December 5, 2013

Pope Francis — MM’s Person of the Year 2013

Pope Francis kissing a baby in St. Peter's Square at his weekly audience. December 4, 2013. Photo by AP Photographer Gregorio Borgia

Pope Francis kissing a baby in St. Peter’s Square at his weekly audience. December 4, 2013. Photo by AP Photographer Gregorio Borgia

Dear Blog Readers, While we are all waiting to hear who Time Magazine’s Person of the Year 2013 is, I thought I would share with you Mozzarella Mamma’s choice: Pope Francis –Mozzarella Mamma’s Person of the Year 2013

Ok, I admit I am biased because I had a front row seat at his election, I’ve been witness to the dramatic changes he is making at the Vatican and am aware of the widening circle of change happening in the Catholic Church and his efforts to reach beyond. From my position, he appears to be one person who has clearly changed the world in 2013.

Pope Francis has tackled his new job with both humility and determination.  He takes the time to kiss nearly every baby in St. Peter’s Square during his weekly audience, and recently greeted 600 handicapped people one-by-one at a Vatican event.  But the rest of the time the 76-year-old Pope is in a hurry — a rush to clean up the Vatican and get on with what he believes is the true work of the Catholic Church, reaching out to the poor and the outcast, the weak and vulnerable.

Francis has changed the atmosphere from the Papacy of Benedict XVI where the focus was on the few and the true, Catholic believers who obeyed the social doctrine, to the big tent where sinners, saints and everyone in between is welcome.

He said in his interview this fall with the Jesuits (see my blog Post: The Pope Interview):

“I see clearly that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds…. And you have to start from the ground up. The church sometimes has locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules. …”

With the public Francis shows grace and humour, but he can also be tenacious.   On the one hand, he humbly greets people with the phrase “pray for me.”  On the other hand he criticized the “papal court” as the “leprosy of the papacy.”

The recent Apostolic Exhortation — a 223 page document, laid out his plan for the church in no uncertain terms.  First he launched a bitter attack on capitalism suggesting that we “have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such economy kills.”  He added, “Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless.  As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.”

Powerful stuff.  He went on to say, “a globalization of indifference has developed.”

The Pope’s is speaking with actions as well as words.  He is easing out the Papal Gentleman, the men in tuxedos with medals on their chests who escort foreign dignitaries in to the Apostolic Palace to meet with the Pope. In June he ordered a five member commission to review of the Vatican bank’s operations. One of the first things that happened with the clean-up was the closing of 900 accounts involved in not-completely-transparent activities.

The Pope has made clear he wants more “collegiality” in the church, more decision-making and consultation outside the Vatican. He has brought in a team of 8 Cardinals, known as the G-8 to oversee Vatican reforms.  Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the Cardinal of Boston who is one of the G8 Cardinals, announced today the formation of a panel of experts to advise the Pope on questions of sexual abuse.

So what about the church’s social doctrine, is that changing?  A lot of progressives have jumped to the conclusion that this Pope was going to make women priests, and support gay marriage.  Not so fast.  This Pope fully backs the Church’s opposition to abortion, and says he will not change the Church’s position on priestly ordination- no women allowed.  But he has moved the church in a new direction on some issues.  He famously said, “who am I to judge a gay person?” when asked about homosexuals on the plane enroute to Brazil for World Youth Day.   He has left some doubt about whether he will open up the Eucharist for divorced people and married homosexuals — noting in his papal exhortation “The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak….the Church is not a tollhouse, it is the house of the Father, where there is a place for everyone, with all their problems.”

Some changes may be coming. The Vatican has sent a survey to parishes around the globe on questions such as birth control, divorce and gay marriage.  This ahead of a meeting on the family planned for October 2014 at the Vatican.  We will wait and see.

Finally Pope Francis has broken the Vatican out of the inwardness of the last few years under Pope Benedict XVI when the focus was on corruption, scandal and overall Vatican dysfunction.  He has made it clear that the church intends to be a player on the world stage, in a way reminiscent of the early years of Pope John Paul II when the young Polish Pope seemed ready to single-handedly bring down communism.

Pope Francis called for a day of fasting and prayer for Syria on September 7th and ended up with tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter’s Square for a four hour peace vigil, and people fasting around the globe.

As we head into the Christmas season I am trying to do a story on the Swiss Guard beefing up security at the Vatican to prepare for the influx of faithful for Vatican events.  Recently both a Roman taxi driver and an Italian government official mentioned to me concerns about the Pope’s safety.  The common feeling was that he might be “making too many waves”, or “ruffling too many feathers.”

Pope Francis speaks to faithful during his weekly audience in St. Peter's Square. December 4, 2013. Photo by AP Photographer Gregorio Borgia

Pope Francis speaks to faithful during his weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square. December 4, 2013. Photo by AP Photographer Gregorio Borgia

Last month an anti-Mafia prosecutor, Nicola Gratteri, from the Calabria region in Southern Italy said that Pope Francis’ reforms of the church were making the ‘Ndrangheta Mafia “nervous,” Gratteri made these comments in an interview with an Italian newspaper in which he said that the Pope was “breaking down the center of economic power in the Vatican.”

To quote my AP colleague Nicole Winfield’s story:

“Those who have been nourished by the power and wealth that is directly derived from the church are nervous and agitated,” Gratteri was quoted as saying. He said he didn’t know if the Mafia could target the pope, “but certainly they’re thinking about it. He could be a threat.”

The Pope’s spokesman basically shrugged off the issue saying they were not worried about it.

It is not only the ‘Ndrangheta that is unhappy about the Pope Francis.  There are others among social conservatives within the church, people in the Curia who feel unjustly accused and liturgical traditionalists (this Pope does not like the Latin Mass). So far they have all been keeping a low profile.

I was recently asked what are the visual moments that stick in my mind as a television journalist covering the Pope.  One for me was the Pope on Holy Thursday 2013, shortly after he was elected, washing and kissing the tattooed feet of young men and women delinquents at a juvenile detention center in Rome. (See my post: Francesco Frenzy) In 20 years of covering the Vatican, I had never seen anything like that. Another was on his first trip as Pope outside of the Vatican. He went to the island of Lampedusa where tens of thousands of immigrants arrive every year risking their lives to seek a better one.  I remember him walking down the pier greeting and chatting with a group of immigrants, mostly from Eritrea, several of them who I had interviewed the day before.  These immigrants were not Catholic and had little idea who the Pope was other than an important religious leader dressed in white.  And yet the Pope wanted to meet them and talk to them.  (see my post: Goosebumps in Lampedusa)

I asked two of my TV colleagues today what were their most memorable visual moments.  Pietro De Cristofaro said it was when the newly elected Pope Francis stepped out on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.  Pietro was standing right below.  (See Blog Post: A Bird’s Eye View of the Election of the Pope)

My other colleague, Paolo Santalucia, said it was during the November 6th weekly audience when the Pope kissed a man with a rare genetic disease called Neurofibromatosis.

Pope Francis embraces a man with neurofibromatosis at his weekly audience. November 6, 2013. Credit: EPA

Pope Francis embraces a man with neurofibromatosis at his weekly audience. November 6, 2013. Credit: EPA

Perhaps I should let this photo speak for itself.

Pope Francis, MM’s Person of the Year!

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November 25, 2013

Where Are We Going?

Pippin and Merry. Credit: Lord of the Rings

Pippin and Merry. Credit: Lord of the Rings

My kids and I often joke about a scene in the movie “The Lord of the Rings” where two mischievous hobbits Pippin and Merry are messing around while a group of solemn wizards, elves, hobbits and dwarves is deciding to create the Fellowship of the Ring and set out on a dangerous mission to Mordor to save the Middle World from destruction by evil forces.  Pippin and Merry burst in at the end of this dramatic meeting and announce “We’re coming too!” before Pippin pipes up, “Right, so where are we going?”

These sweet, not too bright, but very courageous hobbits had no idea what they were in for.

My kids and I think it is funny because we love their combination of optimism and ignorance and we have found that we are often in situations where we have to decide quickly if we want to do something with no idea what will be the consequences.

This past week I was asked to be moderator at a fascinating conference held in the Sala della Regina (the Queen’s Room) in the Italian parliament building which was more or less asking that question, “Right, so where are we going?”

The title of the conference was far more intellectual: “The Decline of the West: In Search of Lost Identity.  New Challenges and Strategies in an Era of Global Shifts.”

I work in TV News and I am used to short attention spans, my life is chopped up into soundbites and tweets — short and sweet (like Hobbits), so for me it was an unexpected pleasure to have to spend an entire day listening to intellectuals, ambassadors, military officials and diplomats expounding on the simple question of “Where are we going?”

Being a journalist, I felt it necessary to take notes throughout the day, so here is a brief summary of what was said which I found enlightening although inconclusive.  I am basically quoting from my notes here, and none of the opinions are mine. Also, I am leaving out all the statistics and figures that were mentioned.  Blog Readers who are not interested in international affairs can stop here.

First there was a fair amount of talk about history.  A former Italian Foreign Minister noted that international politics has been a history of rise and fall, in the 17th century the world was euro-centric with Europe divided in nation-states characterized by professional armed forces, economies based on the accumulation of wealth and technological innovation.  What we might be seeing now — the decline of the West and the rise of the East, is simply a reversal of an historical moment in the 16th century when the decline of the Chinese empire came as European naval expeditions and capabilities intensified.

