Preparing for the Poetry Festival.......and other fun things!

Finally, we were greeted by a few clouds this morning.  It was not totally overcast, but the sun was peeking through only occasionally.  Ivana and the staff are somewhat stressed out about the possibility of showers this afternoon and evening, as all of the reading and music events are in various locations throughout the gardens.  The only indoor venue is the Chalet on the lower terrace. 

In any case, the preparation has not really affected our routine.  We had breakfast and tended to email and general organization.  Mid-morning we decided that the weather was promising enough to head out on a short excursion.  We trekked up to Pieve Ligure Alta.  We may have been here before, but it was not clear in our memory.  It was another one of those rather charming residential communities way up in the hillside.

As this is being written, some folks are rehearsing some of the musical segments from the festival.........can't quite make it out through the sound of the waves from the sea.  A bit strange, but hopefully it will be interesting.  We are thinking about positioning ourselves carefully with an exit strategy from the gardens if it starts heading in the wrong direction........haha.......modern poetry in Italian?  What could go wrong?

From Pieve Ligure Alta, we headed down the coast back to Camogli.  It is not a bad drive and the promenade along the seaside is so wonderful.  The sun came out for a while and we stopped at a cafe for coffee......very relaxing.  We hung out for a while watching one of the City workers water some large pots.  After a few minutes we noticed that a lot of the water was running down hill in our direction.  It wasn't a flood, but enough to move us on our way! (although the pigeons seemed to enjoy it!)

One very striking experience we had while walking to the end of the harbor jetty in Camogli was finding a "net of hearts" hanging on the railing to the harbor.  Each of the hearts has a note regarding love and remembrance.......and a place in time where people have been in love, or in a state of recollection. 

It was time to head back for lunch.  Thursday is "Pizza Day" for lunch at the Villa.......and it is worth being there on time!  We again ate outside on the terrace and needed another table to accommodate everyone.  Quite a bit of excitement.

Mondays and Thursdays we have our room cleaned and the linens changed by Rafaella.  She is amazingly friendly and speaks fairly good english. She politely notified Andrea that she would be coming this morning.  We were out on our escapade.....but when we returned, not just a clean room, but she organized our shoes!

The rest of the day became absorbed in the "Festival Internazionale Poesia de Genova."  It was a more prominent even this year as it was the 25th annual festival.  Many venues around the city participate in a week long series of readings and exhibits.  The Villa dei Pini has been a participant for many years and has the added resource of 'access' to former fellows who have studied in literature, poetry and music. 

The experience was unique on several fronts.  First, we had a chance to spend several meals with most of the people invited to present readings or music performances.

• Julian Stannard, a poet from the UK (called Regno Unito in Italian).  He also has taught at the Univesity of Genoa for many years and provided a small exhibit of graphic work by his current students.  We were able to purchase a copy of his latest book of Genovese poems. 
• Mary Jo Salter is a writer and poet who teaches at Johns Hopkins.  She has lived in Baltimore most of her life and we had a great conversation about the renovation design of the Walters Art Museum, which was one of my projects back at the millenium swing.
• Francesco Ciabattoni is an author from Italy, who has been living in Washington with his wife recently, while teaching at George Washington University.  He had some interesting observations on the subtlety of regional dialects in Italy. 
• Brian Holton was an engaging poet and accomplished musician from Scotland.  He is currently visiting Venice through the support of the Emily Harvey Foundation.  He was an engaging and energized personality.......who likes to drink scotch!  Wonderful music with a guitar, but also with a Scotish flute, which is called a harp, or clarsach - which was the Scotish national instrument until replaced by the bagpipes.

There were others, but the overall spirit was one of expanded discussions and engagement........fun but tiring!  The series of poetry readings in the garden (3 locations) overlooking the sea, were particularly interesting and unique.  The event lasted from 6:00 until almost 11:00.  What follows are a series of images of the events as they transpired.  The weather cleared, although it was a bit breezy and the evening brought an unseasonable chill.  An experience to remember!