Archive for April, 2009
Vespatour 2006 part 20: Recanati… THE END!
Posted by Albegor in Vespatour 2006 on April 26, 2009
What’s beyond the hedge of the infinity?
The hedge “that excludes the greater part of my view of the farthest horizon“, as wrote Leopardi in his immortal poem, The Infinity.
The end of a journey? The beginning of a new one?
For me it was just like that: on august 31, 2006, in Recanati, the last stop of the journey on my Vespa that reserved for me never ending emotions and surprises, I climbed the hill of the infinity, where is located the native house of Leopardi, and accompanied by a guide from the Centro Nazionale di Studi Leopardiani, I reached the hedge and… looked beyond it! 
The quiet panorama beyond the hedge, with Monti Sibillini in the background, mixed with what eyes couldn’t see: the tide of sensations I felt along the journey and the uncertainty of the future that was waiting for me once back in Como.
Three years later I almost feel like being there again, thanks to the photo of the hedge I always keep on my desk.
The 52 photos of the twentieth gallery are dedicated to the last stop of the journey, between Loreto and Recanati, with the last one shot in Rimini before going back to Como.
I hope that through the report of the Vespatour I managed to give back a bit of the pleasure of traveling while discovering new people and things.
It’s also my Thank You to whom recommended me where to go before leaving, whom welcomed and helped me during the journey and whom, after reading the report on the blog, will be willing to visit the wonderful places I described.
Safe Travels! 
Vespatour 2006 part 19: San Giovanni Rotondo and Vieste
Posted by Albegor in Vespatour 2006 on April 19, 2009
My relatives from Bisceglie are deeply devoted to Padre Pio and they aften told me about San Giovanni Rotondo.
So, on august 28, 2006, I went there with my Vespa to visit a holy place so important for all the devoted to the brother from Pietrelcina.
It was an important stop even for me, especially after having been in Assisi and at the Eremo delle Carceri of San Francesco a few days earlier, the other brother great example of humility.
Deep thinking and meditation are the words I could associate with the visit to the places where Padre Pio lived and received the stigmates, now valorized by the modern church designed by Renzo Piano.
After the visit to San Giovanni Rotondo, before going back to Bisceglie, I went to the beach in Vieste on the splendid Gargano coast.
When I was a kid I used to spend the summer holidays there, camping with my parents, and there I learned to swim!
The 53 photos of the nineteen gallery describe the last two days in Apulia.
On august 30 I was going to leave from Bisceglie to the last stop of the Vespatour: Recanati, searching for the hedge of the infinity!
Vespatour 2006 parte 18: Bisceglie
Posted by Albegor in Vespatour 2006 on April 13, 2009
At the seaside, at last!
After 21 days of traveling at close stops, riding my Vespa for a total of 3000 kilometers, a week to the seaside in Apulia was the closing panacea of the Vespatour.
I needed to rest not only physically, but also mentally, since during those 21 days I stared for the first time at some of the artistic marvels that Italy preserves, and for each one of them the emotion was deeply intense.
Using an effective metaphor: I got drunk with art! 
The welcome of my relatives in Bisceglie, in the province of Bari, has been special to say the least: for a few days they made me feel like a member of the family, they accompanied me on a visit to the town and its surroundings, and most of all they made me taste their culinary specialities. One day meat and the other fish: nothing was missing on our table at all!
During those days of relax at seaside, together with Nicola, I visited the misterious Castel del Monte, a strategic observation point of Frederick II, now depicted on the 1 cent italian Euro coins.
To the castle, the welcome of my relatives and the seaside of Bisceglie, are dedicated the 41 photos of the eighteen gallery of the journey.
Vespatour 2006 part 17: Caserta
Posted by Albegor in Vespatour 2006 on April 8, 2009
A garden extending for 3 kilometers, with an incredible sight both towards the hill and the royal palace!
The Royal Palace of Caserta really surprised me and I think that I definitely did a good choice stopping there in the morning of 23 august 2006, while I was traveling from Rome to Bisceglie, in Puglia, where I was going to spend a few days at the seaside to rest a bit after the long journey around Italy riding my Vespa.
The 54 photos of the seventeenth gallery are entirely dedicated to the Royal Palace of Caserta, to the sumptuousness of the royal apartments, visited while listening to an audioguide, and most of all to the marvellous garden and its fountains, a complex built by Carlo III di Borbone with the aim to rival with the magnificence of the Royal Palace of Versailles.
I’ve never had the chance to visit Versailles yet, but I think the astonishment I felt in Caserta will stand steady in my memories when I’ll do that. Who knows, maybe in the next Vespatour…