Parma in November

We spent a few days in Parma -too late for the opera season but still a worthwhile place to visit.  We stayed in a suite at Palazzo Dalla Rosa Prati which is situated in the Strada del Duomo and is opposite the Battistero and Duomo - an ideal location and comfortable accommodation.
The weather was quite cold and a bit rainy but it didn't stop us from wandering around and if the rain was heavy we shopped or stopped in to one of the many bars for a caffè or aperitivo.

Palazzo Dalla Rosa Prati is very close to the Battistero which was built in the 1100s

The Baptistery

The doors of the Battistero

One of the side panels

Parma is an interesting, well maintained place and the centro is quite picturesque with many attractive narrow streets and large piazzas. Sections of the city were bombed in the second world war and some evidence of the destruction remains today.

The street lights are beautiful and are attached to buildings rather than free standing

As with most Italian cities, there are interesting courtyards visible from the street

Piazza Garibaldi

Piazza Garibaldi

We went to a Botero sculpture exhibition "Botero a Parma" in Palazzo del Governatore. This sculpture was in Piazza Garibaldi

Palazzo Pilotta was bombed during WW2. It was partially rebuilt but still shows signs of damage

The cds in this shop were precariously balanced near the computer monitor

Parma is the home of fantastic prosciutto and parmigiano.  This antipasto tasting plate has prosciutto crudo, culatello, spalla cotto and the best pancetta that we have ever tasted

Police and students in Torino

There always seems to be something happening with the police and students in Italy, this time it was in Torino. There was a national student protest on November 15 over cuts to education in the coming national budget. Student groups are concerned that access to education is being drastically reduced.
In Torino there was a massive police presence and streets in the centre of the city were closed to traffic from fairly early in the morning.  Police were in their riot gear with batons etc and there were massive police vans everywhere - does this antagonize protesters to take physical action? I think so.

In Piazza Castello many people didn't know what was happening and many people registering for the Turin Marathon became part of the student group by default.

Apparently there was some friction between the police and students, but it was all very orderly in Piazza Castello while we were there and what we thought was a flare was smoke from the castagne seller's fire.

Turin Marathon

Rob again ran in the Turin marathon and did his best time in ages.  The race was much better supported by the public this time and there were many people out in the streets cheering runners on.  Rob said that there were groups of women in traditional dress singing folk songs in some of the towns.

Once again the African runners were the top placegetters

The first woman to finish got heaps of applause

A group of runners ran together from Piazza San Carlo in remembrance of those killed at the Boston Marathon. They ran at the same time as when the first bomb went off in Boston

Glad to be finished

Sicillian food market and the Turin Marathon registration marquee in Piazza Castello

There was a fantastic Sicillian food market adjacent to the Turin Marathon registration marquee.  A bit hard pre race for marathon runners who usually watch their diets pretty strictly before a race.  We still managed some arancini and I also tried some torrone -I wasn't running so didn't have to worry :)

Ricotta with Pistachios

Cassatina Siciliana

Cannoli - YUM

  Arancini di ragu and arancini di formaggio

Parmigiano

Anchovies in oil

Torone: morbido e duro

Acciughe ed olive

Torino in the rain

A lonely bicycle in Piazza Vittorio Veneto

Part of Palazzo Madama from  Via dell'Accademia delle Scienze

 Via dell'Accademia delle Scienze

Via Lagrange

Around 7.00pm the streets are all very busy

 Along  many streets in Torino there are street light installations -we have seen them before but some are now in different locations.  I love the lights in via Lagrange, they tell a story and we finally followed it to the end.

La città era piena di rumore: era sempre più difficile parlare e ascoltare. E poi

c’era il bosco silenzioso. Ma nel silenzio del bosco ci si perdeva. Chi non

sopportava il rumore della città andava nel bosco, e il silenzio se lo portava via.

Così si sparse la voce che nel bosco c’era un orco. Furono mandati soldati e

anche quelli sparirono.

Quando Luì il matto arrivò in città, trovò rumore e musi lunghi. Qualcuno gli

raccontò la storia di quelli che sparivano nel silenzio e a Luì venne una gran

voglia di fare una passeggiata nel bosco. Ma capì che era necessario studiare la

lingua del vento e della pioggia, dei sassi, del legno e della terra. E dopo tanto

studiare Luì inventò uno strano bastone che faceva un rumore dolce ad ogni

passo. Tric trac, fran fran troc.

Così il bosco non era più tanto silenzioso. Poi, le forme degli alberi e della terra

tentarono di ingannarlo. Ma Luì con il suo coltellino intagliò il legno e raccolse

pietre, e legò rami e fece balene orchi elefantesse.

Le illusioni del bosco silenzioso diventarono cose da toccare e tutti quelli che si erano

perduti incominciarono a saltare fuori come funghi. Da quel giorno tutti i bambini

vollero i bastoni sonori di Luì per non perdersi nel silenzio e nel rumore. E quando

chiesero a Luì che nome dare ai suoi bastoni, egli disse: chiamateli sonagli. E così fu.

Guido Quarzo - Luì e l’arte di andare nel bosco

(http://tantodomanimisveglio.blogspot.it/2012/11/lui-e-larte-di-andare-nel-bosco.html)

Via Lagrange

People still window shopping in the rain.