Bergamo – Street Sign Language Lesson XXXIII – No candles fino al?

previous lesson | this lesson | next lesson

Can we just say that the signs in this installment of Street Sign Language Lesson ™ totally prove the point in the post we wrote several years ago about how much writing in Italy – and by extension signs – is in uppercase. That post was Lo Stampatello: How Italians Write.

In this 23rd installment, we have: four signs related to the coronavirus (closures and forbidden items during the lockdown), a sign for a lost cat (and a plea from its young owner), a sign about a poet incarcerated as an antifascist, a sign advertising what's cooking at Il Coccio, and a sign on a van that takes us on a small diversion to learn about flooring. If this overview hasn't piqued your curiosity: close this window now, click your browser's back button, or go here.




INFORMAZIONE AI NOSTRI CLIENTI – In ottemperanza al DPCM del 3 Novembre 2020 non è temporaneamente consentita la vendita di questa categoria di merceologica.
Information for our customers: In accordance with the Prime Ministerial decree of November 3, 2020, the sale of this product category is temporarily not allowed.

There's a lot to unpack here. DPCM is an acronym for decreto del Presidente del Consiglio dei ministri and is a decree by the Prime Minister of Italy. Here the DPCM in question is that of 3rd of November with its attachments. 

We know, we should know this cold, but we are a little shaky on our knowledge of how the Italian government works. Here goes an explanation: a decreto (law-decree) is a type of law that the Prime Minister (also know as the premier) can enact that doesn't require legislative approval although that may come later with the Senate – the upper house (Senato della Repubblica) and the Chamber of Deputies – the lower house (Camera dei deputati). Law-decrees are usually used as instruments "in cases of the uttermost need and urgency", as in the cornavirus pandemic. Imagine trying to get laws enacted quickly with 5 or 6 different parties and the law-decree starts to make sense.

So how does this all apply to this Carrefour store suspending the sale of candles and cake decorating items? That's what we were wondering. To the best of our ability in interpreting the DPCM of the 3rd of November, stores in red zones (zone rosse) can only sell essential items that appear in the attachments list (attachment 23). The list is inclusive not exclusive. That is, the items on the list are "essentials" and there is no indication of what can't be sold. Each (chain) store seems to have taken to deciding on what meets the decree as essential, which is a bit arbitrary. In some stores, le candele e i diffusori per ambiente (basically ways to stink up your house with artificial smells) were marked not for sale. Okay, maybe this ban isn't so bad after all.

BAR PERRY: CHIUSO x (ZONA ROSSA) FINO AL? CIAO a TUTTI MÖLA MIA
Bar Perry: (due to red zone restrictions) closed until? Hello everyone and never give up.

X is often written for the preposition per or "for". The question of the day is when will the restrictions be lifted.

COSA BOLLE NEL COCCIO?
What's cooking at Il Coccio?

A coccio is a terracotta / earthenware cooking pot or a fragment or shard of pottery. In our sign here, Il Coccio refers to a trattoria in Bergamo. On the sign advertising the menu of the day, it begins with Cosa bolle nel Coccio?. Bolle comes from the verb bollire – to boil or cook. It's an informal way of saying what's cooking. Here it becomes a pun of what's cooking and what's cooking in the pot.

Food at Il Coccio during this time is for take-away only – like all other restaurants in Bergamo for most of November 2020. 

NO DITTATURA SANITARIA
No health dictatorship.

The side of the Chiesa di San Bernardino in Pignolo is the source of anti-everything graffiti. A while back (see Bergamo – Street Sign Language Lesson XXVI), it was anti-vaccni [sic]. It looks to be the work of the same folks but their spelling has improved during the lockdown!

PER OGNI COSA CHE FINISCE C'È UN NUOVO INIZIO
For every ending, there is a new beginning.

A sign of the times: businesses closing during the pandemic. Here's a sign of one such business on via Santa Caterina that keeps the message positive. The sign continues anche se spesso le chiusure sono dolorose e, qualcosa ha termine nella nostra vita, è sempre una occasione di crescita – which translates approximately as "even if the closures are sad, and something ends in our life, it is always an opportunity for growth". 

INCARCERATO A BERGAMO PER ANTIFASCIMSO
Imprisoned in Bergamo for being an anti-fascism.

