Alan's Italy: My Personal Journey

By Alan J. Greenhalgh

Over the past twenty years I have spent considerable time traveling in Italy. It has been an extraordinary experience filled with great times with many friends. Alan's Italy, My Personal Journey is the story of my passion for Italy, its culture, history, and people. Each of the first five chapters is named after some of the people who have had the greatest impact on my love for this wonderful country, and the final chapter, named for me, culminates in the most amazing of my twenty adventures.

This story focusses on how each of these people have had such an enormous impact on my life. I talk about all of my trips with special emphasis on those events which have shaped my thinking, and driven me to try to find greater meaning in my journeys. After many attempts to put in writing how my passion for Italy has had such a profound effect on my life, (but without much success), the weekly television show I produce and perform, Alan's Italy, on Woodstock Public Access Television, has given me a special perspective that I lacked. Being given the chance to analyze my life of travel throughout the country focussing on the many topics I have selected to broadcast has given me the unique direction I have always sought.

Join in this journey to some of the most beautiful places on earth, big cities such as Florence, Venice and Rome, and smaller towns such as Orvieto, Civita di Bagnoregio, and Loro Ciufenna among many others. Meet some of my friends and family, and share some of my most memorable experiences in this amazing land. Alan's Italy, My Personal Journey is the fulfillment of the dream that I have pursued during my life to put into words my extraordinary passion for my second home, Italy.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 15, 2012
• ISBN: 9781479704613

Alan J. Greenhalgh

Alan J. Greenhalgh For the forty one years of my professional life I served as a high school mathematics teacher, assistant principal, and adjunct lecturer in mathematics at a college. It was an extraordinarily rewarding career which ended in 2010 with my retirement. I have since endeavored to pursue other avenues of intellectual stimulation and challenge by immersing myself in my hobbies and passions, one of which is traveling in Italy. I first journeyed there in 1992 and have continued spending vacations there ever since. I have always found Italy to be a marvelous place to visit filled with art, history, fine food, gorgeous scenery, and wonderful people. During my twenty visits there I have had great experiences and have wonderful memories of spectacular events. About a year and a half ago, I began producing and performing a weekly show on Woodstock Public Access Television, which is called Alan's Italy. The show focusses on my photos, memories, and knowledge of Italy and its extraordinary culture. The show, my two blogs, my lectures, and now my books have given me the opportunity to share my love for Italy with hundreds of people in my hometown of Woodstock, New York, and all over the world. In my spare time I enjoy swimming, guitar playing, and reading. I live in upstate New York with my wife, Laura, who is an accomplished artist, and the photographer and videographer of most of the images that are broadcast on my television show. I have a daughter, Jennifer, who is an attorney along with her husband, Robert. My granddaughter, Sofia is adorable and lovable. Laura two wonderful daughters, Lily, and Anna who are very special to me.

Book preview

Alan’s Italy:

My Personal Journey

Alan J. Greenhalgh

Copyright © 2012 by Alan J. Greenhalgh.

Library of Congress Control Number:  2012915633

ISBN:

Hardcover  978-1-4797-0460-6

Softcover    978-1-4797-0459-0

Ebook        978-1-4797-0461-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

[e-mail]

