Holiday's Favorites

The vacation in Calabria is over and I am sorting the pictures. I detected three favorites:


This first picture is not from this summer. It shows bathing people at Pizzo Marina around 1930! The photographer is unknown to me. And I thank Signore Franco R., who provided me with a disk full of interesting and old photographs from Pizzo.



This sunset was shot by my husband from the Piazza in Pizzo. I really like the colors - I think he has some talent...



Number three is taken by myself while I was sitting and waiting on the doorsteps of the house with the B&B Antico Terrazzo by our architect. What I like in Pizzo are all these small alleys that remind me of the old town of Naples Santa Lucia.

Italian Feelings

In the previous post I have introduced Angelo. He is my father-in-law and he is a big fan of my blog. Maybe the biggest. He tells everybody about this blog and to google 'Palazzo Pizzo'. He follows my blog regularly and he tells me when I wrote important Italian words wrong, like 'tartufo', the famous ice cream invented in Pizzo. Recently he even made me alter some post content for some serious reason. Read this:

When arriving here in Calabria about two weeks ago, I wrote about the new convenience of a direct flight from Germany to Calabria. In the original post I said that flying directly is so much better than flying with Alitalia and having to change planes with delays and loss of luggage. The next day, Angelo said to me: You cannot write that about Alitalia, this is not nice to say, also it is most of the time the fault of the airport staff when loosing luggage ...

Okay, I thought, I do not want to hurtt Italian feelings and mess with Italian national institutions, no problem to delete the name of the airline. Also I don't want to get sued by it (like the guy who created www.f#ckalitalia.com, the website I found last year when I was doing research for my lost suitcase for which I had to wait one week).

So I corrected my post. Deleted the name of the Italian Airline and also the one of the German Airline. To be fair. No product placement in my blog.

And you know what?
The same day at dinner, by the way, Angelo mentioned, that he had bought a remarkable amount of shares of - guess what Italian company?
---------------
(Alitalia).

Vietri Tiles

A couple of days ago we went to a company that sells all kind of tiles and of course the famous Italian ceramic tiles that are so popular at the Amalfi coast and in Capri. You can find Ceramice di Vietri online at Francesco de Maio and from Fornaci d'Agostino. They are affordable and so beautiful.

On the way back home in the car, Angelo, my father-in-law, said: You know, the owner of that company is the sister of the wife of your notaio, who is the brother of our friend Franco... maybe he can give them a call...

I like that. I mean the importance of the family-friend-relationship-thing in Italy that is even more important here in the South.

As I was not able to get any picture from the above links I am happy to have found via Katie-d-i-d this just recently posted picture of the Capri residence of Fiona Swarovski - what a coincidence.



We were actually looking at these emerald tiles too, maybe for a bathroom. - So, I am glad to have found this picture because it gives me an idea how it could look in a spacious living area. Although we have been thinking of putting terra cotta tiles in our living area, same as it is now. We might be able to re-use most of the old tiles and add some new ones of the same style, all together in a certain pattern.

For the terrace and balcony, that need to be done first, we choose a waterblue tile from Fornaci d'Agostino from the Emozioni serie. Its colour and surface looks like water and reflects the sun like water. Yesterday, I brought a sample tile back to our house and put it on the terrace.... It is difficult to tell from a tile of the size of 30 x 30 centimeters if it will look good on a surface of 70 m2... I hope we made the right coice!

The Clock of the South

My son, 4 years, is still suffering from the 'southern jet lag'. The clock of the South ticks different from the one in the North. There is a long break in the afternoon. People and of course children have a nap (fare il pisolino) after a late lunch. It is just too hot to do anything else. Then in the evening after dinner, that normally does not start before 8.30 pm people go out for a walk in the street. There is a little train (here in Vibo Marina) for children that drives around in a circle since more than 30 years. It is still the attraction for the local children. The engine is from a Vespa and real smoke comes out of the chemine. This train does not start before 7.30 pm. The last circles of the train, you can here the horn all over the bay, are around 11.30 pm. And there are still plenty of children in the street. Of course it is summer holiday and no school.

Some days ago we went to an open air concert of the 'Policia del Stato' in la piazza in Pizzo. It started at 9 pm and when we left around 10.30pm there were still families with little children arriving. Children in strollers and children with milk bottles in their hands.

But my son is still wondering why he has to sleep in the middle of the day. And when he gets up he asks for breakfast. And when the sun goes down he is getting nervous, because he thinks he needs to go to bed again. Some days ago he said: 'Italien ist komisch' (Italy is stange).

Living Room and Colours

Furniture is really the last thing I am thinking about right now. But I found that draft post that has some nice pictures, so why not post it today.

Anyway, I have not much thought about the living room yet. Maybe because it seems easier than the rest. Or because it is the most important room, that I keep for last. The room itself is not that big, around 25 m2, same size as the dining area and the kitchen, so it is best to not put too much furniture. And it is not that bright, only one small window. So I suggest mirrors or mirror wall. As the house is big and can host a lot of people, we need enough seating possibilities. I think about one three-seater sofa or two two seater-sofa, two Louis XIV / XVI (?) style chairs, maybe stools that can be used either for seating or as spare side tables. Colour wise - for wall paint, curtains and sofas - I think light pink / rosé - like the outdoor facade paint, and I think of pale coral - inspired by the coral fisher that have been diving for corals in front of the house.... sounds so romantic. That's why I have collected some romantic pictures form Designers Guild. - What do you think?






And my two favorite Louis VXI chairs. Left 'Riehl transitional style' and right 'chair salon' via Marie Claire maison:



links:
Designers Guild
Marie Claire maison
Riehl Design