In 1943, the Italian poet Salvatore Quasimodo (1901 – 1968) came to Bergamo from Milan on the invitation of Giacomo Manzù (1908 – 1991). Because Quasimodo didn't respond to a draft card sent by the Repubblica di Salò, he was imprisoned for several months at La Rocca. Quasimodo's poem "Dalla Rocca di Bergamo Alta" records his imprisonment and is inscribed on the shown here outside La Rocca.

In 1959, Quasimodo was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature.

For a quick read on fascism and the connection to our time, check out the book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century.

Finally, what does the Repubblica di Salò have to do with this? It was the headquarter of the second and last incarnation of the Italian Fascist state, a sort of last gasp that functioned between September 1943 (when Italy rejected Mussolini and Germany seized control of northern Italy) and April 1945, as the tide turned definitively against the Axis powers in in Italy during WWII.

GATTO SMARRITO – Cerco il mio gattino. Si chiama Simon: è bianco, grigio, minuto.
Lost cat. I'm looking for my kitty. His name is Simon: he is white, gray, and small.

This sign was written by a little girl who lost her cat. This sign just warms a cold pandemic and apathetic heart doesn't it? The sign includes what is probably her mom's cell phone. Come home Simon!

For the record: gatto (gatta) is a cat, and it sounds a bit like the French word gâteau. A gattino (gattina) is a kitten. There is a famous 1960 song from Gino Paoli called "La gatta" that starts "C'era una volta una gatta", once upon a time there was a cat. Video. 

Pavimentazioni f.lli Filisetti. Posa Pavimenti e Rivestimenti – Bettoncini con pompe 
Flooring by Brothers Filisetti. Laying of floors and coverings – Cement with pump.

f.lli is a commonly used abbreviation for brothers or fratelli. Posa comes from the verb posare – to lay out. That's all fine and dandy, but the word that caught our attention was bettoncini. When we tried looking it up, we could only find it with one T as betoncino/i. Did they spell it wrong?

The best definition we could find was on an engineering forum: betoncino is a type of cement with aggregates that don't exceed1.5cm, which seems to be used in restoration work on walls. Beyond that, please call f.lli Filisetti for an explanation and spelling. (This surname is one characteristically found in the Bergamasco.)

Asplenium ceterach – Rustyback Fern

Left: Asplenium cetarach botanical drawing (www.biolib.de).
Center and right: Photos of Asplenium cetarach on a wall in Bergamo.

The upside of the coronavirus lockdown (November 2020 edition) is that we've spent more time walking and exploring parts of Bergamo we usually don't. Case in point, we found ourselves on the Scaletta Scorlazzino, a beautiful and long stair climb up the southern slopes below Via Sudorno. On these sun-exposed walls we ran into Asplenium ceterach, commonly known as the Rustyback fern, another good candidate for a "wall plants of Bergamo" post.

Unlike many other ferns, A. ceterach likes sun and requires little humidity. The Rustyback fern is also known "as a resurrection plant due to its ability to withstand desiccation and subsequently recover on rewetting."[ref] That's an apt metaphor for the on and off again lockdowns and looking forward to getting through this pandemic intact.

The family Aspleniaceae (recall the taxonomy: kingdom, clade, class, order, suborder, family, genus, species) is a family of ferns called spleenworts for their approximate resemblance to spleens. In two previous posts we talked about two other wall-loving ferns in this family: Asplenium ruta-muraria and Asplenium tichomanes, that both look similar to A. ceterach.

Rustyback is found in Western and Central Europe, including the Mediterranean region. It is commonly found growing in fissures in limestone and dolomite rock and on the mortar of stone and brick walls, as in these photos. The English common name Rustyback – according to Wikipedia – is due to the orange-brown hairs (trichomes) on the backside of the fronds.

In Italian, this fern is called la cedracca. According to Treccani, this Italian word derives ultimately from the Persian word shītarak.

Left: A photo of Asplenium cetarach on a sunny wall of the Scaletta Scorlazzino in Bergamo.

Right: The underside of the an A. cetarach frond.

