La Cascata delle Marmore 2024

14 October 2024

Not far from La Romita is La Cascata delle Marmore, the Roman built waterfall that diverts water from a swamp so it flows dramatically over a rocky cliff.  It has a long and involved history, with different emperors changing or improving the channels - I have a quick summary in a previous blog post, so here's the link if you'd like to read it:  https://rollingluggagers.blogspot.com/2022/12/pandemic-diaries-italian-interlude-9.html

 

Modern technology uses the diverted water to create hydroelectric energy.  At 9:45 AM each morning, the waterfall is dry, just an empty cliff face.  Promptly at 10 AM, a siren sounds and continues for a minute or two.  Then the waterfall is turned on, and it begins as a moderate flow of water.  (Yes, there are now giant faucets that spew forth the water.  And somewhere there must be some giant handle that is turned, either manually or electronically.)

The water falls in lacy waves - to me, it always looks something like a bridal veil, a fall of sheer lace or tulle, draping down the dark cliff.  

After maybe 15-20 minutes, a second siren sounds for a minute or two.  The water flow is turned up, the waterfall increases in force, the dropping water begins to create mist that rises above the forest surrounding the cascade's path.

There is a third siren at 11 AM, when the water is turned on full force and the waterfall becomes a raging torrent crashing down the cliff and through the forest.  Mist clouds rise and shroud the actual waterfall so that it is barely visible, and the falling water creates its own thundering sound.  It really is dramatic to see the full waterfall, and absolutely worth getting there to watch the waterfall begin.  (I'm not sure when it is turned off in the afternoon, I would guess about 4 or 5 PM.)

We arrived in plenty of time to see the waterfall turned on.  Our bus dropped us at one of the many parking lots.  Two people programmed the waterfall location into their mobile phones, decided on a certain direction, and the entire group went racing off that way.  I wasn't sure this was the right way, but, well, can't argue with a GPS, right?  (You know that I should have.)

Anyway, we had a nice hike through a forest.  The hardy hikers raced ahead, I lingered toward the back, and just enjoyed the autumnal scenery.  One of the dyers was picking various leaves and flowers, so we chatted a bit.  Once we walked by a farmhouse, I said I was convinced we were all going in the wrong direction, and I was going to turn around.  Everyone else was too far ahead, and for some reason my mobile phone refuses to work in Italy, so, oh well, I wandered back on my own.

I did check with a few people along the way, asking "dove il basso della cascata?"  I was pretty sure that was close to "where is the base of the waterfall" - turns out "basso" isn't "base," but it is "bottom," so that worked just fine.  People pointed in the direction, gave me the standard "dritto" (straight ahead), and I found the waterfall just as it was being turned on.  So lots of photos of that beginning trickle that slowly grew into a moderate stream of water.

 

I ran into another student, and we watched the water for a while.  There was a walkway along the viewing area, with seating.  Also a covered area with more seating, so the arches created lovely framing for the cascading water.

 

Eventually our entire group returned and went hiking up the trail that runs parallel to the waterfall's path.  I wandered a bit, heard the siren for the second water turn, watched the flow from a distance but the sun was shining into the mist so the photos were one big blur of white.  (So check the link above for photos of the full cascade.)

 

More wandering and ambling took me to the little shops to one side of the waterfall, where I found a lovely store selling all sorts of truffle products.  I'm addicted to black truffles, and had planned to buy some items while I was in Italy.  I chatted with the shop lady in my minimal Italian, understood about half or two-thirds of what she said, and tasted a variety of delicious products.  (Bread dipped in lemon peel olive oil - oh my!!!  Incredible!)

I eventually bought two jars of black truffle honey (acacia honey, which I guess is extra special, but I wouldn't really know) - one for myself, one for a friend who seemed to become equally addicted when I shared some.  I realize it sounds odd, truffled honey, but trust me, it's an amazing combination.  Serve on sliced fruits like apples and pears.  Or on cheese.  Or just on bread.  It makes a delightful dessert or snack.

By then it was time for a cappuccino break, and Shelley and her family joined us at the café.  So we sat and chatted, and she and her husband raced off to buy some lemon olive oil and truffle honey.  What can I say, Italian food products are incredible and truly make some of the best souvenirs!

