Happy New Year !!

To all my regular visitors as well as anyone who has recently arrived, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year filled with good health and happiness. In the coming year I hope to continue to bring my audience high quality broadcasts on Italian travel, down home Woodstock style !

The next show which is scheduled for Friday, January 3, 2014 at 5 PM on WPAT will be an analysis of baptisteries in general and most specifically the most famous in Italy, San Giovanni of Florence. Ric Hirst, who has graced the show many times with his brilliant analysis, will be there to assist me to weave the incredible story of one of the most famous sights in Italy.

The week after I will finally talk about the 55th Venice Biennale in toto, aside from the Collateral Event at the Palazzo Bembo, which covered three shows. Dozens of artists will be featured as I analyze the most famous contemporary art exhibition in the world. We will focus on only the pavillions and locales in the Arsenale and Giardini areas.

Subsequently we will look at Italy in the magic of evening, talk about the little known Ancient Roman site of Carsulae, and then do a series of shows, Italy, Then and Now, focusing on the 19th century photographs.

I look forward to bringing you in the coming year the same quality broadcasts that have made Alan's Italy a Woodstock Original honoring the long line of wonderful original creative endeavors in the field of art and music.

Happy Anniversary to Me

After two years we have made it to 84 shows, unthinkable possibility back in the spring of 2011 when everything seemed to a monumental hassle with insurmountable obstacles. Back then starting in June 2011 until we finally went on the air on December 16, 2011, every move I made involved some kind of failure, consultation with "someone who knew," shelling out more and more money, traveling to far fetched places for equipment, not to mention my own terror at the prospect of going on the air live in front of friends I known for years, some of whom were very non supportive. I gave up on the project at least a dozen times until Ellen and I did a taped broadcast on Dec 9. After that show I caved in saying to Ellen, "let's just do it live !" Then week after week there were myriad problems with the live broadcast, problem after problem, issue after issue, very discouraging continuing to this day. It is really hard to believe we have lasted two years and 84 shows.

So now here we are, Alan's Italy, iconic to a degree in the area of public access in the Hudson Valley, plus a variety of other projects, two books, a website, lectures, courses, blogs, press credentials, interviews with well known international artists, being recognized by people on boats in Venice, and on and on all beginning in that little studio in Woodstock. It's really amazing. I am not deluded to believe I am famous or anything, in fact we are still very amateur in a lot of aspects including the actual broadcasts and subsequent videos.

So taking all that for the face value of what it is, I have this cable access TV show with amazing stuff going on. There are innovative ideas with really amazing photos, videos, interview, and marvelous analysis of art by Ric Hirst. All of this appears on Youtube where we have had close to 11,000 hits, a blog approaching 5,000 reads, and countless viewers in the Hudson Valley.

For the future here is what to expect. A show which is broadcast live every other week and will appear on Youtube followed by a blog and an occasional intermittent blog thrown in. For the next trip to Italy I will bring home a couple of dozen potential shows focusing on three areas, Western Tuscany, Cinque Terre, and Lake Como, plus whatever we can do in Florence which may not happen since we will be there for only two days. That will take us through the next year and at the rate of two a month, that's a full year of broadcasts. The shows will focus on the usual stunning photos, interesting video taped interviews, and some very original stuff as well. Plus I still have about a dozen shows developed months ago.

Yet it is all still a hobby for me, since I am now back to my profession of mathematics education which I cherish beyond words. But your following my blogs and Youtube site is very important to me, and I will try to make the whole experience for you my reading and viewing audience as rewarding as possible. Thank you !!!!!

Alan's Italy Show # 84: Second Year Anniversary (+playlist)

Some Major Changes

Well, after laboring with the concept of a show about nighttime scenes in Venice and elsewhere throughout Italy, and finally scheduling the show for this Friday, Dec 20, I have changed my mind yet again. This Friday will be the beginning of the third year of broadcast, so we feel that a celebration is in order. That alone would have caused a modification of the schedule, but then we decided to finally do the show on the 55th Venice Biennale. I was always reluctant to do that one, but Laura convinced me, and it is on the calendar. So for those of you who follow the actual broadcasts and subsequent appearances on Youtube here is the current schedule:

Friday, Dec 20 - Show # 84 - The Second Anniversary Special

Friday, Jan 3 - Show # 85 - The Florence Baptistery with Analysis by Ric Hirst

Friday, Jan 17 - Show # 86 - The 55th Venice Biennale

Friday, Jan 31 - Show # 87 - Nighttime Magic

Friday, February 14 - Show # 88 - Carsulae with Ric Hirst

During the special this next Friday evening, I will put together a slide show featuring the highlights of the past year's 37 live broadcasts, plus five of my favorite videos. It is only appropriate to make this celebration an annual event so here it is. Following that would have to be Ric's analysis of the amazing Florence Baptistery scene of one of the most famous competitions in the world of art won out by Lorenzo Ghiberti in the early 15th century. Then we move on to the 55th Venice Biennale where I will cover a couple of dozen exhibitions complete with stunning photos and really strange videos. Then finally the next show will feature the nighttime magic of Italy, hopefully. This last show has been reworked and postponed several times, so I am hoping for the best. Then we cover an amazing archeological site that was extensively photographed by Ric Hirst during a recent visit. I never even heard of Carsulae, but after seeing the images and speaking with Ric, we agreed to reveal this almost totally obscure location in Italy to the world. It will be an amazing adventure. Then I have a series of three shows on the incredible 19th century photos of Italy, starting with Florence (part 2), and then going to Tuscany, and then all of Italy, especially Rome. Then I have some more stuff that will bring us up to this year's trip to Italy.

On other fronts I accidentally hit a deer with my car tearing my right side mirror off the hinges ! It has since been repaired, but up here anything is possible ! I never even saw the animal, and actually thought I might have hit another car that was parked on the side of the road without lights, but my mechanic knows better.

Other than that my school semester is ending, and it is hard to believe that 14 weeks have taken place already. I gave my final last week and will give the students a second chance next Thurs after a review on Tuesday. So far I have 82 % passing in one class and close to 60 % in the other. I hope to improve on both those numbers. The students were very grateful for my help, and spared no adjective describing their delight at having finally fulfilled that very important requirement. I will miss this first group of students after my 3 year hiatus. I hope to be offered classes for the spring semester which begins on January 28.

Attending a Lecture by My Favorite Teacher

Alan's Italy Show # 83 focussed on the beautiful and historical Orvieto Cathedral. Of course I could never actually give such historical and artistic perspective without the assistance of my friend, Ric Hirst. We have planned several shows in which he is the featured guest "lecturer" covering a wide variety of amazing topics including the Orvieto Cathedral, the Baptistery of Florence, the long forgotten but remarkable Ancient Roman town of Carsulae in Central Italy among other possibilities. Ric himself settled on this beginning, and it was obvious that his knowledge is just astounding !! Although he had many pages of notes, everything had been memorized already, so he just wheeled through the history and art crisply, and efficiently. His lecture was just mesmerizing, with the added plus of my being able to query him throughout the broadcast. At first he was afraid that the presentation was going to be too esoteric, but I assured him that since most of the time my broadcasts are fun jaunts through famous towns and cities in Italy with a variety of video interviews, that an occasional show with a narrow, but interesting focus is perfect. I want my show to occasionally present the viewer with a significant small window upon the artistic geniuses that have made Italy one of the world's great treasures. I told him that since I have been working in NYC, I have been unable to attend lectures at Bard College, so this will be the appropriate replacement. Meanwhile, if the viewer really would like to know how such a monumental cathedral such as the one in Orvieto came about, then this is the show for them. Ric starts with the inception of the idea of the cathedral, and all the events leading up to its completion with stunning detail of the machinations and personalities that create masterpieces of architecture. Weaving through the centuries leading up to the incredible fact that the cathedral was still being modified as late as the 1970's when the bronze doors were installed ! Thus a project which started in the 13th century continued for the next seven centuries !!!! Amazing !!!!

The broadcast was not without the usual trepidation. In this case at times Ellen had a few problems which, of course, she verbalizes as she goes along only to then state, "OK, there it is." The only obvious flaw in the Youtube video that you might see is that during the final montage of credits and photos, there is a sudden and very abrupt ending right in the middle of the music after about only 15 seconds, leaving out a number of beautiful images as a final statement of the excellence of the Orvieto Cathedral. So the perfect show it wasn't in that regard, but every minute of Ric's marvelous presentation is right there to gobble up any time anyone wishes, so please do enjoy !!!

Riding the Grand Canal

Alan's Italy Show # 82 was quite special. It had been planned for months and included footage from several trips to Venice. We always seem to videotape rides along the magical Grand Canal, usually in a vaporetto or water bus. Of course, I most enjoy riding on a water taxi, but financial issues precludes that possibility. The difference between a vaporetto ride and taxi ride is almost a hundred dollars. Anyway when I first came up with the idea for this show, I already had several rides from previous trips on video. When we were there last May and June, I decided that a great show would be to just focus on riding along the most famous waterway in the world, so I enhanced what I already had with several others. Show # 82 is the finished product. Rather than simply showing the boat rides, water, palazzi, etc., I decided to narrate above the sounds of the boat and Venice in general. The product is an excellent view of the Grand Canal from the water for anyone, people who have never been there, folks who long to return, and anyone planning a vacation in Venice. Included in this show are many details about how to purchase a ticket, the best deals on discounts, and many other details that a traveler might wish to know before undertaking the journey. I am now planning our next trip for May/June and will be taking many more videos, although Venice is not part of the next itinerary. The next trip will be a three part journey to Cinque Terre, Tuscany, and Lake Como.

Meanwhile we experienced the usual problems with live broadcast. Everything actually started well, but after a minute into the introductory montage, Ellen whispered to me that we are broadcasting in black and white, is that ok ? Arrrghhhh. "Ellen, this is Venice, we need color." We stopped and I informed the live audience of the problem and assured everyone we would be back. After about 20 minutes I was quite unsure we would even have a show at all. Finally at 5:25 PM, Ellen said she was ready to go, so we broadcast the full hour, going well into the next show which fortunately was Ellen's own, Woodstock Archives. The tape of the show looks great so no biggy really Adventures in broadcasting is alive and well !!!!