Bergamo – Street Language Lesson XXXII – Dogs and Virus

previous lesson | this lesson | next lesson

During the coronavirus pandemic, we couldn’t get out much to go sign hunting, so this series went to the dogs. Now, with restrictions lessened, we can go out more and read signs about dogs! In this episode: please be a good dog owner, don’t touch my flowers, we won’t give up to this virus, and other signs about living with the virus. Keep reading.

Note: Reading through these signs, we are reminded how much Italians like to write in all caps. We discussed this before in the post Lo Stampatello: How Italians Write.

Alla Vostra Salute – È disponible spray alcolico igienizzante senza risciacquo per la pulizia dei manici dei carrelli e dei cestini.
For your health, no-rinse, alcohol spray disinfectant is available for cleaning the handles of shopping carts and baskets.

We really don’t spend that much time in PAM supermarket, and we spend – by far – much more money at our local fruttivendolo. But PAM does have interesting signs like this one.

An interesting note on the name PAM. It is an acronym for più a meno or “more for less”. The company was founded in 1958 in the Veneto.



È obbligatorio indossare la mascherina.
It is compulsory to wear a mask. (Masks are required.)
There are three characteristic borghi of Bergamo we spend time in: Borgo Pignolo, Borgo Palazzo and Borgo San Caterina. The later, Borgo San Caterina runs northeast and contains a series of mom and pop stores with next to no “chain” store brands. In one of those stores along Borgo San Caterina, we saw this sign. The word in this sign that caught our eye is indossare, a perfectly fine word except people rarely use it when speaking. When talking about “wearing” something the verb portare is often used or the sentence is written in another way, frequently using the verb “to have” avere.

La sede rimarrà chiusa fino a data da destinarsi. Raccolta tappi sospesa, non lasciateli fuori! This office will remain closed until further notice. Collection of caps has been suspended, do not leave them outside.

Here’s another sign from a store front along Borgo San Caterina. What caught our eye in this sign is the tappi. Tappi are plastic bottle tops. Okay, so why are people collecting them?

That question takes us back to the very first day we landed in Bergamo. The owners of our B&B talked saving plastic caps and then they would be donated. We weren’t clear on where they went or for what cause and we are never organized enough to save them...so we didn’t. Seeing this sign brought on a twinge of guilt that led to a few hours of research.

This was we found out:

• There are many sites talking about collecting caps, such as GreenMe and MalattieDelSangue. It is a way for organizations to raise money through the sale of the plastic for a good cause. The plastic caps are of a different plastic grade that gets more money per unit weight and therefore making it an easy way to raise money. The idea of collecting caps as a for a good cause almost always come up first searching on the subject of bottle caps so it’s no wonder people would think this is what must be done.
• We found this fascinating recycling video about the Montello company just outside of Bergamo. In the video, you can see that caps are on bottles! That intrigued us.
• Moving on, we consulted the guide to recycling in Bergamo and we could not find that it was forbidden to keep caps on plastic bottles. (We also learned that we could put toothpaste tubes in plastic recycle and store receipts do not go in paper recycle. Oops on both counts.)
• Finally, we found this article from InaBottle magazine suggesting that at one time, the inability of the technologies to deal with caps along with the idea of beging a “good citizen” led to the collection of caps, that is, not letting caps go into the plastic recycle. The article continued on to say that with current technology, caps on bottles was fine. In fact, in the video referenced above, the different types of plastic (caps versus the bottles) sink or float easily in one of the processing steps leading to efficient separation of plastic types. Further, the InaBottle article references a PlasticsNews article that says keeping the caps on helps bottles keep their form through the number of processes they undergo thus helping bottles stay recognizable as such, which aids in better separation of different plastic types.

After all that, our ruling is that you should collect the caps and donate them to a cause if you want. But you should not – and we will not – feel guilty about keeping our caps on when putting plastic bottles in the recycle! (At least here in Bergamo.)



#MOLA MIA Never give up!
Non mollare or non cedere would be others way to say this, but mola mia has a ring to it. It is also the name of a campaign https://www.molamia.it/ to raise awareness of community, urging people to never give up. Funds collected from the campaign will be donated to the hospital Papa Giovanni XXIII. This heart sign was seen in the headquarters of CAI Bergamo.



In sala di attesa.

