Mostly cloudy

 

It seems it will be cloudy over the next weekend. And the weather will be less hot than the previous days.

And it is easy to see that fishermen will not work in the next two days.

The tower in the above picture is located on the rooftops of an old building. More than three centuries ago it was places in such a strategic position that allowed for spotting potential enemies coming from the sea.

Many boats are still in the harbours along the coast, although the Summer is going to an end.

On the job front, the good news is that since January 2024 Italy's unemployment rate has been falling. It marks its lower level since March 2008, as government incentives to housing and infrastructures investment.

 Have a nice weekend ⛵☁⛅☁

Photos sent from Thailand

 

Hello heveryone! I am just sharing a few photos. They were taken by my daugher while she was visiting Thailand in late August. 

She sent me these photos via email. 

She really enjoyed her journey in that marvelous Southeast Asian country, which covers 16.40 million hectares of conservation forest. 

I've just learnt that Asian elephants have smaller body and smaller ears, compared with African Elephants. They live in forested areas across Southeast Asia, including Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia. The above photo shows Italian tourists who were bathing those marvelous herbivores mammals. Elephants are most confortable when bathing, and so they are most likely to interact with people around them. Submerging their bodies and covering themself with mud are natural behaviours for elephants. 

September 1st is a day filled with many celebrations and historical significance around the world. 

Have a nice September 🍂

Still among "trulli"

 

Just a few words, once again, about South Italy's dry stone huts, which I already mentioned on 11 August. 

                                         

As it is known, the walls of these buildings are painted white. That colour would help to reflect, rather than absorb, the sunrays, hence moderating the temperature inside the dry stone structure.

In addition, the small spaces between the stones of these dry stone constructions' conical rooftops maintain a natural coolness during the summer months as well as they preserve the heat during the winter.

Those examples of dry stone construction were made of roughly worked limestone boulders collected from surroundings fields.

Some of these traditional architectural structures are still actively used as guesthouses, shops and groceries, etc.

The "trullo" in the above picture hosts a restaurant where I had a delicious typical dinner. 100 Metri Cubi, that its name.  

If you were to go South Italy, you could visit that hidden gem. It is worth it. 

Assumption of Mary day

The assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary has been celebrated on August 15th since many centuries in Europe. It is still a public holiday in Italy, Spain, Austria, Poland and several others EU countries. Italians celebrate this public holiday by heading for the coast or the cool air in the hills. In the evening there are a lot of fireworks.

While I was on holiday, two weeks ago, a took the two pictures of the small beach of Polignano a Mare (South Italy). 

Have a nice Holy day!

Dry stone huts

 

In my previous post I wrote about the typical South Italy's dry stone huts with their conical roofs. Trullo, that's its name. Thousands of them are visible along the main road of the Apulia region in South Italy.

The highest concentration of those drywall constructions is in the town of Alberobello, which has been designated as UNESCO World heritage since 1996. Some of these traditional achitectural structures of the Italian Apulia region date back to the 14th century, but they are still actively used as homes, farmsteads, guesthouses, shops and groceries.

As request by Tom I post a few pictures showing local people who live in those traditional small stone houses. They were once constructed as temporary shelters.  

The month of August is hosting five Sundays in 2024. Have a nice Sunday ☀ 

B&B Fontana Vecchia, Castellana Grotte

There are some hidden gems along the South Italy's countryside. Many lovely places in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea gives the opportunity to enjoy a slower pace of life.  

The property were I have been staying since 29th of July is located between two small cities, Alberobello and Castellana Grotte. Many old typical farmers's buildings, which are still in this corner of South Italy, can be enjoyed by tourists who came mainly from France and Germany.

 "Trullo", That's the Italian name of these traditional dry stone huts.

There are many chacteristic narrow alleys to be walked.

I also enjoyed old big cobblestones along those alleys, where I haven't heard any noise and haven't seen any car.

Glad to see that people who live in this beautiful corner of South Italy are aware about the importance of renewable energy. They have installed photovoltaic and solar panels close to their old buildings. Obviously, panels have to be hidden from the view. 

Have a nice month of August ☀️🍅🍑🍇

Fully moon July 2024

On Sunday, 21st July, the full moon reached peak illumination. In many traditions fully moon simbolizes growth and strenght. Unfortunately I don't know what it means for zodiac. A nice post about this topic was published by our blogging friend Anna from Poland.

On the same week, the British rockband Coldplay were in Rome at the Olympic Stadium. I bought the tickets last year in September!!

The band said that all physical records for their 2024 album were manufactured from recycled plastic bottles.  

Have a nice new week! It's the last week of July.

More fruit and veggies

From tomorrow maximum temperatures of 35 degrees are expected between Sardinia island and mainland Italy. Sorry to see many tourists from Northern Europe visiting my country during heat waves may be more affected than residents. The problem is that at this point the human cooling mechanism may fail.

Since 21st June to the 8th of July the weather had been never too hot. But since last Wednesday the African anticyclone has been returning to Italy and the climate has become schorcing. It heads from North Africa, and returns to Italy bringing back the heat.

The good news is that the heat causes the consuption of fruit and veggies (including legumes) to jump by 20%.

Have a nice weekend ☀️🍒🍓🍆

In the hills once again

 

Around here, small towns located in the hills and with a tiny population are usually called  "villages" or "communities".

There are many villages in the area where I live. Probably, some of them have even less than one thousand people living there.

I noticed that people who belong to those communities tend to know and take care of each other. The problem is that we may be judged by the history of our relatives.

This week I went once again to Tolfa, 75 kilometers North from Rome. And once again I noticed that the countryside don't disappaer under housing development. That's great!

And last but not least, at Tolfa's farmers market I can buy fresh fruits and vegetables in season that were picked within 24 hours. There isn't any walnut shipped from Chile or tomato made in Spain.

I think that nowadays living in a small town is just great.

Old Rome-Fiumicino railway

 

The origin of the Rome-Fiumicino railway line dates back to 1875. Located close to Rome, Fiumicino is home of the largest airport in Italy ✈ In addition, it has a large fishing center🦐🐟

A railway engine and a baggage wagon are still positioned on old tracks in a street in the center of Fiumicino.

The tracks of that railway line no longer exist, as the last train to Rome left the night of January 30th, 2000.  🚂🚃🚃🚃🚃🚃

Have a nice weekend!☀️

The port on a sunny Sunday

 

On this sunny Sunday six warships have docked. Consequently, today the image of the port changes from this: 

to this:

I wish a nice new week to all the blogging community. ☀☕🥐

Urban heat island effect

 

In many towns around the world there are dense concentrations of pavements, sidewalks, buildings and other surfaces paved with asphalt that absorbs and retains heat. 

Most of the available soil in the urban environment is buried under asphalt and concrete and any minimally available bare soil is compacted by foot traffic. That's why the green areas in the photos are fenced. 

Adding shrub and trees to the urban environment offers ecological value and reminds us regionally typical vegetation.

I am glad to see olive trees blooming, considering from 2016 to 2022 many Italian farmers experienced wasting disease of olive trees. 

Have a nice weekend ☀️