Not Your Average Ham and Cheese

I've already mention the great dolci (desserts for my friend Dayle)at Osteria Piazzetta dell'Erba. But Stefano and his crew turn out more than just sweets to serve on their tree shaded terrace along one of Assisi's medieval walls. Their menu is nontraditional for an Italian Osteria - a little bit of nouvelle, a touch of fusion and the Italian flair for unadulterated fresh flavours and presentation. They had come highly recommended in the Gambero Rosso Guide - the Holy Writ of Italian Eateries - and as it has led us to wonderful dining in Spoleto, Ancona, Sermonetta, Firenze, Parma et al we headed there for lunch on the first day of our stay in Assisi. And the first of three meals we had there in three days.

When I glanced at the menu I knew there was one thing I had to try - their Toasted Ham and Cheese sandwich. Toasted Ham and Cheese sandwich? Yep, your good old fashioned croque monsieur as its called in French bistros. Just a bit of comfort food the way mom use to make.

Well okay not quite the way mom use to make. It was described as being a toasted sandwich of local ham, Parmesan gelato studded with cooked vegetables and a saffron mayonnaise. Parmesan gelato? Nope mom never made Parmesan gelato. Hell not even cuddly Leonard at Tropical Ice makes Parmesan gelato.

It sounded so intriguing I had to try it - it was either going to be revolting or a taste treat, I was sure there would be no in between. So taking my taste buds in hand - as it were - I bravely ordered it as an antipasti.

And this tempting plate was set in front of me.


My verdict - a taste treat! Nice contrast of texture, temperature and flavours. And that was just the first of what proved to be a series of beautifully prepared, well-reasoned and seasoned dishes that Stefano put on our table in those three days.

Anti-pasti


Its a little difficult to find the "bread" in this traditional Umbrian Bread Salad (top) but it was chocked full of fresh vegetables that actually tasted of the sunshine and earthiness. The selection of cheeses (bottom) included some wonderful local soft blue cheeses (my favorite) and one very good aged goat cheese; all paired with fruit relishes - fig, cheery and apple.

I Primi



The pasta is made on the premises and as with most pastas here sauced with a light hand. The orchietti (top) was dressed with wild mushrooms and broccoli with just a dash of spicy olive oil. The cannelloni (bottom) was the traditional stuffing of ricotta but enriched by sun dried tomato.

I Secondi


When asked about his intensely flavourful beef, Stefano said he was ashamed to admit that it came from Ireland. He stressed he wanted to use Italian beef but the quality of what he got was so variable that he couldn't justify being patriotic over giving his customers value for money. The Beef and Beer combination (top) was an unusual combination of a small glass of beer, a cup of raw vegetables and some beautiful braised chunks of beef - and the idea was to mix them all together. Unusual yes, but our friend Craig was delighted. As was I with my beef skewers (middle) that had been grilled to medium just the way I asked and accompanied by - the only ordinary touch on the menu but no complaint from me - roast potato wedges. Another evening Carol Ann and I had the Chicken Curry (bottom) - the first time I had seen that on an Italian menu. We both agreed that chicken in Italy has a different taste than at home - a more buttery flavour is the only way I can describe it. And that flavour was enhanced by a judicious use of curry seasoning and a jasmine rice.

Then of course there were those deserts I mentioned. And I neglected the lunch time salads that were mosaics of vegetables, lettuces and meats glistening with a fruity local olive oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar. And so healthy!

I'm just sorry that Assisi is a two and a half drive from our place otherwise dell'Erba would become the Sunday pranzo spot of choice so I could sit on the terrace or when it gets colder in the cosy dining room and try a few more of the items on their changing seasonal menus.

12 settembre - San Tesaura Beccaria

Lux Perpetua Luceat Eis

I have my own memories of that day - our worry and concern for our family - Sophie, Andrew, Neil - in New York City. The horror of watching it all happening, the numbness and the "dear god this is only a dream, please!" feeling of it all. But what we at a distance felt was nothing compared to what those on the ground witnessed or felt and feel to this day.