 

I also sketched the dragon (first photo) - he was etched into a cement block on a tiny bridge, and I took his photo on our hike in the wrong direction.  I don't know if he's the guardian of the waterfall, or the bridge, or the little stream.  But I like dragons, so sure, I sketched his portrait.

 

Our group of hikers returned, eventually the bus came, and we headed back to La Romita.  We had an entire afternoon in the art studio, so I was finally able to begin weaving.  Wooohoooo, learning a new art form!!  Thrilling!!!

Tarquinia, and Il Giardino dei Tarocchi

 Tarquinia, Italia

 

13 October, 2024

 

This was a full-day excursion, broken into two parts.  We drove past part of a Roman aqueduct – you can see a bit of reflection as I took these photos through the bus window.  SO thrilling to see pieces of 2000 or so year old architecture, still standing!  The Romans certainly knew how to engineer buildings to last!

 

Tarquinia is one of those ancient-to-modern cities that are all over Italy.  It’s a port city, almost on the Tyrrhenian Sea, a bit north of Rome.  The city dates back to roughly the 8^th century BCE, when the Etruscan culture flourished in the Italian peninsula.

 

One of the big features of Tarquinia is the necropolis, the ancient Etruscan cemetery.  Wealthy or important Etruscans were buried in underground tombs carved into the bedrock, with small buildings atop the tombs.  Some people in our group hiked up to the necropolis, while the rest of us went to the huge museum of Etruscan art.

 

I was in the second group.  The National Archaeological Museum of Tarquinia is housed in the 15^th century Palazzo Vitelleschi – commissioned in 1436 by Cardinal G. Vitelleschi.  (The church hierarchy was led by wealthy princes and minor royalty or nobles.)  It’s a gorgeous building with colonnades and porticos and arches, graceful and airy.  And chockful of sarcophagi and frescoes from the Etruscan tombs.

 

We couldn’t take photos inside the museum because, well, those are the rules for most museums around the world.  Flash photos are bad for the art, there are copyrights on much of the art, and the museums make money by selling the images on postcards and in books and such.  Here’s the city’s website, which features some of what is housed at this museum:  https://tarquiniaturismo.com/national-archaeological-museum-tarquinia/?lang=en

 

Most of the sarcophagi are about the size of a modern coffin, and carved from tuff (in Italian, tuffa).  Tuff is one of those odd rocks, being basically volcanic ash that was compressed over eons and mixed with rain or groundwater, so it’s solid but still fairly porous and easy to carve.  It also is a conglomerate, meaning there are all sorts of other tiny to small rocks mixed in with all the ash.  Tuff is common in volcanic regions like Italy, and is also the rock used for the giant statues (moai) for which Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is so famous.

 

Most of the sarcophagi had a statue of the person carved on the slab lid that closed the body inside.  It was interesting how realistic these statues were, with the person semi-reclining.  We noticed each figure either held a carved round dish sort of thing, or there might be one next to the statue.  I sketched a picture and asked the people working in the museum what it was; turned out that food was placed on that dish, so that the deceased would have food to sustain them as they moved into the afterworld, or next life, or however the Etruscans thought of death.

 

There were both women and men figures, though predominantly men who were government officials.  Some more modern sarcophagi (as in only 2000 years old instead of 3500 years old) had writing carved in the sides, often the name of the person.  A few even had frescoes painted on the sides!

 

My favorite part, however, was upstairs, where several of the tombs had been dismantled and the frescoes were installed in the museum.  SO gorgeous!  These frescoes covered all four walls as well as the peaked ceiling of the tombs, and represent Etruscan life.  There are paintings of people playing musical instruments, or sitting at a table eating, even participating in sports!  Most of the colors are still bright, even after all these years!  (Fresco is ground natural pigments painted on wet plaster.  The plaster crystalizes over the pigment as it dries, so it preserves the color and image better than paint on canvas or wood.)

 

Some of the frescoes include demons or monsters, perhaps part of what was imagined as being in the after world.  The ceilings were usually geometric shapes, vaguely like a tiled roof perhaps.  At least, that’s sort of what it looked like to me.

 

The whole museum was fascinating, and definitely worth a visit!

