10 replies to this topic

[HildebrandRarity]

Hi folks...

I just got back from my summer holiday which was a tour of the northern two-thirds of Italy covering Rome in Lativm (Lazio), Sorento and the Amalfi coast in Campania, Venice and Verona in Veneto, the lakes & Milan in Lombardy and Piemonte and finally Pisa, Florence and Siena in Tuscany.

Needless to say my country of choice was 'influenced' by the James Bond series and particularly this New Golden Era's Casino Royale and the filming of Quantum Of Solace.

Here are the tid-bits...

Flag on boat of shots from Quantum 0f Solace production:

The flag that was shown here a few months ago in some of the boat shots with Craig Bond in it is the Italian (civilian) Maritime flag. [It's the one with the shield or logo (actually four shields combined in one representing the four old maritime republics of Venice, Genoa, Amalfi and Pisa) in the white vertical of the Italian flag.] So those pics do not depict 007 going to a location in Haiti or Bolivia...They may have been shots of 007 in Italy (which is surrounded by three seas) or of Daniel Craig being motor-boated to a location...We'll see in November.


Venice in Moonraker:

The Hotel Danieli (the one Holly Goodhead stays at...you can see a shot of her on the Byzantine-style balcony in MOONRAKER) is right on the Grand Canal of Venice and around the corner just one bridge east from the Doges Palace and the Piazza San Marco upon which Bond steers his gondola.

The Hotel Danieli is a very exclusive hotel. As an example, A gelato (ice cream) will cost you 16 Euro (~$25 US) and a cuppuccino (coffee with warm milk) will cost you 8 Euro (~$13 US). As I said, it's an exclusive hotel in a very exclusive location on the planet but I saw MOONRAKER as a kid at the theatre back in 1979 so I said 'what the heck...you only live once'

Venice is very beautiful and unique and I can see why they chose the setting/place for three James Bond films. The glass-blowing / -making furnaces which Bond walks past in MOONRAKER are probably not in Venice in my view...although the Murano flagship store (at which I purchased three pieces) contains one glass furnace for demonstrations. The Murano furnaces are on the island of Murano itself which I passed by on a motorboat ride in the lagoons. This island of Murano is probably where they filmed that shot in Moonraker IMHO.


Lake Garda:

OK, of the three main northern Italian lakes this is the one I did not "do" anything on. I went on a speed boat ride on Lake Como (which has the most sumptious villas on the planet) and stayed for two nights on Lake Maggiore' (it's surrounded by mountains and was convenient for my afternoon trip into Switzerland.) I did, however, drive along Lago di Garda! The tight, twisty roadway is accessed off the A4 autostrada from Verona to Milan as you cross from Veneto into Lombardy. The area contains the Valpolicella vinyards as well as kiwi fruit groves. It was a wet day and the motoring was tricky but I got some great pics of the winding lakeshore roads! I wish I had my BMW 330i M Performance with me...it would have been a ing blast!

Carrara:

On the drive down from Genoa to Pisa as you cross from the region of Liguria into Tuscany there are some mountain peaks to the far left (west) which look like they have snow on them...Well, it aint snow! They are the marble mountains of Carrara. I did not have time to drive to those mountains but I was told the roads on those marble mountain-side quarries are something else!

Siena:

After two nights in Florence, we HAD to stop in Siena for a couple of hours on the way to the Rome airport. Siena is below the Chianti vinyards in southern Toscana (Tuscany) and the buildings are made of the red clay that is prevelant in the area. It's the best preserved of the Gothic Mideval towns in Italy and there are a number of narrow streets which make it possible for someone atheletic to jump from one roof top to another.

Also, the Piazza del Campo, where the Palio horse race takes place every July 2nd and August 16th, is actually sea shell shaped (not square or rectangular) and is all cobblestoned. It's also angled, not level...it drops from the wider, curved edges of the sea shell down to the flat bottom part where the clock tower is. Even then there's a gradient between the two ends of the "C". They put down a lot of dirt to make the 'track' and it's the horse (not the jockey) representing one of the 11 of 17 districts in Siena that gets the glory upon winning.

Siena is very picturesque and a number of motion pictures have been filmed in that area of Tuscany: Ridley Scott did some stuff for Gladiator in the area. Franco
Zafferelli shot Romeo and Juliet there, i'm told. Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing (which had Denzel Washington in it) and A Midsummer Night's Dream w the hot Michelle Pfeiffer were also filmed there.

