CAPRI ITALY – A doubly grim morning: a rare few hours of overcast, and we’re returning form Italy today. We did a walk around before getting on the aliscafo back to Naples. All taken with my Leica M9.
On this day one year ago: Lillis Funeral Home in New Milford Connecticut.
CAPRI ITALY – Here we are on the Fourth of July. There used to be fireworks and a big party in the Piazetta on the Fourth of July – the fireworks are alas gone – they were sponsored by a local Jeweler, Alberto y Lina, and the word on the street is they stopped doing it after Lina died.
We spent the day at a different place where large rocks meet the water, Bagna di Tiberio. Don’t let the picture in the link fool you – that isn’t sand that you’re seeing. Anyway this with my Leica M9 and a 50 mm Summicron lens.
Here we are on the funicular that connects marina grande to the piazzetta.
On this day last year: a dull Fourth of July.
CAPRI ITALY – We spent another day at da Luigi at the Faraglioni. This is from later in the day shopping.
We spent some time Saturday and Sunday at Le Conversazioni, Antonio Monda’s literary festival in Capri. We had run into Dona Tart on the aliscafo to the island, so we caught Antonio’s interview of Dona this evening. Leica M9 with a 90mm lens.
On this day last year: Clamps.
CAPRI ITALY – We spent the day at the da Luigi at the Faraglioni, one of those rocky places where people congregate to bathe in the sea in Capri. The link above says that you get there via a “pretty little path through the coastal pine trees that leads down to the sea”. That may be a fair description of the descent but the return is a very long uphill slog in the heat of the day with hundreds of steps. We’ve always gone to da Luigi and going there maximizes our opportunity for chance encounters with family and old friends. But I maintain that the real reason we go there is that walking back up the mountain burns any calories that might have been added by a truly superb plate of spaghetti alla vongole.
Anyway, lunch at da Luigi:
Da Luigi and the Faraglione from well less than half way up the path (three frames stitched).
On this day one year ago: Our new sign in Connecticut.
CAPRI ITALY – Still no bag from Air France. They say it should arrive late afternoon. Anti-French images crowd out every other thought. “Cheese eating surrender monkey” doesn’t begin to capture it. The wedding is at 6:00 PM. This is no joke. I’m in Italy. These people take their wedding seriously. Everyone is beautiful and well dressed. I have a theory that on Capri the Carabinieri round up all of the ugly people every night, take them out to sea and drown them. You actually can’t show up at a fancy Italian wedding in jeans and a three-day polo shirt.
We made the most of the day. I bought a swimsuit and spent the day with my family on the “beach”. Beach is in quotes because there are no actual sandy beaches on Capri. People pay mega-euros to lay out on the rocks near the water. I’ll cover that beat in tomorrow’s post. Anyway at exactly 6:00 PM my bag arrived at my hotel room door. I dressed and was out the door in 15 minutes and got to the church by 6:30. This was the full mass version of a wedding so things were just starting to move along. I’m posting several images from the wedding, not necessarily in narrative order, all taken with my Leica.
The enthralled crowd at the Piazzetta.
All kidding aside the bride, Emanuela Volpe (Maria’s niece and perhaps Francesca’s closest friend), was radiant.
Some ambience.
Francesca and her great aunt.
On this day one year ago: Quito.
CAPRI ITALY – What a difference a day makes. After a rushed set of connections (New York-Paris; Paris-Naples with exactly 25 minutes to make the connection; meet Maria, Alexander, Francesca and Laura at the Naples airport; taxis to port; aliscafo to Capri; madhouse disembarking) we finally made it to our hotel and Maria and Francesca made it to the pool. Caught with my Leica M9 and a 90 mm lens. The calm of the setting bears no relation to the chaos of getting here. I made the connection in Paris but my bag didn’t. I now hate Air France. When I made the reservation they swore that there was plenty of time for the connection. As it is I’m stuck on Capri in the jeans and two-day polo shirt that I wore on the flight while my bag tries to find me. No swimsuit. This is why I’m not at the pool.
When I added this post I found out that I didn’t have an “Italy” tag – we haven’t been to Italy in the past 20 months which is unusual for us. We go to Italy almost annually, often to Capri or the Amalfi Coast.
On this day last year: sunrise outside the farmacia.
