Trees Raining Olives on a Lovely Sunny Day

800 trees need to be harvested for their olives at a friend's farm, Agriturismo Monte Sereo, in the Colli Euganee west of Padua.
What better way to spend a gorgeous November day than here, working under the warm sun! Together with a small army of about twenty adults and kids, we went to work.



An American with bright red hair, io, uses a bright orange comb to pull off the fruit from the tree branches which is much faster and more effective than pulling each olive off by hand. A net laid under each tree catches all the olives. As harvesters, we just needed to be careful not to crush the fallen olives under our feet as we moved around the tree, which is no small feat.

The farm owner, Leonardo Granata, demonstrates the art of "combing."

A close up of the comb.

One of the most difficult parts of the operation is actually seeing all the olives and making sure that the plant has been completely plucked of them. Since many of the olives are green like the plant's leaves, this can be more difficult than you would think. Other olives hide in the shadows of leaves while still others dangle from branches in the middle of the plant's thicket and it is not easy to physcially access them. This is where the young children are sometimes more effective than adults in the harvest quest.

The trees with fewer olives get picked by hand with no net underneath. The olives are gathered in baskets and added to the larger plastic cases. The children are helping top off this case.

Otherwise, the net is used to funnel all the olives into the cases as shown here.

The olive tree grove on Monte Sereo overlooking the plains including Padua in the distance.

A still life of the tools used during the olive harvest.

After working in the orchard, we relaxed in the afternoon sun with a regional speciality, pasta e fagioli (pasta and bean soup), bruschetta made from last week's pressed harvest, good wine and Nardini grappa extra-reserve. And of course, we all went home with a little bottle of the farm's olive oil blend.



Pictured below is the restored eighteenth-century farmhouse "Monte Sereo" which is also available for hire as a bed-and-breakfast or rental house property for longer stays.



For more information, consult the farm's website: www.montesereo.it
Owners: Leonardo Granata and Silvia Carenza (who speaks beautiful English)

Halloween in Italy? Not Really

Italy tries to borrow a lot of American tradition. High school students want to organize "prom" their last year like they see in our films. Santa Clause now brings Christmas presents on Christmas Day instead of the traditional Befana delivering them on the Epiphany, a more Catholic version of the giving.

Halloween has been promoted steadily since I first came to Italy about 10 years ago. The children sometimes dress up. The bars host themed parties as an "exotic" and rather easy way to create a novel environment for a night and attract more customers. Clubs do the same. But most of what I see here is just a lot of merchandise being sold at the cartoleria and a few orange pumpkins appearing in the local supermarkets for inflated prices.

It's just not the same. Rarely do I see an honest homemade costume. The energy is simply not right among supposed revellers.

I wonder why this American tradition was borrowed by this country when it has no real place or connection to this particular culture. As for costumes, Carnival offers Italians 2 weeks of time to don a different face or persona, so there is no need to do the same now in October. Once a year is enough.

Pumpkins don't naturally grow here. They have to cultivate the special squash variety precisely for this foreign holiday. Nothing is indigenous about the whole thing.

This holiday is another example of globalization gone wrong. We really don't need to celebrate Halloween all around the world. As for those of us in Italy, just wait til winter and you've got Carnival to be masked and mischievous!

Friday's False Friend

possibly v. possibilmente

Our word possibly means that there is a chance that something is capable of happening, whereas the Italian possibilmente means "if possible", as in when you would like somone to do something for you. Although they are linked in meaning, they are not the proper fit as translations of each other.

For possibly, use forse in Italian:

Eng) I will possibly be going the states next spring.

It) Forse andrò in USA la prossima primavera.

The Scooter: City Life in a New Light

It's official, I have finally become absolutely Italianized.

I own a scooter.

It took over ten years for the day to come, but now my husband and I have splurged on Italy's favorite vehicle with 2 wheels.

