Padova is a lovely place to visit. It is not a touristic town—all the tourists are in Venice, just north of here. The current groups are mostly Italian, here for the Easter weekend. There are lovely basilica (Basilica Pontificia di Sant’Antonio di Padova, etc…), some outstanding frescos (Cappella degli Scrovegni housing the most important…). The restaurants are good to excellent. My lodging is fine–the Hotel Donatello–a clean and neat family-run place right on the piazza opposite ‘Il Santo’….It has that thing that all 3-star Italian hotels seem to have–a sense of slightly frayed and rundown charm. I’ll write a more comprehensive review of food, lodging and sights later.
The real reason I came here was to have my mother’s Olivetti Lettera 22 repaired and refurbished by Alessio Vescovo. When the Olivetti was stripped down it was revealed to be more complex and more interesting than a modern computer. He disassembled, cleaned and the reassembled it, making the necessary needed repairs along the way. He did all of this with a great sense of confidence and care. Today’s post only has photos of the disassembly. Later will come photos of the cleaning and reassembly. We found out some things. It was built sometime between 1952 and 1954 and had been repainted a slightly darker shade if green before my mother bought it used in the mid-60s. Interesting, no?
So Happy Easter, Kalo Pascha, etc…It’s all about renewal.
–JDCM
Comments are closed.