Today is Andy’s last day in Italy.  She leaves for home early tomorrow morning.  I will be alone in the apartment until the evening of the 24th when Evan arrives from his visit to Paris with his girlfriend, Cassie.  

Here is an example of the craziness of Italian bureaucracy:  Andy withdrew all of her funds from the Post Office bank last week and the next day, she went to officially close the account. The account has cost her 4€ a month service fee.  Since it had been paid for December, she owed nothing.  The first day she went to close it, they told her it couldn’t be closed until after Janaury 1st.  She told them she was leaving December 20th, so that was an impossibility.  So,they told her to come back in a day or two to fill out the paperwork.  She did that…twice before the paperwork was filled out to their satisfaction.  All of this hassle to close a bank account that didn’t have one thin dime left in it.  We figured that if she had just left without properly closing the account, they might have figured out in three or four months that it had ‘closed’ itself!  More likely, she would have come back to Italy one day and Immigrations would have dunned her 4€ a month for her time away…owed to the Post Office bank!  They must love their official paperwork even more than we do in America!   That’s all I know for today.

Yesterday, I met my friend, Francesca at her town of Frascati…about a 30 minute train ride from Rome.  She gave me a walking tour of the town.  Frascati is famous for its wine production, the second oldest train station in Italy and the first public school in Italy.  There is a beautiful cathedral in Frascati called St. Peter’s.  As it is a cathedral, it has a Jubilee Door which was open.  So I can say, truthfully, that I went thru the Jubilee Door at St. Peter’s…just not the one in Rome!  I didn’t have to stand in line for two hours to go thru the one in Frascati either.  Inside this cathedral, they had a beautiful nativity scene, made to look like the palace in Bomarzo where I went for the Quilt show in the summer!   We had a cappuccino and then went to pick up her sister and a friend and we went to Castle Gondolfo Lake to have lunch and were joined by another lady.  A delicious lunch and then we walked by the lake.  It was used for the Olympic water skiing and canoeing races.  Across the lake is Castel Gondolfo,where the Pope has his summer residence, and I think where Pope Benedict lives full time.  You can easily see the church and an astronomical observatory from across the lake. Then we went to Castel Gondolfo for a walk around.  It is a walled town, with stores, restaurants, a church and beautiful vistas.  On clear days you can srrmSt. Peter’s in Rome from Here and Frascati.  We had a wonderful day and it was so nice seeing the friends I won’t see again until next year when I visit.  That it for this adventure.

I thought about waiting until I got home in January to send this but if I did, I know someone would say, ‘Oh I wish I had known…I gave away my last 20 years worth of clothes just last week!  They would have been perfect!’

So, if any of you decide to clean out your closets between Christmas and New Years….or up until May…here is what I need. My quilt group here in Rome supports the premature infant department for the Children’s Hospital in Rome.  We sew and knit baby blankets and make little smocks for the babies.  If you have any 100% cotton shirts, skirts or dresses  in soft colors  or sweet prints that you are going to donate…may I have a few?  I can make three smocks out of a shirt with a breast pocket or four if no pocket.  Any fabric left over will be used for the backs of cat themed Potholders I’m going to make and donate to the cat shelter here in Rome for them to sell to raise funds for the  famous Cats of Rome.  Just let me know if you have any of these cotton clothes and I’ll come pick them up after I get home in January.  I’ll bring all of the finished items when I come to VISIT next fall.  For TWO weeks!

Thanks so much.  Love from me and the preemies at Baby Jesus Hospital…it’s real name…Ospidale di Bambino Gesu.

My friend, Lisa Chambers has a blog called.   searchingforbernini.com

Check it out….you will love her pictures and writings!

Also, my friend, Liz Knight has a blog called  romeifyouwantto.com

Hers is fun and informative.  Sign up for both.

We live on a very touristy street two blocks from St. Peter’s.  I want to introduce you to some of the people I have become friend with over the year.  First, there is an older gentleman who runs a stationery shop.  He had a sweet grey tabby cat named Tigre…Italian for Tiger.  She was old, also and slept most of the time on the counter.  We stopped in the shop every time we passed to give Tigre a few rubs..which she greatly enjoyed.  In August, the shop was closed for renovations and when it reopened, I went in to see Tigre…and knew by the look on the old gentleman’s face that Tigre was no long with us.  We cried a bit together and I made a donation at Torre Argentina in Tigre’s memory.  She was about 18 and a joy to his life.

Then there is Ted and the Pizza Man.  The Pizza Man feeds a seagull named Ted every day.  Usually, Ted sits on a car in front of the pizza shop and Pizza Man throws pieces of fresh pizza to him.  One day, I asked about Ted and the Pizza Man point upward.  I keep looking out at the buildings and sky, but no,Ted. The man keep pointing upward…and finally I saw two little webbed feet thru the awning in front of the shop.  Ted was on top of the awning.  Pizza Man calls me Mama when we greet each other.  