It's liberating. Traffic is a breeze. There is a sense of freedom. We dart around town instead of plodding along in traffic at rush hour. It takes 5 minutes to get downtown. There's no fatigue involved like when cycling. The gas mileage is great!

On the other hand, it can be very cold with chilly wind rushing over your hands and through your pants. It can be dangerous: if a mistake is made, and even if it's the car's fault, I will probably suffer some serious consequences. I have to be "all eyes"!

It's a new scooter world for me and a very Italian one.

I am now relearning the roads through the city since z.t.l. (zona traffico limitato-restricted traffic zone) areas have previously been off-limits to me, a car owner who does not have a business or residence within those borders, and on a bicycle, I haven't had to respect one-way signs through town like scooters should do. Now everytime I get on the saddle, I have to rethink the roads to take, make mistakes and discover this new method of moving through urban space. I have to think like a scooter driver which is uniquely different than the cyclist or car driver.

"Buona guida," I think to myself, "e che brivido!"

Automatic Porno Distributor Available

In case the local Sexy Shop doesn't have opening hours that are convenient enough, now you can purchase porno DVDs and accessories at all hours from the local gas station in Padua! I found this particular one at the EMG gas station along Via Venezia.

Beyond the lady's sultry face glows a world of porno stuff you can buy like a soda! Just put in your money, locate the object/video desired behind the veiled screen/photo, insert the right number and extract your choice from the black door at the bottom of the machine. It can't get much easier than that. No need to invent your own sweet dreams anymore....

Can you believe it?

Note, please excuse the low picture quality but it was taken from the cell phone at dusk.

Friday's False Friend

casual v. casuale

When not at work, Americans love to dress casual. Dressing up can be a pain: heels, runs in your hose, tight ties around the neck. But the word casuale in Italian refers to something coincidental that happens, maybe happening to see a colleague at the local shopping centre on Sunday when you are wearing your grungiest jeans and no make-up.

Use the Italian words sportivo or informale when translating casual.

Eng) On Fridays we can dress casual at the office.

It) Il venerdì all'ufficio si può vestire in modo sportivo.

Writing on the Wall: Portello

Porta, Scalinata e Ponte Ognissanti

This door to the city marks the university center for Padua since it has the largest concentration of university buildings in the area. The name is also borrowed to describe the residential area in its vicinity, "Portello". But it's first role was as a customs house when Padua still had all of its walls in place and it remained active long after the other city doors' lost their utility.

It was constructed in 1518-19 for Captain Marcantonio Loredan with an Istria stone facade by Guglielmo Grizi ("The Bergamasco"). The bridge dates from 1784 and connects Via Portello to the Istituti Universitari and fairgrounds to the north. On the other side of the door, there is the Edicola di Santa Maria dei Barcari, 1790, in a decorative chapel. Yet the steps seems to actually be the highlight since Canaletto supposedly depicted them and Barbarigo used them to welcome the Venetian authorities visiting Padua. On a warm spring day, you can spot numerous university students reading on them as the sunlight showers down.

In 1993, those steps, la scalinata della Fraglia, were put to public use, recently restored and have been monitored by the association Amissi del Piovego. They hold a market on the last Saturday of the month, Portello Cartastorie. Touristi boats leave there for tours along the Brenta, too. Then in the summer months of June and July, a temporary and floating screen is place in the canal and 4 weeks of events are planned around the Portello River Festival, including some of Hollywood's latest movies, experimental cinema, local documentaries, jazz concerts and short-film events.

For two years, the Portello area was completely transformed during the hot months (June-September) because all the local bars set up stands to serve their clientele along this canal instead of packing the city center with rambunctious teenagers and young adults with a buzz. It was a lot of fun because each stand created a different theme which was distinct from the next. You could walk down the road and drink at the "tropical" stand or "fashion" bar. It was a festival of color and furniture styles. Unfortunately the neighbors complained about noise and the city disbanded the concentration of bars this past summer.

This door is one of the most active still today. Hundreds of students walk and bike under its triumphal arch, not to mention the markets and festivals that take place here.