Not sure if this challenge is still running but I’ve found two more images of benches that I’d like to post.
On a walk along the sea cliffs in my home town I spied this one.
More than one bench here along the river Adige , the second longest river in Italy and a central feature of the city of Verona through which it runs before heading towards the Adriatic Sea. Verona’s historic centre is partly enclosed by the river and several of her historic bridges cross the river including the Scaligeri family’s Ponte di Castelvecchio.
They work in silence over a hole in the ground, on their knees, lying flat on their stomachs to access the dig. On a table nearby are some bones, skulls too. The harsh sun has bleached the surrounding terrain but there is a little shade in the nearby wooded area and under the gazebo tented area in which they work.
The Barranco de Viznar has been declared a Place of Historical Memory in Granada, Spain, and as a life-long student of the Spanish Civil War, standing in this sloping, wooded area of about 10,000 square meters on a sharp curve of the road between Alfacar and Viznar, just has to be one of the best moment of 2024 for me.
We know where the bodies are
Imagine being given the opportunity to visit the site where the exhumation of thousands of young men assassinated by Franco’s troops during the Spanish civil war is taking place. Between September and November 1936, at the start of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), it is reckoned that at least 173 people were killed here and thrown into mass graves. Even earlier, in July and August, just after the coup d’état that triggered the war, there had been other assassinations, including that of the poet Federico García Lorca, but no record was left of them.
Imagine how overwhelming it was , as a lover of Lorca’s poetry and plays, to be given the privilege of visiting the place where his assassination is presumed to have taken place in the opening days of that terrible conflict, and to talk with those involved in the ‘dig’.
In Lorca’s Footsteps in Granada
That is what happened when my friend Kathleen and I visited Granada recently to renew our acquaintance with a city that had charmed us both decades ago. We found it virtually unchanged, still intensely Spanish, catering mainly to Spanish visitors and still with the best tapas bars in Spain, but giving nods to a more modern vibe with the addition of Gin bars!
Our idea was to walk In the Footsteps of Federico Garcia Lorca, guided by the Ian Gibson book of the same name, and it was while we were doing this that we had a serendipitous encounter with a Granada local who shared our enthusiasm and who invited us to visit the dig in Viznar.
The Barranco de Viznar and its secrets
The Barranco de Víznar is a ravine in the province of Granada, Spain, where a team of researchers made up of archaeologists, geophysicists, anthropologists, forensic experts and historians led by Francisco Carrión Méndez, a Senior Lecturer in Prehistory and Archaeology at the University of Granada has been searching for the bodies of the those assassinated during the Spanish Civil War, and searching for one in particular, the poet and playwright, Federico Garcia Lorca, one of the first to be killed.
How Many Assassinations
No one knows exactly how many were assassinated in the Spanish Civil War but it is estimated that it was more than 500,000, thousands of whom were massacred in the Province of Granada, some, including Lorca, even before Franco’s military coup.
In the area of Viznar, to date, they have located 16 mass graves and recovered 124 bodies. In one mass grave they found the bodies of 10 people with gunshot wounds to the head and their hands tied behind their backs.
The area of Barranco de Víznar was replanted with a thick forest of pine trees which has covered up the graves left after the mass executions committed by platoons of assault guards, part of the ferocious repression that followed the uprising.
How is the Dig Funded
The project is funded by the state and the regional government and is being conducted under the 1922 Democratic Memory Lawwhich was enacted following the coming to power of the government of Pedro Sánchez. However, there are fears that this could be in jeopardy and the excavation stopped under a new government.
Some scenes of the Barranco, above. Throughout the woods are dotted tents where the archaeologists and forensic scientists are working, in difficult terrain and extreme heat.
One of the volunteers told me it usually takes four to six weeks to complete an exhumation, to excavate the personal effects and log, photograph and do the paperwork. Fortunately, the soil in the ravine of Víznar has managed to preserve the bones remarkably well, helpful in identifying the age and sex of the victims, as well as the injuries and the type of violence to which they were subjected. The DNA results can take a long time to come in but when the families are re-united with a family member, it is a great moment.