Then there is Crazy Lady.  She has the best grilled chicken and toasted bread in town.  Andy discovered her one Wednesday when I was at Quilting.  Being two blocks from the Vatican and in a high tourist area one would assume they take credit cards.  Andy’s dinner came to 25 euros and she only had a credit card and no cash!  Crazy Lady had a fit and finally sent her cook to escort Andy home so she could get the cash. He kept telling Andy, ‘She’s crazy, she’s crazy’.  Another time we went together and she brought out a salad that was on a platter…enough for six people and stood there hounding us to eat it.  She wears the dirtiest tee shirt…looks like she wipes her hands on it while cooking all day….except she doesn’t do the cooking.  We do love her Rosemary chicken and the bread.  To make the bread…cut thick slices of crusty bread.  Olive oil, crushed garlic (lots of it), oregano and salt.  Toast under broiler.    That’s all for today.

after the 100 Presipios, we went to the Ara Pacis to see an exhibit of Toulouse Lautrec…one of my favorites. There were about 170 pieces of his art, from posters, illustrations, playbill covers, and sketches. In addition to his works, there were photos and films from the early 1900’s that depicted life in Paris during the Belle Époque. It is sad to think that he died at the age of only 36. This exhibit will continue until 8 May 2016 and should be seen if you come to Rome.  

December 9100 Presepi…we went to see an exhibit of 100 Nativity Scenes. Some were the 700 year old Sicilian style and some were very modern. Artists from all over the world had made Nativity scenes…or Presepi for this 40th International exhibition. The ancient Sicilian style is a scene of an entire village with all of the inhabitants going about their daily lives. Rocks, caves, houses, hills, homes, shops, vegetation, people, animals and tucked somewhere in the diorama is a nativity scene with Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, Angels, shepherds, and wise men. The detail is as exacting as it can be made, and many parts are automated now. Running water, flickering fires and the people moving. Women washing clothes, weaving, spinning, knitting, cooking, rolling dough, bouncing babies. Men herding livestock, fishing, cutting wood, shoeing horses, cooking pizzas. We have seen some of these that are huge. In this exhibit they were smaller, but still with incredible detail.The more modern ones were made of Terra cotta, bread dough, wood, glass, pottery, beeswax, fabric and straw, cork, paper and cardboard, bamboo, wire, feathers, steel, stained glass, wool, corn stalks, felt, a painted ostrich egg, lace, pasta and rice, River sand, foil, clay, shells, spun sugar. One was made from parts of a Fiat 500 with spark plugs, valves and a muffler. One was made from ping pong paddles, balls and net. A very modern one was made of glass and crystals. One of the tiniest was made with seeds and spices. There is also a large, life sized one in St. Peter’s Square. This was a wonderful exhibit…and my favorite are the very detailed Sicilian style ones.  

December 2Last week, we were guests of Massimo, our storyteller from the Courtesan Tour. This tour was at night and was billed as a Torture Tour…I thought it was called a Ghost Tour but I was wrong. Our first stop was in Campo di Fiori…Field of Flowers is the translation. In the middle of the square is a statue in memory of a man named Bruno. He was a contemporary of Galileo and was charged with heresy for saying the Sun didn’t revolve around Earth and Earth was not the center of the universe. He also debunked the Virgin birth and said Jesus wasn’t God on Earth. So, the church threw him in prison, tortured him and then burned him alive at the stake right on the very spot of his statue. The church used the ‘rack’ to stretch you, a device to stretch your arms, had people dig their own graves and put them in and covered them up, beheadings etc. We learned about a woman from Sicily who learned the art of poisoning from her mother. This witch would mix up the poison and bottle it for sale, or for a lower price she would just sell you the written recipe. One woman didn’t get the recipe quite right and her husband figured out he was being poisoned and she was arrested and tried as a witch. But not before she had dispatched many husbands to their just reward. We learned that there are over 500 madonnelas around town. These are little altars or pictures of the Madonna that were lighted with candles or torches in the evenings and were the forerunners of street lights. The lights helped to keep the streets safer as well as having Mother Mary keeping an eye on things. I had always thought that they were little devotional altars and wondered why they needed two or three every block,when there were four churches on every corner..but they were more for safety than devotion. We learned about a woman who was the mistress of a Pope and when he died she stole everything she could get her hands on…and she and her coaches still travel across one of the bridges every night…and she is a ghost now. We then heard the story of Beatrice Cinci. She caused the biggest scandal in all of Europe at the time. She had an older brother and a younger brother, a mother and father. Her father was a good friend of the Pope. He was, however, not a good father. He molested Beatrice for years. She wrote letters asking people to help her and finally word got to the Pope of this situation and he told Mr. Cinci that he had to stop molesting his daughter…in Rome!! So the family moved to the villa in the countryside. One night, Beatrice killed her father, wrapped him in a sheet and threw him over a balcony to the rocks below. She failed to burn the bloody sheet. She was thrown in prison, tried and sentenced to be executed. The Pope knew if the entire family died off, the church would inherit their wealth, so he had Beatrice, her mother and older brother beheaded on the Angel Bridge in front of Castel SanAngelo. He spared the 14 year old brother’s life, but had him castrated. So no more Cinci family and the church inherited. It is said that 20,000 people witnessed the beheadings with the heads impaled on stakes across the bridge. Google Beatrice Cinci…there are hundreds of paintings, books, stories and even modern day movies made about her. Different spots around town were the sites for various tortures and depending on your favorite form of torture entertainment, you could go to the sites and see hangings, or burning at the stake, or live burials or beheadings. Just a typical,Saturday night in Rome in the Middle Ages and even up until 1870. A great tour!

