art, marble and tourism - newsletter december 2007

8/4/2019 Art, Marble and Tourism - Newsletter December 2007

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My inspiration to turn my

artistic talents toward stone

sculpture was in 1980 afterseeing Michelangelo’sunfinished “Slaves” in the

Accademia in Florence, Italy.

Since then, I have always

wanted to return to the

country of my epiphany tocarve marble in a traditional

studio. Through reading in

our “Sculpture Northwest” of

past adventures of colleagues, I learned that

Pietrasanta was the place to

do so.My wife and I made a

weekend reconnaissance trip

to Pietrasanta by train from

Rome in May 2005, after

leading an art tour on a cruise

ship ended there. Throughsome fortuitous events, we

were introduced to the

renowned Studio SEM, and

its manager, Keara

McMartin. I knew this wasthe studio I would return to

carve in – some day.

In early 2006, I secured fourhandsome commissions to be

executed in Italian whitemarble. With deposits in

hand, I had the means to

realize my carving dream!

Pietrasanta – literally Saint

Stone – is an ancient

medieval town in the Versilia

region of Italy, laying 3 miles

inland from the coast and

situated between Pisa andCarrara. The old fortress still

watches over the town, andthe heavy protective wall still

stands in places. Life

revolves around the Piazzadel Duomo, and rotating

markets and sculpture

exhibits are held here. You

can keep an eye on who’ssipping a beverage at the

many bars and cafés that line

the plaza any time of day by

logging onto the town’s web

cam at www.pietrasanta.it .

The Duomo still serves the

Catholic faith, but the other

churches around the square

have been converted to artgalleries and museumsexhibiting sculpture,

sculpture, sculpture! Ever

since the magnificent white

marble has been extracted

from the Apuane quarries(over a thousand years ago),

sculptors have come to

Pietrasanta to carve it into

fine art works. The old worldcharm and the smiling

warmth of the locals endures

and Pietrasanta is still alovely town. Great restaurants

at all levels of budget, shops

(great Italian fashions,

ladies!) for clothes and food,and a good tool store –

although is it worth it to take

the time to go to the outskirts

of town to shop for tools andequipment. Milani Tools is

still a favourite with carvers,

but there are many others.

The town is host to many

bottegas, or studios dedicated

(Continua a pagina 5)

Travel diary

“Back to Pietrasanta” by Michael Blinkey

History and stories

Giovan Nicolao Barsanti

was the inventor of the gas

engine: “Obtaining motive

power from the explosion

of gas” says his first

English patent N°1072 in

1854.

He was born at Pietrasanta

in 1921, in a house at via

Mazzini. Today via

Mazzini is the best

p e d e s t r i a n a n d

commercial street in

Downtown. Tourists can

find a white marble stoneon the wall “In questa

casa nacque Padre

E u g e n i o B a r s a n t i ,

l’inventore del motore a

scoppio” (in this house

Father Eugenio Barsanti

was born).

Barsanti studied at the(Continua a pagina 7)

W h a t ’ s o n a t P i e t r a s a n t a a

n d i t s

s u r r o u n d i n g s

W

W

W

. P I E T R A S A N T A R E S O R T . C O M

Quaterly newsletter

Autumn issue

Go to page 7

Go to page 5

Inside this issue: page

Travel diary 1

History and stories 1

One artist at a glance 2

Do you know Pietrasanta ? And win! 2

Weather forecast: look at the past 3

What’s on at Pietrasanta 3

One monument, one site, one town 4 Cooking at Pietrasanta 4

Italian language for smart tourist 6

Less money, more holidays 9



Do you

know where this “Warrior” is located ?

The first who emails us the right address will earn one “Hic manebimus optime” T-shirt(specify your size).

QUATER LY NEWSLETTER

There are many artists living and

working in Pietrasanta. Today we talk

about Sergey Eylanbekov.

Sergey Eylanbekov was born in Russia.

When he was 13 he started to study art atthe acclaimed Moscow School of FineArts. At the age of 17, he was accepted

to the Moscow Surikov Academy of Fine

Arts, one of the most prominent art

schools in Russia.

