The Tanager Blog

(As always, click on each photo for a larger view.)

The night after the ass-kicking thunderstorm in Sorrento, I ate the most beautiful piece of pork fat…. Just look at that glistening, artery-clogging goodness:

This is the mystical, spook-filled cave city of Matera in Basilicata. Settled by Neolithic man, Materans lived in caves (and abject squalor) until the 1960s when all citizens of the sassi — or ravines — were forcefully evacuated by the Italian government. There are over 100 cave churches — decorated with haunting Byzantine frescoes — and the sky swirls with swifts and falcons. Our hotel was burrowed into a cave and our breathing at night as we slept condensed and soaked all of our clothes. All of this is set on the edge of a canyon, and it rained much of the time we were there. It was probably the most intense experience of the trip. When you have so many layered stories echoing around a place — some utterly difficult to digest — you can’t help but feel hyper-alert to all of the sights around you.

That is until you eat that blessed blob of pork fat pictured above.

Next, off to Puglia:

After the eerie wonder of Matera, the Valle d’Itria of Puglia was like a fabric softener commercial: bright, fresh, green and I half expected to see Snuggles dancing among the orchards. We stayed here: Acquarossa. I will return and write a novel there…just because it looks like the kind of place to stow away from the world and do just that.

The shot on the left was taken from their roof. It’s a 22-minute exposure and my first experiment with star trails.

Then we flew to Rome, stayed in Ciampino with my cousin Nick, his wife Guilia and son Lorenzo, and toured the Eternal City by day. The ultramod couple on the right had just attended a rally for Silvio Berlusconi, a man who even the Bush Administration referred to as “despised by many but respected by some for his bella figura [beautiful image].” (Then again, Bush also called him “amigo”). We saw Silvio speak, and while I was too far away to look into his eyes and get a sense for his soul ala Vladamir Putin, I got the idea that the fake-baked, pearly-white grinned septogenarian with no wrinkles was full of shit.

Still, this super sexy couple driving in their super sexy car with their enormous Silvio flag and that ubercool disinterested/activist way about them….thank you. You even make indifference to corruption look hot. This shot made Rome for me.

Part 3 will come later this week.