A Wonderful and Unexpected Achievement

Alan's Italy is proud to announce that we have gone over 10,000 views on my Youtube Channel !!! I would never have believed this when we began production in mid December 2011. I am grateful for the support I have received in the town of Woodstock, the neighboring Hudson Valley, and online via Youtube. Youtube itself has been wonderful to me over the months, and I wish to thank them as well. The show is still not for profit, strictly public service in design and execution, and will never deviate from that model that was created at the outset when the idea first began to germinate in my mind during the spring of 2011. I have endeavored, as you are quite aware from reading my blogs, to create an informative, interesting, and quality production for people of all ages who are inquisitive about the wonders of Italy. The attainment of such a considerable number of views is validation that I have succeeded and I am extremely pleased that my efforts are not in vain. I have enjoyed the process very much, although there have been many rocky times, most of which I have written about in these pages. I hope to continue to keep the show going through the years and to provide the same quality production despite the time constraints I now have, and the really considerable work that is entailed to be imaginative, productive, and interesting for my audience. In the meantime, I wish to thank you who read this blog regularly from the bottom of my heart !!! You are part of my audience that means the most to me personally and professionally, and I will always be very grateful to you.

A Wonderful Experience Becomes a Reality, Finally

I began to realize this show, # 81: Citta della Pieve, was going to be a little weak on significant images, historical background, and material in general to sustain a 50 minute show, as the week progressed. I added a segment on News From Italy, an idea I had actually begun to include into the show a while back not only to create some "filler," but also as an interesting way to focus on the current situation in various parts of Italy. My friend Luca always sends me the Florentine Newspaper which has a lot of current events in that great city. I liked the idea of finding an extension for the show in this manner, so added four segments in that regard, one on the recent eruption of Mt Etna, two on Venice, and one on the trial of the captain of the Costa Concordia, the cruise ship that ran aground off the coast of Western Tuscany. I then began to embellish the show with as much historical background as I could considering Citta della Pieve was not one of the most famous Italian Hill Towns. I also intended to give my usual background of why we visited this town. The latter was one of my favorite stories, and I made the most of that throughout the show.

When I arrived at the studio and saw the empty parking lot, I was cheered by the fact that obviously there would be no major events at the Woodstock Community Center that evening. Whew ! I immediately settled down, because sometimes the noise is really annoying. Well, just as the show was about to begin we heard the occasional sounds of castanets and the tap-tap-tap of that Flamenco dancer who sometimes practices in the empty community center. Throughout the show I was constantly having a difficult time concentrating with that horrid noise. Of course, as I have explained many times, being in such close proximity to the community center, we,  the Woodstock Public Access Television Producers, must always know that we may be sharing the whole space with people who have an equal right to the facilities, so I just gritted my teeth and bore the burden. Throughout the show I felt very distracted and had a very, very hard time concentrating. I just knew my discomfort would come through on the video.

When I came home Laura told me it was a good show, but I felt that it was probably going to be disappointing. I just viewed the first half hour, and was pleasantly surprised at how professional I sounded. It is obvious that after almost two years of broadcasting, perhaps I have come to deal with small annoyances with a certain level of acceptance and aplomb. That was great to see. Meanwhile the experience of having first "discovered" Citta della Pieve seven years ago, always vowing to return and finally doing so came across very well. I looked forward to including a whole show on that amazing small town in north central Umbria, just east of the Tuscan border for a long time. Ellen loved the "News From Italy," the general tour of this charming town, and the restaurant scenes. I liked the show and now have finished the three-part series on the towns of Central Italy we visited during our most recent visit. I now turn to my next show, which remember, will not be the usual next week, but two weeks hence. I am now on an every other week schedule. The show will be very different, a number of videos one after the other taking the viewer on a rather stunning series of water rides down the "Main Street" of Venice, the Grand Canal. Although the viewer will also hear the sounds of the great pathway from the train station to the lagoon, I will also be narrating as we go along. In addition to seeing the sights and hearing the commentary, the audience will also see how the experience of taking a vaporetto ride by a passenger occurs. Some great scenes, and the pure excitement of Venice punctuate this very unique broadcast in two weeks.

I also will be honing several of the upcoming shows namely the Ric Hirst narration of the incredible Orvieto Cathedral and my three shows on the 19th century photos of Italy broken down into three parts, Florence, Part 2, Tuscany, and Italy in general. Then Ric is back with his take on the Doors of the Florence Baptistery, and his extremely amazing photos of the former Roman town of Carsulae, rarely visited and hardly known. I will also try once again to create the show about the Venice Biennale which occurred at Giardini and Arsenale. The problem here is that I have so much material and very little knowledge of contemporary art that I may not be able to do this. I keep trying. Stay tuned !

Laura's Idea Turns Into a Show

Usually I plan trips we take to Italy, and then speak with Laura to refine the idea, choose hotels, and destinations. It is really very much a joint project, and then I go about the nitty gritty work of obtaining flights, hotels, rental cars, and other reservations. This time Laura made friends with an Italian artist, Matteo Cocci, and that relationship which had been nurtured over the internet eventually became a visit to one of the great Tuscan Hill Towns, Colle di Val d'Elsa, which is south southwest of Florence. Show # 80 tells this story complete with an extraordinary video interview with Matteo and the owner of the gallery Arte A Colori, Francesca Sensi, which was exhibiting his work at the time of our visit in May. We designed this show before we even left the United States with a visit to the town itself and taking what I projected would be some extraordinary photos, going to the gallery in which Matteo was exhibiting, trying to do an interview on video, and then having lunch with him and his wife (which turned out to be his whole family). What had been planned at home became almost the replica of the eventual show. Although not an unusual occurrence based on my penchant for heavy planning, it was almost to the T the exact design. Even the part where my friend Luca would drive us to the town and do the translating had been factored into the concept. Actually the only part about which we were unsure was the inclusion in this excursion of our two traveling companions, Barbara, Laura's cousin and Barbara, our friend from Woodstock. The absence of Luca's partner, Mary, permitted the extra room.

The show came off without a hitch, among the very few perfect shows, and except for an inadvertent grammatical error I made that few would even pick up, my performance was very pleasing to me. Ellen did a perfect job as well, as I just viewed it at first totally and then skipping around. I believe my fans will find it very pleasing as well. I would really like to thank Luca for driving us to a gallery which even he had trouble finding in not remote Tuscany, but certainly an area much less traveled by most Tuscan tourists. Also my appreciation goes to Matteo and Francesca for their kindness to us. Colle is in an area in which I have visited many times making stops at nearby Siena, Monteriggioni, and San Gimignano, and even Volterra a bit further west and perhaps north. I loved the way the town looked in photos I had studied. There are two sections, a lower part where the scalo district is located where the industrial areas usually are located and an upper area, Colle Alta, where the medieval castle and buildings make this one of the most picturesque towns in Central Italy. The streets, buildings, and well preserved walls are absolutely charming and beautiful, and I believe all of that is captured in tonight's show.

Meanwhile this was show # 80, an amazing milestone considering I originally rejected the idea of a tv show when first presented to me many years ago. However, tonight Ellen and I spoke of a major modification in the weekly format. Because I am too busy to spend a lot of time planning new shows, and the fact that really there may be a limit to my ability to formulate newer and near ones, we decided that after next week we will do a once every two weeks original show and intersperse reruns throughout. This will give me the ability to sustain a continuous show until after Laura and I return from the projected trip in very late May, early June 2014. During that trip will once again endeavor to discover new and unique shows by visiting a plethora of small Tuscan and Ligurian towns, and also Lake Como. Since after we return I am able to put together enough shows for about 25 new shows, a once a week format makes sense. I will will still try to give my viewers quality, fun, and picturesque presentations, however, and it should be the same wonderful experience for me and for them.

Back on the Air

After a three week hiatus it was good to be back on the air doing my weekly show. It has been a wonderful respite, however, thinking about just how important this show is not only to me, but to my audience, which appears to be growing. I also had the chance, of course, to really get into my return to mathematics teaching realizing how much I loved my life's work, and realizing that I probably will noit wish to ever leave again except for illness, serious or otherwise.

Tonight's show was the opening episode of a three-part tour of Central Tuscan Towns near Florence beginning with Pistoia, a lovely town about 25 miles west of Florence, and the home of my dear friend, Lidia's sister and brother. In her brother Mario's house were we treated to a fine lunch cooked by Anna Lisa, Mario's wife and Lidia's sister, Chiara, both are outstanding Italian chefs. The lasagne they cooked was unreal, but just about everything was also. What a wonderful family she has. I just viewed the show and it was flawless except for a minor flub which everyone will realize was just a transposition of words. Instead of using the word "hospital", I said, "church" because I had churches on my mind. Except for that slight flub, I was completely pleased. The production by Ellen was absolutely her at her best. Also when I got home and downloaded it to my computer I noticed that the latest version of Handbrake, the software I use for such a process, gave me a better copy of the show off the DVD. When my computer tech, Dan, gave me the software after I switched computers, he had changed the settings, not because he thought these were better, but because he couldn't recall which settings he used two years ago. The result was that it now takes longer to download from DVD to computer, 20 minutes instead of 10 minutes, but the finished quality is definitely much better. So that is quite a bit serendipity for me. Now in the process of uploading to Youtube.

The evening was not without its problems. First there was a theatrical group rehearsing a play next door in the community center which caused some noise, but before we actually started. Then later there was a loud noise of dancing and screaming right in the middle of the show. And still later Ellen heard something like people on the roof of the center which, of course, houses the TV studio. Maybe Halloween is arriving earlier than expected. In the past I might have stopped to explain the noise to the audience, but this time I just trudged on, sighing within, but not skipping a beat nonetheless.

