Yuletide markets in Milan

If you go down to the centre of Milan over the next few days, you will probably notice that there are a couple of Christmas markets – one along Via Orefici and another down near Piazza San Babila. I had a quick look at the stalls, and there are some nice bits and bobs on offer.

So, if you have overdone the festive food and wine a little, and you feel like burning of the odd Yuletide calorie or so, you could head on down to Milan centre and have a browse around the stalls. Then, if you find the crowds rather overwhelming, or if you are one of those lucky people who never puts on the pound, why not head for a nice bar and have a cup of thick hot chocolate with whipped cream on top? Just the thing for this chilly weather.

Try to get there early though, there was a veritable sea of people when I was there this afternoon.

Oh, and if I don’t manage to write anything on this blog tomorrow, which is probable, seeing as we are having a ‘cenone’ (big dinner) with some friends to see the New Year in:

All the very best for a Happy and Prosperous 2008!

from Alex and Gaetano here at Blog from Italy.

Prodi’s pretty picture

In what could possibly be considered as one Italian equivalent to the UK Queen’s Christmas Day speech, Romano Prodi, Italy’s current hanging on by a thread prime minister, appeared to demonstrate that he is possibly a wee bit out of touch with life here in the Living Museum. He painted a rosy picture of an Italy in which things were getting better, although I’m not too sure Beppe Grillo and his supporters would necessarily agree with Mr P.

One can draw several possible conclusions from Prodi’s optimism: First, he had had a little too much Grappa, and was feeling merry. Next, he really felt he ought to say something positive in order to counter a certain Italian comedian’s attempts to discredit just about all Italian politicians. Then, he was simply reading a speech prepared by someone else. And finally, he is so out of touch with Italian reality that he honesty believes that things are getting better.

Of course, on Mr P’s salary and perks, one doubts whether financial problems and worries about obtaining a full time work contract really bug his household. And any attempts to investigate the irregularities in which several members of his government are involved can easily be swept under the carpet by allowing the transfer of those nasty law upholding Italian magistrates and financial policemen to posts where they cannot stick their annoying little noses into affairs which simply do not concern them.

In light of the above, I guess from Mr Prodi’s personal point of view, he has good reason to believe things are becoming better in Italy. At least they are for he and his chums.

Still, Mr P may be right, after all, lots more people have been flooding the ski slopes than in recent years. This must be a sign of an economic up turn, if ever there was one.

Escape from Christmas

Well, the plan was to spend Christmas with the Italian in-laws down in Genova, and we did indeed manage to endure right up until the end of the Christmas day lunch. Then we high-tailed it back to Milan. A combination of dogs not getting on with one another, lively little son causing the downstairs neighbours to shout and knock on their ceiling every five minutes etc managed to dampen that good old Christmas spirit, and we found ourselves yearning for the, relative, tranquillity of Milan.

At least the gastronomic delights of the Christmas Eve dinner over at our friend’s house managed to perk our Christmas spirit up a little. I should add that my son and I holed up at our friend’s house. This friend has a lovely appartment with a wonderful view over Genova harbour, has no barking dogs or grumpy neighbours, and the flat is more spacious and comfortable than our in-laws ‘trapped in the 1950’s’ place, and my little one was happy because he was not being constantly told not to run, not to drop toys, and not to breathe too heavily etc when in the in-laws’ place. In fact, I could not pry him away, and he actually told our friend that he wanted to buy her appartment. Precocious, he is.

Anyway, that Christmas Eve dinner was darned good. We had Oysters and lobster, amongst other things, and everything was washed down with good wine. At least some memories of Xmas ‘07 will be good.

Milan on the other hand seems to be all but deserted, and, oddly enough, much less chaotic than Genova. Everyone has probably popped off to the mountain house, leaving the city wonderfully quiet. It’s sort of like the middle of August, but cold.

By heck, it’s good to be home.

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