A brush with Italia Mia

Traipsing along the western coast of Italy, playing fly-on-the-wall as a bunch of artists explore their promised land

Tripping on road movies — that's what the entertainment world is doing currently. B-Town's flavour of the season deals with slice-of-life journeys and bonding and perhaps some epiphanies gathered along the way. Colourful locales and even more colourful personas complete the picture. Was it coincidence or part of a grander design therefore, that my recent experience mirrored the reel, and I found myself, like some modern day Alice in Wonderland, walking through the looking glass right into an 'on the road' scenario, of all places in history-steeped Italy? It is not often that one gets to be a fly-on-the-wall amidst the art fraternity, that too in a land best known for its art and architecture. But by some twist of fortune I found myself accompanying two Mumbai based artistes — the skirt-wearing Julius Macwan and photo artist Binaifer Bharucha — and three Delhi based artists — Remen Chopra, Manisha Parekh and Samit Das — on a road jaunt through L'Italia. Hollywood locale Starting from fashion capital Milan, the group traipsed along Lake Como — shooting spot for blockbuster movies, including a Star Wars sequel, the 007 film Casino Royale and Ocean's 12, but more importantly, also the locale for Hollywood actor-activist George Clooney's property, the place where Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt reportedly spent their final holiday together as a couple before their marriage broke up. Our intrepid travelers sought to draw inspiration from the tableau around them. Sunshine, sparkling water, the medieval landscape winking in the distance — enthralling, certainly, but this was just the beginning, pointed out the supra efficient Italian guide Scilla, her blond attractiveness not unlike Jenny Aniston herself. Spending the night in a castle converted into a hotel may be old hat for Indians used to royal palace fare in Rajputana, but the Italians considered it a special treat. And Castello di Casiglio's rooms on the first day had an upstairs-downstairs division and heritage feel intact. Meanwhile, a packed travel itinerary awaited — the bus route wound from the Northern regions right down to the beaches of Tropea, called Coast of the Gods in Southern Calabria, covering the isles of Sardinia and Sicily by air for good measure. The days flew along. If one day was spent touring the breathtaking peaks around Mount Blanco — the Western Alps' highest peak — accessed by dizzying cable car stretches, the next involved skimming the seas to sun-toasted playground of the famous, Portofino on a yacht or delighting in the splendour of the rolling green fields and hills of Chianti, Tuscany. The Punta Helbronner peak was interesting in that you saw the Franco-Italian border demarcated by a line — pre-Schengen treaty, guards from both sides — Italian carabinieri and French gendarmes — patrolled the dividing line; now it remains unmanned. Life in a bus Rome had Julius Macwan mulling over on his own 2008 work of art, a provocative take on Michelangelo's famed Pieta, now residing in the collection of a well known art patron Harsh Goenka. "It drew a lot of attention," Macwan reminisced. Meanwhile, the medieval streets of Sienna reconnected Remen Chopra to her past; she had studied in this quaint city for six months. After a few days together, almost living in the bus over long distances, a certain casualness crept in — practicality overcame modesty as wet bikinis hung out to dry on seats, evidence of cavorts on pebbled beaches from Margherita to Sorrento, near the Amalfi coast. This year marks the 150th year of the unification of Italy under Garibaldi and in many places flags fluttered over castles and coastlines. The flag was not the only echo of deja vu over distances. Humourous analogies were put out after chancing upon a Via Roma in almost every city we covered: "Like our MG roads back home — we have one in almost every city!" someone remarked. At the royal palace of Caserta, challenging Versailles in its grandeur, the artists discovered a special surprise — an exhibition of contemporary artists was on in the palace itself, juxtaposing the traditional and the modern. In the detailing of these travels, I have not elaborated on Italian cuisine, but its story runs parallel to any piece on the land — Italians consider food second only to God and four course meals were our fare on most days — in Italy food is not a meal, it's an experience. And finally a word on the motley group of travelers themselves — it is rare at the most opportune of times to find a group so united in its spiritual outlook, especially if coincidentally travelling through a land so steeped in religious and spiritual imagery. A lot of discussions on God, on fortune telling and the esoteric, on the mystical and divine foresight accompanied this voyage. These artists knew each other only in a cursory way, some not at all before this journey. But on those long days in the company of only each other and nature, they discovered facets in each other and themselves that they actually responded to. At journey's end, like strangers do, they carried with them each other's deepest confidences as they went their separate ways.