#TravelPuglia | Valentina Expressions

Carolus De Mari – Acquavive Princeps

23 Sep 2022 10 Comments

by Valentina in Home Designs Master Tags: #AdelfiaDoor, #DecoratedCeiling, #NeoClassicArchitecture, #NeoclassicStoneDoor, #PugliaHistory, #TravelPuglia

Door of the City Hall – Acquaviva delle Fonti, Puglia (Italy)

A few years ago I led a group of Americans traveling to Puglia, Italy with me. I took them off the beaten tourist path for a surprising glimpse in the Italian living style of the locals.

“Driving through the countryside of Bari in early afternoon is such a pleasant activity. Nobody is on the two-lanes provincial road, we don’t have to wait for the herd of sheep to complete their outing, and neither we have to stay behind a car waiting to make a move until the incoming traffic on the other side has passed, as we would in a different time of the day. The road is all ours and “Mimmo Lovely” (tour manager) wants to amuse us while driving. He can make music using only his lips, I mean he can be the musical instrument himself, or a full orchestra. He has an exceptional talent in imitating a trombone, a saxophone or a violin and I am sure, if sometimes he feels alone, he can start his own music just by using those vibrating lips. It is after lunch and he is trying to keep us awake while we are reaching our next destination.
At this hour in the afternoon sleepy feeling will attack easily, after all, we had a two hours lunch, good wines, and the sun is low in the sky, beating on us in the car. We are being cradled gently.

It seems we have arrived. The town is Acquaviva delle Fonti and a food demonstration is going on in the courtyard of the City Hall. Oh no, I believe we will eat again! I am a bread lover, there is a crusty home-made bread on display, how can I resist a sample of that huge country bread I see on the table, yellow inside and crusty outside? The dipping olive oil to taste is green and stings the tongue, it is peppery at the right point without having any presence of chili pepper.

The food demonstration is happening in the atrium of the City Hall designed in a neoclassical architecture. My attention’s focus is now switched to architectural details, stairs, heave, walls and a beautiful mosaic floor.

The name Acquaviva delle Fonti comes from the union of two words Acqua (water) and Viva (live), it refers to the abundance of spring water running in the sub terrain that made the land a very fertile valley. The town is known for the production of the sweetest red-purple onion, celebrated every July with a country festival during which vendors show off varieties of their onion pies.

The ceiling in the Mayor’s office decorated in the 1700s is incredibly beautiful and the mosaic design on the floor looks like an area rug. What a privilege to work here every day, breathing antiquity and art!” (excerpt from my book: “The Road To Top Of The World“).

The building of Adelfia’s City Hall goes back many centuries, the door is an elegant neoclassic example of entry to a noble home and here is just part of the ceiling in the Mayor’s office.

San Antion is offering a Thursday Door Challenge, come on over and learn stories behind doors in the world. Ciao.
Valentina
Amazon Author’s Page

Valentina Cirasola is an interior-fashion consultant, author of 6 published books, a storyteller, and a blogger of many years. Her books are non-fictional practical ideas to apply in the home, fashion, cooking and travel.
Get a copy of her books here: Amazon and Barnes&Noble

My Personal View Of A Far Away Place | Valentina Cirasola | Designer and Author

27 Sep 2018 Leave a comment

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #BooksByValentinaCirasola, #PugliaArchitecture, #PugliaHistory, #TheRoadToTopOfTheWorldBook, #TravelPuglia, #ValentinaCirasolaAuthor

With the release of my new book, I feel obliged to talk a bit about my hometown and offer the audience an unfiltered view of the city, just as I have always known it. Bari is a large sunny city in the South of Italy, located on the Adriatic Sea, six hours South of Venice and four hours East of Rome. It is the major city of the region of Puglia and it has been named the “Milano” of the South, without the fog and industrial smokestacks of Milano. Bari is lined with palm trees, embraced by warm weather, scorching, by some people’s standards, fresh fish, colorful people and a life of “dolce far niente” (sweet do nothing life).
(Click on each photo to view it larger).

People of Bari are warm, affectionate and sociable because the warm Mediterranean weather affects them. They know how to enjoy life, too much I say.
Their mornings start at the last minute when the notion of being late to work is a known fact. Too much traffic is always the excuse. Once they arrive and get briefly situated in their work post, it is already time for coffee. Around 10:00 am, coffee shops are brimming with people indulging in espresso, they like it hot, short and to the point, standing up at the bar counter, shooting the breeze with other colleagues while passionately tasting a fragrant cornetto (croissant). The talk during the coffee time is either the latest news on the local soccer team, politics, or the juicy romantic conquest from the night before and not necessarily in that order!

Via Sparano – Bari – Photo: ©Valentina Cirasola

On the way to school, students bite with enjoyment into savory focaccia made with Puglia olives and tomatoes (this is after they have already had a breakfast at home: caffe’ latte and biscotti). At 1:00 pm, on the way back home from school, they will go through the same ritual… they will have another slice of that savory focaccia that makes the dead come alive again.

