souvenir de voyage. 2003 - 2013 November 23rd

today is my 10 years first flight anniversary. i know it's not a real occurence, but i'm still in a celebration mood. my passport has expired a couple of months ago. i remember the thrilling of having it in my hands, imaculate, dreaming of the flight i was going to take, for the very first time, to Brazil, on november 23rd, year 2003.

since then, i have taken every chance i could to travel. so, i have been collecting memories, pictures and a lot of little objects that i love to use and have around in my everyday life, my souvenir de voyage.

last summer i went to an exhibition {andata e ricordo, souvenir de voyage} at Mart museum in Rovereto, dedicated to the art of travel souvenirs. it was a colorful and funky collection. it made me pawing to get home and open my box of memories: a magic box full of boarding cards, metro cards, train tickets, pamphlets, maps, museum tickets, postcards, notes, concert tickets, sketches. i could fill a wall of that exhibiton, too.

so, i want to show you some of my dearest travel mementos, and i hope you'd tell me what yours are.

a teapot from a roadtrip across Morocco, with three dear friends. i use it as a pen (and masking tape!) holder. i'm glad to have something to remind me of that sweet mint scent, on my desk.

the beatles matrioska! bought from a stall in St. Petersburg, just outside the church of the savior on spilled blood.

a bowtie i love to wear on special occasions. it came from Koenji, my favorite suburb in Tokyo. i bought it in a little shop, near the cutest Hattifnatt Cafè. i don't know if it still exists, but the address is 2-18-10 Koenji Kita, Suginami ku, Tokyo. {the ballerina, horse and little bell in the back are from a shop in Berlin. they were meant to be put on a necklace, but in the end i never did}

shoes i bought in London! it's been years but i still think they're gorgeous.

miss swallow, who flew home with us from Lisboa and now lives above our bed. and a hat from Tallin{made by emma leppermann, a local designer}, in a old picture with my beloved ice. while travelling, i usually buy hats, this is just one of my collection!

do you like souvenirs? while travelling, do you have any objects in particular that you love to take home with you, like hats in my case?

post scriptum
this is what happened to the beatles matrioska after that picture. and now you've met bice, kitten who is about to become the new oreste's best friend.

{taken with VSCOcam}

Feltre. November, Friday 1st

piazza maggiore, with San Rocco and San Sebastiano church, and the Castle of Alboin

november 1st is all saints' day, a national holiday in Italy. the tradition is to visit the graves of deceades relatives, pray and light candles. this holiday is not what i would call merry, but it's not a mouring day either. i love to see it as a time to celebrate family and roots. that's why marco and i decided to go to Feltre, the town where my grandma comes from.

the weather is still surprisingly warm, so we went by lambretta! i'm happy the scooter season is so long this year. Feltre is a town located in an alpine area in the middle of a wide valley, bordered to the north by the Dolomites, the Feltre peaks {vette feltrine} and the Piave river.

piazza Maggiore

a walk in Feltre's old town is a journey into renaissance elegance, the autumn colors of the trees match the beautifully frescoed walls of the houses, there are cozy cafès and hosterias, stylish clothes shops, delicatessens stores. it culminates in the wide piazza maggiore, a large square dominated by San Rocco and San Sebastiano church {1576 - 1632}. old gates and the Castle of Alboin, which can be seen near the church, are the witnesses of the ancient roman defensive structure.

contrade: duomo, santo stefano, castello, portoria

on the square's pavement, four emblems are painted in bright colors: they are the symbols of contrade, districts in which the town is divided. the contrade face each other every year, in an historical competition called Palio. the Palio di Feltre is held at the end of july, and includes horse race, tug of war, archery and relay race. it seems that the Palio's origins date back to the 14th century.

a gourmet tip: take a break at the best bakery in town, pasticceria Garbujo {via Tezze 16}. my grandma told me that when she was a schoolgirl, during war time, sometimes she pampered herself with Garbujo's raisin bread or gelato. nowadays the speciality is strudel, but all the pastries are delicious. they also sells fine chocolate.

wandering in the streets

arcade in via mezzaterra | a gourmet shop

one of the many cafes

a painted wall

the next stop of our visit was just outside the city center, where in a mountain rocky spur lies a charming shrine devoted to Saints Victor and Corona. the grey sky gives to the place a gloomy look, and the surrounding forest was a haven of peace and quiet.

shrine of the saints victor and corona

before leaving Feltre, i wanted to show marco my grandma's birthplace, in a hamlet called Villapaiera. her parents house is still there, with a wide courtyard and garden. i remembered a big nut-tree, and i wanted to harvest some walnuts. unfortunately, the tree was there but there were no walnuts. the neighbors told us it has been a bad year for the harvest. so we just took a picture.

