Italy: The Road To Cinque Terra Via La Spezia
Oct 17, 2023 15:28:18 #
After lunch in Colonnata, we boarded the tour bus and continued to the provence of Liguria to Portovenere the gateway to Cinque Terra. On our way, we passed through the historic port city of La Spezia.
La Spezia (UK: /læ ˈspɛtsiə/, US: /lɑː -/ or /lɑː ˈspɛtsiɑː, - ˈspeɪt-/, Italian: [la ˈspɛttsja] ; Ligurian: A Spèza, in the local Spezzino dialect [it; lij]) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy.
La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria region, after Genoa. Located roughly midway between Genoa and Pisa, on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and a major Italian Navy base. A popular seaside resort, it is also a significant railway junction, and is notable for its museums, for the Palio del Golfo rowing race, and for railway and boat links with the Cinque Terre.
History
La Spezia and its province have been settled since prehistoric times. In Roman times the most important centre was Luni, not far from Sarzana. As the capital of the short-lived Niccolò Fieschi Signoria in the period between 1256 and 1273, La Spezia was inevitably linked with Genoese vicissitudes. After the fall of the Republic of Genoa, an independent state until 1797, La Spezia grew, developed and changed, though along lines similar to Liguria's capital Genoa. This Ligurian influence can still be seen in the urban layout as well as in the types of buildings and decorations. This is notable in the carrugio, the narrow street that divides the Old Town into two. It is called Via del Prione, taking its name from the pietrone or large stone, in local dialect prione, where public announcements were once read out.
Walking landwards from the sea it is possible to see partly hidden, but still evident, traces of history: engraved stones, capitals, and portals in fourteenth century sandstone, double lancet windows vaguely reminiscent of the future renaissance style of mannerism, baroque pediments, and decorations similar to those adorning the portals of the palaces once belonging to the Doria family and the Princes of Massa.
La Spezia developed substantially after 1861 when the great naval arsenal there was commissioned by the Royal government. In September 1943, after the Italian capitulation to the Allies, it was the departure port for the Italian Navy when it was ordered to steam into British hands at Malta. The Germans arrived too late to stop the departure of the fleet. During the war Italian troopships also left from La Spezia, including the Kaiser Franz Josef, a trans-Atlantic liner launched in Trieste in 1911 for the Austrian Lloyd company, which Italy had confiscated in 1919. It was sunk in La Spezia harbour in 1944.
After the liberation, La Spezia became the point of departure for survivors from Nazi concentration camps. From the summer of 1945 to the spring of 1948 more than 23,000 Jewish displaced persons managed to leave Italy clandestinely for the Palestine Mandate. After lengthy vicissitudes, the ships Fede, Fenice, and Komemiut managed to evacuate everyone from the Golfo di La Spezia, to the extent that on Israeli maps, La Spezia is called Shaʿar Zion, in Hebrew “Gateway to Zion”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Spezia
The story of Operation Exodus in La Spezia, Zion Gate
Did you know that La Spezia is known as Zion Gate in Israel? After the end of the Second World War, the Gulf Of Poets played a crucial role: between 1946 and 1948, La Spezia became, in fact, the reference point for Jewish refugees who had escaped from the Nazi concentration camps and were eager to reach the “promised land”.
Today, more than ever, the theme of international peace is topical: intercultural reflections and civil debates between societies, ideas and religions help tell the story of a destination.
Many ships sailed eastwards from La Spezia to the point that even today, on Israeli maps, the city is indicated with the name of “Sha’ar Zion“, the Zion Gate. One of these boats, the largest and most famous, was called Exodus. History takes us back to 1946.
In early May of that year, the inhabitants of La Spezia noticed numerous unknown people gathering in the area of the Pirelli Pier. An old motorsailer called Fede (faith) was docked here after undergoing work in the Bargiacchi shipyard in Portovenere. Initially concerned – with their city exhausted by war and destroyed by bombings – the inhabitants of La Spezia soon discovered that they were at the epicenter of an international case over the issue of Jewish immigration. It became known as the La Spezia Affair.
There was also a second motorsailer in La Spezia, the Fenice (phoenix), and both were ready to transport 1,014 refugees. But Great Britain regulated the controlled flow of survivors into Palestine and sent some of its ships to block the exit of the two boats from the Port of La Spezia. The inhabitants of La Spezia showed strong solidarity towards the exasperated and hopeful refugees, bringing them food and comfort.
“It was precisely the support of the locals, the resistance of the refugees, the intervention of journalists and the visit on board of Harold Lasky, chairman of the British Labour Party, which forced the London authorities to lift the blockade on the two boats which set sail from La Spezia at 10 am on 8 May 1946,” wrote journalist Marco Ferrari.
