Mick Paskins Blog

2023 Italy Part 6

2023 Italy Part 6

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  • 17th Feb
    The last few days have been marred by Sue’s cold/cough. We spent two nights in Parma, the first day I went into town and visited the cathedral and baptistery, plus the Palazzo Pilotta. Yesterday, Sue felt nor so bad, and made it to the cathedral and baptistery. The Palazzo is basically an art gallery.

    The baptistery.

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    Very decorated inside, difficult to photograph, but this is the domed ceiling.

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    The cathedral.
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    Again, every surface painted, most by Correggio around 1530. There is also a carved frieze dating from 1178.
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    The baptistery dates from 1196. Astonishing how well preserved they are.

    Afterwards, I went to another church just ground the corner, but that had closed at 11.30. I did go in later, but I have to say, I am getting rather renaissanced out….too many well built men and women with ludicrously small wings floating on puffy clouds. Perhaps I need to go to Wales, and see some good honest castles!
    However, whilst going to that other church, a side door was open, so in I went, and there were four interconnecting rather plain cloisters, and a set of stairs leading to what was described as a bibliotheca, devoid of books or shelving, but a series of maps, some seriously inaccurate, painted on the walls.
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    The chap in the picture kept talking to me in Italian, despite my protestations of non comprehenda. He just wouldn’t stop, and in desperation, I fled, only to find the complex was now closed, and I was locked in. Well, not exactly, the door wasn’t locked, but I did have fleeting vision of being incarcerated with the voluble Italian!

  • Palazzo Pilotta
    This huge rambling building boasts a theatre, in which the seating area is a copy of the theatre in Vicenza. The stage, however, is an ordinary (and slightly derelict) stage, non of the astonishing stage set in Vicenza.
    Thence into the art gallery, which starts with renaissance paintings, then as a contrast earlier paintings, with characters rather stiff and expressionless. Except for one, which stood out as a real contrast, a stunning painting.
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    Leonardo da Vinci of course. And, being a Leonardo, unfinished. Like so much of his stuff.

  • Fri 17th Feb
    Yesterday afternoon, we drove to Cremona, and a large car park courtesy of Park4Night, which contained dire warnings about parking on a Thursday, a market on Friday. Goodness, so many markets in Italy! I had also found another commercial site in Cremona, although all the info in Italian, clearly stated open”24/7”. The I took that to mean they were open. Wrong! So, back to the car park, and decided where the restrictions for Friday were. Glad to report got it right, we were not disturbed by the market.
    Sue not up to a walk into town, so I went on my own. This cold cough just isn’t getting better. Managed to get her some medicine which she says is better, but she certainly isn’t.
    First stop the Duomo. It was vast, made of very dark stone.
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    Outside, in case you hadn’t realised.
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    Inside, in case…..
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    Gaudy or what?
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    The crypt.
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    Another view. After having seen so many paintings, I continue my irreverent cynicism. So many of the characters bobbing around on fluffy clouds are naked except for a sumptuously painted piece of unsupported cloth, that miraculously manages to remain in place and covers the naughty bits.

  • Cremona contd
    The bell tower was open to visitors. A must, up I went. Part way up, in a room with weights hanging from the floor above, driving a clock made in 1580, there was a video with a guy explaining the clocks workings. Although in Italian, it had English sub titles. And very interesting. Although not all the mechanism remains, it used to tell, as well as the time, moon phases, which constellation the moon is in, eclipses, and astrological information. This on the largest clock face in Europe, in the tallest medieval tower in Europe. So they said!
    The eclipse mechanism is interesting, it is driven by a wheel that takes 18 years to complete one revolution. It was not stated how accurate this is.
    The clock time is corrected by sunlight shining through a hole in the wall, and when it reaches a line on the floor, that is midday.
    There was then a very complicated bit about how this differs from current time, and charts to convert clock time to current time depending upon the time of the year.
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    The clock.
    Further up, the bells. I waited to be deafened ( by now 11.00 o’clock), but they didn’t ring.

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    The clock face.
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    The tower.
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    Well worth the effort.
    Then, Cremona, famous for Stradivarius and family. So, a violin museum. Contained loads of violins, all priceless. All looked like……violins. There was however a section on making violins, and Stradivarius’s tools and templates have survived, very interesting.
    And, a picture of the great man in his workshop, apparently the only picture of him. Oil painting, so not able to avoid light reflection.

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  • Sat 18th Feb
    Drove to Mantua through thick fog, rather backtracking on our route, but there are two pilazzo in Mantua, one of which we had been to several years ago.
    The one we hadn’t visited before, Palazzo Te, was built in the 1520’s for Frederick Gonzaga, part of a long line of Gonzagas that ruled Mantua for around 400 years. He described the Palazzo as a retreat from formal life, and for “honest leisure”. Honest leisure involved some rather graphic images.

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    The room of the Giants.

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    Goodness, they made a mess!
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    Then went to the other palazzo, Palazzo Ducale. This has a much longer history, incorporates an earlier castle, and has been much altered over the centuries.

  • Palazzo Ducale
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    Graphic battle scene, very gory, not sure I would want this in my living room!

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  • Basilica di Sant’Andrea
    Built by Lodovico II Gonzaga, reflecting(according to the guide book), the size of his ego.

