Again the earthquakes have threatened the north of Italy. (Milano, Parma, Venezia, Genova, Verona, Livorno, Bolzano, Torino, Perugia.)
It takes very little to fracture and shed the affreschi, to down the angels and the saints, the facades in marble and travertino, the stucco in all its elaborations and designs, the physical expression of the Italian soul.
That soul has lent itself as the image of western culture.
For some of us.
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7 comments:
If you whack Mother Earth with a bloody great cruise ship, you must expect consequences by and by.
Dearieme, I've been trying to suppress the thought that I detest the cruise ships that infest the Mediterranean.
Floating 'strength through joy' holiday camps, the modern version of the last century's plans to farm the sheeple.
Hallo HG, slightly off the topic of careless boats, but in response to your note yesterday on the Adriatic Plate post down the page a bit, over my years of perambulating I have encountered most of the weather conditions but only two earthquakes (so far!).
One was in about 1990 when the Great Rift Valley fault that runs the length of East Africa decided to move a few centimetres. That caused a few things the fall over, but no serious structural damage where I was at that time.
The other was in 1969 in Morocco. The weather had been particularly nasty that year and extensive rainfall had caused quite severe flooding in the north of the country. I had to drive from Rabat to Tangier on my way to an engagement in Gibraltar, a journey that in normal circs took around 3 hours. However, on this occasion because of the extensive and frequent detours I was forced to make, plus driving several miles through 2 feet of water, by the time I got to Tangier I was completely exhausted. So I checked into my hotel and fell deeply asleep. When I woke the following morning it was to the news that a very strong earthquake overnight had caused extensive damage in Portugal, Spain and northern and central Morocco, including parts of Tangier where a few buildings collapsed just along the street where my hotel was located. There were a few local casualties that night too.
I slept right through it and neither heard nor felt a thing! Luckily for me, my hotel was not affected but there was great excitement in the lobby when I went down for breakfast.
I must have a (marble) guardian angel watching over me! Enjoy your trip to the smoke!
Florence too, they evacuated the schools and the babbas had to rush into the street without even putting their coats on, and were afraid
I've seen photos of cruise ships towering over Venice and thought that the effect is rather like graffiti on a handsome building - just barbarism yelling at civilisation.
How you could sleep through the collapse of all around you is beyond me, Nomad. That queasy, earthquaky feeling is so unmistakeable and profoundly frightening. Though I can understand, only too well, why people bring the wrong expectations to earthquakes. They seem (me included) to hope they will pass - rather like a shower of rain.
I wish you would find time to blog Wanderings of a Nomad. You seem to be having a much more exciting time than most of us.
'and were afraid'.
That is heart-rending, Small.
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