In addition to this moment, many speakers mentioned other periods in history — the industrial revolution, the birth of Western Civilization in Greece, the Roman Empire, and the Venetian Republic.

Much of the conversation, however, was centred around what happened after the end of the Cold War.  When the Berlin Wall went down, when the Soviet Union crumbled, and the US became the world’s only superpower, many thought it was the ultimate victory for democracy, free-market capitalism and the Western value system.  Several people suggested that European nations should have seized the moment to assert a role at the centre of international politics. However, it wasn’t long before many people started looking back almost nostalgically at the bi-polar clarity of the Cold War.  The tragedy in the Balkans was a clear indication of the European inability to unite in a post-Cold War era, as was the American ineffectiveness in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The terror attacks of September 11th, 2001, and the economic crisis in the first decade of the 21st century again have shown, in different ways, vulnerability, instability and uncertainty in the West.

A big focus of the conference was China and what many referred to as the “new Asian century” and either the “rise” or the “restoration” of Chinese hegemony.  There was much discussion of how soon China will overtake the US in GDP.  Many people spoke about the changes made at the recent 3rd Plenary Session of the Communist Party of China during which the party decided to lift the one-child only policy, make human rights reforms and ease up economic restrictions, liberalizing the economy.  One American academic argued that the rise of China and the decline of the US will lead to geo-political instability and that China will become increasingly aggressive militarily in its region, in particular on the Korean Peninsula in the East and South China sea, and towards Taiwan.  Other pointed out that the US will still dominate the world both economically and militarily for the foreseeable future, and that China still has a lot of problems to resolve before it can be any threat to the United States, noting that China has a “massive number of very poor people” and “What did China have to offer in the last few decades? Simply low cost labor.”

I was very interested to hear the Charge’ d’Affaires from the Chinese embassy in Italy give her talk.  She opened by using a Chinese expression, “You cannot let a leaf block your view”, a Chinese version of , “you can’t see the forest for the trees,” implying that the group was perhaps missing the point on China.  (China is not the big, bad wolf who is going to eat you all up, she seemed to be implying.) She spoke about the 3rd plenary session of the Chinese communist party and said that China is in a crucial phase when it has made simple reforms but now needs to tackle the big ones.  She also insisted that China is a “responsible member of the international community” ready to work together with other nations through international organizations for the better future of all.

In addition to China, there was a talk about the other nations in the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, and South Africa), many people mentioned the concern about the rapid, uncontrolled development, exploding populations, and little regard for damage to the environment.

There was a fair amount of justifiable hand-wringing about Europe.  One speaker said, “why, 20 years after the Berlin Wall went down, do we have a culture of fear, uncertainty is contagious, we fear for our future, and our inability to control unemployment has created a fragility in Europe.”  Several experts mentioned the difference between northern and southern Europe and the inability of Europe to create a unified political identity and effective governing system.  Nearly all agreed on the importance for Europe to unify and expand its influence to Eastern Europe, and around the Mediterranean basin.   One foreign policy expert pointed out that while John F. Kennedy went to Berlin and showed his solidarity with the people  living at the centre of the Cold War conflict, by saying, “Ich Ein Berliner” (I am a Berliner), certainly Angela Merkel would have no intention of showing her solidarity with a economically struggling Greek population by declaring “I am Greek.”  Many of the Europeans at the meeting spoke proudly of the continent’s intellectual and cultural past mentioning such greats as Plato, Aristotle and Euclid– a sort of “where would the world be without us?”

Views were varied when it came to the United States.  An ambassador said that “America is not only the first and only global super-power, it is also likely to be the last”.  A common view was “the US is losing the hegemony it has enjoyed since 1945″.  There was a lot of criticism of the US for starting the financial crisis with one academic mentioning the “bankster-gangsters” who plunged the US and then Europe into recession with their irresponsible behavior.  Several speakers spoke about the political gridlock in Washington and the “humiliation” of the government shutdown.  One noted that the US is behind many OECD countries in such important indicators as health, education and infrastructure. But others were optimistic about the US saying it is making a comeback, it is emerging from the economic crisis, it is investing in technology, increasing its productivity and bringing jobs back to the US.  The US is becoming energy self-sufficient and that is changing its geo-political outlook, particularly in the Middle East.  Although it may be in “decline” many noted that the US is still the strongest economy in the world and the emerging markets are very dependent on what happens in the United States.

Throughout the day there were repeated references to the internet and the world being more interactive, but less coherent.  One public policy expert argued that the US created the internet which has been a fundamental factor in globalization and it will be the key factor in bringing down American hegemony.

Several issues which emerged in various speeches were concern about the world’s demographics — declining population in Europe and rapid population growth in developing economies.   The result is noticeable in Italy these days with the intense immigrant flow across the Mediterranean with migrants mostly from Africa willing to risk their lives to seek a better life in Europe.  There was concern about global warming, what will happen to the world’s air and water, and if food production can keep up with population growth.  Interestingly, throughout the day, concerns about terrorism were minimized and the general view was that Al-Qaeda can be contained.  There was some talk about the needing to resolve the problem of the war in Syria, the instability in Egypt and sort relations with Iran, but no one seemed to think these are the world’s most urgent problems.  Several academics mentioned the problem of “moral relativism” and decline of “values” in the West, but I couldn’t quite grasp exactly which “values” have been lost.

Finally, there was extensive talk about what is to be done, the ” Strategies in an Era of Global Shifts”.  First on a national level in Italy, there was a feeling that Italians need to find a way to be competitive by maintaining the inventiveness, creativity and the quality of their products, and Italy needs to take advantage of its rich cultural patrimony.  One professor mentioned a need for creative ways to get young people back to work in Europe and resolve the problem of massive youth unemployment.  Many speakers insisted on more European unity and governance and expanding Europe to spread from Eastern Europe down to Northern Africa.

Everyone agreed on the importance of the US and Europe working together to promote common interests and values.  One person called for the “re-birth of the trans-atlantic alliance”  The sooner the free trade agreement known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TATIP) is implemented, the better, seemed to be the common feeling.  That is expected to happen in 2014.

Everyone also seemed to agree that the West needs to invest in “global governance” through supranational institutions — the UN, the EU, the IMF and The World Bank, to name a few and that China needs to play a key role in them.

Heading out of the parliament building after a long day of listening to others pontificate, my heels may have been clicking on the cobblestones but I felt a bit like a naive, furry-footed hobbit unsure if I am headed back to the safety and coziness of The Shire or to the fiery chasms of Mordor.

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November 1, 2013

Romantic Ravello and Lacing Wars

The Terrace of Infinity at Villa Cimbrone in Ravello. It was described by Gore Vidal as "the most beautiful panorama in the world." Photo by Trisha Thomas, October 26, 2013

The Terrace of Infinity at Villa Cimbrone in Ravello. It was described by Gore Vidal as “the most beautiful panorama in the world.” Photo by Trisha Thomas, October 26, 2013

Last week my husband and I celebrated 20 years of marriage with a visit to the Italian village of Ravello, perched on the mountains above the Amalfi Coast with tiny streets, ravishingly beautiful villas with spectacular gardens and magnificent views. I can’t think of any place more romantic than Ravello.

Villa Cimbrone, Ravello. Photo by Trisha Thomas. October 21, 2013

Villa Cimbrone, Ravello. Photo by Trisha Thomas. October 21, 2013

We had booked ourselves at the Villa Cimbrone, an impressive villa built by an Englishman, Lord Beckett Grimthorpe.  According to the Villa’s brochure, Grimthorpe discovered the place while on a “grand tour” trying to recover from a depression following the death of his dearly beloved wife.  ”The intense happiness which this magical place caused him lead him to buy the estate.”   He proceeded to transform it, turning the gardens  into an extravagant combination of English and Italian traditions adding temples, pavilions, statues and exotic plants.

A window at Villa Cimbrone. Photo by Trisha Thomas, October 27, 2013

A window at Villa Cimbrone. Photo by Trisha Thomas, October 27, 2013

On the wall near the entrance to the villa is a plaque saying: “Here, in the spring of 1938, the divine Greta Garbo, removing herself from the glamour of Hollywood, enjoyed with Leopold Stokowsky hours of secret happiness.”

Hmmm, I thought hopefully, as I looked off at the view and at the gorgeous windows of the villa surrounded with flowers and cactuses, “Here, in the fall of 2013, the stressed-out Mamma Trisha Thomas, removing herself from the chaos of Rome, enjoyed with Gustavo Piga (once he managed to get off his cell phone), hours of secret happiness.”

For those who are wondering, a quick google search helped me figure out who she was with.  Leopold Stokowsky was a famous British conductor who worked with all the top American Symphonies.  He had his fair share of romance– in addition to his moments at Villa Cimbrone with Greta Garbo he had several marriages and high-profile love affairs.  His third and last wife was heiress/designer Gloria Vanderbilt.

In addition to romantic interludes, the Villa was also a meeting place for the Bloomsbury group, a group of British intellectuals –writers, philosophers and artists–who met to discuss art and literature among them Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster and (my economist husband’s favourite) John Maynard Keynes.

