Procession

An hilarious video on Corriere della Sera featuring a driver from Cardito, a province of Naples, who cannot park. Blocking traffic on both sides, a small crowd gathers; other cars, bikers, a church procession.

Red Dust

Spectacular red dust alert as Australia’s freak weather continues

by Sophie Tedmanson, Sydney

11 January 2013

A massive wall of red dust barrels towards ships bobbing in the ocean, looming large and causing a breathtaking, apocalypse-style spectacle on the horizon.

But this is not a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster – it is Mother Nature playing havoc after the freak summer weather conditions that have struck Australia this week.

As bushfires continued to ravage the southeast coast, 2,000 miles away across the other side of the country a cyclone is threatening this weekend, just days after the red-dust storm created an extraordinary natural phenomenon.

Tugboat operators working off the far northwest coast were treated to the spectacular sight as a thunderstorm, which had gathered red dust and sand as it passed over the Pilbara region in the Outback, cut a path towards them across the Indian Ocean on Wednesday.

Brett Martin was working on a tugboat about 25 nautical miles off Onslow in Western Australia when, just before sunset, he noticed the orange haze – topped off with billowy white dust clouds – across the skyline, rising up from the glassy, flat ocean.

But when the wild weather arrived the swell lifted to 6ft 6in (2m), winds increased to 40 knots and visibility was reduced to 100m.

“We were steaming along in the boat just before sunset and the storm was casually building in the distance, then it got faster and faster and it went from glass to about 40 knots in two minutes,” Mr Martin, who captured the stunning photos on his mobile phone, told the West Australian.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, it was pretty special and it was definitely an eerie feeling.”

Another tugboat operator, Isaac Kneipp, saw the storm approach while at a cyclone mooring off Onslow.

“I have been at sea for 15 years and I’ve been through dozens of cyclones and heavy weather,” he told the newspaper. “But this is one of the most visually spectacular I have seen. The storm lasted about an hour and then went back to calm weather.”

Back on land, the storm plunged daylight into darkness as it passed over Onslow, on the edge of the Pilbara mining region, at about 6pm. Nintey minutes later the gusts had reached 75mph (120km/h).

The spectacle was created as wind and rain caused the storm to dump the sand and dust it had gathered while passing Onslow, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Western Australia is meanwhile bracing today for Tropical Cyclone Narelle – unrelated to the dust storm – which intensified as it approached the Pilbara coast last night.

The bureau said it was unlikely that Narelle, a category four cyclone, would directly hit the mainland, but winds are likely to pick up along the Pilbara coast by tomorrow, with destructive gusts over 80mph (130km/h) expected overnight.

The cyclone, still some 325 miles offshore, is moving southwest at 8mph (13km/h). Very destructive winds with gusts up to 155mph (250km/h) are possible near its centre, the bureau said.

Cyclone alerts have been issued in or near coastal and island communities, including Onslow, where the dust storm struck.

Western Australia’s multibillion-dollar resources industry was preparing for the cyclone, with some iron ore ports set to close and workers in some mines ready to be evacuated.

On the east coast meawhile fire authorities prepared for worsening weather over the weekend as fire crews battle to quell blazes that have raged this week, 14 of them out of control in the most populous state of New South Wales.

Two days of cooler weather brought a brief respite, but heat and high winds returned to much of the country today. Total fire bans are in place across New South Wales and Victoria, as well as the Australian Capital Territory as the record-breaking heatwave continued, with the mercury set to hit low to mid-40C range (above 104F).

“We’ve obviously got severe fire danger,” the NSW Deputy Rural Fire Service Commissioner, Rob Rogers, said. “On the back of those very warm days the vegetation is very dry and all we need is sparks and we will have a fire going.”

Article from The Times and photographs from Corriere della Sera.

 

Abruzzo, fiori freschi e messe in suffragio per l'anonimo che nessuno volle riconoscere

Corriere della Sera published this heartwarming article the other day, about a young man who was killed by a train fifteen years ago on the Ancona-Pescara line, near Roseto degli Abruzzi. No one knew who he was, and his identity has remained unknown. He was about thirty-five, of medium height, and with black curly hair. Wearing a green plaid jacket sized 48 and shoes size 42, he had no money or identification documents with him; his wallet held only a small comb and a prayer card of Our Lady of Loreto. He was completely disfigured by the train and it remains unknown as to whether the death was an accident or a suicide. However, there is a person, Ciro Fattore, who has made a headstone for the young man's grave, bringing fresh flowers each year.

Ciro Fattore, a Neopolitan, has lived in Roseto degli Abruzzi for a long time. Struck by the history of the anonymous man, and believing that he should also have his life commemorated, Fattore had a marble and brass plaque made for the grave at the municipal cemetery, which read, 'There is always a benefactor who is thinking of you.' Together with the collaboration of florist Gaetano Cinelli, also from Naples, the unknown man is brought fresh flowers almost every day. This year, Fattore and Cinelli, with the generosity of a local company and other citizens, are celebrating the anniversary of the young man's death with a memorial mass in the Church of the Sacred Heart. 'It was our way of remembering, and to make him feel less alone,' said Fattore.