After six years of study at the Academy

and graduating with honor, Sergey was

consistently exhibiting his works and

received a number of private and public

commissions. His works were acquired

by private collectors in Russia andEurope. The Russian Ministry of Culture

purchased a number of Sergey's

sculptures for its collection and displayed

them in museums throughout Russia.

In 1989 Sergey moved to the

United States, though it meant

starting his career in art over

again. In the beginning, in orderto make his living in New

York, he worked at a company

which specialized in

commercial reproduction of

famous classic andcontemporary sculpture. At the

same time, Sergey was working

as much as possible on his

original bronze sculptures,paintings and drawings,

showing them at the various

exhibitions.

In 2004, the International

Olympic Committee (IOC)

chose Sergey's sculpture as theFirst Place winner in the

Worldwide Olympic Art andSport Contest 2004 in

commemoration of the Olympic

Summer Games 2004 in

Athens, Greece. The sculpture

is in the collection of theOlympic Museum in Lausanne,

Switzerland. In 2005 Sergey’s

works were exhibited at the

United Nations headquarters inNew York and in the Museum

of Modern Art in Moscow,Russia. In 2002 Sergey's acrylic

sculpture was chosen to

commemorate the 2002

Olympic Winter Games in Salt

Lake City.

Currently, Sergey lives in Long

Island, New York, but spends one or two

month a year in Pietrasanta, where he works

with important artists, such as Stanley Bleifeld

and Giancarlo Buratti.

In Pietrasanta, Sergey loves the Michelangeloapartment at Palazzo Ferretti for its convenientlocation, antique furniture and nice panoramic

view.

Sergey is a Fellow of the National Sculpture

Society, and serves on its Board of Directors.

He teaches drawing part-time at the State

University of New York. For more information

please visit Sergey’s official website

www.eylanbekov.com

Pagina 2

One artist at a glance

Do you know Pietrasanta ? (….and win !)

Write here your suggestions about anice stay in Pietrasanta: what to visit,

where to eat, where to stroll, where to

relax. Examples:

- Write few lines about your favorite

shop;

- Write few lines about a nice

restaurant you want to suggest to our

community.

TOURIST

SUGGESTIONS

Write here one of your

tourist suggestions, such as

shopping at Forte dei

Marmi; a daily trip to

Viareggio, Lucca, Pisa,Florence; a day off on the

Puccini’s home lake. Have

you ever been to 5 Terre ?



Weather forecast ? Look at the past !In December the average temperature is

between 8.3 and 16.1 degree C. Lastyear, we had 7 days of rain, with a totalof 107 mm of precipitation. In

comparison with London and New

York, Pietrasanta is warmer. In London,

we have a mean temperature that goes

In order to forecast the weather of the

Christmas period, we can consider thecharacteristics of the weather of the last

years.

We can say that Christmas is a niceperiod in Pietrasanta, even if we talk

about weather.

from 3.4 to 8.2 degree C, and in New

York the minimum temperature is –0.8on average, and the maximum is 5.9. InNew York and London there are more

rainy days than in Pietrasanta, 9 and 13

days, respectively.


What on at Christmas 2007

2 Dec and 6 Jan: antique-brocante

open market, Dome square, Pietrasanta

7, 8, 9, 21, 22, 23 Dec: artisan openmarket, Dome square, Pietrasanta

7, 8, 9, 26 Dec: Christmas open market,

Dome square, Pietrasanta

Sunday 22 Dec: Christmas songs at the

Cathedral, Pietrasanta

Dec-Jan: Asart exhibition at

Sant’Agostino, Pietrasanta

Dec: Christmas tree and nativity scene

at Dome square, Pietrasanta

New year’s Eve at Dome Square:

songs, dancing and spumante (sparklingwine) for all, Pietrasanta

Living nativity scene, Serravezza

What’s on (2008)

Jan-Feb: Carnival at Viareggio and

Pietrasanta4 Feb: Saint Biagio Fair at Pietrasanta

17-25 Mar: Easter holidays

2 Jun: Italian Republic anniversary

2 Jun: Coloured sawdust (Tappeti di

segatura colorata) at Camaiore

18 Aug: Saint Ermete fireworks at

Forte dei Marmi

1 and 2 Nov: All Saints Fair (Fiera di

Ognissanti) at Camaiore

Have you ever been at Viareggio

Carnival ?

