Italy’s Island of Capri

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Parent Category: Travel Info

Category: Travel Feature

Published on Thursday, 17 December 2009 15:30

Written by Laura Blum

For anyone still planning a decadent New Year’s escape, Italy’s Island of Capri could be just the ticket. Since Tiberius and Caligula indulged their darker pleasures there, the island resort has helped fun seekers pass the chillier months, and its lusty charms persist in heating the soul.

A veritable Who’s Who of writers, artists and composers have staked out Caprese crags in more recent times. Even your mom knows the song, “The Isle of Capri.”

All of four square miles, the Bay of Naples’ glammest island is easy to get around. From Naples, it’s a 40-minute hydrofoil or 80-minute ferry, and half that from Sorrento. A funicular railway hoists comers from either of Capri’s two marinas – Grande in the north or Piccolo in the south – to Piazza Umberto I, diminutively called the Piazzetta. No self-respecting tourist leaves without cadging a shot of its historic Clock Tower or sipping overpriced drinks in its café bars.

Blue Grotto
Capri’s signal attraction is the Blue Grotto. Whether this azure-watered cavern is open to winter visitors depends on the sea and the skies. (In amenable conditions, hours are roughly 10 AM – noon.) Should umbrella conditions prevail, simply imagine the nymphaeum that decorated its flanks in antiquity, and sourgrape that it wouldn’t have been on display anyway, even had the elements cooperated.     
 
http://www.capri.com/en/grotta-azzurra

Faraglioni

A stack of rocks jutting out of the sea iconicize Capri’s north vista. Never have landslides and erosion so ignited the imagination as with this limestone clump, partly named after a sea lion who sunbathed there centuries back.   

http://www.capri.com/en/faraglioni

Belvedere of Tragara
To properly gawk at the Faraglioni, this leafy road gives quite the view. Its name, which means “goats” or “pen,” invokes Capri’s early days as a Greek colony. Today's Villa La Certosella stands where the Roman residential complex once began, the only remnants of which is the marble floor now in St. Stephen's Cathedral’s Chapel of the Rosario. From the Piazzetta, reach Tragara by a 20-minute trek along Via Vittorio Emanuele and Via Camerelle.

Certosa di San Giacomo
The Charterhouse of St. James was a 14th-century monastery founded by nobleman and royal advisor Count Giacomo Arucci as his end of a divine bargain to produce a male heir. Today this exemplar of Carthusian architecture in all its monkish wonders hosts a museum, library and screening hall.

Via Certosa
+39 81 837 6218

Cerio Museum
The Cerio Museum holds everything from fossils and shells to animals and plants in its 20,000 natural and archaeological exhibits. Largely hoarded in the 19th century by Dr. Ignazio Cerio, the depot is housed within an old palazzo located on the Piazzetta.
Piazzetta Cerio, 5 - 80073  
+39 81 837 6681; 081-8370858
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.centrocaprense.it

Gardens of Augustus

Landscaped among Roman ruins, this horticultural showcase was bequeathed to the town of Capri by Friedrich Alfred Krupp. One of its evergreen flourishes is a statue of Lenin by Italian sculptor Giacomo Manzu.
Near Via Krupp
www.capri.net/en/t/augustus-gardens-via-krupp

The Church of St. Michele Arcangelo
San Michele (St. Michael) ranks right up there in the island’s must-tour list. Its main event is a majolica tile floor depicting Adam and Eve in an Eden enlivened by unicorns and other mythical beasts. The frequent buses and chairlifts that shuttle between the villages of Capri and Anacapri, where the 17th-18th-century church and its surrounding Piazza San Nicola are perched, mean that trippers needn’t feel stranded. Another chairlift A chairlift from Anacapri’s central square, Piazza della Vittoria, transports the non-acrophobic to the top of Mount Solaro for a postcard-ready view of the Mediterranean.

Piazza San Nicola
Anacapri
80071 

+39 081 837 2396

Villa St. Michele
Just off of Piazza della Vittoria is the cliffside house and garden of Villa St. Michele. It was built amidst Roman ruins by Swedish doctor and animal lover Axel Munthe, whose 1929 memoir, The Story of San Michele, became a global bestseller. After recovering from the panorama of the Bay of Naples, browse the museum’s antiquities, including a head of the Medusa, a marble bust of Emperor Tiberius and an Egyptian sphinx.
Via le Axel Munthe
34 80071
Anacapri 

+39 - 081 – 8371401
www.sanmichele.org

Villa Jovis
Villa-hopping gains momentum at this 1st-century BC spread. Sited at the spur of Capri’s much-trumpeted Viale Amedeo Maturi, Villa Jovis is what remains of the palace where Ceasar Tiberius ruled the Roman Empire for a decade. Its perch at cliff’s edge afforded him privacy, security, and, a spit down the road at “Tiberius’s Leap,” a spot to dispatch unruly servants and guests. The villa grounds also house the Church of Santa Maria del Soccorso and a statue of the Madonna photographable from the sea below.
Via Tiberio
+39 81 837 0381
www.capri.com/en/villa-jovis

