10 years of Un po’ di pepe!

25 Thursday Apr 2024

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Blogging, Inspiration

Tags

25 Aprile, Blogging, Bloghiversary, Liberazione d'Italia, Vespa

Auguri a me! Today is bloghiversario #10 for Un po’ di pepe! 10 years ago today, I hit the big blue ‘publish’ button and started this blog. Where did the time go? It feels like only yesterday I had trouble coming up with a cool name that was not already taken. This has been an amazing, rewarding experience and I have ‘met’ so many virtual friends and even reconnected with old ones. In the end, that is what this is all about-connecting with people to share ideas and experiences.

To those of you who have been with Un po’ di pepe since the beginning -most of you are related to me- grazie mille for your encouragement and support! To those who discovered the blog more recently or visit occasionally, Benvenuto! Find out more about me by reading ‘Perché questo blog?/Why write a blog?’, ‘About me/Chi sono’ and bilingual interview L’Intervista con Silvia.

What does 10 years look like? 485 subscribers, 217 posts, ~50 views/day from 99 countries, 24 recipe posts, 7 posts that come up on the first page of a google search, 5 Caravaggio posts, 2 or 3 posts that have been used by art history courses, 1 Cannolo Award, 1 interview by a fellow blogger, and 1 global pandemic.

The top 10 posts from the past 10 years are*:

#10 Torta Caprese all’Arancia (2015) a flourless chocolate cake recipe written to celebrate receiving a Cannolo Award for authentic Italian food blogging.

#9 Benvenuti ad Orsara di Puglia (2014) an introduction to my little paese.

#8 The Last Medici (2020) As an art history nerd, this was my personal thanks to Anna Maria Luisa De’ Medici (AMLDM) last of the Medici family, for leaving Firenze and the world her family’s legacy of art treasures. If you have been to the Uffizi or Palazzo Pitti, you will know what I mean. This post comes up 4th in google search both for the topic and her name

#7 La Trinità di Massaccio (2018) When I first published this art history lesson, it did not get much love. A few years later, I discovered that it came up as the 1st listing after Wikipedia in a Google search! This explains the steady trickle of views. I think it was also on reading lists for art history classes in the US, since a lot of views were referred from the course websites of Santa Monica College and a Pittsburgh high school! Molto cool!

My quick sketches of the vanishing point, perspective lines and triangular composition. The colour image is my entry ticket from 2004!

#6 Polignano a Mare (2016) In this post about the stunning clifftop town on the coast of Puglia, read about infraditi and my probable encounter with the mysterious ‘stair poet’.

#5 Napoli Street Art (2020) Napoli-the perfect place for self-expression since the last few thousand years. Join me on a graffiti/street art tour in the Centro Storico. This post comes up 3rd in Google search. I have enough new street art photos for a 2.0 version soon.

#4 Hairstyling in Ancient Roma (2017) This post was ignored until 2022, then in 2023 it was the most viewed! I am not sure why? I know some views have been referred via Pinterest and it now ranks 3rd in Google search. Join me as I study ancient hairstyling practices by looking at Classical sculptures and paintings. Most of my research was done at Palazzo Massimo. Yeah for archeology nerds!

#3 L’Arte sa Nuotare (2019) During a trip to Firenze with my nipotina Viaggio con Isabella we were on constant lookout for street art by Blub, the mysterious street artist who plunges famous works of art underwater. This post also comes up 2nd on the first page of a Google search, after the artist’s Instagram page! More Blub love in Blub a Napoli.

#2 Grano Arso (2015) Burnt grain, a Pugliese gastronomic tradition honouring the resilience of our contadini ancestors. There is not a lot written in English about grano arso, which explains why it is always on my most viewed list and comes up 5th on a Google search.

#1 Italiano per Ristoranti (2014) This handy Italian menu pronunciation guide is the top suggestion in google search for ‘Italian menu pronunciation’. A link to a six page downloadable PDF is available at the end of the post. I would still like to expand and turn it into an ebook someday. If you have experience with this, any advice would be appreciated!

Bruschetta (broo.SKET.tah)

Those are the top 10 posts, now let’s take a look back at 10 of my favourite older posts that did not get the love I think they deserved:

I Trabucchi del Gargano (2014) the fascinating fishing contraptions found along the Adriatic Coast, specifically the Northern coast of Puglia

Passata di Pomodoro (2014) Highlights of my family’s annual tomato canning day!

Le Isole Tremiti (2015) A helicopter trip to islands in the Adriatic.

Nel blu dipinto di Azzurro (2015) The long, amazing history of blue pigment and the colour blue.

I Sassi di Matera (2015) the ancient city in Basilicata has a mystical, otherworldly feel about it and a fascinating history.

Margherita di Savoia (2016) This post is about random associations I have to Regina Margherita di Savoia.

Caffè con Caravaggio a Roma (2018) A walk through Roma visiting 3 churches where you can see 6 Caravaggio paintings for free, hanging where they have been for over 400 years, and stops for caffè along the way.

Il Sole di metà pomeriggio (2018) Sunny mid-afternoon summer photos taken in Orsara di Puglia while everyone is resting-except me.

Percorso della Memoria (2021) A tour of Orsara di Puglia with giant old black and white photos displayed in the Centro Storico.

Che cavolo! Non rompere le scatole! (2023) I love this language post about euphemisms! Even photos of flying genitalia did not entice readers!

Flying cazzi amulet mobile at the Napoli Airport gift shop

Did you know a few of my posts are not Italian themed?! They include Halifax and the Titanic, 100 years of Insulin, Madame Gautreau, 2 Australia posts and 4 Covid 19 related posts.