Viareggio Carnival is a big party into

the town. Along the libertypromenade you can see thousands of people singing and dancing all day

long.

The parade is in the afternoon. There

are enormous trucks, wagons and

tanks with hundreds of people

upstairs that sing and dance with you.

On the contrary of the Venice

Carnival, the Viareggio ones is very

popular and very loved by local

population.

You have to pay a ticket to enter theCarnival area, but it’s really worthy

and valuable. You can go to

Pagina 3

What’s on

Christmas at Pietrasanta.

Climatological History: December

Daily minimumtemperature °C

Daily maximumtemperature °C

Mean total rain(mm.)

Mean number of rainydays (mm.)

Pietrasanta 8.3 16.1 107 7

New York -0.8 5.9 86.9 8.7

London 3.4 8.2 57 13.2



Camaior e hasRomanorigins:“CampusMai or”


XX Settembre (last street to the right)from which you arrive in the centre of

the town and Piazza S. Bernardino. In

the square stands the "Chiesa di S.

Maria Assunta - (XII-XIV cent.) facing

the foun-tain, which in 1893 the Dukeof Borbone gave to the town as a

present.

Not so far there are the "Palazzo del

Vicario- (XII Cent.) the "Porta S.

Pietro" and the Museo d'Arte Sacra

(Museum of Sacred Art). At ViaVittorio Emanuele 181 there is the local

Archaeological Museum, in the old

Palazzo Tori-Massoni; the museum

exhibits finds from the area surrounding

the city (on July 2007 it was closed forredecoration). From Piazza Romboni

skirting the Park you reach with a slightclimb the Chiesa della Badia (VIII

Cent.) a splendid ancient Benedictine

Abbey at via XX settembre. It was

founded by the Benedettini in 760.

Back to Piazza Romboni you can

continue in the direction of Lucca and

after 2 Km. there is a bifurcation that

brings you to the Pieve S. Giovanni e

Stefano (XII Cent.). Pieve di San

Giovanni a Stefano is the most

interesting place to visit. It dates back to 1278 and it is really astonishing,

outside as well as inside: inside, thethree nave interior preserves a huge

marble Baroque altar; outside, thedouble-arched bell tower is wonderful,

and the small green park outside the

church is so silent and nice that it

invites you to think about history and

the glorious past of the village.

Last but not least, we suggest to come

back in downtown and to stroll in themain pedestrian street, via Vittorio

Emanuele for a worth shopping,starting from the gastronomia (food

shop) Bonuccelli, via Vittorio

Emanuele 9, where you can taste one

of the best “lardo” of the Versilia, andother wonderful local special foods

and salami (look at the section

“Cooking at Pietrasanta” for

additional information about local

special foods).

A daily trip to Camaiore Let’s take a bus from Pietrasanta to

Camaiore, from the bus station, behind the

railway station at Pietrasanta downtown.

The bus ticket costs about 1,50 euros and it

takes no more than 20 minutes (ask us fordetails) for the 9 kilometres that are from

the two villages. At Camaiore we get off

the bus at the main square, Piazza XIX

Maggio (29th May), at the beginning of the

downtown and we enter into the “history”.

The town of Camaiore of Roman origins(Campus Maior), and the oldest documents

relative to Camaiore go back to the VIII

century and are mostly acts of donation of

land to the Benedettino monastery of SanPietro, which was built on municipal

territory. It then developed under the

jurisdiction of Lucca. The village wassurrounded by walls in the middle of the

XIV century, in order to defend the

habitants from the enemies: the Florence

army in 1429 and the Milan army in 1430.Of course, the walls were not enough to

avoid the soakage. Like all the other

Versilia villages, Camaiore changed a lot

of “Lord”: it fell into the hands of theVisconti (from Mantova) in 1436 and of

the Florence Kingdom in 1437. Camaiore

passed definitively to Lucca in 1442, and

subsequently followed her destiny. It was

raised to City in XIX century by theinterest of the Borboni family.

