Monday, April 29, 2019

Castle Hunting in Piemonte on the Drive Home


Monday, 29 April, 2019

Before getting into today's interesting drive back to Varese from Rivarolo Canavese, we have some more news from the world of Varese Skorpions American football to relate. 

 The Women's Flag team played
well in their four team
tournament in Grosseto

Our Women's Flag team went 2-1 on Sunday with wins over the Busto Arsizio Tempeste (2-1) 33-13 and the Torino Driadi (0-3) 42-12. We ladies lost to the Grosseto Cudere (2-1) 14-41.

By the way, Driadi is Cudere is Latin for Hammer but I could find no translation for the word Driadi. The Tempeste makes sense since the Busto Arsizio's Mens and co-ed Flag teams are called the Blue Storms.

This week's Italian DII rankings came out today. Remember that only the Top 12 teams in the 19 team Italian DII make the playoffs.

The teams that finish ranked one through four will get first round playoff byes.

The Skorpions are ranked #7
again this week

Five teams ranked ahead of the Skorpions won last weekend, as did the Skorpions. The top ranked Rhinos had a bye.

As I was driving through the gorgeous Piemonte countryside, I saw a sign by the road saying Castello di Parella with an arrow.

Why not go see this castle, I was in no hurry.

The Castello di Parella
is now a hotel

 Art ROCKS!

 Beautiful Castello gate

The Castello's courtyard

 An ancient sun dial

A had a cappuccino in the
Castello's ornate dining area

 Of course there was a functioning
Marionette Theater near the Castello

A native son of Parella,
Piero Giacosa was a noted entomologist

An entomologist studies insects.

 Nice balcony art

 How old is this door knocker?

After exploring the Castello di Parella to my satisfaction, I hit the road again but not for long.

What is that up on that hill?

It looked like another Castello to me.

And it was!

No expense was spared on this sign.

It looked even more interesting
up close and personal

Good looking Castello tower

And a round tower too!

Unfortunately, this Castello was not open for visitors today.

On to the city of Ivrea . . .

Ivrea's Duomo di Santa Maria
was built in the 10th-century by
Bishop Warmondo Arborio

Warmondo?

St. Peter and his Keys to
the Kingdom of Heaven

 St. Paul and his famed sword

 Good looking Ivrea Duomo
entry hall . . .

. . . with a colorful main altar

Now, THAT caught my eye

 On to the Crypt!

 There were lots of rich colored
murals in the Crypt

 Cool tonsure haircut

 Jesus striking a pose

 What a beard!

Such interesting art work

I wonder if this is a likeness of
 Bishop Warmondo Arborio

Who names their son Warmondo?

 Almost forgot my
Duomo cupola photo

Almost.

The Castello di Ivrea
was located next to the Duomo

It was closed today.

Duomo Tower and Castello Tower
side-by-side

I was getting hungry, so I headed to the city of Vercelli where rice growing is king.

Vercelli is the largest rice market in Europe. The locals call the land surrounding Vercelli the mare a quadrate or the sea divided into squares. 

See what they mean?

Flooded, squared off rice paddies everywhere I looked.

The first King of a  newly united Italy
Piemonte's Vittorio Emanuele II

A solid lunch and a great gelato in Vercelli were the last two things that I needed to make the final leg of my drive home a reality.

Once back in Varese, I had some cleaning up to do in the Villa Skorpion II as I have a special guest arriving tomorrow for an extended stay.

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