Toul is a small town on the Moselle in the Grand Est region of France. This bridge is just outside the Port de Toul
Toul Canal Bridge
Gary Kirkpatrick
Sapin Bleu, St Gervais-sous-Meymont, France (watercolor)
Scilla: Views of the Sea (acrylic paintings)ScillaCilia: Views of the Sea (acrylic paintings)Scilla: Views of the Sea (acrylic paintings)Scilla: Views of the Sea (acrylic paintings)
Scilla is a small fishing village in Calbria. It’s narrow streets stretch across the harbor. We visited in April 2025. We’d never been to Calabria before. For more https://garyjkirkpatrick.com/reggio-de-calabria-then-and-now/
Chateau de la Flie (Liverdun, France)
We came upon this beautiful chateau as we proceeded upstream on the Moselle. It’s across the river from Liverdun. In Liverdun’s harbor, which sits well below the cliff upon which the town sits, we stayed a pitch black night, maneuvering carefully to avoid grounding in the shallow waters.
Pianist, Singer, Dancers, Parallel Universe
This is another in the Pianist series. The dancers whirling dervishness calls forth a parallel universe. https://garyjkirkpatrick.com/pianist-singer-ballerina/ evoked that universe, causing the abstract incursion displayed on the rear wall. The additional energy produced by the dancers in this painting brought forth the more intense intrusion of a parallel universe.
Art meets string theory.
Or you can forget all that and just enjoy the contrast between the representative and the abstract, the muted values and the blaring values, the forms and motion, the unusual view from behind the performers.
Château de Montaigu (ink)
The Château de Montaigu is located on the outskirts of Nancy, France. It was built starting in1757 by the General Receiver of the Farms of Lorraine. The residence was upgraded and expanded starting in 1850. Edouard Salin, a mining engineer and his wife Suzanne bought the residence in 1918. Afire caused significant damage in 1921. Salin and staff dragged the furniture out of the burning structure. The work they undertook respected the style but used new construction methods and materials such as the steel used in the roof.
The rooms contain furnishings in the style of Louis XV (16th century). There are painted wall coverings as well as painting directly on the plaster. You can visit only the ground floor.
See the Chateau’s website https://www.chateaudemontaigu.eu/accueil
Pacentro, Italy 4: ink drawing
Toul, France
Not Toulouse, not Toulon, just plain Toul: its a moat encircled ancient town located on the Moselle River with impressive late 1700’s stone ramparts, ranging to 5 meters in height. There are two locks within 100 meters of one another protecting the population, connecting the Moselle River and the Canal du Marne au Rhin. Known as Tullum Leucorum by the Romans, Toul did not become part of France in until 1552 after having been a Catholic diocese since the 4th century.
The fortress within the ramparts was last used during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Surrender to the Prussians came in less than a day after a 2300 shell bombardment. In WWI it served as a base for the incipient US Air Force. The stone ramparts date from 1698. The area produces the Cote de Toul AOC protected wine, most notably the Gris de Toul.
There’s a cut in the ancient wall that these days allows cars into the old town. Follow the streets around to the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Toul, built in flamboyant Gothic style. Construction began in the 12th century and completed by 1496, with some later additions. The towers rise to 65 meters/ 213,’ the nave is 100 meters/328′ in length. It has a large cloister. “With a Romanesque plan and Gothic construction, this building is a symbol of the city’s rich episcopal past and an emblem for a whole territory. Remarkable by its dimensions as well as by its beauty, the Cathedral of Saint-Etienne attracts several tens of thousands of visitors every year.” https://toul.fr/cathedrale800ans/
The 139 statues of the portico were destroyed during the French Revolution. The roof and the south tower sustained damaged in WW2. They were restored in the 1980s.
Messina: A Surprising Pleasure
It takes a half hour on a fast ferry from Reggio de Calabria to arrive in Messina, crossing the Strait of Messina. The large port is home to numerous ferries, commercial vessels as well as military ships. The city center of the small city of 215,000 is about 12 kilometers from the entrance to the Strait. The lovely City Hall sits along the harbor. The city, wracked by a major earthquake in 1908 leading to a devastating tsunami, backs up against hills to the west.
