Progress of Street Pavemement

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progress June 2013 (photo via Pino Pitt)

Last November 2012, one of the new major's projects, the restoring of the old town center of Pizzo, started with street works (see the photos of my blog post in November 2012).

alley closed for road works in April 2013

It was promised years ago and many times to the inhabitants of Pizzo's centro storico that the pavement will be repaired. Beautiful large lava stones were once covered badly with cement. Over the years more and more potholes appeared everywhere. The project's aim was to restore the old stone pavement nicely. Other coastal towns like Tropea and Scilla always made me jaleous with their perfect pavements.

OK, it's not only pavement, it is also new piping (April 2013)
 
But the project turned out to be an ordeal for the residents. Especially in the rainy winter months... For a kind of "ring road" (a small one way alley) of about 500 meter it took them.... what can I say, after 8 months they have not finished yet!

pedestrian can pass (April 2013)

progress 1m/day in mid April 2013

It meets more or less my observation when we were there in April: the daily progress was about 1 meter ! Easy to calculate, it will take 500 days to complete ... this means we probably will still be schlepping our suitcases and grocery down the alley the whole summer ....

another project is a new piazetta that lies on that "ring road" (April 2013)

view from our balcony (April 2013):
these stones are prepared to be collected and placed in the right area
 
every day one meter better looking (April 2013)
 
The photos below show that the workers have finally arrived in front of our house - which means they did about another 30 meter since April? - Well, that is even less than 1 meter progress per day. BUT there was a reason for the delay. The day before we left in April, there was no noise or sign of street workers in the alley. They just had stopped working. People said the commune hadn't payed them.... Ah, a Calabrian Classic... 
 
finally arriving at our door step, June 2013 (photo via by Pino Pitt)
 
it's coming a long way! (photo via Pino Pitt)
 
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But, the alley continues around the corner! The "ring road" goes up, passes by the new piazette (in progress) and the Piccolo Grand Hotel. (I don't think they have started yet from the other side.) That's why I see us schlepping, no car can pass .... The good thing about it: this exercise allows us one tartuffo ice cream a day, almost!!

photo via Alfonso Salutato (April 2013)
 


Spring in Pizzo

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As time goes by, I realised, I have not posted much about our "spring break" in Pizzo last April.

I summarized our special April 

here

 though, but with only one photo - and even those entries from our 

Facebook page

seem not enough to cover our impressions.

You remember, how we arrived at the airport and drove to Pizzo, encountering goats on the way? If not, have a look

here

.

So here they come, more visual impressions from spring in Pizzo:

I like Calabria for its crystal clear sea. But during those April days, the sea appeared to be even more clear. So clear, that the fishing boat seemed floating in air.

Marina Beach empty in April

I hardly saw any Italian kids playing on the beach those days, even after school and on weekends.

Niente bambini

. Maybe it is when you have it in front of your door step that it is less interesting? Or maybe Italian kids don't want (should not) get dirty? A "

bella figura

" thing? Or is the beach only for swimming in summer? Anyway, our son couldn't be stopped to dig holes whenever we passed the beach.

digging sand holes

One day, I observed the clouds in a distance and I saw that they have a shadow on the water. I was pretty fascinated of that sight and took a dozen pictures. Not sure if you see what I mean. I like the reflections a lot. All kind of reflection on water I like a lot.

stunning reflections

There is not much else to observe from the balcony aside some fishermen passing by in rowing boats. I wonder if those two with their relatively large net just fish for their family dinner, or maybe for a restaurant?

fishermen at work

I think I was on the balcony all afternoon that day - just enjoying the beauty of nature - until the sun set above Stromboli, the volcano in the distance.

sunset above Stromboli

Another day, while reading on the sofa, I had to constantly look at our beautiful ceiling with its faded fresco. (I should say manually recovered fresco). I like it so much, I took those pictures below. And we finally ordered two ceiling fans for the empty spots (no lights, enough of those).

part of the living room

ceiling with recovered faded fresco

Beside sitting on the balcony and reading on the sofa, I have also been drawing a bit:

agrume

, pears and oranges

 And I played tennis!

When my friend asked me to join her playing tennis, I discovered that Pizzo has a "Center Court"! So funny, the door is seriously locked, no one has a key. But the fence's hole on the side is so big, that it seems now to me that there was no fence on the side... and they even have a grandstand! I promised to practice to join the match in summer (I have not been playing for over 20 years!) It will be fun! 

Pizzo's "Center Court"

This time, we often had lunch in piazza. It was just too beautiful - warm sunshine and very few tourists. The church bells ringing at noon and the organ play (I posted a few seconds of this sneak peek into

paradise on Facebook

). I can't describe in words this special moment of the day. Absolutely peaceful. - We saw the school bus coming, parents picking up their kids. We met the locals and really felt like

Pizzitani

our self. So, instead of having a tomato salad and a pasta at home, we had a salad, or a pizza, or a pasta or

cozze

at one of the small restaurants in piazza.