A right click on this powerful image will take you to a post that Joe Jarvis has shared with us for the past 6 years and I hope will continue to share as we remember, mourn and pray to what ever god we worship that this will never come to pass again - anywhere!



Requiéscant in pace.

11 settembre

Eid Mubarek

For my friends celebrating the conclusion of Ramadan.

La Dolce Sweeta

I'm sorry I know I should have resisted but I couldn't - I've come all over Fellini this week.

What you don't get it? How old are you?

You see his most famous film was La Dolce Vita which means The Sweet Life but dolce in Italian also means dessert so I was making a play on ... oh never mind.

Anyway as I was saying before I interrupted myself, on menus in trattoria - or osteria or bars or restorante for that matter - Dolce is the dessert. It seems that after an anti-pasti, a primi and a secondi with side dishes you are expected to have room for a dolce or at least fruit. Because of the gluten thing I tend towards the fruit myself and I don't think I've ever in my life eaten as much pineapple as I have in the past three years. I'm wondering what they did for a frutta before the nice people at Dole started importing into Italy?

Often when you ask about the dolce the waiter, with a slightly glazed look in his eye, rattles off the standard list: Panna cotta, tiramisu, crema catalana, torta di Nonna, tartufo, sorbetto, gelato or frutta. And as I've discovered lately, one of my favorites, affogato seems to be there for the asking but just never mentioned.

There are meals where the dolci are as ordinary as the tone in which they were recited and then there are Dolci:


Sometimes the closest the torta di Nonna (Grandma's cake) has come to a Nonna is that the factor owner's grandmother may have visited it once; and then there is the Torta di Nonna served by Lorenzo and Bibo at the Bristolino in Pesaro. Not sure if they actually use their nonna's receipt - every nonna has her own and every one is special - but it is buttery, moist and redolent of lemon and pine nuts. And in this case its served between the secondi and the dolce just in case you need something to fill the gap while you're waiting.


And their green apple sorbet is a great finish to a big seafood meal. Sorbetto here is more liquid then we think of it in North America. Whipped frozen fruit essence perhaps with a bit of egg white beaten in and sometimes a lacing of prosecco or vodka but always served with a spoon and a straw

Then there is the ubiquitous pineapple:


Staying with the Fellini theme, the Grand Hotel in Rimini serves their pineapple as a "carpaccio" - thin slices of pineapple piled up and topped with a Florentine cup filled with creamy pineapple gelato and garnished with fresh berries. Mr Dole would be proud.


Not to be outdone, the marvelous Osteria Piazzetta dell' Erba in Assisi serves theirs as a topping for a ricotta filled canolli perched in a pineapple puree.


And their whipped vanilla Yogurt mousse was studded with chunks of juicy pineapple and slices of kiwi.

Then there's gelato:

Again Stefano at dell' Erba knows that presentation is as important as taste so for his sampling of fresh fruit gelato each scoop is topped with a slice of the source of its flavour. That evening it was baked fig, pineapple, green apple, ground cherry and kiwi. Though honestly the tastes were so intense that no visual reminder, as pretty and tasty as they were, was necessary.

The odd time you will get sorbetto served in hollowed out lemon or orange. At the lovely terrace dining room of Hotel Umbra, hidden in an alley way off the Piazza del Commune di Assisi , they've adapted the presentation. The chestnut, plum and banana gelato were served in a chestnut shell, a hollowed out plum and a tiny banana skin. Lest I make it sound like presentation was everything the gelato was delicious. It was the perfect end to a meal that had started out with the best eggplant parmigiana I have ever eaten.


And back at dell'Erba, being so close to Perugia and because apparently there are people out there who like the stuff, they had to have something chocolate. So how about a sampling of profiterolle, chocolate custard, chocolate gelato, white chocolate mouse and a white chocolate semi-freddo. And keep in mind this was meant for one person - though extra spoons were given just in case peer pressure forced you to share.