Each tree could be a Memorial
When a family is linked with a body from one of the mass graves via the DNA their permission is requested for a photograph of the victim to be displayed on a tree. Most families agree and it was an emotional moment to wander amongst the trees, see the photographs and read the names and occupations – some academics, a bullfighter but mostly ordinary citizens, killed because of their sympathies with the legally elected Republican government.
Among the bones of those discovered is a former Rector of the University of Granada, Salvador Vila (above) who was brought from Salamanca to Granada and shot on October 22nd 1936. His wife, Gerda Leimdörfer, daughter of the editor-in-chief of Berlin’s leading Jewish newspaper, the Berliner Zeitung am Mittag, was spared thanks to the mediation of Manuel de Falla, the Spanish composer, who obtained a pardon in exchange for her conversion from Judaism to Catholicism.
The burial area is accessed over uneven terrain and a paved dirt path has been laid by the City Council of Víznar that after a detour, leads to the main grave which is surrounded by a stone gallery filled with small metal plaques bearing the names and circumstances of those killed, placed there by Historical Memory Associations and the heirs of those shot.
The modern road to Viznar and Alfacar with Granada in the distance
The Death of Lorca
Lorca was spending time in the home of family friends, the Rosales, on Angulo Street, on 17th August 1936, when he was arrested and taken just 300 metres away to the Civil Government building, at that time a centre of terror: from there he was quickly transferred to Alfacar and Víznar, two small towns located only ten kilometres away where Franco’s rebel army had created a centre for the extermination of left-wing sympathizers. He was assassinated not only because of his beliefs and his ideology, but because he was homosexual.
Memorial to Lorca
All Were Lorcamemorial stone
Within the area there is a simple stone with the legend “All were Lorca. 18-08-2002″ and each year, on August 19, a poetry event takes place here beginning at midnight and lasting until the early hours of the morning. This celebration of Lorca’s poetry originally started as a clandestine event during the last years of the dictatorship and was the first open-air commemoration of Lorca’s assassination.
The road to Al
To date, Lorca’s body has not been discovered but hope remains high that one day it will be among those exhumed.
Peceful looking woodsWork in ProgressLorca Park
Postscript:
The project in the ravine, which is in its fourth and final phase, is now funded by the state and the regional government and is being conducted under the new Democratic Memory Law passed in 2022. It is not certain that this will continue if a more right-wing government should be installed in Madrid.
Essential Reading
For the politics of Spain during the Civil War and since, anything by Peter Preston is to be recommended.
Ian Gibson: Federico García Lorca: A Life (Faber & Faber)
Ian Gibson: The Assassination of Federico García Lorca (Penguin)
Ian Gibson: Lorca’s Granada (Faber & Faber): This is a great guide book to Granada as it takes you on ten routes, step by step from his birthplace to the site of his execution outside the city via the poets best-loved places in Granada.
Pull up a seat in the Parque Federico Garcia Lorca in Alfacar, Granada, Spain, and meditate on the poet’s death and those of his 3 close companions, plus the thousands of others assassinated by Franco’s rebel army in the area, just a few days after the outbreak of Spain’s Civil War.
The Park was inaugurated by the Provincial Council of Granada in 1986 to pay tribute to the thousands shot between Alfacar and Viznar and has been declared a Place of Historical Memory.
Sombre yes, but good to have such a place to commemorate a great poet and playwright, and the thousands of other victims of the Spanish Civil War..
I’d wanted to return to La Serenissima for years but the thought of elbowing my way through the crowds, queueing for a restaurant, queueing to visit the Doge’s Palace, queueing even for a Gondola ride, was just too much. I thought of a winter visit: then I read about Venice’s floods, the rain, the mist, the dark medieval streets one has to negotiate at night, and thought again.
Desire overcame caution however, and two weeks ago I returned to Venice and I can now thoroughly recommend a winter/spring visit. I wouldn’t travel later than the second week in March though, as the number of tourists was increasing daily and the queues were already beginning to lengthen.