• Non appena entra in studio, si disinfetti le mani con il gel presente all’ingresso.
• Parli con il personale rispettando la distanza di sicurezza (almeno 1 mt) o al di là della barriera protettiva posta in zona reception.
• Le verrà provata la temperatura e qualora fosse superiore a 37 gradi l’appuntamento dovrà essere rimandato.
• Consegni il modulo di autocertificazione che troverà in allegato (il documento deve essere compilato il giorno stesso dell’appuntamento); qualora non l’avesse fatto, gliene verrà data una copia in studio da copilare.
• Cerchi, se possibile, di non usare I servizi igienici dello studio.

In the waiting room

• Upon entering, disinfect your hands with the gel at the entrance.
• Talk with the staff respecting the safe distance of at least 1 meter or on the other side of the protective barrier in place in reception.
• You will have your temperature taken and if it is great than 37 degrees, the appointment will be rescheduled.
• Return the auto-certification module you will find attached (the document must be filled out the same day as the appointment); If it has not been done, you will be given a form to be filled out.
• If possible, try not to use the bathrooms.

Lots of instructions and all given with formal commands. Parli not parla. Le verrà not ti verrà. Consegni not consegna. Cerchi and not cerca. There is also an interesting use of the conjunction qualora used in conditional sentences. Example: If your temperature is greater than 37 degrees (condition), the appointment will be rescheduled (result). Example: If it (the form) hasn’t been filled out (condition), then you will be given a copy of it to fill out (result). Reference.

Grazie se per educazone [sic] e igiene farete urinare i vostri cani altrove.
Thanks, for politeness and cleanliness, let your dogs pee somewhere else.
In our humble opinion, this sentence is confusing. It seems like it's missing the word non. Maybe better would have been Grazie se non per educazione e igiene grazie, farete...?  The intent is clear: please make your dogs pee elsewhere. This sign was seen on V. San Lorenzo.


 
Tu che non vuoi che il tuo cane sporchi la tua casa, ricordati che questa porta non è il bagno del tuo animale.
You that don’t want your dog dirtying your house, remember that this door is not your pet’s bathroom.
The only word appearing in lowercase is “è” perhaps because the person didn’t know how to create and upper case È with l’accento grave on the computer? Really, this is the kind of thing we wonder about!

You find in this sign an everyday use of the subjunctive (congiuntivo) mood with the conjugation of the verb sporcare as sporchi and not sporca. Animale here is a bit of a false friend; it should be read as animale domestico or “pet”.



Per favore non prendere. Facciamo bella la città.
Please do not take (the flowers). Let’s make our city beautiful.

Fare bella la casa is a phrase often used that means “make a beautiful home”. The use in this sign is similar where facciamo here is used in the sense of “let’s”. When I asked a native Italian speaker about this second sentence, he said rendiamo bella la città would have been better, using the verb rendere.

A Hike Around the Cinque Laghi above Valgoglio, Italy

Overview | Details | Flora | References

Top Left: Overlooking Lago Sucotto. Upper Left: Lago Nero above Vagoglio, Italy.

Bottom Left: Cinque Laghi trail stats and profile. Bottom Center: Center of Valgoglio. Center Right: A patch of snow left above Lago Nero on the way to Lago di Aviasco.

Overview

Length: 12.4 km (7.7 mi)
Duration: 6.0 hours total, with 45-minute lunch break at north end of Lago Nero
Elevation: 1,177 m (3,862 ft) @ start/end of hike at Parcheggio Località Becc; max elevation 2,081 m (6,827 ft) between Lago di Aviasco and Lago Campelli Alto; elevation gain 1,321 m (4,334 ft) reported by viewranger
Location: Italy, Lombardy, Bergamo, Alta Val Seriana, Valgoglio

Details

The name Valgoglio comes from the Bergamasque dialect for the term “goi”, meaning a deep river pool. The Goglio river and the town of Valgolgio are similarly derived from the term. In terms of hikes, it’s one of the rare hikes we have repeated! Our friends messaged us on Saturday about hiking to Lago Cernello and we didn’t think to check this blog to see we had already done part of this hike.

The post A Short Hike to Cinque Laghi, Above Valgoglio documents our first experience just about two years ago today. Back then, the day was grey and cool, and we were part of slower moving group, so we did not do a tour of the lakes. This time, the weather was perfect, and we did make it around to visit all five of the principal lakes.

