Reporting from Italy

Dusk has almost turned to night and the sky is black with rain. My Italian driver is pushing the Lancia to 150 km/h on the wet road and I'm thinking of the red wine we shared at the table. A soccer game plays on the radio and we communicate in a stubborn German - our only common language.

Life is beautiful and it's good to be in Italy. I smile softly as I recall my arrival here the night before when we were driving even faster than now without knowing where we were going. The driver met me on the airport with my name written on a white cardboard sign. As we entered the car he asked me where we were going and I stared at him not knowing how to and in which language to improvise my response. I didn't know where we were going either. The only phone contact I had in Italy proved to be for an office closed at this hour leaving me only an answering machine in Italian. I felt I was home. This is exactly as in Israel - charming.

	My Hebrew-speaking guide, Maddalena Mizzau

My driver knew we were going to Udine. He explained that we'd just go to the first and best hotel and ask if they have a reservation for me. We landed at the high class Astoria Hotel on Piazza XX Settembre. Just listen to the sound of these names in an Italian accent; Astoria on Piazza XX Settembre. I jumped out of the car only to find out that they had no reservation for me and that this was not the right place. It so much looked like exactly the right place - just like a place I'd like to stay. Fortunately I needn't stay disappointed for long. The next hotel we tried was the Ambassador Hotel and it became my kingdom and castle for the next two days. Did I mention that this is a four star hotel?

Finally settled I turned on the TV set and tuned in to CNN after scrolling through three hundred local Italian channels. I wondered what's new in Israel. I had been in and interview with Prime Minister Ehud Barak the day before and Ariel Sharon was to have his exercise on the Temple Mount today. Well, we've all seen the pictures and little did I know then of what was to come. Saddened at heart I went to the nearest cafe and had a bottle of soda water and a tremissino - the small triangular and tasty white bread sandwiches you can find in most Italian coffee bars.

The next morning there's a new world around me. As usual I wake up late and have to switch to stress mode in order to reach my first appointment in the hotel's lobby. I come only five minutes late after enjoying a quick Italian breakfast and waiting futile for a soft-boiled egg that I in the end canceled. In the lobby I meet with my guide Maddalena Mizzau from the Udine tourist board, a beautiful and gorgeous Italian woman that yes, does indeed speak Hebrew! After chatting around doing the typical intro round of conversation we drove off.

	The Museum of Archeology in Aquileia

This was my third trip to Italy this year. One thing I have noticed on these trips is that even though there is something about the Italian behavior and temperament that resembles the Israeli, it's very easy to notice one huge difference; Italians dress elegantly, even nicer than the French. Neither Israelis nor Americans come even close to the elegance of the Italian clothing customs. Most Italian, it seems, especially at airports dress in suits, ties and Italian leather shoes. But here in the north eastern corner of Italy, the region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the dress code seems more relaxed, more European. Even better, they don't speak only Italian in this area. In the cities they speak a venetian style Italian and outside on the countryside the locals stick to a language called Friulani. Notice that the locals claim this is an independent language and not just a dialect. Furthermore most people speak German and some also speak English in addition to Italian. Compare that to the language skills of the Romans. The best way to ask for directions in Rome is to find an immigrant worker and ask him or her. They always know the local scene and also speak English - to the great relief of a lost tourist.

	Artifact found in Aquileia

My guide took me to a meeting some kilometers outside Udine were I met with Giovanni Masarotti, president of Promoseida - the organization for chair producers. He told me that almost a third of all chairs in the world originates in this small area just outside Udine called the "Chair-Triangle". He himself has a factory producing chairs for what is to become the world's largest cruise ship. As if that's not enough, the worlds largest chair is on display here. It's 20 meters tall, made of wood and steel and took 420 hours to manufacture and assemble.

	'Martyr's relics'

Later that day I was driven to Aquileia, a small village of only 3,000 inhabitants. Two thousand years ago Aquileia was a large Roman city of 200,000 inhabitants - until Attila destroyed it in 452 CE. The city had a fundamental role in evangelizing the eastern areas of Europe. But even better, as I was shown by the local priest Marini Graziano, the only exact copy of the original Rotunda of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is in his church.

I learned that the 'martyr's relics' kept in the church's cellar don't mean their personal belongings, but personal bones - you know, parts of their skeletons. Add to that the largest mosaic floor in Western Europe and you know where to go if this is in your field of interest.

	La Colombara - a local restaurant in Aquileia

Another charming similarity to the Holy Land is that anywhere you dig in this city you will find remnants from ancient times. You have to stop digging and call in the antiquity authorities so that they can do their archeological preservations. A large museum of local findings proves this. We rounded off the visit at a very local restaurant. The daughter of the owners hosted our dinner and I suspect she was aware that they had a journalist for dinner. The service was superb and when I ordered a simple Spagetthi Bolognese, which is a simple must when in Italy, I had to crawl through seven dishes of specialties, some Roman and some local, before the spagetthi arrived.

Following the strategic step of the original Aquileians in the wake of Attila's conquest, we also ran off to the nearby Grado lagoon for a rest before heading home.