121580

Contents

Prologue

Acknowledgments

Part 1.   Lidia

Chapter 1.   A Friendship Grows in Florence

Chapter 2.   Traveling Solo

Chapter 3.   The Amazing Year of 2002

Part 2.   Luca

Chapter 4.   Croce di Malta

Chapter 5.   A Friendship Blossoms

Chapter 6.   Tuscan Hospitality

Part 3.   Franco

Chapter 7.   Discovering Civita di Bagnoregio

Chapter 8.   Too Late for Lunch, But…

Chapter 9.   On the Road with Randy and David

Part 4.   Laura

Chapter 10.   Before and After

Chapter 11.   The Italian Riviera

Chapter 12.   Across the Mountains

Chapter 13.   Paradise on the Lakes

Chapter 14.   Umbrian Hill Towns

Chapter 15.   Tuscany

Chapter 16.   Sorrentine Sunsets

Chapter 17.   Rome—Brutal and Beautiful

Chapter 18.   Venice, but Far From the Crowd

Chapter 19.   Milan—Occasional and Brief Visits

Chapter 20.   Sharon and Ric

Part 5.   Ellen

Chapter 21.   The Year of Wandering in the Desert

Chapter 22.   Woodstock Public Access Television

Chapter 23.   A Worker of Miracles

Part 6.   Alan

Chapter 24.   Don’t Get Lost in the Show. Just Have Some Fun

Chapter 25.   The Unofficial Mayor of Orvieto

Chapter 26.   The Greatest Tour Guide Ever

Chapter 27.   Pisa, A Tale of Two Cities

Chapter 28.   Florentine Delights and Other Special Moments

Chapter 29.   A Sunny Sunday Afternoon in Rome

Epilogue

PROLOGUE

I have travelled to Italy twenty times over the course of the past twenty years searching for two things. I wanted, of course, to have a fun and wonderful vacation in a beautiful land visiting with friends I have made over the years. In a larger sense, however, I have always been searching for a greater meaning for one of the great passions of my life, a vehicle for expressing my profound sense of unity with the people I have met and the places I have visited. I have tried many things from writing a book to leading tours. From taking courses to giving courses. From advising people on a wide range of topics to attempting to make that a business venture. Nothing helped to assuage the intense desire I had to seek something beyond the ordinary, something that would make what I was doing different and meaningful.

Then an opportunity came my way that appealed to me, to produce and perform a regular weekly television show on Woodstock Public Access Television on my travels through Italy. I knew it would be a tremendous effort to get the show under way, but I became driven to succeed. I gave the show a name, Alan’s Italy, and began to organize my wife, Laura Gurton’s and my thousands of photos into categories representing places we have visited over the years. The show began on December 9, 2011, my daughter Jennifer’s birthday—a good omen, I thought. That venture has turned out to be among the most rewarding experiences of my life and has given me great fulfillment.

Busy with searching for ideas, organizing photos, planning interesting topics, and searching for people to interview on the show consumed hundreds of hours during the past year but have given me a purpose for my profound affinity for my chosen destination. People came up to me with compliments, suggestions, and wanted to know how I was managing to sustain the show for so long, and especially how long I thought I could maintain the weekly pace of programs. I love the attention, I must admit, and have always been a willing recipient of their kudos (although I must also say and apologize for the fact that I was never eager to hear their criticism and suggestions). Nonetheless, everything was going well and I even wrote a short book about the total experience of producing a show on public access television which is called Alan’s Italy, the Birth of a Television Show.

However, with all this pleasure I was deriving from the experience of producing and performing the show, something was lacking. Over the past twenty years having tried to write a book about the actual experience of traveling in Italy, I failed each time. Assuming that it was enough to have traveled there many, many times, and visited hundreds of interesting places, I could not, however, find a perspective that hadn’t yet been explored by authors through the years. Every attempt was met with failure and subsequent frustration. Whenever I sat down to write about something with a seemingly unique perspective, it simply started to sound like everything else I had already read somewhere else. During the last trip Laura and I took in May 2012, having visited some very out-of-the-way places, I felt that I had finally found something meaningful and unique. Before I started to write, however, I did a Google search for the three main locations and found thousands of references. Places such as Loro Ciufenna, Borgo Borro, and Laterina seemed so unusual that there could never have been a story written about them, or so I surmised. I was wrong and searched for something else, vainly at first, but then while lying on the couch in my den, it came to me.

What made my experiences unique were the people I met and with whom I became friends over the years, their stories, their impact on my life, and how I nurtured these relationships through my passion for Italy. Focusing on these relationships I soon developed a theme, which I carried through the book that you are about to read. Each chapter is named for one of the five people who have had the greatest impact on my life during the past twenty years of traveling to Italy, with the last one named after me, the product of the influence of these very special people. The path I have followed was largely due to their extraordinary impact on my being and what eventually would become the most exciting and unusual trip to Italy I ever took. Certainly the foundation had been established during my previous nineteen excursions to all the places I have visited. With the tremendous impact of their effect on me as a person and my experience of producing and performing Alan’s Italy, an amazing adventure awaited me. Please join me in this journey I have taken over the past twenty years culminating in the trip Laura and I took in May 2012. You will meet these five people and hopefully love them as much as I do.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am indebted to many people, not only for my being able to write this book, but especially for my incredible twenty years of Italian travel.

