Day 5: Busseto
The weather is slightly overcast and cool as we head out of the hotel for breakfast--it is not included with the room at I Due Foscari. We discover that Tuesday is market day in Busseto and the streets and the squares are filled with stands selling all the usual goods of an Italian street market--food, clothing, dry goods, etc. Before checking out the market, we stop at the large, busy bar nearest the hotel for breakfast, but the air is heavy with cigarette smoke, so we move on one of ntthe others in town; I estimate that there are a dozen bars along the main street. We find an attractive one down the street and go in--miracle of miracles, it is a non-smoking bar. We immediately order our cornetti and drinks and enjoy them in the "fresh" air.
One central fact about Busseto that is that Verdi is ubiquitous....besides the statue on the main piazza, every store has at least one portrait of the "maestro" and most have multiple pictures. There is Verdiana everywhere....
Next order of business is to check out the market--we walk from one end of town to the other. There are many townspeople out doing their shopping; our only purchase is a comb. But it is always fun to window shop and people watch at markets. We stop at the post office and buy some stamps for our postcards....we never seem to get the same quote for the proper postage when we buy stamps from the "tabacchi".
Our destination today is Cremona, just across the border from Emilia-Romagna in Lombardia. Cremona is about 25 kilometers from Busseto, but we take a round about route exploring the small towns in the area--including Zibello, the center of production for the cured meat specialty--culatello. We cross the Po River (the biggest river in Italy); the bridge is about 10 times longer than the river, but there is an extremely wide flood plain.
Once in Cremona, we are able to park right outside the old city walls in back of the Duomo at parking meters. (It seems that parking, at least in medium sized towns has become easier since we started coming to Italy.) We walk into the "centro storico" and immediately find ourselves in the main piazza of Cremona, which is magnificent. The cathedral is an imposing structure with a large bell tower (the top of which is being worked on so we don't have the option to climb the approximately 450 stairs to see the view.) The front of the Duomo is decorated with rows of columns and a variety of carvings, including sime violin-like scrolls. The other medieval buildings surrounding the square all contribute to the harmony of the square.
By this time, the sun has come out and it is comfortably warm. We continue to luck out with the weather. We sit on a bench and read the guidebooks to refresh our memories about the buildings and the history of the town. It is past noon so the Duomo will not reopen until 3 pm; we walk across the town to visit the other star attraction of Cremona--the Stradivarius Museum. Cremona is the historical center of violin making and there are still dozens of master violin makers working in the town. The shop windows are filled with beautiful string instruments, making for wonderful browsing.
The town itself has retained its medieval flavor in the streets and buildings. There is also a pleasant park in the middle of town--the Piazza Roma--with benches, fountains and trees. The museum has been relocated (luckily only around the corner) and we get our tickets and go in. In order to reach the violin displays, one has to walk through the entire pinocateca (art gallery), which is nicely displayed and lighted--but we are on a Stradivarius mission today.
We finally reach the right section and the first room has a pictorial display of the step-by-step process of violin production, which is very informative. The next six or seven rooms are filled with a collection of mostly modern instruments--certainly beautiful, but after the first fifteen, a bit repetitive for the non-musician. Finally we reach a room that is devoted to the tools that Stradivarius used in his work and some of his models and written notes. This is more interesting to us, as is the room with letters written between Stradivarius and some of his customers.
We are glad to have to seen the exhibit, but we are ready to leave and get some lunch. We walk back toward the center of town and stop at a sandwich bar with outside seating. We have a good lunch--sandwiches on pugliese bread and piadena (a local flat bread that resembles a thick tortilla--and enjoy sitting outside and watching the passing scene.
Our next stop is the town's own collection of musical instruments (more historical) which are kept in a room in the town hall. We have to wait for a large of group of school students to finish in the room (the school kids are everywhere on school trips). While we wait, we walk around the imposing chambers of the town council--tall ceilings, draped windows, large paintings, massive tables and chairs, silver coasters and trays--all set off with small plastic cups for water.) This small collection of instruments are from the 17th and 18th century--some made by Stradivarius, some by Amati--and they are impressive. One had been owned by Pinchas Zukerman in the past. Worth a visit.....