Next week we continue with the current series with our visit to Colle di Val d'Elsa and our visit and lunch with Laura's friend Matteo Cocci. He was appearing at a gallery there, Arte a Colori, and we have a wonderful interview with him and the gallery owner. Laura met Matteo on Facebook ! Imagine that. It started as a search for new artists, and ended with a visit to one of the really unique Tuscan towns. The town lies in the Central Tuscany area not far from San Gimignano, Monteriggioni, and the bus center town of Poggibonsi. I came across this town when I was researching San Gimignano many years ago and vowed to pay it a visit someday. Thanks to Laura that became a reaility. Had it not been for her meeting Matteo on Facebook, that would never have taken place. Colle has a lower town (ugly) and an upper town (stunningly beautiful). We, of course, toured the upper one. Tune in.

Interim Report: Fun teaching, hiatus in broadcasting, and recalling a mistake

Although I am having a great time returning to teaching, I still think about future and past shows, mostly past ones. I was watching the show on La Grotta di Leo last night before I went to sleep, and noticed that I had referred to the restaurant as a Rosticceria. Since I have been dining there for 18 years, and surely know that it is not that at all, my preoccupation was, "why would I say that?" I came to the conclusion as I watched the show that throughout that experience I kept thinking that I was actually doing a show on La Spada, which IS a Rosticceria. A Rosticceria incidentally is a part restaurant, part take out with a lot of the food under glass at the counter so people can choose what they want. La Grotta di Leo has no counter as La Spada does, and as I watched the show, I kept saying, "where is the counter ?" These are my two restaurants of choice in Florence, so I sometimes in my mind mix them up, especially on the air with the thousands of things going through my mind as they always do. Although I look very relaxed, my mind is constantly going trying very hard to be what I am never, perfect. Doing a live show, as I have said, has many pitfalls. The fun of spontaneity and whatever happens is there, but feeling is somehow mitigated by the fear that anything can go wrong anytime, and I can say the wrong thing at times. Fortunately it is cable access, not commercial TV so in all likelihood nobody was watching anyway. Most people wouldn't even notice, except perhaps when I put it on Youtube, the restaurant people would notice and be bewildered. I don't know if that happened, but the fact that in two weeks over 50 people have seen the show on Youtube, in all probability some of those people are the workers and owner of La Grotta di Leo and perhaps friends of theirs. I e mailed them the link, but have heard nothing back. I feel like telling them not to worry about my inadvertent misrepresentation of their eating establishment, but who knows if they would ever see the subsequent show when that would be done, or even if they would read my next e mail to them. I will try to e mail them and see what happens and report back.

In the meantime I am working on future shows. In fact I came to the conclusion that if I keep going at the rate of three shows a month, I will run out by February. Egads !!!! I may have to cut back even further. Ric and I have some lined up, but I have stopped soliciting guests who might want to be on, because 99 % of them never get around to that for whatever reason. My next three shows are being honed, that is Pistoia, Colle di Val d'Elsa, and Citta della Pieve. All three will focus on Central Italy's splendid smaller towns, and places which hold a special place in my travels. Of course, they will be from my point of view, Pistoia concentrating on our visit to Lidia's family's house for lunch with ample photos of them having a great time, Colle with our videoing Laura's friend, Matteo Cocci and his gallery show at Arte a Colori, and Citta della Pieve with its great restaurant, Taverna Perugino, and Laura and my experience with that wonderful Umbrian hill town since our first accidental visit in 2006. Then I return to the Venice Biennale, Ric's talk on the Orvieto Cathedral, and now we are into early December.

Meanwhile I love teaching college students mathematics and now think my taking a three-year break was one of the worst decisions of my life !!! How ridiculous I was. I could have been appropriately challenged and inspired and making some money to boot. Why did I think I needed a three year break ? One year perhaps, but not three. Also, I am not independently wealthy. I am a middle class guy who likes to live the good life, so isn't money needed for that ? Duh !!!! Thank God I am back, however, and hope to never quit again. I love the students and they really need some good math teaching as I can provide without much problem. They are now starting to achieve at a higher level and as the semester progresses, you can see them mature mathematically and gain confidence. It is really quite a sight to see, a wonderful experience. How I ever thought to end that is really beyond my ken !!!

A Turning Point for Alan's Italy: Albeit Minor

When we returned from the trip last June, we came home with about 40 video interviews including those from the Venice Biennale, Ristorante La Grotta di Leo, the merchant friends in Orvieto of Franco Sala among others. We are now down to final few, and the nature of the shows will change from shows with a predominance of video interviews to the regular shows of places to which people are more accustomed. Also, I have decided to cut down on the quantity of broadcasts to perhaps 2 or 3 a month. This to allow me to spend time preparing in my "new" job of college professor, and not be so pressured to compose new shows. Therefore I now take a three week break to regroup, prepare new shows, and just take a breather. Other than vacation time, this will be the first hiatus of such length in almost two years of producing Alan's Italy.

That being said I do have some great ideas, excellent photos, a few more videos, and the time now to develop good stuff. In that regard I will now turn to exploring the Tuscan hill towns of Pistoia, Colle di val d'Elsa, and Citta della Pieve. This will not be easy, because I have very little knowledge of these places. I do have quite a few photos, and, of course, some stories of the reason why we chose these places. As you know, when I choose a place to visit, there is always quite a bit of background. That story needs to be told in order to place everything in perspective, not only for my audience, but for me as well to get into the right frame of mind. I have a show yet to be properly developed concerning the Venice Biennale at the Arsenale and Giardini areas that I have yet to do. Plus I have the two books with the 19th century photos of Italy by the Alinari Brothers, who pioneered photograph in Italy in the 1800's. I also have a few shows that I had created back several months ago such as the Streets of Florence focussing on my favorite places to stroll and why. Also, I have many shows, as yet undeveloped which will require help from my friend Ric Hirst to narrate. In that regard there are endless numbers, but certainly at least ten I have written down. All of these should bring me up to next May when again we travel to Italy. For that trip I have a rough idea of what we want to do, but there are many loose ends. When a decision is reached, which may not be for a while, I will discuss it in this blog.

Meanwhile last night's show has been uploaded to Youtube, but alas, I forgot to edit out the first period of 43 seconds which is devoid of sound. Now, why is there always a period of time without sound, you might ask. Picture this scene. Ellen turns on the tape machine, whispers, "quiet on the set," and then takes anywhere from 25 - 45 seconds to give me the signal to begin the opening slideshow. This, of course, must be edited out, the only editing process I have mastered. After that is accomplished, the two videos I uploaded last night, shows 77 and 78, will be history, and I can turn to my other projects for the future. Last night I tried something unusual for me, broadcasting without a sport jacket. I had no reason for this change. My original shows had a lot of no jacket sessions, but my daughter told me she liked me better with a jacket, so I changed, but now I wanted to see how it looked. Frankly now that I saw that, I decided I also liked the jacket better, so that may change next time around back to the jacket.

There are times when I get tired of the routine. Yet when I see the numbers of people continuing to go to the Youtube channel and the numbers increasing (now approaching 10,000 views !), I get reinvigorated. I believe that the Alan's Italy project is really quite amazing, and I would be unhappy to leave it. I will, however, as I have said, cut back somewhat. Meanwhile I am fully involved in my second go around for college teaching, and now will continue with my 32 year at the college and 42nd of teaching generally, still a great privilege to help young people reach their goals.

Great Food, Great Restaurant, and Some Wonderful Interviews

Last May we convinced several of the people at our favorite informal restaurant, La Grotta di Leo on via della Scala, to let us interview them to use as a basis for a future show. Those interviews along with photos and recollections of 18 years of great experiences comprise Alan's Italy Show # 77 which has finally been posted to Youtube after some fancy editing by Ellen, my Engineer. The show features interviews with the owner, the pizza chief, and the oldest waiter and one of the newest. The interviews are fascinating give the viewers a clear picture of a fabulous pizzeria/ristorante in the heart of Florence.

Of course we have had to wait an extra week posting, because somehow a period of one minute of blackness encompassed the screen, for which Ellen had no explanation, but was happy to bring it home and edit. That is one thing I have been unwilling to learn, how to edit, and much to my disadvantage, have had to either let an imperfect show stay that way or allow Ellen to do it for me. Of course, I could have learned how to execute an edit the same way I learned just about every other aspect of cable TV production, but just felt that considering the whole affair was informal and a "hobby" that I didn't want to spend hours a week producing the show. Nonetheless, Ellen did a perfect job being an expert and very experienced videographer.

So taking its place alongside my other restaurant show, La Spada, this show probably exceeds that one in that these interviews are sweet, informal representations of who works at this marvelous place where I have been dining for parts of three decades going back to before the current crew were there in the mid '90's. Located down the block from my hotel Croce di Malta and Lidia's store, Gioia Chiara, I happened upon it one day and have been dining at all hours since then. It main qualities are fabulous pizza, excellent pasta, an extensive menu, an outdoor section, clean and appealing dining, and I think best of all hours that extend well beyond the usual restaurant/pizzeria in Italy beginning to serve in the late morning and extending all the way into the wee hours of the next morning. Personally I have eaten there over 50 times at most hours of the day. When I was single and hated dining alone, I would get there around 5 PM before most larger groups arrived and have a fine meal, usually alone in the restaurant. It was one of the few places open at that early hour of the evening. I also to this day love their pizza, which affords over 30 varieties not even counting odd concoctions that the diner can come up with combining any of the ingredients listed and some not.

he next blog will focus on the show I did this evening, so stay tuned.

Michelangelo and Ric Return

Two years ago my intent was to create two shows on Michelangelo, one for his works that appear in Florence and one for his works in Rome. One of the earliest shows, number 9 in fact, had Ric Hirst, my friend and sculptor in marble, narrating the technical aspects of Il Divino's work. After waiting quite a while during which time many others ideas intervened to take precedence, Michelangelo in Rome finally aired a couple of hours ago. I created the nucleus of the show, and then Ric and I honed that product with his making several suggestions on how to make the presentation better by adding or deleting several photos. I then looked it all over at home and added a few photos to enhance the product, and voila, what you, as viewers will see is that final version begun so long ago.