In Camaiore we visit a lot of interesting

places.

The town of Camaiore boasts in its centremany historical buildings. Reached Piazza

XXIX Maggio you continue through Via

home does not taste, and

sometimes even look , the same

in Italy. In addition, each region

has its own culinary specialties and own versions

of a common Italian dish.

Something as commonplace as

a pizza is made differently in

Naples, Rome, Florence and

Milan. This is true across a

singular region too, such asTuscany: every small village

Tourists usually fall in love

with Italian and Tuscan history,

landscapes, art, architecture,

and, of course, food.

Even those who have never

been to Italy already know

Italian food, and when they

visit our country sometimes

they discover that the Italian

food they know from back

has its own recipe for the Tuscansoup, if you are in an inland

village, or for the

“caciucco” (fish soup) if you are

at the seaside.

If you area interested in the

Italian society, you should try to

cook an Italian dish, too. There is

a strong link between Italian

culture and Italian food, as

Italians spend a lot of time attable: it doesn’t matter if they are

Pagina 4

One monument, one site, one town

Cooking at Pietrasanta

Go to page 7




to carving stone.

Pietrasanta is very small, and walkingwithin the old walls is a simple task.

The train station (you must arrive by

train from the airport in Pisa) is only a

3 minute walk from the main piazza.For this reason, we opted not to rent a

vehicle. Train and bus travel is very

easy and economical, however, you

may consider renting a push bike or

perhaps a moped, so as to be able to

have the freedom from transit schedules.

We made plans be in Pietrasanta for themonth of April 2006. This was the last

month before both studio andaccommodation prices jumped for the

summer season. May to September are

the high season months, but a warning –April not only has Easter, but also

Italy’s Independence Day. This, plus a

national election in April 2006 meant

that I lost 5 working days due to studio

closures. I found this a little frustrating.

The studios are working places staffedwith artigiani whose job it is to copy

and/or scale up maquettes into stone.

These maquettes are sent by artists from

around the world to Italy, and thefinished products are shipped back.

Studio SEM has garnered a solid

reputation for this type of service, but italso has room for visiting artists to rent

temporary studio space. It is well

equipped with compressed air,

electricity, worktables, scaffolding,turntables and craning assistance – just

about everything you need, except your

tools. If you are interested in renting

space to carve in Pietrasanta, or if you

need Italian marble for a project, docontact Keara at www.studiosem.net.

She is a sculptor herself, and extremely

knowledgeable about the many varieties

of marble.

My weekdays were typically thus: I

awoke at 6:00am, and went for a run toVal di Castello, a little town up the

valley behind Pietrasanta. After

returning, I made myself breakfast and

quietly left for the studio. I would arrive

at 8:00am and work on my projects untilnoon. I’d go back to the apartment and

have lunch with Michelle and return tothe studio at 1:00pm. I’d work until 5:00

and then enjoy the evening with

(Continua da pagina 1)

Michelle. We’d usually wander down to

the main piazza for a glass of wine in

the early evening sun before movingonto supper and then to a music concert

or gallery or museum. Being such a

cultural hub, the Italian government

ensures that many events are free

admission, which really encourages

public involvement.

I was a bit of an odd ball at the studio.Most tourist sculptors who travel to

Pietrasanta are on vacation, wanting to

enjoy the town as much as the studio. I

was there to work on my commissions,

and had no intentions of messing

around. There were five artigiani thatwere employed at Studio SEM, and they

worked a solid day. There were three

independent sculptors that rented space

for their work, and these were fairly

consistent in working a full day. Thenthere were the tourist sculptors, four of

us in April, and they worked a few

hours each day, save for yours truly.

The other professionals mistook me for

the run-of-the-mill vacationer, and were

soon surprised at my attendance and

work ethic.

Italy being the marble-carving center of

the world, I was surprised that I was

able to introduce some things to the

artigiani at Studio SEM. As Europe ison 220 power, I had to purchase a 5” (ornear equivalent) angle grinder and

diamond blade – the only tools I

did not bring. Looks of

amusement that greeted me at

the studio from the artigiani as Iapproached my 6-foot tall block

of marble with the wee machine

were erased at day’s end when I

was ankle deep in fretted chips.

