Has any one read the book by Maxim Gorky ? I read it a long time ago when i was in my teens and this book was influential in my desire of trying to go to university rather than accept to work at the proper job which Guido had found for me in Borgo san Jacopo in a shop.
I started university in 1984 while working as a sales person on the Ponte Vecchio in a gold shop. I was living in via Bolognese with a bunch of students who shared an appartment. This building was situated in a place not far from the "Facolta' di filosofia". I used to pass it by everyday on the bus . My family had a background in such a subject because my father read a lot of books on the subject and my grandfather and my uncle wrote books.
I never dreamed i would one day manage to get a degree . I looked up to people who had a university education. Both Jurgen and Andrew the two men living in the appartment were PHD students. They would talk about high flying subjects and much about europe because they were probably the first generation of youth in the United Europe who were staunch europeans and believed in it. They were both at the University in Fiesole. Jurgen eventually went off to Africa to the Congo where he had found work and Andrew went back to the UK. Having met them i realized that life is different for PHD students ....
Sonia who was from Ohio and a Sardinian girl who had a room each worked . Sonia was of Greek origin and selling jewellry. She wasnt there very often because she practically lived with her fiancée Franco and they were to be married. Her cat Arturo became my good friend and lateron Sonia found Mooshie who followed her. Sonia gave me the cat because she knew i would keep it , but the cat was pregnant and soon we had five kittens and it was some time before i could find homes for them.
Andrew had rented out his room to me. I was very gratefull for having found a beautiful place like this; it had a breathtaking view from the window and you could see the most amazing sunsets here, just by sitting out in the terrace. Jurgen had rented the place from a Marchesa who had a passion for painting and the story went that she had spent all her money on this occupation.
There was also another woman who was 32 and a friend of Jurgens who had just finished her BA . I thought she wasnt very clever because she had started uni and finished it rather late . The same happened in my effort to finish. When i was half done and was feeling the burden i still had to carry .... because i had little money and a lot of instability in my life .... my father would say finish what you have started! That was nice of him , because my mother only had a small appreciation for my choice , she would have probably prefered to have grand children.
We only had a few months left in this lovely place because it was going to be sold. Silvana was jurgens girlfriend at the time and she was from Napels. She was very friendly and was a teacher in a school. Napoletano was a dialect that people spoke at an amazing speed .... and when i could understand it, i had been around with Guido for some years. He spoke with a Roma Nord accent .... very polite and cultured, but his mother was a napoletana and spoke under her breath and i couldnt understand a word she said. Guido had suggested that i should go and live with him and his mother but i prefered to go on in via (street) Delle Cinque Giornate in Florence and begin university here. The name of our street refered to a very important historic day which even had a film about it.
| Five Days of Milan | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the First Italian War of Independence | |||||||
.jpg) Episode from the Five Days, by Baldassare Verazzi(1819–1886) | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Milanese rebels[1] |  Austrian Empire[2] | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Carlo Cattaneo Count Luigi Torelli Augusto Anfossi † Luciano Manara [3][4][5][6] | Joseph Radetzky von Radetz Ludwig von Wohlgemuth Eduard Clam-Gallas Count Ferencz Gyulai [7][8][9][10] | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 1,700 Barricades[11] Milanese armament: 600–650 Firearms[11][12] Stones, Bottles, Clubs, Pikes and Swords[12] | 12,000–13,000[8][13] Garrison | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 409–424 Killed [4][7] Including 43 Women and Children 600+ Wounded [7] | 181 Killed [14] Including 5 Officers 235 Wounded [7] Including 4 Officers 150–180 Captured [14] | ||||||
.svg){kind=small}
| Provisional Government of Milan | ||||||||||
| Governo provvisorio di Milano (in Italian) | ||||||||||
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| Capital | Milan | |||||||||
| Languages | Italian, Lombard | |||||||||
| Government | Republic | |||||||||
| President | Carlo Cattaneo | |||||||||
| Historical era | Revolutions of 1848 | |||||||||
| • | Congress of Viennagrants Lombardy-Venetia to the Austrian Empire | 9 June 1815 | ||||||||
| • | Insurrection against Habsburg rule | 18 March 1848 | ||||||||
| • | Radetzky withdraws to Quadrilatero | 22 March 1848 | ||||||||
| • | Battle of Solferinowins Lombardy for Italy | 24 June 1859 | ||||||||
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The Five Days of Milan (Italian: Cinque giornate di Milano [ˈtʃiŋkwe dʒorˈnaːte di miˈlaːno]) were a major event in the Revolutionary Year of 1848 and the start of the First Italian War of Independence. On 18 March, a rebellion arose in the city of Milan, and in five days of street fighting drove Marshal Radetzky and his Austrian soldiers from the city.
In September i met Marina and Angela at the faculty . Marina , from puglia , but had grown up in germany , she had left a proper job and life career at 25 and had come to Florence to start a new life in her Home country. I met Angela later when i invited Marina for lunch at my place. I was surprised that Marina brought Angela with her ... it was as if she didnt want to go to some one she didnt know for the first time on her own. whereas i did that and i had to do it often. I had gone to Anna Maria and her husbands place on my own. I worked in their shop and they had made food using Tartufo which is a very expensive luxury item. It wasnt easy to go to peoples homes on ones own. I could see the wisdom in going to a place together with a friend.
Going to visit Marina and Angela i went for lunch but also for an experience in regional cheeses. Marina and Angela were both obviously interested in food and took pride in the food of the region they came from. They had heated arguments about which cheeses were best ! It was amazing because from where i came from the cheese was white and similar to the greek one. In the UK i loved toasted cheese , but i had discovered the french cheese with garlic and herbs at my uncles place. Later on discovered the cheese and food culture in the latin countries . Food was a matter of pride and provoked as much emotion as football matches.
My two new friends found an appartment close to where i lived in Via Cadorna Marshal Luigi Cadorna
(4 September 1850 – 21 December 1928) was an Italian General and Marshal of Italy, most famous for being the Chief of Staff of the Italian Army during the first part of World War I.
The appartment they lived in was on the top floor and looking onto the roof tops. In the distance there were small towers and while we sat on their terrace to have a coffee we would wonder who would be living in them.
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