Post by atticus on May 29, 2016 12:38:53 GMT
Between 1998/99 I lived and worked in northern Italy and have just returned from one of my frequent trips back staying with friends made during my working time there
My ‘home’ was in the town of Vimercate (it rhymes with ‘party’ rather than ‘Kate’) which is around 12 miles from Milan and about 5 miles from Monza. Vimercate is certainly not on any tourist map as a must see location and very little English is spoken which during my early days made for some very interesting conversations, an example of which took place prior my first trip to Milan centre.
Without a car, the way to do this was to get a bus to the nearest underground station which is Sesto and then the tube into Milan proper. In Italy you cannot purchase tickets on the bus – they must be bought prior to the trip from various tobacconist shops or bars in the town.
So, on the morning of my first little adventure I approached the proprietor of a nearby tabaccaio and in my very best Italian requested ‘Biglietti di ritorno a Pesto si prega.’
My request was greeted with a blank stare and a strange look. Oh no, I thought. I’ve practised this. I’m sure my Italian pronunciation isn’t that bad.
I tried again. ‘Due biglietti…….’
But I was interrupted with ‘Si si. Due biglietti. Ma a Pesto ....?
I then realised my mistake. Pesto is what we cook with. I wanted to go to Sesto and as this particular purveyor of tobacco had absolutely no sense of humour whatsoever I was given my tickets accompanied by a sad shaking of the head.
However, my knowledge of the wonderful Italian language improved over time until I could parlare Italiano molto bene although nowadays maybe not as molto bene as I used to.
Monza is very near to where I was staying (then and in the recent trip) which is best known of course for housing the Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix on the autodrome.
Monza Park is the fourth largest walled park in Europe and I have walked in it on many occasions. One Sunday morning in 1999 I raised a few lira (it was just still the lira then rather than euros) by taking part in a charity walk along the race circuit on behalf of the Italian version of the British Heart Foundation. I truly do have the tee shirt to prove this! The formula 1 cars can cover a lap in around one minute and twenty seconds whereas me and my walking companions covered a lap in one hour and twenty minutes.
Although I have walked in the park many, many times I learned one very interesting and new fact about its past history during a restaurant meal with a dozen friends on the Saturday evening. None of my Italian chums have any particular interest in horse racing but for some reason the chat got around to that very topic.
It turned out that there used to be a horse racing track in Monza Park but it closed during the 1930s. There is no evidence nowadays that the course ever existed (of which I was certain) but my interest was kindled so I grilled a member of our group who seemed to be the most knowledgeable about the park’s history.
He said that although the race track no longer exists he could point me in the direction as to where it used to be. I was even more interested when he said that there were still a couple of structures to be seen that were relevant to the track.
So on the Monday morning, armed with a rough map drawn on a serviette , I set off in search of a little piece of horse racing history.
The serviette map proved to be invaluable and after around twenty minutes of exploratory work I found what I had been looking for and where the track must have been.
But apart from the track itself I did find the much neglected structures mentioned and here’s the first, clearly horse stalls.
The second edifice I’m not so sure about. Is it the entrance gate or the tote/betting area with all those windows?
Either way, it is most unlikely that they will ever be fully operational again.
Ciao
Atticus
My ‘home’ was in the town of Vimercate (it rhymes with ‘party’ rather than ‘Kate’) which is around 12 miles from Milan and about 5 miles from Monza. Vimercate is certainly not on any tourist map as a must see location and very little English is spoken which during my early days made for some very interesting conversations, an example of which took place prior my first trip to Milan centre.
Without a car, the way to do this was to get a bus to the nearest underground station which is Sesto and then the tube into Milan proper. In Italy you cannot purchase tickets on the bus – they must be bought prior to the trip from various tobacconist shops or bars in the town.
So, on the morning of my first little adventure I approached the proprietor of a nearby tabaccaio and in my very best Italian requested ‘Biglietti di ritorno a Pesto si prega.’
My request was greeted with a blank stare and a strange look. Oh no, I thought. I’ve practised this. I’m sure my Italian pronunciation isn’t that bad.
I tried again. ‘Due biglietti…….’
But I was interrupted with ‘Si si. Due biglietti. Ma a Pesto ....?
I then realised my mistake. Pesto is what we cook with. I wanted to go to Sesto and as this particular purveyor of tobacco had absolutely no sense of humour whatsoever I was given my tickets accompanied by a sad shaking of the head.
However, my knowledge of the wonderful Italian language improved over time until I could parlare Italiano molto bene although nowadays maybe not as molto bene as I used to.
Monza is very near to where I was staying (then and in the recent trip) which is best known of course for housing the Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix on the autodrome.
Monza Park is the fourth largest walled park in Europe and I have walked in it on many occasions. One Sunday morning in 1999 I raised a few lira (it was just still the lira then rather than euros) by taking part in a charity walk along the race circuit on behalf of the Italian version of the British Heart Foundation. I truly do have the tee shirt to prove this! The formula 1 cars can cover a lap in around one minute and twenty seconds whereas me and my walking companions covered a lap in one hour and twenty minutes.
Although I have walked in the park many, many times I learned one very interesting and new fact about its past history during a restaurant meal with a dozen friends on the Saturday evening. None of my Italian chums have any particular interest in horse racing but for some reason the chat got around to that very topic.
It turned out that there used to be a horse racing track in Monza Park but it closed during the 1930s. There is no evidence nowadays that the course ever existed (of which I was certain) but my interest was kindled so I grilled a member of our group who seemed to be the most knowledgeable about the park’s history.
He said that although the race track no longer exists he could point me in the direction as to where it used to be. I was even more interested when he said that there were still a couple of structures to be seen that were relevant to the track.
So on the Monday morning, armed with a rough map drawn on a serviette , I set off in search of a little piece of horse racing history.
The serviette map proved to be invaluable and after around twenty minutes of exploratory work I found what I had been looking for and where the track must have been.
But apart from the track itself I did find the much neglected structures mentioned and here’s the first, clearly horse stalls.
The second edifice I’m not so sure about. Is it the entrance gate or the tote/betting area with all those windows?
Either way, it is most unlikely that they will ever be fully operational again.
Ciao
Atticus