 

Edmund, the school’s on-site director, had made a reservation for us at a seafood restaurant.  So after we finished a slow wander through the museum, we headed over there for a delicious lunch.  We had time for a quick gelato, then our bus was ready to take us to our next stop.

 

 

Il Giardino dei Tarocchi – Tarot Garden

 

Niki de St. Phaille was a French fashion model, but so much more.  She was born in 1930, near Paris, and led an extremely colorful life.  Much of her modelling occurred during her teen years; she posed for covers of Vogue as well as Life magazine.  While in college, she studied art.  She married young (age eighteen), had several children, rejected the traditional gender roles of wife and mother, and opted to pursue art as her career.

 

While living in Spain in her 20s, she visited Barcelona and was clearly affected by the sculpture and architecture of Antonia Gaudi.  Ms. St. Phaille eventually decided to create her own garden similar to Gaudi’s Parc Güell, although her images are based on the figures in tarot cards.  She bought land some 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Rome, set up a ceramics studio, and designed her garden.  Il Giardino dei Tarocchi, the Tarot Garden, was opened in 1998 after nearly twenty years of work.

 

The Tarot Garden was AMAZING!  Truly gorgeous!  A bit more macabre than Parc Güell, but equally colorful and frivolous!  I don’t know all the figures in a tarot deck, some of these are rather ominous (such as the multi-headed beast, which may be a hydra?).  Over all, though, it was incredible. 

 

For readers who want a description of working on the garden, it begins at the website under “Chronology,” at the 1979-1980 dot, if you want all the details. (I did – I’ve worked in enough mosaic that I could guess how these sculptures were made, but I like to be certain.)  Website (in English): https://ilgiardinodeitarocchi.it/en/

 

The short summary: the land was cleared.  Each building or sculpture had a foundation laid.  Then the shape of the structure was created using iron bars (armature), which was then covered in cement.  Wire nets were wrapped over that.  Tiles were created at the studio for each structure, and cemented in place.  Grout between the tiles was the last step, and voila, we have a garden.

 

One of the things that struck me was the multitude of female forms, all looking like fertility goddesses.  Beyond voluptuous, with heavy breasts (often spouting fountains!), and wide child-bearing hips.  I couldn’t decide if the fertility goddess motif reflected Niki’s years as a model, likely eating to retain a slim figure, or if this was her rejection of stereotypical female roles and her symbolization of women as strong powerful figures, the Mother Earth and Earth Mother concept.  Maybe a combination of both.  But either way, the women were decidedly powerful as well as lushly Junoesque.

 

Every surface was covered in mosaic – embossed tiles, marbled tiles, hand-painted tiles.  From the fountain entrance to the female knight on a horse to the happy dragon to individual pillars at Niki’s former residence, everything was mosaic!  Ah yes, I was in absolute mosaic heaven!

 

We wandered around, in and out of structures, just marvelling at the beauty or strangeness of it all, depending on your perception.  For example, Niki’s house – the exterior was beautiful, with different sections tiled in solid colors separated by bands of hand-painted tiles.  One band of small tiles depicted that fertility goddess known as the Venus of Willendorf, one of the first known small sculptures of a fertility figure. 

 

But the interior of the house, all curving and undulating surfaces, was tiled in broken mirror.  Few windows, open doorways, electric lights, and yes, harsh and stark glass.  It was intense and somewhat disturbing, and decidedly strange.  We all agreed it was not somewhere any of us could live!  Definitely not cozy nor homey in any way, and rather cold, even in the warm Italian weather.  (Apparently Niki only lived there a short time.) 

 

All of those feelings maybe have been because the mirrored interior was such a stark contrast to the colorful and happier exteriors, I don’t know.  But no one seemed to feel happy or comfortable inside that house.

 

I loved the pillars, each with a different motif.  Some were covered with glass tiles, others with round balls of clay, each in a different color.  The whole place was an exuberant explosion of texture and color and shape!

 

Of course, I managed to get a bit lost trying to leave, and kept hitting dead ends.  I think I did see all of the garden that way, however, so I really didn’t care.  And I wasn’t the last person back to the bus, so it all worked.

 

I had never heard of the Tarot Garden, and am so glad we went here!  Absolutely worth another visit, and probably more time than the hour or so we had here.  It really is unique!!!

 

TONS of photos, but I will try to keep it manageable.