And I've become convinced that all of these things are miracle diet foods - after all I've lost weight since I came here and I rarely end a meal without a dolce!

10 settembre - San Nicola da Tolentino

L'shana tova - שנה טובה

Mercoledi Musciale

The other day on Facebook, Jeff from World O'Jeff, who use to take us on those great Sunday drives mentioned that he was watching A Hole in the Head (1959) with Frank Sinatra. Being a bit of movie nerd I shot back: Edward G. Robinson, Thelma Ritter, Carolyn Jones, Eddie Hodges and "High Hopes". Jeff was disappointed I had forgotten the mint green Cadillac convertible with the two-toned interior. And I must admit that bit of trivia I had forgotten.

But I did remember all the words to "High Hopes". How could I forget them - Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen's song was on the hit parade for months and I heard it almost every morning on CFRB before I went to school.

In the movie Sinatra as down on his luck hotel owner Tony Manetta sings it with his ever optimistic son Alley (Eddie Hodges). Hodges had shot to fame on Broadway in The Music Man and was to have a career on stage, screen and disc until he retired from show business in his late teens.



Though they sang part of the number together on screen, Sinatra's hit record was recorded with a children's chorus. It was on the charts for weeks and was the number 15 most popular song that year - and won the Oscar for best original song in a movie.

And Jeff I'm sorry I forgot the Cadillac!

08 settembre - Natività della Beata Vergine

Amacord - Waiting for the Rex

One of my favorite scenes in Amarcord is one of those incredible sequences that only Fellini could do without it seeming coy and fake - though the whole thing is obviously shot on a sound stage it has an innocent truth to it that makes it wonderfully believable.

The SS Rex - the largest ship in the Italian Liner fleet - is scheduled to pass near the town on its way to New York. The entire town has set out in every boat available and it turns into a festa. As the hours pass darkness has set in and Gradisca, the town beauty, becomes sentimental about what she wants in life - what every good woman wants - a loving husband and children. By midnight everyone, even the blind accordionist, has fallen asleep but the liner's foghorn awakens them. To calls of greeting and wishes of success what must be the biggest ship in creation plows its way through the little flotilla.



Pure cinema magic!

07 settembre - Santa Regina

I Remember

One of my favorite Italian movies is Federico Fellini's 1973 Amarcord (A m'arcord - I Remember). It is a film I can watch over and over again and find a constant delight - a funny reminiscence of the director's youth in Fascist Rimini touched with the sadness of growing up. As he - and we - remember things they are always bigger than they really were - the snow banks from an unusual snow fall hide people from sight, the luxury liner REX has 20 decks, a visiting Sultan has 50 wives - memory is also kind to those we love and less kind to those we don't. Fellini is not above taking satirical swipes at both himself and his countrymen for allowing themselves to be entrapped in what he called "perpetual adolescence". Though perhaps it is that entrapment that give both this film and this country their charm and hold over me.

The Rimini (renamed Borgo in the film) Fellini captured was mostly on the sound stages of Cinecittà so anyone going to the coastal town looking for the square, the church or Titta's home will be disappointed. Though the Grand Hotel does exist and stands white and imposing on the beach front in Rimini, Fellini's Grand was in Anzio a few miles from Roma.

But that didn't stop us from making a pilgrimage, Borsolinos in hand, down the long tree lined Viale Principe Amedeo to the Parco Federico Fellini and the manicured grounds of the Grand Hotel.

Lunch in the enormous - and almost empty - dining room and a walk around the hotel confirmed that this was indeed a "Grand" hotel in the old style. And though the grand staircase in the lobby and seafront veranda may have been only the chiaroscuro of Fellini's memory it had the atmosphere that he captured so well.

Just off the lobby - as in all Grand Hotels - there were the telephone booths, all set for you to make that important overseas call .....
... on SKYPE! It is now one of the Hotel's internet points.

