Naples and Leghorn

 

In 2023 the Mexican street artist, Maker Garcia Chiavez, made this mural in via Tribunali, Naples. The painting shows the famous Italian actress, Sophia Loren, who starred in English-language Hollywood films starting in 1957.

Last week I visited Leghorn, a seaside town located in the Tuscany region, Central Italy.  Leghorn is the English name for the Italian port city of Livorno (photo above). The term Leghorn also refers to a common breed of domestic chicken, which was introduced to Britain from the United States in 1870. 🐓  It was originally exported from the Italian port of Leghorn, that's why this breed of domestic chicken has the same name as that Italian town. 

In the meanwhile, inflaction rate continues to increase, thanks to the rising cost of oil and gas. This morning the price of lemons on a grocery store shelf was 6,69 euros per kilo  🍋🍋🍋

Have a lovely weekend 🍁🍄🌰

Central Italy's hills

I've just come back from Umbria Region in Central Italy. The weather was not too hot and humidity level wasn't high in the hills

As promised to Mandy , I post some photos that I took there while I was visiting two historic walled hill towns in Umbria Region. 

I noticed that many people from Norther Europe are interested in visiting such medieval village located in the hills. Glad to see they enjoyed that special corner of Italy. 

From the 30th of July to the 19th of August a historical event involving the town's four districs takes place in Montefalco, Central Italy. 

This part of Italy located in the Umbria's hills is famous for medieval streets, reinessance frescoes, delicious red wine and good olive oil.

Today, August 15, is the Assumption of Mary, a major national public holiday here in Italy. 

I hope you'll have a lovely weekend 🍉☀🌻

U.S. tariffs on EU's wine & spirits

 

Glad to hear that pasta, cheese, wine and spirits, as well as olive oil and sunglasses, are among the priority sectors of Italy's goods that the European Union wants Washington to shield from higher tariffs.

Major Irish whishey distillery owners are also hopeful U.S. customs duties will be reduced. 

It seems higher tariffs continue to impact negatively on U.S. sales and jobs, although they generate government revenue.  

The weather has been too cold since the 27th of November ... it's perfect for a glass of red wine 🍷❄🙂

In the meanwhile, on the geopolitical front, the 49-year-old Ukrainian man, Serhii Kuznietsov, arrived in Germany two days ago, after Italy's highest court approved his extradition later last week. That man is suspected of setting off explosions that damaged the EU Nord Stream pipelines in 2022. I clearly know that a very small number of blogging friends don't like such news, as they have been shaped to believe that Ukrainians can never be guilty parties. But we are talking about a German criminal court, not a Belarusian or Russian one. Not to mention that EU, UK and US' newspapers don't highlight this news as it should.

Have a nice weekend 🍁🍷🌰

2nd Sunday of June

 

On this windy Sunday many people can enjoy their windsurf and sailing boats.

It is possible that I have written down this post in an Instagram style 🙂 ...  maybe my blog is too versatile.

Meanwhile, I have just sold my dinghy. I will buy two SUP (stand up paddleboard) soon.

This morning two sailing ships make the view of the port more pleasant. The smaller one flies the Uruguayan flag. This means it sailed across the Atlantic Ocean ☀ ⛵⚓

79th edition of Republic Day

On the 2nd June 1946 Italians voted in favour of a Republic against the monarchy which had been discredited during world war two. Republic Day is a national event in Italy every year on June 2nd. 

Have a nice new week ☀

Seen from aircraft in 1943

I've just got these two old black & white photos, which a friend of mine, Stefano, found through the web. The two aerial photographs, as seen from aircraft, were taken on the 14th of May, 1943 during an aircraft bombing on the port of Civitavecchia, 70 km north from Rome. 

Billows of smoke rose as explosions occurred in the Civitavecchia's port and its surrounding urban area.

After the WWII the old medieval castle, located close to the port, was repaired

and nowadays tourists can enjoy it. 

Washing needs to be dried

In my previous post there were two pictures showing clothes hung out. I mentioned this point after I had noticed that tourists sometimes took photos of the washing while they are walking through the historic centre. Maybe they disagree on this, although people washing needs to be dried, as mentioned by Jan in her comment. 

With relation to washing, another blogging friend, Ananka , also wrote that people need to do that.  I understand that elderly people can't carry their washing on the rooftop, as in many old buildings there isn't any elevator.

But the problem is that there are facade decorations on some old buildings, and hanging out clothes on the facade architecture is not a nice thingh to look at.  

The solution could be to buy a clothes dryer.

... many times it is sold with free shipping on Alibaba, Amazon, etc.🤭

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. ☀☕🥐

Plogging

 

Yesterday I noticed streets and alleys were so clean in the early evening, while I was enjoyed a walk through  Civitavecchia's historical neighborhood.  And I also saw someone who was picking up trashing and litter while walking. A few minutes later it was easy to see that there were two women who were not employed to collect urban waste. I have heard of garbage collectors,  who pick up and transport waste to disposal sites or recycling centers in the morning, but not in the early evening. 

After I had asked her why she was collecting waste in the early evening, she said that it was not her job. She specified it was a new sustainable initiative which combines walking with caring of urban environment. Obviously,  she wore gloves and had a bag to collect litter along her route. 

The term "plogging" is a combination of picking up litter while jogging.

