Greetings from Savona
Trip Start
Sep 07, 2007
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Trip End
Sep 23, 2007
Savona, Italy
Friday, September 14, 2007
I arrived in Milano last Saturday afternoon after a good long travel. leaving was a bit hellacious as i hit traffic and was told that I was shut out of my flight after arriving 1 1-2 hours early. after a bit of negotiation i was allowed on the fight and surprisingly my bags arrived too.
Milano is a big modern Italian city as is the center of the business community of Italy. My hotel was right by the train station so it was perfect for my next day escape by train to savona. The hotel Florida was suggested by my brother David who is a frequent traveler to Italy.
After relaxing from my flight and travels I hit the streets of Milano...i walked about 4 hours ...major sites were some churches and several large squares. I caught the tail end of a hari Krishna parade and then managed to catch a good risotto dinner and a few glasses of wine. What i noticed and appears to be a trend around Italy is selling ad space around all of the major architectural and tourist sites...the great church in town had a billboard for the local cell company...sort of like making St. Patrick's cathedral in NY the Ameritrade Cathedral.
I was feeling daring and i managed to take the subway back from Duomo square to my hotel. i crashed hard...my train to savona was the next day.
On Sunday i had a quick but disappointing breakfast and made it to the train station. As I repurchased my tickets used this machine to get my tix but didn't know about this odd ritual where you have to get the ticket validated. it was not obvious and you can get fined for not having a validated ticket i figured this out before i got into trouble. The ride was quick to Savona,i had good company in my cabin, basically it was north American with a woman from Canada and Mexico.
I arrived in Savona and was greeting by Peira,Carlos wife, and Marike who is the coordinator of the academy. We then went to another train station to meet John Paguiarillo from NY who is also a student of my teacher Steve Bernstein. Funny enough, he has the same mandolin as I do. We grabbed a quick lunch and drove into Savona towards our accommodations. Savona is located on the Mediterranean and Italy's 5th biggest shipping city. there is a beach and a large fort,the Fortezza.
At my home for the next 7 days, the peace sanctuary we settled in. The accommodations are basic as this was intended to be a place for religious retreats and reflection. My room has a mildew problem its not pleasant when you get into the room but you get used to it after a while. plenty of light and great views of the mountains, i seem to forget about the unimportant stuff.
Sunday was a chill out day, and our members of the international mandolin academy assembled from all parts of the world. its amazing how many of these folks i know from other workshops ive attended and also the range of people, professional and accomplished musicans and amateurs like myself. everyone is so great. Carlo, our meistro, for those of you who dont know is a Itailian mandolin virtusoso,maybe the best mandolinst in italy, and in my opinion the best in the world. His real job is a fireboat capitan to pay the bills. He has a great wife and 3 kids.
Daily our schedule has been early eats, group instruction, sectional orchestra training, and then the whole orchestra practice. Our secondary home has been the fortezza , fortress in downtown savona on the waterfront. It dates back to the 1400s and has been updated and expanded for various purposes. recently updated with a museum and modern conviences, the fort has a small practice hall and a resturant where we have been eating dinner.
carlo is from Savona, and his mom and dad own a frappe shoppe in the town square, we were all treated to a frappe before a rehersal the other night. i also got to walk around downtown a bit. Carols mom handed me a piece of paper which said in italian best of luck in the future. so nice.
we also had a lecture from a famous hand surgeon who specializes in musicans. he taught us how to use our hands to maximze effective use with minimal strength. We also had another lecture about the physics of musical instruments.
Carlo arranged for me to spend the first night of Rosh Hashana with a local family. Dr. Cohen and istraeli born pediatric specialist was a famous doctor here in town. He invited me up to his house and to celebrate the holiday. About 20 folks there most who spoke english. One of his friends was a king pin of espresso machines and also owned 51 goats and made cheese. He prolimed to be self taught mandolin and violin player. Dr. Cohen is a wonderful and interesting man..his house is from almost 1000 years ago and he has a few frecos which were recently discovered in his ceiling. I got home at 1am after eating, chatting,and celebrating the new year. It was so nice that Carlo arranged it and for Dr. Cohen to open his home to me.
On Thursday, we took off time from playing and took a bus ride to Torino to see an old monestery on a hill up at 2800 feet. it has been used as a church then a monestery, and then abandoned and then re inhabited. lots of tombs, religious art, and great views. Later that day, we went to Cirie to spend a few more hours and to site see and watch a concert with carlo and his orchestra with special guests including some classmates and other super talented friends of carlos
Today is Friday and its been a low key moment before our big concert tommorrow. Our music is comming together but i could use another week of practice but it will be what it will be. We wil be playing in the large opera house concert hall in town to a large crowd. Marike has arranged for us to use the dressing rooms...in her words, I want you to feel like a important musican.
Sunday i will be leaving for the dolomites by train from Savona. i will try to write more before i leave but internet time in hard to find. I hope you all are doing well and ill speak soon.
peace, Ira
Comments
Mando man
Sounds like a fabulous experience! I'm glad you had a great New Year celebration too! Looking forward to more updates!
Robyn