Ciao tutti! This week has been pretty packed since I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'M LEAVING ITALY IN LESS THAN 2 MONTHS! So I'm trying to pack in as much as I can before I have to leave. We had another bank holiday on 1st May for Festa di Lavoro, equivalent to labour day. Unfortunately I hadn't realised that this meant University was closed on the monday as well as the tuesday this week, so I turned up for an 8:30am lecture which wasn't on. To celebrate the occasion there were musical performances in the centre and by the Duomo. I arrived in time to hear the most beautiful male operatic voice, but since there was such a big crowd all I could see were the accompanying children's choir. However my friend Anna went round to take a look at the singer and it wasn't a man at all but a 13 year old boy! Absolutely blown away. We stayed a bit longer and watch one of the old girls do a solo. She sang "Distratto" which was sung by the winner of 2011 X-Factor Italia Francesca Michelin (video posted below). I now absolutely love this song, and the girl I saw singing it was probably no more than 15 and had such a great voice.
There was meant to be a couple of bands playing and a DJ set that evening in the main square, however I have now learnt that slightest drip of rain will caused any outdoor event to be immediately cancelled without notice. Therefore the rain at 4pm meant that the event at 8pm was cancelled, LAME! Luckily we had a good evening of aperitivo, gin&tonics and free shots. Me and Ellie also found an English styled bar called Molo round the corner from Maracaibo, and they serve Magners! First bar in Italy I've seen to sell cider, happy days!
Wednesday evening we went to watch the sbandieratori - flag throwers - practise for the big medieval competition at the end of May called the Palio. For those Hilary Duff fans out there, It reminded me of the military drill competition in the film "Cadet Kelly" but with flags instead of rifles. There was also drumming and trumpet playing accompanying them. It was so crazy to watch them, sometimes they had 3 or 4 flags at a time catching it in the leg and then throwing it back in the air. I cannot wait to see the actual competition if the practising was anything to go by.
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| Sbandieratori da San Giorgio |
Here's a video of one of the teams practising in the square.
Thursday we went to Piazza Ariostea for ... a spanish tradition of bringing a couple of bottles and heading to the square to all drink together. I was a little unprepared so I had some of my friend’s wine called “la Sangue di Giuda” - yes that’s right the blood of Judas. Whats more it tasted lovely!
Mantova
On saturday I spent the day in Mantova with Kirsty and Alex. My housemate Grazia recommended it saying that If she could live anywhere in Italy that wasn’t on the coast she would choose Mantova, and I can completely understand why. It’s a lovely city, similar to Ferrara in terms of size and architecture, with three lakes surrounding the northern part of the city.
We visited the Palazzo Ducale which was well worth the small sum we had to pay to go in. We spent around an hour and half wandering around the lavish rooms of the Gonzaga palace. I particularly liked la Camera di Zodiaca with it’s beautiful ceiling painted with a motif of all the zodiac signs, the Sala dei fiumi which had these ornate alcoves at either end of the room which seem to be made out of shells and such (much more impressive than my description) and la Camera degli Sposi which have the most well preserved freschi (make sure you spot the court dwarf!) . The gardens were also particularly lovely especially at this time of year.
We also tried the traditional torta sbrisolana of Mantova which is a kind of nutty biscuity cake, so good with a cappuccino! We also tried some farinata di ceci, a kind of flat pancake made with chickpeas and fried. It’s traditionally made in the Liguria region but it was pretty good here too!
We went for a wander around Piazza Virgiliana which was constructed during the french occupation in 1797, and walked along the bank of the lake(s).
We went into three of the churches in Mantova. The Rotonda di San Lorenzo was quite special considering it was the oldest (built in the 11th century) and one of only a handful of rotunda - round - churches in Europe, another being St Chad’s in Shrewsbury. (I will have to visit when I get back home).
Then we visited the Duomo next to the Palazzo Ducale which was on the small side considering it was a cathedral. What I loved most was the fact that they happened to be getting ready for a wedding and I think the fact that people still use such a cathedral for weddings, christenings, funerals and so on makes the whole place even more beautiful.
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| Relic of Christ's blood |
Finally we saw the Basilica di Sant’Andrea, commissioned by the Gonzaga’s as they didn’t believe the Duomo was grand enough to house the relic of Christ’s blood. Admittedly the basilica is impressive, although it’s grandeur was marred slightly by the scaffolding inside, however I think that I preferred the other two churches to this one.
Palio Procession
So I said I saw them the teams practising for the Palio on wednesday, Saturday night it all kicked off with a huge procession. Each team marched out of the Duomo and towards their respective areas of the city. There are 8 teams in the Palio in Ferrara; 4 teams inside the city walls, San Benedetto (white-light blue), Santa Maria in Vado (yellow-violet), San Paolo (white-black), Santo Spirito (yellow-green), and 4 villages outside the walls, San Giacomo (yellow-blue), San Giorgio (yellow-red), San Giovanni (red-blue) and San Luca (red-green). I managed to get a few photos but my camera doesn’t work too well in the dark.
My team for my area is San Maria in Vado so I shall be cheering them on during the Palio.
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