The Acropolis et al.

Okay, everything opened today. We started at the Acropolis around 9:30am or so and it was already crowded (by our standards). But perhaps there was pent up desire since everything was shutdown yesterday? Anyway, it is a must see. But be prepared though, it is quite the construction zone. There are people everywhere and it can be a bit busy. If you are expecting some kind of mystical connection when you enter, it might not happen in these conditions.

The 12 Euros combined ticket gets you into several places:
a. Acropolis
b. Ancient Agora
c. Theatre of Dionysos
d. Roman Agora
e. Kerameikos
f. Temple of Olympian Zeus

We visited (a), (b), (d), and (f). We had to fit in the National Museum in the afternoon, so we skipped two sites.

The Ancient Agora and the excellent museum on the site was a standout for us. The well-preserved Temple of Hephaieston (in the Agora) is a pleasure to walk around and enjoy. What’s more, the Ancient Agora had way less people so it was more peaceful. Later in the day we hit the Temple of Olympian Zeus which was enjoyable as well (no museum here, just the main temple ruins). You can easily walk to and between these ruins. Best advice we could give is to easily leave a day for just six places shown above and not try to fit the museum in the same day. (We had to leave the next day, and didn’t want to miss the museum.)

Favorite Souvlaki Place

Our translation is Souvlaki (ΣΟΥΒΛΑΚΙ) “The Kostas” (Ο ΚΩΣΤΑΣ) on Adrianou St, 11. (Αδριανού) in the Plaka. It’s one street north of the street where the Museum of Greek music instruments is. Why did we like it? Because the ingredients were fresh, the preparation honest, and the flavors good. We went twice to this stand (really more of a little shop with a window on the sidewalk).

Walking Athens and Liking It

Last night when we arrived in Athens we were wondering what was going on in the street near our hotel (the Cathedral on Mitropoleos Street). There were crowds trying to get into a church and the police were controlling the number of people who could go in. It continued well past midnight and we stopped paying attention and went to bed. The next morning we got up and walked to the Acropolis, but there was nobody there! Then we found out that all of Athens was shut down in mourning because the archbishop of Greece had passed away. We were cranky and selfish for a few minutes but then realized the significance of the event for Greeks and snapped out of it. We decided that we could still have a good time just walking around. So that’s what we did.

Athens is a big city, but at the heart of it there are a surprising number of green spaces. First we started on Areopagus at the foot of the Acropolis. Then we headed to Filopappos Hill, west of the Acropolis, getting great views of the Acropolis and sampling the wild arugula. Then we walked around the Pynx, a little bit north. We grabbed a few souvlakis (see this post) and then hung out around the National Gardens, east of the Acropolis. In the National Gardens we dropped into a café for about an hour for some sipping and talking. Finally, we headed over to Lycabettus Hill and after a sweaty little climb were rewarded with a sunset view of the whole city. On whole, quite a bit of walking that was enjoyable for getting a sense of the city.

Don’t miss walking pass the Royal Palace or the Parliament Building to catch sight of the ceremonial guards with their huge tasseled-shoes. End around twilight in the busy Syntagma Square as people hustle to get home, meet friends, or stop at a café.

By the way, the “Tax Free” map (that a part of is shown below) was one of those maps they hand you at the hotel, but it was easy to carry around and unfold – adequate for exploring. Nothing cramps my touring-style like an unwieldy map.

Athens Bound

We left for Athens this morning. We took the train from Florence to Milan, then the airport bus from the Milan Central station to the airport, and finally an Aegean Air flight to Athens. Aegean Air was great. They served real food on a 2.5 hour flight, wow, forgot what that was like! We didn’t care for the one plus hour bus ride from the Milan Central station to the airport. The other options are taxi (expensive), or taking the train to the airport from the Cardona train station to the airport (you have to first get to Cardona, e.g. by taxi or subway). In retrospect, we wished we flew from Florence to Milan directly.

Povero Charlie Brown

 

I never really read the Peanuts comic strip (“la striscia”) in English and in fact avoided it. The other day in the Edison bookstore I picked up this book (Povero Charlie Brown or Poor Charlie Brown, #2 in a series) and got hooked on it. 

