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“Welcome to the most beautiful bookshop in the world”
È Luciana che ci regala questa visita!
Se sai cosa significa respirare l’aria bohémienne curiosando tra le bancarelle lungo la Senna, ad esempio, hai la percezione di cosa sia la magia di uno specifico luogo, unico al mondo, come in questo caso.
Il proprietario umano della Libreria Acqua Alta, che per alcuni è stato uno stratega in fatto di marketing e per altri un sognatore, si chiama Luigi Frizzo, ma in realtà i veri possessori sono i gatti.
Ho già parlato dei gatti di Venezia e di Luciana, ma non ho ancora raccontato che ci siamo conosciute sui banchi di scuola: già allora lei si prodigava a portare il latte per i gattini che erano stati abbandonati nel cortile della scuola che frequentavamo insieme. Anche queste foto sono sue
Dunque GRAZIE Luciana!
E tu? Hai qualche foto dei felini veneziani? O di mici e libri?
Io adoro l’attitudine dei gatti e trovo che a Venezia il loro vivere appropriandosi con naturalezza della bellezza ignorando con fare serafico chiunque e qualsiasi cosa diventi ancor più rappresentativo.
Una sorta di estraneazione che ricorda i momenti di lettura, quella bella soddisfacente, quella che vorresti che non finisse mai.
La lettura che ti ha già catturata/o alla prima frase e che ti provoca la curiosità di sapere cosa sta per succedere alla pagina successiva, la lettura che ti trasporta letteralmente dentro la storia, dentro il suo mondo, che diventa anche tuo.
Qual è il primo libro che cercheresti alla Libreria Acqua Alta?
Non so quale libro cercherei, perché penso che mi farei rapire dall’insieme e resterei a bocca aperta! Sono stata due volte a Venezia ma colpevolmente non sono mai andata a visitare questa libreria. Forse significa che non c’è due senza tre! Dovrò per forza tornare.
Dovrai.
Sicuramente.
Pensa che io mi perdo nell’insieme anche nelle librerie stra conosciute … questa è da sindrome di Stendhal
There is something truly inspiring by shelves of books on old shelves, their colorful spines and precious pages all calling out to be read and treasured.
In this bookshop that would surely remove us from the rest of the world, I would look for any and all of Agatha Christie’s books and revel in her words.
<3 <3 <3
Venice & Agatha!
I’m here just like … you know, when the song “love is all around” surrounds you …
Luciana mi segnala questa ulteriore foto
What a wonderful place for sleeping. Cats love boxes.
True! I particularly love cats because of this attitude. Sometimes they compress in the strangest ways and places to sleep, yet they remain absolutely free. The boxes are irresistible for them 🙂
Boxes and book cases, the dining table and kitchen counter, the sofa and the bed – this is what my cats loved most. I have had many cats in my life. Some died, some ran away, some were caught outside and never returned. Such is the life of a cat.
Oh great!
I too have had many cats and they are all in my heart.
May I ask what your cats are called?
Even on the table? You are certainly a great cook!
I do not have cats any more because I travel a lot. I do not want to leave them alone, when I am gone. They resent it. Regarding cats on the table, I am not really a “great cook”. It is enough that there is a salad with thunafish on the table, my cat used to jump on it. She loved fish. I suppose, all cats do.
This is very true: my experience with cats has taught me that they are very territorial in the sense that they are attached to the place and house they live in and do not like to be moved.
Uh, tuna is definitely a welcome dish for them!
Yes, they are attached to the home and do not want to be moved. Some are also attached to people. I have had cats who loved me very much, others didn’t. It depends on the character or some special chemistry, I don’t know exactly.
You’re right Olivia! Cats also have their own peculiarities and their character which is not universal for everyone.
My Giulia, for example, at the time of giving birth to her first kitten, expressly made me understand with her paws that she wanted me to stay. I think it’s quite unusual indeed, yet for her it was.
This is so sweet, so you helped her when she gave birth.
Yup! And for me it was an experience that I will never forget.
And I love the gondola on your foto too. Such an interesting container for books, a reminiscence of Venice, its beautiful canals and gondolas.
This is one of my favourite posts on your blog, dear Claudia. I need to return here, more often.
And you are absolutely welcome whenever you want to return!!
This makes me very very very happy!!
Yes, it’s true, gondolas are really special and the idea of filling a gondola with books for me represents a combination of things I love.
And here I am, returning ….
