| Rosso di sera, bel tempo si spera, rosso di mattina, mal tempo si avvicina. | (Red at night, good weather is hoped, red in the morning, bad weather approaches.) |
A 1981 Soviet Union postage stamp commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of the painter with a reproduction of the Livornese sunset.
Someone once told me that there is a precise category, used by photo agencies and professionals, for images like this: AFS (another f.....g sunset). After discreetly checking the fact, I settled with myself for one sunset per year. To fill my 2009 quota, last Saturday I left home in the late afternoon. Taking her out for a walk, I was also trying to bring some relief to a dear friend, currently studying herself to death.
In the empty streets most of the shops were not only shut but, as this sign says, “closed for vacation”. Notice, in the top left corner, the international symbol for “holiday”.
Luigi Orlando seems not amused that the stopped clock behind him is the only surviving part of the historical Orlando Shipyard, founded in 1866 and now being wrecked by developers of luxury condos and usurped by superyacht builders.
Maybe the senator and engineer is only watching the evening traffic on “Viale Italia”, a bit more lively than in town. This is the “Lungomare”, leading to the “Terrazza Mascagni” and to the “Rotonda of Ardenza”.
We have already seen the “Nazario Sauro” marina, where a mural painting contest took place earlier this year. Here, sitting on the rocks by the sea, we watched the cruise ships leaving the port in a neat row, just while the incoming ferries were waiting to enter.
This time I am sparing you the usual images of boats, to show you something different: Icarus and E.T. came to mind while this thing was flying over the ships, right into the sunset.
