Travel Vignette: Tuscany's Sparkling Coast

By Elizabeth Prata

On and off over the years people occasionally mention that they are aware of my travels, and sometimes comment that I should write about them. From Ecuador to Labrador, Scotland to The Bahamas, oh, the places I've been. Here is a vignette from my Italy travels.

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After a leisurely hour and a half drive over the Tuscan hills, we spotted the Tyrrhenian Sea. Sparkling azure, gentle on the eyes, we pulled in to Porto San Stefano under a bright blue sky. Up, up, up we climbed the small clinging roads to Hotel Vittoria in Orbetello. The rooms are spacious if spartan, with the most incredible view of the small fishing village below. A bell is tolling now. I can see from my terrace the gulf, fishing boats returning, the Tuscan mountains across the Bay. Geraniums separate each terrace...shutters painted white dot the hills.

Later, walking the quay, boats bobbing at Mediterranean moors and old photographs on the ancient wall of this town from the 1800 and early 1900s. Walk and amble around, exchange dollars for some lira. A convoy of red, white, and yellow convertible sport Alfa Romeos pass us in the opposite direction. The only white Alfa Romeo has two very black people in it wearing sunglasses. Beautiful colors all around. Poppies grow right up to the railroad tracks.

Leonardo Da VInci, in all his Pixlr'ed iterations

I spent a Saturday recently scanning in old travel photos. I found this one and I'd forgotten to write the caption on the back, but I knew it was Italy. After scanning and enlarging it I saw that the man atop the base was labeled Leonardo, so it was an easy matter to Google Leonardo statue Italy and discover it's a famous statue of Leonardo Da Vinci in Milan.

The statue of Leonardo da Vinci is located in Piazza della Scala, prominently displayed in front of the international temple of bel canto. The monument offers a solemn and austere image of the scientist and at his feet are four of his pupils. The statue is made of white Carrara marble, whilst granite from Baveno was used for the base.

Ah, yes, now I remember. I'd gone to the Galleria and took this photo on the way in. The Galleria is one of the world's oldest shopping malls, built in 1867. Though Providence's Westminster Arcade was built in 1828 and is Nationally Registered Landmark. I have a photo of that one, too, somewhere...

Notice the photo of the base, the hexagonal shape with each panel artfully carved in bronze in 3-D relief. Amazing work!

I like statues. I like granite and marble, so that stands to reason. I played around with the Leonardo statue on Pixlr-O-Matic. This is an online version of Pixlr, a free photo editing app I'd downloaded to my desktop. There are several versions of Pixlr online for free, too. The O-Matic automatically places several filters atop your picture. I couldn't decide which ones I liked most so I saved several. You decide, lol. First is the original untouched, then an original version cropped. Then all the Pixlr ones.

Pixlr-O-Matic:

The Italians are certainly impressive in their creative statue making. All over Milan, Florence, Rome, and else where are impressive fountains, statues and art of all kinds. There's an interesting story that combines the Italians' love of beauty with confidence in their abilities. They began re-building the cathedral in Florence in 1296. The dome that would be built atop the structure was so large, the architect had no idea how t would be built. He designed it,and the powers that be said, well, that's going to be a few hundred years from now when we get to building the top of it, so let's just wait a while and worry about that when we get to it.

And they did! I'm drastically collapsing the story but it's captured both in a National Geographic article and in a good little book called Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King.

I love all the Italian statuary and art. I wonder if they ever imagined that photography would be invented and we'd take photos of their work and then monkey with it by adding filters and gizmos. I wonder if the ancient artists and stonemasons would be impressed and delighted, or offended and angry. Oh well, art marches on.

Mystery Art: Naples, Italy, circa 1965

Almost ten years ago, my old landlord gave me a painting. He liked me as a tenant and when I was leaving to move to GA he gave me a painting that the artist had given to him. My landlord served in the army in the 1960s and had been stationed at Naples Italy. He said that there was a small, family-run trattoria he used to frequent. He got to be good friends with the family and their eldest son was a painter. The son had painted this scene of Naples bay and given it to my landlord when his time of service was up.

There is no signature. If my landlord had told me the artist's name, I have long since forgotten. I love the painting. I loved my landlord and his wife, I loved living there and I respect this as the gesture it was intended to be. I also like the painting for itself. I had it restored, and someday I'll have it framed again.

I am curious if anyone knows of an artist who paints similarly? Let me know if you think you know who the artist is!

I love Italy

I haven't been back to Italy for quite a while but in the 90s I went every year for about 6 years in a row.













I miss the flowers...(Villa D'Este, Como)














I miss the glorious buildings













I miss the glitz (Portofino)

Amazing underground secret temples

Italian insurance broker creates 8th wonder of the world

And to think...in my spare time I make popcorn.

Forty-four dollars, a new country, and a new life for the family

My great-grandfather Raffaele Prata came to America at age 28 on the ship Spartan Prince from Naples to Ellis Island. His home town was Roccamonfina, a comune (municipality) in the Province of Caserta in the Italian region Campania, located about 45m northwest of Naples. His listed profession was doctor, and he arrived with $44 in his pocket, significantly more than the others on his entry page, who were all laborers carrying only a few dollars. As a matter of fact, laborer was originally listed but it was crossed out and doctor written above it. He must have insisted.


Below is a crop from the 1920 Providence RI census page. My great-grandfather Raffaele's profession is listed as embalmer by that point. He and his wife Giovaninna had 6 children, Julia the oldest, Anna, John (my grandfather), James, Rose, and Michael became naturalized in 1915. The family had started Prata Funeral Homes, by the time I was growing up there were 7 covering the state from Providence in the north to Westerly in the south.




I lived with my mother and my father above the Funeral Home for two years before we moved to the suburb of East Greenwich.

The flagship funeral home in the historic 1850s Providence building is now luxury condos. Of course.