Davos Newbies

My slow, boring commute home this evening was jolted by as uplifting a radio report as you’ll ever hear. Do yourself a favor and listen to Michele Norris interview Homemade Jamz.

I know it makes us seem philistines, but my family spent an absolute minimum of time in museums during our Italian visit. My wife and I, however, sneaked away from the family when we visited Perugia. After walking around part of the historic center we went into the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, housed in the Palazzo dei Priori. It would not be an exaggeration to say that we were two of perhaps 20 visitors to this large, wonderful collection on a Saturday morning in late June. There’s no better way to see art than in comparative isolation, particularly in such a stunning setting.

But the reason to get on the next flight to Italy, and find your way to Perugia as soon as you can, is Piero della Francesca’s Polyptych of St Anthony. I almost feel guilty about including the pallid photo above. I can’t remember a work of art that gave me an electric charge to see in person. I get chills even thinking about it now.

I’ve long recognized that Venice has had a long time to perfect the art of separating tourists from their money. They’ve had little else to do economically since they lost even the last vestiges of power in the 18th century, after all. But I truly had my breath taken away on this trip by the cost of a vaporetto ride. A single ticket, good for 60 minutes on the vaporetto network, is €6.50, or $10.20 at current exchange rates. I truly think that’s insane. If you want a 24-hour ticket, the deal is slightly better: €16 or $25.

I know that if your a Venetian resident, you can get a cheaper pass, but still. Incidentally, I remember zipping around Venice with a local architect in 1982 or thereabouts. We boldly hopped onto vaporetti without ever bothering about tickets. “Tickets are for tourists,” he told me. That’s no longer true: the clever electronic tickets they now have are easily checked and I witnessed one sweep through the #2 vaporetto by the conductor which resulted in one disgruntled local getting pulled aside.

Vaporetto photo by D’Arcy Vallance from Flickr

By most standards, even in bookish Berkeley, I’m a voracious reader. But I marked a proud milestone on my recent Italian journey. My nine-year old son read more books than I did over the three weeks. Who says the younger generation marks the death of the book?