Hiking up to the lake and visiting the five principle lakes will involve these trails: CAI 228, CAI 229, CAI 268. The trail is very well signed and worn, so you will not get lost. The biggest choice you have is whether to do the tour of the lakes clockwise or counterclockwise. We chose the former. There were a few parts of the trail – heading to Sucotto – where the trail was steep and had cables for grips (visible in one of the photos in this post).

You will notice in photos of this post that we are hiking with masks, which are still required here in Lombardy – on the date of this hike. We usually wore them under our chins or took them off when not near other hikers, but put them back on when approaching others within six or so feet. There you go, hiking during the coronavirus pandemic.

Very visible along the trail is the green condotta forzata (pipeline) that carries water from the lakes down to the Centrale di Aviasco (station) at 984 m, for a drop of about 1,000 m. The Aviasco station can supply the energy needs of about 10,000 families. The station was built in 1925, and the Lago Nero dam was constructed in the 1920s by Azienda Elettrica Crespi, placing the dam projects somewhere in the early 1920s. What’s interesting is that these dams seem to be connected to Crespi d’Adda. The Crespi family was behind hydroelectric projects on the Adda river, like the Taccani Hydroelectrical Power Station. We couldn’t find any easy resource talking about what Crespi was doing in the mountains of the upper Val Seriana.

Going clockwise from the “ENEL Village”, you will arrive at the five principle lakes:

• Lago Nero (2,014 m) – artificial
• Lago di Aviasco (2,070 m) – artificial
• Lago Campelli Alta (2,037 m) – artificial
• Lago Cernello (1,958 m) – natural
• Lago Sucotto (1,854 m) – natural

After the grind of the first part of the trail, you end up on a sort of plateau called Villaggio Enel. As with all names, we wonder, why was it named like that?

Names: It pains us to no end not to know about all the lake names on this hike. Lago di Aviasco is called that after the nearby pass of the same name. Lago Nero is named so because of its dark waters or so we read. However, the origin of the names of Cernello, Campelli and Sucotto eluded us.

So, what is ENEL? Enel S.p.A., or the Enel Group, is an Italian multinational energy company that is active in the sectors of electricity generation and distribution. ENEL is an acronym that stands for National Entity for Electricity (Ente Nazionale per l’energia Elettrica). It was formed in 1962 when Italy nationalized the production and distribution of electric power. ENEL, we are guessing took over the hydroelectric production of these lakes, modernized, and created this villaggio as a place for workers to stay.

Flora

Valgoglio is also the gateway to the Val Sanguigno, a spot known for its biodiversity. From the trail today, we could see into the beginning of the Val Sanguigno dotted in the yellow of Laburnum anagyroides or Common Laburnum (Maggiociondolo in Italian) – in the pea family (Fabaceae).

Today, one of the plants we noted latest time Daphne striata, was again in abundance, and this time got down on our knees to breath in the wonderful scent it produces.

We saw many of the same plants as we did last time – being the same time of year – only with with better lighting.

As usual, check out our flora resources page Resources for Identifying Plants around Bergamo and our Pinterest page.

Key: [Family] Genus species – Common name in English (Common name in Italian)

[Asteraceae] Cirsium sp.

[Boraginaceae] Myosotis – Forget Me Not (Nontiscordardimè)

[Campanulaceae] Phyteuma sp. – Globe Headed Rampion (Raponzolo alpino)

• A Phyteuma definitely, but which one is a kind of hard to know. P. hemispheericum is more common and is found at slightly lower elevations. For these reasons, we went with P. hemisphaericum.

[Ericaceae] Rhododendron ferrugineum – Alpenrose (Rododendro rosso)

[Fabaceae] Cytisus scoparius – Scotch Broom (Ginestra dei carbonai)

[Gentinanaceae] Gentiana clusii – Trumpet Gentian (Genziana di Clusius) - not pictured here

[Lamiaceae] Ajuga pyramidalis – Pyramidal Bugle (Iva piramidale)

[Lentibulariaceae] Pinguicula vulgaris – Common Butterwort (Erba unta comune)

[Liliaceae] Paradisea liliastrum – St Bruno’s Lily (Giglio di monte)

[Orchidaceae] Dactylorhiza maculata – Spotted Heath Orchid (Orchide macchiata)

