Giazza (Ljetzan), Verona

Christmas Day was rainy and cold, but I couldn't pass the opportunity to travel higher up in the Lessini mountains.  Giazza, is a small village in the Lessinia, the mountainous (and hilly) region covering areas of the provinces of Verona (primarily), Vicenza, and Trento. The Lessinia was a frequent destination on weekends when I was a child since, on my mother's side, the family is originally from that general area.

We headed up to Giazza travelling from the house in Tregnago where we spent Christmas day, through the towns of Cogollo (well known for its wrought iron artisans), Badia Calavena,  Sant'Andrea, Selva di Progno.  Giazza is at a relatively high elevation of m.750 and, particularly in the summertime, it is still a quick (45 minutes from downtown Verona) getaway from the heat of the city.  Giazza has a particular bavarian look and feel.  It is the last remaining "cimbra" locality in the Lessinia that preserves a form of high-german medioeval language that originates from the occupation of the lands by the Cimbri, Bavarian or Tirolean colonists that established their residence in Lessinia in 1287.  Nice museum in the village by the church. Other towns of cimbran origin are Erbezzo, Bosco Chiesanuova, Cerro Veronese, Velo Veronese, Roverè Veronese, San Mauro di Saline, Badia Calavena, and Selva di Progno.

Here is a link with pictures of Giazza (Ljetzan in cimbro) at a different time of the year.
http://www.magicoveneto.it/Lessini/SelvaDiProgno/Giazza_Foto01.htm

The weather on Christmas day was not the best, it was raining, and the 30 cm. of snow that had fallen few days earlier had already melted.  We stopped at an albergo bar (in the picture), and were glad to drink our warm cappuccino and play a couple of card games of "briscola".  Pictures of the mountain above the albergo shows the cross on its top.

Had we taken a different turn in Sant'Andrea, and had we continued up the mountain we would have reached Bolca, a location frequented by visitors for its museum rich in local finds of fossils from a distant past when the area was covered by the warm waters of a sea rich of tropical plants and animals.

What was it like being there?  It was nice seeing the familiar mountains, but would have liked to travel a bit farther and reach the snow across a different route.  But dark and cold weather make travevelling the steep mountain roads a dangerous undertaking, and we headed back down to our warm house and put more wood in the stove.

Saturday Night The Centrocitta' Is Alive!

Corso Porta Borsari has changed a great deal over the years. I am not sure when this happened but the area from Piazza Erbe to Porta Borsari is now a pedestrian only area and has become a very high end shopping district competing with or exceeding the likes of Via Mazzini. A great deal of custom jewelers and designer shops of international caliber line the cobblestone way.

Side streets hide well stocked bookstores, nice shops and restaurants. At the end of one of these side streets clearly a church (that I am not familiar with) has been turned into a pizzeria! This is the second one I know of in Verona ... what is happening??

Just like any Saturday night, a lot of people are out this Saturday night. They are sporting their best wears, they are strolling, and shopping, and chatting, and laughing, and eating, and shopping, and chatting, and shopping... The Melegatti store is crouded, the lights are shining on the Bauli Christmas tree.

Looking up you can see the interior of luxury apartments above the fashionable stores, their ceilings adorned with vibrant frescoes. This is the old rich Verona, this is where the younger population has come to retake the family prestige, living in their patrician Verona.

Via Oberman cosses over and connects Piazza Bra to Porta Borsari and continues onto Ponte Garibaldi, one of the newer bridges over the river Adige. Via Oberman, just as I remember it from years ago, houses quality art galleries and some nice eating places. The Astra movie theater is still in Via Oberman, I remember going to the movies there with my friends as a teenager in the 70s.

With most, but not all of the market booths from St. Lucy gone, an ice skating ring has been set up in Piazza Bra and a younger croud has clearly taken over the place. Lights, lights, lights, and then more lights. On Christmas trees, on buildings lit up in well designed compositions of color, lights strung over streets, lights everywhere. And then the Star, the overwhelming structure visible from the entire Piazza.

With snow on the ground and breaths steaming, it does not feel cold at all.

Gore, Oh Al Gore, Where Art Thou Gore...?

Bad news from the homefront. The worst snow storm in decades has halted air travel for the NE and Mid Atlantic regions in the U.S. Jim will not be able to join me in this dreamy holiday time. So sad for him, he was so looking forward to returning to Verona, and I was so looking forward to sharing this great time with him.

Jim spend 4 1/2 years of his early US Army life in Verona, Verona is where we met, dated, married and started our family 31 years ago. We will spend Christmas apart, the first time in 31 years but we will, like many other times in our lives together, make the best of what is handed to us. We will make lemonade! or like Margherita says, we will make limoncello!

It started snowing once again this morning over most of northern Italy, including Verona. Time to head out again this afternoon to the city center to take a closer look of Teatro Romano, Santo Stefano, Castel San Pietro, Ponte Pietra, and Juliet's Balcony.

Gore, oh Al Gore, where art thou? Warm it is not....

There is so much to see, and to walk in the snow it will be a treat. The Teatro Romano was built in 100 B.C., 2100 years ago!!! What does that mean to the people that walk by every day on their way to work or school? What does it mean to live in the houses hanging on the rocky cliffs behing the Teatro? How does living your life everyday in the proximity of such ancient testimony of human art impact people's lives? How has it impacted my life? Ponte Pietra, Castel San Pietro, Teatro Romano...they were daily sights for me on my way to school...

A few steps to the left of Teatro Romano, a narrow set of steps starts off Via Castel San Pietro, a most romantic setting for young lovers. The winding steep marble steps take you all the way to Castel San Pietro right above Teatro Romano. I didn't walk up the steps today, it was still snowing hard, and I didn't think it was a great idea. But I have walked the winding steps many times in my younger years, and the reward is always great. The view of Verona from Castel San Pietro is breathtaking, the red roofs, the Adige river, the churches and their steeples, the walls of Castelvecchio....

Time to cross Ponte Pietra, my favorite and the oldest bridge over the river Adige. I met a lone young woman, couldn't have been more than 21 years old, from Australia, who is spending her summer vacation in Europe. I couldn't help thinking she was my daughter's age, wasn't her mother worried for her daughter a world away travelling alone? She had missed Juliet's balcony in Via Cappello, so I helped her with directions. I headed there as well later and I met up with her again. Glad she could see it, no tourist should ever leave Verona without seeing the balcony.

At Juliet's house I wrote my love message on my business card....and left it on the wall with million others.

Al Gore, it is still snowing and it seems the entire world is covered in a blanket of white stuff!