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Fortean Places To Visit In Italy?

Pockinghorn

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Hi all, This is my first time posting in the FT forums. Me and my partner are headed to Italy this October and I wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions for Fortean places to visit there. We'll mostly be in Naples and Florence and we'll be spending Halloween in Naples! Thanks for any suggestions!
 
...infelicitous.

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maximus otter
 
Give me some credit--it was a perfect pun.
 
Does anyone else have Fortean place recommendations for Pockinghorn?

Well, I know it sounds bloody obvious, but Pompeii should prove fascinating for any Fortean; it was easily the most interesting place I visited in the fortnight I was there. Advance reading will give you the mystical, religious, superstitious parts to visit, but the whole concept of the time-capsule of a buried city is broadly Fortean in and of itself.

Caecilius in horto sedet, and all that--great fun.

Unfortunately you might stay in or pass through Naples to get there. It's a disgusting city with a sleazy atmosphere and the country would be richer if the ground opened up and swallowed it. See also Brindisi (on a smaller scale).
 
Yes, the bit of Naples we saw when visiting Pompeii was not the most pleasant place - we travelled by rail from Sorrento and the suburbs you see from the train are very run-down, the walk from the station down to Herculaneum was even worse.

The most Fortean place I've visited in Italy is the Capuchin ossuary in Rome https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/santa-maria-della-concezione
 
Recently returned from Bolzano, where the Otzi iceman museum is. Otzi is fascinating- he had so much kit with him when he died: arrows, a copper axe, medicine, tinder, a grass cape and string boots. Bolzano is weird too - it is in the South Tyrol, and half the people speak Austrian. Unlike Naples, it is very wealthy.

The Dolomites are nearby; strange looking pink mountains. My missus bought a book about Dolomite legends in the Otzi bookshop. One legend tells about a prince that went to the Moon, and bought back a Moon Princess. She was sad because all the mountains on Earth were made of dark rock, unlike the shiny white mountains of the Moon; so the prince persuaded a magician to turn the Dolomites pale to cheer her up.
 

Bologna's leaning tower sealed off over fears it could collapse​



The skyline of Bologna is seen dominated by the Garisenda and Asinelli towers



A medieval tower in the Italian city of Bologna that leans by as much as its famous counterpart in Pisa has been sealed off over fears it may collapse.

Authorities have begun constructing a 5m (16ft) high barrier around the 12th Century Garisenda Tower to contain debris in the event that it falls.
The 47m (154f
t) tower tilts at a four-degree angle, and monitoring has found shifts in the direction of the tilt.

The city council said the situation was "highly critical".

The Garisenda Tower is one of two towers that dominate the skyline of Bologna. The other, the Asinelli Tower, is around twice the height and also leans, though not so dramatically, and is usually open for tourists to climb.

The structures were built between 1109 and 1119, though the height of the Garisenda was reduced in the 14th Century because it had already begun to lean. The tower is mentioned in Dante's poem The Divine Comedy, which was completed in 1321.

The site was first closed in October after sensors picked up the changes in the Garisenda's tilt and inspections revealed deterioration in the materials that make up its base.

The council has launched what it calls a civil protection plan to preserve the tower and said the work now being started "represents the first phase of making it safe".

It said that as well as containing debris, the barrier would protect surrounding buildings and people in the event of a collapse. It said metal rockfall nets would also be installed around the tower.

Construction of the barrier will be completed early next year, while the tower and the plaza beneath it are expected to remain closed for a number of years while restoration work is carried out.

The city estimates that the barrier alone will cost €4.3m (£3.7m) and has launched a crowd funder to pay for the restoration.
It called the project an "extraordinary challenge" that would require "commitment from the entire city and from those all over the world who love Bologna and one of its most important symbols".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-67599067
 
Well, I know it sounds bloody obvious, but Pompeii should prove fascinating for any Fortean; it was easily the most interesting place I visited in the fortnight I was there. Advance reading will give you the mystical, religious, superstitious parts to visit, but the whole concept of the time-capsule of a buried city is broadly Fortean in and of itself.

Caecilius in horto sedet, and all that--great fun.

Unfortunately you might stay in or pass through Naples to get there. It's a disgusting city with a sleezy atmosphere and the country would be richer if the ground opened up and swallowed it. See also Brindisi (on a smaller scale).
Loved Pompeii and Herculaneum, there's lots of places to stay outside of Naples that are on the rail line to Pompeii, I visit Calabria (in laws have a place on the Adriatic coast) quite often each region of Italy is effectively a different country, lots of people from Naples holiday down there but the locals complain that they bring their own food, as they don't like the Calabrian food! I must say some of the finest food I have eaten has been in little places off the beaten track where the locals eat (they are incredible food snobs) so if a place is popular with them it must be good
 
One of the outings we're going to make is to Ostia Antica, the major port of ancient Rome. Also, we've booked a guided tour around the Barberini Mithraeum.
 
