HINT........THIS IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE LONGER BLOGS SO FAR!
Actually, the day looks to be rather quiet. We are not involved in the preparation for the festival, but there is certainly a lot of activity by others to get ready! We are in the room back from breakfast planning the day. We have a few clouds, but also occasional sun. It is a nice day for a walk, with the temperature in the high 60's. In fact, we have been quite fortunate the whole visit. Along with the sun, the temperature has never gone over the mid-70's. This has been quite unexpected as the locals all anticipated much warmer temperatures at this time of year.
One quick reminder as we start the day is the effort we put into climbing the stairs back and forth to our 'hang out' on the third floor. The Villa dei Pini has very high floor to floor dimensions, hence a lot of stairs. There are 52 steps to go up and down. We average about 6 round trips a day minimum........so 12 'traverses' or 624 vertical steps! This can be somewhat tiring, but we think it must be good for us?
The longer flight from floor 2 to floor 3
the shorter flight to the mid-floor landing
the main, central staircase from the first floor to the second floor
PAROLE SPALANCATE NEL GIARDINO DI VILLA DEI PINI
What follows is a synopsis of the event taking place today.
On the occasion of Parole Spalancate 2023 - 29th International Festival of Poetry, the Bogliasco Foundation opens the garden of Villa dei Pini to the public for an evening dedicated to poetry, in all its forms and in relation with the other arts through the works and testimonies of the Bogliasco Fellows in attendance. Claudio Pozzani, director of the Festival, will open this year's edition and introduce its macro-themes, Eros and Sea.
The evening opens with a visit to the garden of Villa dei Pini along the paths sloping toward the sea, which appears at first fragmented among the branches and trunks of the large pines reaching out into the light and then into its horizon. Along the way, the meeting with the students of the graphic art course of the Academy of Fine Arts of Genoa engaged in drawing and engraving outdoors, each with their own sensibility and intimate imagery guided by their professor Luca Daum.
The collective invitation is to contemplation, to direct observation of nature in order to be surprised of the architecture of trees, to grasp the gradations of colours that light generates on each element, to make a commitment to care for our earth, to get to the essence of things, to eros understood in all its conceptions. A process told in the verses of the poets scheduled to be read after the walk, in original language and Italian translation, in the square in front of the Villa: Grace Schulman - Maureen Mclane - Rick Hilles, with the participation of Massimo Bacigalupo and Daniela Fargione, their verses refer to their experience during their residency at the Study Center of the Bogliasco Foundation and to the suggestions of our sea.
The event will continue with a short meeting with Francesco Ciabattoni, who in ten minutes will recount the songwriting in relation to Dante. The evening will conclude with a video projection belonging to the cycle "Gardens by the Sea of Liguria - walks in the past" curated by Farida Simonetti and Maurizio Esitini, dedicated to the garden of Villa dei Pini, its history as a family home and as a study center for arts and letters.
Thinking about some painting before our 'excursion' for the morning
Also, a shot from yesterday.......gin is making a stronger appearance in Italy, although we have not had one of our traditional gin 'tonicas' or gin 'martinis' since we left home!
and now for something really exciting-
DETAILED SHOTS INSIDE OUR HANG OUT!
The counter where we 'empty' our pockets.....and the remotes for the AC and the skylight shade.
Our 'plug-in' center for recharging everything!
Fiske's computer work area
Andrea's work area
Our shared painting area
Our crash couch!
Our closet!
Stretch cords on the back of the door (minimal use!)
A real treat and one of the best things we packed........a heating pad!!!
This is a separate structure on the property located about halfway down the hillside to the water. It is called the 'Chalet' and was originally built for music performances, spilling out onto the terrace. It has recently been converted into a Fellow's Residence due to the sale of one of the separate villas across the street. Joan is staying here at the moment.
A WALK TO NERVI
Our plan for the afternoon was to rest, do some work and then head down to the harbor area in Nervi around 4:00. We ended up with our 'drive halfway' strategy and took the car down to the Nervi train station. Today was far less crowded then Sunday and we found a space right away.
The walking was very pleasant with a nice breeze and we traversed the hill down into the harbor easily, only to find that most of the cafes seemed to be closed. We were not sure if this was common on Wednesday (as we had seen previously in San Roco) or if they were just closed until 5:00. In any case, we lucked out and found a wonderful gelateria where we camped out with limone, pistacchio and crema........with caffe machiato!
On the way back we took a slightly longer (but not so steep) path up the main street, Via Guglielmo Oberdan, and back to the train station. Lots of very interesting stores and much more 'people' activity.
AND NOW THE FESTIVAL
The poetry festival started at 8:00 with walks through the garden. The 'readings' started at 9:00 and ended up going until almost 11:00.........somewhat arduous at times since most of the presentation was in Italian. We survived, however, and had a great night's sleep!
Actually (forgot to mention) one of the more interesting aspects of the program was an exhibit by a group of high school art students (local Academy for the Arts) who had been taking a printmaking course at the Study Center. Their work was on display and seemed to have a 'buzz' of excitement for the local community.
