#2919 three things: micro-memories of Rapallo

 

3 Italian pastries 

First, I'm bummed that I didn't write here on Sunday. I had time, but I kept putting it off during the day, then later in the evening, I had terrible stomach cramps, so I took some medicine and went to bed early. I have every intention of writing a nice post this Sunday, and in the meantime, allow me to share three micro-memories that only happened in Rapallo.

1. Chiosco della Musica. One of the things you'll find on TripAdvisor when you are looking at things to do and see in Rapallo is the Chiosco della Musica (Music Kiosk - sounds better in Italian, right?).

Chiosco della Musica

It is the structure with the arches behind the cannon. From this angle, it looks like a nice little gazebo-type building in the Art Nouveau style and dates back to the late 1920s. The thing that makes it interesting is that the ceiling is covered by a fresco painting of Italian composers. 

The first time I peered up at the fresco, it was a dark and stormy night so I didn't see anything too clearly, but I was struck that some of the faces looked kinda scary. We passed by the Chiosco nearly every day, and didn't look too closely at it because, well, it is what it is, and it wasn't too meaningful to me. 

The last night we were in town, though, we decided to stop by for another look, and I was again struck by scary faces. Looking at them now, I don't think they look as menacing. It was probably just a trick of the lighting and the thought of Halloween coming along soon. What do you think?

part of the fresco in the Chiosco della Musica

2. Giardini Ezra Pound. One day Lizzie and I stayed in Rapallo while our art group went out on an excursion. We decided to take a walk along the lungomare. It was raining, more of a drizzle, really, and we didn't have a destination until we spotted what looked like a cafe in the distance, right on the waterfront, that looked like a cool place to hang out for awhile. 

Bagni Ariston

On the way to the cafe, we passed a little patch of grass with a frog fountain.

Giardini Ezra Pound

It turns out that the poet Ezra Pound lived in Rapallo for awhile, and this little green space was named for him. Lizzie and I felt warm and fuzzy about it since Lizzie is a poet and we like things for artists and poets. 

Don't know much about Ezra Pound? Neither did we. He was born in Hailey, ID in the late 1880s and was a poet and a professor. In the early 1900s, Pound left the United States for Europe, where he travelled around the continent. He settled in Rapallo in 1924 and lived there for 20 years or so. Pound supported fascist ideals, and went back to the U.S. to tout those ideals. He was imprisoned, then released, and moved to Venice, Italy for the final years of  his life. This is a very poor nutshell of a summary. The main thing I take away is he was an American poet who lived in Rapallo. 

Fun fact I learned while reading about Ezra Pound: he befriended Ernest Hemingway (who died in Ketchum, ID which isn't far from Hailey) when they met in Paris in the 20s. Hemingway visited Pound in Rapallo, and wrote a short story called  "Cat in the Rain" about an American couple who visit Rapallo. You can read it here.

3. Don't use the elevator. When our time in Rapallo was over, we took the train to Milan along with several of the women from the art group. They all met at the hotel and walked to the train station, but Lizzie and I wanted to have our breakfast at Tossini then meet the rest of the people at the station, which is just a block away from the cafe. 

At the train station, Lizzie and I decided to get on the elevator so we wouldn't have to carry our bags up the stairs. We got into the little elevator, and when the doors opened on the second level, everyone in our group turned and gaped at us. We greeted everyone, and someone said, "You took the elevator." We laughed, because, yeah, we just got off it. "Didn't you see the sign that the elevator was out of order?" Suzy asked. I guess I did see a sign, but didn't take the time to try to decipher it. We all kind of nervously giggled and I felt really thankful that I wasn't trapped in a tiny elevator at the train station in Rapallo. 

Rapallo train station

There you go...little tidbits to whet your appetite for more stories and photos. 

xo