by David | Oct 25, 2008 | culture, design, eating, photo, urbanism
I visited the hip South of Washington Street (SoWa) arts district Accompanied by some good people from the DeCordova and gallery buddy L for the YMOD gallery walk. There was a similar event on Newbury Street in the Spring. We began at the 450 Harrison at Thayer...
by David | Aug 19, 2007 | culture, eating, travel
Those last couple of posts seemed kinda eggheaded, so here’s Pizzeria al Puffo in Muggia. “Pizza a taglio” is “pizza by the slice” but I have no explanation for ether the smurf or the wheelbarrow. Right here in Cambridge, there’s a...
by David | Aug 19, 2007 | culture, photo, travel
This dramatic statue in Ferrara depicts Girolamo Savonarola, a fiery reformist Dominican priest of the 15th century. Still somewhat controversial today, Savonarola organized the “Bonfires of the Vanities” in which Florentines burned their books, fancy...
by David | Aug 16, 2007 | culture, photo, reading & writing, travel
The Italian word of the moment is campanilismo. Translated by BabelFish as “parochialism,” campanilismo refers to local pride or patriotism, sometimes very local. If you ask somebody where she’s from and she says “Boston” or “New...
by David | Aug 16, 2007 | photo, travel
I was talking to a colleague about Italy and he described a sense of unreality visiting there, how every street looks like a movie set and every vista like a postcard, and how it takes a honking car or beeping cell phone to break the spell and re-locate your head in...