Dear Art Lover,
I left
Florence, Italy, with a large wide, but narrow box containing nine paintings
(three on wood panels), surrounded by clothes and black squid-ink spaghetti for
my family. My backpack had all of my
electronic gadgets that I needed for work in the US and a big pad of paper with
two boxes of pastels. That was my idea
of traveling light for my flight. In
addition, I had an extra bag with food and random things that I anticipated
using up during my last couple of days in Italia for a while. After a train ride to Napoli (Naples) and catching
the Circumvesuviana train to Sorrento, I knew that I was not having a good
time.
A man running a luggage storage facility at
the station in Sorrento saved me. I delighted
when he told me that there was indeed a Mailboxes, Etc. nearby. He charged me only five euro to store my box
of art at the station overnight. Feeling
much lighter, I walked around in the rain to buy bus tickets to go to the
campground, Santa Fortunata. This second
image is right outside of the station just before a 30-minute thunder and
lightning storm passed over us.
The SantaFortunata is a campground that also has cabins supplied with linens. Mine was in a lovely location up a dirt path
with a good view of the distant volcano Vesuvius. I was thrilled with myself for leaving that
awkward and heavy box behind! A nearby
restaurant provided a light dinner for takeout as I settled in for some
computer work, creating images and files for art shipping. Soon, I was deep asleep in this lovely haven.
The next
morning the birds were singing. I took
the bus back into downtown Sorrento carrying an empty backpack. The guys at Mailboxes Etc. went with me to pick
up my art box and allowed me to remove most of the stuff that surrounded the
art. They had to repackage it all anyway
and also verify that I was shipping what I claimed to be shipping. They copied my new digital files for the
Customs paperwork that allows art to leave Italia. Everything went well. I then met a man named Giovanni de Liso selling
luggage who also created nice Italian scenic paintings. We had a wonderful chat after I purchased a
small suitcase and he gave me advice on good local places to eat.
Around
town are several bronze sculptures by Arnaldo
Pomodoro. He is quite famous with a bronze
sphere with similar geometric shapes emerging from it as one of the sculptures at
the Vatican Museum. They are all well
cared for and the patina seems new to me.
This is impressive, especially for a coastal town.
In the
afternoon I headed back to Santa Fortunata and brought my computer down to the
beach at the bottom of their cliffs. It
was so relaxing to make “my office” at the edge of the sea. It was so good to swim again and then work
beside the music of the waves.
It was the
pattern during my visit for an evening storm to roll-in. It was so exciting to be there with the wind
whipping around and the rain hitting my metal roof. The morning after was clear and gorgeous. I would recommend this place as a great home
base for visiting the areas around Vesuvius, such as Pompei (Pompeii in
English) and Ercolano (Herculaneum in English).
Tanti auguri di
buon compleanno, carissima Susanna!
Peace,Kelly
~ Kelly Borsheim, sculptor,
painter, writer, teacher
