Coaching for Pizza: Of Church, Market Shopping, Lunch, a Sacro Monte Walk and the NFC Championship Game

Sunday, January 20, 2019

Today was both a busy and . . .

. . . COLD day but at least

it was going to be sunny

For my American blog readers it was -3° CENTIGRADE or . . .

. . . a balmy 26° Fahrenheit when

I was going out the door

A Liberty Style home

near the Villa Skorpion II

There are many of these unique architecturally styled houses in our immediate area.

The Church of Santa Caterina is

next door to the Villa Skorpion II

It dates from 1653 A.D.

It does look quite old

Jesus as a noseless leper?

Santa Caterina is more a chapel

than a church today

Loved Santa Caterina's

mosaic floor

Lots of symbolism here

A flogging bishop?

More Liberty style

The Villa Skorpion II area is full of these Liberty style villas that were originally the vacation homes of Milan's upper crust families.

Good views back towards Milan

Brightly painted walls are

a big part of the Liberty style

A charming mail box near

my bus stop

I had decided to ride the C line bus into old town Varese to see what was going on on this crisp morning.

At this hour the streets were

still a bit empty

Leftover decoration from

the Yuletide Holidays?

Then I ran into just what I was looking for, namely an open air market.

Cheeses and meats are a big part

of any of these markets

So are fresh fruits and vegetables

Colorful produce

Varese's Basilica di San Vittore

I was drawn here by the . . .

. . . the pealing of the Basilica's bells

The Basilica's Bell Tower

More of the pealing of the bells

signaling the imminent start of

the 10:00 a.m. Mass in the Basilica

From the Basilica's Bell Tower

I spied more of the street market

Still, I was drawn back to the

Basilica's Piazza

I entered into the ornate

Basilica and decide to stay

for the Mass in order to offer

a prayer to the Catholic Italian

saints with Los Angeles Rams roots

After all, the Rams will play the Saints tonight in New Orleans for the NFC Championship and a spot in Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta next month.

I just had to get a few saints on our side so I prayed to the ones with Italian roots since I am in an Italian Basilica after all . . .

The Rams starting QB in

Super Bowl XIV

The Rams Heisman Trophy

winner RB from Penn State

The Rams long-time offensive

lineman stalwart from Notre Dame

Only briefly a Ram but, what

the heck, he's Italian!

No PETA in Italy it seems

The lady clearly seen here as well as the one partially hidden by the man on the left were wearing furs to Mass. Many of the older ladies in the Basilica wore their similar animals hides too.

Mass over, prayers offered, it was time to shop.

Lots of good looking cheeses

but I bought some sausage instead

So many choices

"Buongiorno, I'd like a large

loaf of bread per favor."

A smaller one might serve me better

I'm getting hungry

Sunshine on the narrow

streets of Varese

I bought some cheese from

this talkative salesman

So fresh, it tasted incredibly good.

I needed a cappuccino break and

this is my favorite spot for one

in Varese

Inside, this charming little spot has a real pre-WWII, 1930s feel to it in my opinion.

Although I opted not to order any today (upset alert), the small pastries here are fantastic!

I just liked this salesman's face

Really old coffee makers

Such vibrant colors

Here comes my C line bus for the

ride back up to the Villa Skorpion II

The "Slaughter Alley" block

of my walk between the bus stop

and the Villa Skorpion II

Back safely, I got the word via son Raffa that I was wanted in the Nardi home for lunch in 45 minutes . . . BE THERE!

Giorgio was hand making

the gnocchi for today's meal

Giorgio at work with daughter

Federica again in the role of sous chef

The gnocchi was incredible with a fabulous sauce made with speck, grant cheese and vegetables.

While we were dining, a few of our younger Skorpion players were at the tryout camp in Bologna for the 2019 Italian National U19 team.

Our Skorpion LB, #57 Stefano Lusuriello,

making a nice tackle on a Varese Gorilla

RB at today's U19 camp in Bologna

We all took a much needed rest after our fabulous meal to recuperate from our latest shared feeding frenzy.

After about two hours, we regrouped minus Raffa for a bus and funicular ride to the top of nearby Sacro Monte.

Our goal was to then walk down the Sacred Mountain to further digest our food while visiting the 14 chapels along the downward hillside path that highlight events in the life of Jesus Christ.

With Federica and Giorgio

on the funicular

This is a really good restaurant

at the top of Sacro Monte where we

enjoyed a great meal last Spring with

several of the Skorpions intelligentsia

Giorgio and Santa Barbara Nardi

Now, THAT'S a rain spout!

Federica Nardi

Inside of Sacro Monte's

main, ornate church

The same church's side chapel

Anyone up for a good self-flagellation?

Back in the day . . .

Sacro Monte still houses a group of cloistered nuns whose roots on the this hilltop date back to the 1400s.

The covered window seen here could be opened from the outside by any person wanting to give their baby up to the cloistered nuns who ran an orphanage here in olden times.

Once the baby was safely ensconced behind the re-closed window covering, the person giving the child up would pull the bell cord on the right to let the nuns know that their orphanage had a new arrival.

I do not believe that the current nuns offer this service here any longer.

The panoramic view from

the top of Sacro Monte

A quiet Bell Tower

Pope Paul VI was also the

Archbishop of Milan once

Hard to see but this lamb at

the base of the Pope Paul VI statue

has five legs symbolizing the Pope's

stance that the Church should reach

out to all people regardless of their status

Thorns on a recently pruned rose bush

Santa Barbara and Federica

sharing a moment

Another Federica photo op

A rare photo of me about half way

down the hillside from the Sacro Monte

seen in the far background

Giorgio, Federica and I trudging

down hill, thank God for gravity

Federica, Giorgio and

Santa Barbara

More with the flagellations!

Some go up while the

smart ones go down

One of the 14 chapels on the

hillside path

An OLD door

Getting close to the end

Scala Iacob means Jacob's Stairway

One last look up the hill as the

sun continues to set

NFC Championship Game

In the evening, Raffa and I were off to the BellaVita Café to join a few others of the Skorpion family to watch the Rams-Saints game.

Kickoff in New Orleans was scheduled for 9:05 p.m., Varese time.

We were ready for some

American Football!

Is that a red hammer behind

the bar?

Our small group of

American football junkies set to

watch the NFC title game

It was quite the contest and in the end the Italian Rams saints that I prayed to this morning came through for us all!

Final Score, in overtime:

Rams (15-3) 26 - Saints (14-4) 23.

In the AFC Championship game, it was the same old tired story.

Final Score, also in overtime

Patriots (13-5) 37 - Chiefs (13-5) 31.

Thus, Super Bowl LIII is set

This will be the Rams fourth trip to the Super Bowl having lost their game representing Los Angeles and splitting their two contests while calling St. Louis home. In the pre-Super Bowl era, the Rams won NFL Championships in 1945 while based in Cleveland and again in 1951 as the Los Angeles Rams.

The New England Patriots will be making their eleventh Super Bowl appearance having evenly split their previous ten contests, five wins vs. five losses.

Go Rams GO!

Speaking of American football, our official Skorpions FIDAF DII football schedule has been released.