From Ceramics to Pantani's Mother...An Italian Fall

This fall here in Italy has been incredible. For the most part, the weather has been ideal and considering it's post-sagra season for all of the small towns, there are still lots of things to do. Ooh, I need to modify that statement a bit: when I say lots of things to do, I'm speaking as an Italian, not from the over-committed American point-of-view.

My world view has, naturally, changed. Now that I'm studying Italian on my own and not on anyone's schedule but my own, I am truly living in that place that I thought I wouldn't be able to handle. It's so much easier when one's schedule is defined by work or some external source. This space between the life of an 8-5 desk jockey and life of a student has been healthy. It'll all start up again soon enough, this is a good time to take in one deep breath of crisp, Italian air. Actually, many, as there have been lots of good bike rides, all with the most amazing panorama's...

How many months of bike riding there have been...how many new roads. Truthfully speaking, I have probably repeated the same ride maybe 3-4 times, they are almost always new. These roads are so amazingly numerous and all beautiful. The quality of the roads, themselves speaks to serious issues with tax-payer money going to other places.

During the days when I get a chance to ride, I have been exploring the towns a bit more closely. I'd hardly call rides training rides because I get to a town, gawk, look for the local bar (place to pick up a cappuccino or something similar), hunt down the agriturismos to get a sense for good ones to recommend to people when they come visit, that sort of thing. An agriturismo is a converted farm house, similar to the Bed and Breakfast concept except they tend to grow their own food (fruit, veggies and raise animals for eggs, milk and meat). Many of these places offer that storybook look of Italy that can't possibly be found at the Holiday Inn. I feel fortunate to live far enough away from the big cities that it's hard to find 5 star hotels and establishments that are typical of western culture. Travel is so much more interesting when the huge differences in culture, architecture, etc. can be seen so crisply between places.

One place famous throughout the world for its ceramics is Deruta, a cute town not all that far from here. It was a fun discovery on bike. I started by checking out the huge places that make ceramics. Pretty impressive as these are all built by hand, even the large factory-like places. They simply have more room to warehouse their goods. You'll find people in the back sculpting and painting these masterpieces.

 Inside, and it is much, much larger than this picture shows.

 The fun discovery of the day, as it always turns out being, was in meeting one of the locals. I was wandering down this road taking pictures and a nice older gentleman offered to take my picture. I started asking him questions and it turns out he owns the shop in this picture. He offers courses to people who want to learn ceramics and shorter sessions for tourists who want to take home a real treasure, one they have built, from Italy.

There are so many amazing people and places like this here that go unexperienced. It's turning over these "rocks" and discovering the real Italy that is truly exciting to me.

Philosophy of the Day
If one eats a meal alone, it will be forgotten. If one sees a panorama but doesn't have anyone to admire it with, it's simply a pretty picture. If one buys a souvenir built by the hundreds in a factory, it'll just collect dust...but when that thing was built with love by human hands, this treasure will forever be a reminder of that place, the person, the moment. Time flies and no moment sticks around to be savored, but the memories are infinite. Do everything possible to create and savor every precious moment in life!

Leaving the central part of Deruta with the glory of fall shining through the wall.

The blog has been lacking in pictures, so here are more from recent rides to enjoy. The three below are from areas close to Bevagna. Gorgeous, and trust me, my camera doesn't do these places justice in the least!

I understand this overpass will eventually have a road going to/from it. But for now, it would appear to be a really fabulous government-sponsored job-creation program.

Ah yes, not to forget the trip to Firenze (Florence). Below is a pic of Florenze from Fiesole, a town up a hill and, apparently, a little ways from Firenze. I have a bad habit of wanting to adventure into neighborhoods and I just kept on going. There was a huge downpour once I got to Fiesole, it started about 5 minutes after I found a nice place to hang out (European University, I believe it's called).

This is part of Fiesole, quite beautiful.

In the fall, there are lots of raduno's going on here. Raduno's are non-competitve bike rides, an opportunity for racers and non-racers alike to ride together and the proceeds go to a good cause. This is a picture from yesterday's raduno, we had a rest stop next to St. Francis' basilica in Assisi. Proceeds go to diabetes research, diabetes is a growing problem here. 

And last night, to top it all off, was the awards ceremony for those who competed in a race series this past summer. It's very similar to how BAR/BAT work in Colorado, but yet again, the winners got a huge amount of prosciutto, very generous gift baskets going 5-deep in each category. Yeah for our guys/gals who placed this past season...and it is particularly cool how supportive everyone is, regardless of the results.

Here's a shot of all of the race promoters. Didn't include pics of individuals who won since I don't know that they want them posted. The blonde woman is Marco Pantani's mother. She spoke of her son who loved racing. He's still very much adored here in Italy (and I'm sure throughout the world).

That's the latest. Off to Italian land, enough English for the week! Ciaooooo to all!!!!