Breakfast at Villa Cimbrone. Photo by Trisha Thomas, October 27, 2013

Breakfast at Villa Cimbrone. Photo by Trisha Thomas, October 27, 2013

As I served myself some coffee from a silver coffee set into elegant bone china in the Villa Cimbrone breakfast room the next day, I gave up on trying to be glamorous Greta Garbo, and tried to imagine myself as Virginia Woolf preparing for a meeting with the Bloomsbury set.  I think my husband was secretly imagining himself as John Maynard Keynes as he read his newspaper and ate his scrambled eggs.

There is something about Ravello that lends itself to romance.  Walking from the Villa Cimbrone down a narrow stone pathway to the Villa Rufolo, I saw another plaque on the wall noting that D.H. Lawrence stayed in Ravello from 1926 and 1927 while working on “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”.

Jackie Kennedy spent three months with Caroline and John John in Ravello in August of 1962.  There are rumours that during that time she had a love affair with handsome Italian businessman/Lawyer Gianni Agnelli, head of the Fiat company.  (see blog post: Italian Men: Master of Seduction)

Gustavo and Trisha manage to be in step in the town of Ravello after 20 years of marriage. Photo by Trisha Thomas. October 26, 2013

Gustavo and Trisha manage to be in step in the town of Ravello after 20 years of marriage. Photo by Trisha Thomas. October 26, 2013

But enough of all this romance stuff.  Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of what 20 years of marriage is all about.  I will tell you my opinion.  It is hard work.  If any woman tells me her marriage is perfect it reminds me of mothers who tell me her children are never jealous of each other. I find it very hard to believe and it gets on my nerves.

I happen to have one of the most tempestuous, difficult marriages ever. This is partly because we are two opinionated individuals coming from two very different family backgrounds and cultural upbringing.  The funny thing is that on the really big stuff we agree (education is important for children, they should read books not play on electronic devices – Duh!), but it is the little stuff that has thrown us onto the marital rocks, nearly smashing our ship.

Now let me give you an important example.  How do you lace shoes?  Italians have an absurd way of lacing shoes that looks very “bella figura” and elegant but it is nearly impossible to do (for a non-Italian adult, never mind a child).  Americans have a much simpler way of lacing shoes.

Note below my husband’s shoes today:

Gustavo's shoe laces. Photo by Trisha Thomas. November 1, 2013

Gustavo’s shoe laces. Photo by Trisha Thomas. November 1, 2013

Note below a photo of an Italian Gucci baby shoes:

Gucci Baby Shoes with typical Italian lace-tying. Credit: Gucci

Gucci Baby Shoes with typical Italian lace-tying. Credit: Gucci

So we had this terrible lacing difficulty in the early years of our marriage and only thanks to the introduction of Velcro into children’s footwear were we able to avoid divorce.

 

Note below my teenage daughters’ messy sneaker pile today, apparently I won that battle. Now don’t any of you blog readers say that I made a mistake, I should have made my daughters learn elegant Italian lacing techniques.  I don’t want to hear it.

My daughters' sneaker pile. November 1, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

My daughters’ sneaker pile. November 1, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

We survived the lacing wars, but the window wars still rage.  My husband needs to sleep in a room with no air.  He does not want any windows open.  If I don’t have a window open, I wake up in the night with my throat so dry that my tongue feels as though it is stuck to the roof of my mouth.  This has led to some serious marital crises with both of us tip-toeing around in the dark of night to either open or close a window.  On top of that my husband hates air conditioners and fans (he has that famous Italian fear of the formidable “Colpa D’Aria” (translated: wind blow) that Italians believe can do them in).   Try spending a summer in Rome without an air conditioner or a fan.  I believe I deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for not starting a war over that question.

By the way, the Roman solution for dealing with the heat without fans and air-conditioners is to pull down all the “serande” (rolling shutters), and leave all the windows closed tight shut all day.  It is true that a Roman apartment will remain cooler that way, but I feel like I am suffocating in an airless cave.

Then there is the whole “pantofole” issue.  That would be slippers.  I have written about this before (see blog post: Italian Mini Divas), basically my husband thinks children must wear slippers at all times in the house, bare feet are forbidden.  I disagree.

We’ve also had a few go-rounds on the hands-in-your-lap versus hand-on-table question.  My husband, always a stickler for manners, requires — as does Italian etiquette– that during a meal all hands are kept on the table, where they must remain, wrists gently resting on the edge of the table (no elbows) when not eating.  I was raised with an American etiquette that allows hands to be kept on one’s lap when one is not eating and I have wondered if this rigid Italian rule might not have to do with suspicious activities of Italians if their hands are allowed to wander out of sight below deck.

So, there you have it, just a hint of the many traumas and tragedies faced in this twenty year marriage.  But we made it and had a fantastic, romantic time in Ravello.

(Oh, and we slept with the window closed in our room at the Villa Cimbrone…. but I opened the bathroom window during the night.  Shhhh, don’t tell Gustavo)

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October 25, 2013

Painting a Picture in Rome

A Street Artist draws the "Mona Lisa" on a sidewalk in Rome. October 21, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

A Street Artist draws the “Mona Lisa” on a sidewalk in Rome. October 21, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

Dear Blog Readers — As I made my through the center of Rome down Via del Corso one day after work this week, I came upon this man drawing his version of Leonardo Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” on the sidewalk.  Since I am a big fan of street performers, I stopped to take a look and snap this photo.  See Blog Post on Street Performers “Dancing Through the Economic Crisis in Rome“.   As the week went on it occurred to me that perhaps what this street artist was doing has something in common with my work.  As a journalist, I find myself often painting a quick, rough picture of something that is happening.  No masterpieces for me, just a rendering of an event or a piece of news so that people can recognize it.

Let me take this week as an example, on Wednesday I covered the US Secretary of State John Kerry meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the US ambassador’s residence, Villa Taverna, in Rome.  It seems that the meeting, running  from lunch-time through dinner, was primarily intended to reassure the Israeli government about the diplomatic negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.

The beautiful Villa Taverna with its extensive gardens seems an ideal place to discuss some of the intractable problems in the Middle East — Syria’s civil war, Israeli-Palestinian peace and the Iranian nuclear program. (see my blog post on an evening at Villa Taverna “Cocktails, Spike Heels and Skullduggery“.

US Secretary of State John Kerry waiting for Benjamin Netanyahu outside the US Embassy in Rome. Wednesday, October 23, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

US Secretary of State John Kerry waiting for Benjamin Netanyahu outside the US Embassy in Rome. Wednesday, October 23, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

The journalists covering the event were asked to be at the Villa hours early to go through all the security checks and then sit in the garden and wait.  When the hour came, we were escorted to the front door of the Villa where we stood behind a red velvet rope as the Secretary of State emerged from the door to wait for Netanyahu on the cobblestone driveway.

(A little aside here.  I grew up in Massachusetts and John Kerry was my Senator for over 20 years.   During my lifetime, I have seen him in person, I have seen him on TV and I have seen him in photos, and something was wrong with him, his face was totally different.  I told the AP Photographer Gregorio Borgia and AP Television video-journalist Paolo Santalucia that he must have had some serious face-lifting or botox gone awry.  My two colleagues thought I was exaggerating.  But low and behold, all it took was a brief flit around the internet and I realized that many people have been writing about it and putting up before and after photos.  What a shame.  Kerry used to have a distinguished, rugged look and now he looks puffed up, swollen and stiff.

Couldn’t Kerry find a less invasive solution to his wrinkles?  How about a beard? The first US woman to serve as Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, who passed through Rome many times in the late nineties when she was trying to find a diplomatic solution to the war in the former Yugoslavia,  told everyone who asked that she simply put a hat on her head when she was having a “bad hair day.”

While I am on the topic, several years back some flakey, fake journalist who managed to be holding a press credential at the Rome Film Festival (film festivals attract flakey, fake journalists who want to get near the stars) asked Richard Gere how did he manage to stay so handsome at his age.  With great aplomb Gere responded, “I have a fantastic plastic surgeon in New York, if you want I can give you his number.”  Well perhaps Richard Gere could do a favor for US diplomacy and pass that number on to John Kerry.)

Now back to the news event,  Kerry stood there Wednesday on the cobblestones waiting and eventually a long row of black cars drove up the avenue and pulled to a stop.  Netanyahu jumped out and quickly hugged the Secretary of State.

US Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the US Ambassador's Residence in Rome. October 23, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

US Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the US Ambassador’s Residence in Rome. October 23, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

(Now while I am being catty, I might as well take a shot at Benjamin Netanyahu too.  There is something smarmy about that guy.  Over the years I have covered events with lots of Israeli leaders: Yitzak Rabin, he was so tough he was almost scary, and he never smiled; Shimon Peres, much softer than Rabin, he always seemed to me sincere, intellectual and open-minded; or how about former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni — a woman who always seemed calm, cool, and collected.  Netanyahu doesn’t appear to share any of their traits.  Perhaps because he came to international prominence by his frequent appearances on CNN during the Gulf War,  I get the impression that he is always playing for a TV audience, spouting soundbites to promote his agenda.)