Leonardo passed by and asked“All you?” gesturing to the

debris. Water is not used in

Italy for carving. It is a precious

commodity, so all grinding isdone dry and therefore all studios have

massive dust extractors which work extremely well. Nonetheless, they do

not like to use diamond abrasives much

simply because they cause so much

dust. They were not familiar with Trow& Holden hammers and chisels, andwere impressed at how fast a 1” T&H

hammer will rip marble. After a few

days of work, I felt a tap on my

shoulder… “I try?” asked Simone. Aftera few minutes carving my sculpture, he

returned the tools to my hand and

nodded his approval.

Italians do business very differently to

North Americans. Be ready to gear

down, and don’t expect deadlines to be

kept. I had asked in January that marble

for all four of my projects to be ready

for me upon my arrival. My plan was to

at least tell my patrons that I had begun

each of their sculptures in Italy. I waslucky to have one block of marble

waiting for me. The second I was able

to source at another studio. The last two,

and largest stones were finally found on

our last day in Italy, after a month of frustration. I was baffled that we were

surrounded by billions of tons of (Continua a pagina 8)

Continued from p.1 “Travel Diary”

“I was there to work on my

commissions, and had no

intentions of messing around.”

Go to page 8

Michael & Michelle: from Van-

couver to Pietrasanta



AT THE RESTAURANT

—————————

Italian society and Italian culture can be

better understood if we know somethingmore about the Italian language.

We have to say that at Pietrasanta a lot

of people speak local slang, the so-

called “Pietrasantino”. Pietrasantino is aspecial kind of Tuscan slang: it’s rude,

tough and strong, and very far from the

Florence slang (the so-called

“fiorentino”) that was the origin of the

modern Italian and it is so musical and

sweet.

Anyway, if we have to learn somethingabout the Italian language, it’s worthy to

start from the restaurant, a good placefor a tourist in Pietrasanta.

Today, the words ristorante, pizzeria,

trattoria, osteria have, more or less, the

same significance. Whereas 20 years

ago they had a different meaning: at the“ristorante” you didn’t have pizza, your

table had a cotton tablecloth, there were

waiters dressing a nice uniform; at

“pizzeria” you had only pizza, a papertablecloth, one waiter for all the tables,

the TV set on, strong lights and noise; at

trattoria you could eat only local and

poor dish, such as soups, vegetables,boiled meat (or fried fish if you were at

the seaside); at “enoteca” you couldn’t

eat anything, but just drink local wine

(not in the bottle but draught wine).

Today, all the different kind of “eating

places” want to serve a huge range of

meal, in order to have more clients, and

the difference among them is just in the

window and in the label, but not in the

menu.

————————————

TEST IT !!

————

This is a small test for your Italian (send

us your answer, and we’ll correct them)

A) You 're in the Cathedral

square of Pietrasanta and youmeet some Italian friends forbreakfast. How would you

greet them?

1. Arrivederci

2. Buongiorno

3. Posso

4. Prego

B) You'd like to order a drink

at the Michelangelo bar in thePietrasanta Cathedral square.Which word or phrase wouldyou say to attract thebarman's attention?

1. Prego

2. Va bene

3. Per favore

4. Grazie

C) You need to make your

way to the P ietrasanta trainstation. What w ord is missingfrom this sentence? ___ stazione, per favore?

D) You're at the restaurant

“Il Posto” , at Pietrasanta,with your friends and you've

just been introduced to anItalian woman. How w ouldyou ask her what she does fora living?

1. Che lavoro fai?

2. Che lavoro fa?

3. Lavori qui?

4. Cosa faccio?

E) You're at the pizzeria “da

Betty”, in front of theCathedral square, and youwant to ask the waiter what's

in your pizza. Wh ich sequenceof words is in the right order?

1. c'è / in / questa / cosa /pizza ?

2. questa / c'è / in /cosa /pizza ?