I am often fond of rather pompously reminding people who complain about historical accuracy in films that "after all its only a movie!" I should have remembered that when planning to have my photo taken sitting on the veranda in a Felliniesque pose sipping an Aperol spritz, my bald spot shaded by my straw hat. It didn't happen; somehow though this was the Grand with all its 1920s atmosphere, it wasn't THE Grand. Or at least not the one that Fellini, and I, remembered.

07 settembre - Santa Regina

Restored and Refreshed - Part II

While searching for information on the Monstra dell'Acqua Felice I was a little confused - granted not an unknown state but in this case understandable. I had been told that it was called Fontana di Moses (The Fountain of Moses) and found a good deal of information on the Internet under that appellation. But another source kept referring to it as the Mostra and even more history, facts and fables showed up on a search. And, as these things tend to do, one search led to another. And sources became a bit confused - there didn't seem to be any agreement on something as basic as who sculpted the statue of Moses in the central arch. I've tried to make sense of it but whatever its story, the important thing is that another glorious bit of the history of Roma has been restored and refreshed.

The Mostra dell'Acqua Felice as I first remember it in August of 2007 - just roll your cursor over it to see what greeted me on my early morning sojourn this past weekend.

A "Fontana" becomes a "Monstra" not just because of its size and its elaborate structure but because it is the public monument to the construction of an aqueduct - and a celebration of the person who commissioned it. Sextus V had the new aqueduct - the first in Modern Rome - built following the lines of the old Alexandrina, Claudia and Marcia aqueducts into the city. He may have enjoyed tearing down pagan Roman to the glory of Christianity but he was no fool. He recognized - or rather his engineer Giovanni Fontana did - a good thing, pagan or not, when he saw it. Those aqueducts still supply the city and its fountains with water today.

The source of the water is some 24 kms from the Mostre and originates with a spring at Pantano Borghese in the Castelli region. The above ground part is visible at the Parco dell'Acqueduct (above) running beside and at times on top of the Acqua Claudia.

So why "Felice" rather than Moses? Well the good Pontiff's name, pre-Triregnum, was Felice Peretti di Montalto and he never quite let go of it even after assuming the Throne of St Peter in 1585. And of course there is also the meaning of the word "felice" = happy. The new aqueduct brought water to an area that had been waterless for almost 900 years and with the water came new buildings, people and life back into the Quirinale Hill. This wasn't quite a selfless gesture as it also brought water to his own Villa Montalto as well as the 27 public fountains in the Rione.

The main body of the monument was built along the lines of a Roman triumphal arch with three arches atypically of identical height; Sextus may have not liked those pagan ruins but wasn't above borrowing from them if it would enhance his glory and send a message. And the Mostra was meant to send a very strong message. The reference is - as is befitting a commission from a Pope consumed with the Counter-reformation - Biblical and the niches hold three episodes from the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. It is a reminder to the populace that the Church (Catholic) was seeing to their wants and looking after their well being while those filthy Protestants neglected their earthly needs.

I can't seem to find agreement on the events depicted other than the centre panel. Of that there can be no question: Moses strikes the rock that brings forth the water promised by God for the parched people of Israel. The allegory couldn't be any plainer - Sextus, the elect of God, brings water to the parched people of Rome. Conveniently Moses's disobedience of God's instructions and God's punishment for those transgressions seems to have been forgotten.

Like the work of his great predecessor Michelangelo, Bresciani's Moses has a pair of horns. This was based on the description of Moses' face as "cornuta" (horned) in the Latin Vulgate translation of Exodus 34:29-35. The Greek Septuagint and Hebrew Masoretic use words meaning "radiant", suggesting an effect like a halo. But those horns gave Western artists of the period a convenient attribute by which Moses could easily be recognized in crowded pictures.

