sighicelli and carlina

On Tuesday afternoon we visited the GAM, Torino's museum of modern and contemporary art. There were two special exhibits, one of work by Elisa Sighicelli, a photographer/video-maker (seahorse video, LEFT) and the other, of Salvo, a painter who pioneered self-referential style in the 1970s (self-portraits of himself as Jesus, etc). I was looking for the Hsiao Chins but alas none.


On Weds. we took a walk through Piazza Carlo Emmanuel II, a block behind our hotel. Gramsci lived there as a student, 1919-1922 (See PHOTO of the entrance to his building). A colleague from Vercelli recommended that we go to "Piazza Carlina," but we could not find that on the map; when we asked her later she pointed to the place on the map labeled "P. Carlo Emmanuel II," explaining that this Duke of Savoy was a flamboyant homosexual and that the people called him (affectionately??) "Carlina." So that the locals only know this square by the name P. Carlina... We window-shopped, as it was a national holiday April 25, the day that ended World War II, and everything was closed. I confess that my itch to shop has not yet been scratched--i've bought nothing as yet (other than food)! We did stop by Prada and realized that there is one global price at this level of fashion, same price in Italy as in the US. I suppose one would save on the VAT but I was too discouraged, I was hoping for a home-base discount. We ate dinner at a restaurant in Piazza Carlo Alberto (King of Sardinia), where we had an appetizer of grilled octopus over (mashed) potatoes (amazing), steamed mussels in fresh, spicy tomato sauce and a grilled branzini fish. Nietzche lived the last years of life in this piazza. It was here that, after witnessing a coachman whipping a horse, he threw his arms around the neck of the horse, collapsed and became mad. (It is said, though, that the underlying cause of his madness was syphillis).

We took the train to Genoa in the late afternoon and had dinner with at the home of my host, up on the hill with a view of the Ligurian Sea and the coastline down to Portofino, though it was hazy and could not see so well. A home-cooked Genovese dinner, penne with zucchini (with chili pepper and saffron); torta verdura, a vegetable pie with a very thin crust, made with chopped chard (with some rice and cheese); eggplant and a dish of sweet red and yellow peppers. And a home-made liquor called Limoncina, very strong!