Let's go play chess!

I had no idea how close Marostica was to Nove until I was finally ready to go to Marostica and looked it up. As it turns out, both cities can be explored in the same day easily and I think I might do that a few times with visitors because they're both great attractions.

I first learned of Marostica by way of a "local attractions" map. From this map, I learned that I'm closer to some seriously cool places than I thought I was. Naturally, Venice and Verona, but I didn't realize Asiago was so close and that's a pretty big thrill for me because it's win-win for the family: wine & cheese for me, battlefields for the boys! There's a fun little story that goes with Marostica about a chess game played with living pieces, which is the major reason it is a tourist attraction. Here is the map... and the story of the game:

In 1454, the Lord of Marostica's castle was Taddeo Parisio. Lord Parisio had a daughter named Lionora who just happened to be so beautiful that two noblemen fell in love with her. The noblemen, Rinaldo D'Angarano and Vieri da Vallonara, challenged each other to a duel to win Lionora's hand. Lord Parisio, however, was not happy with the idea of losing either nobleman in such a battle, nor did he want to become enemies with either of them. For these reasons, he decided they should play a game of chess to determine which suitor won Lionora's hand. The loser of the game wouldn't really lose either, because the consolation prize was Lionora's sister Oldrada. The game was to be played in the square in front of the lower castle using the townspeople as chess pieces. On game day, the townspeople showed up for the feast dressed in either black or white, depending on which team they were assigned to, and Lionora watched anxiously as the game was played out. Turns out, Lionora was secretly in love with one of the noblemen, so she spread the word that if her beloved were the winner of the game, she would place a lighted candle in her window so that everyone could share her joy. The game began, with each suitor directing the human players until finally, Vieri da Vallonara won. Following the game, there was much celebrating and merriment all around and that night, a candle burned in Lionora's window.

Obviously, the story itself makes you want to visit the same way Romeo and Juliet makes you want to visit Verona. It's a fun story and easy to imagine. I also learned that on even-numbered years, the chess game is reenacted in September and I have every intention of attending a reenactment in September 2012. Since Felix is such a big fan of chess, I told him about a city nearby that has a giant chessboard for human players. He, of course, thought of Harry Potter and Wizard Chess immediately and thought it was super cool. Excellent! I have a way in! I keep thinking it will be no big deal to go and check it out, but it turns out to be a little more difficult for me to schedule the trip than I thought. August is vacation month in Italy (and most of Europe, I just found out) so a lot of places are closed or have shorter hours. This, along with my school schedule, prevents me from going when I originally planned. Finally, though, I was just DONE with being stuck in the house staring at this silly little computer (it shuts itself off periodically, just for giggles, and I find that beyond frustrating) so I looked at Felix at about noon on a Saturday and said "let's go to Marostica". Happily, he was amenable, so off we went.

To get to Marostica while avoiding the autostrada, you pretty much have to go through Nove. This is excellent, because it's how I learned that Marostica and Nove are literally 5 minutes from one another. I remember being awed by the drive to Nove because the scenery was just beautiful, but when I turned the corner coming up to Marostica and had the full view of the upper castle directly in front of me, I actually had to slow down (I was already well under the speed limit) because it was absolutely breathtaking. If there had been a place for me to pull over, I would have because that's a picture I really wish I had. Maybe when I get a bit better on the bike, I'll ride up there so I can get that awesome shot. As we drive through the small town, it quickly becomes apparent that most of it is closed down. There is very little traffic of any kind and as we pass the lower castle, I see that the gates are closed. Oh well. I follow street signs up a mountain to the bird museum and the upper castle. The bird museum is closed (big shock there) but the restaurant in the upper castle is open. Driving up the mountain terrified Felix because he was able to see out the windows what I could not: a pretty steep drop only a few feet from the road. I couldn't see it because I was watching the road so closely... it was hairpin turns all the way up and the road was rarely wide enough to be legitimately considered appropriate for two-way traffic. At the top of the mountain, however, I did have the misfortune of being able to see over the edge because I drove all the way up to the restaurant where (according to the signs) there was parking available. Well, ok, there is parking there, but it's not really for big cars and even though Rob's car is not that big, it's definitely bigger than what I am comfortable trying to drive into that parking area.

This beautiful archway is the driveway up to the restaurant parking lot. The door next to it is for pedestrians. There was not even a remote chance that I was going to try to drive through that because I had no guarantee that I would be able to turn around once I was in! So I drove a little bit past it and made a 12 point turn (ok, maybe not 12, but definitely not 3!) to reverse direction and headed back to the parking lot for the bird museum. That parking lot was empty - of course - so we parked and walked back up to the top. Having no intentions of even looking at the restaurant (I want attractions, not food!) Felix and I head up to the end, hoping to find something fun or at least a sign letting us know when things will be open again. At the highest point we could find, I snapped a picture...