Well, I know it sounds bloody obvious, but Pompeii should prove fascinating for any Fortean; it was easily the most interesting place I visited in the fortnight I was there. Advance reading will give you the mystical, religious, superstitious parts to visit, but the whole concept of the time-capsule of a buried city is broadly Fortean in and of itself.

Caecilius in horto sedet, and all that--great fun.

Unfortunately you might stay in or pass through Naples to get there. It's a disgusting city with a sleezy atmosphere and the country would be richer if the ground opened up and swallowed it. See also Brindisi (on a smaller scale).
What's up with Brindisi then Yith?
It seems fantastic on photos.
 
Unfortunately you might stay in or pass through Naples to get there. It's a disgusting city with a sleezy atmosphere and the country would be richer if the ground opened up and swallowed it. See also Brindisi (on a smaller scale).
I have to disagree with you on Naples, which I enjoyed. Yes it is grimy, but there is something fascinating about seeing a city obviously long past its prime, with decaying ornate Renaissance architecture embedded among simpler, later buildings on backstreets. Plenty of culture, three castles, including one with a cannonball embedded in the metal door, great pizza, great ice cream, and fantastic little local eateries if you get away from the tourist restaurants.

Various British friends warned us about how seedy the city is, and look out for pickpockets, thieves and muggers, but when you come at it from a Latin American direction, it ain't so different in terms of staying alert... I don't mean that disparagingly for either place, it just meant a fairly seemless transition for my wife and I.
 
I have to disagree with you on Naples, which I enjoyed. Yes it is grimy, but there is something fascinating about seeing a city obviously long past its prime, with decaying ornate Renaissance architecture embedded among simpler, later buildings on backstreets. Plenty of culture, three castles, including one with a cannonball embedded in the metal door, great pizza, great ice cream, and fantastic little local eateries if you get away from the tourist restaurants.

Various British friends warned us about how seedy the city is, and look out for pickpockets, thieves and muggers, but when you come at it from a Latin American direction, it ain't so different in terms of staying alert... I don't mean that disparagingly for either place, it just meant a fairly seemless transition for my wife and I.
I have never been to Naples, or indeed Italy unfortunately, but I watch any programme I can that shows them.

From what you say, I think you have the same view that I have of Cairo.
The poorer areas have far more character (and history of course) than say New Cairo with it's manicured feel.

Of course, many people wouldn't want to go anywhere near the poor areas and I can quite understand that.

(I think though, that the fact that there is very little theft and even less violence against foreigners in Cairo, even at night, makes it far more pleasant to go to/through these places than it would in other 'dodgy' areas of most cities around the world).
 
What's up with Brindisi then Yith?
It seems fantastic on photos.

With the caveat that I was there twenty years ago and stayed a single night:
  • It'd been suggested to me by more seasoned travellers that it lived up to its nicknamed 'Sleazy Brindisi'.
  • The place was very grimy–it takes a long time to achieve that kind of worked-in decay.
  • There were rats in the street in broad daylight. Not a lot, but no eyelids were batted.
  • Drug dealers were less than discreet.
  • The waiter of the first place we ate in seemed to be trying to spook (not warn) us with stories about local criminals who preyed on tourists.
Perhaps there is a nice side now, or perhaps it was always there but well hidden. I confess, having spent three weeks among the almost embarrassingly generous hospitality of (mostly rural) Greece and come across on the ferry, I was not very impressed by the public behaviour of the Italians we interacted with in the south of the country: aloof might be the word.

Edit: photos do indeed suggest they've cleaned the place up—especially the old buildings.
 
You could do a lot worse than Venice (if you don't mind the crowds).
St Mark's Basilica, Doge's Palace and The Campanile are the big touristy attractions (along with the obligatory gondola ride), but there's tons of stuff to see if you go off the beaten track, well away from St Mark's square. I loved the museum of musical instruments and we found the medieval-style mask-maker, who provided some props for Eyes Wide Shut. Looking at the leaning tower in Bologna a few posts above, really reminded me of Venice as, wherever you look, there's barely a perpendicular line in sight.
There is an abundance of ghost stories on the Internet for you to prime yourself with before your trip.
Sitting, enjoying an Aperol Spritz at a canal-side café, as the sun was setting, was a moment of pure magic.
A photo I took back in 2016:

venice.png
 
One factor that doesn't add to the beauty of major Italian towns is the graffiti.
After a while, you get used to it. It can be very creative and often I used it to navigate various streets. Thing is, to most European cities it's an instant badge of squalour but, while it's not technically legal, in Rome it's a long tradition all the way from the ancient empire. You don't get it on historic monuments or buildings, but on most small street sides.
This smile was outside our digs.
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