So, the smarmy guy and the botox-ed guy shook hands and headed into the Villa and the catty, disrespectful journalist (me) and the rest of the press corps, scurried around the back to take our position in the living room for the statements.

It is a good thing that I am a mother of three because I am a highly-trained multi-tasker.  Anyone who works in TV these days knows that we have to be multi-skilled.  I was covering this event with my colleague Paolo Santalucia who was shooting. Paolo is probably one of the most talented, multi-skilled video-journalists around but when you are the shooter, you cannot do much else simultaneously.

We brought with us a machine called a LIVE U which is about the size of a big backpack and has the equivalent of 7 cell phone cards in it.  We can turn that LIVE U on, connect it to a server in London (by pushing various buttons) attach it by cable to the camera and then send out our material live.  (We don’t use Live Trucks)

Our LIVE-U was placed on the ground outside the living room where the leaders were to make their statements, we had already connected to London and the cables were all laid out.  Our arch-competitor Reuters had a similar set-up.

On a nearby table outside I had opened up my computer for a quick edit of the arrival and handshake outside which would not be part of our live coverage on the inside.  So as Paolo and I were scurrying from the entrance around to the backdoor, he pulled out the P2 memory card from the camera and handed it to me then ran into the living room to attach the camera to the tripod and the live cable to be ready for Kerry and Netanyahu to enter and give their statement.

I rushed over to the table outside, shoved the P2 Memory card into the card reader attached to the computer, opened Final Cut Pro and started transferring the arrival/handshake video.  As I was doing this, I got a call from the London desk on my iPhone that the LIVE-U had gone black.  DAMN.   This is when I usually panic.  I know how to do the technical part of my job only until things go wrong.  Paolo had warned me that there might be either American or Israeli jammers that would block the cell-phone lines and mess up our LIVE U.  There was a helicopter buzzing overhead, so I figured maybe that had something to do with it.   I squatted on the ground and pressed a series of buttons on the LIVE-U hoping that Kerry and Netanyahu were not walking in. I think the buttons I pressed were stop, reconnect, options, server 2…I can’t even remember.  The machine told me “Connecting- 43 seconds”  aarrgh.  Kerry and Netanyahu walked into the living room and took their seats, the black screen flashed back to the picture of Kerry and Netanyahu. PHEW.  Don’t ask me how that happened but it had re-connected.  I called London, Tom on APTN Direct picked up “HEY TRISHA, EVERYTHING’S FINE, WE’RE SEEING YOU!” he nearly shouted and slammed down the phone.  (Poor Tom was also dealing with a much bigger media event at that moment — the Royal Christening)

I jumped up, rushed back to my computer, started sending 21 seconds of Kerry/Netanyahu video by ftp to London, ran through the open door to the living room where Kerry was already speaking.  I had left my bag with my notebook and pen on the other side of the room so I had to take notes on my iPhone.  I don’t know how everyone else does it, but I am hopeless. My fingers are too big and I get all the letters wrong when I try to write fast on one of those little gadgets.

Kerry was talking about Iran and here are some of the highlights of what he said,

“While we welcome, and we do welcome the change of rhetoric, the change of tone, the diplomatic opening that the Iranians have offered through President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif, we have made clear and we are adamant that words are no substitute for action…We have said, President Obama has made it clear, he will pursue a diplomatic initiative but with eyes wide open.”

When Kerry concluded his brief statement, Netanyahu took his turn.  He laid out in more detail what he thought the US should demand of Iran in negotiations.  He said, “Iran must not have a nuclear weapons capability.  This means that they shouldn’t have centrifuges, or enrichment, they shouldn’t have a plutonium heavy water plant which is used only for nuclear weapons, and they should get rid of the amassed fissile material, and they shouldn’t have underground nuclear facilities, underground for one reason, for military purposes….I think a partial deal that leaves Iran with these capabilities is a bad deal.”

Besides a few more relatively uninteresting comments on Syria and on-going negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, that was more or less it and the two leaders stood up and walked out.

I continued my frenzied activity, editing together and writing the story and sending the edit via ftp to London.  We also had to put back all our cables and computer chargers and lug all our material back to the office.  And that was just a few hours on my job.

So that was the picture I was painting in Rome on Wednesday.

Sophia Loren being Sophia Loren being interviewed by journalists on the red carpet at the Rome Film Festival. October 20, 2007. Freeze Frame of video shot by Pietro De Cristofaro

Sophia Loren being Sophia Loren being interviewed by journalists on the red carpet at the Rome Film Festival. October 20, 2007. Freeze Frame of video shot by Pietro De Cristofaro

Today it was a lighter story.  Italian Actress Sophia Loren was cleared by an Italian court on tax evasion charges after a 31 year legal battle.

Sophia Loren lives in Switzerland, so there was no chance of getting her on camera today but her lawyer released a statement saying “it is a miracle of justice, just when we did not believe in it any more, it has found a way to give us hope.”

Italy’s Court of Cassation ruled that the diva was legally correct in only paying 60 percent of her taxes on her 1974 income because of a 1982 tax amnesty.  Tax officials said she owed 70 percent.

This is not the only tax evasion case that Sophia Loren has faced.  Back in 1982 she spent 17 days in a prison in Southern Italy for not paying taxes on 112 million lire (roughly 775,000 euro).  She blamed her tax preparer for that mistake.

Loren is not the only famous Italian to have trouble with the taxman, tenor Luciano Pavarotti and motorcycle racer Valentino Rossi, fashion designers Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce have all had legal difficulties.

Sophia Loren speaking to me about Marcello Mastroianni in Rome. December 22, 1996. Freeze Frame of video shot by Gianfranco Stara

Sophia Loren speaking to me about Marcello Mastroianni in Rome. December 22, 1996. Freeze Frame of video shot by Gianfranco Stara

I’ve covered Sophia Loren on several occasions.  I spoke to her once at Italian Actor Marcello Mastroianni’s funeral in 1997 and she told me,  in perfect English “there was a kind of chemistry between us, that could not be compared to anyone else and with anyone else.”

Whether she pays her taxes or not, Loren remains an untouchable heroine in Italy – an icon of the dolce vita that does not exist anymore.

Sophia Loren

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October 15, 2013

A Jaunty Seminarian and a Flat-Tire Mamma in Rome

A Seminarian walks along Via di Pietra at 830 this morning in Rome. October 15, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

A Seminarian walks along Via di Pietra at 830 this morning in Rome. October 15, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

Today has been one of those days.  I don’t even know why, I am just grouchy and frustrated.  A wannabee super-mamma with a flat tire, running around going flop, flop, flop with every turn of the wheel. I can’t keep up with work and kids and blog and I want to hop into a brightly colored hot air balloon and float alone — without a cell phone, without email, twitter or any form of communication– high above the city of Rome and look down at everyone else, little ants far down below,  without anyone being able to ask me anything.

Perhaps my best moment of the day was this morning when the bus was so jammed packed that I hopped off to walk and turned off the crowded Via del Corso onto Via di Pietra to find myself behind a happy-looking Seminarian cheerfully trotting along on the cobblestones, two books in his left hand, a rosary dangling in his right, his robes flapping around his ankles as he rushed on.

Tell me, dear Blog Readers, where else in the world would you see a similar sight walking to work?

At work I was snappy with my colleagues for no logical reason.  Sometimes when you work with a news agency, the  news never seems to slow down and you feel as though you are on a tread-mill and someone has turned up the speed so you spend your time in a full-out sprint about to fall on your nose because you might miss something or get something wrong.

Once again there were several videos from the Italian Coast Guard of more than 300 immigrants arriving overnight in floundering boats.  They were from Eritrea, Somalia, Syria, Egypt, Nigeria and Nepal.  There were little children and dozens of women, four of them pregnant.  Then there was the funeral for the Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke.  Priebke was tried and convicted in 1998 of killing 335 Italian Civilians in 1944 in a massacre on the outskirts of Rome.  He was 100.  The city of Rome wanted nothing to do with his funeral, and the Archdiocese of Rome refused to allow Priebke a funeral in a Roman church, so today it was held outside of the city by the Society for Pio X, a break-off Catholic group known as the Lefebvrians.  At the Vatican the controversial Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone was given his goodbye at an official handover ceremony where unexpectedly the new Vatican Secretary of State didn’t show up due to a “minor surgery” according to the Vatican Press Office.  So, no major breaking news but lots of items that kept coming at me wham, wham, wham and my tire was going flop, flop, flop.

As I headed home –walking again to avoid the crowded bus and dragging my rolling computer bag behind me, I thought about that seminarian. I bet he doesn’t spend his afternoon driving kids around in a beat up Fiat to gymnastics, chorus etc., he doesn’t have to cook dinner for the family, or wash the dishes afterwards, he probably doesn’t have to walk the dog or scoop the poop off the Roman sidewalk, he probably doesn’t have to nag kids to do their homework or turn off the TV, he probably doesn’t have several growing to-do lists, and I am sure he doesn’t have to worry that he doesn’t have a decent item to wear in the morning, he’s got his black cassock.  But then again, I wouldn’t want to wear black every day, I am not very good at hanging out on my knees, and celibacy is really not for me, so I guess I wouldn’t want to be a seminarian, I’d rather be me, so why am I comparing my life to his??  It is because I want to have his jaunty step as he rushes off purposefully to wherever he is going.

