10/18 Friday
We have some more sites to check off
our list today, starting with the Maffeiano Lapidary Museum. This is the
collection of a wealthy Veronese aristocrat, who assembled an obsessive
collection of memorial stones, that is, he was essentially a grave robber. Most
are from the 5th Century BC, and provide a great deal of information about the
dearly departed. One very important set of panels running nine feet in length
covered in small print, is a will, dispersing the properties of a wealthy Greek
woman. The translation actually begins along the lines of “Being of sound
mind…” We also see some tombstones that were placed on the graves of horses, as
it was a custom to bury valued horses in cemeteries with headstones.
Moving from the ancient dead to the
wonders of technology, we walk to the Museum of Radio. This is going to be fun
for Bob. It’s in some kind of technical school. We can’t tell if it’s a high
school or more of a community college, but it seems to be the type of place
where one learns mechanical drawing and electrical design. The museum, we find,
is in the basement, and is undergoing some renovation, meaning that a lot of
stuff is piled up in the stairwell. It was established by a Mr. Alberto
Chiantera, who had a great passion for radios and spent many years collecting
them. There are also photos and other memorabilia related to Marconi. The place
looks rather like Mr. Chiantera’s basement, with shelves full of all kinds of
radios, vacuum tubes, record players, antennae, radio toys and all sorts of manuals
and magazines. There are a few frightening dioramas with dollar store manikins
filling the roles of a soldier in the field, or a family gathered around the
console. What did we expect, the Smithsonian? It’s fun enough for sure.
Then, we head over a block or so to
complete our bogus Juliette adventure with a visit to “Juliette’s Tomb.” This
is in a former monastery, taken for the state by Napoleon, and with the
financial fortuity to be in the possession of a suitable tomb in a crypt that
everyone can pretend is the site of Juliette’s last repose.
As we walk back to our neighborhood,
we pass a great monumental gateway, so we go closer to see what it is. It’s a
huge cemetery! The entryway is an enormous covered portico, suggesting an
Egyptian Necropolis, with memorial sculptures that resemble a small bronze tree
holding photos of the deceased, and shelves for cremated remains, and tombs in
the floor. Beyond that is a gravel-paved cemetery full of marble platforms,
headstones and crypts. It looks very crowded. People are dying to get in.
As we continue on to our apartment,
we realize that we’re walking through a University neighborhood, with student
hangouts and cafes, and young people rushing to the bus or train station to get
away for the weekend.
We’re nearly home when we find a little
grocery where we can get something for dinner. It’s just about 10x10, but has
everything you’d need. All the produce and deli foods are carefully placed,
everything looks very nice and well presented. I see something in the deli case
that looks interesting, and ask the young woman tending the place what it is.
Gnocchi, homemade, she makes it herself every day. So we have to have some of
that. I pick up a jar of sauce, and once again, we get schooled. Oh NO, she
says, for gnocchi, you need gorgonzola. She pulls out a block of beautiful
cheese, ready to measure out what we need. I can hear Bob’s arteries squeaking
shut from across the room, so I decline the cheese, and she says, OK, not
gorgonzola, then this, and gives me a small
can of ragu sauce. And so we leave, properly provisioned for our dinner.
1 Video Included
Verona Tomb of Juliet
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