Everything was relatively smooth except that whenever I have a guest with me, I forget to do my normal chores of television production in the studio and I did several mishaps before and after the show. Even Ellen became distracted when she received a phone call a few minutes before we were scheduled to go on the air. We later agreed that we do our best when we are alone in the studio with no last minute phone calls. Nonetheless, the phone call was important and having Ric Hirst with me a priceless and remarkable exercise in broadcasting. Ric's expertise, breadth of knowledge about just about everything, and insights are invaluable and made for a wonderful experience for me. I feel like I am in school with a private art history professor sitting at my side. It doesn't get any better for an Italophile like me. Ric even promised to return soon to do a show on the Orvieto Cathedral, a stunning architectural achievement from the Middle Ages complete with the stunning frescos by Piero della Francesco. In fact I have several ideas for Ric during the coming year.

Next week, I will do my show on one of my favorite restaurants in Florence, La Grotta di Leo. I first started to dine here in the 1990's continuing during my solo visits of the early 2000's up to the present. This very informal but excellent restaurant has been the kind of place I return with great comfort and confidence that the meal will be superb, especially the pizza. Everything here is tasty and the employees are always helpful and appear happy to be working there. In this case we will have several video interviews with the owner, pizza chef, and a few waiters. In the coming weeks we have a show about the shop owners in Orvieto with interviews and then will come a series of shows on several of the smaller towns surrounding Florence like Colle di Val d'Elsa, Citta della Pieve, and Pistoia. Then I will have several shows revisiting a theme I used during the first year using the Alinari photos of the 19th century. I purchased two books while in Florence which have a treasure trove of stunning images.

Meanwhile, as you know, I am back at college teaching and loving it, but will never give up Alan's Italy so stay tuned.

A Show That Just Had to be Broadcast

Several months before we left for Italy for our May/June trip, I began to communicate with our friend, Susan (whom we met at the Villa La Palagina in Figline Valdarno in 2012), who conveyed to 5 Star Movement Spokesperson, Andrea Martellini my desire to interview members of the movement who had been part of the recent success. After months of back and forth emails, which can only be described as negotiations, we agreed on a time, place, and format. Alan's Italy Show # 75 is the product of that endeavor. My first choice of venue had been the same location in which we interviewed Andrea back in 2012, namely the back lounge of the hotel in Florence, a quiet, peaceful, and relaxing venue during which time Andrea bewitched us with a wonderful presentation of his views and the views of the 5 Star Movement, and the movement's founder, Beppe Grillo. This time, however, they insisted on meeting in Figline Valdarno at a place of their choosing. Originally they wanted me to also meet perhaps half dozen representatives, all newly elected, for a two hour pre-interview session for some orientation. I told Susan that I just didn't have time for that and frankly did not want to interview so many people. I insisted that they narrow it to just a couple of people, limit the interview to a one hour (at most) informal discussion, and agreed to meet in the Figline Town Hall. I brought my dear friend Luca with me for translating purposes, and with Laura performing the videography off we went. We were told to meet them in the village piazza, where they then led us to a busy and noisy restaurant. Right away I was dubious of the choice of location, but eagerly followed along with my entourage.

We sat at the back of the restaurant and began what became three different video segments totally a bit less than 30 minutes. We did 3 shorter segments because at the time Laura and I were unsure whether the camera, a sophisticated canon, but not intended for extensive videography, would shut down after a time, so we kept stopping. That issue was not the problem, however, as the excessive noise of a busy restaurant became the real stumbling block. When we viewed the video at home in Woodstock, we felt that there was so much noise from the dishes being moved around, people talking, and the general racket of a busy eatery, that we might not even show any of it on an actual broadcast. I, nonetheless, created a show around the three videos, with some background about Beppe Grillo, the founder of the movement, the previous interview we did with Andrea in 2012, and the best part of all, a short 5 minute interview at my friend Luca in his home that evening in which he talks about the plight of the average person in Italy dealing with the extremely horrid economic conditions. He also spoke about why he voted for the 5 Star Movement. With the finished product just about honed for the actual show, I decided upon the schedule for the show # 75, and went about my business of creating programs about the Palazzo Bembo (shows # 70, 71, 72), the Jews of Italy (shows # 68 and #69), the 3 Venice Hotels (show # 74) and Venice Neighborhoods (show # 73).

Amid all the problems I had with show # 70 having had to re-tape the show twice after the original broadcast, I also struggled with the idea of whether to do the 5 Star Movement Show at all. Throwing care to the wind, I did it last night amid the additional turmoil of doing the live broadcast. First Ellen told me that the channel wasn't functioning well with frequent blackouts during broadcasts. Then I noticed during the show that the voices were not properly synched to the lips of the speakers. Then Ellen told me there were sound problems. And on and on. I took the DVD home, looked briefly at it, so disgusted about the whole project, I nonetheless decided to download to my computer and then upload to Youtube. Then I intended to explain the whole mess on this blog, and chalk up the whole disaster to the amateurish, cable access, live broadcast excuses I always use. I liked that idea a lot so people can see how difficult this whole project had been over the past almost two years.

I just watched the show and it really is not so bad, and I must admit rather fulfilling to have come through all this and been able to view a finished product. You can still hear the voices fairly well, especially if you really concentrate, the lips are perfectly synched, and the message the speakers convey is so important for the United States, all "free" societies, and the world of politics in general, that I am actually proud to now present to you Alan's Italy Show # 75: Italy's Miracle Election, the Movimento Cinque Stelle (5 Star Movement), The People Who Made it Happen.

Whew ! Thank God that's over. Now on to other projects. Next week I take a break and return with Ric Hirst and Michelangelo in Rome, a show I began to organize almost a year ago about Il Divino's work in Rome.

Show # 70 Returns

Alan's Italy Show # 70: The 55th Venice Biennale, Palazzo Bembo, Part 1 has returned. After weeks of revising and making it a better all around production, I have taped the updated version and uploaded it to Youtube. It can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phcv0ryFD-A on my Youtube Channel.

I am very happy that is out of the way since it completes the 3-part series that really started months ago, continued at the biennale itself, and continued even further as I worked on the shows at home. I think for an amateur producer on a cable access station it is good. If this were CNN or PBS, well I am not so certain that they wouldn't fire me ! But I am not a TV producer by trade; I am a math teacher, so if anyone ever wishes to rate me, then come into my class not into my studio ! LOL In fact even as a TV producer, I am working with very limited resources. Ellen did an amazing job of editing, and if I had that ability, I could probably do a better job of producing, but alas, I have not the time or the inclination to become an expert editor. She did me the favor, but really her services would need to be compensated, if I relied on her to do this job on a regular basis.

Anyway, here it is, and if anyone out there in cyberland has been waiting for this, as I have, then all I can say is enjoy, not only show # 70, but 71 and 72, now the complete 3-part series. Now on to other projects !

A Busy Week and Pay Dirt With Venice Hotels

The week began with an orientation at the college to which I was returning. I learned some new things I had missed during the past 3 years during my retirement. Then Wednesday at 8 AM Ellen and I had reserved the TV studio to retape Alan's Italy Show # 70 on the Palazzo Bembo Exhibition, Part 1. I found it a fine experience doing a show at 8 AM instead of the usual 5 PM. I just kind of rolled out of bed, drove to the studio, did the show, drove home, and carried on with my day. Ellen and I spent some time at the beginning deciding exactly what we needed to do to make this the "perfect" show. Nonetheless, there were a few blips, so when we finished, she took it home and used her expertise to edit it to "perfection." It will probably be uploaded to Youtube tomorrow.

On Thursday I resumed my college teaching career by opening the school semester with my students. I longed for this moment for a long time, ever since I had "retired" in 2010. The epiphany I had during the past 3 years was that this is my life's purpose, teaching, and hope to continue as long as the college wants me or as long as my health holds up. It was a stupendous experience being back in front of a class, better than I ever imagined. There were no problems, I was relaxed, happy to be there, and I loved my students, once again being thankful for loving my job.

Tonight at 3 PM Laura noticed that there were several photos which had not been edited so she began to do that as I rested for my show. Then I did this show at the usual time. Alan's Italy Show # 74: A Story of Three Hotels in Venice is the story of the Venice part of the last trip we took to Italy in May/June 2013. I talked about why we stayed at three different places during the seven days, and showed some photos of the hotels. It also gave me yet another chance to show photos of Venice including quite a few from water taxis (motor boats basically), and vaporettos (water buses). The show was smooth as silk and except for mistakenly identifying the Rialto Bridge (I actually did that once before in the heat of a live broadcast with the SAME bridge !!!). This time the problem was a combination of bad eyesight, looking quickly at the Accademia Bridge with all the recent construction and thinking that the construction was really the stores of the Rialto. I quickly corrected myself. Other than that, I was pleased, and Ellen was as well. It will soon be on Youtube.

Next week is a real treat as I will be focussing on the recent Italian election during which the fledgling Movimento Cinque Stelle took 25 % of the vote. In the show I will be interviewing two elected officials, a town councilman and a representative in their parliament. It is a fascinating show filled with extraordinary tales of how an unfunded true grass roots movement similar in some ways to our Occupy Wall Street Movement, but far, far, far more organized and successful managed to shock the country's electorate and government with a series of stunning victories. Please join us for some great interviews.

Well, I am Indeed, Back on the Air with Venice Neighborhoods

Although I honestly thought getting back to the studio would be just like getting on a bicycle after not having ridden for years, the reality was far from that easy. I arrived at the studio early and Ellen and I caught up on life for the past several weeks. We did some sound tests, and then my friend and wing man on the show, Ric, showed up to say hello at the precise moment Ellen told me there was a weird image on the screen and that I should come take a look. Here I was using my computer for the first time on the air after having replaced my original a week ago. Of course there would bugs to be worked out, but I hadn't really thought about that much. Ignoring Ric and thinking that we would have to cancel the show, I saw a similar image to one I had seen before. I then realized that when it had last occurred several months ago I took the computer to Best Buy and one of the geeks straightened out the problem. The trouble was that I had forgotten what to do. Ric soon left realizing we were in the process of a crisis, and I groped around with Preferences on the computer until I realized what the issue was and quickly corrected it. Whew ! Now it was time to start the show.