I could spend many hours, days, weeks, months, years in a book shop I love, reading, looking, chatting with the owners.
And obviously that sleeping cat loves it too. A book shop is one the coziest places to sleep in for sure.
Welcome back dear Olivia!
Oh, sure I could spend a lot of time in bookstores too!
After all, for me the most difficult thing is to choose since I would like to read many things!
Unfortunately we cannot sleep there like cats do, otherwise I would probably consider it … as you say: it would certainly be one of the coziest places!
My two favourite book stores in Moscow are “Dom Knigi” on the New Arbat Street and “Biblio-Globus” in the very heart of Moscow, near the Lyubyanka, the centre of the Russian Secret Services, where my dear granduncle worked.
Both book shops have cafés. This is a good marketing idea because people buy books, then they sit there, read and drink a cup of coffee or tea. I do it regularly. I love these huge book shops, they stretch over several floors of the buildings.
Often they have authors’ readings or meetings, where customers can meet the authors, listen to them, get their books signed with an original autograph. Another fantastic idea for marketing books.
Oh great!!
I also really like bookstores that offer initiatives such as reading or meetings with authors.
And with regards to coffee, I would say that it is the perfect element!
There is a bookshop in Vercelli, certainly not as big as the ones you describe but with a very nice café on the second floor which is a bit of a mezzanine for a part of the entrance. When we go to Vercelli and we can go to that bookshop I am always happy.
I am glad they have a café with their bookshop in Vercelli. Where is this city or town?
In Piemonte, not so far from here, also Vercelli is land of paddy fields.
I like Vercelli: it is a nice peaceful town.
Thank you for the explanation, Claudia.
Спасибо за разъяснение.
Thanks to you!
Bilingual comment! <3
Merci beaucoup.
Now it is a trilingual comment.
Vielen Dank!
And what do you call this?
Quatrolingual?
I call this FANTASTIC!!
<3
Ha, ha, ha!
I think we could call this “multilingual”.
Sure!
Multilingual as you are! <3
Thank you, Claudia. I am getting there, slowly.
I would say that you have already arrived! And how!
I do not really know. I am a perfectionist, and my Russian is far from perfect.
I am sure that your Russian is at a truly remarkable level, even if perhaps not quite perfect.
In fact, in general for all languages, many people do not even speak their native language perfectly.
That’s what my Russian teacher Andrey is telling me to comfort me. He says that many Russians do not stress the words correctly.
Voila! So you are very good, no more doubts.
Well I think he is exaggerating, he tries to compliment me. This is a business decision, he wants to keep me as a student. Due to the sanctions, the school does not have a lot of clients right now. They hold on to those they have.
I’m sorry about school. In general, there is a crisis everywhere and all this is very sad.
But in my opinion, as I am getting to know you, Andrej is not exaggerating
Sometimes I think that Andrei takes secret pleasure in my “not understanding”. Today, this was again the case. I had to listen to an interview between a film director and an unpolite journalist who kept interrupting the man he interviewed several times. Then he blabbed a lot of stupid stuff, instead of listening to what the film director had to say.
They spoke both at the same time. How was I to understand this? I have a hard time understanding one person alone, two people speaking simultaneously is impossible!
When I told Andrei this, he said smiling: “Oh, this is level B2, not level B1 or level A2 or level A1. He was hinting at the fact, that I passed the university exams for levels A1, A2, B1 with the help of another school, not his.
Now I am preparing the exam level B2 with Andrei, because the other school offers only online lessons, due to “Covid” (which by the way is long gone in Russia). I do not like online lessons, I need personal lessons.
Furthermore Andrei said, “This dialogue/interview is how people speak in real life.” My answer was, “So I do not live in real life because I never interrupt people when they speak. I find this awfully rude, I do not behave in this lowlife way. Furthermore I ignore people who try to interrupt me. I do not mix with such people at all, and I never listen to TV either.”
He said, “Sorry, but I do not make the rules and regulations for these exams. I am simply giving you the material that is handed out by the university for standard B2”.
My answer, “And this audio material shows that Russian journalists are just as rude as European journalists who behave exactly like this prolo in your video. I find it awfully bad taste!”
etc etc. We nearly got into an argument, and I am still furious, when I think about it.
Oh no! Going even to argue no. However, it is not nice to underline the fact that the previous certificates have been obtained with other schools.
An A1 certificate is valid everywhere and for anyone, stop.
