Monday, June 15, 2009

Italy and Valentino


Yesterday could be called "I miss Italy day." My good friend Rachel came over to join me in going to the Sunday farmers' market and the conversation eventually went to conspiring to find ways to live in Rome for an extended period of time ... which led to the browsing the internet of Villas outside of Rome...

Then I went to see "Valentino: The Last Emperor" which was mostly shot in, you guessed it... Rome. It was fantastic, by the way, and I highly recommend it! Check out the trailer.
Milan Last September...




Lake Como ~ The Villa Carlotta


Varenna ~ Lake Como


When I was in Rome I was so busy having a fabulous time I don't have the number of photos I would have expected. At some point I will post more of my Italy pictures including those from Rome and Assisi. I did buy a fabulous souvenir when I was in Rome. I went into a little bookstore near the Spanish Steps and purchased an English/Italian translation of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." ~Translated by Harold Bloom
Doesn't everything sound great in Italian?

Un canto di gioie
Oh cantare il canto piu` esultante!
Pieno di musica - pieno dell'essenza dell'uomo, della
donna, dell'infanzia!
Pieno di comuni mestieri - pieno di frumento e alberi.
Oh, per le voci degli animali - per la velocita` e il senso
dell'equilibrio dei pesci!
Per il cadere di gocce di pioggia in un canto!
Per la luce del sole e il movimento delle onde in un canto!
Oh, la giolia del mio spirito -e` uscito di gabbia sfreccia
come un fulmine!
Non basta avere questo pianeta e un tempo determinato,
avro` migliaia di pianeti e tutto il tempo.
A Song of Joys
O to make the most jubilant song!
Full of music - full of manhood, womanhood, infancy!
Full of common employments - full of grain and trees.
O for the voices animals - O for the swiftness and balance of fishes!
O for the dropping of raindrops in a song!
O for the sunshine and motion of waves in a song!
O the joy of my spirit - it is uncaged - it darts like lightening!
It is not enough to have this globe or a certain time,
I will have thousands of globes and all time.

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