As we progressed through the show I felt very uncomfortable, making several mistakes, some of which I found and corrected, and feeling generally uneasy. I got through the show, and Ellen said it was wonderful, but I felt really strange. In my mind I was saying many things. First, well it has been several weeks, so that would be expected. Second, maybe I have come to the end of the road, tired of doing shows every Friday evening and kind of enjoyed the break. Sort of like coming back to work after a vacation. You know that feeling that you just are having trouble concentrating on what has to be done. That usually took me a few days to get back into the groove. Third I was thinking of later the next week when I would be teaching my first classes since May 2010 and worried that perhaps the same thing would happen on Thursday. Any way you looked at it, things were crowding my mind with very disturbing thoughts.

I then came home and downloaded to my computer which is now taking more than twice the time it used to. My computer technician, Dan, and I went through some tests after he had reinstalled Handbrake, the program we use to download. He had said that it might be taking longer because the settings were different from how they had been with the other computer, but since we never much kept track of that, we would go with what we have and make adjustments after we saw what would happen. I had no trouble waiting the 22 minutes, and then uploaded to Youtube which at first was also having issues. I am now setting up the video on Youtube editing the length, selecting a better thumbnail image to show as the initial photo, etc. We shall see as it is too soon to tell what is going on.

All in all since 3 weeks ago when my computer crashed, the way has not been smooth. Nonetheless, I am apparently back on the horse, and will keeping going until i can get a grip on the situation with the show. Until then I will keep writing blogs and see what happens. Tune in to Show # 73 for the Neighborhoods of Venice and next week for the story of the three hotels we stayed in during our recent visit.

Will I Ever Get Back on the Air

I always say that only personal illness or computer meltdown will stop Alan's Italy from being broadcast on Woodstock Public Access Television, and actually bring the whole project to a close. I should be happy to report that illness was not the reason for the sudden, but complete shutdown of the entire project did occur due to my computer's malfunction. The screen was going to black or blue for no reason causing me to bring the computer to the Apple Store in Albany where they swiftly sent it out to a location somewhere in the United States to be fixed. After several days, they apparently lost track of the computer, and offered me a new computer, which had to be restored to the old hard drive. To make a very long and difficult story short, I am now back in business, although I am not quite ready to say that we are 100 % complete. There are still several issues left unresolved, two of which, at least, will be addressed by my private computer tech person who will come to my house tomorrow to solve those problems. One problem is that the mechanism I use to download the show on DVD to my computer, a program called Handbrake, needs to be reinstalled. Also I need to come to grips with the fact that I have items stored on my computer which I hardly use. Those will hopefully be banished to a new external hard drive that Apple gave me for free to provide sufficient room on my new computer (the new computer has a hard drive capacity of 500 gigs instead of the old computer which had 750 gigs for storage).

Anyway for 2 harrowing weeks I was faced with the prospect of losing my Alan's Italy Project, and simply not having a computer. Needless to say we have all become so accustomed to using computers, that such a prospect was horrible indeed. Luckily I had my IPhone 5 to use as a replacement computer, but at my age a 4 inch screen hardly compares with my 15 incher !!!!! Bottom line: we are back on the air this coming Friday evening at 5 PM with Show # 73: Neighborhoods of Venice.

Also in the Alan's Italy news is that I will be returning to my adjunct lecturer position at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) next Thursday, August 29 where I will be teaching two of my favorite mathematics courses. After a three year hiatus and realizing how much I missed teaching math, I am back on the horse. I will try very hard to maintain my Alan's Italy Project of doing weekly shows, providing rebroadcasts during the following week on the WPAT Carousel, writing my weekly blog, but I will be cutting back on my syndication to many areas of the Hudson Valley. I will try to continue with a couple, but whoever is watching in some other areas will lose the show. I just cannot do everything !!! Also planning our next Italian vacation and will talk more about that later.

Out of Commission

If there is anyone out there in cyber land who might be wondering why there has not been a show for a couple of weeks, and my blogs have not appeared, please let me inform you that my computer had a burn out, and is currently being repaired by Applecare. At this time the show has been suspended pending the completion of the repair process. I am anticipating being back in business for the next show on Friday, August 23, but who knows. In the meantime please enjoy my other blogs and my 71 previous shows.

The Final Curtain Call of the Palazzo Bembo Series, but Not Without Some Aggravation

When I began planning this series of show on the Palazzo Bembo Exhibition as part of the 55th Venice Biennale, I had thought that this morning I would be placing the finishing touches on the project and moving ahead to other concepts. So now, as you know, I am retaping Show # 70 to make the gallery talk better, so that will occur Thursday of next week, my 3rd taping of the same show (!!!), a new world's record for Alan's Italy. But when the evening ended yesterday I thought at least it would just be that one last (hopefully!) time, but then when I came home, another catastrophe was looming. First of all in the studio as I watched the video gallery talks by the artists, I noted the sound was not synched to the lips moving, and this scared me into believing perhaps video interviews are not the best thing on which to base a show. Then when I came home and watched the DVD on my computer, I saw no such problem. Whew !!! However, Youtube was in uploading lock, not permitting me to get the show on their site !!! Maybe it's me. In fact yes it is me !!!! I immediately thought that perhaps I had reached the maximum quantity of time allotted for Youtube up loaders, and Alan's Italy had broadcast its last program to be viewed by the "world". Of course, had I been a different person, I would have simply come to the conclusion that maybe Youtube was down, experiencing technical difficulties. Then again had I been a different person, there may not have been Alan's Italy to begin with ! As it turns out I awoke this morning, tried again, and there it is, everything not only working smoothly, but in fact I noted two improvements in the site. First, two status bars, one for the upload and one for the entire finished project including what they refer to as processing. Second, and probably most importantly, I now have a choice of determining which thumbnail I can select to be the display image for each show uploaded to Youtube. For this particular show none of the usual three choices were acceptable, but then, as I was fully prepared to once again despair,  I suddenly noted that there is a link to select my own photo from my vast library, providing me with a multitude of choices. Fabulous !!! Youtube, thank you.

The show (http://youtu.be/zh7_7BNXOXA) was pretty successful all things considered, and perhaps most importantly. Ellen and I have become quite smooth as silk, but there is always this looming threat of extinction. Again that could be my own paranoia and propensity for negative thinking, or just a reality. I often refer to this whole experience as Adventures in Broadcasting, a good subject for an expanded book (larger than the first I wrote that nobody read). I have to come to the realization, as I did during the night last night, that this cannot go on forever. When people ask me what I foresee to be the event that will initiate a swan song for Alan's Italy, I say, "Gee, I really do not know, but it just cannot go on infinitely. It just can't. Nothing does. " They ask me if I could possibly run out of ideas. No, I reply, I have a virtual (no pun intended) treasure trove of ideas, and indeed have about 2 dozen albums already initiated. Will they station disallow the show for some reason. No again, they basically allow everything. I suggest that I may get very bored, very old, very poor, very un-Italophilic, very something,...... Surely, however, when that time comes (hey even the TV show Mash eventually went off the air), it will be a bit traumatic, of that I can be certain. But until then here I am moving ahead. Next week is the beginning of several shows on Venice- long awaited, anticipated, and planned, an in depth look at the stunning beauty and uniqueness of this panoply of wonders. But remember being Alan's Italy, thus Alan's Venice, this will be my unique perspective, my point of view, and my interpretation of what may actually move ahead of Florence and Tuscany, as my number one destination !!!!

Extraordinary Artists on Shows # 71 and # 72

It gives me great pleasure to indicate two of the artists whom I video taped at the Palazzo Bembo in May. I have yet to hear from all of the eight, but I can now say that Suh Jeong Min, Triny Prada, Herre Methorst, and Djawid Borower, who all appear on Show # 71, have given their approvals to indicate their names on my blog, Youtube uploads, website, etc. For Show # 72 Chris Fraser, Monika Thiele and Chen ping are among those featured. I await more responses, but until them, if you wish to check them out, please feel free to view Alan's Italy Show # 71 on youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsuGTxQFu40 and Show # 72  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh7_7BNXOXA

Alan's Italy Show # 70 To Be Re-done

Those of you who might want to see Show # 70: The Venice Biennale, Palazzo Bembo, Part 1 for the first time or perhaps again will not be able to do that. The show has been removed from Youtube and is being created all over again. We are going to do a better job with the Gallery Talk during the final segment showing the artist in a small frame, with the sculpture to which he is referring in the large frame. There will also be several other modifications. We are going to create a new show, and without actually being broadcast, I will go back to the studio and do it all over again. That edition of Show # 70 will then be uploaded to Youtube to take the place of the old version. It's a long story, but we just wanted the Gallery Talk to be better and since we have the ability to do that, we felt that it would be a better representation.

Venice Biennale Part 2

Positively flawless as far as I can tell, and no negatives. Savor the moment, I kept telling myself. Then again how can a show go bad when the art of stunning magnitude is shown and explained by the actual artists. Wonderful people from all over the world, whose names I will reveal as I begin to get their permission. The only minor flaw was that I show a photo of Monet's Rouen Cathedral at different times of the day, before I showed the video of Atelier Morales discussing his work in relation to the famous impressionist artist. My original intent had been to show the Monet piece, mention what it was, in case my audience had trouble recognizing it, and then relating it to Atelier. However, I forgot that and we heard the Atelier gallery talk and then I showed the Monet piece. Atelier, however, did a fine job of explaining how his work was related to Monet's, so it worked out alright.