Abruzzo, fiori freschi e messe in suffragio per l'anonimo che nessuno volle riconoscere

La singolare vicenda di un ragazzo scomparso 15 anni fa e mai identificato: è stato "adottato" da una comunità intera

Nicola Catenaro

15 September 2012

ROSETO DEGLI ABRUZZI (TERAMO) – Era un giovane di circa trentacinque anni, statura media, capelli ricci e neri. Indossava una giacca verde a quadri taglia 48 e portava scarpe numero 42. Non aveva soldi né documenti addosso. Nel portafogli, solo un piccolo pettine e un santino della Madonna di Loreto. La sua vita è finita sotto le ruote di un treno una domenica pomeriggio di quindici anni fa, intorno alle 14, sulla linea ferroviaria Ancona-Pescara, nei pressi di Roseto degli Abruzzi. Pioveva a dirotto e il recupero della salma fu piuttosto complesso. Disgrazia o suicidio? L’interrogativo è ancora aperto. Certo è che la sua identità (il viso era completamente sfigurato) è rimasta ignota e nessuno ha mai reclamato il suo corpo. C’è tuttavia chi, pur non avendolo mai conosciuto, ha fatto apporre una lapide sulla sua tomba e da quindici anni gli porta fiori freschi e fa dire messe in sua memoria.

«C'È SEMPRE UN BENEFATTORE CHE TI PENSA»- «A dimostrare tanta generosità è un ex dipendente della società Autogrill ora in pensione, Ciro Fattore, originario di Napoli ma residente da tempo a Roseto degli Abruzzi. Rimase colpito dalla storia di questo ragazzo senza nome, sepolto nel cimitero comunale che lui frequentava, e pensò che fosse giusto riservargli un trattamento uguale a quello degli altri estinti. Così fece sistemare prima le luci e poi la lapide in marmo con una targa in ottone che recita: «C’è sempre un benefattore che ti pensa». Ciro, ancora oggi, non sembra darsi pace per la sorte dello sconosciuto: «è mai possibile che non possa ricongiungersi con la propria famiglia?».

I TENTATIVI DELLA POLFER - I tentativi a suo tempo furono fatti. Dopo il suo ritrovamento, la Polfer provò in ogni modo a identificarlo. Cercò tra le persone scomparse e diramò segnalazioni a tutte le stazioni d’Italia. Inizialmente si pensò a un uomo di Pescara, di cui si erano perse le tracce. Ma i familiari, giunti a Roseto, non riconobbero la salma. Così il corpo rimase per tre lunghi mesi nell'obitorio del cimitero in attesa che qualche parente si presentasse e effettuasse il riconoscimento. «Ma nessuno si fece vivo – conferma a Corriere.it Giuseppe Neri, custode del cimitero da venti anni –, quindi il Comune mise un loculo a disposizione, nella parte vecchia, proprio qui vicino, e provvedemmo alla sepoltura».

SEMPRE FIORI FRESCHI SULLA TOMBA - Grazie alla generosità di Ciro e alla collaborazione dell’amico fioraio Gaetano Cinelli, anche lui napoletano, l'anonimo ha avuto l’attenzione che gli mancava e fiori freschi sulla tomba quasi tutti i giorni. La sensibilità di Ciro diventò anche un piccolo caso in Abruzzo, dopo un servizio del Tg3. Quest’anno Ciro e Gaetano, insieme ad altri concittadini, hanno deciso di celebrare l’anniversario della morte del giovane con una messa in suffragio nella chiesa del Sacro Cuore. In tanti hanno risposto all'invito contenuto nei manifesti funebri che il pensionato, con l’aiuto disinteressato di un’impresa locale, ha fatto affiggere in tutta la città. «È stato il nostro modo di ricordarlo – spiega Ciro - e di farlo sentire meno solo» .

Paolo Borsellino

Corriere della Sera 20 July 1992

Today is the anniversary of Paolo Borsellino's assassination on the 19th of July 1992. I wasn't old enough to remember this day, but my mum says she can still remember watching the horrific events on the news all those years ago. Less than two months after the murder of his fellow prosecutor friend, Giovanni Falcone, Borsellino was targeted by the mafia and brutally killed. Both men died by car bombs; Falcone with his wife and three bodyguards, Borsellino with five policemen.

Here is the blog I wrote earlier on for the anniversary of Giovanni Falcone's death, with information about both Paolo Borsellino and Rita Atria also. Amazing people whose lives were cut short much too prematurely.  http://allthedaysordained.blogspot.co.nz/2012/05/giovanni-falcone-paolo-borsellino-and.html

'Chi ha paura muore ogni giorno, chi non ha paura muore una volta sola.'

'Those who are scared die everyday, those who are not scared die only once.'

- Paolo Borsellino

Massacre of Capaci (Giovanni Falcone)

Massacre of Via D'Amelio (Paolo Borsellini)