The Curse of the Blackened Eye

“Turn up the volume please.” I fumbled with my phone. “Turn it up!”. I finally figured out my technology and turned up the volume of the music. 

After asking me to turn up the volume, she got up from the table and walked a few steps away and began to sway and rock, a hand to her head. Then came the prophecy: we had to say we were sorry to someone. That was the cause of what was troubling us physically. She settled back down at the table, and we resumed eating. 

The song playing was “The Curse of the Blackened Eye” by Orville Peck. [video] I don’t think I’ll ever listen to that song without thinking of this day.

The song “The Curse of the Blackened Eye” is about a bad relationship or maybe addiction but the word “curse” is what sticks out for me. This friend swaying and rocking in our living room had a family gift – or you might say curse – of prophecy. She had been running from it all her life and now it caught up to her. The song was apropos for the moment.

I remember as a kid thinking about being a superhero or have some special power and realizing that the power would not be what I thought it would be. It would be a curse; it would haunt me and ostracize me from society. That thought came back to me thinking of this friend.

You could get space from your problems (curses) but eventually you have to face them. You carry them with you and sooner or later, you end up at a friend's house and then this song comes on.

Street Sign Language Lesson LII - Bergamo

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We are out on the streets (a spasso) of Bergamo to bring you eight more signs of daily life and learning the Italian language along with personal anecdotes, whether you want them or not.


 
E’ VIETATO SOSTARE, SPORCARE E MANGIARE IN QUESTE AREE
“It’s prohibited to loiter, litter and eat in these areas.”

What area is this you may ask that is sign graces? It’s the bleakest patch of asphalted and bricked cityscape to be found and that ironically is the entrance to ARPA Lombardia (Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione dell’Ambiente). Well, they should start by taking care of their ambiente / bleak entrance. Not even a planter or something green to be found. All of this is watched over by a statue of a woman by the Bergamo sculptor Elia Ajolfi. She does have her hands on her hips as if to ask why this place is so bleak.



Cuccioli Bassotto nano. Non perderci, prenotaci!
Dwarf Dachshund puppies. Don’t miss out, book now!

Bassotto comes from basso or “little”. Cuccioli are pups.

We know who cares about our opinion, but here it goes: dachshunds are our least favorite dog, and they seem popular here in Bergamo. Figures.



L’ARROTONDAMENTO DEI CENTESIMI
The rounding up of cents

Damn. We still learn something studying signs and that is why we do it. In this case, we did not realize that by law, the minting of 1 and 2 cent coins (centesimi) in Italy was stopped in 2018. Woah! What?

Italy stopped minting its 1‑cent and 2‑cent coins primarily due to the high production costs relative to their face value and the inconvenience they caused in everyday cash transactions. The decision was implemented through parliamentary measures, and from January 1, 2019, these coins were no longer produced. However, they continue to be legal tender and will circulate until people spend them out or they naturally exit circulation.

For cash payments, Italy adopted a rounding system so that the final price is rounded to the nearest multiple of 5 cents. This is what the sign here seen in Carrefour says. Arrotondamento means in this case “rounding”.

In practice, when a transaction doesn’t neatly add up to a sum ending in 0 or 5 cents, the total amount is adjusted—typically, if the final digit is 1 or 2, it’s rounded down; if it’s 3 or 4, rounded up to the nearest 5-cent increment. It’s important to note that this rule applies only to cash transactions; digital payments (like those with a card or online) continue to be processed to the exact cent.

The 5-cent coin is still produced. Someone get a message to him to watch his back. He could be next.



IMPIANTO DI CREMAZIONE
Crematorium

Can you guess where we were? Why yes, in the Cimitero Monumentale Di Bergamo. We were there recently and a bit lost wandering around. Long story.

We once attended a mass in the church at the cemetery and then slowly walked behind the hearse (with body inside) from the chapel to the crematorium. So, yeah, we know what this sign points to.



TRÀFECH? ADÈS BASTA!
What are you doing? That’s enough!

This is the Bergamo dialect. At first, we thought TRÀFECH meant traffic and the sign read “Traffic, enough!” - and that sort of made sense, but it's not correct.