Work in Bari takes a different twist. All businesses, stores and schools shut down at 1:00 pm every day to allow people to go home and have lunch with their family.
If you are a smoker, consider yourself lucky, as only tobacconist shops are open during this time to help feed your vices.

Between 1:00 and 4:00 pm people do whatever they like for relaxation, but having lunch with one or two glasses of wine is the most important part of that relaxation. In fact, lunch is the biggest meal of the day and no one will ever think drinking wine for lunch is a sin, you will never hear anyone say: “No wine for me, I must return to work” and they do return to work, alive and kicking more than they are in the morning.

At 4:00 pm, activities resume until 7:00 or 8:00 at night, the streets get clogged with cars and people crawl. Contrary to those who must return to work in the afternoon, there is a category of people who have full-time jobs whose hours are only from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm. Yes, people who work for the government are considered full-time workers with only six hours of work!
In the afternoon, students, independently wealthy, housewives, and teenagers stroll along Via Sparano, Corso Cavour, Corso Vittorio Emanuele, Piazza del Ferrarese, Piazza Mercantile and Lungomare arm-in-arm, like lovers, because Italians are touchy-touchy and kissy-kissy people and those are just a few of the most elegant places in the city, where to see and be seen.

The night stroll in Bari Vecchia is not completed without a cone of yellow butcher paper containing piping hot fried “sgagliozze” meaning triangles of salted fried polenta, fried in caldrons set in the street, outside the home of the woman who makes them. You must burn the palate with hot sgagliozze, otherwise, they are not good, say local people.

View of the Adriatic Sea from the Fortino – Photo ©Valentina Cirasola

Bari is composed of Bari Nuova (new city) and Bari Vecchia (old city). The charming old city is mysterious and magical, especially at night. This part of the city has the most character. Centuries ago, this was the heart of the city called “Muratti” quarters where a treasure trove of millenary arts, history and culture developed.

Bari Vecchia looks over the balcony of the Adriatic Sea like a lady waiting for her sailor. The aroma of algae and salt water mixed with the delicious smell of food coming from homes and restaurants lined up along the bank will fill your nose and permeate the air. On the spur of the moment, you might find yourself going to a seafood restaurant as if some magic spell has been played on you. No, you don’t need a reservation as restaurateurs will welcome you at any hour of the night as if they were welcoming you to their own homes. The people of Bari are night crawlers, so when I say any hour of the night, I do mean any hour. It is very common to find restaurants working at their full capacity at 3:00 am.

Castello Svevo

In Bari Vecchia “Castello Svevo”, a Norman-Swabian castle stands tall. Emperor Frederick II built it in the Byzantine-Norman-Swabian style. The Cathedral of Saint Nicholas is another important historic landmark, proud of its presence in the city. There, celebrations of Christian Mass for Italian people and Orthodox Mass for Russian people downstairs in the Crypt happen together.

Barese people love to exhibit themselves while going to the theatre, dressed up to their teeth and competing with each other, it’s like going to the Oscar, they will show up with the best designer outfits and wonder who wears it better. The theatre Petruzzelli is the fourth largest in Italy for its dimension and stature, where many famous opera singers and international actors have marked the stage. Herbert von Karajan, Rudolf Nureyev, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Liza Minnelli, Juliette Greco have performed there, along with the unforgettable Italian comedians, dancers, opera singers, poets and cabaret singers like Eduardo De Filippo, Riccardo Muti, Carla Fracci, Luciano Pavarotti, Piero Cappuccilli, Giorgio Gaber.

Bari was founded by the Greeks and later became a Roman municipality. In 840 AD, Bari was attacked and dominated by Saracens pirates, an attack which lasted many years. The city was saved by a Venetian fleet and remained under the Byzantine’s power for some time. In the 12th and 13th century, Bari changed the ruling power and soon, the city passed under the possession of the Normans and Swabians (today’s Bavarians). The Swabians rebuilt the city, Emperor Frederick II revitalized all activities, the city port and remodeled the castle. In his court, arts and culture flourished. “Stupor Mundi” he was surnamed, meaning amazement of the world, attributed to his high taste for refinement. The history of Bari is so much more interesting than one short paragraph, this is a city a city with a rich heritage which continues to thrive and renews itself as civilization evolves.

Due to the favorable geographic position with easy passage to the East Road, the Middle Eastern countries, and the vicinity to the Mediterranean, Bari has been the main center for trade and commerce with Levantine countries. Modern Bari today is also an active economic center, with the second largest population in the South of Italy. It has become the principal center for technological research with the Polo Universitario and Technopolis, in addition to the annual Fiera del Levante, the international trade show where many countries exhibit their specialty and products.

