Ventotene 03: Wild As The Wind

ventotene is situated off the coast of italy between rome and naples. it is placed amongst more well known and larger isles such as PONZA, ISCHIA, and CAPRI. as the island is relatively small (approximately 3 km long and 800 m wide), walking from one end to the other does not take an eternity but nonetheless not bad exercise as everything seems to be on an incline regardless of where you need to go.









at least that was my impression.







we headed out from the port city of formia, and about two hours of smoking and trying to talk to chris in italian as a primer for him (and for me), we arrived with bags upon bags and bottles of wine brought from tuscany to the open arms of the island and federica awaiting us. for about a week ahead of time, she had been sending us text messages such as -6, -5, therefore prompting not only our anticipatory clock but enthused to know that we had at least one person who was eagerly hoping to see us.







in italian, the word for WIND is VENTO and the verb TENERE means TO HOLD, TO OWN. however, since the island is not too far away from naples, the verb is pronounced differently. third person singular would normally place the verb as TIENE, but a napolitan would say TENE. therefore, the name of the island, according to the napolitan dialect would literally mean THE WIND OWNS or THE WIND HOLDS. although this is a bit rough, i would have to concur that after ten days of experiencing some rather bone-chilling breezy nights, the wind certainly has a hold on the island.





one thing i will recall with absolute fondness were the nights, nestled outside of federica's house in the country watching the plethora of stars shining above us, looking out for falling stars and trying to stay warm with good wine and a blanket.











federica said, one evening as the sun was setting upon the house a purplish-pink hue that seemed to transport us into a mystical landscape or an impressionistic frame of mind, remember this, jason. in the cold and rainy months to come, you will have this memory to keep you warm. indeed.

Ventotene 02: Moments Preserved

ever since returning from the island, i have had the luxury of hanging out quite extensively with bobo in his new flat in florence. third floor of a three-story walk-up, it is conveniently situated in between the duomo and the david which makes for varying walking stints throughout the area not only more enjoyable, but the excuses for needing to pop out of the place for banalities seems to have increased as well.







apart from the mob tourism status that one seemingly gets used to, there really cannot be much to complain about, though i do have the tendency to do so even with this awareness and appreciation.

upon entering the new pad last week, i have been trying not to think about the upcoming return to bologna/parma, both of which seem rather dark and grim at the moment. what a few months ago (circa january) seemed like a burden of a city especially with no job and lack of a sugar daddy, florence now appears to be teeming with life and opportunities, hidden spots i would probably never have seen, or at least noticed before. the good news is i will be frequenting the city by the arno every week from thursday evening on. what i am hoping for is a permanent transfer. we will see what happens in the future.









still, with all of the splendour that surrounds us, yesterday we decided to embark into the countryside to a small lake outside of tavarnelle val di pesa between florence and siena. swarms of horseflies aside, the area was beyond picturesque. the rolling hills with rows upon endless rows of grapes and olives. the sun setting producing varying shadows from the trees and vines making an imprint of splendorous beauty upon my mind.



apart from the penetrating heat this spring and summer to which i am not a huge fan, i cannot say enough of the beautiful places and people i have come into contact with as of late. i was relating this to bobo last night over a beer and the free vegetarian buffet at pop cafe last night. how it is so easy to be experiencing something and not really know how grand it really is until it is over. maybe that is why people (present company included) are so obsessed with the photograph or moving image. a reminder of what is lost or left behind, a secondary glance at what was there along with all of the memories (usually shaded brightly in the mind's eye despite the actual experience and its tendency to not be so poetic). we both concurred the wonder of being at ventotene and how tranquil and refreshing it really was.

of course, we are already deciding on our next venture. soon the island will be but a sound-byte, an image looked at probably rarely as more and more images are added into the photo library by upcoming situations, sights seen and occasions experienced. i am not sure about this but it almost seems that some sort of happiness is wanting to be obtained by the endless pursuit of a goal, whether it be a vacation, a new car or those pair of camper's i keep looking at in the window. maybe the moment of true happiness is when one is able to take in the moment without reflection of the past or anxiety of the future and just be there. with no regrets that the perfect shot had not been had.



*** The BRACELET photo series above was taken by fellow Ventotene vacationer and film director and producer Federica Di Giacomo ***

Ventotene 01: Erroneous

first of all, i need to apologize for anyone who may have slightly been interested in the blog and noticed that indeed it has not received a post by me in quite some time. i can attribute most of the blame on the vacation that has been a frenetic whirlwind of thoughts, experiences and certainly time. besides the fact that i decided to leave the little PowerBook at home and even take a vacation from the iridescence of the 12 inches of screen that seem in some ways to be my only view of the world for a large portion of any given day.





of course, that was before we left for ventotene.



i do not have the desire to bore the reader nor do i have the exactitude at any given moment to sit down and describe verbatim what transpired into a chronicle that will take the average ADD reader (present company included) a relatively voluminous amount of time and patience. therefore, bite-size is my mantra right now. besides...it keeps 'em coming back.