The phrase is typical of the Bergamasco dialect, where “adès” stands in for the standard Italian “adesso” (meaning “now”) and “basta” carries the common meaning of “enough” or “stop.” The opening word “TRÀFECH?” is used as a questioning exclamation that can be understood as asking “What are you doing?” or expressing incredulity at someone’s actions. [ref] An Italian verb that carries the same significance is affare – matter, concern. A clever play on words as we understand it.

In Italian, this sign would be something like Che stai facendo? Adesso basta! Moez is a bike shop in Bergamo. Get out of your car and on a bike.



AREA DESTINATA A CANI DI PICCOLA TAGLIA E MEDIA TAGLIA
Area for small and medium-sized dogs.

This sign is in front of an off-leash area in Parco di Loreto. Taglia is size or dimension. Not to be confused with taglia third person present tense of tagliare, to cut or slice. Or a taglio di capelli, haircut, and often shortened to just taglio when context is obvious.



OTTIENI 1 MESE GRATUITO – DI TAGLIO DI CAPELLI – TUTTE LE VOLTE CHE VUOI
Get one month free – Haircut – as often as you want.

Speaking of haircuts, here’s taglio di capelli in action. On the bus, we pass this barber shop and sign. (Can’t tell if the shop is coming or already came and went.) We like compact powerful phrases like tutte le volte che vuoi.

In this case, it’s one month of free haircuts (fine print: for the first 100 people who sign up). But how many haircuts can you get in one month. Maybe 2 or 3 max. Who has the time?



A spasso nel cosmo
"Out and about in the cosmos”

A friend’s 5-year-old had this book. Andare a spasso is to go for a walk, wander, meander. Essere a spasso is to be out and about.

We wanted to read this book so badly but had to pay attention to the adults. Bummer.

On Those Missing – 25 Tower Photo Salute

25 Photos Looking West Over Bergamo from a Tower from 2022 - 2025

There's nothing like a funeral, wake or entombment ceremony to mark time and leave one a bit wistful. After 10 years or so now in Italy, we’ve been to at least one of these events every year. We’ve spent more time at the Cimitero Monumentale di Bergamo (and the hospital for that matter) than we’ve ever would have guessed when we arrived here. Both are places that are surprisingly human and decidedly not scary.

Recently, we went to two wakes with the space of two weeks (same family) at the Casa del Commiato Bergamo - Centro Funerario Bergamasco, which you could translate as “House of Goodbye”, where commiato is farewell or goodbye. A wake is technically, called a veglia funebre, but it’s not something we hear often. 

Bergamo’s Cimitero Monumental is beautifully landscaped and has many interesting tombs to look at, not that we would specifically pick it out for a stroll but one can’t help but notice when there, paying respects. The other day, we went to attend an entombment (one of deceased from the commiato), the putting of the ashes in the columbarium of a family vault, and had a chance to do a few laps around the cemetery. We were looking for said family and couldn’t find them. They had turned off their phones. After a while, we gave up and returned to the front office to ask. Next thing you know, we are riding around with the director of the cemetery in a Panda. He didn’t trust we would find the spot based on his directions (Yes, we played the helpless American tourist card a bit.) We didn't find the family however as they had moved on to another relative’s tomb (the other deceased from the commiato). Tomb chasing is what we did that day.

The hospital (on other end of the city) is like a small self-contained city with restaurants, shops, and interesting artwork. It’s not the worse destination you’d have to visit. To give some structure to our visits we typically seek out some of the more interesting pieces of artwork and have a running catalog of favorites.

The people who have disappeared during our time in Italy that we would like to honor, in no particular order: Flamina, Blandina, Gino, Maria, Nunzia, Hotlips, Andrea, Luigi, Domenico, and Mario come to mind. Here’s a caro saluto from our torretta, where we see the sun track across the sky daily. The composite image is 25 images looking west over Bergamo's lower city and part of the upper city.


 

Left: A close-up of a work by Renzo Colombo, part of the Lascito Fumagalli in the ASST Azienda Ospedaliera Papa Giovanni XXIII.

Right: A close-up of the work "Robot" by Ivano Parolini, part of the TheTubeOne Exhibit  in the ASST Azienda Ospedaliera Papa Giovanni XXIII.

 

Left: Cimitero Monumentale di Bergamo - entrance. Right: Inside with a statue.

Weller Vases and Chlorphytum

  

Left and center: Weller Claywood vases with spider plants. Right: The location of Zanesville, Ohio 300 million years ago.

