Our Italian Odyssey: Part I

Preamble

October and November, 2018 we spent away from New Zealand and split time between California and Italy. There are two major early October events in the Bay Area I enjoy and have missed out on for several years and looked forward to attending this year, one musical and one cinematic.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is a glorious gift to San Francisco and music-lovers everywhere from the late philanthropist Warren Hellman, a friend of my sister Athena. His passion for bluegrass music led him to start a free festival in Golden gate Park, now three days and expanded beyond exclusively bluegrass. In its 18th year and funded by a trust from his will, they bring together an amazing array of live acts in a joyous atmosphere. I wanted to go to honor his memory as well as enjoy fine music from the likes of Mavis Staples and Alison Krauss.

HSBG 18 crowd at one of five stages

Mavis delivers

Alison fiddles

The other annual fall event is the Mill Valley Film Festival, now in its 41st year. Spread over eleven days, one can view a wide array of films large and small, domestic and foreign, studio and independent. They have a reputation for screening and sometimes debuting future Oscar nominees and winners, but they also show shorts, worthy foreign and documentary features hard to find otherwise. Part of the draw is to see and hear actors and directors talk about projects they feel strongly about. 

We managed to see eight film. Here is the list, ranked with a brief comment:

1. Roma- Beautiful, brilliant film by Alfonso Cuarón, for lovers of film, on Netflix but worth seeing in a theater if you can.
2. The Favourite- Historical bawdy comedy, three great female leads about an odd early 18th century period in British royalty under Queen Anne, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, with gorgeous sets and costumes. This article breaks down fact vs. fiction.
3. The Parting Glass- Very heart-felt and truthful personal story about a family dynamics dealing a death, from many people associated with HBO's True Blood (+ a great Ed Asner performance).
4. A Private War- A gritty bio-pic about war correspondent Marie Colman, starring Rosamund Pike.
   
5. The Lost City of the Monkey God- Fun adventure documentary about a group of would-be Indiana Joneses looking for a lost city in the jungles of Honduras.
6. Pity (Oiktos)- Odd, very black Greek comedy about a man addicted to the sympathetic treatment he gets when his wife is comatose.
7. Non-Fiction (Doubles vies)- Very talky, very French film (comedy?) from Olivier Assayas about the future of the publishing industry, the internet, and sex (I think).
8. Something is Happening (Il se passe quelque chose)- A promising directorial debut but a bit of a meandering journey through back-roads of Provence with a travel writer and a suicidal Eastern European widow.

Rosamund Pike and director Matthew Heineman of A Private War

Actors Denis O’Hare & Anna Paquin with director Stephen Moyer of The Parting Glass

Although we very much enjoyed the films we saw, there were some major organizational issues for the most anticipated and popular screenings. Due to obligations to big-money donors and industry insiders, as many as 50% (or more?) of the seats for certain films are set aside for them if they decide to come. The result was that some others who purchased tickets were not allowed in. We were fortunate that we made it in to Roma and A Private War in two pairs of the last seats, but many weren't. The process was unnecessarily confusing and aggravating, a surprise for a festival in its 41st year, and hopefully in will be improved by the 42nd.
We had another week between Fort Bragg and the Bay Area then flew to LA for a few days with our daughter and family before jetting off to Rome.

Rome

Why Rome and why Italy? Both are good questions, and the answer is a bit convoluted. Our dear friends the Blums from Mystic, CN told us last year they had successfully bid at a charity auction on a one-week stay at a villa in Manciano, a small hill town in southern Tuscany We were invited to join them at a convenient time. I identified a medical conference to attend mid-October in Rome, so we coordinated our schedules. Since we were going all the way to Italy, I figured why not tick a few unfulfilled boxes, specifically seeing Leonardo's Last Supper and going to the opera at La Scala in Milan. While were at it, several friends have recently visited Sicily, said it was tremendous and we should go, so it was added to a now four-week Italian itinerary: a week in Rome, a week in Tuscany, four days in Milan, and ten days in Sicily. (This is how my travel mind works.) 
It all sounds great, right? And it was, but not without some bumps along the way (to be further elucidated).
First, I will briefly discuss my Continuing Medical Conference, the 27th European Cardiology Conference, held by a group called OMICS International. I enrolled in February, 2018 but almost immediately I noticed something different about this group when someone with a foreign-sounding voice called me the next day from a Las Vegas phone number and asked what topic I was planning to present. I explained I was not going to be a speaker but only wanted to attend. I received a few more odd calls to my New Zealand work phone and began to worry that I would appear in Rome and be expected to give a Keynote address, perhaps living out that nightmare of public speaking but forgetting to put on my pants. 
I was not reassured when I received this email the day of the conference from "Evelyn Jones, London UK"(It was suggested that Ms. Jones used Google Translate on a bad day.):

Dear Dr. John Wallace,

We are glad to see your presence as Delegate for 27th European Cardiology Conference, October 22-24, 2018, Rome, Italy which was well-set to explore. 