Since the Duomo and the stores are still closed, we go to the car and drive around the town a little. We drive to the riverfront and take a look at the walking path and park that borders the river, as well as the places for boat access. Cremona seems to take advantage of its location.
We stop at one of the recommended pastry shops for coffee and a snack--Diana strikes up a conversation with the sales clerk, whose sister is studying in Wyoming. The school group that we had seen earler were now on the prowl for souvenirs and they had taken over the street and shops with their enthusiasm.
The Duomo is now open and we are treated to some organ music while we are there; the organist is practicing high above the church. It is quite a spectacular sound as it fills the church. We make our usual review of the cathedral...trying to find the highlighted works of art and appreciating the space. However, as sometimes happens,we find that we like the outside appearance more than the interiors.
We drive back to Busseto, stopping in at the tourist information office to find out if we can get tickets for any performance at the Teatro Verdi before we leave on Sunday. We are told that the only public performance will be a recital by Jose Carreras on Saturday but the staff didn't know if there were any tickets available other than the orchestra seats at over $100 a seat. We are told to check at the box office the following morning.
In the hotel, we can hear the contestants for the voice competition practicing their scales and exercises both in their rooms and in front of the hotel--the preliminary rounds of the competition are going on during these days in the theater. So
For dinner tonight, we stay in town and walk to a trattoria on the main street, La Porta D'Oro. It is a strange room, set in back of a bar and separated by folding room dividers. There are only two other tables occupied (which is a frequent occurence in Italy).....This always mystifies us--how can they stay in business?
Dinner is fine...nothing special but certainly satisfying. Diana started with a plate of mixed salume and I had a "bruschetta" with guanciale--cured meat from the cheek of a pig. I had a local version of gnocchi--chicche di nonno with a tomato sauce--and Diana had roast duck (unusual for Italy)--meaty and tasty. We drank the house red, which turned out to be a frizzante Lambrusco--a dry red fizzy wine with was surprisingly refreshing and enjoyable. For dessert, Diana had the "torta di nonna" which turned out to be a crostata and I couldn't pass up the panna cotta, which was licorice flavored. It was very reasonably priced and we only had to walk down the street to get back to the hotel.
Jim and Diana
One central fact about Busseto that is that Verdi is ubiquitous....besides the statue on the main piazza, every store has at least one portrait of the "maestro" and most have multiple pictures. There is Verdiana everywhere....
Next order of business is to check out the market--we walk from one end of town to the other. There are many townspeople out doing their shopping; our only purchase is a comb. But it is always fun to window shop and people watch at markets. We stop at the post office and buy some stamps for our postcards....we never seem to get the same quote for the proper postage when we buy stamps from the "tabacchi".
Our destination today is Cremona, just across the border from Emilia-Romagna in Lombardia. Cremona is about 25 kilometers from Busseto, but we take a round about route exploring the small towns in the area--including Zibello, the center of production for the cured meat specialty--culatello. We cross the Po River (the biggest river in Italy); the bridge is about 10 times longer than the river, but there is an extremely wide flood plain.
Once in Cremona, we are able to park right outside the old city walls in back of the Duomo at parking meters. (It seems that parking, at least in medium sized towns has become easier since we started coming to Italy.) We walk into the "centro storico" and immediately find ourselves in the main piazza of Cremona, which is magnificent. The cathedral is an imposing structure with a large bell tower (the top of which is being worked on so we don't have the option to climb the approximately 450 stairs to see the view.) The front of the Duomo is decorated with rows of columns and a variety of carvings, including sime violin-like scrolls. The other medieval buildings surrounding the square all contribute to the harmony of the square.
By this time, the sun has come out and it is comfortably warm. We continue to luck out with the weather. We sit on a bench and read the guidebooks to refresh our memories about the buildings and the history of the town. It is past noon so the Duomo will not reopen until 3 pm; we walk across the town to visit the other star attraction of Cremona--the Stradivarius Museum. Cremona is the historical center of violin making and there are still dozens of master violin makers working in the town. The shop windows are filled with beautiful string instruments, making for wonderful browsing.