I can only spend some time talking about how wonderful the artists were, personable, charming, knowledgeable, and, of course, extremely creative and talented. I thank all eight of them en masse and hope to gain permission over the next few days to talk about their work a little more. If anyone wishes to explore their work further or contact them with questions, the lists of artists is displayed throughout the show.

Next week I will be taking off, but we resume on Friday, August 2 with eight additional artists. Then we will take a break from the Venice Biennale, but eventually come back when Laura and I have organized a show on the Arsenale/Giardini part in the next few weeks. In the meantime I have three already prepared shows, one on Venice Neighborhoods (Show # 73), The Story of the Three Hotels we stayed in Venice, a very interesting story (Show # 74), and a show devoted to what Italy looks like at night, especially Venice, but also many other places throughout the country (Show # 75). Then who knows I have several more partially planned on a variety of places, mostly in Tuscany, studies of famous art, and some more interviews with people we encountered during our last trip to Italy.

The Venice Biennale

This is the show to which I was really looking forward, the beginning of the series on the 55th Venice International Exposition, known as the Venice Biennale. In my haste to get the Global Art Affairs Foundation's Palazzo Bembo Collateral Event into the schedule as early as possible, so that most of the duration of the exhibition will still be left (it runs to November 24), I placed this early in my series of shows on our last Italy trip. Rather than wait for us to organize all the Venice Biennale pictures in good order, I started the process with a few photos, but all of our videos of the Palazzo Bembo part. Labeled as the Venice Biennale, Palazzo Bembo, Parts 1, 2 and 3 viewers will see what a well-known, extensive, and brilliant exhibition at the Biennale looks like first hand. I discard a couple of videos, because there was too much extraneous noise, or some other reason, and wound up with a total of 19 videos organized into the three shows. This first program represents a nice introduction complete with some footage of the Grand Canal, the overview of the second floor of the exhibition, an interview with the President of the Foundation, Karlyn Dejongh, and an extensive gallery talk by one of the participating artists. The next two broadcasts Friday, July 19 and Friday, August 2 (skipping a week) will feature short gallery talks (anywhere from four minutes to more than eight minutes) of 16 artists from all over the world. It will be very special because the videos are a creation of not only me, but the artists as well. The people are charming, interesting, and fascinating representatives of their special brand of magnificence. I will not be able to indicate in this blog who are there until I get their permission to use their names. The art is very special and the interviews are very much Alan's Italy, a relaxed, down-home, informal jaunt through the wonders of Italy.

Of course, nothing I ever do occurs easily and this show was no exception. During the presenting of one of the videos, I noticed a period of several seconds when I spoke some words that I didn't wish to broadcast. My intention had been, before the show when I was putting the whole thing together, to mute the sound for the period of perhaps 15 or 20 seconds, but, alas, forgot. Even though the show had already gone out to my local audience, since not too many people watch the show live (if any ! actually most watch it locally in the repeat mode during the following week), the most important thing was that those few seconds be removed, or certainly the audio part. The whole weekend I had two computer specialists try to figure out how to mute that brief segment and they failed in their attempts, and then asked my engineer to do the whole show over with me on Monday. That was accomplished a few hours ago, and was the reason why this blog, as well as the posting of the Youtube video, was delayed. As I write this, the video is uploading to Youtube. Whew ! Yet another adventure in broadcasting.

Please tune in to Alan's Italy Show # 70, which should be there soon, and also look out for # 71 and 72. These three shows and others on the main part of the Venice Biennale at Arsenale and Giardini will provide a really excellent survey of what the visitor gets to see at this incredible international exhibition.

The Jewish Experience Part 2 and The Next Group

The Jewish Experience in Italy, Part 2 came off without much of a hitch. It was, as expected, quite informative as many people have told me so far. The only major, glaring error that I committed was referring to the experience of visiting the Ghetto in Venice on December 31, when I meant to say May 31. The broadcast, otherwise was perfect, with Ellen doing her usual beautiful job. I was also miffed, because my sport jacket was bunched up in the back, a recurrent problem, which Ellen is constantly reminding me about. This was more obvious because the jacket is a light color which made it more obvious to the viewer. Nonetheless, since I am convinced that I can never do a "perfect" show, I will take this. I am now not sure where to go with this, except that a friend of mine told me to begin to lecture on the topic in various venues throughout the Hudson Valley. Don't know about that, especially if my time becomes consumed with working at some college teaching mathematics once again. I am also running for the Woodstock Artists Association Board of Directors next month, and if I win a position will also occupy some space in my calendar.

I must now start to think about the next group of shows. I have three almost totally prepared on the Venice Biennale beginning with our experience at the Palazzo Bembo Exhibition that Laura was part of. In that regard I have an introductory show which talks a little about the Global Art Affairs Foundation and their founder, Rene Rietmeyer. I then take the viewer to the palazzo as we had first seen it aboard a boat pulling up at the vaporetto stop just to the north of the palazzo, then down the street, and into the building. Then a brief tour of the exhibit's second floor, followed by a wonderful interview with the President of the GAAF, Karlyn Dejongh. She also interprets her art which was also part of the exhibition. The show will then turn to a gallery talk by one of the great artists in the exhibition, Sam Jinks, who came to Venice with his family. He interprets his work and answers some questions from the audience.

Subsequent shows will focus on the 15 interviews I did with artists in the exhibition, dividing them up into two consecutive shows. They are fascinating interviews with people from all over the world standing near their work talking about their method, technique, and ideas. Then I hope Laura and I can sit down and plan for a fourth show which focusses on the other part, main part of the Venice Biennale, which occurs at Arsenale and Giardini. We will take the ones we liked the best and show photos and videos. It might even turn out to be two shows, but it is impossible to tell before the planning process begins. Now that Laura is finished with her own project of creating her art, she can give me some time.

The either four or five shows will constitute my presentation of the 55th Venice Biennale giving a very good view to my audience of what we saw. Unfortunately, because of our commitments while in Venice we could not do justice to the Collateral Events (other than the Palazzo Bembo). There were a total of 48 of these of which we only saw two, perhaps three. Just not enough time in a week. Had we stayed an additional few days, we could have documented most of the total Biennale.

The Jewish Experience of Italy

Before I left for Italy I had designed a plan to create about two dozen new shows and new series of episodes. One such series began on Friday, June 28. Based on the interviews we did of the people at the Synagogue of Florence, Emanuele Viterbo, Secretary (Director) of the Jewish Community, Sara Cividalli, President of the Congregation, and Renzo Funaro, Chief Architect in charge of renovations and reconstructions. It is fun to hatch an idea, execute it in Italy through photos and videos, and then design the appropriate show for the entertainment and education of my audience. It is now an even greater delight to plan an actual trip to Italy. That is, after all, why I do this. Heaven knows I do not make money from the entire endeavor and indeed spend large sums. I do it because it is fun !!!

Anyway, the videos carried the show, although as I always do when talking about a project that we carry out in Italy, I like also to tell the story of how the whole idea came about. I try very hard not to spend too much time on the latter, because then the essence of the show, the video interviews, have to be rushed, which is, of course, counterproductive. In this regard the plan worked to perfection. I was able to perform exactly as I would have wanted. Ellen and I at this point can practically predict how long each will be. If you look on Youtube at the lengths of each show, you will see that the average is somewhere in the 57 minutes range for the past several months. The only glitch was starting the musical introduction, and having Ellen tell me to start again, because she had failed to initiate the picture part of the broadcast. I edited that from Youtube, but people seeing the show in the Hudson Valley (Woodstock primarily but eventually all the other locations to which I send copies), will see the music begin, a black screen, stopping and starting all over again; that is unless the station itself can modify the DVD. Otherwise it was a fine show.

The story of the Jewish People in Italy, as everywhere in the world, is a fascinating story interwoven with the history of the cities in which they lived. One of the striking things that people might notice and certainly caught my attention is that the synagogue of Florence is large, beautiful, and graces the landscape in the eastern portion by its majesty, just as the Dome of the Cathedral does to the western. When my audience views the Venice show next Friday, they will see synagogues which basically blend into the city, with nothing to distinguish them from the general area in which they exist. Venetian synagogues were built hundreds of years ago when Jews had every reason to remain as discreet as possible amid the ever present threat of suppression. The Florence synagogue was built in the 1870's, not only without that constraint, but also amid the excitement of the Risorgimento or Unification of all the disparate city-states into one country, Italy, a time when Florence, as the capital of the new country, was spreading its wings. Almost simultaneously, the Ghetto was demolished to make way for the new Piazza Repubblica to commemorate this great honor and David Levi donated a lot of money for the constriction of the stunning synagogue.

Nonetheless, the pride, history, and culture of the Jews in Venice is no less admirable as the audience will see when I interview the Chief Rabbi of the Venetian Community, Rabbi Benyamin, the President of the Congregation, Mr. Corrado Calimani, and a volunteer, Ms. Gaia Rava. Equally impressive they tell their own stories of struggle and triumph in the city whose Jewish confinement gave birth to the word "ghetto" itself. Of course, I also introduce the show with the journey to find the story to tell and the actual trip from our hotel atop the Palazzo Bembo. Then the interviews, followed by a few other things. Again, I owe a great debt to the people who made the time to show us extraordinary hospitality during our visit, just as I do to the people in Florence. When all is said and done, and we visit Florence and Venice once again, I hope to return to these venues to reiterate that appreciation.

April Blood and Other Historical Moments

One of the episodes about which I focused on last night's show was the Pazzi Conspiracy, the plot to assassinate Lorenzo (Il Magnifico) de' Medici and his brother Giuliano on Sunday, April 26, 1478. The details of which are clearly outlined in a book I once read, April Blood, by Lauro Martines. Without going into great detail, let me just say that this episode in Florentine history is in itself an amazing story hatched by a cadre of enemies of the Medici family, not only members of the Pazzi family, but members of the church and others as well. The murder of Giuliano and narrow escape of Lorenzo with only minor wounds reshaped the fabric of the Florentine political power base from that point on. I suggest that anyone who has an interest in Italian history should look into the details of the plot, the building up to the actual moment, which ironically occurred in the Florence Cathedral, and the stunning aftermath. The expression, "truth is stranger than fiction," was never truer than it was on fateful day.

