Day 59: Piacenza

Song of the Day: Okay Okay — Pino D’Angio

“Okay, okay, se non ti va / Io sono qui, tu balli là…”

Italo disco is everywhere! I associated this song with this time of year anyway — right when I moved to Rome and was living by St. Peter’s, I would often bike up and down the Tevere on weekends, bopping my head to this song as I pedaled.

I say this every time but I actually did rest on this rest day. Unfortunately I woke up early — at 6:30, long before my alarm — and spent some time mindlessly scrolling before getting out of bed. Finally seeming to have beaten the worst of this illness, I headed out for breakfast — a cornetto and cappuccino with a view of the Piazza dei Cavalli. I sat for an hour, a bit chilly in my t-shirt, catching up on the blog. Then I ran my first errand of the day: picking up a bottle of vodka from the grocery store (I felt like I was doing something illegal buying vodka at 8:30 am on a Monday) to try and disinfect / deodorize my pack.

This done, I headed back to the Airbnb to rest for a bit and put in a second load of laundry, waiting for the tourist office to open at 10am. Once it did, I headed over to get my stamp (and purchase another patch for my pack), and then visited the Basilica of San Francesco which was nearby, and had fantastic frescoes on the ceiling of one of its chapels.

I then meandered down a pedestrian street to the Duomo di Piacenza, an important example of northern Italian Romanesque architecture. Started in 1122 (finished over 100 years later in 1233), it celebrated its 900th birthday last year. I admired the art inside, including the frescos in the dome. Most notable to me was a late 13th century fresco of Saint Cristopher, saint of travelers (whose pendant I have worn on me since St. Thierry).

After the duomo I headed to lunch at a trattoria a block from my airbnb. The “worker’s lunch” prices were good — my fixed menu was a glass of wine (a Lambrusco I didn’t finish, given I was still not feeling fantastic), a plate of delicious tortelli d’ortiche cooked in a butter and sage sauce, and finished with a tiramisu.

I headed back to the Airbnb to nap and read for a few hours, emerging only for a few errands. One of my t shirts had a snag, so I went out in search of a needle and thread — after unsuccessfully trying a few stores, a tailor kindly lent me some. After my botched repair job I came back with the needle and remaining thread.

Unwilling to think or venture further, I went back to the same place for dinner as where I had lunch. This was a 3 course affair: a tartare with truffle, followed by more anolini in brodo, and then a delicious dessert that was basically a mini-apple pie, cooked in filo dough, served with gelato.

After, some preparatory packing and then bedtime. Back on the path tomorrow.