These Weller Claywood vases always bring a smile to our faces. First, they are cute when grouped together. Second, they survived a transatlantic crossing. And third, they go well with Chlorophytum.

We are at that point in our lives where we’ve regressed to the plants of our childhood, simple plants that can be grown in water for indefinite periods of time – as these spider plants can. They don’t complain too badly if you forget to water them. These Chlorophytum comosum are in glass jars inside the Weller vases.

Weller Pottery was founded by Samuel Augustus Weller in the 1870s in Ohio. The company mass-produced art pottery until about 1920, and producing commercial lines until the pottery closed in 1948. The Claywood line was one of Weller Pottery's well-known decorative series, which appeared around 1910.

Side note: We always wondered why Ohio was a center of American pottery, and particularly Zanesville. The area has important deposits of clay and developed into an important transportation hub thanks to first the rivers and then the railroads passing through. In addition, the country was rapidly modernizing at the end of the 19th century and there was an increased demand for utilitarian and decorative ceramics.

A fourth point for a smile on our faces: the clay that went into these pots came from the deposits laid down during the Pensylvannian period (roughly 318 to 299 million years ago)! At that time, Ohio was part of a flat coast plain with extensive swamps and floodplains. Check out the location of Ohio in this map of the USA 300 million years ago.


Other posts on Weller: Weller Claywood and Skimmia foremanii, Weller Clinton Ivory, Peters and Reed Moss Aztec Vases and Dryopteris, Weller Pearl and Lavandula stoechas Dried Flower Spikes, and Weller Louwelsa Vase with Rudbeckia nitida.

  

Weller Claywood vases with spider plants.

On Writing and Shadows

 
"Austerlitz" by W.G. Sebald and "In Praise of Shadows" by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki.

I recently finished the novel Austerlitz, a 2001 novel by W.G. Sebald. About two thirds through the book, we find Austerlitz holed up in his very gray London flat – a flat stripped of color and containing only the bare necessities for furniture. He is at an existential impasse reconciling a past that refuses to be captured in words. The tension is between the desire to record memory and the failing of words to fully do so. These quotes about writing from that part of the book resonated with me:

“Now and then a train of thought did succeed in emerging with wonderful clarity inside my head, but I knew even as it formed that I was in no position to record it, for as soon as I so much as picked up my pencil the endless possibilities of language, to which I could once safely abandon myself, became a conglomeration of the most inane phrases.”

“All I could think was that such a sentence only appears to mean something, but in truth is at best a makeshift expedient, a kind of unhealthy growth issuing from our ignorance, something which we use, in the same way as many sea plants and animals use their tentacles, to grope blindly through the darkness enveloping us.”

“However much or little I had written, on a subsequent reading it always seemed so fundamentally flawed that I had to destroy it immediately and begin again. Soon I could not even venture on the first step.”

(Maybe I should heed the advice on that last quote?)

Austerlitz's home in London is described as on Alderney Road (near Mile End Junction), near the Alderney Road Cemetery, Mile End – Ashkanz. I went on Google Maps street view to try and at least imagine the flat from the outside.

The “out-of-time" nature of Austerlitz’s flat, as I imagined it, intrigued me. It reminded me of a quote from the 1933 essay In Praise of Shadows, by the Japanese author Jun'ichirō Tanizaki.

"Have you ever felt a sort of fear in the face of the ageless, a fear that in that room you might lose all consciousness of the passage of time, that untold years might pass and upon emerging you should find that you had grown old and gray?"

That quote appears in section 9, with the title “An uncanny silence”, sectioning as given by Wikipedia page. I imagine Austerlitz’s house would be like this.

The essay lays out Tanizaki’s (and by extension the Japanese) aesthetic and as you might guess from the title, it has to do with shadows. Friends gifted us the book to get ready for an upcoming trip to Japan. We will be searching for those shadows and a glimpse of Austerlitz.

Travelmarx Spring 2025 Playlist – Unknownia

36 album covers for Travelmarx Spring 2025 Playlist – Unknownia

For the secondary title of this playlist, we selected “Unknownia”. The word comes from a track in this playlist by Domenique Dumont, a collaboration between Latvian multi-instrumentalist and producer Arturs Liepins and vocalist, ethnomusicologist Anete Stuce.

