A Walk in Nizza

Exploring history, food, and culture between the Belbo river and the vineyard hills of Monferrato

August 25, 2016
by Dave
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Italy in the Fall: the Other Tourist Season

With its huge offer of art, history, culture and epic sights, Italy is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. But while all-year-around tourism in Italy is now a fact, the Autumn season does not enjoy the popularity it should.

So, considering that Autumn is close at hand and I’ll be doing most of my next rambling, exploration, photo-shooting and writing in the Fall, here’s a little introduction to what makes this season so special.

Piemonte-Langhe&Monferrato in Autumn

This of course is a list of my top five reasons to enjoy Italy (and the Monferrato area in particular) in this time of the year. And I’d love to hear your reasons, and your thoughts, in the comments.

Anyway, here we go… Continue Reading →

August 23, 2016
by Dave
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Map & Compass

I normally get lost, a lot. I tend to swap east and west, which is quite bad, for a geologist.
For this reason, and despite the wonderful books on natural navigation I’ve been reading these days, I normally carry a compass on my hikes in the hills, and a map of the city I’m visiting when i go on urban explorations.

old-map-and-compass

And I know there are APPs out there to solve my orienteering problems, but I’m old fashioned like that, and I prefer a nicely folded map and a pocket compass. Continue Reading →

August 19, 2016
by Dave
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Market day in Nizza Monferrato – five portraits

Friday is market day in Nizza Monferrato, so I went and took some photos.

Now they say that when you are packing a 50 prime glass, you have to move your legs.
Zoom lenses make it different, you can sit on a bench on the square, watch the world go around, and basically get as close as you need, inconspicuously, and take your photos.
Framing and composing a photo with a 50 lens requires for you to move, and you’ll need to get close.
It also requires a certain amount of cheek, because you are intruding on other people’s private lives, and collecting images.

So I gave it a try, this morning, as it was market day in Nizza Monferrato.
I went in with the crowd and tried to catch a few snapshots.
Colors and impressions of the market, yes, but also something about people on the town on a market day.
Because in a rural area, if you want to see the people, you have to go to the market, and catch their expressions, their moves, their attitude. They are here to do business, to shop, to meet friends, relax, or chat about politics. Some go to the barber, some look for new clothes, some have breakfast.

Here are five portraits, taken this morning.
(click to enlarge)

 

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August 16, 2016
by Dave
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Seeing Nature or, on the illusion of “nothing”

One of the things we hear more often, hereabouts, is

there’s nothing here!

especially applied to the countryside and nature thereof.
People go for a walk in the hills, and yes, ok, there’s the fields, and the woods, and the vineyards, but apart from that, many say, there is nothing.

The statement is debatable for two reasons.
The first is, there’s a lot of interesting stuff hidden away in the shrubbery: the occasional Romanic remains, the odd isolated chapel, small shacks lost among the vineyards, etc.
The second reason is, people fail to see the forest for the trees.
Or vice-versa. Continue Reading →

August 15, 2016
by Dave
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Ferragosto in Nizza, a Survival Guide

Fifteenth of August, Ferragosto.
To quote Wilikepdia,

Ferragosto is an Italian and Sammarinese public holiday celebrated on 15 August, coinciding with the major Catholic feast of the Assumption of Mary.

And again…

The popular tradition of taking a trip during Ferragosto arose under the Fascist regime. In the second half of the 1920s, during the mid-August period, the regime organised hundreds of popular trips through the Fascist leisure and recreational organisations of various corporations, and via the setting up of the “People’s Trains of Ferragosto”, which were available at discounted prices.

The initiative gave the opportunity to less well-off social classes to visit Italian cities or to reach seaside and mountain resorts. The offer was limited to 13, 14 and 15 August, and comprised two options: the “One-Day Trip”, within a radius of 50-100 km, and the “Three-Day Trip” within a radius of about 100–200 km.

Sometimes called “La Madòna d’Agùst” (the August Madonna) in Piedmont, the 15th of August is still a very popular holiday in Italy, and a total lock-down day in a lot of places in Italy.

chained gate

Continue Reading →