Without a doubt my wife Laura Gurton, who has been my traveling partner since late 2002, has provided me with companionship and support in my quest to find greater meaning for my trips to Italy. She has also been a great advisor for my planning, my photographer, videographer, and friend during those memorable vacations. Laura has embraced my friendships with my Italian friends and their families and shared in their warmth and hospitality. Laura and I have traveled to extraordinary places over the years and shared in the excitement of discovering new and beautiful venues. Her enthusiasm has enhanced my experiences and created a greater sense of wonder and fulfillment for me. Her love, devotion, and understanding have helped to give me confidence to explore places to which I may never have ventured.

My oldest Italian friend, Lidia Loschiavo, has been a constant source of joy for me since 1995. Throughout the years I have always turned to her for her friendship and help in understanding the Italian culture. She and her family have always been very kind and hospitable to me.

Luca Rolloni has been a wonderful friend for over ten years, revealing aspects of Italian history and culture that only a native could impart. He has gone out of his way to help to make my trips to Italy memorable and exciting. Luca’s family has embraced my passion for Italy and taken me into their homes by being gracious hosts. I have always relied on Luca for the help in making hotel reservations, and I appreciate his assistance. I apologize to him for having so many questions all the time.

Franco Sala, my newest friend, has been wonderful to Laura and me and given us a very interesting perspective on Italian culture. His affection for us has added a new and fascinating dimension to my overall Italian experience. I thank him for introducing us to many of his friends who have also been very kind to us.

Sharon and Ric Hirst are two of our closest friends, whose warmth and friendship have enhanced our lives but especially our appreciation for Italian culture and history. As I have said many times, even if they weren’t also Italophiles, we would always have loved them. A special thank you to Ric for appearing on my show and providing such intelligent analysis of places and topics related to Italian art and history.

I would like to thank my first wife, Wendy, for our forty-five year friendship and for sharing my first four vacations in Italy. My daughter, Jennifer, is an inspiration to me, and I have always admired her intelligence, work ethic, and dedication to her family and friends. Also, I thank her for that first wonderful trip to Italy in 1992, which was so magical for all of us. Also thank you to her husband, Robert, and, of course, Sofia, who is always cute and wonderful.

I would like to thank Laura’s daughters, Anna and Lily, for sharing one of my favorite vacations in Italy in 2004/2005. Their companionship helped me to have a memorable time. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Lily for her enormous help in assisting me to hone this narrative and providing guidance and advice in crafting the final revisions.

I would like to thank all the people at Woodstock Public Access Television for helping me to get Alan’s Italy on the air and sustaining it for all these months, especially, Richard Spool and Angela Sweet, and also the town of Woodstock, New York for providing an atmosphere that promotes creativity, diversity, and openness to all ideas.

My very special appreciation and love goes to Ellen Povill for her friendship and kindness. Without her ability to get my show broadcast every week, there could never possibly be Alan’s Italy. I am grateful to her for her confidence in me, patience, and devotion to her work as a videographer and engineer.

My appreciation goes to Franc Palaia for his expertise in the area of Italian art, history, and culture, and also for graciously appearing on my show. His art is very wonderful and special and it has been a pleasure to base many episodes of Alan’s Italy on his amazing talent. Also my thanks goes to Professor Eve D’Ambra for taking the time to appear with me on Alan’s Italy and for sharing her expertise in fascinating areas of art history.

I would like to thank YouTube for showing my videos on their service in a very professional manner allowing hundreds of people to share in my passion for Italy.

I would like to thank two of my book representatives at Xlibris, Elaine Tan and Dora Paige for their invaluable assistance. Elaine Tan has been so extraordinarily kind and helpful, that I do not believe that I could have written this book without her help. I just cannot wait for my next book, and to again share the excitement with her.

My appreciation goes to my audience in the towns of Woodstock and Saugerties for their support and interest in Alan’s Italy.