The fact is that a lot of what I alluded to on the show bears closer scrutiny by anyone who has enjoyed reading this blog and watching my shows over the past year and a half. All of the famous palaces of Florence have their stories, and reading about them in greater detail would contribute to a fascinating way of reliving the incredible history of one of the world's great cities. I have spent considerable time studying the Sassetti Chapel in the Church of Santa Trinita with the extraordinary fresco cycle by Ghirlandaio. Through his realistic portraits of notable Florentines, painting biblical scenes for the wealthy patrons of Florence in the 15th century (and placing them into his work), he serves as a valuable historian who portrays Florence's storied past with stunning realism. His unique perspective provides the viewer with a wonderful view of life during the early Renaissance complete with an understanding of what the people looked, dressed, and acted like five hundred years ago. I have been contemplating a future show either about Ghirlandaio or perhaps the general concept of the painting portraits of Florentine notables during the 15th century, calling it something akin to one of my favorite shows, Florence, Then and Now. That show focussed on the photography of the Alinari Brothers, whose pioneering discoveries gave us an interesting picture of Italy in the 19th century. The show about the art of Ghirlandaio, and others such as Botticelli, Masaccio, Filippo Lippi, and others might be called A Fifteenth Century View of Florence focussing not only on the portraits, but also well-known scenes around the town.

In fact while in Florence a few weeks ago, I bought two books on the photography of the Alinari Brothers and others and will be presenting several shows on Florence, Then and Now during the coming year. Next week I venture into a story of the Jewish people in Italy through the eyes of several members of the communities of Florence and Venice. Please honor us by tuning in. Grazie.

A Long Time in Development and the Future

It's amazing how long it sometimes takes to develop a show. In this case I started many months ago, kept revising, studying, and even today a few hrs before broadcasting, I was still making changes. The show started out as a pleasant look at the biggest and most interesting palazzo, and wound up being a focus on the influence of the Medici in Florence during the 300 yrs of their "rule". Of course, as in some Italian city-states at the time, there was no recognized king per se. Florence prided itself on being a republic, and therefore had an elected body with a "mayor" known as the gonfaliere; however, the Medici exerted such strong influence over this body and indeed all of Florence, that they were the de facto leaders of the city. Many cities were controlled by the wealthy families. The Medici stamp can be found on almost every palazzo and therefore also every wealthy family, be it friend or foe. These turned out to be most interesting for me to study and I tried to include as much of that concept as possible during the show. One flaw in the show I noticed later, I always make misstatements, and this show was no exception. I indicated early on that Nero preceded Augustus as Emperor of Rome in the first century BC when in reality he came later than Augustus in the first century AD. Sorry about that. Yet another example of how flummoxed one can get doing a live show of one hour in length, but no excuses, I apologize for placing Nero in the wrong century.

As always I placed a lot of material into one show, and as it turned out, too much. That is the remnant of the basic insecurity I started out with almost two years ago when development of the show began. I have to learn to cut and trim and not make each show so long. In time perhaps I will. This show concludes, for a while anyway, the old shows I had created prior to our recent trip. Now begins the Florence/Venice programs photographed and videoed recently. I will start with Venice, but deviate slightly as I do the Jewish Experience in Italy and start with Florence. Then I will shift gears to Venice and stay on the Venice theme for several months, from the Jews in Venice to the Venice Biennale to some of the evocative scenes of the world's most unique city. In this regard I have some excellent themes, such as Neighborhoods of Venice, a Boat Ride Down the Grand Canal (really several videos combined into one show), Everyday Life in Venice, a Story of Three Hotels (the three places we stayed during the 7 days and why we stayed in so many places for such a short time), and several others. The show about the Palazzo Bembo I will create on my own, but the artists of the Venice Biennale at Arsenale and Giardini will be developed by Laura. Then in a few months, it will be back to Florence for some fine shows. That's the next year's line-up.

So on we go for the next 33 shows. I say 33, because that will bring me to 100 all together, always one of my goals; then we'll see what happens. Thanks for staying with me through thick and thin, and I hope you will enjoy the next phase of this total experience.

Back in the Studio Once Again

So, after the fact, everything went well, almost anyway. The show came off without a hitch system wide, electronically everything worked well. All my trepidation vanished as the show began, and as usual I was relaxed and calm starting as I wanted with a talk about the trip we just had taken to Florence and Venice, a summary of some of the upcoming shows in the next several months, and a relaxing meander through some of the most beautiful and famous streets in Italy. Beginning with some famous streets around the world, then moving into Ancient Rome with some history (which I read in that I had created this show months ago and forgot most of the details), and then a quick tour of my favorites in all the country I have visited. I topped off the show with a great video of a gondola riding down a side canal with singing gondoliers and happy tourists riding happily through the side canals of Venice. Ending on that note, the closing sequence finished off my first live show in a month, my longest layover. The only mess up was in my haste to leave the studio, I left my cables there ! Ellen just called to tell me she has them safely tucked away for next week, so all I have to do now is to relax until then. Fat chance.

I now will perform the show I also created months ago, Palazzi of Florence, mostly an historical perspective on some of the most famous in the city of wealthy bankers during the 15th and 16 centuries. In the meantime I will be composing six shows, two on the Jewish Experience of Italy focussing on interviews I did in Florence and Venice. The next four will center on video interviews with the artists who appeared in the Venice Biennale at the Collateral Event at the Palazzo Bembo. My gaze in general now turns to organizing all the photos and videos I have accumulated over the past 2 weeks trip to Italy and will keep me very busy. These perhaps two dozen shows with be spread out over the next 6 - 8 months interspersed with several I had already planned from the past year, including some analysis of the great art of Italy with my friend and compatriot, Ric Hirst. I even promised Franc Palaia a visits to his hometown of Poughkeepsie for a tour of Little Italy in that city in the Hudson Valley. So the next year promises to be a wonderful tour of still greater things related to Italy.

Stayed tuned and buona notte.

Uniqueness, but Not Much More

I have never written a blog so close to a live broadcast, so for my loyal followers, I just thought that would be a good idea, unique and I hope interesting to know my thoughts, what goes on in my mind before a show, just before a show. Of course, being whom I am, I am a little anxious. Anxiety follows me everywhere I go and rears its ugly head in everything I do. As my shrink tells me, it is just who I am, and I have learn to accept it and deal with it - the essence of my therapy over the past 18 months.

If I analyze why I am currently anxious, one can point to a number of reasons. First, of course is that I am always a bit nervous, every show. Not bad, and as many professional athletes indicate, it gives them an edge to be a little tense. Second, I have not performed live in four weeks, the longest period of time I have gone. Third, the show was prepared a long time ago and the initial interest has worn slightly. Of course, once I get into it, I will find the enthusiasm I always seem to have. Fourth, during the first few minutes of the show I will try to give a preview into the upcoming shows based on my recent, and arguably most amazing of my 21 excursions to Italy. I only hope I can capture the magic and transfer that to my audience, always a problem. Fifth, of course, yet another "of course", with the broadcasts one never knows when the system will break down, so after last week that is always an issue. However all this can be taken and indeed accepted in the correct context. Other than performing and entertaining my audience, i.e. you, the most important part of this endeavor, there is no life or death situations riding on this whole venture. I do not get paid, nor will my life affected in any measurable way. I will simply come home, have something to eat, while watching, probably my favorite thing on TV (DVD actually), The West Wing. I finished my 7th go around last week, so I will have to begin again; not much of a problem, since I worship that show.

Of all the issues mentioned above I want to perform the show as perfectly as I designed it, so that is my biggest concern. My visual images will help me focus. One of my "friends" (not really a friend any more) told me I show too many images. My response was, "try to sustain a one hour show and we'll talk again after YOU had the experience." The images help me to relax and focus, although the Bart and Tobe Show a few months back had few images, but then again, Bart and Tobe helped me to relax and focus. Ellen, my engineer and close friend also helps me, but most of all my love for Italy sustains me, and that is always something to fall back on. So here I am telling you my innermost thoughts, and have no qualms about that, as you are my devoted audience, some, I suppose for the whole time (thank you). For the next hour I don't know what I will do, perhaps put my head back and doze for a while, or read my latest book, a great, and very long biography of my favorite person who ever lived, Lincoln. Or I may just stare into space, always a good way to clear my mind. I will almost certainly leave for the studio a bit earlier than normally, because that always relaxes me, just being back in the studio, small, sometimes cramped, but my second home nonetheless.

So I hope you watch the show, either live or on Youtube later tonight, and enjoy it very much, as much as I enjoy letting you in on my thoughts. I will write the follow up tomorrow or perhaps if I have time, tonight.

A Man With a Plan

Not having to plan the next show certainly has its advantages. I have used the time well trying to decide which of the multitude of broadcasts I would do first, second, etc. I made a decision, which in all likelihood I will stick with. Here is the tentative list for the first six of these shows:

Show # 68: The Jewish Experience in Italy, Part 1: Florence
Show # 69: The Jewish Experience in Italy, Part 2: Venice

Show # 70: The 55th Venice Biennale, the Palazzo Bembo Exhibition, Part 1
Show # 71: The 55th Venice Biennale, the Palazzo Bembo Exhibition, Part 2
Show # 72:  Will be Part 3
Show # 73:  Will be Part 4

Each of the Bembo shows will focus on the 17 interviews I did with the artists. Even if you have no interest in art, these are fascinating talks with people from all over the world just talking about their passion in life. People from Australia, China, Korea, Germany, etc. They are very interesting and if you like the Alan's Italy TV Show you will like these shows.