Personally, I would rather be a character of my own invention, Violet Vespa, ready to escape the daily stress at a moment’s notice, hopping on her violet vespa and getting away. (See Violet Vespa Blog post) Unfortunately, I don’t have a hot-air balloon or a violet vespa and it is time to go walk to dog, so off I go.   I will add “try to be jaunty, peppy and chipper” to my to-do list for tomorrow, and “get rid of that flop flop flop flat-tire attitude.”

Credit: www.prosoaring.com

Credit: www.prosoaring.com

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October 7, 2013

A Day in Assisi Covering Pope Francis

Crowd of people heading to the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi for mass with Pope Francis. October 4, 2013. Freeze Frame of video shot by Giranfranco Stara

Crowd of people heading to the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi for mass with Pope Francis. October 4, 2013. Freeze Frame of video shot by Giranfranco Stara

Dear Blog Readers — Here is a brief post on the Pope’s visit to Assisi.

Last Friday, October 4th,  Pope Francis made a whirlwind trip to the Umbrian hill town of Assisi, home of his namesake, Saint Francis of Assisi.

He came in a helicopter from the Vatican and arrived at 730 am and seemed to be in non-stop motion throughout the day. I woke up at 6am when I heard the crowd of faithful walking past my hotel and up to the Basilica. Over the course of the day, the Pope made 13 stops at various points around the town, starting off with a meeting with handicapped and disabled children before making his way towards the Basilica of St. Francis Assisi.

Saint Francis was born in Assisi in 1182 into the family of a wealthy cloth merchant. As a young man he dreamed of becoming a knight and took part in an attack on the hill town of Perugia where he was captured and held for a year. He became ill and returned to Assisi a weak and defeated young man.

Statue outside the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi showing him returning from war with Perugia, sickly and defeated. Photo by Trisha Thomas, October 4, 2013

Statue outside the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi showing him returning from war with Perugia, sickly and defeated. Photo by Trisha Thomas, October 4, 2013

In 1206 Francis had a vision in which God told him to “repair my church.” He began living as a hermit and caring for the poor. Unhappy with his behavior, Francis’ bourgeois father dragged him before the Bishop and in a moment that has gone down in the annals of church history, Francis shocked the bishop and his father by stripping off all his clothing, and giving away everything he owned to dedicate himself to God and the poor.

Francis was known for his simplicity, his humility, his caring for all leaving creatures from human beings to animals.  From his first words as Pope, it is clear that Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina would like to bring Catholic church closer to the values of his namesake, pulling away from wealth and power and moving closer to the needs of the sick and the poor.

Following his meeting with the children, the Pope went to the Sala Della Spogliazione (roughly translated: the room where he stripped off his clothes), there he delivered an off-the-cuff but clearly prepared speech. First he denounced the deaths at sea in Lampedusa (see blog post Into the Deep Blue Cemetery off Lampedusa) saying: “Nobody cares about many people who have to escape from the slavery of hunger, who escape searching for freedom and find death as happened yesterday in Lampedusa. Today is a day of tears.”

He went on to deliver a blistering a attack on what he said is “mondanita’” (roughly translated: worldliness) within the church, denouncing as “bakery Christians” those who cling to worldly wealth suggesting they “look good but suffer from vanity, pride and love of power”. He said that the Church and everyone should strip themselves of worldly wealth as St. Francis did so many centuries ago.

During the brief, impassioned talk I noticed that Pope Francis vacillated from being close to tears to almost angry.

Crowd waiting for mass with Pope Francis outside the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. October 4, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

Crowd waiting for mass with Pope Francis outside the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. October 4, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

The main event of the day was the Mass in the piazza in front of the Basilica. The day before the Pope arrived, I paid a quick visit to the Basilica and snapped (before any guards could stop me) this photo of the Cimabue Fresco of “Our Lady Enthroned and Saint Francis (1280). Obviously, I just took St. Francis who is standing humbly off in the corner. I don’t want to be disrespectful, but he does look a bit dorky with his giant feet and long toes, and perhaps some art history expert will be able to explain to me why he has three hands.

Saint Francis in the Cimabue Fresco "Madonna with Child Enthroned, Four Angels and Saint Francis." This fresco is inside the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. Photo by Trisha Thomas, October 3, 2013

Saint Francis in the Cimabue Fresco “Madonna with Child Enthroned, Four Angels and Saint Francis.” This fresco is inside the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi. Photo by Trisha Thomas, October 3, 2013

Inside the Basilica is a large throne, that I was told only a Pope can sit on. Pope Francis opted for the piazza outside and an altar made by local carpenters in the form of a TAU cross, a cross in the shape of a Capital letter T, and used by Franciscan Friars to symbolize peace.

During the Mass, as expected, the Pope spoke about peace saying, ““We can hear the shouts of those who are crying, suffering and dying because of violence, terrorism, war, in the Holy Land, so beloved by Francis, in Syria, in the whole Middle East, in the world.”

A little boy takes Pope Francis to his place at the table for lunch at the Caritas Center in Assisi. Freeze frame of video shot by Vatican TV. October 4, 2013

A little boy takes Pope Francis to his place at the table for lunch at the Caritas Center in Assisi. Freeze frame of video shot by Vatican TV. October 4, 2013

Following Mass, Pope Francis sat down to lunch with a group of poor people at a center run by the Catholic charitable organization Caritas. Vatican TV ran this image of a little boy showing the Pope his place at the table.

After lunch, the tone of the day seemed to change. Pope Francis visited the Church of San Ruffino where he was supposed to meet with the clergy but from what I could see place was packed with women and children. At one point he seemed to toss aside his prepared text and said, “You know what I always tell young couples, you can fight all you want, you can even throw plates at each other, but you never should end the day without making peace. Never.”

That line earned him a good laugh, and earned me quite a few re-tweets on twitter.

Pope Francis greeting a nun in Assisi. Freeze frame of video shot by AP Television cameraman Gianfranco Stara. October 4, 2013

Pope Francis greeting a nun in Assisi. Freeze frame of video shot by AP Television cameraman Gianfranco Stara. October 4, 2013

(Note: In the above photo you can see Domenico Giani, the head of the Pope’s security, standing behind the Pope and looking slightly tense.  All of us who cover the Vatican are worried about Giani these days.  This Pope is constantly throwing himself into crowds and reaching out for everything that people pass to him.  Giani and the others involved in the security often spend events passing babies to the Pope to be kissed.  Poor Giani has his hands full!!)

From there he went on to visit the Basilica of Santa Chiara (Saint Clare) and the Sisters of Saint Clare. Saint Clare was one of the first followers of Saint Francis and founded her own order known as the Poor Clares. The Pope met with the Sisters of the order and gave them another one of his interesting off-the-cuff speeches. He told them that he knew that monastic life is not easy, but that it should not be “purgatory”. He encouraged them to be “forgiving”, and “supportive” of each other. He urged them to avoid saying “I don’t want to speak badly about so and so BUT…”  He told them they must find happiness from within and not pretend to be happy. He said he doesn’t like seeing nuns with “flight attendant smiles”. He urged them to “smile from the heart.”

His next stop was the church of Saint Mary of the Angels where there is the small Porziuncula church inside, and it is there that Saint Francis died. Outside the church thousands of young people were waiting for a meeting with Pope Francis. He passed through the crowd hugging disabled children and blessing their parents. Young people stood up and asked the Pope questions about how to face their lives and difficulties. The Pope delivered a few answers before stopping and joking with the crowd that he had actually gotten the questions ahead of time so he wasn’t just giving answers off the top of his head.

My favorite Pope Francis comment at this meeting was when he said that when mothers come and complain to him that their 30-year-old sons are not getting married he tells them, “Stop Ironing their Shirts!” (@mozzarellamamma had a lot of re-tweet success with that one too!)

His final stop of the day was the “Tugurio” or shack where St. Francis of Assisi used to live.

After 12 hours in Assisi, the Pope took a helicopter back to Rome, and I stayed in Assisi and kept on working, editing together the powerful images of his visit. Around 8:30pm I made my way out of the press center, past the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, down the narrow, cobble-stoned street, dragging by rolling backpack with my computer, cables and papers and down to meet AP Cameraman Gianfranco. We were both exhausted and hungry so we went to a nearby restaurant where they had delicious bruscetta, toasted bread with fresh, green local olive oil.  I wondered if Saint Francis allowed himself the simple pleasure of eating that delicious olive oil on bread back in his day.