For some reason, the Peanuts seems funny to me in Italian whereas it didn’t in English. Maybe I wasn’t mature enough to enjoy it all those years ago? 

A sample. Snoopy is watching ants: 

• Panel 1: Le formiche mi affascinano. 
• Panel 2: Sono sempre così indaffarate a correre qui e là … 
• Panel 3: Quanta energia! 
• Panel 4: Io sarei una pessima formica. 

Now isn’t that funny? 

The word peanut could have been translated into “noccioline” or “personcine” but I guess they decided to leave it as is.

I Tarocchi

I Tarocchi is a pizzeria located between Piazza dei Mozzi and Piazza Demidoff on Via dei Renai 12/14. It’s in the San Niccolo neighborhood. It’s a popular place for pizza. I found the piazzas a bit undercooked, but that’s a personal preference. In Italy, in a restaurant, you eat pizza with a fork and knife. So if the pizza is not firm, no problem. I like to use my hands and a soupy pizza is a challenge. We went a second time and had the ribollita and side dishes of spinach and eggplant. For me, that was a better choice. If you are looking for something informal and reasonably priced in the Oltrarno, then try I Tarocchi.

Florence Taxi

There are two companies that provide taxis in Florence: Radios Taxi (CoTaFi) (link)and Taxi Socota (SoCoTa) (link or link). Radios Taxis can be called with 055-4390 or 055-4499. Taxi Socota can be called with 055-4242 or 055-4798. We’ve used one, but I think they are about the same.

On-the-Ground Italian Family Research

By “on-the-ground” we mean being in Italy and visiting the places your relatives came from. There is a lot you can do online and via e/mail which isn’t discussed here. A few tips that we developed on an 8 day trip to Piemonte are shown below and broken into two sections: anagrafe and cemetery research. We’ll be doing more family research outside of Rome and in Palermo in the coming months, so we’ll test these ideas furthers to see if they need tweaking.

Anagrafe research:

1. It helps if you can speak a little Italian. Useful terms are, 'Atto di Nascita' (birth certificate), 'Atti di Matrimonio' (marriage), 'Certifica' (certficate), to ask where the cemetery is ("Dove il cimitero?"), and to describe how a person is related to you, "bisnonno" (grandfather), etc. If you don’t speak any Italian, have good documentation that someone can follow easily or perhaps hire someone to help. In Italian, relatives are “parenti” and parents are “genitori” - so you might want to get them straight when asking. The records are organized by date. So having the precise birthdate or marriage date handy is a real winner. Note that the public records only go back to 1860 or so when Italy was unified as a country. Before then, parish (Parrocchia) records are your best bet (see below.) Also note that these records exist as large, hand written ledgers maintained independently in each town. In other words, you need to visit the anagrafe office in the specific town where the birth or marriage event took place.


2. The public records offices "uffizzi dello stato civile" are usually located near or in the equivalent of the town hall (e.g. “uffici comunali”) and the specific office for birth and marriage records is typically called the “anagrafe” office. Try to find out the hours before you go. For example, some offices are only open Monday, Wednesday, Friday. And most only from 9am to 12:30. You might take a picture of the office’s sign with the hours so you can remember it later. Don’t walk in 5 minutes before lunch. Give them ample time to find the records even if it only takes a few minutes - it’s about respecting their time.


3. In many of our experiences, the anagrafe worker simply walked into an adjacent room and took out a huge book and located the information within 2 minutes because we had very precise information on dates and names. By the way, some offices will let you feel and touch the book, maybe even photograph it. If you do, put a sheet of paper over other people’s info out of respect. Other offices won’t let you near the book, but may photocopy the page for you. Ask. Having the full record (as presented in the book) along with the typed-up or extracted information "Estratto", is preferred. There is often interesting information in the margins of the original document. However the 'Estratto' (extraction), signed and sealed by an 'officiale dello stato civile' is what you would need for official purposes.


