June 16 Sapri (Day 263)
We took a walk today after breakfast, before it got too hot! Walking around the Gulf and stopping for a coffee and cafe crema, watching the families enjoying the beach, swimming and sunbathing, The waterfront has a park like atmosphere, shade trees, benches, playgrounds for kids, water fountains, etc.
This statue stood out and I wondered what the significance is or the representation to the town is.
It is more controversial than I thought! The figure represents a poem about the woman peasant “gleaner” (one who gathers the grain or produce after harvest) who abandoned her task to join the revolutionary Carlo Pisacane, and his 300 followers, in his 1857 doomed effort, started near Sapri, to overthrow the ruling Bourbon (French) Regime in control of southern Italy. (English translation of the poem is HERE). Tho Pisacane failed and died, the effort stimulated the eventual revolution which culminated in the unification of Italy as the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. The controversy however has more to do with the depiction of the “Scantily Clad Woman”!
Looking across the Gulf, our hotel is to the left of the large building at the end of the peninsula which is a hospital.
We found the “Circolo Nautica Sapri”. the Sapri Nautical Club, who were hosting the sailing competition, the ILCA Master. I couldn’t figure out what ILCA stands for tho.
It was getting hot so we headed back to our hotel and air conditioning. We have been in an “Excessive Heat Warning” basically since we left Tasmania at the end of April! Western Australia, Thailand, parts of Turkey, Greece and now Italy! We have also seen reports of several tourists in Greece who have died because they went hiking or walking in the extreme heat! We enjoyed a nice evening and had dinner at a resort restaurant across the street! Later, after dark, we were treated to another fireworks display!
Again, we have no idea what occasion prompted the show!