[Papaveraceae] Corydalis lutea – Rock Fumewort, Yellow Corydalis (Colombina gialla)

[Plantaginaceae] Linaria alpina – Alpine Toadflax (Linajola alpina)

[Polygalaceae] Polygala chamaebuxus – Shrubby Milkwort (Poligala falso bosso)

[Ranunculaceae] Anemone narcissiflora –  Narcissus Anemone (Anemone a fiore di narciso)

[Rosaceae] Potentilla reptans – Creeping Cinquefoil (Cinquefoglia comune)

[Primulaceae] Primula daonensis – (Primula della Valle di Daone)

[Primulaceae] Soldanella alpina – Alpine Snowbell (Soldanella comune)

[Scrophulariaceae] Verbascum alpinum – Mullein (Verbasco alpino)

[Thymelaeaceae] Daphne striata – Striped Daphne (Dafne striata)

[Violaceae] Viola biflora – Yellow Violet (Viola con due fiori)

References

Some references consulted in preparing this post.

• [Italian] Guide to the Villages of the Alta Val Seriana
• [Italian] All about river ecology
• Understanding the orgins of “goi” or “goglio” we needed to figure out what a buca fluviale molto profondo means. We think it can best be translated into pool using this resource.
• [Italian] Prima Bergamo article on the hike
• [Italian] Books we would love to consult about Cinque Laghi - but are super-specialized and hard to find
• [Italian] ProgettoDighe.it - where dam geeks go to talk
• [English] Pipeline transport - type seen on this hike
• [English] Energy Issues and Policies in Italy.

Left: [Asteraceae] Cirsium sp. Center: [Campanulaceae] Phyteuma sp. Left: [Lamiaceae] Ajuga pyramidalis – Pyramidal Bugle (Iva piramidale).

Left: [Boraginaceae] Myosotis – Forget Me Not (Nontiscordardimè). Right: [Lentibulariaceae] Pinguicula vulgaris – Common Butterwort (Erba unta comune).

Left: [Liliaceae] Paradisea liliastrum – St Bruno’s Lily (Giglio di monte). Center: [Ranunculaceae] Anemone narcissiflora –  Narcissus Anemone (Anemone a fiore di narciso). Right: [Ericaceae] Rhododendron ferrugineum – Alpenrose (Rododendro rosso).

Left: [Fabaceae] Cytisus scoparius – Scotch Broom (Ginestra dei carbonai). Center: [Papaveraceae] Corydalis lutea – Rock Fumewort, Yellow Corydalis (Colombina gialla). Right: [Rosaceae] Potentilla reptans – Creeping Cinquefoil (Cinquefoglia comune).

Left: [Orchidaceae] Dactylorhiza maculata – Spotted Heath Orchid (Orchide macchiata). Center: [Plantaginaceae] Linaria alpina – Alpine Toadflax (Linajola alpina). Right: [Primulaceae] Soldanella alpina – Alpine Snowbell (Soldanella comune).

Left and Center: [Primulaceae] Primula daonensis – (Primula della Valle di Daone). Right: [Thymelaeaceae] Daphne striata – Striped Daphne (Dafne striata).

Left: [Polygalaceae] Polygala chamaebuxus – Shrubby Milkwort (Poligala falso bosso). Center: [Scrophulariaceae] Verbascum alpinum – Mullein (Verbasco alpino). Right: [Violaceae] Viola biflora – Yellow Violet (Viola con due fiori).

Left: At the beginning of the trial and a view of Val Sanguigno with the yellow of Laburnum visible. Right: The trail above Villaggio ENEL.

Left and right: A patch snow on the trial between Lago Nero and Lago di Aviasco.

Left: From the trail, a view of Lago Cernello. Right: The dam on Lago Cernello.

Left: The dam at Lago di Aviasco with trail indicators. Right: Walking around the north end of Lago Nero.

Left: The dam at Lago Sucotto. Right: View from the trail looking south down the Alta Val Seriana.

Left: Lago di Aviasco with Passo Aviasco in the distance. Right: Peek-a-boo with a camoscio - Rupicapra rupicapra.

Left: Sign describing the Parco delle Orobie Bergamasche. Right: Sign describing the Valle del Goglio River.