All about Italian Trains Finding Your Train In every station in Italy there are posters (printed on yellow paper) of the usual schedules for Partenze (Departures) for that station. Find the time and train you are taking, and the column furthest to the right will show the platform (binario) that that train USUALLY departs from. 99% of … Continue reading Travelling by Train in Italy
Last weekend was the real start of the holiday season for Italians, even though shops and towns started decorating a few weeks ago. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception [of the Virgin Mary], a national holiday, falls on December 8th. These days, the holiday is mostly enjoyed as a long weekend and the start of … Continue reading Bridging the Holidays: Extra-Long Weekends in Italy
Many parts of Italy were severely bombed (by all sides) during WWII, but quite a few of the bombs landed without actually exploding. Some were buried in rubble and went undetected at the time, so every now and then they turn up when someone’s digging for construction or utilities. Today 55,000 people were evacuated from … Continue reading Relics of War
^ top cameretta a ponte in Ross’ room in Milan. Where the chair is at right, a desktop slides out, though Ross never used it that way. (This fuzzygraph is Ross’ early work when we got our first digital camera.) Living space is tight in Italian cities, which are often geographically constrained because built into, on top … Continue reading Making Room: Italian Stratagems for Living in Small Spaces
While many people dream of Italy, it seems that most can’t picture it outside the summer season. I’ve seen messages on the Lonely Planet boards asking: “Is it worthwhile to even go to Italy in winter?” Well, yes, it is, especially around the Christmas season. As elsewhere in the Christian world, this is Italy’s biggest … Continue reading Winter Holidays: A Good Time to Visit Italy