3. cosa / in / questa / c'è /pizza ?

4. cosa / c'è / in / questa /pizza ?

F) At the end of your meal atthe “Enoteca”, in via Garibaldiat Pietrasanta, you want topay the bill. What would you

ask to the waiter ?

1. Per favore, un conto

2. Per favore, la conta

3. Per favore, io conto

4. Per favore, il conto

——————————

IDIOMS AT RESTAURANT:

- “Pagare alla romana”: it means

that everyone pays its own meal.

- “Pasta al dente”: it means that the

spaghetti are cooked at the right time,

roughly hard.

Italian language for smart tourist




at home or at the restaurant, as

good food is always important.

If you want to recreate a dish thatyou had at a restaurant in

Pietrasanta, for example, once

you're back home, could be useful

to read this section of the

newsletter: we hope to share with

you some of the more traditional

recipes from Tuscany, as well as

to talk with you about this

important item of the Italian

culture: local food.

As Christmas is coming, we startto talk about Tuscan Christmas

recipes. These recipes are for a

traditional Tuscan Christmas meal,

common in most homes, with a

few variations according to the

family tradition.

The Christmas meal usually starts

with a long list of appetizers:

salami, crude ham, Crostini di

Fegato are the most common kindof appetizers. They are followed

by the “First” dish, such as

"Tortellini in brodo" which are

tortellini cooked in good meat

stock, served with freshly grated

Parmigiano cheese on top;pappardelle, which are a 2-3

centimetres wide pasta, served

with delicate sauce (no tomatoes);

Tuscan soup, mainly based on

fresh and local vegetables, plus

emmer grains.

The main meal (“Second dish”)

consists of both a platter of "gran

bollito", which are quality pieces

of boiled beef (whose stock youuse for the tortellini) with dipping

sauces, with a side dish of roasted

vegetables. Another option for a

main dish is the "Arista alla

Fiorentina" or Florentine roast

pork.

Oranges or tangerines usually

follow this main dish, to "clean"

the palate before finishing off with

dessert.

Dessert is usually a "panettone" or

a "pandoro", if you want to refer

to the Italian tradition, or panforte

or ricciarelli if you want to refer

to the Tuscan tradition. As a

matter of fact, panforte andricciarelli come from Siena, and if

the other Tuscan villages do not

follow the Siena taste, sometimes

they prefer to follow the Italian

taste of the panettone/pandoro. Of

course, cantucci are always

welcomed (in Pietrasanta, you

cannot miss the Cantucci by

Dazzi, at the pedestrian via

Mazzini street).

The wine is white with the

appetizers and the first dish,

whereas is red with the second

dish. A good example of white

wine are Montecarlo or

Vermentino di Luni, whereas the

red wine should be Chianti

Classico.

A sweet wine dessert, such as

“Passito”, closes the Christmas

meal.

Buon appetito !

Continued from p.3 “Cooking at Pietrasanta”

Sant’Agostino college, in

Dome square, and became a

priest with the new name of

Father Eugenio.

When Father Eugenio was 20,

he became a teacher in

Mathematics and Physics at the

Collegio San Michele in

Volterra (Tuscany). In 1851 he

built, by the help of professor

Felice Matteucci, one of his

very close friends, the first

prototype of an engine that

used a gas explosion in order

to convert energy into

movement.

The fuel was not petrol or gas,

like the today’s engines, but

hydrogen (like the future’s

engines !!).

In 1853 the two inventorsdeposit a “memory” at the

Accademia dei Georgofili (the

most important think-tank of

that age).The year later they got

a patent in Great Britain, in

1859 a patent in France and in

1861 in Italy too (in 1861 Italy

became a Nation).

In 1864 Father Eugenio went to

Belgium, in order to begin the

industrial production of his

invention, but there he died two

months later.

Today, he rests in Florence, at the

Santa Croce Church, among the

Italy’s greats.

Continued from p.1 “History and Stories”




beautiful white marble, but Keara could not

find two measly pieces for me? Idiscovered late in the month that she was

looking for off cuts for me to save on mycosts. Yes, in Italy, they have 3 and 6 ton

off cuts – and thankfully, the savings was

worth the wait.

