Study Abroad Week 5: Sanremo and the Oddest Childhood Nostalgia Ever

Yesterday I heard this song in its original Italian.  I had not heard it since the cassette album of their greatest hits was last played on a trip to my grandma's house when I was 5.

Well, I am officially in love with Sanremo,  Italy- I knew the place by name, but I just discovered (or rather, noticed) it was home to the Sanremo Music Festival, where many childhood idols or childhood songs of mine first rose to fame, such as Laura Pausini.  Yesterday we went to Sanremo with CEA.  They played some Italian music on the bus ride their, all of which I knew the Spanish versions of because far too much Spanish music, especially from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, are either the singers taking an Italian song, the Italian singer singing it in Spanish, or a Spanish singer who also sang in Italian.  I heard many beloved childhood songs on the bus and in the Sanremo mercado: Laura Pausini, Albano & Romina Power, Que Sera Sera, Ricchi e Poveri, Umberto Tozzi, Eros Ramazzotti (no still hate him), Miguel Bose (I had no idea he sang in Italian and English as well until yesterday), and so on.  These singers will likely be familiar to anyone who grew up un a Spanish-speaking household.  I haven't been able to identify one song because I can't remember anything of the Spanish beyond "y seras mi luz" and the Italian sounds to me like "y seas mi luce" but I can't seem to find how to spell that correctly.  Oh well, I'll stumble on it, I'm sure.

    

"Sharazan" is a beautiful song, and I heard it in its original Italian yesterday.  It is a beautiful, beautiful song,  "Siempre Siempre" I last heard in kindergarten, I believe.  "Sharazan" before that, as the tape got lost or destroyed. 

Albano & Romina I'd completely forgotten about until yesterday.  I haven't heard any of their songs in about 15 years, but when I started clicking related links to their song I heard so many I recall from a beloved childhood tape.  It was the oddest form of nostalgia for me and another person on the program: beloved childhood songs in a different (their original) language.  So weird, but still.  I got so happy especially with Ricchi e Poveri...and discovered I'd been mispronouncing Ricchi all along.

This is where we had lunch.

Nostalgia and musical spam aside, Sanremo was FANTASTIC.  Prices are comparable to those in the USA in the mercado, and they have some fantastic stuff there.  I got leather gloves for my mom, a leather wallet for my little brother, and a sweater and dress for myself, along with some CDs because too lazy to look for particular Italian music myself- I know I'll only look for songs I already know in Spanish or look for Spanish versions of songs, as opposed to what I do with Korean or Japanese music.  Now all I have left for souvenirs is my dad or brother, because if I find a nice watch it'll be for my brother and the wallet will be for my dad. Jeje.

Left: Mysterious pastas and bread of the highest heavens.  Right: pana cotta of deliciousness.

For lunch, CEA took us to an Italian restaurant specializing in handmade pasta- the tour guide told us that 3 ladies in the kitchen are the only cooks, plus the man we saw preparing our desserts.  We had coffees as well- loved my little cappuccino!  After Lunch we left the restaurant to go to Dolce Acqua, another Italian town (first recorded existence 1165 AD and dating back to Roman times, according to what I remember the tour guide saying), and then to Menton once back in France before we headed back to Antibes.  Dolce Acqua is appropriately named.  The water there is so beautiful it looks almost fake.

Dolce Acqua.

We went to two more churches (they are SO beautiful here!)- one in Dolce Acqua and one in Menton, but no photos of the one in Dolce Acqua because it was a more "normal" church.  The basilica in Menton was a baroque basilica, and beautiful.

St. Michael the Archangel, the patron of the Basilique Saint-Michel-Archange in Menton.  Left is the figurehead above the entrance, right is him inside the church.

The theme of the Menton basilica was the most stunning I have seen.  Not because it was the most beautiful, most detailed, most spectacular, or most splendid I've seen in a church, but because the theme was so uniformly executed, and cleanly so.  Yes, there were details, but not overly intricate ones as in Lyon or Los Angeles, but clean ones flowing with the Saint Michael theme.  The stained glass windows in the back had subtle pastel earth colours, the walls adorned with more of Michael.  The altar was indeed overly intricate, but the clean execution of the rest of the church and keeping of the theme made this one my favourite so far. 

Left: View of the basilica as we entered the square.   Right: Even the door "knobs" are themed!  I love this church!

Au revoir!