Exactly one year later, in May 1947, the Trade Winds ship (set up in Portugal and renamed Tikva) embarked 1,414 refugees in Portovenere, where the President Warfield ship (coming from Marseilles) was also refitted to transport 4,515 refugees. This last ship, which was renamed Exodus, became the protagonist of the most remarkable undertaking of Jewish emigration: from La Spezia, it reached the coasts of Palestine, where it was attacked by the British, who prevented the refugees from landing. The events initiated the birth of the State of Israel.
Exodus - film - Paul Newman
Everyone knows the ship’s name thanks to the Hollywood blockbuster with Paul Newman and Eve-Marie Saint, directed in 1960 by Otto Preminger: Exodus.
On 25 April 2006, the President of the Italian Republic – Carlo Azeglio Ciampi – awarded the city with the gold medal for civil merit for the help given by the population of La Spezia to Jewish refugees. Every year, the town hosts the Exodus award dedicated to interculturalism.
https://discoverportovenere.com/exodus-la-spezia-zion-gate/?utm_source=The+Newsletter+of+the+Gulf+of+Poets&utm_campaign=fbf8e76cf2-email_september23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_098b6f8dee-fbf8e76cf2-488522670
All of these images were taken through the tour bus windows with a Nikon D7500 and a Nikkor 18-300 f3.5-5.6 lens at 1/640 sec, f7.1 auto ISO. I hope you enjoy them!
Mark
La Spezia (UK: /læ ˈspɛtsiə/, US: /lɑː -/ or /lɑː ˈspɛtsiɑː, - ˈspeɪt-/, Italian: [la ˈspɛttsja] ; Ligurian: A Spèza, in the local Spezzino dialect [it; lij]) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy.
La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria region, after Genoa. Located roughly midway between Genoa and Pisa, on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and a major Italian Navy base. A popular seaside resort, it is also a significant railway junction, and is notable for its museums, for the Palio del Golfo rowing race, and for railway and boat links with the Cinque Terre.
History
La Spezia and its province have been settled since prehistoric times. In Roman times the most important centre was Luni, not far from Sarzana. As the capital of the short-lived Niccolò Fieschi Signoria in the period between 1256 and 1273, La Spezia was inevitably linked with Genoese vicissitudes. After the fall of the Republic of Genoa, an independent state until 1797, La Spezia grew, developed and changed, though along lines similar to Liguria's capital Genoa. This Ligurian influence can still be seen in the urban layout as well as in the types of buildings and decorations. This is notable in the carrugio, the narrow street that divides the Old Town into two. It is called Via del Prione, taking its name from the pietrone or large stone, in local dialect prione, where public announcements were once read out.
Walking landwards from the sea it is possible to see partly hidden, but still evident, traces of history: engraved stones, capitals, and portals in fourteenth century sandstone, double lancet windows vaguely reminiscent of the future renaissance style of mannerism, baroque pediments, and decorations similar to those adorning the portals of the palaces once belonging to the Doria family and the Princes of Massa.
La Spezia developed substantially after 1861 when the great naval arsenal there was commissioned by the Royal government. In September 1943, after the Italian capitulation to the Allies, it was the departure port for the Italian Navy when it was ordered to steam into British hands at Malta. The Germans arrived too late to stop the departure of the fleet. During the war Italian troopships also left from La Spezia, including the Kaiser Franz Josef, a trans-Atlantic liner launched in Trieste in 1911 for the Austrian Lloyd company, which Italy had confiscated in 1919. It was sunk in La Spezia harbour in 1944.
After the liberation, La Spezia became the point of departure for survivors from Nazi concentration camps. From the summer of 1945 to the spring of 1948 more than 23,000 Jewish displaced persons managed to leave Italy clandestinely for the Palestine Mandate. After lengthy vicissitudes, the ships Fede, Fenice, and Komemiut managed to evacuate everyone from the Golfo di La Spezia, to the extent that on Israeli maps, La Spezia is called Shaʿar Zion, in Hebrew “Gateway to Zion”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Spezia
The story of Operation Exodus in La Spezia, Zion Gate
Did you know that La Spezia is known as Zion Gate in Israel? After the end of the Second World War, the Gulf Of Poets played a crucial role: between 1946 and 1948, La Spezia became, in fact, the reference point for Jewish refugees who had escaped from the Nazi concentration camps and were eager to reach the “promised land”.
Today, more than ever, the theme of international peace is topical: intercultural reflections and civil debates between societies, ideas and religions help tell the story of a destination.
