continued from the post just above....
The string of bizarre coincidences starts HERE***
We get out of the boat. We get some gelato. We wander into the city park. And of course there’s a medieval festival! People were sword fighting, fighting with long pointy sticks (technical term), reading tarot cards, aggressively trying to sell Kelvin biscotti… We talked with a sword fighting peasant for a while who was actually from across the lake which is part of Italy. I asked her about the similarities/differences between Italian-Switzerland, Italy, and Switzerland. She immediately dispelled of the notion that Ticino was more like Italy than Switzerland. To begin with the Italian in Ticino is particular to the area and there are other languages spoken as well. More surprisingly to me, she mentioned that Ticinese have a strong sense of community and civic duty while she doesn’t find that in Italy just over the border. The streets are clean, public utilities run superbly, trains/buses are highly connected, and people are involved in their communities. There are many more community events in Ticino than Italy (or at least her part), so she often crosses over to take part. I really felt like I was in Italy because it felt SO different from French Switzerland until she set me straight – now I really have to go to Italy to sort this out!
Then came the massive Renaissance parade. I’d guess about 200 people were dressed up on garb from various historic periods… it made for some ridiculous pictures. Purple and blue velvet clad ladies waltzing past Swiss banks and a MacDonalds – but then through one of the town squares that dates back hundreds of years. I just couldn’t stop smiling, the luck of it was so hilarious. And spandex-wearing flag twirlers, how could I forget! After the parade we casually decided to head to Bellinzona, a 30 minute train away, for a nice dinner and some sleep. Lonely Planet describes Bellinzona as the “sleepy, lazy, quaint ancient capitol”. Well when we got off the train that was the case…but a five minute walk down the street brought us to just about the happiest festival I’ve ever seen! This weekend happened to be the Ticino Wine Tasting festival! Literally one the two parties they throw each year. There were live bands somewhat sacrilegiously jamming on the steps of a cathedral, wandering troops of old men playing wind instruments in native garb, and wine and chocolate and cheese EVERYWHERE. After settling into our hostel (at the foot of thousand year old castle) we had to check this business out.
Now, it would have been lovely enough if we just sampled some local wine, had our amazing pizza and called it a night, but NO. Time for dancing in the Plazza! Kelvin can get down so he was getting a lot of looks. Then we started dancing some Bachata together (Yeah Dominican Republic!!!) and somehow we made friends with a couple of Swiss people who were intrigued by us. And thus began our friendship with Andrea (a guy). Andrea is very obviously gay so I had A LOT of fun dancing with him because it wasn’t creepy at all AND he was a really good lead. He was overwhelmingly excited to make friends with Americans and wanted to hear our impressions about everything, where we were from, etc. We were confused about the different venues etc. so he stopped a random group of Ticinese girls to ask if they knew what was going on… and then we had four new friends! There were three girls my age and one of their mothers. After dancing for a while longer we headed to a bar and the lady bought us all a drink while we chatted for like an hour!
Andrea and Pamela spoke pretty good English but the others not so much. There’s one huge difference from Geneva – much less multi-lingual. The Ticinese economy is the weakest in Switzerland, and because of language, the people are a little isolated from opportunities in the rest of the country. The girls told me that many Ticinese resent that they are required to learn Italian, German, French, and English in school but that other Swiss don’t bother with their language. The most offensive part is that German-Swiss in particular come into Ticino for vacations only and refuse to even say “bongiorno” but rather expect everyone to be fluent in German. It may be smaller than other areas, but Italian is THE language of Ticino, and these girls didn’t feel that it is respected as such. And yet when I asked them about their national identity they all proudly professed their love for Switzerland….and Ticino. It’s common, from what I’ve seen and heard, for Swiss people to identify strongly with their Canton.
We got to bed quite late and woke up early in the loud hostel for an all you can eat buffet! That’s REALLY an important detail in pricey, pricey Switzerland. Oh yeah, so Bellinzona has 6 thousand years of history! We took a pretty tiring hike up the hillside to the two high castles… EPIC views and history. I was so glad that Kelvin and Evan were big history nerds along with me. Ticino is at the gateway to Italy so it has seen a lot of war and occupation over the millennia…including by Caesar. Pictures speak louder than words here in particular so I’ll add some once they’re updated
That afternoon we met up with our new “friends” – two of whom were working in a stall at the festival. Watched the parade and some native dancing with them while they insisted on buying us various local delicacies. Andrea took us into the main cathedral (there were still performances happening on its steps…I definitely wouldn’t have been comfortable tromping in on my own). He had been an alter boy there for years and so had plenty to say about it. After a tour of the largest castle in town led by Andrea and Pamela, I sadly had to catch my train. But we’ve been invited back, repeatedly. I normally wouldn’t want to go to the same place twice when I have so little time here but… this was a truly special weekend. And Andrea wants to take us to his mom’s chalet at 1,800 meters for some hiking. I may just have to return.
Thanks for sticking with this blog through the end ~ it was a long one for sure!
All my best to all of you,
~Alice
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