Driving over the plains of the Arno River Valley, it is hard to imagine that Pisa, famous worldwide for its Leaning Tower and located considerably inland from the sea coast was once the power center of a nimble navy that enabled it to conquer neighboring city states and enrich itself by trading with foreign lands.
The tide turned, so to speak, for the Pisa when river silt accumulated to the point where its navy could no longer venture to and from the sea. Even though the tiny town was a major military and mercantile hub of its day, its decline started in 1284 when it was defeated by Genoa and eventually came under the rule of neighboring Florence in 1406.
The birthplace of Galileo Galilei, who used its now 900 year-old tower to experiment with different weighted falling objects, Pisa attracts visitors like us to view its Duomo, Baptistry and Campanile located in the Camp dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles).
Our Italian guidebook says that construction of the Leaning Tower started in 1173 but was not finished until 1274 and that over time, due to the soft sandy subsoil it was constructed on, acquired a “lean” that was over 17 feet from the vertical. Even though the tower started leaning as early as its second story, that did not stop two successive builders from continuing building an additional four plateaus and adding heavy bells to the crest of the bell tower built to compliment the adjacent basilica church. If you’ve ever played Jumanji, a game of construction using different sized blocks that relies on delicate strategies of balance, you’ll understand why the last builder actually got the top of the tower to be nearly vertical by adjusting column length and placement.
According to guidebook information, many original parts have been replaced over time, including 135 of the original 180 marble columns. The color changes as well in the upper higher levels due to the use of Carrara marble, which is quarried in the nearby mountains of marble just to the north.
But as it stands today -- or leans, depending on your point of view -- the Leaning Tower is undergoing a counter-balancing act using weights, which have already abated its lean and in fact are reversing its tilt. Slowly but surely the tower has become safe for visitors to ascend the nearly 300 steps to the top of the o be on its top, as we saw today as groups of people were dancing around its crown.
As silly as this picture is of Kathy holding up the Tower, it was even funnier to see dozens of others doing the same thing -- striking a pose [as Madonna sang] with their hands up, turning the photographer into an impromptu director to make the shot "work."
Listening in to a Pisan guide tell a group of tourists the history of the Tower, it was very apparent that even after hundreds of years there is still no love lost between Pisa and its larger neighboring rival, Florence. In her direct and humorous way, she showed her Pisan pride by denigrating Florence first for buying Pisa goods at high prices, and second by accusing Florentines of being dirty, which she was the reason the Arno was brown as it flows through Pisa to the Tyrrhenian Sea. Makes me think of the rivalry jokes between Ohio and Michigan or Ohio and West Virginia or most neighbors in general, for that matter.
HUNG OUT TO DRY IN LUCCA
The final funny story of our stay in Lucca was doing our dirty laundry. Italians use the sun to dry their tomatoes and their clothes and as everyone is taught from an early age, "don't hang out your dirty laundry for everyone to see." And we didn't. From our upstairs bedroom a window opened into a small floor-to-roof open air space where each level had their own clothes line. I am old enough to remember my mother washing then sun-drying our clothes in the backyard.
We did the same in Lucca, using clothes pins to keep them on the line and from falling off the line. My lovely and talented wife, who prided herself on redirectng the satellite system to pick up new channels so we could watch programs in English, didn't take the knot at the end of the line into consideration when she hung up our wet clothes to dry.
"John, I have problem with the laundry," she said in a normal tone. I wondered what that problem could be. When I went upstairs to survey the situation, I couldn't believe that she had missed this simple but fatal consideration in clothes line dynamics.
The knot prevented us from reeling in the now-dry clothes, which included my T-shirt from St. Kitts in the Caribbean, a piece of clothing won the hard way by acheiving record sales and reduced costs that sent us last December to the small but warm island on the then-company dime.
The solution, which worked, was to grab the longest tool in the house, a broom, and pull all the clothes towards the window, hoping the clothes pins would hold and not fall along with our clothes to the bottom of the center space. Such a simple concept, but having accustomed ourselves to automatic dryers in the States, we nearly got hung out to dry in Lucca.
THE LAST SUPPER (IN LUCCA FOR US)
I had no idea what Lucca would be like but after living here for nearly a week, I will miss it when we leave for Rome tomorrow.
The narrow black stone streets that run through the high canyon walls of the medieval village are the byways for the walkers, bikers, motorcyclists and drivers who never stop for anyone but who make way for everyone.
We were to meet our rental agent Debra at the apartment at 7:30 pm. To fill our remaining hours, we used up more of our Internet time [$4.60 per hour) and then walked outside the walls to the Lucca beyond. Walking up Borgo Giannimiati, we looked for a restaurant that had been recommended to us our first day here but did not find it. What we did find was an assortment of furniture and kitchen shops interspersed with fruit, produce and meat shops as well as bars, coffee shops and, of course, gelaterias.
One interesting shop we saw was a wine store with giant metal wine dispensers filled with different wines, ostensibly organically produced. Oil and wine shops are common in Europe but have yet to take root back home.
When we did hook up with Debra to go over some final departure details, she recommended several restaurants to us. Because our Lucca apartment was complete in all ways and because I’m a dam good cook [my gene pool is total Italian], we ate in every night on locally purchased goods.
But we promised ourselves yesterday during our Cinque Terra forced march that we would reward ourselves tonight and find a small, quiet, charming and romantic eatery to savor a good mea – and so we wouldn’t have to do dishes and pans [no dishwasher here except us].
Walking a few streets over we came to Ristorante Canuleia, a lovely place run by Chef Paolo Indragoli. With no reservations, we were given a table for two in the interior garden. We were only the third table at the time but by the end of our supper the rest of the tables were filled with guests who were as relaxed as we were and who showed their pleasure in their quiet but animated demeanor.
We first ordered an eight Euro bottle of local red wine. A bag of bread arrived – the bread in Italy is fabulous and for someone whose mother made bread and pizza from her bread dough, I love crusty bread with practically everything. The menu had many interesting items, from octopus to wild pig on it. Kathy and I shared an appetizer of asparagus flan with charduto cheese. For our “prima piatti,” Kathy had garbanzo bean and ricotta cannelloni while I had “chitarra” tagliaterra with panchetta, capers and red peppers. What a nice last supper it was for us.
Rome, Debra told us, is about a three and one-half hour drive away. However, with the inevitable wrong turn along the way, we hope to arrive no later than mid afternoon at Domus Anna, our next self-catering lodging close to the Vatican.
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