After an overnight in Milan, Hélène and I took a dawn train to mama’s hometown of Vicenza to meet Andre and his family.

Andre rented an apartment for the week where we all stayed.

A lovely little corner store just a half block from the apartment. The meat and cheese selection was to die for.

Two views of the short walk from the apartment to the Vicenza city center. I love how gorgeous and intimate the centers of old European cities are.

The central Piazza dei Signori on the NNW of the Basilica Palliadiana connects with the Piazza delle Biade on the ENE side. Mama lived on the delle Biade during part of the war, and her mama’s hat shop was just down a side street off dei Signori.

Mama and grandmama Gemmo lived in this building on the Piazza della Biade. It was one of two places they were driven out of during the war because they were hit during 18 months of Allied bombardment. This is the one where mama ran inside to throw their possessions out the windows down to the street. As she ran out her hair caught on fire and the stairs collapsed right after she got off them. The door is presumably the one she ran went in and ran out.

The church in the lower right photo is where I believe Hélène was baptized.

Top left: Mama holds a puppy in Piazza dela BiaDe. Hélène in the same spot. Top right: Grandmana and Maurice in the same spot at Monte Berico. Bottom: Grandmama (far left) and Mama (far right) and others at Grandamama’s hat shop and us is the same place.

The Piazza dei Signori, just across Piazza delle Biade from where mama lived, is alongside the Basilica Palladiana: a Renaissance building in the central Piazza dei Signori, which features one of the first examples of a “Palladian window”, designed by a young Andrea Palladio.

This is the “fruit and vegetables” square on the south side of the Basilica. From the balconies of the Basilica the cathedral atop Monte Berico can be seen, as in the upper photo. Out of frame to the left our position on the balcony is the Torre del Tormento , or Tower of Torment.

Cousin Dario said this was the best pizzaria in Vicenza. Here you can order your pizza “black or white.” The latter is conventional pizza dough. The former is made with food grade charcoal added to the flour to make the dough black. The antipasti photo shows focaccia made “black” for those who were dubious (I wasn’t…it was great.) Cousin Dario and his wife are seated.

Vicenza by night.

The house where mama was born and the cemetery where grandmama is entombed in the mausoleum. You can see her crypt at the bottom center, marked Elettra Capitanio ved Gemmo.

Dinner at Osteria il Cursore. Yum! or Squisito! as the Italians might say.

A speciality grocery store where wine was procured. The “American Sandwich” had us laughing.

The Olympic Theater, a 16th century theater (more about the theater) was the final design by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio and was not completed until after his death. In 1994 it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Inside the theater. The forced perspective streets were installed for the first performance in the theatre in 1585 and never removed, and is the oldest surviving stage set still in existence (436 years as I type this).

The cathedral. Plus the obligatory nuns. In the first photo Andre is taking a photo of the cathedral, Hélène is taking a photo of the cathedral with him it, and when I saw Angela taking a picture of them taking pictures, I feigned photographing them, but actually had the phone’s front facing camera pointed back at Angela, so it is a photo of all of us taking photos.

Mama said she used to love to play around this fountain when she was a girl. Sadly, it was not working when we were there.

This church on a hill overlooking the city was where mama and Grandmama would go for Sunday mass. The walk leading up to it is a stations of the cross, so you can do a half rosary going each way.

View of the city and the Alps from Monte Berico, and pictures coming down from it. That’s Guido with the beer. Don’t ask.

Top: Grandmama (far right) and others. And Hélène and Maurice in the same place. Bottom: Mama and Grandmama and then Hélène and Andre recreate the scene.

Top left: Uncle and Andre in the same spot in the Piazzale della Vittoria. Top right: Grandmama and friends on stairs near Monte Berico. Bottom: Grandamama and mama and Maurice and Andre in the same spot in Piazzale della Vittoria 80+ years later.

Outdoor dining near the Basilica. The food was fine but they kept screwing up my order for my main dish.

Not far from Vicenza is Cittadella, a medieval walled city, founded in the 13th century. The surrounding wall has been restored and is 1,461 metres (4,793 ft) in circumference with a diameter of around 450 metres (1,480 ft). There are four gates which roughly correspond the points of the compass.

We walked quite a bit of the top of the surrounding wall, then found gelato within the town itself.

For the first time in forever the 3 Mugs (as papa called us) take a day trip together sans extended family, riding il treno to Verona, where we lived before moving to the US (minus Andre who had not been born yet).

After I bought a 5€ hat from a street vendor we stopped for lunch. Lasagne! Gnocci! Squisito!

A Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra in Verona, Italy built in the first century and still in use today for concerts and other performances.

We took a walk down some streets of the old city, briefly visiting the tourist trap known as Juliet’s Balcony, and checking out the goods in the open air market in Piazza Erbe.

The “Pushy Lion” of St. Mark’s is always telling us to “read my damn book” throughout the Veneto, and Verona is no exception. The view from Ponte Pietra (a restored Roman arch bridge) over the Adige river was beyond picturesque.

We strolled to the Vicenza train station to take il Treno to Venice.

Venice is famous for its canals. But what is the Calle de la Passion? Calle means “narrow street” (not that Google Translate will tell you that), so Angela and Andre kissed at the “narrow street of passion”…which sounds sexier and more dangerous.

Lunch in Venice was an oddly tense affair. Hélène ordered the liver, because it was something mama made, and she wanted to have it to remind her of that. But Andre finds the smell revolting and it puts him off his appetite. Ah, lotta familiare!

A city like no other…

Where Hélène visited as a bambina. St. Mark’s Basilica stands at one end of the square (top left). Next to it stands Doge's Palace (lower right).

Around the water-side of Doge’s Palace is the Ponte della Paglia, a low bridge which passes over the Rio di Palazzo. From this bridge you can see the so-called “Bridge of Sighs” (Ponte dei Sospiri), which connected the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace to the New Prison (Prigioni Nuove).

Top: Mama and her friend Gabriella in the Piazza San Marco (St. Mark’s Square) before St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, and the 3 Mugs recreating the photo. Bottom: Gabriella and Mama at the water near Doge’s Palace with San Giorgio Maggiore in the background, and Andre and Hélène in the same spot.

Top: Mama, grandmama and ____ surrounded by pigeons , which bambina Hélène later called the “chi chis”. Liliana, Maurice and Hélène less embumbered. Bottom: Mama and bambina Hélène in the piazza (St. Marks is off to the right), and Hélène there sans mama <sniff>.

One final lunch before Hélène and I head back to Milan for our return flight. sigh.