The Greeks liked this location, settling the area in the 8th BCE. Artifacts in the Museo Interdisciplinare Regionale (the Regional Museum) bear witness, but there is much more. The 1908 earthquake produced such vast devastation that many buildings were not rebuilt. Their decorations, paintings and other valuables were placed in the Museum. Capitols and a wide variety of other carvings sit in a special exhibit. An exuberant hostess showed us around and helped us with their 3-D glasses. These give you a 360 degree perspective, providing context for the objects upon which the presentation focused.
A room of the special exhibit simulates the deafening sounds of the earthquake. Beyond lies a huge collection of religious art with countless figuring staring into the clouds, as was common in that era. There is a collection of the works of Antonello da Messina, a well known painter of the early Renaissance. His works are much above average for the time. There are several Caravaggio paintings. He stopped here on his way to an early death near Napoli from the wounds he suffered in the last of his many street fights.
Reggio de Calabria, then and now
The comparative few who give previous thought to this small city in southern Italy wonder at its name. “Reggio’ comes from the ancient Greek for ‘region.’ There’s a Reggio elsewhere in Italy so ‘de Calabria’ distinguishes the two.
Despite its present day obscurity Reggio de Calabria was home to a perhaps legendary early king named Italus, whence ‘Italia.’ Italia initially referred to the general area surrounding Calabria before becoming the name of the whole peninsula circa third century BCE. This suggests a significant level of influence.
Reggio de Calabria is among the 100 largest cities in Europe, home to 500,000 plus. It was heavily damaged by the 7.1 earthquake of 1908, giving rise to much modernization. I’ll tell you a bit more about that quake in the upcoming post on Messina, whose municipal museum has extensive exhibits on the topic.
Calabria itself is not that well known. It is the toe of the boot of Italy. The other side way down here is the heel- that’s Puglia. I wrote about that lovely yet also less visited region a couple of years back. See https://garyjkirkpatrick.com/puglia-italian-cuisine-youve-never-met/ and https://garyjkirkpatrick.com/puglia-slide-show-set-to-a-famous-song/
Reggio sits near the entrance to the Straights of Messina, across from its buddy city Messina. Reggio was a major stopping point for ships bound for Rome, often carrying wheat from Egypt. Much earlier it was a major city in Magna Grecia, the Greek speaking area which includes today’s southern Italy: Puglia, Sicily, Calabria, Basilicata and Campania.
The famous Riace bronzes are in the town’s important Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia. It is protected by an antechamber that seals off the temperature and humidity of the rest of the museum. They are magnificent life size works, with a height of 199 cm/6’6″. Few of these bronze statues remain. These two were found about 200 meters from the shore in nearby Riace either by a diver or four young boys. One of the figures may have been holding a spear and shield, with one sporting a helmet. Restored at the museum over almost a decade after their 1972 discovery and again in 2011, the sculptures date to the 5th century BCE.
Reggio de Calabria has a long (1 kilometer) pedestrian zone. It is the main shopping street, running parallel to the coast. Via Garibaldi is lined with magnolia and exotic palm trees. The city is laid out on a steep hill(s) but the pedestrian zone is on the flat. The train station is one level down, just above the sea. Opposite the station it is a tiny shop selling 30 varieties of arancini.
Arancini are the street food of choice for Sicilians. Cooked risotto is formed into various shapes. Then things like mozzarella, fungi (mushrooms), shredded beef and other meats, bits of eggplant and so on are added. The attractive middle aged woman who runs the place across from the station came up with many variations. There was even one with spada – swordfish.
Once formed into the desired shape, the sticky rice and its other contents are rolled in corn flour, then deep fried. They end up with a nice crunch and an orange color, thus the term ‘arancini’ – oranges. And please try not to refer to the singular in the same manner. If there is only one then the word is orancino.
Back to swordfish. They are in these waters apparently in large numbers judging by their predominance on the menus. There are several variations in their use in the restaurants. Aside from grilled, it is added to various pasta dishes. Pasta Norma is one such. On its own Pasta Norma is a thick short noodle with tomato sauce and grated ricotta salata, a bone dry and very salty version of the otherwise soft, creamy cheese.
In the old days ricotta was made by reheating the whey and then adding lemon or some other acid causing the milk elements to congeal. Thus the term ‘ricotta,’ re-cooked.’ Dry it out and salt it up and you have ‘ricotta salata.’ It all makes sense once you understand the language a bit.