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October 6, 2013

Into the Deep Blue Cemetery off Lampedusa

Italian Firefighter video shot by scuba divers of the ship filled with immigrants that sunk off the coast of Lampedusa. October 4, 2013 Credit: Vigili di Fuoco

Italian Firefighter video shot by scuba divers of the ship filled with immigrants that sunk off the coast of Lampedusa. October 4, 2013 Credit: Vigili del Fuoco

I heard the news on the car radio as I was heading to Assisi to cover the Pope’s visit there.  Two hundred and fifty people missing after a floundering ship full of immigrants caught fire and sunk half a mile from the shore of Lampedusa.  A frenetic rescue operation was underway involving local fisherman, Coast Guard rescue teams, the Italian Marines, and Finance Guard in boats and helicopters desperately trying to drag slippery, gasoline covered bodies out of the water in the dark; some alive, many dead. Cameraman Gianfranco Stara and I continued toward Assisi as the calls and messages started pouring in.  I was sent the first photos, the bodies lying in bags on the Molo Favarolo, the pier where I have been so many times filming the migrant ships arriving.   The Mayor of Lampedusa Giusi Nicolini was in tears on the radio, a fisherman spoke about the people he managed to drag on his boat wailing desperately because their loved ones had gone down to the bottom. The story of Lampedusa is one of the most dramatic and interesting that I have covered in the 20 years I have been in Italy (for details of numbers see blog posts Lampedusa: Europe’s Port, and Goosebumps in Lampedusa) and I would have turned around and gone there, but I was on assignment to cover Pope Francis visit the town of his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi.  My colleagues Paolo Lucariello, Andrea Rosa, and Fanuel Morelli  took off from Rome for Lampedusa.  They were joined by Oleg Cetinic from Paris. They are still there filming the rescue operations and the bodies piling up on the pier.

Firefighter scuba diver preparing to go down below to see sunk. Freeze frame of firefighter video. Credit: Vigili del Fuoco. October 4, 2013

Firefighter scuba diver preparing to go down below to search the wreckage. Freeze frame of firefighter video. Credit: Vigili del Fuoco. October 4, 2013

This was a tragedy waiting to happen.  For years all spring, summer and fall the boats come in every day with hundreds of migrants, the Italian Coast Guard and rescue teams go out to save the ships, but no one is doing anything concrete to stop or even slow the traffic.  The same night two other ships were escorted safely into port carrying hundreds of others.   Nearly every day my office receives Coast Guard video of the latest arrival.  Back in 2011, it was always men on board, now we are seeing lots of women, children, and little babies.  They are from everywhere, Egypt, Tunisia, Liberia, Ghana, Somalia, Eritrea, Sri Lanka, Iraq, Liberia…I’ve spoken to so many I’ve forgotten all the places they come from, but they keep on coming.  As the Pope said in Assisi, “So many people flee the slavery of hunger searching for freedom and instead find death.”

Bodies of the victims laid out on the Favarolo Pier in Lampedusa. October 14, 2013. Credit: Nino Radazzo, Palermo Health Care Service

Bodies of the victims laid out on the Favarolo Pier in Lampedusa. October 14, 2013. Credit: Nino Radazzo, Palermo Health Care Service

This boat was 25 meters (65 feet long) and jammed with perhaps 500 migrants.  I’ve been told by rescue workers that the traffickers pack in the immigrants (who pay from 1000 to 3000 euros for the passage) so tightly that they cannot stretch their legs or go to the bathroom.  They must remain in place.  Apparently the people who paid less on this boat were shoved in below deck and the first divers who went below said they saw hundreds of dead bodies trapped inside, many still hugging each other. According to survivors, the boat’s engine died as it was about to reach Lampedusa and the passengers tried to light a fire to attract attention, but the fire raged out of control, the migrants lunged to one side of the boat and it capsized.  The migrants were from Eritrea and Somalia and most of them did not know how to swim. The boat sank off the Isola dei Congli — Rabbit Island.  I swam there last summer when the Pope visited Lampedusa.  After the Pope left, my colleagues Alessandra Tarantino, Serena Sartini and I took our mopeds out to the beach.  It is one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen with crystalline clear, turquoise water.  One walks out for nearly a quarter mile on soft white sand with water up to one’s knees.  But the migrants did not make it to a place where they could touch the ground.  They sank to their death a few feet away.

AP Photographer Alessandra Tarantino takes of photo of the Isola dei Conigli (Rabbit Island) on Lampedusa. July 8, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

AP Photographer Alessandra Tarantino takes of photo of the Isola dei Conigli (Rabbit Island) on Lampedusa. July 8, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

As I write this post, AP is reporting that 111 bodies have been recovered, there are 155 survivors and hundreds more are believed to be in the boat on the sea floor. Rescue operations were halted yesterday due to bad weather but have started again this morning. Bodies have been placed on the floor of a hangar at the airport in Lampedusa, coffins have been put on ferries heading to Sicily and dozens of survivors are now in the Holding Center on the island. It is the most deaths in a maritime incident in the Mediterranean since World War II. Italy declared a day of mourning on Friday and my children participated in a minute of silence on at school.  The Pope, speaking in Assisi said it was a “day of tears” and called the incident a “disgrace.” And yet, yesterday while my colleagues were waiting for the sea to calm around Lampedusa so they could cover the rescue operation, several more ships arrived with 325 migrants  from Syria, Palestine, Egypt and Tunisia. The weather is better today.  I wonder how many more will attempt the trip.

A boat from Sfax, a port in Tunisia, at the boat graveyard on Lampedusa where all the migrants boats are left to rot. July 8, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

A boat from Sfax, a port in Tunisia, at the boat graveyard on Lampedusa where all the migrants boats are left to rot. July 8, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

Note to Blog Readers:  If anyone is interested, I am happy to do a blog post of the Pope’s visit to Assisi Friday, let me know.

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October 1, 2013

Blood Stains, a Bra Clasp, and Sperm Spots

TV cameras crowd around Raffaele Sollecito's defense lawyer at Meredith Kercher re-trial in Florence. September 30, 2013. Freeze frame of video shot by Paolo Santalucia

TV cameras crowd around Raffaele Sollecito’s defense lawyer at Meredith Kercher re-trial in Florence. September 30, 2013. Freeze frame of video shot by Paolo Santalucia

Dear Blog Readers– Yesterday I was in Florence listening to detailed discussions of blood stains, a bra clasp and sperm spots during the opening hearing in the re-trial of the Meredith Kercher Murder.  By now, anyone interested in the news has already gotten it, so I will give you just a bit of behind-the-scenes atmosphere.

First, for those of you who have not followed this long and complicated murder case, here is a little background.

On November 2, 2007 British student Meredith Kercher was found dead in a pool of blood, her throat slit, in the home she shared with American Amanda Knox in the Umbrian Hill town Perugia as exchange students. Meredith had been sexually assaulted.

Amanda Knox was accused, along with her then-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito and acquaintance Rudy Guede from the Ivory Coast, of sexually assaulting and murdering Meredith. Guede chose a fast-track trial and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, later reduced to 16 in appeal.

Amanda Knox on the cover of Italian gossip magazine OGGI. The title is "Amanda: I am still afraid."

Amanda Knox on the cover of Italian gossip magazine OGGI. The title is “Amanda: I am still afraid.” Inside is a recent interview with Amanda done by Italian journalist in Seattle.

Knox and Sollecito were convicted in December 2009 of murder, during the trial prosecutors accused Amanda, Raffaele and Rudy of slicing Meredith’s throat and leaving her to bleed to death following a drug-fueled sex game gone awry.

Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison and Sollecito got 25.

The first appeal trial lasted 10 months and overturned the conviction in 2011.  During the first appeal, the defense brought in a team of independent experts to analyze the DNA.  They claimed that traces of Meredith’s DNA on the presumed murder weapon, a kitchen knife, were unreliable. The knife had Amanda’s DNA on the handle and was found in the kitchen of her boyfriend Sollecito.

In a surprise twist, this past March Italy’s highest court overturned the acquittal and sent the case to the appeals court in Florence for another trial.  In the motivations for the retrial, the Supreme Court was scathing in its criticism of the whole procedure used by the court in the appeal criticizing it for  “inconsistencies” and “lack of logical thinking”.

(If you want more background, see my earlier Blog Posts: Amanda Knox: Countdown to the Verdict, Waiting For Amanda, The Amanda Knox Reality Show, The Amanda Knox Drama Continues)

Camerapersons and journalists lined up outside the Palazzo di Giustizia in Florence waiting for lawyers to arrive for the Meredith Kercher murder re-trial. September 30, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

Camerapersons and journalists lined up outside the Palazzo di Giustizia in Florence waiting for lawyers to arrive for the Meredith Kercher murder re-trial. September 30, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

The retrial is in Florence, and although Florence is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, the courthouse is an unattractive monstrosity on the outskirts of the city with, unfortunately, a cheap hotel right down the street that is very convenient for journalists.   It is so cheap that the drain didn’t work in the shower and I had two inches of water on the floor after taking a shower and no towels to clean it up.

This in comparison to the cute little hotels in Perugia and the medieval courthouse situated in the middle of a lovely piazza with quaint shops and little coffee bars,  handy for journalists in need of that mid-morning cappuccino.

Nevertheless there were dozens of us waiting at the back entrance for the arrival of the lawyers hours before start of the trial.  To give you an idea of how totally un-glamorous my work is, a half hour before the start time, I called Amanda’s lawyer Luciano Ghirga who said he was about to arrive and would be happy to give me a comment on camera at the front door.

My colleague Paolo Santalucia told me to take the small camera and run around to the front to catch Ghirga without any of the other journalists noticing.  As I came around the edge of the Palazzo di Giustizia, I could see the fluffy white head of Ghirga bobbing along the sidewalk headed for the entrance.  I took off doing my middle-aged Mamma version of Usain Bolt in the 100-meter dash, and managed to grab him just as he was about to head in.  He stopped and since I was huffing and puffing he told me to take a deep breathe and relax before we did the quick interview.  (another example of my lack of Bella Figura).