Villa Lysis aka Villa Fersen
Down the street from Villa Jovis is Villa Lysis, a Neoclassical beauty named after the young consort of Socrates mentioned in Plato’s Dialogue on Friendship. The columned and tiled residence is also known as Villa Fersen in honor of its first owner, Count Jacques Fersen d'Adelsward, a French poet and writer who overdosed on cocaine in 1923. Check out the basement Chinese Room, which was an opium den.
Via Tiberio 80073

Related FFtrav stories:
http://filmfestivaltraveler.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=336:14th-capri-hollywood-film-festival&catid=43:previews&Itemid=29

The Legend of Ray's Pizza

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Parent Category: Travel Info

Category: Travel Feature

Published on Saturday, 12 December 2009 16:00

Written by Eric Lurio

Sometimes historic events go unnoticed when they happen. In the late 1790s, some New Yorkers began trading shares of stock under a tree on Wall Street in New York for the first time, no one gave it so much as a glance. The same thing happened half a century ago, when a guy named Ralph Cuomo -- Ray to his friends -- opened a pizza joint on at 27 Prince Street in New York City. Few noticed at the time, but a trend had started that would end up as a treasured New York tradition and a regional joke. Everyone's heard of Ray's Pizza.

For the first few years of it's existence, Ray's was just a neighborhood pizzeria (with mafia connections, Cuomo would spend time in jail, but that's a different story). It was popular, and he opened a second one a couple of years later. But Ray was busy with his other business (for which he was sent to the pokey), and he sold the uptown one, Famous Original Ray's Pizza at 1233 1st Ave at 66th St., to Rosolino Mangano in 1964.

Mangano claims to have made the name Ray famous by offering several different types of pizza in a glass display case. But that isn't true, another guy made the name famous. His name was Mario Di Rienzo, who was, in 1973, a famous chef. In that year, he had a mission: create the best damn pizza on the planet, and that year, he opened his emporium. He called it Ray's Pizza. Why?

Many years ago, in the New York Times, DiRienzo, who was originally from the Italian Village of Roio del Sangro in Abruzzi, explained the derivation this way: "It's a small town I come from. Although I am a Mario, in Roio, I am also a Ray. The name Ray is a nickname for the family name of Di Rienzo. Every family has a nickname in my town.

"Someone asks, 'Did you see Mario?' and there are so many Marios in town you have to ask 'Which Mario?', so the answer is Mario Ray. And so my restaurant became The Famous Ray's Pizza. If it were The Famous Mario's, you would have to ask 'Which Mario?'"

Also in 1973, a certain Joe Barri bought the Ray's Pizza on 76th Street and Third Avenue, (later, he would change it to Ray Barri's) this was decent pizza too, but Di Rienzo's was amazing. It had almost but not quite enough cheese to fall on your lap when you picked up a slice. Word went out and it became instantly legendary.

But for the "in crowd," The Famous Ray's on 11th Street was the only place to get a slice -- there was so much cheese on it that a slice couldn't be cooked hard enough to make firm enough crust to pick it up. It had to be eaten with a fork.

Mangano decided to expand, so did Barri. Other people started renaming their places "Ray's" to cash in on the hoopla. Soon, you had Ray's Pizzas on almost every block: Famous Ray's, Original Ray's, Famous Original Ray's, Original Famous Ray's, "Fred's Ray's" even a Not Ray's in Brooklyn. There were hundreds. At one point, Mangano owned 25 Famous Original Ray's Pizza establishments, and his was just a tiny fraction of the "chain."

By 1990, "Ray's Pizza" was New York's official in-joke. The quality varied from wonderful to lousy, and at this point, one might wonder, "Why weren't there any lawsuits over copyright and trademarks and such?" 

Gary Esposito, who owned five "Original Ray's" wondered that too, and in the middle '80s, he located "Ray" Cuomo, who by now was out of jail. So, they decided to get together with some independent Ray's proprietors, and actually retrofit a genuine franchise chain.

Only Rosalino didn't want to. For five years, he frustrated every attempt to trademark the name and its variations. Then in 1991, he gave in and joined, going around in his limo telling proprietors to buy a franchise or get sued. Sometime in the last year or two, it is now noticeable that a number of "Famous Original" or "Original Famous" pizza places with the word "Ray's" whited out.

According to noted pizza authority Scott Weiner, there seems to be about 40 pizzerias with the name Ray's left in New York City, nine of which are part of the official chain. The one on 11th Street was sold in the '90s and resold several times, and the quality has gone down quite a bit but the ambiance is still there. As for the very first one on Prince Street -- they 're celebrating half a century in business. Perhaps they should get a plaque or something.