Canals and Crumbling Houses
Misty mornings gave way to sunny afternoons and Venice worked her charm as always. Wandering around the maze of streets that lead of Piazza San Marco, stopping for hot chocolate and coffee when we spied a particularly attractive place, walking across the small bridges that span the green waters of the canals and stopping to watch the gondolas gliding under them, in areas away from the crowds, was something we never tired of.
We had a map but still got lost. How could one not in Venice, when crumbling houses and palazzos, fading murals and ancient wooden doorways lured one into areas unknown. The tall buildings hushed the noise from the surrounding streets and often the only sound was that of the gondoliers’ oars swishing through the water as they ferried locals to their doorways on the canals, or transported tourists beyond the tourist spots.
Gondolas – their history
In the 14th century, horses were outlawed from the streets of Venice and the Nobles embraced gondolas as a respectable form of transportation. It then became the way to get around the lagoon’s islands. In order to navigate over the sandbars, the boats had to be flat-bottomed and the gondolier had to stand up to see ahead.
Two hundred years ago, there were 10,000 gondolas. Today there are about 400 licensed gondoliers only. When one dies, the license passes to his widow, so keeping the skill and the tradition in Venetian families.
Gondola Waiting Area
A law enacted in the 17th century decreed that all Gondolas be painted black to eliminate competition between nobles for what were status symbols at that time. Today they are still painted black and decorated extensively, their detailed carvings embellished with gold, and with unique upholstery, trim and detailing. .
St. Mark’s Basilica and The Doge’s Palace
We arrived in a Venice which had more people than I’d expected, even for late spring, but the queues for the main sites were already huge.
Day 1, the time on the board for the queue to St. Mark’s Basilica said 1 hour 15 minutes. Want to jump the queue? Of course, you can, for just 90 Euros, and then you are whisked inside in 10 minutes to shuffle around with all the others. It was a mere 1 hour queue for The Doge’s Palace with the same 90 Euros to jump the queue and by the time we left, six days later, the time queue in both cases, had increased by half an hour.
Misty morning in VeniceBasilicaBasilica and Doge’s PalaceBasilikca FacadeDoge’s PalacePiazza San MarcoPiazza San MarcoEarly March, VeniceFacade BasilicaSan Marco
What will happen at Easter and after, when the two local airports welcome increased flights from all over Europe and the cruise ships disgorge their thousands daily, is anyone’s guess.
Rialto Bridge
Of course we spent time window gazing at the expensive Murano glass items in the shops by the Rialto Bridge, the jewellry, the bags, and the multi-coloured pastas, pestis and ricottas packaged for easy packing.
Rialto BridgeEntering Grand Canal from Rialto
In fact we spent a lot of time in the area, fascinated not just by the food, but by the selfie-taking photographers balancing precariously on the Rialto Bridge, sure that one of them would fall into the murky waters and secretly hoping one of them would.
Grand Canal
We took boat rides on the Grand Canal with both the slow Water Bus and the Vaporetto, the commuters’ form of water transport. Below are just some of the houses along this magnificent waterway, some still occupied by old families, some now rented out, and some now AB&Bs. As you can imagine, photographing from a moving, and sometimes rocking, boat, was not easy.
I would recommend a Grand Canal trip to everyone visiting. It’s the only way to see the magnificence that once was Venice, the mansions, palazzos, and houses of minor aristocrats that line this great watery thoroughfare.
Colonnade Piazza San MarcoGoldoni, author of La commedia dell Arte
There were churches to visit which we didn’t, islands to visit which we didn’t, and even a Lido which we neglected, as the experience of just being in Venice proved enough to satisfy us. We seemed to retrace our steps most days, always starting at Piazza San Marco for a coffee and then just wandering, lost in the magic of this wonderful city that is Italian, but totally of itself. Venice is the only place in Italy which doesn’t appear to have a statue of Garibaldi but they honour their famous playwright son, the 18th century writer, Carlo Goldoni of Commedia dell ‘art fame, with a bronze statue in Campo S. Bartolomeo, not far from the Rialto Bridge.
I didn’t take a gondola ride as mobility problems made this an impossibility, but I would have done so if I could. After all, where else but in Venice can you experience this. I watched enviously as my friend went off in her black and gold gondola, her straw-hatted gondolier skilfully avoiding the other boats as he steered them across the lagoon and under the Bridge of Sighs. I know, I know, it’s touristy, isn’t it, but who cares when you’re in Venice and doing what Venice is famous for?
