibling to help convince a parent to do something the child wants.
  
• There's a pretty neat video produced for fallen-away Catholics. The church has taken a lot of hits for all the bad things. A nice reminder of some of the good.
  

The Sanremo Music Festival concluded Saturday night. The favorite came in second. The winners were Gio di Tonno and Lola Ponce. One more word about the runner-up, Anna Tatangelo. She's only 21 and has made 5 appearances at Sanremo. She also said that she will make guest appearances at Michael Bolton concerts (he sang a duet with her at Sanremo).

• We are now on break. One student has remained in Macerata for the week. The rest have taken off all over Europe: Ireland, Belgium, France, Greece...oh, yeah - one or two are traveling around Italy, too. Kim and I are just taking a one-day trip to Bologna next week.
  
• Tonight is the final night of the Sanremo Music Festival. Last night on national TV they crowned the "youth" competition winners. Youth includes acts with up to 32 year olds, new to the festival. The winner was Sonohra, a 25 and 21-year-old brother duo.
  
• They have the video of international guest Leona Lewis from last night, but not the duet by Ben Harper and Italian Jovanotti. Want to see the group I think is the most "distinctive"? Frank Head is their name.
  
• While we're on TV, a note about a daytime show on Rai 1, the main state channel. I generally eat lunch at home (across a courtyard). At noon 6 days a week is La Prova Del Cuoco, a cooking show that Kim and I watch. I think the host looks like Sarah Jessica Parker. Those of you inclined to watch cooking shows can watch segments by clicking. Lots of different segments, including a contest between the Red Team (Tomato) and the Green Team (Pepper).
  
• Kim made burek. She copied Dragana's recipe but made meat filling rather than cheese. A great first effort. She'll be an expert soon.
• The Euro exceeded $1.50 for the first time ever on Tuesday. When we were here in 2002 it was dead even. In 2005 it was $1.23 per Euro. I'll refrain from making a political comment.
• In an unscientific survey by the local paper, 93 percent of the respondents favored chemical castration for pedophiles. (not exactly sure why I included that story after one about the exchange rate - maybe I am making a political comment)
  
• Weather report: it has been very dry - almost drought conditions. Today there is an unbelievably strong wind.
  
• Top 3-rated TV shows in Italy the week of Feb. 8:
• Third: I Cesaroni, a kind of comedy about an extended family. The husband and wife had been engaged, separated, then refound each other and married. Their five grown kids and their loves make up the series. Based on a Spanish show, the program airs on Canale 5, Berlusconi's main channel.
  
• Second: L'Eredita, a game show I commented on earlier. It airs six nights per week on Rai 1, the main state channel.
• And in first, as mentioned before, Stricia la Notizia, the news spoof/parody/Daily Show type program, also on Canale 5.