Visit Italy if only to meet Carlo he is an awesome guide

I am amazed at the wealth of knowledge Carlo has about his home town. Both current and historical data that I will never be able to do justice to. I will attempt to include as much as I can here without making this sound like a history lecture because as my friend Roy knows I am not a history buff in the least.

Carlo is a friend I met in Russia. We were both there working with the Gallaudet University Discovery program. After texting back and forth several times we were able to arrange my visit with him in his home town of Genoa, Italy. His summer vacation began the day I arrived, this was very convenient for both of us I believe. Carlo works with the government to help develop a deaf education program for art and personal development of Italy’s deaf youth. He also teaches Italian Sign Language and runs an exchange program with deaf people from other countries; this is an intense 6 week full immersion program to learn Italian Sign Language. Needless to say he is very skilled at introducing others to his language and culture in a manner that is both enjoyable and informative.

Perhaps in the future I will be able to convince Carlo to offer a program to allow Interpreters from around the world to have a full emersion program in ILS. Only time will tell. For now the program is exclusive to deaf people ad a cultural exchange program.

I learned how the EU had a convention there in 2001 and the heart of his city was fenced off to allow only official business. In addition the EU paid to have the area cleaned and beautified to allow the dignitaries to see Genoa in its full glory. This area is still very good condition after the restoration. He showed me a church that has only one tower. The second tower was destroyed during WWII when the allied forces bombed the church with a direct hit. The only reason the church remains today is because the bomb failed to explode. If you visit the church you can see and touch the actually ordinance on display. The Church looks unique with its single tower on the left hand side, almost as if it had a mammactomy.

I learned also of the History of Italian monarchy and how that affects its current architecture. In the past Italy was not a single country but rather independent regains each with their own rule. Genoa was no different with the several Dukes each jockeying for position as the controlling power in their region. In Genoa and perhaps other places in Italy the Ducal power could be judged by the size of the Duke’s…(no wait a minute here I don’t know what you are thinking here in relation to Italian men but just stop there. This is a true story and a history lesson so get your mind out of the gutter and look to the sky) The power can be measured by the size of the tower on top of his residence. They would play games with each other and knock down their neighbors towers to show their dominance. To this day there are only two towers left still standing. One of which belonged to the D’oria family, who was widely regarded as the ruling and most respected family.

When Genoa became a major hub for trade and travel the city began to fear invasion. It was Duke D’oria who secretly approached the Spaniards and made a deal with them which enabled Genoa to defend itself against would be invaders. You can still see the early warning system they established with forts on top of the tallest peaks looking out into the harbor and Mediterranean sea.
At the apex of the harbor the town boast having the first bank in Europe. An honor also boasted by Rome. This debate may never be resolved. Carlo Explained how the area was run down and not very safe only a few years ago. Turns out the USA wanted to hold a festival in Genoa as this was the origin of Christopher Columbus. Just a sort of thank you for our countries discovery kind of thing. In exchange for allowing us to have a festival in Genoa we paid to renovate the entire harbor area. It rather resembles many other boardwalk renovations I have seen in America with one exception. It just so happens a world class architect and designer was born and raised in Genoa (sorry I forgot his name). Because Genoa is his home town he donated his considerable talents to the harbor renovation. It is truly a work of art there and worth seeing. Two more things then I am done with the history stuff.

Genoa has a reputation for being cheap or frugal with their money expenditures. Carlo explained this after I asked why many of the buildings instead of having mason work decorating the front were mearly flat buildings with little or no stone work at all. This is in contrast to most other places I have seen in Europe. However the art work on the buildings gives a façade of masonry. This is artwork that would put Hollywood to shame. I attempted to capture some of this on film but the art is so well done that on film the masonry appears real. I guess it makes upkeep easy as you can just slap on another coat of paint instead of ordering new bricks.

Finally the bathrooms in Genoa are a great story. You can stop reading now if this stuff grosses you out. Seems the original designs in Genoa did not include toilet facilities at all. Not sure what they did before but, someone came up with a good idea of adding a shack to the outside of the wall suspended above the ground at whatever floor you lived on. This shack would have a seat with a hole in it that was open to the alley below. You would do your business and everything would fall hopefully to the dumpster thing below. You would urinate into a cistern and empty that separately. It was common practice to yell “PISS” from your window before dumping the cistern into the street below. This would allow passersby to scatter so as not to receive a golden shower. In later years pipes and tubes have been attached to allow for a more directed flow of human waste. Only the older un-renovated buildings still have those awkward shacks attached to the outside of the buildings (with modern pluming of course). Carlo at one time lived in such a place. How cool is that to know the history of the room you are taking a dump in.

That concluded the tour of the city. It was marvelous and beautiful while very educational. I have may pictures you will be able to see here as well as video footage just waiting to be uploaded.