We are not sure of the intent of the song, but the title resonates with where we are heading in this world: to an unknown state or “unknownia”. This playlist is here on Spotify.

Teens of Style – album “Car Seat Headreat” (2015), song “Maud Gone”
Domenique Dumont – “To Unknownia” (2024)
The Saxophones, Maston – “Take My Fantasy – Maston Remix” (2022)
Dodie – “Old Devil Moon” (2024)
Michael Kiwanuka – “Beautiful Life” (2021)
Yard Nule – album “Yard Nule” (2021), song “Haunter”

Anika – album “No One's There” (2011), song “He Needs Me”
Ora Cogan – album “Shadowland” (2016), song “Too Long”
Arthur H – album “Adieu to Tristesse” (2005), song “La chanson de Satie”
William Z Villain – album “William Z Villain” (2017), song “Anybody Gonna Move”.
Death Machine – album “Cocoon” (2017), song “Disco Blues”
Malena Zavala – album “Aliso” (2018), song “If It Goes”

DJ Tennis – album “DJ-Kicks" (2017), song “Melody Day (Four Test Remix)”
TM Juke – album “Maps from the Wilderness” (2003), song “Just for a Day – Sunday"
You'll Never Get To Heaven – album “Images” (2017), song “Images”
Valerie June – “With You - A Sweet Little Love Song Demo” (2017)
Reptaliens – album “VALIS” (2019), song “Wake Up”
Clark – album “In Camera” (2024), song “Superstar”

Morbo y Mambo – album “Noches de Morbo Vol 1”, song “Nigerian”
Natalie Bergman, Beck – “You’ve Got a Woman” (2021)
DelicTrips – album “Motivated Abstract”, song “Sunset Hills”
Saya Gray – “Shell (of a man)” (2024)
Steve Stout – album “Sunday Stars (demos)” (2023), song “Save It For a Rainy Day – demo"
Westerman – album “Call and Response” (2017), song “Lie”

Nadine Shah – album “Ville Morose/The Devil (2014), song “Ville morose”
Bobby Lee and Mia Doi Todd – “Walking With Trees” (2021)
Slow Pilot – album “Falling Off the Earth” (2024), song “No Man Is An Island” with C Duncan
Anjalts – “Just Stay 4 Awhile” (2025)
WOOM – “Walk” (2020)
Suzanne Kraft – album “Talk from Home” (2015), song “Flatiron”

Annahstasia – album “Surface Tension” (2024), song “Sunday”
Family Time – album “The Golden Years”, song “Ropa Vieja”
Hether – album “Covered in Hether”, song “Smoke Rings”
Kristine Leschper – album “The Opening, or Closing of Door”, song “Blue”
Tunng – album “Love You All Over Again”, song “Didn’t Know Why”
Juniore – album “Ouh Là Là”, song “Le cannibale”

Street Sign Language Lesson LI – A Ski Trip to Pila, Aosta

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In our 51st edition of Street Sign Language Lesson, we are on the road, headed to Valle d'Aosta. We spent 3 days skiing in Pila (above Aosta). You may notice lots of menus because this trip was definitely about eating as well as skiing. 

First some photos of skiing...

  
Left: Photo of Pila Ski Area in Late Feb 2025 - Pista 1 Chamolé.

Center: Photo of Pila Ski Area - Staring out over Cogne.

Right: Photo of Pila Ski Area - Platta de Grevon with Travelmarx skiing down.

  

Left: Photo of Pila Ski Area - Couis 1 Red Slope with Gasex Pipe for avalanche control.

Center: Photo of Pila Ski Area - View of Pila from top of Chamolé.

Right: Photo of Pila Ski Area - near the bottom of Couis 1.

Now the signs...

Degustazione alla valdostano – Lardo d’Arnad
“A taste of Aosta Valley – Lard of Arnad.“

We saw this menu at Ristorante Al Maniero in Issogne AO. We were on our way to Aosta/Pila and stopped for lunch at this Slow Food recommended restaurant. We always thought degustazione referred to a tasting menu, and it does when the word menù is used with it. By itself, degustazione means a tasting experience. Together with the adjective valdostano, meaning from the Valle D’Aosta, the phrase means a sampling or taste of Valle D’Aosta.