I can hardly wait to see Quantum 0f Solace!

I'll post some pics when I have time but I thought i'd share some of my thoughts now. If you have questions, i'll try and answer.

BTW, I just got a glimpse of the teaser trailer and although I was mildly stirred by it, I am looking forward to being fully and truly shaken by the full theatrical trailer in September or so.

Cheers!

[Major Tallon]

Sounds like it was a great trip! Thanks for your report. We'll look forward to your pictures.

[HildebrandRarity]

By the way, If Bond is driving from Lake Garda to Carrara, it would be a long 3 hour drive...and Siena is a further 2 hours from there.

[MkB]

Nice to hear about your Italian experience, HildebrandRarity!

What were your compared impressions of Firenze and Siena? Firenze is so much more world-famous, but to me Siena is the real gem! I'd be curious to know your opinion!

By the way, If Bond is driving from Lake Garda to Carrara, it would be a long 3 hour drive...and Siena is a further 2 hours from there.

Maybe we're on for the longest PTS ever!

[HildebrandRarity]

What were your compared impressions of Firenze and Siena? Firenze is so much more world-famous, but to me Siena is the real gem! I'd be curious to know your opinion!

Firenze is where all the historical art work is, some of it originally funded by the dukes of Tuscany, the Medicis (mentioned by Blofeld in OHMSS*), who were a banking dynasty. Michelangelo's David, for example, is there (the original plus two other replicas)...as well as the sculptures in the Piazza della Signoria. Dante', the greatest Italian poet, was born there...and I went inside the Santa Croce cathederal to look at the burial spots of Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Rossini. I mean they were giants. They lived and died there. Then I went to buy some shoes...

... It's more commercialized given the leather-making and the jewelery-making, etc. I liked it...there's a lot to do and a lot to see and a lot to buy if you want to engage in some financial damage associated with clothing, shoes and jewellery.

Siena, on the other hand, is much more Mideval and intimate. It was an old banking centre once as well, i'm told and the bank buildings are still standing (with ATMs attached of course!) There are some great gelato (ice cream) spots and pastery shops there too.

The real hidden "gem", for my money, was a place about half way between Firenze and Siena. It's San Gimignano with its tall, 500 year old towers. Google it. From the top of that village I got some great photos - the kind you see on post cards and book covers and the like.



*OHMSS the movie.

[MkB]

Really true! San Gimignano is a treasure.
About the banking history of Siena, the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena is still a very important Italian bank (and it is very visible in Siena!)

Any thoughts about Italian food?

[HildebrandRarity]

Any thoughts about Italian food?

LOL!

Well, I went with my 12 year old child who loves pizza, pasta and ice cream...so what can you say? We had tartufo (a traditional Roman chocolate ice cream) at a cafe noted for it in the Piazza Nuvona in Rome and it was bloody marvelous.

Obviously they have some very good wines in Italy. In Piemonte (Piedmont) they have the Barolo and the Barbaresco varieties that I've loved for over a decade.

They have some good seafood which I had in Sorrento (on the Tyrrenian Sea) and Venice and the island of Burano (sole and sardines and calamari (squid) from the Adriatic Sea) and fish from Lake Maggiore.

The fact is that most things are fresh.

The gelato (ice cream) is incredible and we ate it three times a day. The fresh
fruit in the main square in Verona (surrounded by fruit farms and vinyards) smelled like it could knock you into heaven.

The pizza (the simple margherita version) with its thin crust is delicioso...as is the simple caprese sandwich with its fresh tomato, basil and mozzerella cheese and olive oil. The pastas vary from place to place and I can eat it all any day of the week. Ditto the bruchetta.

I noted that pear and walnuts and honey marry really well...this I had at a monestary restaurant catering to monks of the Cortesian order in the hills above Florence. The monks make honey from the bee hives they keep and they make these amazing liquers...some of it 90 proof!

The food and drink and ice creams are just amazing in Italy.

[MkB]

Any thoughts about Italian food?

LOL!

Yes I'm kind of obsessed with food
But well, local food is a highly Bondian topic, isn't it?

Obviously they have some very good wines in Italy. In Piemonte (Piedmont) they have the Barolo and the Barbaresco varieties that I've loved for over a decade.