Ray's Pizza
27 Prince St.
New York City 10013

Famous Original Ray's Pizza
1233 1st Ave at 66th St.
New York City 100

Ray Barri's Pizza
76th St. and Third Ave.
New York City

The Famous Ray's
11th St.
New York

Park City in January

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Parent Category: Travel Info

Category: Travel Feature

Published on Monday, 07 December 2009 14:20

Written by Eric Lurio

During that last week of January, Park City, Utah, plays host to one of the world's most talked about events, The Sundance Film Festival, and the indie film cavalcade kicks in. When Sundance and the full battalion of filmmakers, fans, industry professional and press descend on this small town (a mere 7000 permanent residents) with its beautiful scenery and a number of picturesque neighborhoods, prices of everything quadruple and accommodations are tight. 



Park City is proud of its heritage as part of the Old West. Founded in 1870, it was a mining town that supported as much as 20 saloons. That was something that the theocratic government of the Utah territory didn’t approve of--given its Mormon nature. After several fires, accidents, and the tapping out of the mineral veins proved to be the near-death of Park City, and it was listed as a ghost town by 1950.

Around that time, a ski resort began to grow among the ruins, and by the early 1970s, the place had become a respectable suburban resort. The Film Festivals began arriving in the early 1980s, and the rest is history.

Park City was chosen as the host for the festival because Oscar winning director Sydney Pollack wanted to go skiing while an earlier incarnation of the festival was going on. At that point, superstar actor/director Robert Redford had nothing to do with it. But once he stepped in and took over the festival, he also reshaped the town.

The Lay of the Land
Pretty much all the non-film viewing activities take place on Main Street, where there are lots of after parties, and other industry activities. other kinds of events, street scenes and photo-ops take place. The major restaurants are there and The Kimball Arts Center (638 Park Ave. at the corner of Main St. and Heber Ave.) -- Sundance House during the fest -- is where those with credentials can get warm and civilians can freeze while gawking at the stars coming in and out.

There are nine venues:

Eccles Theater
(1270 Seats)

Racquet Club Theatre
(602 Seats)

Holiday Village Multiplex
(four theaters with 166 seats each)

Library Center Theatre
(448 seats)

Prospector Square Theatre
(332 Seats)

The Egyptian Theatre
(266 Seats)

the Redstone Cinemas
(185 seats)

The free shuttle bus stops at each one.

That's right, there's a free shuttle bus that pretty much goes everywhere you need to go, which means that you're going to spend a lot of time waiting at various bus stops freezing your butt off. However, that's actually better than driving, because there's very little parking near the venues.

Also, the Holiday Village and Prospector Square Theaters are located in strip malls, so there are a number of fast food places there.

Check the listings in the program.

Venues:
George S. Eccles  & Dolores Dare Center For the Performing Arts

1750 Kearns Blvd
Park City, UT 84060 

(435) 655-3114

Egyptian Theatre 
333 Main St
Park City, UT 84060 
(435) 645-0671

Holiday Village Cinemas

1776 Park Ave 

Park City, UT 84060
(800) 326-3264

Library Center Theatre 

1225 Park Ave.
Park City, UT 84060

Prospector Square Theatre

2200 Sidewinder Dr. 

Park City, UT 84060 

(888) 283-3030 or (435) 658-3030

Racquet Club Theatre 

1200 Little Kate Rd. 

Park City, UT 84060

Redstone 8 Cinemas

6030 Market St At Ste 120

Park City, UT 84098  

(435) 575-0221

Temple Theatre

3700 North Brookside Ct.

Park City, UT 84098 

(435) 649-2276 

How to get there:
If you don't have or rent a car, there are a number of shared taxi services at Salt Lake City Airport (SLC) that take you to Park City.

Here are two officially authorized companies:



Express Shuttle

(800) 397-0773

(801) 596-1600 (in Salt Lake City)

(435) 658-3444 (in Park City)

xpressshuttleutah.com

Miderra Lifestyle Management

(866) 374-8824

miderra.com

Hotels:
By the middle of December, we've reached the point of no return as to hotels, however, if you try Craig'sList, you might be able to get some floor space at the many condos in the area. But these are the major hotels and lodges.

The Eating Establishments
As to restaurants and the like, we rarely have enough time to eat anything beyond a hot dog or popcorn at one of the venues. However, the Sundance website recommends the following:

Grub Steak

2200 Sidewinder Drive

Reservations: (435) 649-8060



Mariposa

7600 Royal Street

Reservations: (435) 645-6715

Reef Kitchen

710 Main Street

Reservations: (435) 658-0323



Royal Street Café

7600 Royal Street

Reservations: (435) 645-6628



Seafood Buffet at Deer Valley

1375 Deer Valley Drive

Reservations: (435) 645-6632



Shabu

333 Main Street, 2nd floor

Reservations: (435) 645-7253



Wasatch Bagel

1300 Snow Creek

Reservations: (435) 645-7778

The Map
http://www.parkcityinfo.com/static/index.cfm?action=group&contentID=75

http://www.sundance.org/pdf/transit_map.pdf