The famous Lardo d’Arnad is a cured pork product produced exclusively within the municipal boundaries of the municipality of Arnad, in lower Aosta Valley, Italy. The lard is produced by curing pieces of fatback in a brine aromatized with herbs and spices such as juniper berry, bay leaf, nutmeg, sage, and rosemary. Perfect for giving you the energy you need to ski.


 

CONIGLIO ALLA CACCIATORA
“Hunter-style rabbit”

This is an Italian dish where the rabbit meat is slow cooked with vegetables and herbs. Alla cacciatora suggests a rustic preparation.

What’s also interesting about these two menus from Hotel Tivet is that it shows how half-board typically works. In the morning at breakfast, you get a list of dinner options, and you choose what you want. (Not on the list was a killer salad-appetizer that could have been dinner in itself.)

We chose Hotel Tivet because it was close to a mid-station of the gondola from Aosta (along the river) to Pila (ski area) and it was easy access for skiing.


   
VALPELLINENTZE (zuppa gratinata di cavolo verza, pane, fontina, brodo)
“Valpellinentze (gratinated soup of cabbage, bread, fontina, and broth)”

Gratinated (au gratin more commonly), in English, means to cook with a covering of buttered crumbs or grated cheese until a crust or crisp surface forms. The soup is from the Valpelline, just north of Aosta. This hearty soup appears on many menus in the Valle d’Aosta area.



AVVISO DELLA CASA DI TOLLERANZA. AI SIG.RI CLIENTI È VIETATO MOLESTARE LE SIGNORINE PRIMA DI AVERE PAGATO LA MARCHETTA. LA DIREZIONE.
“Notice of the house (brothel). Dear clients (men), it is forbidden to harass the young ladies before paying for their services. Management.”

We saw this sign at Rifugio Hermitage, which was our preferred place to grab a coffee, snack, or lunch during our time in Pila skiing. A casa di tollerenza “house of tolerance" is a euphemism for a brothel. The use of the euphemism and the use of la marchetta suggests a formal yet cheeky phrasing suggests it's drawing on older societal norms and attitudes for comedic effect - we hope.



RISCHIO VALANGHE. DEBOLE, MODERATO, MARCATO, FORTE, MOLTO FORTE
“Avalanche risk. Low, moderate, considerable, high, extreme”

Valanga (plural valanghe) is an avalanche. Speaking of avalanches, we often see what looks like a downward facing pipe on steep slopes (see image for one in Pila). These are Gazex pipes, expansion chambers that explosively direct hot gases into the zone at risk in order to set off controlled avalanches.



I percorsi di fuori pista non sono né segnalati né protetti dai pericoli dell’alta montagna dove l’insidia è occulta e nessuno può prevederla in anticipo.
“Off-piste routes are neither marked nor protected from high mountain perils where hazards are hidden and cannot be foreseen in advance.”

We know, we should be paying attention to skiing, but this sign caught our eye, especially the part l’insidia è occulta?

Insidia is hidden danger. Yet occulta means hidden as well. To us, the sentence in Italian seems repetitive. Maybe the sentence could be written as “I percorsi di fuori pista non sono né segnalati né protetti dai pericoli occulti dell’alta montagna che nessuno può prevedere in anticipo.” Don’t you want to come skiing with us to study signs?



Veicolo in panne
“Disabled vehicle”

We rented an MG SUV for the trip. We are not fans. The interfaces were horrible and the vehicle handled poorly.

While playing around with the controls, we came across this screen and wondered why is there would be vehicle in the cream (panna). Jeez.

panna – cream
in panna/in panne – breakdown, more common “panne”

It seems that the phrase in panne comes from French and is a sailing term where you position a sail boat to move forward or backward with the sails in slack position.

Val di Scalve – Hike to to Rifugio Cimon Bagozza, Passo dei Campelli, and Rifugio Campione

Overview | Details | Geography | Photos

  

Left: View over Val di Scalve east toward Presolana.
Center: Three hikers walking on snow near Malga Alta Campelli in Val di Scalve, Bergamo.
Right: Tracks and altitude profile for the Passo Campelli Hike.