And as we walked back to our hotel at night, over bridges under which dark waters flowed, I tried not to think about the chilling figure in the red cloak that haunts the Venice of Nicholas Roeg’s classic film Don’t Look Now – but it was hard to dispel the image, it is so part of the Venice I know.
I have plans for a return visit in 2025. What better recommendation than that?
Getting from the airport to Venice hotels:
Water Taxis – 30-45 minutes, from 140 euros (1-4 people)
Shared Water Taxis from 60 Euros per person.
Allilaguna Line – Comfortable water bus to Piazza San Marco takes 1 hr 14 mins with stops along the way. 15 Euros
Vaporetto – fast commuter boat takes slightly more time as it stops more often, but you may have to stand. Costs 7.5 Euros.
Bus from airport to Train station, then taxi to ferry, then boat.
Whichever way you travel, you eventually have to go by water to reach San Marco & surroundings but you can stay on the mainland and travel daily by waterbus.
It’s no secret that I love Verona, and just two of the reasons for loving it are a) the city is highly walkable, and b) it is a place where tourists take second place to locals who live and work in its historic centre.
That’s not to say that visitors aren’t everywhere, but as you stroll through the medieval streets, charmed by faded frescoes and hidden gardens, or sit at the foot of an enigmatic marble statue in one of the huge piazzas, you never feel part of mass tourism.
Simply strolling through Verona leads one to magical places, like the splendid Piazza del Signori. Italy’s most famous poet, Alighieri Dante, lodged nearby with the ruling Della Scala family during his exile from Florence in the 14th century, and so the square also answers to the name of Piazza Dante. Surrounded by ancient buildings which played an important role in Verona’s early civic life, whose façades, although faded, are still beautiful, the square still resonates with a sense of medieval life.
Scaligeri, Napoleon and Castelvecchio
The Scaligeri Family TombsThe Scaligeri Family TombsScaligery Tomb siteScaligeri Tomb Above Church Door
Nearby is another tiny square in which can be found the tombs of the Scaligeri family. They dominate the area, massive Gothic-like edifices, some behind a gated courtyard, and one above the church door. Intriguing, certainly, and something not to be mi
More Scaligeri family history can be found at Castelvecchio, best approached along the Adige River and across the bridge into the city proper. Castelvecchio (in Italian ‘the old castle), a red brick building with crenelated walls and square turrets was built by the ruthless Scaligeris in the 1350’s as a home and a fortress. A later ruler also used it as his residence, during his time in Verona – one Napoleon Bonaparte who had conquered most of Northern Italy in the early 1800’s.
During the 1920’s it was converted into a Museum and then in 1985, a renovation project to repair the damage done during the second world war was started by Italian architect Cala Scarpa. The result of that renovation is the splendid red brick castle one sees today the interior of which has been converted into one of the best Museums in Northern Italy.
Romeo & Juliet
The Balcony 2003
The Crowds Below Juliet’s supposed balcony, 2023
Everyone knows that Romeo & Juliet are fictitious characters dreamt up by William Shakespeare, but that doesn’t stop the crowds pouring into the courtyard of the supposed home of Juliet in Via Cappello, to touch the statue of the young heroine, and to pose on the balcony for a selfie. So many people have touched Nereo Costantini’s bronze statue that her right breast has now been burnished to gold. But even though the balcony you see today was erected only because tourists kept demanding to see the balcony, it is worth a visit even if you are in Verona for only one day. The house once belonged to the rich Veronese Dal Cappello family, and to visit the house and its courtyard gives an idea of how families lived in Verona in the 14th century.
My last visit was some 14 or so years ago, the courtyard then was almost empty, we had time to explore the house and surroundings and even read some of the letters received daily asking for advice. This time, however, the search for the ultimate selfie by the crowds queueing and surging into the small space under Juliet’s balcony was a major distraction, yet I would still return to feel the magic that the place possesses. It is but a short step away from the city’s two major Piazzas linked by its famous shopping street, Via Mazzini.
