(I wonder in which language "fred" means "peace"?)
The inside of the hotel is hung with lithographs by a friend of the hotel owner. In fact, the whole hotel, inside and out, is virtually his personal art exhibit. He created the Peace works on the front of the hotel, and he created every picture in the place--in the public rooms, the hallways, and the private rooms. At the moment, I do not know the name of the artist. Like the owner, he is in his 80s. The owner is on the job every day. Nothing escapes her attention.
The artist rarely puts just one thing in his pictures. He specializes in life forms of all kinds. The many death images are not at all macabre, being part of life and expected in such a vital place.
Rainieri, the youngest son of the hotel owner, and Cathy picked me up at the Naples airport when I arrived, and he drove us back there when we left. Here he is posing for our last photo in Italy. All of the owner's children work at the hotel. Rainieri says his mother still thinks of him as age 8, his brother as 15, and his sister in the middle. He says she doesn't dare take a day off and leave the care of the hotel to such kids.
When we changed planes at the Paris airport, a rather officious security person made me take off my orange Positano hat. "Take off your hat," she said. No please, no thank you. There were two colors of hats--orange and yellow--at the little shop in Positano where I went to get something to shade my eyes. Oranges and lemons...their colors are pervasive on the Amalfi coast. And of course, since the hat wasn't on my head, I lost it in the Paris airport. I lost the umbrella, too, scusi, but I was glad of that. It was always in the way. I'll have to go back to get another hat. It was comfortable and did a great job of shading my eyes.
I have absolutely loved this series of posts from Italy, x.e., and thank you so much for it.
ReplyDeleteTwo things about this one: 1) What do the French have against orange hats? 2) Without the first picture in this installment, I probably never would have found out that the Norwegian word for peace is "fred."
Oh, so it's Norwegian, I was wondering.
ReplyDeleteThe Space Cadet's brother is Fred.
Hmmm...
I love this post, it provides a portrait of a nice friendly family-run hotel in Italy... not a Holiday Inn, not a Hilton, nothing like a Best Western, but a place that is real and cared for and loved and that will care for the guests who stay there.
Great art too... but some of it is a bit out of focus. But perhaps it's better that way???
Too bad about the hat. I hope someone who needed a hat found it.
sherwood: many thanks for your kind comments, and I'm especially happy you liked the whole series. i don't think the french dislike orange hats so much as they do stoopid americans who don't read their signs. did you notice "vrede" near "fred"?
ReplyDeletevrede is dutch for peace, i think. bet they sound somewhat similar??
ex-sh: the miracle is that any of my photos is IN focus. i had especial trouble with this on this trip. i should take a class, huh? but wtf...i like those lithographs even out of focus.
oh, and i think i've got the name of my dog...if i get one!! FRED!!!
ReplyDeleteOranges and lemons! What life that is filled with those! I love the sharp sun and sharp tastes of the Mediterranean.
ReplyDeleteFabulous!!!! I am positively green with envy!!!!!
ReplyDeleteKay turned me on to your post and I am so glad she did.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it about travel that causes you to lose your hat? Mine blew off on the coast of Spain, never to be seen again and the sun was in my eyes the rest of the trip.