An Introduction to Ascoli Piceno

At the insistence of my family I've finally decided to set fingers to keys and write my long-promised travelogue. I've been so overwhelmed that somehow the words did not come so easy. I've realized, though, that it's important to share and to let everyone know what I've found here in Ascoli. Most importantly, it's important to recognize how lucky I am:

Weeks One and Two
Stage of Culture Shock: Amazed at the brilliance of it all.

I arrived in Italy late into the night on Sunday, August 31. From Rome a group of us UNH travelers took a three hour bus ride to Ascoli Piceno where we will be living for the next three months.
I have been in Ascoli for a week now and am enjoying it very much. It's very hard to not sound as if I'm writing a fairytale when describing Ascoli. I really wish the beautiful pictures I took did it justice. The city is enchanting with charming and beautiful people, extraordinary scenery and delicious food. I am happy that I decided to study in Ascoli, a small medieval town surrounded by hills and fully alive with the real, organic Italian life. The city does not come prepackaged with English speaking salespeople and menus. Not at all. Ascoli is a city that caters to the Italians of the region. Sure, a traveler can find people in the town eager to try out their English and help him, but it's so much better to try and get by in their native tongue.

The food of Ascoli is amazing. The regional specialty is large olives stuffed with minced meat, breaded and fried. These olives are amazing. Also good from this city is everything else they have served me. In the past two weeks I've had veal, pork, lasagna, pizza, gelato, fish, shrimp, panini, cafe, cappucino, biscotti, and more pizza and even more gelato. It was all delicious. It's everything its hyped up to be and more. I can't really say anything more than that without feeling and urge in my stomach to go to the Piazza and eat a few of every single item of food I've just mentioned.

The people here are really amazing. Everybody has a nice word to say to me, whether it be a "Ciao" a "Buon giorno" or my favorite "Buonasera" (Good evening). Everybody is so peaceful, so welcoming and inviting. Although I am no expert, I assume that Ascolians are very happy that mass tourism has passed them by. It makes them more real, true to who they are, and proud of their city. Not having tourism here makes me feel like I am living amongst the Italians and not touring the city with a bus group. Rome, Florence, Venice and all the other Italian tourist destinations are certainly beautiful, but they pale in comparison to the unrestrained streets and people of Ascoli Piceno.

In all this romantic wordage, it's hard to think of any possible unattractive qualities of Ascoli Piceno. Unfortunately there is one always present downside of Ascoli and from what I saw this weekend, most likely Italy in general: Cigarettes. I see cigarettes in the hands of people walking down the street and in the piazza, cigarettes being held by people too young to be holding cigarettes, cigarettes in the hands of bus drivers, and cigarettes in restaurants and in bars being smoked by patrons, servers, bartenders and cooks. I see cigarettes being held by everyone all over the city. As a 21st Century American student, this seems to be just a little unhealthy for the overall population. Don't they know that smoking causes any number of diseases? Do they read the label on the front of the pack? (Yes, they have warnings in Italy, too) Perhaps it's just a cultural nuance that serves to cause foreigners frustration. Whatever it is, I suppose if smoking is the worst thing an Italian city has to dish out, it's not so bad.

I'm living in a small, but nice apartment with Phil, a student from the Durham campus. Our apartment is located on Corso di Sotto. It's a bit of a walk to the school and to the other apartments that house our UNH friends, but walking through the city is always enjoyable, so I don't mind.

My Italian classes began last week and already the work is starting to pile on. Just to let everyone know: homework and work in Italy is exactly the same as homework and work in America. For me, the Italian class will be the most challenging. I'm taking a year's worth of Italian, year two, in one semester, so the work is a bit hefty. Not being too confident in my Italian language skills, I'm a bit nervous. I am hoping that the immense amount of practice I'll get in Ascoli will help with the nerves.

A class that I'm particularly excited about is my Italian cinema class. I'm excited because it's taught by two people working in the field and because it's only six weeks. (Just kidding about the last part) Anyway, the cinema class is being taught by Jessica Hecht and her husband Adam Bernstein. Jessica played, among many other roles, the reoccurring character Susan Bunch on Friends, and she was in Sideways and most recently Dan in Real Life. Her husband, Adam, is a director. Among his most noted work, Adam directed the pilot episode of Scrubs, the music video for Baby's Got Back, and his self-proclaimed claim to fame, the music video for the B52's Love Shack.
In Adam and Jessica's class we are creating our own three to five minute movies to be set in Ascoli Piceno. The three girls in my class have joined to create an "American makeover into an Italian fashionista" type-movie, and another guy in my class has decided to write a political thriller set right after World War II. I have decided to go a little darker with my work. I will be directing a femme fatale murder movie. I won't give you any clues as to what happens in the movie, but I'm going to try and insert the script I wrote and the movie itself into this blog once it's finished.

I also have an Italian Art History course taught by Christina, a woman who commutes from Rome once a week to teach our class on Mondays. Christina is an archeologist who works at a site when she is not teaching. She was also our tour guide when we visited Pompei.

In a few weeks, once Italians go back to school, I will begin my Italian practicum course. From the information I have received thus far, I will be helping an Italian elementary school teacher teach her students English for four hours a week. I'm very excited about this course and will keep everyone updated about this and all my other courses as the weeks progress.

