Tuesday, 28 May, 2019
The weather today was a bit dicey so there was only one thing to do . . .
Go to a museum.
Laurie had told me that Giorgio Nardi informed her over the weekend of a special exhibit that just opened at Varese's Musei Civici di Villa Mirabello.
So forewarned, we were off!
Interesting sideways mural
on a side street in Varese
We had to walk through the beautiful
public park behind Varese's City Hall
to get the museum
As for the exhibit, I believed that it would feature the artwork of Gennaro Gattuso.
Gennaro Gattuso was a GREAT
player for AC Milan back in the day
Until today he had been the so-so coach
of AC Milan for the past two seasons
He resigned his position today with AC Milan after failing to get the Red and Black into next year's Champions League competition after finishing in fifth place in Serie A play just one team point behind arch-rival InterMilan.
I didn't know that he was also a renowned artist for one simple reason . . .
. . . he's not!
It wasn't a special exhibit of Gattuso's artwork but of an Italian artist named Renato Guttuso.
Cool "minor" structure at the
entryway to a large estate across
the Strada from the Musei Civici
Guttuso was a famed Italian painter
who's main works were created in the
period from the 1930s to the 1970s
He liked calcio a bit
But he liked naked women
more it seemed
Here we see his interpretation of an earless Vincent van Gogh in a house of prostitution in Arles, France.
Self-portraits
Tools of his art
The highlight piece of this show
"Spes contra Spem"
Latin for "Hope against Hope"
I enjoyed his use of vibrant colors and his eclectic paintings.
Besides the Guttuso special exhibit, the Musei Civici has two permanent collections that were also included in the price of admission.
The Risorgimento Wing
The Risorgimento was the Italian unification movement of the mid-1800s.
Vittorio Emanuele II
The First King of a united Italy
Giuseppe Garibaldi
The Military Hero of the Risorgimento
Viva INDEED!
Weapons from these
revolutionary times
A HUGE painting of a key
Risorgimento landing
I wonder if this was the likeness of
someone the artist knew?
I like heraldry
Rise to the occasion Lombardia!
The Risorgimento Wing was small but quite interesting.
On to the Musei Civici's . . .
Archeology Wing
Translation from Latin:
"In case of emergency,
the Fire Extinguisher is on the left"
Ancient Lombardia stonework
Happy Face
Laurie likes her grapes
How old is this wooden canoe?
Arrow heads and spear tips
from pre-medieval times
Ancient armor
People loved these ornate pots
back in the day
More armor
Laurie checking out some jewelry
at the front of this display case . . .
. . . and now an entire display
case full of . . .
. . . all of this ancient craftsmanship
As for me, I just liked the
looks of this man
Beautiful serving bowl
Nice weapons
A pygmy statuette
The Archeology Wing was quite extensive and interesting.
A wooden copy of Varese's beloved
Basilica di San Vittorio Bell Tower
Laurie thought that this armoire would
go a long way to reorganizing her beloved
Cherry Room back in Camarillo
Unfortunately, the man at the Musei Civici's information desk said that it was not for sale.
Neither was the Bell Tower model.
Double damn!
A thought provoking fountain just
outside the gates to the Villa Mirabello
that houses the Musei Civici
Il Giro d'Italia culinary update
Today Italy's premier bicycle race would head from Lovere to Ponte di Legno or, as I see it, from salami di Montisola to Casoncelli.
It was Tuesday so, in the evening, it was time for Skorpion football practices.
The U17s and Women's Flag teams
held a lively scrimmage tonight
We will travel to Grosetto in Tuscany this weekend with our undefeated, #2 ranked U17 squad to compete in the National Championship tournament that brings together the eight best teams in the country.
Our U15 and U13 teams did not qualify for their respective National Tournaments which will also be held in Grosetto this weekend.
On to the Playoff bound Prima Squadra workout.
QB Jack letting one rip during
a 7-on-7 period
WR Martino catching Jack's
laser shot
After an extremely physical game last Saturday against the Canavese Mastifs and enjoying a bye week before facing the #10 ranked Palermo Sharks on June 8th, we decided to give our Offensive and Defensive linemen a night off.
Instead of our normal full speed ahead workout, we concentrated solely on the passing game tonight with a lot of 1-on-1, 2-on-2 and 7-on-7 periods.
Also, as has become my custom over 61 years of trial and error learning as a player and coach, we continue to nurture the two facts of end of the season/playoff life as I know them.
The first fact, in my opinion, is that teams need to be as healthy as possible going down the stretch. At this point of the 2019 Italian campaign everybody is dinged up to some degree. It makes no sense to me to be doing things like Oklahoma drills or full bore tackling to a take down at this point of the season.
The second fact of the post-season, in my opinion, is that you need to have players that still want to play another week of American playoff football.
With these two thoughts clearly in mind we have been slowly but steadily cutting back on both the length of our practices and our conditioning the Monday after every game.
Before the opening game of the season against the Busto Arsizio Blue Storms all of our practices were two hours in length.
After the Blue Storms game we cut two and a half minutes off our practices and have continued to cut an additional 150 seconds from each of our practice plans after each subsequent contest. It might not sound like much, but it adds up at the end of the season.
With a 6-2 regular season behind us, we have now played eight games times two and a half minutes each game means that our practices before playing the Sharks will only last a feverish, frenetic but well organized hour and forty minutes.
We have found that the players are mentally fresher and physically less stressed following this system.
You may not agree with it, but it works for us.
It's GREAT to be a Skorpion!