December 2Last week, we were guests of Massimo, our storyteller from the Courtesan Tour. This tour was at night and was billed as a Torture Tour…I thought it was called a Ghost Tour but I was wrong. Our first stop was in Campo di Fiori…Field of Flowers is the translation. In the middle of the square is a statue in memory of a man named Bruno. He was a contemporary of Galileo and was charged with heresy for saying the Sun didn’t revolve around Earth and Earth was not the center of the universe. He also debunked the Virgin birth and said Jesus wasn’t God on Earth. So, the church threw him in prison, tortured him and then burned him alive at the stake right on the very spot of his statue. The church used the ‘rack’ to stretch you, a device to stretch your arms, had people dig their own graves and put them in and covered them up, beheadings etc. We learned about a woman from Sicily who learned the art of poisoning from her mother. This witch would mix up the poison and bottle it for sale, or for a lower price she would just sell you the written recipe. One woman didn’t get the recipe quite right and her husband figured out he was being poisoned and she was arrested and tried as a witch. But not before she had dispatched many husbands to their just reward. We learned that there are over 500 madonnelas around town. These are little altars or pictures of the Madonna that were lighted with candles or torches in the evenings and were the forerunners of street lights. The lights helped to keep the streets safer as well as having Mother Mary keeping an eye on things. I had always thought that they were little devotional altars and wondered why they needed two or three every block,when there were four churches on every corner..but they were more for safety than devotion. We learned about a woman who was the mistress of a Pope and when he died she stole everything she could get her hands on…and she and her coaches still travel across one of the bridges every night…and she is a ghost now. We then heard the story of Beatrice Cinci. She caused the biggest scandal in all of Europe at the time. She had an older brother and a younger brother, a mother and father. Her father was a good friend of the Pope. He was, however, not a good father. He molested Beatrice for years. She wrote letters asking people to help her and finally word got to the Pope of this situation and he told Mr. Cinci that he had to stop molesting his daughter…in Rome!! So the family moved to the villa in the countryside. One night, Beatrice killed her father, wrapped him in a sheet and threw him over a balcony to the rocks below. She failed to burn the bloody sheet. She was thrown in prison, tried and sentenced to be executed. The Pope knew if the entire family died off, the church would inherit their wealth, so he had Beatrice, her mother and older brother beheaded on the Angel Bridge in front of Castel SanAngelo. He spared the 14 year old brother’s life, but had him castrated. So no more Cinci family and the church inherited. It is said that 20,000 people witnessed the beheadings with the heads impaled on stakes across the bridge. Google Beatrice Cinci…there are hundreds of paintings, books, stories and even modern day movies made about her. Different spots around town were the sites for various tortures and depending on your favorite form of torture entertainment, you could go to the sites and see hangings, or burning at the stake, or live burials or beheadings. Just a typical,Saturday night in Rome in the Middle Ages and even up until 1870. A great tour!

Thanksgiving 2015 in Romelast night we went to a Thanksgiving feast at the home of the people who run our American Leasing company. There must have been 50-60 people there and they were mostly Italians. Of course, Italians don’t celebrate our Thanksgiving, but they sure can cook for one! Our hosts cooked a 45 pound turkey to perfection and everyone brought a side dish. I have never seen so much wonderful food on a table before. Everything from salad, vegetable dishes, dressing, cranberry sauce…one homemade, white sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, meatballs, tiny pizzas. And there must have been 20+ desserts…pecan pie, pumpkin pie, chocolate cakes, tiramisu and things that I don’t know what they were…just delicious looking. Most of these people didn’t speak English, so I had fun speaking Italian with several people. One woman knew a little English and she was a hoot. She told us in Italian and English that 40 million turkeys are consumed in America each Thanksgiving. Then she proceeded to tell us that JFK was the first president to pardon the Thanksgiving turkey, so the next week they killed him. Then she said the pilgrims weren’t really thanking God for the harvest, they were thanking God for being able to steal the Native American’s land! Hey, nothing PC about that woman! My favorite cartoon this year was of a bunch of turkeys standing around and one was on stilts. Another turkey says: “You know, he may be on to something…they don’t eat flamingos for Thanksgiving.” All in all, it was a wonderful time to be with new friends, celebrating our holiday so far from home and old friends and family. And to reflect on what we are all thankful for.