The “Super Bridge” and my home, Chiavari

Facendo il ponte superiore is a rough translation of doing or making the super bridge. Fa il ponte means to do the bridge and is a common expression in Italian.  It means when there is a holiday (and Italy has many of them) that falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, families take the day between the holiday and the weekend off to make a longer holiday.

(my family’s Easter pizza rustica)

This year, many schools were closed on Good Friday. So many of these families came from across Italy to Chiavari for the holiday.

The  lungomare, the promenade,

and the streets in Centro Storico were quite full. Normally Chiavari, a town of 30,000 residents, is a bit quiet, uncrowded.

But holidays bring others to town. I would bet that our population doubled.

(A slice of my family’s Easter pizza dolce—I made this one myself.)

This year, with Easter being so late in the year, 21 April, the vacationers chose to extend their vacation time even longer.  Monday, 22 April, was Pasquetta, a day families and friends have picnics, spend time together and enjoy.

The next holiday occurred on 25 April, Il Giorno della Liberazione o Festa della Resistenza, Liberation Day or Celebration of the Resistance, the Partigiani, the Italian Anti-Fascist resistance fighters of WWII. Italian cities were freed from the Nazis and Mussolini from the 21st through the 25th of April. Italians picked this day to celebrate, have parades and close places of business.

Chiavari always has a parade to celebrate freedom on 25 April. Here I am with some of those who marched.

Those who came to visit Chiavari for an Easter Holiday already had a paid day off on Monday and Thursday. The kids were out of school all week. What a great opportunity for a 10-day holiday with only 3 days of vacation used. That is called making a SUPER BRIDGE, or facendo il ponte superiore!

The restaurants on the Promenade were FULL.

Dino, his son Ashu (friends) and I attempted to visit Miramare for lunch on Saturday and it was full all day.

Every walk along the sea was full of people.

Even the play areas were fuller than usual.

All the laundry lines were full of clothing.

Children are playing loudly outside until well after dark. And the noise has greatly increased for those of us living near the water especially. It affected my calm.

Still, I would not live anywhere else. Where can I see families fishing in the sea for my cost of living?

And cloud formations like these as the sun slowly lowers to meet the sea?

And the waves crashing?

Even the Market was busier. That helps all those vendors and adds more color to the city.

Nothing disturbs the locals who still meet and chat at the market.

I do not recall this much activity on the last two Easter holidays that I lived here in Chiavari. They were earlier and there was no Super Bridge. Still, it is only a precursor of the summer travelers who will vacation here. People arrive from Italy, Germany, Scandinavia and all round. It will be hectic and hot. But it is still beautiful.

Come join us for your vacation. There are few people from the USA here. It would be a wonderful getaway for you. And it is a perfect home base for those who wish to visit Cinque Terre, Portovenere, and Genoa. Let me know how I can help.

Now it is back out to the sea for me. Grazie mille and Ciao for Now.