Last weekend we celebrated the bachelor party for one of our friends. People usually organize late-at-night bachelor parties in dancing places, but we picked him up at his home Sunday morning at 8:30am, saying we had to drive a long way before getting to the place. He was then blindfolded, confused with earphones and loud music and brought in the countryside a few minutes out of the city center where half a dozen warriors were waiting for us, all dressed up in military camouflage, guns and all sorts of strange equipment. Read the rest of this entry »

This weekend I went with Fabio and Michele hiking on the mountains. I love hiking but it was quite some time I didn’t go, so I was a bit excited. Our target was Scaffaiolo lake (1775m), a place on the Appennini mountains between Modena and Pistoia, in the Frignano Natural Park area. The plan was to drive to hut Capanno Tassoni (1317m) and then walk up hill from there. Read the rest of this entry »

Few days ago I’ve been at the Madison Square Garden, arguably the world’s most famous arena. New yorkers simply call it The Garden, as if it were the only garden out there, or worse, as if it were a garden at all! Well, actually it’s not even on Madison Square. Thanks to wikipedia I discovered the current name is just a legacy from the original arena, that one century ago used to be located in a garden at Madison Square.  Anyhow entering the arena is impressive: you feel like getting into a temple, a place where people go to worship their idols. Oh wait, that’s exactly what they do there!

The show on stage was a basketball match in the College Hoops league, between St. John’s and Pittsburgh. I went with Carla, a friend from New York. She likes college basketball and taught me all I had to know and something more, e.g. that college teams usually have the name of an animal (Pittsburgh Panthers) but St. John’s is an exception (they call themselves the Red Storm). We took the obligatory beer (that they served us with a built-in pretzel) and brought it in.

Before the match started an actual singer sung the national anthem, everybody standing, hats off. Pitts were much stronger and they easily blew out St. John’s 81-57, but it’s been fun anyway. The home team had cheerleaders, dancers and a fanfare band and shot t-shirts to the public during time-outs. Much fun!

Too bad I’m already back to Italy.

Merry Christmas and happy new year to all of my friends!

The title is a tentative translation from an Italian song by Elio e le storie tese, one of my favorite when I was a teen-ager. We’re two days from Christmas and I should be busy wishing happiness and merriness to all of my friends, but this year there’s a different feeling. It’s that kind of tension and uncertainty you get when you go to the beach and there are heavy clouds, announcing some possible storm. You get busy thinking to B plans and even if the clouds end up disappearing your leisure time has been ruined. It’s not me. Lately several prominent newspapers wrote about the unhappy Italian mood and I’m surprised by how precisely they painted it. Apparently, even friends that moved abroad feel the same.

So I’ve been to Matteo and Flavia’s wedding, and it’s been amazing. The wedding was on Saturday night. I got to Vitória the same day and spent half the afternoon by the pool on the roof of our hotel, together with the groom (meanwhile the bride was relaxing in a spa), then we dressed up and 7pm went to the place. No church, just a restaurant organized as a ceremonial room, with a small ritual table in the middle of several dinner tables. No grand-pa/mas in sight. Just the four parents and about fifteen pairs of uncle-aunts. Average age was in the 30-35 range. Men were dressed with a dark suit, while ladies had a long soirée dress. Lots of ladies. Gorgeous. Read the rest of this entry »

Last summer in Haarlem (The Netherlands) I attended a concert of a group that back then was named Mayday. Since I loved their music I even bought their CD and now I believe I have the one and only copy in the whole Italy! Recently I visited their website and discovered they changed their name in Fifth Lane, apparently because they had a trademark conflict. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night I’ve been at Supperclub in Rome. It was Marco’s birthday party and there was lots of people from work. The interesting thing about this place is that the dinner party happens in a sort of gigantic bed. Between pillows and bed linen you sit side by side with people, without shoes, drinking and eating, so you’re pretty much forced to meet people and small talk with them. On top of this, you get shiatsu massages provided by a professional. This is about the most relaxing and socializing party experience you can get.

Yes, I know. I haven’t blogged in the last two months. Jessica asked for news and where I’m hiding. I’m happy she pushes me to blog more. Knowing there is somebody out there who cares for this mostly useless thing is a great motivating factor. Go Jessica go!

I was a bit busy working and traveling around and laziness temporarily won, but don’t worry, I’ll keep on blogging!

A merry Christmas to all of my friends!