The central niche stood empty until Prospero Bresciani's Moses was placed there in 1588 and it immediately came under the most severe criticism. The fourteen foot high sculpture - one of the largest pieces of the period - is visibly out of proportion. The head is too small for rest of the body, the torso too small for the legs and the whole thing appears squat and almost pear shaped. Even the positions of the arms - the ambiguously extended right arm once held a rod - appear awkward. It is hard to believe that only several decades before Michelangelo had created his great Moses.

A left click on the image will enlarge the sculptures in the niches - my own guess is that the right is Aaron and the Jews collecting the water from the spring and the right is the preparation for battle after men and animals have been refreshed.

The left panel I have seen referred to as Aaron and the Children of Israel gathering manna or Aaron and the Children of Israel gathering water - in any case Aaron is definitely there and they are definitely gathering something. The right panel shows either Joshua selecting warriors for the battle of Rephidim against the Amalekites or Joshua Leading His Army Across the Jordan. Again Joshua - or at least a General - is there as are soldiers and they are preparing for something. Make you choice!

The inscription makes sure that all and sundry know who commanded that the aqueduct be built, the origins of the water ( the springs at Pantano Borghese) and the length of the aqueduct (24 km or 15 miles). The later part of the inscription (FELICEMQ.ue DE NOMINE ANTE PONT.ificatus DIXIT) explains that the Ponfiff called it Felice (Happy) because it was quenching the thirst of the populace.

The Mostra came in for criticism shortly after its completion. Even at a time when facades had the appearance of stage sets it has a flattened aspect and lacks a certain gravitas. The attic is disproportionate to its base but that was necessary if the inscription Sextus commanded was to be visible to all. And perhaps some of that criticism reflected more the feeling of the time towards a less than popular Pope - he had restored law and order and financial solvency to the Papal States with a heavy hand - as well as unfair comparisons to other Mostre in Roma and elsewhere.

These rather endearing, if slightly effete, lions spit water into the basins that were meant for public use. A notice (in Latin??) tells us that these are copies of statues that can now be seen in the Egyptian Museum in the Vatican.

But as well as its ceremonial duties the Mostra served the Rione as an important source of water. The populace collected their water from the four large basins fed by the replicas of Egyptian lions while outside the marble balustrade - which acted as an barrier - there was a separate basin for animals. Two large marble basins were set aside for laundry and a private wash house was built beside the fountain for the use of the local women.
As I mentioned in my first posting the approach from my neighbourhood gives little indication of what lies just around the corner. The photos above show the back of the Mostra - a boutique B&B called The Moses Fountain Apartments and a section of the St Regis Hotel - coming up Via XX Settembre. Even at the corner in front of Santa Maria della Vittoria there is little hint of what is to come. It isn't until that corner is turned that all is revealed.


But then it was never meant to be viewed from that approach - which was after all only a country road leading to Porta Pia - but rather from the Piazza San Bernardo. Though today's view is obstructed by poles, signs and traffic with Santa Maria della Vittoria in as a balance it is still - all quibbles about proportion and artistic validity aside - an impressive sight.

06 settembre - Beato Angelo da Foligno

Lunedi Lunacy

I thought I'd look at food a bit more in depth this week so to start things off here's how to make "Macho" salad.

Jörgen (Torkel Petersson) will be our Monday morning guest chef. He's the star of the Swedish film Farsan and he's become convinced that his wife thinks he isn't manly enough. So he "embarks on a quest to become more assertive and studly in order to save his marriage."



06 settembre - San Zaccaria (profeta)

Restored and Refreshed! - Part I

Three years ago now on one of my first Sundays here in Roma - it was perishing hot and so many things were closed because it was ferragosto - I remember heading down to Centro for a look around. In those days home was on Via Asmara about 3 kms from the city walls and a number 60 bus went almost in a straight line down to the Centro Storico. Within the walls where Via 20 Settembre meets Largo Santa Susanna the bus made a right hand turn. There built into the wall on the left was an enormous fountain - enormous but dirty and dry. The calcium in the water here had obviously clogged the system - god only knows what it does to ours - and the exhaust spewed out from the constant traffic jam at that intersection had added several inches of grim onto the sculptured figures and dulled the detail. It was magnificent if somewhat grandiose but sad and neglected.