Overview

Our first official hike of 2025 and it’s spectacular. We are hiking west of the alpine village of Schilpario, located in Orobie Bergamasche mountains. Schilpario is known for its cross-country skiing trails, which are internationally recognized. During the winter, the village transforms into a hub for skiing enthusiasts, while in the summer, these trails become ideal for hiking and exploring. It’s winter but we still are going for a hike!

Length: 17.9 km (11.1 mi) - out and back
Duration: 6 hours, with breaks and lunch
Elevation: Max elevation 2102 m (6,896 ft) Monte Campioncino, minimum elevation 1220 m (4,002 ft) at parking area
Location: Italy, Lombardy, Bergamo Province, Valle di Scalve

Details

We are not going to try to explain public transportation to reach Schilpario village: there is always is a way but it’s long. For example, in 2017’s hike A Hike from Passo Presolana to Rifugio Rino Olmo to Castione della Presolana, we took the bus to the other side of the pass. Looking at the indications given there should give you an idea of how to do it.

Today, we are with friends in their car. We stop in Schilpario to get some sandwiches made at Alimentari Spada di Spada Daniela (one of many possible places) and then continue on to the parking lot at the location called Parcheggio Fondi partenza sentieri (1220 m).

Today the rifugi were closed, hence the sandwiches. Also, when buying the sandwiches we showed our “American” side when we purchased a tube of mayonnaise to sauce-up those ever so dry Italian sandwiches!

The road from I Fondi in summer continues but is closed in winter so we are walking up today to our first stop at Rifugio Cimon Bagozza. There are enough curves in the road and snow on the road that during our walk we just followed the tracks going up! We saw people walking, sledding, cross country skiing, and ski mountaineering.

After a pause at Rifugio Cimon Bagozza (1600 m), we followed the signs up to our next stop Passo Campelli (1890 m) and then on to Rifugio Campione (1946 m). At Rifugio Campione (closed), we pulled out a portable picnic tables and two benches and set up for lunch. Two of us lazed in the sun and our other halves went up to the nearby peak of Monte Campioncino (2102 m).

We are more or less following the first part of the CAI trail Sentiero 428: i Fondi (Schilpario) to Passo del Vivione.

From the pass to Rifugio Campione there are wonderful views over the Val Camonica, where the previous year we visited rock drawings that are UNESCO designated. See our post A Visit to Parco Naquane to See Paleolithic and Neolithic Rock Drawings in the Val Camonica. From Rifugio Campione, we are looking west across the valley directly at the Parco Naquane.

Finally, relatively nearby is the Diga del Gleno that we visited in in 2019 on our A Hike to Rifugio Tagliaferri via Val di Gleno.

Geography

This hike takes place on the north of the mountain range known as the Gruppo Camino-Concarena within the Eastern Bergamasque Prealps. This range is known for its dramatic limestone peaks and rugged terrain, giving it a Dolomite-like appearance.

According to the SOIUSA (International Standardized Mountain Subdivision of the Alps) the mountain can be classified in the following way:

• main part = Eastern Alps
• major sector = Southern Limestone Alps
• section = Bergamasque Alps and Prealps
• subsection = Bergamasque Prealps
• supergroup = Prealpi Bergamasche Orientali (not the supergroup ABBA or ASIA 😊)
• group = Gruppo Camino-Concarena

To the north of this group is Valle di Scalve (where Schilpario is) and to the south, part of Val Camonica.

Photos

  

Left and center: Approaching Passo dei Campelli in Alta Val di Scalve.

Right: Northside of Concarena range.

 

Left: Approaching Rifugio Campione.

Right: Looking east toward Passo dei Campelli.

 

Left: Panorama near Passo dei Campelli in Alta Val di Scalve.
Right: Hike tracks.

  
Left: Snow mounds in Val di Scalve.
Center: Snow, tracks and blue sky in Val di Scalve.
Right: Soft mounds of snow and rugged peaks and Cimon della Bigozza (2,409 m).

  

Left: Trees in a sea of snow in Val di Scalve.

Center: Winter hikers near Passo dei Campelli in Val di Scalve.
Right: Ski trails leading down from Monte Campioncino to Rifugio Campione.

 
Left: Val di Scalve from just below Passo dei Campelli looking west.

Right: The Gruppo Camino-Concarena are your constant companion on this hike.

  
Left and center: View east over Val Camonica toward Monte Tredenus.

Right: View from the top of Monte Campioncino.