Upcoming stuff: In the next few months, I have ‘In Vino there are Memories’ being published in ‘A Literary Harvest: Canadian Writing about Wine and Other Brews’ edited by Licia Canton, Giulia De Gasperi and Decio Cusmano. Upcoming posts include Torcello, Artemisia Gentilleschi, more Caravaggio and some book reviews. The list is long!

April 25th is also La Festa della Liberazione d’Italia, the anniversary of the liberation from Fascist occupation in 1945. Since 1946, it has been a national holiday. Viva la libertà!

Grazie to all of you for taking the time to read, send messages and especially for giving me an excuse to share my images and research and write about things that interest me! You know ….’Devo fare ricerca per il blog’ (I need to do research for my blog) is now my reason to do all the things I want to do! If you have any suggestions for future posts or just want to say ‘ciao’, leave me a comment.

Grazie a tutti i lettori di ‘Un po’ di pepe’ per continuare a leggere e per avermi dato una scusa per condividere le foto che ho scattato e per scrivere di cose che mi piacciono. Ormai posso usare la scusa ‘devo fare ricerca per il blog’ per tutto quello che voglio fare. Lasciatemi un messaggio se avete delle idee per un post o se semplicemente volete dire ‘ciao’.

To celebrate bloghiversario #10, I am giving away 10 signed ‘Vespa‘ hand printed cards. Next week, I will put the names of everyone who left a comment into a hat and Mamma will draw 10 winners. In bocca al lupo! It has been an amazing decade and I look forward to the next one! I’ll leave you with a link to my very first post Il Gigante, about Michelangelo’s David. Ciao, Cristina

Grazie mille to Isabella for the pink cupcakes and Mamma for the pesche made for my big compleanno in January!

*Note…Stats are really interesting, but WordPress’ method of collecting stats is odd. The newest post counts as a ‘Home page’ view until the next one is published and I am not sure how much this changes the results.

Burano

11 Thursday Apr 2024

Posted by Un po' di pepe in Italia, Photography, Travel

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Daytrips from Venezia, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Venetian lagoon, Veneto, Venezia

Burano, an island in the north end of the Venetian lagoon, is one of the most colourful places in the world. It is known for merletto (lace) and houses painted in bright contrasting colours. Burano is only 210 m² with a population of 2,800. That is a lot of people for such a tiny place- 13,000 per km². Burano is actually made up of 4 islands separated by 3 canals and connected by bridges. The highest elevation is only 1m! There are no cars-not even for residents, since there are no roads! Burano is part of the city of Venezia, 7 km away.

Burano was settled in the 6^th century by residents of Altino fleeing invaders. They called the island Boreana because it faces north. In the 16^th Century, women on the island started making intricate lace with needles from Cyprus. The lace trade was booming until the 18^th Century, then revived in 1872 with the opening of the Scuola del Merletto (school of lacemaking). I remember when I first visited Burano in 1994, women sat outside their homes doing lacework. There are not many lacemakers now. It is extremely time consuming to make, and as a result, incredibly expensive. Many of the lace works, especially the larger pieces, are machine made imitations, many of them from China.

Emilia Burano, Via Galuppi 1994

For authentic Burano lace, try La Perla Gallery, or Emilia Burano Via San Martino Sinistro 376, and 205 just off Via Galuppi. Handmade monogrammed fazzoletti (handkerchiefs) start at €49.

Houses on Burano have been brightly painted since the 15^th Century. This was common in fishing communities so that fishermen out on the water could find their way home in the fog. Burano is still a working fishing island, although the primary economy is now tourism. An official government request must be sent in to paint a home on Burano as there is a system to the colour scheme. The response lists the colours allowed for that particular site! No 2 houses side by side can be the same colour.

Piazza Baldassare Galuppi is the only piazza on Burano. The church of San Martino Vescovo has a 53m high leaning campanile and a 1727 Crucifixion by Tiepolo. The piazza also has the Museo del Merletto, which has examples of 16^th and 17^th century lace as well as a 6^th Century Istrian stone well, shops, and the comune (town hall).Burano is a photographer’s dream with the rainbow houses, laundry hanging, fishing boats, canals and narrow streets. It is hard to take a bad shot! The wooden Tre Ponti bridge is a great selfie spot. My usual advice would be to just wander and get lost, but Burano is too small to even get lost on! A quick walk around the island only takes about half an hour.

Explore the quieter side streets, browse the shops and have lunch along one of the canals. Being a fishing island, the seafood is exceptional. Try take out fritto misto, assorted fried fish in a paper cone, or the family run Trattoria Al Gatto Nero. a reservation-even in October!

Visit Burano if you are in Venezia for more than 2 days, or if it is not your first visit. Burano and Torcello make a nice daytrip. The busiest time on Burano is from 11am-3pm. Not many visitors stay overnight, but apparently the sunset is gorgeous.

View of Burano from the campanile di Santa Maria Assunta, Torcello

With an ACTV Vaporetto (Venetian water bus) €25 day pass, you can go to 2 of the islands, then cruise around Venezia when you get back. Burano is 45 min by vaporetto #14 (SZ-Lido-Burano) from San Zaccaria, near Piazza San Marco, in front of Hotel Danieli. Vaporetto #12 from Fondamente Nove A goes to Murano and Burano. From Burano, the #9 vaporetto is a 10 minute ride to Torcello. There are also many organized daytrips to the lagoon islands.

For those of you who love this colourful island as much as I do, there is a 2022 trilogy of Hallmark movies about a Burano lace wedding veil bought by 3 friends at an antique store. In the second movie, one of them takes the veil to Burano to find out its history. The family run shop in the movie is based on Emilia Burano, the one in my 1994 photo!