Lovers’ Locks
Verona was the first place to have love locks on bridges, something that is now defacing bridges all over the world.
Piazza del Erbe and Piazza Bra
Piazza del Erbe, named after the spices that were once sold there, (erbe=spices in Italian), Verona’s most ancient piazza, was ‘the Forum’ during Roman times. It is now Verona’s commercial centre, a hub for shopping, café life, and people watching. Beautiful old buildings surround the Piazza in front of which lively market stalls sell food, spices and household goods, while the traders entertain the public as they have done since Roman times. It is around this area that you will find the prettiest streets and alleyways.
Piazza del Bra
The Via Mazzini, a high-end shopping area where the shops all bear famous fashion names, from Chanel to Dolce & Gabbana, links Piazza del Erbe with Piazza Bra, home to the famous Amphitheatre of Verona, usually called The Arena. Elegant ladies with tiny dogs parade down this street which on Sundays can become very crowded when it is time for the passeggiata, the ritual Sunday evening parade when all Italy turns out to display la bella figura.
I kept the best till last. The impeccably preserved Amphitheatre in the heart of old Verona and the city’s most famous site, is deserving of that much abused word, awesome. Rows of arches and curves dominate the skyline and form a centrepiece in Piazza Bra, the city’s largest public square.
Piazza Bra and the Colosseum
The square is lined with bustling restaurants and imposing buildings, notably the 19th century Palazzo Barbieri, a yellow building with a neoclassical façade that now serves as Verona’s Town Hall. Nearly two millennia old, the Colosseum used to hold up to 30,000 spectators at gladiatorial fights between men and men and men and beasts, who fought to the death on the sandy stage. And this glorious arena is not a dead relic of the past: it still entertains the masses although in a different way. No more are the crowds offered bread and circuses but performances of high art, most notably the world famous Verona Opera Festival which takes place every summer.
Verona is a city for all, young and old, the seeker after history & ancient cultures and lovers looking to re-kindle an old love or find a new one, opera lovers who fill the Arena night after night during the summer, and fans of William Shakespeare who watch his dramas play out under the stars. There’s a jazz festival, a festival of street games, and even a horse fair. As I said, Verona is a city for everyone.
A Sunday lunch with Spanish friends can never be silent, in fact it will be quite the opposite. We had enjoyed lunch with old friends in Arco and were driving back to Ronda when we turned a corner, and there was a scene of such solitude and calm that we paused by the roadside to savour it. There must have been birdsong and goats bleating, but I can’t remember any sounds at all.
We came, we saw and we were conquered. Not just by the city but by the by-product of that city, opera, for we were in Verona for the 100th Anniversary of the performance held in the ancient arena, an arena older than the Colosseum in Rome. In ancient times it held 30,000 people for its circuses and gladiatorial events but as the stage for opera performances decreases the available seating, it now has places for only 22,000.
Exterior of Arena early evening
We came to Verona, my friend Jane and I, for Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida, the signature opera of the city. Although there had been some productions during the 1850s, it wasn’t until 1913 that opera began in earnest in the Arena, due to the zeal of the famous Italian tenor Giovanni Zenatello and the impresario Ottono Royato. The first opera to be produced in the arena on 10th August 1913 to mark the centenary of Verdi’s birth in 1813, was Aida, and since then, Aida opens the yearly festival of opera.
The moon has appeared as the audience awaits the evening’s performance
As dusk settled over the amphitheatre and a pale moon floated in the velvety blue sky above, anticipation was high. We’d watched the stage-hands sweep the tiered stage, watched the lighting engineers fiddle with the lamps, and wondered at the meaning of the objects that decorated the set, crystal pyramids, giant hands, and lighting designs which, although technologically modern, blended easily into the ancient Roman amphitheatre. Later I read that the giant white hands that dominated the stage represented power.
The arena was full, from the front padded seats to the tier upon tier of stone seats (no back rests but with hired cushions for comfort), and the audience milled around taking photographs, chatting in groups and in Italian fashion, jumping over seats to shake hands with old friends before the performance began at 9.30 pm. It was an audience as enthusiastic as any I’d ever seen – and noisier than most.
