Erika Bizzarri

One Man’s Grand Tour of The City Part I

The town itself isn’t large with fewer than 6000 inhabitants on top of the cliff. While there are many other towns that would claim your interest, this one is special. You may have been on your way to Rome and suddenly there’s this cliff rising up over the valley. It might be spring, the treesContinue reading “One Man’s Grand Tour of The City Part I”

Blue Bar Part II

COFFEE, WINE, AND LANGUAGE Languages do fascinate Antony, as they do me. And he is also trying to master essential German with the help of one of his regular clients. With regards to English, the other day he came up with a list of “o-u-g-h” words, the different pronunciation of which he had mastered. though Continue reading “Blue Bar Part II”

Blue Bar

Around the corner from where I live, there’s a coffee/wine bar called the Blue Bar. Down in the valley, there’s also a Green Bar and somewhere there’s a Red Bar, aside from a couple of others with names like Obelix and Asterix. The one I frequent is Blue Bar, which is not very large. ThereContinue reading “Blue Bar”

Wheels and Words Part II

Sometimes a phrase, a word, read or heard, remains with us throughout the day, or week, or more. This is certainly the case with Shakespeare or Robert Frost. My love affair with both goes back to the 7th or 8th grade. What impressed their words on my mind? The sound, or the idea? When orContinue reading “Wheels and Words Part II”

Words and Wheels Part I

All depends on chance – or does it. We talk. We read. We are constantly playing with words. Sometimes our introduction to an author, to a character, to a book, depends on chance. Although perhaps that is generally the case in most encounters, real-life or on the printed page. Sometimes though, what sparked my interestContinue reading “Words and Wheels Part I”

Unpurchasable Memories

There’ll be a box somewhere in your house – in the movies it’s often under the bed or up on a high shelf in the closet – with treasured letters and cards, keepsakes (nice name). I have several packets of letters, but I’ve written about them before. They and the cards are part of peopleContinue reading “Unpurchasable Memories”

Person to Person

Person-to-person is best, you say. I answer, sometimes, but not always. Perhaps it depends on what you are used to, best at ease with, grew up with. You can exchange ideas, like batting a ball back and forth in a ping-pong game. On the other hand if it’s a chess game, you need time toContinue reading “Person to Person”

Joy

Laughter means contentment. It means happiness, perhaps fleetingly, but for those few moments when we laugh, we are happy. There are synonyms and antonyms to happiness. Joy, delight, elation. It’s opposite despair, tribulation, misery, unhappiness. All of which seem rather drastic. There must be some kind of middle ground. Take joy. Use with joy itContinue reading “Joy”

Postscript

It certainly is rare that one reads a book from cover to cover in one sitting. That’s where bookmarks come in. Perhaps only in the form of folding the corner of a page, dog-eared as they say, or by using a slender bookmark with reference to another book by the same author, or perhaps byContinue reading “Postscript”

Who Wrote These Notes?

A friend lent me a book. Not in itself unusual. The book, an English translation of Pirandello, Il fu Mattia Pascal. The late Mattia Pascal, came from a used bookstore, so my friend was not the first to read it, although it is in pristine condition. I do have Pirandello in Italian and I hadContinue reading “Who Wrote These Notes?”

Whistles

There’s a shelf in the corridor leading to my bedchamber with small figures vying with each other to be heard. They are indeed vying to be heard, for they are whistles. Most of them in simple terractta, some painted in bright colors, childish in their delight. Several have written underneath Caltagirone and the date, oneContinue reading “Whistles”

Names Again

Names again, given or inherited. Although I’ve written about names before, it somehow seems a universal, non-stop, subject. What’s in a name. It’s curious how we relate to people with a specific name. Let’s see. I have quite a few Davids on my list. Three I’m actually on speaking terms with and several others areContinue reading “Names Again”

Saints For All Things

In Italy there is of course a plethora of saints. Some one never heard of, some invented like Santa Perduta (Lost Saint), celebrated in Orvieto with music by local groups and picnics of roast pig and wine. One might even think of it as a pagan festival. Throughout the centuries the pagan gods were graduallyContinue reading “Saints For All Things”

Shrinking Universe

My shrinking and my expanding worlds As we grow older, our world shrinks. Eventually, those few steps between chair and bed, that physical world that others see as “us”, will diminish day by day. Of the countless contacts we had before, most of them are now virtual. Space and time become meaningless. Yet, that endlessContinue reading “Shrinking Universe”

A Small Town: Part II On Seeing

On seeing It’s a small town. In around 20 minutes, I have an appointment at the health clinic at the other end of town. Although I would once have walked there, a bus is now more convenient. The bus stop is right by the local bank and I’m early. I’ve had my morning cappuccino so I’llContinue reading “A Small Town: Part II On Seeing”

A Small Town: Part I On Being Seen

My town is definitely a small town. Which means I’m not invisible. I don’t have to be eccentric, or construct a specific persona for myself. Sometimes ,I wonder though if it’s my dog rather than me who is being noted. Once, in Florence, I was walking down a street near the cathedral and I feltContinue reading “A Small Town: Part I On Being Seen”

Ambiguity

CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH Venice, the year 2000 An exhibition entitled COSMOS L’arte alla scoperta dell’ìnfinito The students we are accompanying have gone on to discover Venice on their own. As we wander on, just my friend and me, we discover an exhibition in Palazzo Grassi that looks interesting. What I remember most today, 23 yearsContinue reading “Ambiguity”

Lost and Found

Years ago, I lost a purple glove at the supermarket. I had removed it to pull out my shopping list and when I got to the checkout, well, there was only one glove keeping my potatoes and yogurts company. Despite backtracking and asking, no one had seen a single glove of any kind looking forContinue reading “Lost and Found”

February 14/15

February 1929 Newark, New Jersey, USA. A car, could be a Ford, goes speeding through the empty streets at midnight. I think I ran over a cat, says the red-haired driver as the silence is broken by a wail … Except it wasn’t a cat, it was a girl-child complaining as she was thrust intoContinue reading “February 14/15”

Once Upon a Time

Thoughts on a cold snowy day Winter sets in and nature and, perhaps, my senses also go into hibernation. It is the moment of “once upon a time,” hoping that that time will soon return when the first crocuses brave the cold and the hazel bushes are draped in their catskins. Once upon a time,Continue reading “Once Upon a Time”