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  • Sun 19th Feb
    Long drive to Palazzina di Cacciatore di Stupinigi, just SW of Turin.
    Because it was a long drive through flat uninteresting countryside, we took the autostrada – the first toll road this trip. The barrier to get on failed to give us a ticket. Drama getting off, trying to communicate through a distorted speaker system, lots of vehicle noise all around us, and of course across two languages. Finally made it, Sue thinks we were charged for a car. Funny thing, after leaving that barrier, drove a couple of miles, another barrier requiring two euros.
    But, it did save about three hours.
    Anyway, made it to the Palazzina. Palazzina sounds small.
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    I wouldn’t describe that as small! Built as a hunting lodge around 1700, it must have fallen into decline, because the only English translation (in every room) gave details of the conservation of that room. The whole thing was very attractively decorated, a lot of surprisingly small rooms, too small to be able to get a decent photo. Some of the larger….
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  • Cont’d
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    And then, next room is the centrepiece, massive under the central dome, and incredibly lavishly decorated. Quite breathtaking!
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  • Mon 20th Feb

    For our journey from Turin into France, I studied the map, and selected a minor looking road with a green line next to it, signifying a scenic route, to a small looking place called Chembonnais, thought that would be an interesting way of crossing the alps. And indeed it was. Except, Chembonnais was heaving, a sky resort!
    We were very lucky with the weather, started off with thickish fog, which cleared before the road got interesting, and then had cloudless blue skies.
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    The road dipped down into France, then climbed again, before the descent towards Grenoble. We had selected a campsite just outside Grenoble, but the road to it shot up, very narrow, very steep, and apparently led to a pass that was closed. We still had 16 Kms to go, no idea if we would be able to get there, so turned back. We ended up finding an abandoned road off the main road, obviously closed because of a land slip at some time. Actually worked well, although surprisingly busy because of some recycling bins, visited by several people. We were seemingly miles from anywhere. Unexpected. The following morning, a lorry arrived and emptied them.

  • A ridiculous day.
    All because of milk.
    Yesterday, driving through Briancon, I went to an organic shop, but they didn’t have any milk. Going back to the motorhome, went past a supermarket (Casino), but they didn’t have any either, at least not organic. Wasn’t too bothered, had enough till today. So, went to an organic shop in Grenoble, right in the middle of town, absolutely no chance of parking. Driving round trying to find a place to pull over and devise a Plan B was a nightmare, eventually managed to stop. We decided best bet was a Carrefor, they have big car parks. Selected one in Lyon, our next destination.
    Set SatNav, off we went. Wanted to turn us onto a motorway. Except, the junction was closed by road works. In trying to find a way round (This is France, no need for diversion signs, that would be really Anglo Saxon), saw another organic shop, and managed to park. The shop was being reorganised or refurbished or something. No milk. So, continued to the Carrefor, managed to circumvent the roadworks. The car park was underground. No chance of getting in, far too low. No where else to park.
    However, we had seen another Carrefor, managed to identify it on Google, try again. What a nightmare, intersection of two motorways, a real jumble of junctions, we went round and through the same junctions three times, all the while our destination in plain sight but totally unobtainable across half a dozen lanes of speeding vehicles. In the end, guessed, and found an entrance. Under a bridge about six inches lower than us. I then latched onto the back of a lorry, which fortunately led us in a back entrance.
    Happy end to a ridiculous saga, they had bio milk!
    Now parked up for the night at a marina in Roanne, on the bank of the Rhône.
  • Wed 22nd Feb
    A long drive through flat uninteresting countryside. Weather changed, gloomy, drizzle most of the day. Swapped yesterdays river, being parked on the banks of the Rhône, with the Loire, at Chateauneuf S’Loire, just east of Orleans.
  • Thu 23rd Feb.
    More flat uninteresting countryside, now at Evreux, having come via the excellent organic shop in Chartres.
    Went to the Sosta camper in Evreux, met by a barrier that required a “CarteBlue”. Whatever that is. So, now in a (much cheaper) car park.
    Alked round Evreux this afternoon, pleasant town, huge cathedral, and a museum. Everything in French, but made a change from Etruscan pots!
    Sue’s cold and cough no better, and to compound things she ricked her back opening the windscreen blind, so she is immobile, and a painful back is incompatible with coughing.
  • Sat 25th Feb
    Yesterday, drove to Dieppe. A lot of hanging around, but it was a fine sunny afternoon. Unfortunately, Sue’s cough and bad back is no better, so she was Immobilised, and didn’t feel like doing anything.
    Dieppe, and the Sosta camper at the end of the harbour, is a fine position for a long row of restaurants. However, when it was time to go, the weather changed dramatically, and Sue, reluctant before, became reluctanter, so I went on my own. Had a very nice meal, pity being on my own.
    More hanging about this morning, an unpleasant day, windy, cold, some rain. Ferry departs at noon, but now writing this in mid channel. We have both come to the conclusion we prefer to suffer the extra mileage, and use the tunnel. Last night was noisy with the ferry docking, and of course it’s engine is left constantly running. Worse than sharing a car park with half a dozen lorries. And, squawking kids are ensconced in a car far from us in the tunnel. And, the ferry duty free shop doesn’t have anything I want. Not that I can remember the last time I bought anything duty free.
    Will be home soon, humping everything out of the motorhome.
    A not very successful winter trip regrettably, dreadful weather for most of January, Beckie’s declining health, and eventual end, Sue’s cold for half of February. Just looked back at my diary, first mention of Sue’s cold on the 10th February, so already passed the two weeks anniversary.
    Not a very positive note to end.
    Just looked out of the window, sky clearing, some blue sky. And England just over the horizon. (I have been regularly checking we are going the right way).
    So, time to be positive.

    Fin.