At that point I commented that it was a shame such a monumental piece of work had been let fall into that state and railed a bit about a government that wouldn't do anything about it.

Fast forward a year later and low and behold:
And so it has been for the past year and a half - until last week. Without fanfare or publicity the scaffolding was removed and the restored and refreshed Mostra dell'Acqua Felice was revealed.

Guiseppe Visi's engraving shows the Piazza as it was in the mid-1700s. On the left the Church of Santa Susanna, at the centre the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria and to the right the Mostra dell'Acqua Felice. The convent joining the two churches was demolished in the 1920s to make way for road connecting Piazza Barberini with Termini, the central railway station.

The Mostra (better known as the Fontana di Moses) was built in 1587 by the appropriately named Domenico Fontana as a monument to mark the spot where the new acquaduct - Acqua Felice - built by Sextus V entered the city to provide the Quirinale with a supply of water. The above engraving by Guiseppe Vasi is taken from a wonderful website that follows the engraver's tour of Rome and allows us as creator Roberto Piperno says: To Follow In the Footsteps of a XVII Century traveler.

I often thing that early morning is the best time to see Rome - little traffic and few people - so yesterday morning I headed out early to take some photos of the restored Fountain. I'll be sharing them and a few more notes about it later today or early tomorrow.

05 settembre - Madre Teresa di Calcutta

Sevice with uno Sorriso

You may recall that last year around this time I went shopping for new glasses with my friend Marco. He shamed me into doing away with the professor look and with Laurent's final approval I started sporting a pair of light weight trendy Adidas frames.

Well while on vacation I went to take them off to thoughtfully suck on the temple arm after having read something profound - okay it was a menu in a restaurant, but they can be profound - and one of the nose pads arms, nose pad attached, remained resting in place. Now one does not expect that bits and pieces of a pair of very, very, very expensive Adidas glasses will detached themselves of their own free will. Particularly not when they are made of the same metal as is reported to be used on intergalactic space probes and have been futher tempered in the fires of the damned.

Given that I no longer could find the receipt and the level of customer service I have experienced on most occasions here in Roma - we won't rehash the IMAC story - I expected the worst. I knew they couldn't be repaired and what were the chances of having them replaced? Give it a try said my ever optimistic spouse. Give it a try said my friend Marco in a tone of patriotic defensiveness. Give it a try said my friend Laurie with a bit of a smirk.

So yestreday morning I walked into the Optica looking for Andrea, the good looking young man who had first served me, knowing he would be, at the least, nice to look at if not sympathetic to my sorry tale. No luck - a total stranger was sitting in front of the D&G display with that "I am a sales person in an exclusive store sitting in front of a display of glasses you could never afford." look on his face. So I took a deep breath and launched into my standard apology for my bad Italian with my very English accent and explained - with many descriptive gestures - what had happened.

Okay said the Gentleman - no really he said okay. He looked at the de-nose-paded frames, weighed them in his hand and then said: I'm sorry... Oh boy I thought here it comes - I had 16 days to return a product I wasn't satisfied with! Where is my bill? What did I do to break them? ... but it will take about five days to get a replacement.

What? My jaw dropped! Is that too long? he asked. I was gobsmacked but managed to stammer an incredulous no. I had another pair of glasses - my old professor ones - with me so it wasn't going to be a problem. He smiled, took my name, cell number and copied down the serial number on the frame. And with a very friendly wave said: I'll call you the minute they are ready. Arrivederci

I reeled out of the store into the bright sunlight of Viale Regina Margherita - okay part of that was trying to get accustomed to the focus on the old glasses. Had this been a dream? There had been no fight! No argument! No looking superior! No curt cutting off in mid-whine! In less than two minutes my problem had been solved. Take a note of the date - September 3, 2010 at 1045, I was in Roma and I had received Service, capital S, with a SMILE.