My very special appreciation goes to the people of Italy who have been so kind to me over the years. Being their warm, kind, and hospitable selves has given me great joy over the years. They are the primary reason for my love of their incredible country.

Finally I would like to express profound appreciation and love to my parents, Ida and Murray Greenhalgh, without whose love, support, and devotion I could never have achieved anything in my life. I wish you were here to share my joy.

For Laura

PART I

Lidia

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CHAPTER 1

A Friendship Grows in Florence

At about 9:00 AM, on Saturday, August 11, 1995, my first wife, Wendy, was trying to convince me, over breakfast, to take a few minutes away from my busy schedule of sightseeing to meet someone she had met the day earlier. Two days prior, we had arrived at Milan’s Malpensa Airport, and after twenty hours of traveling—and by late afternoon—we had finally arrived in Florence for a return trip I had dreamed about for three years. Friday was spent visiting museums and churches, just as I had planned back home in my den in Marlboro, New Jersey. Over croissants and cappuccinos in the breakfast room of the Hotel Croce di Malta, I was hard at work honing the schedule for the day, pairing places that were close enough to make the day’s itinerary as efficient as possible. Wendy had spent that first day shopping. We had different perspectives on why Florence was such a great place to visit. To me it was Renaissance art abundantly found in venues all over this great city, but to her it was markets, leather stores, and the jewelry on the Ponte Vecchio. Just to set the record straight, she wasn’t the only one who loved leather and jewelry from Florence; I too would buy up a storm during that one-week stay, and Wendy did visit the Uffizi and Accademia again, as we did three years earlier. Her plan for this sunny, hot Saturday was to first return to the leather store she had come upon as she was strolling up and down via della Scala and then continue to other places she had dreamed about since that first trip, with our daughter, Jennifer, back in 1992.

Alan, start your day slightly later and come with me to a leather store a short walk from the hotel. The owner is a lovely lady named Lidia, who—although not fluent in English—was really trying very hard to communicate with me. Reluctantly I agreed to spend a few minutes meeting Wendy’s new friend. That slight deviation from my routine would change my life.

Lidia Loschiavo was born in Torino (Turin), spending fourteen years of her life in Marigliano, near Naples before moving to Florence. Her mother was born in Florence, her father in Bari, brother Mario also in Torino, and sister Chiara in San Paolo Belisto, also near Naples. Lidia’s store, Gioia Chiara, when we first met her in 1995 was located in a different spot from where her store is located today at via della Scala, 11/r. That first store was small, only eighteen square meters (162 square feet) in total area, without a bathroom, which necessitated Lidia having to close the store and go next door to use the facilities. It was located down the street further toward the train station at via della Scala, 21/r. Now she has a much larger store with two rooms, a storeroom and bathroom, and much more comfortable to stand around (or sit on a stool as I do now) conversing. Her line of leather products always caught my eye, and even now having spent countless hours with her while she worked on products or waited on customers, I often scan the shelves deciding what to buy that I haven’t already, a very difficult thing to do since I have seemingly bought everything. On this already steamy Saturday morning in the usual heat of a typical August day in Florence, without the air-conditioning she now has, I met Lidia for the first time and did my best trying to converse with her although she hardly spoke any English. Although we immediately hit it off and liked each other, I had no idea at the time of the impact that meeting would have on my life.

During our subsequent trips to Florence, in 1996 and 1998, Wendy and I made sure to visit with Lidia at least briefly; and as time went by, less to purchase her products and more to spend time with our new friend. We always found it extraordinary that each year, her English improved significantly. She told us that a friend who was Dutch was helping her with the language and also that speaking with her American customers, especially us, was a big help. Lidia believed that for her business to be successful, it was essential for her to speak English as well as possible since so many of her clients were from the United States. During those first few visits, she told us the story of the founding of the business by her Uncle Luigi in 1948, how the business grew, and the role each family member played in the creation of the amazing leather products they proudly sold at Gioia Chiara. It was during one of those first visits that we also learned that the store was named after her younger sister, Chiara, who was also trying to learn as much English as possible. Her father, mother, brother, sister-in-law and Chiara (most of the time) stayed at home making the products while she ran the store, with occasional help from her sister.

Back then Lidia’s and my relationship revolved around the