After that I don't know except that I will probably do a series of shows on Venice focussing on the following themes:

Night time in Venice - focussing on photos we took in the evening. Venice at its most serene, beautiful, and eerie.
Three Hotels - focussing on the three different places in which we stayed while in Venice and their neighborhoods.
A Ride Down the Grand Canal - showing a series of videos taken by me of the embarkation, ride, and disembarkation from a vaporetto while traveling down the Grand Canal.
Venice Scenes - showing different fascinating views as I did in Venice Scenes Part 1 a while back.
Neighborhoods in Venice - breaking down Venice into its districts, San Marco, Castello, Rialto, Canaregio, San Paolo, Dorsoduro. This could be 2 shows.
Everyday Scenes in Venice - showing the side of Venice tourists rarely take notice of, laundry hanging out of windows, children playing, people just being neighborly with their friends, local restaurants, etc.

Somewhere along the line we will return to the Venice Biennale Theme for a look at the "other" part of the exhibition known as the Exhibition at Arsensale and Giardini. Palazzo Bembo is one of the Collateral Events, palazzi around town with their own exhibitions. Pal Bembo is the biggest and best.

Then the Florence shows with the interview of the people from the 5 Star Movement. Actually this may come earlier as I promised them I would try to get it on the air sooner than later.

Then shows on Pistoia, Colle di Val d'Elsa, Citta della Pieve, Orvieto. And esoteric concepts such as the Sculpture in the Piazza della Signoria, Shopping in Florence, and another show as I did a ways back, Florence, Then and Now featuring the 19th century photos of the Alinari Brothers. I also will do a show featuring interviews I did at one of my favorite restaurants in Florence, La Grotta di Leo, where I have been dining for 18 years.

Sadly, I did not get any cooking videos. Sorry. I tried and failed again and again. I cannot always be successful, but I will try again next year.

Keep tuned in. Grazie per la lettura !

Cancelled Show

For the first time in months we had to cancel a show. When I arrived at the studio, Ellen told me there had been a power failure and everything was working strangely. After plugging in my computer, we realized the color was off, so we rebooted the broadcast system. Then the Tricaster failed to work and then the Focus also malfunctioned and we decided to cancel the live show. Meanwhile during all this I put my head down and fell asleep !!! I am totally exhausted and still jet-lagged from the trip, getting very little sleep at night, and am happy I didn't have to perform this evening. Tonight I will get to sleep early and try to get a lot of rest. Sorry for those of you looking forward to Show # 66 - The Roads and Streets of Italy, a.k.a. The Byways of Italy, now postponed until next week.

How to Document A Trip Filled with Magic and Amazement

We returned from our trip to Italy and it will be very hard to put into words how utterly wonderful this experience was. Nonetheless, as many of you are aware by now, I do not have much trouble expressing myself, especially when things go well. This trip had two distinct parts, our usual vacation traveling around Umbria and Tuscany with an extended stopover in Florence, and the most unusual aspect of Laura being part of the Venice Biennale and my being a recognized correspondent. I will be translating these two distinct parts into at least 25 new TV shows, but possibly closer to 30 depending on what the photos and videos look like and how creative I can get.  This series which will hopefully begin in July will give a clear documentation of this journey, the latest and perhaps greatest of them all !

Although I have yet to organize actual shows or therefore create a schedule, it now appears likely after reviewing my video interviews that I will not do either Florence nor Venice as separate entities, but rather go by generalized themes. For example I can envision doing two shows on the Jews of Italy centered around several fascinating interviews I did with people at the two synagogues in Florence and Venice. Perhaps this will initiate the series. Then I would like to focus on the Biennale in Venice for probably two shows, and Laura Gurton's exhibition participation at the Collateral Event of La Biennale di Venezia for three. For the former we have several hundred photos of the art and for the latter about twenty on site gallery talks performed by the actual artists standing in front of their work. They range in time from a couple of minutes to almost a full half hour. After those shows I will focus on locations and in that regard I have many ideas for shows on Venice including a ride down the Grand Canal, everyday life in Venice through photos, a discussion of the neighborhoods, our experience with staying in three different hotels, a stroll through Venice at night, and several more shows entitled "Venice Scenes." For the Florence part I have wonderful interviews with the leaders of the Five Star Movement (Movimento Cinque Stelle), interviews at one of our favorite restaurants in town, La Grotta di Leo, and some well known venues around town. Then there are shows on towns in Tuscany, more Italy Then and Now centered around the Alinari Brother's 19th century photos of the country (similar to my Florence: Then and Now performed last year), and some analyses of art.

Despite my severe jet lag and trying to organize literally thousands of photos of the trip, I was behooved to write this blog to my loyal supporters to inform them of my plans. I hope you enjoyed having the best understanding of how my documentation of this extraordinary experience will unfold; several friends have asked me and can now begin reading this blog if they wish. Meanwhile on Saturday I will write about the show I will do tomorrow, Show # 66: Roads and Streets of Italy, my first live show since 3 weeks ago. It will focus on interesting and evocative streets in Italy and throughout history. I hope you tune in either live at Woodstock Public Access (who knows it may actually stream at 5 PM at Woodstocktv.org). I hope to see you then.

Soon, On Our Way

The show, the Gardens of Italy, was conceived several months ago when I was preparing the show about the Bobili Gardens. I felt it was a fitting tribute to the beauty of Italy, by first focussing on the most famous gardens in Italy with its stunning Palazzo Pitti, but then expanding to other magnificent gardens around the country. Both shows were prepared at about the same time, refined together, and appeared back to back on May 10 and May 17, tonight. Except for a weird red figure that kept jumping up and down on the bottom dock of my computer every so often, the show was flawless, except for my usual switching of names that occurs more from my mind working faster than my lips. I called Matteo Cocci Lidia's friend, when I meant to say Laura's friend, because Lidia was the next name on my list to discuss.

I then spoke about the plan of our trip which begins on Monday, May 20. The entire plan was outlined complete with some of the shows I hope to come home with for my audience. Other than Laura's spectacular exhibition at the Palazzo Bembo whose openings occupy four consecutive evenings, from May 28 through May 31, we have some very special things planned. There will be two synagogue interviews in Florence and Venice, side trips from Florence to Ravenna, Colle di Val d'Elsa (Tuscany, near Siena) to visit Matteo Cocci, well known Italian artist, Pistoia (where Lidia's family will host us for a Tuscan Celebration), dinner at Luca's and Mary's house, an interview with the leaders of the Movimento Cinque Stelle (5 Star Movement), a day in Orvieto with Franco Sala showing us around, perhaps a cooking demo in Orvieto at La Palomba and Florence at La Spada, lunch at one of the stunning hills towns on the Tuscan/Umbrian border, Citta della Pieve, and on and on. In Venice Laura and I have Press Credentials, and hope to photograph and interview to our heart's delight. Then of course there's Laura Gurton's grand occasion at the stunning Palazzo Bembo. If that weren't enough excitement we then spend two days in Padua visiting the Giotto Frescoes at the Scrovegni Chapel, plus a stroll around this wonderful town.

So this will be my last blog entry here until the evening of Friday, June 7, the date of my next live show, already planned, on the Byways - roads, streets, pathways, alleys, etc - of Italy planned several weeks ago. Then another show on June 14 on the Palazzi of Florence, also planned long ago, and then I hope to get into my new material. My course at New Paltz ended two days ago and I will miss the excitement of imparting my passion for Italy with this very attentive and wonderful audience. My future with continuing ed programs will now be dependent upon my future return, hopefully, to community college mathematics teaching.

Those fans who wish to follow a day by day account of our travels in Italy are welcome and encouraged to read all about them by following this link:

http://blog.travelpod.com/members/alanjgreenhalgh

Until then, buona notte e buona fortuna !!! Grazie per la lettura.

Creating a Show on a Shoestring

Laura and I had extensive photos of the Bobili Gardens, but not enough substance to sustain a 60 minutes TV show. I began to research the gardens and found substantial information about the history, and some of the great personalities who made their mark with regard to this topic. I still lacked the substance for an hour show. I decided to also focus on the great Palazzo Pitti as well which fronts the gardens. The history and development of the building, how it changed hands during the 16th century, how it was enlarged, and eventually turned into museums is quite fascinating. Also I planned to concentrate on each gallery especially the most famous, the Palatine Gallery which houses some of the great art of some very well known artists such as Raphael, Corregio, Caravaggio, and Titian. It turned out to not only be long enough to sustain a show, but very interesting and informative as well. A great deal of research went into the creation of the show as I studied the history and art, and obtained several photos off the internet. The result, Show # 64: The Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens, is a great guide for anyone wishing to have a fun and fruitful day in Florence. The production of the show in the studio was flawless, so all in all, this was a wonderful experience.

On other fronts my teaching at the New Paltz Lifetime Learning Institute comes to a close this coming Wed, May 15. It was a wonderful experience, and I owe a great deal to the organizers and my very enthusiastic participants. Although the number of students varied from week to week, all in all it has been fabulous and I hope to do it again someday.

I have set up an interview with the organizers of the Palazzo Bembo exhibit known as Personal Structures, a Collateral Event of the 55th Venice Biennale. Now that I have been granted Press Credentials, I have free reign to create as many interesting topics and ideas for shows as I want. Along those lines my interview with the spokespeople and newly elected representatives of the Movimento Cinque Stelle in Italy appears to be coming to fruition as we have set up a time, date, and pace for our meeting in their hometown (and oddly also my friend Luca's) of Figline Valdarno. It is my wish to return with as many interviews with people as possible, including of course the directors of the synagogues in both Florence and Venice, which have already been scheduled. The ideas as almost endless, and with any luck, I can return with 25 or more potential shows.

The trip now gets very close and next week I will start to pack, create lists of last minute things to do, and the worst job of all, confirm my flight reservations with Alitalia. They are a bit unpredictable and it is always a challenge using their services.

Next week's show, # 65, will focus on the Gardens of Italy, many of the most famous I have personally seen, plus I will talk about my trip, and the shows I intend to bring back with me. Then that's it until June 7 when I do show # 66 - Pathways of Italy which focusses on roads, streets, alley ways, and any other method getting from point A to point B in Italy, whether big cities, or small towns, or country roads. I will begin with a history of Italian roads with some of the most famous Roman Roads.