04 settembre - Santa Rosalia

Mercoledi Musciale - A Day Late

According to the Catholic calendar last Sunday was the celebration (?) of the Decapitation of John Baptist. Its a subject that has fascinated artists for centuries: painters, sculptures, composers and writers. The recounting of the execution of John at the hands of Herod Antipas has been expanded over time from a few paragraphs in the Gospels to a full blown epic with all the things that make a story good - intrigue, sex, family feuds, incest and political scandal. Strangely the telling of the events is more detailed in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus who looks at it without the gloss of the Evangelists.

This wonderful wood sculpture in oak (there I go with wood again)was carved around 1430 in Southern Germany. Its part of the rich collection at the wonderful Bode Museum in Berlin.

One of the more famous - though seldom seen - plays on the subject was written by Oscar Wilde. His Salome was written first in French and then translated into English. Needless to say it shocked the British censors with its language and subject - though written in 1891 it was not allowed on the stage in England until 1931.

While Richard Strauss's take on it caused little stir in Dresden when it premiered in 1905 New York was to be another story. Its first performance on January 22, 1907 at the Metropolitan Opera was well received and word of mouth about the scandalous nature of the piece meant that it was sold out. However J. Pierpont Morgan and the other righteous Episcopalian stockholders in the Met, had seen a dress rehearsal at 1100 of a Sunday morning and where suitably shocked. It was withdrawn - reluctantly given the damage to receipts - after only 5 performances. It was to be another 27 years before it would be presented in New York again.

Watching these videos of the last scene from the 1974 Götz Friedrich film with Teresa Stratas one can understand some of what shocked the still Victorian sensibilities of the good Burgers of Manhattan.

This is perhaps the definitive performance of the role - one that Stratas, by her own admission, could never have sung with such subtlety and nuance on stage. The size of the orchestra and the density of the music alone demands a bigger voice in the theatre than this great singer possessed. Conductor Karl Böhm - a colleague of and leading conductor of Strauss - maintained that this was the sort of voice the composer had always wanted for the role. I don't think any other performer has come as close to tracing the degeneration of the character from willful spoiled teenager to depraved maddened woman so intensely. The combination of Stratas's performance, Friedrich's direction and Böhm on the podium makes for an intense, frightening and fascinating experience.

I know its a long haul - 3 videos totaling some 20 minutes or more. For my non-operatic friends who might find it a struggle I might suggest the middle one section is perhaps the most fascinating for the language, music and Stratas' intense portrait of the Wilde-Strauss princess.

Salome, the step-daughter of Herod, has become fascinated by John the Baptist (Jokanaan) and becomes obsessed with kissing his mouth. The Holy Man is repulsed by the depravity of both this woman-child, her incestuous mother and the court of the King. Herod, who lusts after his step-daughter, in a moment of folly offers her anything if she will dance for him. Her only wish - the Head of Johanahan on a silver platter. Then he will be hers and she will be able to kiss his mouth.








I was fortunate that I saw Teresa Stratas at many stages in her career. I was in the audience in 1958 when she made her professional debut at the age of 20 in the Canadian Opera Company production of La Boheme. I was 12 years old at the time and my friend Bruce and I sat in the vertigo inducing 2nd balcony of the Royal Alexandra Theatre on the final evening of that run. I remember crying as Mimi died and Bruce was embarrassed until he realized that half the people around us where doing the same thing.

I was to see her again in Butterfly, Cosi fan tutte, Nozze di Figaro (twice - once as Cherubino in Salzburg than again as Suzanna in Paris) and for the last time live in 1992 in Pelléas et Mélisande in Chicago. And of course I heard and saw her on so many broadcasts during her long career at the Met. Fascinating as a singer, totally committed as an actress and complex as a person she was one of the great operatic performers of the second half of the 20th century.

02 settembre - Sant'Antonino di Apamea