Villapaiera's church

in the courtyard of my grandma's parents house.

strawberry tree forever

"o verde albero italico, il tuo maggio

è nella bruma: s'anche tutto muora,

tu il giovanile gonfalon selvaggio

spieghi alla bora" 

Giovanni Pascoli

strawberry tree, arbutus unedo, corbezzolo. this tree colors the autumn with its bright red berries. as the Pascoli's poem i quoted says, its May is in the mist. 

we greeted November harvesting juicy sweetness. we have a big strawberry tree in the garden, now dotted in red. my grandma says it is a symbol of warm welcoming, and that's why it has been planted near the entrance gate.

have a lovely weekend ♥
{nikon em + fuji superia 200}

le immagini della fantasia, Sàrmede. October, Monday 28th

once upon a time, a funny man armed with crayons and watercolors left Prague, wandered around Europe for a while, then came to live in a hilly village of the Veneto countryside, bringing colors, creativity, talking animals, imagination,  butterflies and childlike joy with him. 

the most beautiful Zavřel's book, un sogno a venezia

the village is called Sàrmede, and now, even if the funny man is gone and living just in his colorful artworks, the place is known as il paese delle fiabe: the fairytales town.  i'm talking about the illustrator Štěpán Zavřel, born in Prague in 1932, who lived in Rugolo di Sàrmede from 1968 until the day he passed away in 1999. he has been one of the most important illustrators of the european arena in the last thirty years. 

Gabriel Pacheco's illustration that is the poster of le immagini della fantasia 31

when i said he brought colors to Sàrmede i ment it literally: he has painted frescoes on some houses walls that still adorn the streets of the town. then, in 1983, Zavřel co-created the exhibition of children's illustrations called le immagini della fantasia {the images of fantasy}, which now, after 31 years, is an international event. so colors, creativity, and imaginations are still coming to Sàrmede, with many artists from all over the world.

one of the Sàrmede's frescoes. and me.

it opened on october 26th, and we paid a visit the next monday. it's a date, a personal rainbow: marco and i love to visit le immagini della fantasia every year, and my inner child can't have enough fairytales. 

illustrated book

Cristina Pieropan (Italia)

Camilla Engman (Sweden)

the exhibition is divided into three sections. the first one, panorama 2013, showcases 30 illustrators  from all over the world, offering an overview on the finest recently published books. 

then, there is the guest of honor's section, dedicate to the mexican artist Gabriel Pacheco. his works are poems without words. soft and intense.

silence enfolds us like an imperceptible chord. the moon basks in admiration, like a lovely story. it beams down upon us. we play at making out shapes in its markings, just like you do with clouds: a crab, a drum, a rabbit. a child reads quietly, surrounded by the subtle nuance that silence brings: he is wholly captivated by the book. he reads about the god Quetzalcoatl, in the mexican legend about the rabbit and the moon. the tales arouse and recall memories. reading takes us into the oneiric dimension of the imagination. above us an entire sky: a band of aged musicians whose expression is profound. or perhaps it is the nocturnal sky that has taken on the appearance of the musicians; they play sweet music, whilst a child imagines them.

illustrated book by Gabriel Pacheco

the third section hosts  the theme of the year (i still remember the cat's year with love!), and 2013 is dedicated to tales, legends, symbols from Mexico.

remarkable indigenous figures of Mexico's ancient people are still alive in their tales: mother earth, talking animals who discovered precious corn, the mythical feathered serpent and its duality of sky and earth, princes and princesses held back from their love, the great grandmother of light and her mischievous grandchildren… highly evocative manifold cultural elements that also interweave with later cultures betterknown to us. 
bright red walls explained meaning and sense of tigrada, catrina, nahual, quetzacoatl, alebrije.. twelve symbols were chosen to create an illustrated mosaic, designed to make us feel the mexican voices, flavours,charm, traditions. 

mexican symbols

Frida Kahlo, a book by Maria Baranda illustrated by Gabriel Pacheco

le immagini della fantasia, since the first editions, has never been just a show of drawings for children, but it has presented itself as a place for knowledge, culture and beauty, an international observatory on the world of Illustration.

for example, Sàrmede also hosts the international school of illustration, founded by Štěpán Zavřel. courses provide training sessions for various levels: from artistic specialisation for those at advanced level to foundation courses for anyone interested in discovering this world.

if any of you is interested, i'd be glad to welcome and host you for the class period ♥

info

Sàrmede, le immagini della fantasia 31

27.10.2013 > 19.01.2014

via Marconi, 2 - 31026 Sàrmede TV

monday to friday 9.00-17.00

saturday and sunday 10.00-21.30

{26.12.2013 > 03.01.2014 14.30-19.00}