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We're All About Italy

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Margolfe - The Good Luck Monsters of Fiumalbo

5/2/2019

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"Today enters March, the wrangling arose underground and cracked the Earth,
God save the quarrel,
the witch, the femmena mandrega,
by dogma are angry and envious of Mankind."

--
from Prete Grasso e dal Vilan che va a Spasso
(The Fat Priest and Villain Take a Walk,
a childrens story)
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PictureA detailed map of where to locate the margolfe of Fiumalbo
This children's story warns against evil and reminds us of the Margolfa, a "mummy" carved into stone and used to ward off evil and the malocchio in the region surrounding Fiumalbo in the mountains of Emilia-Romagna. These stone heads are placed on walls and homes to scare away the evil that came from the deep, dark forests in medieval days.

Perhaps this superstitious tradition was begun
by the ancestors of modern day Fiumalbini, who in times past actually hung the severed heads on doors and walls as a warning to their real world threats--invaders--to stay away.

While some margolfa are ancient, there are local artists still carving new ones today... and people still guard their homes from the malocchio with them.

--Jerry Finzi

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Villa Palagonia, the Sicilian Villa of Monsters
Castello Incantato - the Enchanted Castle and Stone Heads of a Madman

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The Poetic Doors of Staiti in Calabria

5/1/2019

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To me, the old, weathered doors in Italy are a work of art in and of themselves. Their textures of aged wood, peeling paint and ancient, blacksmith forged hardware are wonderful subjects for my own photography.

But in the small mountainside village of Staiti in the
Aspromonte National Park in Calabria there are doors that boast both colors and colorful words. They were painted by a Staitese artist, Teresa Gandini, with the help of local boys. Gandini is a well known artist in the area who usually paints local scenes of rustic architecture, gardens and floral settings. But in this case, not only her images, but also the words she paints on the doors are what transforms them doors into sheer architectural poetry.

They could very well be the doors to visitors' souls...

--Jerry Finzi

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Those who want to see the rainbow must learn to love the rain.
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The difference between winning and losing is often not giving up.
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Life is really strange: one moment you are happy, a moment later the wine is finished.
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Watch with eyes of heart and you will love what you see.
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People see, hear and talk. Unfortunately, however, they see badly, hear little and talk too much.
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Doing what you love is freedom. Loving what you do is happiness.
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The mind is like a parachute, working only when it's open.
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You will not remember the steps you took, but the footprints you left.
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It is the cynical who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
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All is the fault of...
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There is a logical thread and the people stumble.
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Read and live a thousand lives.
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