And honestly, I too agree that there are other examples of difficult understanding without having to listen to the rudeness spectacle of some talk shows that are really unwatchable as well as culturally shoddy.
Andrei could make you exercise with something better, no doubt about it.
He uses the test samples handed out by the university. I suppose he has no choice, because he is training me for the next university exam. He wants to make sure I get the gist of those texts that might turn up in my next exam, which is at the relatively high level of B2. Horror! This is the true Rocky Horror Show!
I imagine!
I just want to say to take it with spirit and, if it has to be Rocky Horror, let’s sing. Since, as we said, singing helps.
Singing always helps. I found a new way of expressing this strain, “I am on my way to Golgatha”. Andrei taught me to say it in Russian. We both had to laugh.
Oh this sounds really funny!
BRAVI!
I would like to listen to you.
Я на пути на Голгофу. -I am on my way to Golgotha.
THANKS Olivia! Double writing!
Do you know I didn’t know this song?
It is not a song, Claudia. It is my personal expression to describe the pains I am taking to understand these damned dialogues and interviews in Russian, in order to prepare for the exam B2.
Ah here, what a fool, I thought there was a song with that title 🙂
I guess it is really getting more and more complicated to learn Russian, I really imagine it as a climb.
Yes, Claudia. Preparing the B2 exam at the Moscow State University feels like climbing up a steep hill.
This makes me think to Kate Bush song: Running up that hill 🎶
I do not know this song, Claudia. In general, I listen only to Russian songs now. They help me to learn the Russian language more easily. A word, combined with a sound, sticks in the memory.
I love the Russian songs of “olden times”, the oldies goldies of the Soviet 1920s, 1930s, 1940s. We might think that they are all propaganda songs – but no! I found many good singers singing “Russian tango”, lovely dance music:
Pyotr Leshchenko, Leonid Utyosov, and others. I am placing videos on my blog so you can get to know them.
I listen to them often and hum along. So lovely!
I had never really heard Russian Tango! Cool!
Yes thanks! I will definitely watch the video you put on your blog Olivia, thank you!
You will definitely see and hear a lot of Russian tango on my blog in the future, Claudia, I love tango music.
Ah well!
More things to learn! But I know practically nothing about that type of music.
Have you never danced tango, Claudia?
No never!
And you?
Yes, I loved dancing the tango, and many other dances too.
Olivia you are truly a woman full of experience and knowledge! Tango is not easy to dance at all! And the other dances you know are always Latin American?
I went to a dance school twice, once as a teenager, later when I was in my 40s. I had different dance partners, and it was also a nice experience.
We danced a lot of tango, rumba, cha-cha-cha, also waltz, foxtrot and other ballroom dances.
Ballroom dances have always fascinated me, but I never learned and honestly I never even tried.
I love it when I see the dancers dancing in perfect sync.
In general, I am sorry not to have learned dance.
You could learn it now. It is never too late, Claudia.
Right, but my husband isn’t much of a dance lover 🙂
Most husbands are not dance lovers, Claudia. If you take a dance course in a dance school, they will probably provide you with a dance partner.
While your husband watches football or does whatever he likes to do as a hobby, you could go dancing, why not?
You are right!
My husband, contrary to the common trend in Italy, is not a football fan, he prefers motors: car and motorcycle races.
Whoever follows football with interest in the family is my son.
So you got two sports fans at home. And which is your favourite sport, Claudia?
To tell the truth I’m not very fond of sports: I like dance and skating.
And you? What is your favorite sport?
I like fitness. I go to my fitness studio in the South of France, when I am there. Here in Moscow I have not joined a club yet but I am looking out for one.
Fitness!
Well done!!
I have stopped areobic and step for years now: since my son was born my sport was to take him to do sports after work and among other things to do.
Now my husband and I are hiking in the countryside – our standard tour is about 7.5km.
Hiking is very healthy, too. It is a goog alternative to fitness. I do not do aerobic and step, I work with weights and machines. They bring optimal results for me. I will have to find a studio in Moscow. I miss it.
Lots of compliments!!
With weights!
I have no problems with my legs, but my arms have no muscles!
My husband and son have weights and other tools at home that they practice with. My son also really likes calisthenics.
I have been doing weight training for about a dozen years now. It is really not that difficult. I adjust the weights to my needs.
Let me tell you Olivia! You are a force of Nature and you are a constant surprise: you are very good in many fields!
Thank you, Claudia, I like to read that.
<3