And yes, we also - sometimes - indulged in tarfuffo ice cream as well.

invented in Pizzo:

il tartuffo nero

The scent of oranges was in the air, everywhere. It smells sweet like jasmine. Very intense.

sweet scent of oranges from the neighbour's garden

The neighbour's garden seen from our guestroom (photo below). A red and white band from the street construction was blown into the trees. The commune of Pizzo is restoring the old street pavement in the historic town center. But this will be another post.

neighbour's garden and street work in progress

--- 

I found too many photos to post. 

I have to split them up into more stories, like street work progress, prima communione, Signora Rosa, Catanzaro. Stay in touch! 

Until soon.

Saluti!

Pizzo Harbour Project (Update Spring 2013)

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oh, this looks so nice, crystal clear sea
 
 
the harbour project of Pizzo in April 2013
 
 
but what is this?
 
 
it's not finished!
 
The harbour project of Pizzo, still unfinished. I introduced this wonderful project that kicked off in November 2010 here. It will add so much value to Pizzo. In my previous posts I also explained why the works were stopped.
 
The new mayor (since May 2012) wants to continue though - however, as I understood, he also is reviewing the entire project.
 
In my last picture above, I indicated the missing parts of the original project: A long area of the harbour should still be excavated, and the entrance to the grotto is not realized yet (see blue space). A bridge (yellow) would allow pedestrians to cross the waterway and view the grotta azzurra from outside.
 
Sometimes, in the mornings, I see anglers on the new mole. Sometimes, I see a group of teenagers taking a walk. Once, I saw a small motor boat entering the basin for a curious tiny "harbour round trip". At least from time to time someone is using the unfinished construction.
 
 
MORE INFORMATION:
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

Arriving at Lamezia Airport and driving to Pizzo

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Welcome to the International Airport of Lamezia Terme (SUF)!

 
When there is not much traffic, you can enjoy a short walk to the terminal :-)


 
When arriving from outside the EU you collect your luggage on the right hand side, where friendly customs officers await you to scan your bags. (One asked me to take him back to Bangkok due to lots of rain in Calabria in the last weeks.)



It always takes a bit of time to get your luggage, even just one plane has landed. Luggage from the EU will be delivered first.
 

If you  have not ordered pick-up service by a hotel or friends, you can catch a taxi outside the terminal. It costs around 35-40 Euro to the historic center of Pizzo. Pre-ordered service might cost more.

If you have rented a car, it is easy to find your way to Pizzo. It's direction south, Reggio Calabria. You can either take the highway which is free in the South of Italy (green sign) or follow the national road (blue sign). We always take the national road, and drive below the highway viaduct, following the signs to PIZZO (about 25km).


Watch out for goat crossing! This is country side!


A taxi driver might not know all the streets of Pizzo. Also some might be reluctant to drive through the narrow alleys. Our friends were dropped in Pizza last summer and had to pull their trolleys down the bumpy alleys to the doorsteps of our house.

Same here this April! Angelo dropped us at San Giorgio church, since our alley is under renovation and no cars can pass (since November 2012!).


That's why we packed light!



Home!


More about the pavement progress later.

Summer Feelings in a special April

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from left: pranzo in piazza, castle and beach,  fruit scetch

This April, the weather in Pizzo is much more gentle than last year. When the sun is shining, and it has been shining every single day for the last ten days - it feels like summer!

We all agree, that for us it feels more special being in Pizzo in April, than in summer. 

There are only few tourists around. The

Pizzitani

are among themselves. Including us! We feel more like

Pizzitani

, inhabitants of Pizzo, now, in April, when socializing with the locals seems effortless.

People have time to talk. You don't wait two hours for a pizza (ok, that happened only once in August). And the

piazza 

and

gelati

are even more enjoyable. 

The beaches are empty. You can sun bath and kids can dig holes all over the place. However, the sea is yet too cold for a swim. Even the weatherproof Brits would only bath their feet. 

This April was also special for us, since we had planned a lunch with family and friends for a belated celebration of our son's first communion. When we met in the church San Giorgio on that Sunday, an unexpected small and very special ceremony was organized for us.

Now, our stay is almost over. But no one wants to leave!! It was our best April ever!

We had not much to do in the house. Mission accomplished. Just "bonding" with the house and enjoying  :-)

It's always sad to say good-bye. But the comfort is that summer is near. And with it a very long summer holidays around the corner that we will spend in this

Bel Paese

!

As soon as I have a computer and Internet (not just a smart phone) available, I will post some more. For now, please visit us on

Facebook

for more pics.

Ciao e a presto!

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PS: I merged the the above photo with the text again. Somehow when you upload a post via email, the text that you write before the photo will appear in the post behind the photo (as I like it), but the text behind the photo does not appear. When I tried to add the missing text, I accidentally deleted the photo. Apparently you can now add photos from your phone to your post via Google+. I downloaded the app, but did not manage. Also, I am a bit reluctant to too much Google services.