  • Kindly collect Conference kit (Proceedings book and ID Badge with food coupons) between 08:30-09:00 AM on Day! it self. It is mandatory to be there during the morning session and complete your desk registration to confirm your participation.

• Your presence is essential for Group photograph session on October 22, 2018 (Day 1)

It’s our personal request- Please get back to us the very moment in case you find any inconvenience during the event of stay through mail:eurovardiology2018@gmail.com;eurocardiology@cardiologymeeting.comas we might not be available physically. Our prior apologies for any discomfort faced during the event.

The conference venue was the lovely Holiday Inn Roma Aurelia behind the McDonald's six miles east of central Rome. (It might as well been off the Interstate outside of Scranton, PA.)

I immediately noticed several unusual things:

1. The scheduled speakers outnumbered the attendees. 
2. Although I was not asked to speak, there was no clear chairperson, and when one of the scheduled speakers was asked to give opening remarks and an overview of the day, he declared "I know nothing about this, and I'm not going to do it!"
3. OMICS International was holding at least two other conferences concurrently, one on lung disease, the other on Magnetism and Magnetic Materials.

In fact, on Day Two I needed to replace my lost name tag and meal tickets, and the "coordinator" again assumed I was a Keynote Speaker. (I managed to snag this keepsake while she wasn't looking). 

Being an eternal optimist, I managed to get some educational value out of the 2 1/2 days. The speakers seemed quite sincere and some spoke about their life-long passions, such as the German professor talking about myocarditis. There was also the opportunity to watch a real-time telecast of a man in Norther Italy having his aortic valve replaced in about 25 minutes.

Image of real-time heart surgery on an unnamed Italian

I concluded this group's business model was to charge fees for publishing articles in on-line journals and for speaking at conferences, an increasingly common practice known pejoratively as predatory publishing. I think it was a bit of an ego trip for some, and for all a way to pad their Curriculum Vitae. It is also a multi-million dollar business run out of India. Had I bothered to research a bit on-line prior, I would have found confirmation in Wikipedia and Bloomberg Businessweek, recommended reading for those interested.
Oh, by the way, here is that mandatory Group photo with me in the back row.

The CME part of the trip concluded, it was back to Rome.

To me, this photo is emblematic of Rome. Called the Eternal City, in one view you see evidence of the last 2500 years of Western Civilization: Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, and the Present times, all heaped on top of one another. I have been lucky enough to visit Rome twice before, so I didn't feel the need to revisit many of the most iconic Roman sites, including the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, the Roman Forum, or the Colosseum. My plan was to explore more deeply the Trastevere neighborhood across the Tiber River from the main ancient sites. I have fond memories from our stay there in 1995, but here are some of the "bumps" I spoke about.
I ended up renting two apartments for the week in Rome. I originally rented an Air B&B in February, but less than three weeks before arriving, I got a 1 AM phone call in Italian saying that apartment was not available (no further explanation) with suggestions for some alternatives. In a bit of a panic, I booked a new apartment at the pre-paid no-refund rate. Within 12 hours it was clear that was not going to be suitable for the four of us (Fayne, the Blums, and me), so I booked a second place, but could not cancel the first.
Also, on Day Two the Italian version of global extreme weather patterns appeared. Personally, we were able to dodge the heaviest downpour, but I found out later other areas in the city experienced major flooding and hailstorms.

The Pantheon when we visited

The Pantheon a bit earlier (see news report)

We also spontaneously heard from residents of Italy and Rome how poorly essential city services were being run, including major problems with garbage collection. This was confirmed the following week with video of garbage-eating wild boars and rats foraging near the Vatican, of which we were blissfully unaware.

A wild boar frolicking in Rome

Despite all that, there were still plenty of visitors in the city, and innumerable fantastic places to visit, in Trastevere and beyond.

