ADHVAGATI

Firenze or Florance is not a just a beautiful city ; its a live being that warmly engulfs you in an overpowering embrace of magical charm. One gets tossed between artistic riches , turbulent history, modern municipal efficiency, haute chic and the expansive demonstrations of public affability exhibited by its natives. It takes just a few hours for the place to get you totally besotted. If you like history, like I do, you will willingly place yourself in its thrall for ever .  This heartland of Tuscany is actually an open air museum. Go get a gelato from a jazzy neon-lit cafe and you have an exquisite 15th Century statue peering down at you from a niche by the entrance.  A mundane agriculture office will turn out to be a Renaissance Palace.  There are Banks established in Medieval times, and still very much housed in the same original fortresses.  The nerve center of the city is Piazza Della Signoria, a L shaped city square, close to the most famous landmark, The Du...

Last week, i read a news bit that Italy's Ministry of Culture proposed a 60Million- Euro preservation plan to secure Rome's historical areas - something rustled up in a hurry only after the recent collapse of an ancient monument in Pompeii set the alarm bells ringing. Its imponderable what Rome would do without its history ! History is what brings the gaping hoards and the tourist lolly in. But for all that, its surprising that the Italians do not exert themselves too much to gift wrap their treasures and vend them more energetically. Since their everyday cityscape is so enmeshed with the historical remains, the locals seem to be quite cool to the charm and romance their invaluable heritage. On my visit, I got the distinct feeling that they were quite blase' about it . They had the same "chalta hai" attitude our countrymen have here . When in Rome,I dint feel the need to be Roman. Rome was " Indian" in character : The people there littere...

Yesterday, I received a forwarded mail with pictures showing Venice inundated by the recent flood , almost turned into an Atlantis Theme Park ! I remembered our own visit to Venice and our dread at just such a prospect ! The water level was pretty close to lapping over the stone avenues when we arrived at the San Marco water taxi jetty. We later learnt that we had escaped an episode of 'aqua alta' ( High Water) by just two days. Aqua Alta flooding is a periodic phenomenon that leaves major portions of this beautiful historic city submerged knee deep in tidal backlash for short intervals. Not that this discourages Tourists swarming in ! Come Hell or High Water, excited gaggles of camera toting visitors overrun Venice throughout the year, wearing rubber boots when necessary. If you can capture a quiet corner all for yourself, consider yourself fortunate ! Our visit was just a daylong trip . Chugged in by the early morning train and took the last one out. A fully...

In 79 AD, an angry Mt. Vesuvius barbecued the city for breakfast, leaving behind a deathly silence that lasted nearly a millenium . Today, thousands swarm its lanes and city squares trying to connect with the vanished people. Its not difficult , for they left behind imprints of themselves that neither the volcanic wrath of a forgotten god nor almighty Time could erase completely. The hot volcanic ash proved to be a superlative preservative that has frozen forever that last day in the life of a thriving, rocking city. What a feisty lot those old pompeians were ! First lessons first. There's a Pompei and a Pompeii. The single i -d name denotes an ancient commune consisting of many cities and towns, among them this Pompeii and Herculaneum, both of which were destroyed in that volcanic eruption. There's modern day suburb named Pompei , functioning like any small town in the Naples- Compania Region, but "Pompeii" , the tourist at...