This past weekend the group ventured off to southern Italy. Over the long weekend we visited Pompei, Sorrento, Amalfi, Capri and Naples.

A five hour bus ride from Ascoli led us to be welcomed by humid weather and many tourists to the ruined city of Pompei. Starting off with a panino and Fanta soda in hand, my fellow UNH in Italy travelers and I braved the uneven streets and the infamous southern Italy sun to witness one of the most devastating natural disasters in history. Pompeii was everything I thought it was going to be: ruins of an old city shadowed by its devastator. Everyone has seen the pictures and heard the story. I have included some pictures to view on my photo website, but I'll let the story of the place be told by people who can tell it better than I, or at least Wikipedia.com where one can access a general overview of the city's history!

After an overnight stay and an evening out to dinner in Sorrento, we boarded the bus early in the morning and drove along the Amalfi coast. After seeing the stunning coastline and biting our nails as we drove along hairpin turns, we stopped at Amalfi for a few hours. I swam, ate pizza and walked around the resort town. It was crowded, but the scenery was beautiful.

The next day we rode a ferry from Sorrento to Capri for the day. Again, we stayed on the beach swimming in the salty Mediterranean water. After swimming a group of us made it up a long, long, long hill to where the restaurants and shops were. We stopped for lunch, did some window shopping, and then went back on the bus.
Capri was a great day trip and I am glad I was able to see this popular island of Italy. The next day we were off to Naples and then back home to Ascoli.

If anyone should ever tell you that Naples is beautiful, or that it's a must-see destination of the grand Italian tour, tell them that they are lying. Naples is ugly. The people are bushy, the air is hot and smells of exhaust, and the city is dirty. Trash lines the street and pickpockets and scam artists line the street. Should you go there, hold your valuables close to your body. Better yet, leave your valuables at home. Even better than that, go somewhere else. Stay an extra few days in Capri or Amalfi. Yes, Naples is that bad. However, I'm probably not the best expert on the city as I stayed (huddled, really) within a few city blocks. Yes, I was that afraid. Certainly, I was not in Ascoli anymore. So, if anyone should ever tell you to visit Naples, tell them that you have advice in good faith not to go there. Instead, spend a few days in the other nearby romantic towns of southern Italy.

After Naples, I returned to Ascoli and on Tuesday, it was back to classes and back to living like the Ascoliano.

Yesterday, I ventured over one of the bridges to the other part of Ascoli. Over the bridge the buildings were mostly residential. They had a newer feel to them too, as if the part of Ascoli I live in and the part over the bridge were two separate cities. Other then a wonderful bakery I found, there was not much there to explore. On my way home though, about two minutes from my apartment, I happened to glance to the side of the road and saw a ruined Roman theatre. In my amazement, I rushed over to the railing of the theatre and took a few pictures. I have yet to thoroughly research the theatre, but using my best Italian I found out from a girl who works in a pizzeria next to the theatre that it is currently closed to the public. There were a few signs near the theatre in the closed off area that I could not read. I want to go in the theatre and look around, though, so I'm going to talk to Christian, the program director, and see if he can get me in to do just that. It's the wildest thing to have a ruined Roman theatre two minutes from where I live.
My next blog is tentatively (emphasis on that, please) scheduled to post on September 22. Until then, everyone can reach me at alexryanscarelli at gmail dot com. I would love to hear how everyone is doing, so keep in touch.

A word about living in Ascoli:
Over the next few months I'm going to try hard to resist the temptation to describe people and places as better or worse than in the U.S. It's important to make the distinction that life Ascoli and life in the states is different. But, really, there's not right or wrong way of doing things. Frustrations on my end are going to exist. This is certain. However, I need to remember, as every traveler does, that my way of doing things is not necessarily the best way. For example, this morning I was woken up at 3am by street sweepers. Street sweepers whose loud truck machines make noises that bounce off the walls and echo throughout the streets. Better still are the vespas that swarm loudly and without caution through the streets at all times of the day and usually are my alarm clock in the morning. Yes, both street sweepers and vespas seem to be my enemy here, but that's okay. This is Italy, not Chester, NH. It's different. It's not better or worse. It just is. Things are going to be different in all of Italy, in every shop I visit or with every person I encounter. It's good that I'm getting the footing now rather then two months from now. Things are going to be foreign to me. Take-out food and drive-through coffee will not be available. Walking will be my source of transport. It can be inconvenient, but it's what I signed up for, no excuses. I wanted Italy and here it is in all it's grandeur and confusion. Even though I tarnished the reputation of Naples, all I've said above goes for that city, too. It's not my favorite, but it's part of the fabric of this nation. I need to learn to appreciate, or at least try to understand, the things that are not my favorite.

What I just described above does not, of course, apply to cigarette smoke. That's just bad. And as I'm being bitten alive by mosquitoes right now due to the lack of screens in Italian buildings, I will describe mosquitoes as worse here than back at home. They need screens here. Badly. I think I've done more of itching the bug bites on my arms, neck and shoulders than I have done typing in the last hour.

Until next time, Ciao!