Wisteria in full bloom, Piazza Parigi, Lucca

An Italian Easter

April 22, 2019 by Joanne Bartram in Italy, #italytravel, Lucca, Tuscany

Italy knows how to put on a holiday show and Easter (Pasqua) is no exception. The Easter season stretches from pre-Lenten Carnevale celebrations, to the processions for Palm Sunday and Good Friday, to solemn Mass on Easter Sunday and finally to Pasquetta, the Monday after Easter.

Pretty Easter decorations in a shop along Via San Georgia, Lucca

The season is at its best when the calendar places Easter late in April, allowing it to unfold along with the Italian primavera (spring). This year April has been glorious here in Lucca - warm days, occasional spring rains, wild flowers in bloom along the city walls, trees in full flower, and - my personal favorite- gorgeous trellises and walls overflowing with wisteria blooms. (We’ll give you a taste of the natural beauty in next week’s post, so stay tuned!)

The shops are overflowing with Easter decorations and window displays. And the chocolate shops! Huge chocolate eggs containing hidden surprises, candy eggs, and lots of chocolate Easter chickens. And really, given that bunnies don’t lay eggs, don’t chickens make more sense?

Yesterday was Easter Sunday; today is Pasquetta or “little Easter.” It is celebrated as a national holiday and a day for picnics and casual celebrations. I’ll celebrate with visiting friends, a walk through town to see the colorful wisteria, window gazing, and a toast to an Italian Easter. -post by JMB

Translation: Better an egg today than a chicken tomorrow!

A classic Italian (?) romance - Popeye and Olive Oyl - in an Italian shop window

A Valentine from Italy

February 14, 2019 by Joanne Bartram in #italytravel, Italian culture, Lucca

Happy Valentine’s Day! Actually, it is Saint Valentine’s Day. The Italian San Valentino was an early Christian priest in Rome, so it seems appropriate that I am spending this Valentine’s Day in Italy.

According to legend (and the site Catholic.org), San Valentino died a martyr to his faith on February 14 in the year 269. During his priesthood, San Valentino performed Christian marriages (forbidden at that time), which no doubt helped him become the patron saint of happy marriages, love, and engaged couples. He’s also the patron saint of beekeepers, plague, and epileptics – things for which I have no explanation. Legend has it that he once left a note, to a girl he cured of blindness, signed “your Valentine.” And so it began …

The feast of San Valentino is celebrated in Italy, as in the U.S., with flowers, chocolates, and gifts of jewelry.

We hope you enjoy browsing these brightly decorated shop windows with us!

Happy Valentine’s Day from Two Parts Italy.

While chicken is not typically a romantic gift, this butcher shop, which specializes in chicken, has a gaily decorated window.

Perhaps the most unusual Valentine window in Lucca features these gorillas.

Finding Luck in the New Year - The Italian Way

January 07, 2019 by Joanne Bartram in Italian culture, Italy

Italy is a land of traditions and fun-to-embrace superstitions. As in many cultures, some of these relate to the beginning of a new year and finding good luck, love, and fortune in the coming months - and who doesn't want all that?

One tradition, the wearing of new red underwear, is said to bring romance and even fertility in the coming year. Store windows display pretty red underthings that are supposed to be given as gifts and worn just on New Year’s Eve (I’m not sure if this is an old superstition or just a good marketing tool). In a pinch, a red article of clothing seems a reasonable compromise.

In the spirit of “out with the old to make room for the new,” getting rid of old things by tossing them out the window is an old tradition that I have never encountered, though I’ve heard it still happens in small towns in southern Italy If visiting there on New Year’s Eve, be prepared to duck! Maybe we should just toss out old problems and outdated ways of doing things instead?

It is also said that the first person you see in the new year will determine the type of year it will be. Good luck follows if you meet an elderly person (if of the opposite gender - or a hunchback - that’s even better), but worry if you first encounter a child or a priest.

Winter skies in Lucca - starting the new year here makes me feel pretty lucky!

Of course some of the new year traditions involve food. Eating 12 grapes is good luck, as is eating pomegranate. Perhaps the best luck (at least financially) comes from eating lentils (lenticchie), which are coin shaped. Increase the luck factor by including rounds of sausage in the dish. Not one to ignore superstition (except maybe for the new red underwear), I was sure to have a pot of lentil soup over the holiday. Mine was full of carrots and celery and included sausage, though I skipped the traditional round (another coin shape) cotechino sausage, which was just too big for my small pot of lentils. I used crumbled small sausages instead (hopefully that does not mean my fortunes will crumble!). This made a flavorful soup and, if the superstition holds, will ensure that I have all the coins I need to stay in Italy throughout 2019. Fingers crossed! -post by JMB

Rome window, 1996. I hope to visit here in 2019.