Happy Holidays!

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We are taking a break.

Angelo will travel back from Calabria to Venice by car. And then from Venice to Stuttgart by plane. I will be in Stuttgart tomorrow, arriving from Beijing by plane.

The world seems so small.

My son sees the picture of the renovation in Italy on the computer in China.
He got so inspired that he built a house in his kindergarten (above picture).

We will discuss colors and more renovation issues during the holidays and will be back on this blog soon.

Happy Holiday, Buon Natale, Frohe Weihnachten!

Pink Pigment's Problem?

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All comments and emails I got vote for pink! The pink of a 'pale rose', 'faded coral' or 'Aurore's cheeks'!

But today I received the email of my renovation experienced Italian friend (mother-in-law's cousin's wife). She said the following:

"In my opinion I prefer yellow because pink colour with the time is making some horrible black stripes along the windows and it's not fine to be seen.
Right near my house (ed. remark: between Padua and Venice) there's a pink villa that looked beautiful when it was finished but, after a few years, they are renovating it because of this dirty look.

Someone told me that there's a pigment in the composition of pink colour which gives this black result when time passes by. I don't know if that's the reason, but now I'm careful about all pink houses that I see and I must say that it's true.
By the way, we did our house in yellow "ocra" and I'm happy of our choice."

So I am wondering what is it about that pigment?
The two photos above show houses in Pizzo. They look newly painted - and impeccable.
But when I look at our house ... dark stripes ....

We will ask around. Maybe some of you know?

Pink or Yellow?

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It is time to decide about the colour for the outside walls.

Pink?


Or yellow?


Pink?


Or yellow?


This is the picture I got as a proposal. Difficult to tell on the screen what this color would be on the wall. Is it more 'yellow' or 'orange'?.

It is a coloured plaster. Different from painting on plaster. Some technique that gives the facades a kind of antique look.

I really like the colour of the seaside facade. We call it 'pink'.
Although, to me, it is more a 'pale coral'. (I think of the coral fishers that used to dive for coral underneath the house).


BTW, the seaside facade's color is the background color of this blog!

And I think that the blue tiles fit perfectly to this 'pink'.


But would it look good on the other facade that faces the piazza?


Maybe?


(We want to paint three sides of the house in the same color and leave the one stone wall as it used to be for the last 200 and something years.)

Picture source: drawings of the house by Pino Pitt (colored by me);
other picture by me, except the yellow palazzo which is the Xara Palace in Malta via Architectural Digest magazine.

Calabria: Amarelli Liquorice

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On this side of the world it is wintertime and cold outside.
I am sitting at the computer (in Beijing) and next to me I have a tiny blue tin of 20 g best Italian liquorice (thanks to my Italian mother-in-law). I thought, I am going to post about this tiny tin.


It is Liquirizia Di Calabria from Amarelli in Rossano. The Amarelli company, founded in 1731, is one of the oldest liquorice (or licorice) producers. And Rossano is a city on the Ionian coast, the other coast of Calabria.



This is my favorite one. A red tin of 40 g pure liquorice. Same like in the tiny blue box.


"Liquorice is an elixir of longevity in Chinese medicine and according to Hippocrates, this root with a characteristic bitter-sweet taste, and vivifying, digestive and throat-soothing virtues, has been harvested since antiquity on the Calabria Ionian coast, where it grows naturally."

Throat-soothing, that's why I am a fan of it. Actually I was not aware of all the other benefits!


I love these nostalgic boxes. I hope Amarelli keeps them that way for ever!

Here I love the design better than the product inside:



The Beach-mare tin contains 20 g of liquorice with natural mint and is colour sugar coated.




The Sassolini are soft liquorice with natural anise and colour sugar coated. They come in a tin of 40 g.


In 2001, the Amarelli have inaugurated the "Giorgio Amarelli" Liquorice Museum which was awarded the Guggenheim Enterprise & Culture Trophy.

More info here:
Amarelli Company
Amarelli Museum
Amarelli history by Henokiens

Photo source: most of them via www.amarelli.it