4. Usually the anagrafe person will walk through the certificate with you. This is important (and this is where your Italian language skills can really help) because they can elucidate finer points of the information. The records are often written in a fancy script which is hard to read. For example, they helped us clarify information about the “frazione” or district of the city a relative came from. In another case, they knew the terms “celibre” or “nubile” on a marriage certificate that looked mysterious in script lettering. In other cases, they may point out where someone was born or what cemetery they are likely buried in.


5. One document (like a birth certificate or marriage certificate) often contains valuable information about the person or persons you are researching or their family. For example, on one marriage certificate we obtained, we discovered that the parents had lived in a town that we hadn’t considered. That then informed our cemetery searching.


6. Allow 1 day for every office or town you wish to collect information in. That includes birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, baptism records, finding tombs, etc.


7. Be patient. If you don’t get what you want the first day, you may the next. Be prepared to have the results sent to via mail.
   
8. When you walk into any office, don’t present a heaping pile of papers and expect the person behind the desk to figure it out. Be as precise as you can. Write the information down, legibly, on a piece of paper you can hand over. If the person wants other information, be ready to present it. We’ve found that everyone we encountered glad to help and interested in what we were doing and why we were doing it.
   
9. Besides anagrafe offices, there are parish offices "parrocchia" which can contain information. In one case in Ceva, we obtained the baptism record of an orphaned relative. The two ladies there were super nice and so pleased that people were looking up their ancestors. We didn't just stop there on a whim though. The anagrafe office had directed us there. So, start with anagrafe office and if you need more info, ask if the parrocchia might have it (if they don't already suggest it).

Cemetery research:

1. Grab a map of the city when you go into city’s public offices. Almost every anagrafe office we went to had a map of the city which showed churches and cemeteries. This will be useful in your cemetery hunt.


2. Cemeteries have hours too! It depends on the town/city. Some are open continuously from 8 am to 6pm with no attendants. Some were around lunch – usually these are the ones with a custodian.


3. A town or city may have many cemeteries. The one of interest depends on many factors like where in the town the relatives were born or lived. Sometimes you just have to guess.


4. Walking into cemeteries, you may notice the same names over and over. If you don’t see your family name anywhere you could just be in the wrong cemetery. That happened to us in Cherasco which had several cemeteries. We went to a cemetery in the frazione San Bartolomeo of Cherasco because that’s where a relative was born and that’s all we had to go on. In the cemetery (which was small) the names were not at all similar and it became apparent that this particular relative wasn’t here. Later we found other information through marriage records that the correct cemetery was in Ceva .


5. Be respectful. Be quiet, walk slowly, and don’t touch everything. Yes you have to peek into larger family tombs to look for names, but be courteous. Don’t walk on the grass or on top of graves.


6. Bring good walking shoes, pen, paper, your documents, and a camera.


7. If there is a custodian of the cemetery, ask if there is a list or registry of who is buried there. This greatly helped us in Ceva. It shaved hours off our search. You'll need the approximate date of death.


8. If no one is in the cemetery to assist, organize you search logically. Assuming there are two of you, you might split up and search the big family tombs first by reading the names on top first (without reading the individual tomb names). Then hit the wall tombs, then maybe the ground burials. It depends on the setup.


9. If you locate a tomb of interest. Pull out your paperwork and either confirm or deny the relevancy. Don’t linger over something trying to decide if it is interesting or not. Take a photo of the tomb and figure it out later. In the beginning, we found that we were so interested in finding anything at all, that we were spending time deciphering tombs which really weren't relavent. Part of this stems from the fact that each town or region tends to have concentrations of specific family names and it was a bit overwhelming at first to see a normally rare family name almost everywhere we turned.


10. On each tomb or marker, there is usually a photo, take a close up picture of it if you can. Use a ladder to reach high tombs. Ladders are scattered around. Put them back in the correct location.


11. Take a picture of the cemetery layout (usually published by the front gate) for later reference and perhaps annotate to show someone else where the tomb is. Or record the location or reference number of the tomb.


12. In space constrained cemeteries - which is most of Italy, bodies may be exhumed after some period of time (20-25 years). If at the time, there was no interest from the family or perhaps money available, the remains may have been placed in a common bone vault. To help determine if this is the case, given a date of death, the cemetery records can help determine when or if the person was exhumed and moved.
    

Happy researching!