Ghirga gave me the first hint of what we should be expecting saying that the defense wanted to have another forensic test on the knife and analysis of DNA on the pillow case found at the scene of the crime.  He also said that the defense was “offended” by criticism that Amanda is giving too many interviews and perhaps trying a public relations tactic to make her case outside the court.

Francesco Maresca, lawyer for the family of Meredith Kercher, speaks to reporters outside the courthouse in Florence. Freeze frame of video shot by AP video-journalist Paolo Santalucia. September 30, 2013

Francesco Maresca, lawyer for the family of Meredith Kercher, speaks to reporters outside the courthouse in Florence. Freeze frame of video shot by AP video-journalist Paolo Santalucia. September 30, 2013

I finished my interview with Ghirga and turned around to see Dapper Dan, the best-looking lawyer in the Knox trials walking up the sidewalk.  It was Francesco Maresca, the lawyer for the Kercher Family whose wavy brown locks and intense blue eyes send hearts throbbing among the female members of the press corps.  I think he is aware of his star power and always shows up in pin-stripe suits and stares intensely towards the cameras as he delivers his views.

He told me 
”We are still convinced of the presence of all three of the defendants at the scene of the crime,” and expressed the Kercher family’s displeasure at Amanda’s flurry of media appearances prior to the re-trial, “She is talking too much, and this attitude of continuously playing the victim is inappropriate.”

Judge Alessandro Nencini enters courtroom in Florence for Meredith Kercher re-trial. Freeze frame of RAI Pool video. September 30, 2013

Judge Alessandro Nencini enters courtroom in Florence for Meredith Kercher re-trial. Freeze frame of RAI Pool video. September 30, 2013

The courtroom could not have been further from the cozy Perugia tribunal with stone walls with frescoes on them.  The Florence courtroom was a large, modern room with neat lines of tables and chairs and a simple sign above the judge’s bench “La Legge e’ Uguale Per Tutti” — The Law is Equal for All.  Judge Alessandro Nencini gave off an air of seriousness and competence as he ran the show throughout the day.

A couple highlights from the courtroom.  Knox lawyer Carlo Della Vedova made the case that the re-trial was unconstitutional and that Amanda could be tried “ad infinitum” since the case has no statute of limitations.  The new prosecutor on the case, Alessandro Crini, later rebutted that “when you are talking about homocide… the legal process does not deserve to be closed for an artificial reason such as a statute of limitations.”  The Judge later backed the prosecutor’s position.

Amanda Knox defense lawyer Luciano Ghirga uses a pen to demonstrate DNA samples on the knife that could have been the murder weapon during the opening hearing of the Meredith Kercher Murder re-trial in Florence. September 30, 2013. Freeze frame of RAI Pool video.

Amanda Knox defense lawyer Luciano Ghirga uses a pen to demonstrate DNA samples on the knife that could have been the murder weapon during the opening hearing of the Meredith Kercher Murder re-trial in Florence. September 30, 2013. Freeze frame of RAI Pool video.

Amanda’s other defense Lawyer Luciano Ghirga used a white magic marker with a black cap to illustrate questions about the knife that could be the murder weapon.  The knife supposedly has Meredith’s DNA on the blade and Amanda’s DNA on the handle.  The Judge later ordered a new forensic test on that knife.

Giulia Bongiorno, defense lawyer for Raffaele Sollecito speaking in courtroom in Florence at opening of Meredith Kercher murder re-trial. September 30, 2013. Freeze Frame of RAI Pool video.

Giulia Bongiorno, defense lawyer for Raffaele Sollecito speaking in courtroom in Florence at opening of Meredith Kercher murder re-trial. September 30, 2013. Freeze Frame of RAI Pool video.

One of the highlights of the day was watching Raffaele Sollecito’s lawyer Giulia Bongiorno make a long and dramatic request to the court on various topics.  Bongiorno became famous in Italy for her successful defense of former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti on charges of Mafia association (see blog post Divine Julius, An Italian Politician.)  Bongiorno introduced the courtroom to a new word electropherograms — which are some kind of peaks on the DNA tests which can be studied to determine identity.  She went into great detail about the sperm spots on Meredith pillow case, insisting that in the case of a murder with sexual violence, it is unheard of that sperm spots on the pillow case would not be tested.  The judge later rejected her request.

The Kercher family lawyer, Maresca, submitted a letter to the court from the family apologizing for not attending the opening and saying:

“We trust that the evidence will be reviewed and any additional testing requested to be granted so that unanswered questions can be clarified…It is a continuous struggle every single day, battling with our own emotions both happy memories and desperately sad, and the only way our pain and suffering can even begin to ease is by gaining a clearer understanding of the tragic events of November 1st, 2007.

At the end of the day, the judge announced that in addition to ordering the new forensic test on the knife, he is calling as witness Luciano Aviello, a mobster currently in prison in Florence, to testify this Friday, October 4th.  Aviello has said in the past that his brother killed Meredith Kercher, but his testimony was dismissed in the earlier trials. The judge also granted a request to Sollecito’s defense lawyer to admit photos of Raffaele Sollecito’s hands in the days following the murder showing his closely bitten finger-nails. His defense argues that with fingernails bitten he couldn’t have left DNA samples on Meredith’s bra clasp.

So sperm spots will not be discussed this Friday, but blood stains, fingernails, the bra clasp and a mobster will be back.

If any readers are interested in all the nitty-gritty details of this case, check out the posts of my colleagues Andrea Vogt at TheFreelanceDesk.com and Barbie Nadeau’s articles in The Daily Beast

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September 28, 2013

The Italians are Coming

As my loyal blog readers know, once in a while I cannot resist the temptation to post an amusing advertisement that plays on stereotypes that foreigners have about Italians, and in this case some stereotypes about Americans.  I was not aware of this one until an Italian journalist, Federico Rampini (see blog post Enlightened at the Economics Festival in Trento), wrote about it in an Italian weekly women’s magazine under the headline: “The Italians are Coming, This is How America Sees Us.”

I grew up in the Boston area not far from where the American revolution started.  All my life I have heard the tales of revolutionary war hero Paul Revere made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.”

Paul Revere's Ride, April 19 1775, Emmet, Thomas Addis - New York Public Library

Paul Revere’s Ride, April 19 1775, Emmet, Thomas Addis – New York Public Library

“The British are Coming, The British are Coming” is what the young revolutionary yelled out to the towns and villages west of Boston (Somerville, Medford, Arlington and Lexington) as he galloped through the night to warn them that the British troops were marching out from Boston. Every year on the 18th of April we would watch reenactments of how the brave Minutemen (farmers who took part in a the local militia) took on the British Redcoats in Lexington and Concord.  Even this past summer I took my daughter and her cousins to see the spot in Lexington where Paul Revere was captured.

As all Americans learn in school, the British Redcoats marched in a staid and orderly fashion and were badly beaten by the American militiamen who hid behind stonewalls and conducted a precursor to guerilla warfare.   In this ad the Italians whizz around the corner kicking up a cloud of dust in their sexy red Fiat 500s.  ”Staid” and “orderly” are not adjectives one uses when referring to Italians.  All one has to do is wait in a taxi line or a line at the post office in Rome and “unruly” and “argumentative” are more likely to come to mind. When the British are coming the Americans run for the guns, when the Italians are coming the women tear off their long, stiff, uncomfortable clothing, and give a quick, liberating chop to their lengthy hair.  The staid pub becomes a club, and the prim and proper tea set is shoved off the table in favor of four cups of rich, creamy espresso and the music switches from dramatic classical to T-Rex’s “Children of the Revolution.”  As one of the newly “liberated” puritan women head for the Fiat 500 she declares “This is going to be so much better than the Tea Party” — a reference to the original Boston Tea Party when American revolutionaries dressed up as Indians, boarded a British Ship carrying tea and dumped it into the Boston Harbor in protest against “taxation without representation” by the British King.  But it is also a dig at the at “Tea Party” political movement a right-wing movement that started up in 2009 to protest against government over-reach.

In his article Rampini noted that “they see us as less inhibited, less politically correct, more pleasure-loving with respect to the anglo-puritan tradition.”  Rampini also notes that the ad is making a veiled reference to former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his bunga-bunga parties (see blog post The End of Italy’s Bunga Bunga Era) and legal troubles.

But Rampini goes on to note that it was an act of marketing genius to “transform our weakness into a strength.”

I agree, I bet a lot of Americans are going to be buying Fiat 500s.

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September 22, 2013

Alice in Wonderland on Lake Como

A pathway runs along a line of trees at Villa Melzi in Bellagio on Lake Como. September 21, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

A pathway runs along a line of trees at Villa Melzi in Bellagio on Lake Como. September 21, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

This past weekend I joined my husband at a conference in Varenna on Lake Como giving me the opportunity to discover, once again, why Italy is known as the Bel Paese (The Beautiful Country).  Every time I step out from my crazy little cocoon in Rome, running from work to family duties, I find that Italy is dotted with jewels, precious little towns across the country from Sicily to the  Amalfi Coast to the Cinque Terre,  Lake Como, and the Italian Alps.  This in addition to the well-known spots– Venice, Florence, and Rome.