The town itself has retained its medieval flavor in the streets and buildings. There is also a pleasant park in the middle of town--the Piazza Roma--with benches, fountains and trees. The museum has been relocated (luckily only around the corner) and we get our tickets and go in. In order to reach the violin displays, one has to walk through the entire pinocateca (art gallery), which is nicely displayed and lighted--but we are on a Stradivarius mission today.
We finally reach the right section and the first room has a pictorial display of the step-by-step process of violin production, which is very informative. The next six or seven rooms are filled with a collection of mostly modern instruments--certainly beautiful, but after the first fifteen, a bit repetitive for the non-musician. Finally we reach a room that is devoted to the tools that Stradivarius used in his work and some of his models and written notes. This is more interesting to us, as is the room with letters written between Stradivarius and some of his customers.
We are glad to have to seen the exhibit, but we are ready to leave and get some lunch. We walk back toward the center of town and stop at a sandwich bar with outside seating. We have a good lunch--sandwiches on pugliese bread and piadena (a local flat bread that resembles a thick tortilla--and enjoy sitting outside and watching the passing scene.
Our next stop is the town's own collection of musical instruments (more historical) which are kept in a room in the town hall. We have to wait for a large of group of school students to finish in the room (the school kids are everywhere on school trips). While we wait, we walk around the imposing chambers of the town council--tall ceilings, draped windows, large paintings, massive tables and chairs, silver coasters and trays--all set off with small plastic cups for water.) This small collection of instruments are from the 17th and 18th century--some made by Stradivarius, some by Amati--and they are impressive. One had been owned by Pinchas Zukerman in the past. Worth a visit.....
Since the Duomo and the stores are still closed, we go to the car and drive around the town a little. We drive to the riverfront and take a look at the walking path and park that borders the river, as well as the places for boat access. Cremona seems to take advantage of its location.
We stop at one of the recommended pastry shops for coffee and a snack--Diana strikes up a conversation with the sales clerk, whose sister is studying in Wyoming. The school group that we had seen earler were now on the prowl for souvenirs and they had taken over the street and shops with their enthusiasm.
The Duomo is now open and we are treated to some organ music while we are there; the organist is practicing high above the church. It is quite a spectacular sound as it fills the church. We make our usual review of the cathedral...trying to find the highlighted works of art and appreciating the space. However, as sometimes happens,we find that we like the outside appearance more than the interiors.
We drive back to Busseto, stopping in at the tourist information office to find out if we can get tickets for any performance at the Teatro Verdi before we leave on Sunday. We are told that the only public performance will be a recital by Jose Carreras on Saturday but the staff didn't know if there were any tickets available other than the orchestra seats at over $100 a seat. We are told to check at the box office the following morning.
In the hotel, we can hear the contestants for the voice competition practicing their scales and exercises both in their rooms and in front of the hotel--the preliminary rounds of the competition are going on during these days in the theater. So
For dinner tonight, we stay in town and walk to a trattoria on the main street, La Porta D'Oro. It is a strange room, set in back of a bar and separated by folding room dividers. There are only two other tables occupied (which is a frequent occurence in Italy).....This always mystifies us--how can they stay in business?
Dinner is fine...nothing special but certainly satisfying. Diana started with a plate of mixed salume and I had a "bruschetta" with guanciale--cured meat from the cheek of a pig. I had a local version of gnocchi--chicche di nonno with a tomato sauce--and Diana had roast duck (unusual for Italy)--meaty and tasty. We drank the house red, which turned out to be a frizzante Lambrusco--a dry red fizzy wine with was surprisingly refreshing and enjoyable. For dessert, Diana had the "torta di nonna" which turned out to be a crostata and I couldn't pass up the panna cotta, which was licorice flavored. It was very reasonably priced and we only had to walk down the street to get back to the hotel.
Jim and Diana