Here also, we found the beginning (or end) of a hiking trail. Felix got very excited and decided we should follow it to see where it went. I'm glad he's starting to feel more adventurous and is willing to explore a bit. Caution is great, but it can be debilitating if you let it run your life. Now for the major downside: I was not dressed appropriately for hiking. I had on a decently cute outfit that I would have been fine hiking a paved trail like this in, but I was also wearing these adorable wedges that are just not a good idea to walk trails in. I braved it for a bit because Felix was so enthusiastic and I really didn't want to crush that in any way. The trail, fortunately, also had some stone walls for me to brace myself on the way down. It was basically a looooooooonng stairway up and down the mountain, but there were no rails, just a bit of wall for preventing landslides. I don't believe we made it even halfway down when I decided that there was just no way it was safe to keep going in those shoes. Fortunately, it was just over 100 degrees out, so Felix was hot enough it was easy to persuade him to head back up to the car. He did insist on stopping at the water fountain for a bit though. By the time he was done getting a drink, he was completely soaked. Good thing Rob's car already smells funny!

I am fortunate that my son likes to take pictures with me right now and that he humors me when I want to get pictures of him in certain spots. I asked him to stand on the wooden bridge that I drove over to get up to the restaurant area so that I would have a reference for the size of the actual entrance (which was smaller than this is). He's an awfully helpful kid! On our way back down, he finally started commenting about how hot it was and how he couldn't wait to get home to the ice cold air conditioning and all sorts of nonsense like that, but then he said we definitely had to come back because we never found the chessboard and that's the whole reason we went there. Plus, Dad would really like the hiking trails. HA!

So I promise that we'll come back as soon as Rob gets back from Germany and we can all go. It turns out to only be about a two week wait. Rob had a long weekend and we had great weather, so off we went back through Nove (Rob's first time seeing it, but we didn't stop) and into Marostica again. This time there was plenty of traffic and all kinds of activity around, so we knew it would be a good trip. We parked at the lower castle and headed into the square. The first thing I noticed was that it looked a lot like Verona. The entrance was a similar archway and of course the castles were built alike. I think that very possibly all of the walled cities resemble each other in that respect. I guess I'll find out as I visit more of them. We looked around at everything, trying to get a bearing on where we were and where we needed to go to find the chessboard. There was a nice looking bank on the opposite end of the square from the lower castle and a lovely view of the upper castle behind the bank. People were eating at restaurants on either side of the square. We admired a statue of a lion with wings (the Veneto lion) and wandered on down a road to the right of the bank. At the end of that road was a lovely basilica (whose name I don't know) and we investigated. There were no signs saying not to take pictures inside, but I didn't feel comfortable doing it so the only picture from inside that I have is the one Rob took of the fresco. The artwork inside was beautiful. It was, of course, a very calm place and Felix said he wanted to go back because it made him feel peaceful. I like that he wants to return to a church... and that he was so composed and respectful inside. 

When we leave the basilica, we head back down the same street and into the square. We figure that the lower castle is the best place to learn where we can find the chessboard. Upon walking back into the square, we suddenly feel somewhat idiotic: we walked right across the chessboard twice without seeing it. It was not as big as I expected, but definitely the perfect size for human players. Felix naturally gets very excited and insists on playing even though there are people all over the place taking pictures. I'm laughing at myself for not seeing it, especially with all the people taking pictures. Felix and Rob play three games of human chess while I take pictures of them and their surroundings. Felix wins all three games.

During our earlier wanderings, we noticed a monument underneath the clock tower. I did not pay as close attention to it as Rob did, but when we came back I took a closer look at it and Rob explained it to me and I am very grateful that he did because this is exactly why I wanted to come to Italy: I want to see as much history as possible in person. He posted a similar picture on facebook and I am going to use his explanation because it's perfect and much better than I would have put it: 

Caduti Per La Patria

Memorial for Killed in Action for the Country

To the viewer's left are casualties that died in the service of Axis Italy, the ones in the middle were those who died in the first world war and the ones remaining were casualties that fell while fighting to liberate Italy with the Allies.

After the chess games and my short photo frenzy were over, we wandered back to the car and headed up the mountain to show Rob the upper castle. Boy were we in for a treat! The restaurant at the top was hosting a wedding dinner, so the parking lot was packed. Luckily, we got one of the two last spots. We walked up the hill to the restaurant area and found that the other two "parking areas" were full to capacity as well and people were having to actually back down the mountain (super scary!!) because it was impossible to turn around. The wedding did not deter us - Rob particularly - from investigating, so we looked around for a way up the wall so we could get some of those spectacular views. Rob led us in and up a steep set of stairs and we finally got those views. We stood at the top for quite awhile just taking it in. Felix was terrified of falling... he had every right to be: the walkway was enough that one person could squeeze past another person, but if you were both moving it had to be single file. The railing was not something I would attempt to lean on, even if I were a feather. But the views were well worth the climb and we made it a point to enjoy them. Felix and I both tried to talk Rob into walking the path with us, but he was definitely opposed to it. I decided that I will definitely bring Felix back one weekend so we can hike the entire trail since we both want to, but it's absolutely fair that Rob doesn't.

I'm glad that this adventure was two separate trips... I saw much more and was able to appreciate all of it with relatively little stress. That's what I think sightseeing should be like and I plan to make future trips more like these were.