« World Cup 2006 »

According to my good friend Amanda Wayne, who took a class on the history of the Venetian Empire, Galileo used gondolas and canals to smuggle the bodies of criminals from Venice to his anatomical theater at the Università degli Studi di Padova. They rowed by moonlight since human dissection was still forbidden.

There is still a water route from Padova to Venice, but most of the internal canals of the city have been filled in to make roads. One of the port termini is at Porta Portello, a large, stone gate that dates back to the 1500’s. Because of its marble steps that lead into the canal and the park area around it, the Portello is used for outdoor activities like the Portello River Festival that occurs every summer.

This year, the community set up a floating stage in the canal, next to the Portello, so that Paduans could sit on the steps and watch World Cup games. June 19th was the Italy vs. USA game, so most of the Americans went to the Portello to represent our country. Since I was leaving Italy in less than a week, and I had managed to connect myself with it immensely, I arrived at the game ready to cheer for the Italians – besides, they had a better chance of winning than the Americans did. As soon as I got there, I switched back to the USA again.