How true! And the Montepulciano near Siena! Really, Italian wines are too frequently underrated.

The pastas vary from place to place and I can eat it all any day of the week.

There's a pasta restaurant in Roma where you can order pasta prepared with 1000 different recipes (can't remember all, but there are some strange ones, including one with a vodka sauce... very Bondish, isn't it? )

The food and drink and ice creams are just amazing in Italy.

[Byron]

Hi HR! What a great time.

I have 2 (rather general) questions:

1) What were the 3 Murano pieces that you purchased? Could you describe them in terms of what they are, color, shape and price? Was there only the 1 place to buy glassware in Murano or many? Simply curious as i've heard a lot about their glassware and wonder whether it's been hyped up.

2) It sounds like you drove everywhere. How did you cope with which roads to take, directions to places and Italian drivers who are notorious for being aggressive and rude.

Cheers.

[MkB]

How did you cope with (...) Italian drivers who are notorious for being aggressive and rude.

Naaaaah! Italian drivers aren't "aggressive and rude", they are "energetic and lively"!
Seriously (if I may chime in), the driving style may be a little different from Northern Europe or USA, but you should get used to it rather quickly. I guess the main thing is that the distances aren't the same: drivers slacken down the speed much more later before stopping (at red lights, stop signs etc.) so that you might think they aren't planning to stop at all, and drive closer to the other cars. Once you've taken this into account, it shouldn't be a problem. The driving style is still European, and has nothing in common with some more exotic countries

[HildebrandRarity]

1) What were the 3 Murano pieces that you purchased? Could you describe them in terms of what they are, color, shape and price? Was there only the 1 place to buy glassware in Murano or many? Simply curious as i've heard a lot about their glassware and wonder whether it's been hyped up.

2) It sounds like you drove everywhere. How did you cope with which roads to take, directions to places and Italian drivers who are notorious for being aggressive and rude.

Cheers.

A cobalt blue vase with gold-leafed accents and slight, hand-painted flower elements in the centre of the body of the vase. ~ 145 Euros (~ US$ 240)

A cobalt blue and gold necklace for the lady. ~ 75 Euros (~ US$ 120)

Multi-coloured glass cufflinks for me.

There are a number of shops in Venice where they say they sell 'Murano' glass but the flagship store itself will tell you that many of those stores are selling fakes and not authorized merchandise. My 12 year old bought 'Murano' earings and such for my ex-wife but it was from another store in Venice and I can tell you it was not authentic. The Murano shop (where they have about three levels of display as well as one blast furnace to show prospective buyers how they blow their glass) actually engraved my name and 'Venezia 2008' on the base and is your best bet to guarantee that you bought the real article. Plus they give you certificates, etc for the larger pieces.

Because I was travelling with my 12 year old child, I went on a fully pre-arranged tour that was relatively trouble free. The driver's name was Luca who was from a town called Foligno in Umbria. He was completely cool under pressure and never swore and had a GPS display in his van. The only variance was when we went from Verona to Milan and I was able drive a van along some of the roads of Lago di Garda. This was not a cheap vacation simply becasue I wanted peace of mind given who I was travelling with and given I had to have the blessing (including the legal permission) of my ex-wife, etc. Had I been travelling with my girlfriend, I would have done it differently (and likely seen less).

In towns like Sorrento and Positano and on the island of Capri where there are a lot of cliff-side roads, they say:

"there are only good drivers here...there are no bad drivers because they have gone off the mountain and into the sea!"

Hope this helps.

PS. The place Murano is actually an island in the lagoons west of Venice proper and I passed it by motor boat. It's where la Vecchia Murano, the glass works manufacturer, has it's furnaces but I don't think they have retailing stores there. The main shop is actually their main office in Venice proper...where, as you can imagine, there are a number of other glass ware retailers who suggest that they sell "Murano" pieces. These other retailing shops may or may not sell the genuine article. I don't know. But what I do know is that the Vecchia Murano people at their own place in Venice say that to be sure you're buying "Murano" you are best off buying there or at a place that will give you the correct paperwork. Does that help?

PSS, I bought my pieces as souvineers...they look good. Plus, I was a kid when I saw Moonraker (of which I am a big fan) and I got a kick (and still get a kick) when I see the fight between Bond and Cha/Chang in the Venini glass shop.