A local resident relaxes

At its heart is the piazza and Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere, perhaps the oldest church and fountain in Rome. According to legend, miraculously a fountain of olive oil sprang from the site of the current fountain on the night of Jesus' birth.
 
It is a lovely small church with 11th and 12th century mosaics decorating the exterior and interior.

 

On Sundays the streets are jammed with the massive Porta Portese flea market.

A small sample of the flea market

It is worth a hike up the hill a bit to see Il Tempietto di San Pietro. It is set on the spot where St. Peter was beleived to have been crucified, and is described in Wikipedia thusly:

The so-called Tempietto (Italian: "small temple") is a small commemorative tomb (martyrium) built by Donato Bramante, possibly as early as 1502, in the courtyard of San Pietro in Montorio. Also commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabella, the Tempietto is considered a masterpiece of High Renaissance Italian architecture.

The Tempietto

Trastevere is also where you will find the Villa Farnesina, a riverside villa built in the early 1500's by a rich banker to entertain the elites of Rome. Although modest in size, every room is decorated with stunning works by the top artists of the time, including Raphael, Il Sodoma, and architect and painter Peruzzi.[most noted his Trompe-l'œil, (French for "deceive the eye") paintings of imagined vistas].

Raphael's Triumph of Galatea-1514

Il Sodoma's Marriage of Alexander the Great and Roxanne-1516

An example of Peruzzi's Trompe-l'œil

I was told not to miss the Borghese Gallery by the very knowledgeable Christine and Haley, and indeed they did not steer me wrong. It takes planning ahead as access is strictly limited to smaller groups in two-hour segments and tickets sell-out even in the "off-season", but the palace and collection are well worth it, featuring masterpieces from the 17th century on. Add to that a temporary exhibition of the largest gathering of Picasso's sculptures (sorry, but no photos allowed of those), and it was truly overwhelming. It would take at least 10 two-hour visits to begin to fathom all of it. 

There are works by Caravaggio (1571-1610),  a scoundrel, murderer, and visionary painter of realistic portraits, very influential and ahead of his time.

Caravaggio's Madonna and Child with St. Anne (and snake) (Dei Palafrenieri)

You can also see a nearly nude sculpture of former resident Pauline Bonaparte Borghese (Napoleon's sister), created by Canova, and considered, very rightly, too hot for general viewing.

Venus Victrix (1505-1508)

It is impossible not to be awed by the sculptures of Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), such as Apollo and Daphne, capturing the moment when, with the Sun God in hot pursuit, she turns into a laurel tree.

Many of the works are mirrored by the same scene in the ceiling paintings (say that fast five times!), leading to some serious neck-craning situations.

In a similar vein is The Rape of Prosperina, wherein Pluto the God of the Underworld drags the virginal maiden (aka: Persephone) into Hades.

T.R.O.P- front

T.R.O.P- rear

Our guide pointed out ways in which Bernini appeared to turn the marble into flesh, such as the imprint of Pluto's right hand into the thigh of his poor abductee, or in another work (not pictured) the wrinkled back skin of an elderly man.

Surrounded by extensive public gardens with many other attractions, post-Borghese we enjoyed a pleasant stroll across the grounds, eventually exiting down the famous Spanish Stairs at Piazza di Spagna.

Tom and Melinda Blum in the Piazza

An amazing thing about Rome is once you've taken in all the five-star attractions, you can still be surprised by lesser-known gems in one of the >900 churches in the city, like this Bernini in Trastevere's Church of San Francesco a Ripa.....

Blessed Ludovica Albertoni (Beata Ludovica Albertoni)

...or Michelangelo's Christ Risen around the corner from the Pantheon in the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (the bronze loincloth added at a later date for modesty's sake).

Christ Risen

Our last day in Rome was spent on a tour of the former Roman Jewish ghetto, directly across the bridge from Trastevere. Almost all of the original ghetto has been replaced, but the area has been one of great importance to the Jewish people since the 2nd century BC. Melinda arranged for a knowledgeable guide to show us around the area. The centerpiece is the stately Great Synagogue, designed ironically by non-Jewish architects, so in many ways it resembles a church rather than a temple. 

Great Synagogue of Rome (1904)

The basement houses the Jewish Museum of Rome, a very informative display of the Jewish religious services and treasures.

After a Kosher meal, it was time to pack up things and head north to Tuscany for the next part of our adventure. (To be continued......)