We secured a lovely apartment about a 10-

minute walk from the studio. Giampaolo

Vitali has a small palazzo that has been in

his family for ages, and he has renovated itinto 6 units. We chose the Puccini on the

top of the three-floor walk-up. It was a

perfect choice, as it afforded us views out

over the neighbourhood rooftops, as well asfreedom from overhead footsteps. The

apartment had a well-appointed kitchen,

quaint living/dining room, bedroom with

safe, ensuite laundry and a clean bathroom.

The only drawback was a less thanexuberant showerhead, but that is normal

for Italy. Visit www.pietrasantaresort.com

to see his website. We highly recommend

these simple and clean accommodations.

I was pleasantlysurprised that food is

comparable in price to

Vancouver, and since

most produce is grownin the country, the

quality is outstanding.There is fast food in

Pietrasanta – but it’s

not drive through. You

quickly gather your

ingredients on yourway home at the corner

grocer, and can make a

fresh

mealin

your

kitchen in 5 – 10 minutes. It’s good quality,

fresh food – not much processed or frozen.

We stocked up on sundries at the large

supermarket outside the old town once aweek, and filled in the fresh needs on a

daily basis at the local grocers.

April began rather cool, so we were happy

to pay the extra euros on heat for the first

two weeks. But after Easter, thetemperatures rose to a proper warm spring,

and we were able to turn off the thermostat.

During the day, Michelle would read in the

apartment garden, or explore thesurrounding countryside. The beauty of the

area is much like the rest of Europe – small

towns situated within walking distance of each other. Versilia is no different, with lots

to see by foot, or by bus - Seravezza,

Capriglia, Monteggiori… On weekends,

Michelle had planned excursions. We

traveled to Lucca and Pisa, spent Easter

weekend in Florence, and finally the

Cinque Terre for four days. We made a daytrip to the quarries above Carrara, visiting

the towns of La Colonnata and Bedizzano –

very thrilling.

It was a wonderful adventure, and like most

others who have gone before, I do want to

return again. I was able to get a lot of work done on my commissions and started a few

“just for the heck of it” pieces. If you have

not been, and can afford the opportunity, I

would highly recommend it…

(Continua da pagina 5)

Ansia: Bianco Carrara Marble

(from Pietrasanta to Vancouver)

Continued from p.5 “Travel diary”

Send us your pictures abou t Pietrasanta, and we’ll publish them !




This is a quarterly newsletter for foreign tourists.

It’s about Pietrasanta and its surroundings. The newsletter

is mainly made by you: your comments, your experience,

your true stories. We want to collect and publish them on the

newsletter.

Please, don’t be shy, and email us your personal experience

about your stay and your holidays in Pietrasanta: write

about one nice day, one nice journey to Lucca or Florence,

one nice friend you met there. We’ll publish it on the next

issue. This issue (Autumn) has been emailed to about 200

foreign tourists. Please, send it to your friends: maybe they

will because Pietrasanta lovers, too.

All the best

Giampaolo Vitali (Palazzo Ferretti)

Palazzo Ferretti

Via del Paduletto 10/12

55045 Pietrasanta

WWW.PIETRASANTARESORT.COM

CLASSIFIED (write us your classified

ads)

Are you looking for a teacher ?

Would you like to share an apartment ?

Would you like to buy a bike ?

LOW-COST CORNER (write us)

Write here yourexperience in

saving money:

something about

low cost flights,worthy shop-

ping, etc.

Your experience

is useful for our

Community.

PALAZZO FERRETTI SPECIAL OF-

FER

Palazzo Ferretti is pleased to offer one

week in January at 300 euros, all feesare included (except heating). Bookings

at: [email protected]

Less money, more holidays

For bookings:

Giampaolo Vitali

Phone +39 328 2259111

email: [email protected]

Your holiday rentals in

downtown

“HIC MANEBIMUS OPTIME”

Do you know what does this Latin sentence

mean ?

Email us and we’ll send you the right mean-

ing.

Who are we ?

art, marble and tourism - newsletter december 2007

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