Many ships sailed eastwards from La Spezia to the point that even today, on Israeli maps, the city is indicated with the name of “Sha’ar Zion“, the Zion Gate. One of these boats, the largest and most famous, was called Exodus. History takes us back to 1946.
In early May of that year, the inhabitants of La Spezia noticed numerous unknown people gathering in the area of the Pirelli Pier. An old motorsailer called Fede (faith) was docked here after undergoing work in the Bargiacchi shipyard in Portovenere. Initially concerned – with their city exhausted by war and destroyed by bombings – the inhabitants of La Spezia soon discovered that they were at the epicenter of an international case over the issue of Jewish immigration. It became known as the La Spezia Affair.
There was also a second motorsailer in La Spezia, the Fenice (phoenix), and both were ready to transport 1,014 refugees. But Great Britain regulated the controlled flow of survivors into Palestine and sent some of its ships to block the exit of the two boats from the Port of La Spezia. The inhabitants of La Spezia showed strong solidarity towards the exasperated and hopeful refugees, bringing them food and comfort.
“It was precisely the support of the locals, the resistance of the refugees, the intervention of journalists and the visit on board of Harold Lasky, chairman of the British Labour Party, which forced the London authorities to lift the blockade on the two boats which set sail from La Spezia at 10 am on 8 May 1946,” wrote journalist Marco Ferrari.
Exactly one year later, in May 1947, the Trade Winds ship (set up in Portugal and renamed Tikva) embarked 1,414 refugees in Portovenere, where the President Warfield ship (coming from Marseilles) was also refitted to transport 4,515 refugees. This last ship, which was renamed Exodus, became the protagonist of the most remarkable undertaking of Jewish emigration: from La Spezia, it reached the coasts of Palestine, where it was attacked by the British, who prevented the refugees from landing. The events initiated the birth of the State of Israel.
Exodus - film - Paul Newman
Everyone knows the ship’s name thanks to the Hollywood blockbuster with Paul Newman and Eve-Marie Saint, directed in 1960 by Otto Preminger: Exodus.
On 25 April 2006, the President of the Italian Republic – Carlo Azeglio Ciampi – awarded the city with the gold medal for civil merit for the help given by the population of La Spezia to Jewish refugees. Every year, the town hosts the Exodus award dedicated to interculturalism.
https://discoverportovenere.com/exodus-la-spezia-zion-gate/?utm_source=The+Newsletter+of+the+Gulf+of+Poets&utm_campaign=fbf8e76cf2-email_september23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_098b6f8dee-fbf8e76cf2-488522670
All of these images were taken through the tour bus windows with a Nikon D7500 and a Nikkor 18-300 f3.5-5.6 lens at 1/640 sec, f7.1 auto ISO. I hope you enjoy them!
Mark
The hillside village as we passed on the Autostrada
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Oct 17, 2023 15:29:03 #
Oct 17, 2023 15:32:37 #
Oct 17, 2023 16:06:05 #
Oct 17, 2023 16:28:42 #
srfmhg wrote:
After lunch in Colonnata, we boarded the tour bus ... (show quote)
Interesting info and set Mark.
Oct 17, 2023 16:37:23 #
Oct 17, 2023 18:20:25 #
Oct 17, 2023 18:20:45 #
Oct 17, 2023 18:21:10 #
Oct 17, 2023 18:22:17 #
UTMike wrote:
Another good set, Mark! I enjoyed the street juggler in #3, but . . .
Thanks very much Mike. Fear not - she will return when we are in Cinque Terra.
Oct 17, 2023 20:59:36 #
Oct 17, 2023 23:00:18 #
srfmhg wrote:
After lunch in Colonnata, we boarded the tour bus ... (show quote)
Interesting narrative and photos Mark. We were going to Cinque Terre on our road trip earlier this year, but since we both have a slightly gimpy knee, we decided to skip it. We got close on our drive from Orta San Giulio to Siena though. I'm looking forward to your photos of Cinque Terre.
Oct 18, 2023 02:15:28 #
kpmac wrote:
Another fine set, Mark. The raindrops on the glass adds to those images.
Thanks so much Ken. The rain did give a special effect.
Oct 18, 2023 02:16:25 #
DJphoto wrote:
Interesting narrative and photos Mark. We were going to Cinque Terre on our road trip earlier this year, but since we both have a slightly gimpy knee, we decided to skip it. We got close on our drive from Orta San Giulio to Siena though. I'm looking forward to your photos of Cinque Terre.
Thanks very much Dennis. There will be many!
Oct 18, 2023 06:32:08 #
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