My husband and I took my favorite train — the Red Arrow (Freccia Rossa) from Rome to Milan and then a little local train to Varenna.  I love the Freccia Rossa because it has free Wi-Fi so in the three or four hours it takes me to get from point A to point B in Italy, I can usually whip off a blog post, freeing me up to ignore my lap-top computer once I reach my destination.  The Freccia Rossa is usually on time, unlike the local train from Milan to Varenna that was an hour late.

As we neared Varenna my husband sighed and said it was nearly 8pm, we would probably miss the conference dinner.  I stifled a smile and thought eagerly about a romantic dinner at a lakeside restaurant.  No such luck.  My husband flew out of the train station, cell phone in hand, called a colleague and said, “If you haven’t gotten to the “primo” (first course) yet, hold two places for my wife and me.”  We then charged through the dark streets of Varenna dragging our rolling suitcases and computer bags behind us until we reached the posh, if slightly dowdy, Victoria Hotel.  We were given a fabulous room with a balcony with a spectacular view out over Lake Como.  But there was no time for me to revel in the view of the full moon, shimmering lake and lights of the little villages on the other side.  No,  I had to throw on an elegant dress, heels, lipstick and rush out to the conference dinner.   My husband seems to enjoy tossing me into these sink or swim social situations so I was given a seat next to a 60-something gentleman and as my husband dove into conversation with colleagues on his right, I turned to the gentleman on my left and tried to engage in cordial conversation.

The gentleman told me that he had come up earlier on the train with all the professors who had been attending the ceremony of the anniversary of the death of someone very important whose name I knew I should recognize but I didn’t.  So I assumed he was a professor and asked him what he teaches.  “Ah, I’m not working anymore,” he said, “can’t be bothered with it, actually I’m fed up with it all.”

“Oh really, ” I replied, “you don’t enjoy teaching?” I asked, inadvertently sticking a pin in my conversational life raft.  He looked at me pitifully and said,  ”You said you are a journalist?”

“Yes,” I answered.  “And what do you cover?”  he continued. Phew, someone showing some interest in me, “Oh, the Vatican, Italian politics, the Venice Film Festival…” just about anything that is happening in Italy that is of interest abroad,” I sputtered cheerfully.

“Well, I am the former Minister of Justice,” he declared solemnly.  “Oh for goodness sake, ” I thought.  “Can someone please give me a heads-up before seating me next to a former government minister or other “pezzi grossi” (big shots) before I make a “brutta figura” out of myself! (See Blog Post on Bella Figura)

A little note in self-defense, since I came to Italy 20 years ago there have been eight different Prime Ministers, 13 different governments, each with 21 Ministers.   If my calculations are correct, that would mean over the past 20 years there have been 273 Italian government Ministers and most of them have been older, white men.  Actually there have surely been less than 273 because there have been some repeats in the same job, or individuals who held several different ministerial seats. (When they are not white men, I tend to notice — see blog posts on the current Minister of Integration Cecile Kyenge, Call me Black and Racial Slurs and Death Threats in Italy) My work usually requires that I follow the Foreign Minister, the Defense Minister, the Interior Minister, the Minister of the Economy and I have interviewed Italian Ministers of Sport, Culture, Environment and Equal Opportunity, but I have never interviewed an Italian Minister of Justice. Still, no excuses, I should have known who he was.

All this brought back memories of another dinner with another former government minister (See blog post: The Tailhook and the Elegant Dinner Party)

To cover up for my blatant gaffe at not recognizing this man, I began firing off questions asking, with the most intense interest I could muster, his opinion on Berlusconi’s legal issues and the future of the Amanda Knox case.

For those who do not follow these things closely, Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to four years in prison (the decision was upheld by Italy’s highest court on August 1st).  He will not go to prison because he is too old, so he can choose between house arrest and community service. Under a law passed last year banning anyone who has been convicted to more than two years in prison from parliament for six years,  Berlusconi should be kicked out of the Italian Senate where he holds a seat.  But a Senate panel has been going through endless discussions about whether or not to carry through with the “banishment” from the Senate.  The committee should make a recommendation in the next few weeks and eventually the entire Senate will vote on it.  Berlusconi is a powerful party leader whose party is part of the coalition government and if he gets kicked out he may just bring down the government, creating a situation of  political uncertainty and economic instability in a moment when Italy has been showing signs of slight economic recovery. (See my Blog Post on The End of Italy’s Bunga Bunga Era)

And on the Amanda Knox case, for those who are unaware, the final appeal is expected to start at the end of this month at a courthouse in Florence.  Amanda Knox will not be coming, and even if she were convicted it is unlikely that she would ever get extradited back to Italy.  (See my blog post The Amanda Knox Drama Continues).

Interestingly this former Justice Minister explained that Italy has a legal system that is very “garantista” that gives a huge emphasis to protecting (guaranteeing) the rights of the accused.  As he explained to me, Berlusconi has taken full advantage of the system to protect himself, and Amanda Knox will surely also come out clean.

Once I doggy-paddled my way through the dinner, I was no longer on bella figura wife duty.  So the next morning I set off to explore Varenna.  The whole area is spectacularly beautiful and so I will just share my photos with you.

A phantom at Vezio Castle above Lake Como. September 21, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

A phantom at Vezio Castle above Lake Como. September 21, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

My first stop — after a half-hour, steep climb up a narrow stone pathway– was at the Castle of Vezio which provided a spectacular panoramic view of that area of Lake Como.  Far below me I could see the little ferries making their way back and forth between Varenna, Bellagio, Menaggio, Tremezzo, and Comacina.  An artist has created what appeared to be papier-mache phantoms that were placed around the Castle and were somewhat disconcerting.   I also was slightly taken aback to see several falcons out in the Castle yard.  The Vezio Castle does training and care of birds of prey and tries to promote the art of Falconry. A Castle statement says that birds of prey were used as far back as the days of Attila the Hun.

Confessional in Church of Sant'Antonio Abate in Vezio, Italy, September 21, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

Confessional in Church of Sant’Antonio Abate in Vezio, Italy, September 21, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

Heading back down from the Castle I stopped in at the little church of Sant’Antonio Abate (Saint Anthony the Abbot,) and chatted with two men outside.  They told me they were two of the 50 remaining residents of Vezio and noted sadly that all the young people leave. This is a real problem for Italy.

I loved the little confessional in the church with its purple curtain and wondered what the 50 residents of Vezio might be confessing to the priest who came to their village. I asked the two old men why the statue inside had a pig beside it and they explained to me that Saint Anthony the Abbot is the patron saint of animals.

A statue of Saint Anthony the Abbot, Patron Saint of Domestic Animals in the Church of Sant'Antonio Abate. September 21, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

A statue of Saint Anthony the Abbot, Patron Saint of Domestic Animals in the Church of Sant’Antonio Abate. September 21, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

I stopped to take some photos of the terracotta roof-tops, a painted hotel sign and a Moto-Guzzi outside a local cafe.  I later learned that these famous motorcycles (for Italians they have a status similar to a Harley-Davidsons for Americans), were first produced in 1921 at a factory at Mandello di Lario, a little further down Lake Como from Varenna.

A view over the terracotta roof-tops of Varenna to Lake Como. September 21, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

A view over the terracotta roof-tops of Varenna to Lake Como. September 21, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

A Yello Moto Guzzi on a yellow line next to a yellow wall at a cafe' in Varenna on Lake Como. September 21, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

A Yellow Moto Guzzi on a yellow line next to a yellow wall at a cafe’ in Varenna on Lake Como. September 21, 2013. Photo by Trisha Thomas

In the afternoon my husband and I took the “batello” (ferry boat) over to the town of Bellagio where we visited the specatular gardens of the Villa Melzi.  This breath-takingly beautiful villa and surrounding gardens were built by the Duke of Lodi, Francesco Melzi D’Eril between 1808 and 1810.  I just happen to be reading Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” and am deep into Tolstoy’s description of Napoleon (a wretched, arrogant creep), only to find that a section of the Villa has a large bust of Napoleon and various drawings of the French leader and his generals. It turns out that the Duke of Lodi was the Vice President of the Republic of Italy under Napoleon.  When Napoleon and his army were approaching Moscow, the Russians set the city ablaze and disappeared.   In sharp contrast the Duke of Lodi appears to have welcomed the French Emperor with open arms and to have reaped the benefits.

I wish I could share more of Lake Como, but I had to get back on the Freccia Rossa and come back to Rome.

Note: I am particularly proud of the photo I took above of the pathway and the line of trees at Villa Melzi.  There is something surreal and Alice in Wonderland-ish about it. I took the photo at dusk and the colors are real, there are no filters on the photo. Since I’ve started this blog, I’ve been trying to learn from watching AP photographers and my blogger/photographer friend of Instagram fame, Nicolee Drake. See her website: Cucina Digitale or on Istagram/Twitter at @cucinadigitale

As someone who works in news, my tendency is to focus on people and action, watching Nicolee, I am learning to focus on small details, and interesting shapes and colors.

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