Verona Christmas Star From the Colloseum Arch of the Star Colosseum Arena Colosseum Arena Entrance Massive Colosseum Interior Verona Fortress Interior Wall Fortress Well Fortress Art Collection Madonna and Child in Wood Wood Carving Fortress Battlements Renaissance Bridge over the River Adige Church of San Zeno Maggiore San Zeno Maggiore Belltower San Zeno Apse and Crypt San Zeno High Altar San Zeno Raised Presbyery San Zeno Presbytery toward the Nave San Zeno Baptismal Font San Zeno Renaissance Crusifix San Zen Side Altar San Zeno Crypt San Zeno Contemporary Crusifixion San Zeno Bronze Relief Doors San Zeno Bronze Relief Doors San Zeno Fresco With Pilgrim Graffiti as early as 1390 San Zeno Doors to the Cloister San Zeno Cloister San Zeno Cloister San Zeno Nativity Verona Street Verona Roman Gate Attractive Tourist Being Followed Verona Street Christmas Tree Verona – Piazza Erbe Verona Piazza Erbe Tree Verona Christmas Market Verona Christmas Market Christmas on Via Mazzini – Verona In a separate post, we discussed our trip to Verona just before Christmas. We had previously enjoyed Padua and planed to see Verona, and we were delighted with the experience. The choice of timing was to get a sense of how different towns in Italy celebrate the Christmas Festival. Italy is a curious mixture of reverence for their culture which bears a distinctively Christian imprint while carrying out their lives in a generally ‘secular’ manner. Perhaps there is an inherently deep respect in Italy for their cultural history with so much of it bearing the Christian imprint. Whatever the root, one of he joys of life in Italy is the ready access to and respect for its artistic cultural history. And then, coming from a homeland which traces its political origins only back some four hundred years, we also recall that our American roots for many of us, were in Europe. So we are immigrants in Europe from the so-called ‘new world’ but in many respects we are here to discover roots from this part of the world that are very likely to be in our DNA as well. Perhaps, that is another reason we feel comfortable...

Carnevale Piazza Popolo Carnevale Time Carnevale in Full Swing Carnevale Crowd Revelers Revelers Wolf and Piglets Talking Madona Trump – “Mine’s Bigger” Kim – “No, Mine’s Bigger” The Demure Comforted Clown Communication Fair Damsel Artist Clean-Up Squad ? Principessa Joyful Bear Face Painting in Process  Italians look forward to Carnevale. Not people to be staid and undemonstrative under normal circumstances, Italians let it all hang out at Carnevale. In Ascoli, this is an entire community coming out with a ‘no-holds-barred’ opportunity to lampoon anything and anybody – especially politicians and the church. It is a time of exuberant merry making, however, it is not fueled by excess alcohol. It seems here, being intoxicated is frowned upon to the point of derision. The Italians don’t seem to need to get ‘loosened up’ on booze to have a fun time, they seem to come by it naturally. And then, as in most social settings, this is an all age group, community-wide fun...

NEW YEARS PERSPECTIVE – 2018 About this time each year of our Expats-in-Italy adventure, we try and look back to interpret the sum of our impressions of the calendar year recently past. There is that worn cliché – ‘if time is flying, you must be having fun’. As this is now our fifth post-New Year experience as immigrant residents in Ascoli Piceno, Italy, it does seem time has flown. In affirming the aforementioned cliché, on balance we have to agree, our Expat experience continues to go well, very well actually. But then, with everyone’s life experiences, the more significant events seem to revolve around interactions with others. Inevitably, that involves both experiences of joys as well as those of sorrows. Arlene lost a younger sister this past year and we both have continuing concerns on the health of some close family members. We also grieve over the loss of a wonderful Italian friend who left us much too soon. As unfortunate as having to confront such deeply distressing events seems to be, there is reassurance that we also can relate to each other on a very profound level to be able to share and support each other, not only in joys but also in life’s bitter distresses. Additionally, a facet in becoming an expatriate requires leaving a physical place where you had lived and established relationships with both family and friends. I sense the expatriate experience inevitably involves finding ways to come to terms with being physically separated from some relationships and places that have been very much part of framing ‘who you feel you are’. There may be a perspective on contemporary life that offers some broader insight into a sense of separation from elements of the past.  It seems contemporary American lifestyles frequently involve inherent disruptions of relationships with family and friends. Commonly, this includes scattering over distances as a consequence of the mobility required in many occupations and in pursuing educational opportunities. We experienced some of this kind of interpersonal fragmentation while still living within the U.S. Changes in proximity to those you care about was particularly evident as the children grew, established new social patterns of their own and then grandchildren went away to university....