The 3rd and the 4th pictures have nothing to do with plogging. They give two different perspectives of the parich church located in the octagonal square of San Lorenzo Nuovo, which is a small village (149 km North from Rome).

With its 2,000 inhabitants, San Lorenzo Nuovo lies close to the lake Bolsena in Central Italy.

 .

Nice weekend to all the members of our blogging community!

On a sunny Saturday, July 1st

 

Since the first decade of June Italian children have been enjoying Summer holidays. The picture above shows a boy while he was enjoying an ice-cream on the Italian beach of Santa Marinella (Central Italy, 60 km North from Rome) 🔆

Italian students have very long Summers break covering from early June to early September. It seems Italian students' Summer break is the longest in Europe, as schools are closed for around thirteen weeks 🇮🇪

How long is the Summer break in your country⁉️

I hope you will have a nice month of July ⛵

Gaeta's split mountain

 

On 15th June this year I already showed an image of the split mountain which I took while I was sailing close to that evocative place located in Gaeta (South Italy).

https://blacknight2.blogspot.com/2022/06/

This week my nephew walked the whole path that leads to the split mountain's promontory, which is visited every year by tourists who are captured by this magic itinerary. He sent me these beautiful pictures.

If you visit South Italy, don't forget to see this magic place :-)    

Exit of the biggest Italian energy company from Russia

 

This week the great news is that Italy's biggest manufacturer and distributor of energy and gas, Enel SpA, will sell in the next three months its 56.43% stake in Russia to local investors. Established in Russia in 2004, the Italian group will follow similar moves by the world's biggest energy companies, such as Shell and BP after Russian government's invasion of East Ukraine.

In addition, the deal is expected to have a positive effect on the group's consolidated net debt of about 550 million euros. The global reach of the Italian biggest utility extends from Europe to Latin America and India, that's why the company's ordinary financial results would not be affected by the deal to sell the stake in the Russian subsidiary.

Its easy to forecast that other Western multinational companies, which have been established in Russia since long time, are going to do the same.

Still room for negotiation

The Ukrainian President, Zelenskij, recently urged the EU to "prove that you are with us" in Ukraine war with Russia. As it is known, the German carmaker Volkswagen has two factories and around 4,000 employees in Russia. ENI, the Italian multinational oil and gas company, and the Russian company Gazprom  have 50% each in the Blue Stream gas pipeline to Turkey. The Norwegian company Equinor has minority stakes in three Russian oilfields. The French carmaker Renault makes 8% of its earnings in Russia (source: Citibank).

In this context, how can the Ukrainian President be so naive? Does he really think that the EU may help his country? I hope the diplomacy will be able to do a good job. There is still room for a good negotiation! It is not too late!

Italian Constitution: fundamental principles don't exist any more

From the 15th of October we (Italians) can no longer work without a vaccine passport. The fundamental human right to work stripped away. Silence from our government, silence from all governments and silence from Amnesty. 

With regards to my previous post, this is the comment sent from an anonymous blogger:

"I think some of you are delusional. Clearly the covid certificate is a nazy style papers please kind of fascist ideology".

Constitutional clashes on the EU's green pass

Everything surronding Covid-19 has become politicized since many EU countries use the Digital Covid Certificate to grant or deny access to nightlife venues, restaurants, cafees, and other public spaces.  The vaccine passport has become a condition for every day life also in Italy, although most Italian people are still observing social distancing rules perfectly. Italian people are also wearing masks everywhere.

According to many researches, people who have been vaccinated or previously infected with the Covid-19 are able to catch and spread the virus. That's the main reason why last month Spain's Supreme Court ruled against using vaccine passport to restrict access to public spaces. It's the first judicial authority to do so in Europe, as using vaccine passport to prevent access to public spaces may not be useful to prevent the spreading of the infection. In this perspective, it seems that Italian policy makers still pretend to misunderstand the EU principles of effectiveness, necessity and proportionality.  

In many EU countries people who haven't a green pass are banned from public spaces, basic freedoms and services, although it is already clear that there is no difference between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated with regards to the Delta variant. In this context, it's easy to see that pharmaceutical and health product companies are spending billions on lobbying politicians around the world. At the moment, in Spain it is not the case. 

In Italy, the protests against the Covid health pass have now been going for 10 weeks.

Fourth wave or false information

Since late June there has been a great deal of talk about a fourth wave of coronavirus. Many countries, such as France, Italy, and Ireland are likey to have a fourth wave of the COVID-19 virus, as the new variant begins to take hold. It seems that the rapidly transmissible strains were first identified in India, where government imposed restrictions.

Unfortunately, these bad news have a big impact on people's mental health, not to mention of false information, which are important in manipulating public opinion and creating an atmophere of uncertainty.

Menanwhile, many people in the EU would like to enjoy beaches, coffees, and restaurants, although governments have painted a bleak picture of the Summer ahead.

Italy's underwater archaeological sites

There are many traces of human existence underwater, which are not protected by the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. This Convention aims at preventing the distruction or loss of historic and cultural information and looting.

The pictures show some underwater archaeological sites dated back to over 20 centuries ago. They are located 70 Km North from Rome. Unfortunately, in the early 1970s some residential houses were built close to those underwater archaeological sites. The problem is that people, who build those houses, weren't prosecuted. If they had been adequately prosecuted in the 1970s, Italy's underwater cultural heritage would be protected.