what i want to describe today is the initial feeling...the emotional release of being let from a certain prison-like state to emancipation from the labors that have been constricting me to parma for the better portion of the year. at last, as my final student left the room, i could not decently handle the overwhelming sense of ease that was gripping me. frankly, it was almost too much. elation soon turned to exhaustion.

the weather was more intense than now. not as rainy or cold. in fact the exact opposite. no rain for months and the sun peering down with almost shocking intensity. i recall sitting in on the train from parma to bologna resembling a glob of jelly.





i met bobo later that evening and we began to pack for the week excursion. chris was heading down the next day and i wanted to get things in order before he arrived. place was clean. suitable clothes were arranged and placed into the bags that we allotted ourselves to have. the trip to southern italy would consist not only of the two of us plus chris, but we had agreed to pick up moira as well in florence on our journey down to the boat in order to get onto the island.

saturday arrived. it felt more natural and energizing than anytime before to be able to sleep until midday. chris was not to arrive into bologna until that evening, so we spent the day doing last minute shopping and packing. stopping at IKEA for lunch (gotta love the meatballs), our search was primarily for an umbrella. being the slight queen that i am (okay, at least i admit it), i made it rather clear to bobo for the second year in a row (last year.corsica.yet another island.is this becoming a habit?) that in no way was i desiring to linger extensively underneath the sun. i am perfectly content with my white skin. there is no desire to bake it for a longer period of time than what is necessary. of course, this opinion is shared by only a small portion of the population. mainly goths. and italians are into many things but rarely that.



upon locating all the things needed to make us more content on the island to which we had no conception of what would make us content in the first place, the only thing left to do was wait for chris to show up. the plan was that we would pick him up and head to florence. rest a few hours and drive to the port in order to make the 11:00 A.M. boat.



that is when we received the text message from chris. Howdy. Flight is half an hour late landing, so we'll be leaving late. I imagine they will try to have a quick turn around, but you may want to check arrival time closer to the time...:(



initially, it was not an issue. bobo was going to take a rest because he was to drive quite a long way. two hours to florence. another five or six to our portal destination before parking the car and transitioning to foot for the next week or so.

i finally went online to check flight arrivals into bologna airport. the strange thing was that i could not find chris' flight on the list. that is when the elated vacation mood rather instantly downsized to anxiety and yet another tension amongst us.



bobo told me to check the flight information that chris had given to me several weeks before. at first, i did not want to do this as i was certain that i had understood that this was the correct airport. but, after re-examining the flights again, i had no choice but to open my email. and sure enough, it was there. it had been there for some time. the flight was ryan air. it was flying into "bologna", according to ryan air. but really, it was flying into forli', about two hours away...in the wrong direction.



let us just say that the next conversation was not exactly pleasant. i am the first to admit that it was my fault. i assumed the wrong information and because of that we drove a much further distance and bobo was not able to sleep at all. after we picked chris up, the tension left. like it normally does. upon loading all of our baggage onto the ferry to ventotene, he slept like a baby.

thresholds.

i am sitting in my teaching lab/makeshift office contemplating a few matters of dire and of utmost concern at the present moment.





first of all, the recurring yelps being produced from my stomach, insisting that i be fed soon. i have said it before and will say it again, i don't think i will ever be able to get used to the italian colazione, or breakfast. a coffee and a croissant (brioche/cornetto) just doesn't cut it for my bigger-is-better american morning appetite. i tend to find myself dwelling on this fasting period for the minutes that tick away and endeavor to listen to my students using (or not using) the correct verb tense when really all i can think about is the glorious hour that is about to be upon me now: lunchtime. eating at barilla cannot really be criticized on any kind of level.

the other point of departure in my mental state is that indeed, this is my last day of work for an entire month. naturally this week has paced along more like the tortoise than the hare. how exactly is it possible for the mind to extend a mere seven days into seemingly thirty? monday appears to be a fortnight ago with very little of a recollection for any words said or tasks accomplished.





on a side note, i did just finish THE LINE OF BEAUTY, a lovely little gift from chris when he visited last time from london. i can tell a book is exceptional (at least for me) when i finish and i have separation anxiety for some days afterwards. it's like saying bye to someone that you have recently met but find some sort of connection with. it's intense and beautiful, refreshing and new. but within a few days the novelty of loss tends to fade and then it's on to the next.



and finally, the trip. we head off on sunday to ventotene, an island that even most italians aren't familiar with. federica and tomaso are already there. she has said that it is surprisingly uncrowded. we'll see about that.





chris has decided to join us on the trip. it will be good to be with him for awhile. strange how you move so close to a friend and still aren't really able to see much of them. can't complain really though. since i've been here, the visits have upped a bit...4 times since i moved to italy.









which brings me to my last thought of the day. that of time. on the first, i officially celebrated a year of being exiled from the land of surf and mexican food. strange. i can still recall my goodbyes with niamh, still completely drunk and eyes pouring buckets from some instant and unexpected reservoir of emotion. but it was niamh i was saying bye to. i probably would do the same again today.



*ALL PHOTOS GRACIOUSLY PROVIDED BY OUR TALENTED NY FRIEND CARLOS GARCIA TAKEN DURING HIS TRIP TO BOTH FLORENCE & BOLOGNA*