Then suddenly the orchestra was filing on to rapturous applause and the opera was about to begin.
There was a hush as Alexander Vinogradov as Ramfis began singing, a hush that continued throughout the First Act and every subsequent Act. I have never, ever, known an audience be so quiet, enraptured even, so receptive of the story being told in voice and music from the stage, so totally engrossed in what was happening in front of them.
I can’t even begin to guess how wide the stage was: one’s eye just couldn’t take it all in at once, yet somehow, the war-stricken world of Aida materialised in an intimate setting on the vast arena stage, as over 300 performers – soloists, chorus members, dancers and mimes – cast their spell. Their costumes were inspired by Paco Rabanne and Capucci, silver robes and helmets radiating brilliance across the expanse of the tiered stage.
The gigantic wire hands which towered over the stage and had puzzled us when we first saw them now moved menacingly or soothingly as the music and the story demanded. Stefano Podo’s avant-garde production included LED-laser lights that formed shapes and changed colours from red to blue to green, to great effect, plus impressive lighting effects at the back of the arena as actors brandished what looked like light rods used to great effect during the judgment scene.
And as for the Arena itself! Built in AD30 out of white and pink Valpolicella limestone (a few repairs since then), the arena has perfect acoustics (amplification was only brought in in 2011). In its heyday it hosted gladiatorial fights and blood sports, horse races and medieval jousts but nowadays the crowds come not for blood and gore in the sand but to be transported to another realm by the beauty of the human voice.
I’m failing as a writer here because I can’t describe what the experience of seeing and hearing the opera was like; it was a spectacle that needed to be seen in order to understand the power it had. I had been to the Arena years ago when the stage effects for Aida included ancient Egyptian scenes to rival those of Cairo. We were younger then, my husband and I, and we sat on the stone seats way, way up on the terraces. The excitement of opera under the stars past midnight (it starts about 9.30 pm and finishes, usually, around 2.00 or 2.30 am) – meant that I wasn’t aware of any discomfort.
But the 2023 100th Anniversary Performance was even better, it was uncomplicatedly magical. Possibly helped by the fact that age now demands a padded seat and some space so we had expensive seats front centre (still nearly half what a similar seat would cost at Covent Garden). I would recommend paying that bit extra for the comfort if you are aged from 30 upwards!
Just across from the Arena after the performance
And then jostling for seating at the café opposite the Arena with others who’d shared the experience, sipping a glass of wine at 2.30 am when the heat from the ochre-coloured stones was still intense, not wanting to go back to the hotel, and feeling part of something great and grand was somehow life-affirming.
Was it the settings? The music? The atmosphere? Maybe some of the silver dust drifted from the costumes and covered us with its magic? I don’t want to be a third-rate critic so I’ve found a clip on You Tube with a selection of scenes from the performance in Verona and if there are any opera fans among you, you might like to take a look and enjoy what we enjoyed.
Factfile: Purchase tickets directly online, at www.arena.it/buy. You can check the availability of seats by consulting the seating plan, which can be found on each performance date. You will be asked to give a password so have one ready. If you want to book by phone, call +39 0458005151 Monday to Saturday 9 am to 6 pm.
And coming up at the back, a long way back, late and far behind as usual, is Mari with a few Thursday Doors.
First up is one from Noyers in France. Noyers was once touted as the prettiest village in France, and far from me to argue with the French but I’ve seen prettier.
Door in Noye
In the next photograph, the eye is drawn. not to much to the door as to the tomb above it. This is the sarcophagus of Cangrande, founder of the Scaligeri dynasty of Verona who died in 1392 supposedly of poison. One of the most bizarre examples of Gothic funerary art, it sits over the entrance to the church of Santa Maria Antigua not far from Piazza Erbe in Verona. This was the first to be built, there are other dynastic members buried nearby, behind locked gates. Sorry about the ‘intruders’ but honestly, I waited ages for them to move but I think their messages were very important!
Not sure if I may not have used this one before but anyway, here is the door to an old Haman in Limassol, Cyprus.
MARI'S TRAVELS WITH HER CAMERA 