The Road To Top Of The World, my fourth book, full of my photography and a lot of interesting stories is done and well cooked, it is available on Amazon https://tinyurl.com/y7tuyfh8
Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2/

As a writer and cultural promoter of Puglia, her native land, Valentina’s intention is to let readers feel and experience a new ”wheel of emotions”. She wants to encourage them to visit areas of Italy not beaten by massive tourism. Through stories of local customs, art, architecture, fashion, food-wines, shopping, she wants them to create their special adventures and live it up in Puglia! Check out her books on
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0

Traveling With A Brain | Valentina Cirasola | Designer

01 May 2018 2 Comments

by Valentina in The Good Life Tags: #ItalianProducts, #ItalyandTourism, #ItalyExperience, #TravelItaly, #TravellingTips, #TravelPuglia

The article I read today on traveling to Italy didn’t come as a surprise, I had heard the same news in a program on the Italian TV station a few months ago. The article talks about Venice, Capri, Lake Garda, the Emerald coast in Sardinia and more sites which tourists stumble upon mindlessly and carelessly. Read the article here.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/953108/venice-tourism-italy-crackdown-capri-lake-garda

Tourists have targeted some historical Italian cities, partly because of the activities Hollywood brought to Italy, such as filming in certain locations, actors buying beautiful Italian properties, or vacationing on Italian territory, but also because with the increase of low-cost air fares, anybody can afford to discover far away lands. Although Italy likes and wants tourists, the nation can no longer bear the influx of millions of tourists a year. The streets are small, the infrastructures frail and the onset of B&Bs, hotels, restaurants with tourist menus and Chinese low-cost souvenirs, did nothing more than uproot the local people. Local people can no longer buy goods of ‘prime necessity’, such as bread, pasta, milk, fruit, meat, medicine, clothing, go to the doctor or send kids to schools. They have been forced out of the city for other living accommodation in neighboring villages and small towns, leaving Venice in the hands of tourists, who are only interested in taking the usual boring photos in Piazza San Marco with the pigeons, eat power bars, or disgusting food in tourist restaurants, buy souvenirs of no value in Chinese shops, go to the bathroom, choke the city sewers and go away to the next destination.

The Italian city officials want to set up check points, crowd control measures and limit the daily entry to the most popular cities to a certain amount of tourists.
I don’t blame them for wanting to adopt such drastic measures, local life of natives has disappeared, natives need to return and regain their cities.

(Venice crowded streets)
(Venice crowded canals)
Crowding the most famous cities in the world is not a way to travel. This is not smart traveling using the brain, this is some game travel agencies and tour operators want to play to the detriment of the historical Italian cities.

People of the world only move from country to country as fast as they can, vacation time is short and want to see as much as they can, so they can say to have been there. However, when they return to their home base, don’t even know what they have seen and where that thing was. This is not traveling, this is moving a heard of people like cows.
Traveling is a different thing all together, is experiencing how people live and what they do in their daily routine. Traveling is about learning history and discovering what tickles the locals, what they eat and what excites them, what the nation produces and how is produced. Traveling is also helping a farmer and learn some agriculture technique, then plant something from that country in your own backyard. Traveling is learning a language on the spot or improving the knowledge speaking with the locals. Traveling is experiencing a theatre representation, or do some different culture activity that generally one wouldn’t do at home.

Do these travelers in flip-flops, short pants and stupid t-shirts know how a Ferrari is produced and where the factory is? Do they ever go to a fashion show, visit a fashion industry, or fashion school and hold a piece of fantastic fabric in their hands? Do they know the difference between a “culatello” and a “prosciutto”?
Do they know that a prosciutto made from the left leg of the pig is better and tastier than the prosciutto made from the right leg? Do they know what is a Parmigiano made from the red cow, or what is a “chianina steak”? Do these travelers know how balsamic vinegar is made and do they know how to taste olive oil, balsamic vinegar or wines? Three different ingredients for Italian food, three different ways to taste them. Do these travelers know that gnocchi and gnocco fritto are two different things?
Would they know how to play soccer with beer caps, if they saw kids playing in the streets? Do they know that in San Gregorio Armeno is Christmas every day and can buy Christmas art made by skilled local artists to take home? Do they ever know that chocolate made with a filling of Parmigiano and balsamic vinegar is an explosion of taste buds and an experience they would never forget? How about picking some white berries, which I am sure they have never seen before?

Flocking only to the most popular cities is not the way to go. If travelers would take a detour and go visit some of the places where Italians make products, they would love the experience of traveling so much better and they wouldn’t face any crowd at all.
It has been said “Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer” and
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but having new eyes.”

I don’t go where the mass go, I totally dislike crowded places and bad services.
I find my way outside the beaten path and I take smart travelers with me, those people who can live it up, learn new ways, new things, have fun discovering and become better people. There is so much to see in the world, why go where everybody goes? Go to Italy, select one not publicized area and discover all there is to know in that area. Vacation time is precious, don’t waste it with bad food, irritable people, long lines, high prices and tourist traps. Ciao,
Valentina
https://valentinaexpressions.com/trips-to-puglia-2/

As a writer and cultural promoter of Puglia, her native land, Valentina’s intention is to let readers feel and experience a new ”wheel of emotions”. She wants to encourage them to visit areas of Italy not beaten by massive tourism. Through stories of local customs, art, architecture, fashion, food-wines, shopping, she wants them to create their special adventures and live it up in Puglia!
Check out her books on Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w