The Silver Lining

Can you see the rainbow peeking through the dark clouds?

White on White

We have been having a lot of rain with thunderstorms over the past week. This is quite unusual for June and has been ruining a lot people's vacation plans...people who organised beach holidays and instead of lying around in the sun in bikinis had to stay indoors with long pants and sweatshirts!

But, the rain is wonderful for the local vegetation and we have to be thankful for every drop that falls in a region that is battling against the phenomenon of desertification. And the cooler temperatures are a welcome relief from the oppressive heat that plagues us for most of the summer months.

p.s. My comment yesterday about the "architectural splendors" to be unveiled was tongue-in-cheek. I'm sure what lies below the wrappings on that building will be no more interesting than say, the building in this picture. Despite the great view on our seaside promenade when looking towards the sea, if you turn around and look inland the buildings are pretty dismally bland.

All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go

This apartment building on the seafront promenade is under wraps while its exterior is being renovated. Who knows what marvels of architectural splendour will be revealed when it is unwrapped!

Public Housing

These buildings are "case popolari," or low-cost public housing. They are very bare bones architecturally, both inside and out, and looking a little worse for wear. What you can't see in this picture, however, is that they are located on the seafront. On the other side of the building they have a beautiful view of the sea!

Ground Floor

Many homes in Molfetta open directly onto the sidewalk, or even the street. These homes are usually a series of rooms that lead one into the other. To get from the front room to the back room you have to walk through the middle room. The first room you enter into is usually the kitchen.

Privacy is not guaranteed when you live in one of these homes, so the lace curtains serve as the first line of defence. Then the green metal blind over the door is lowered from the inside at night or from the outside if you are going out during the day.

Theme Day: Glass

The first day of each month is Theme Day in the City Daily Photo community. This month's theme is "Glass." We don't have any fancy glass high-rises in Molfetta, but this long window caught my eye, as well as a cloud... The photo below shows a full view of the facade of the apartment building. It is located in the "New Area of Expansion" near the intersection of Via Terlizzi and Via Enrico Berlinguer.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Entrance Hall

I find the entrance halls to Molfettan apartment buildings fascinating. Each one is completely different from the next. Styles range widely in materials, colors and aesthetics. Some are modern, some centuries old, some are lovely, some simply functional, others horrendous. The pseudo-Latin saying "de gustibus" is used in Italian to say, loosely, "there's no accounting for tastes."

Last Photo of the New Area of Expansion...for now...

I don't know...this building just seems so out of place. All alone in the middle of a field of some pretty tall weeds. Kind of looks like the Mother Ship dropped it down in the middle of nowhere and said, "Okay, just try to look normal!"

"New Area of Expansion"

The apartment blocks in this new neighborhood, that has yet to have been given a better name than "new area of expansion," has a collection of widely varying architectural styles. They are "cooperatives" and each group of owners has the freedom to choose the style and materials for their new homes.

I've divided them into three categories:

"The Good"

"The Bad" (because the line of rowhouses changes style halfway down the row)

"The Ugly"

A New Neighborhood

A whole new (and very large) neighborhood is going up in Molfetta. It is located to the south-east of the junction between Via Terlizzi and Via Berlinguer in what used to be olive groves and countryside. Although the loss of nature areas always make me sad, I have to admit that Molfetta really needed new apartments. The building market had been completely blocked for 30 years, driving the prices of those few homes available locally sky high and forcing many families to move to other towns.

The construction has been going on for a couple of years now. Some buildings are completed and already inhabited, while others are still going up. Today's photo shows two completed apartment blocks flanking one still under construction. Imagine the noise, the dust!

Over the next few days I'll show you some of the new buildings. There are widely varying architectural styles set right next to each other.

Apartments on the Edge

Many apartments are built around the perimeter of a city block, facing outward, leaving a large inner courtyard. Unfortunately, these open spaces aren't usually used for anything particularly interesting. They allow for windows and air on both sides of each apartment and provide a balcony for hanging out the laundry in relative privacy. Well, all the other apartment dwellers can see your socks and underwear, but at least they're not hanging out over the street!

This series of photos was taken around the courtyard behind a friend's house.

Dry at Your Own Risk

I'd say 90% of Molfettans live in apartment blocks. Single family homes are rare and are certainly not found in town, but only out in the countryside. However, 99% of the apartments have a balcony where one can grow a few plants and, more importantly, hang out the laundry to dry. Around here basically no one has a dryer. The climate is temperate and for most of the year there are enough sunny days to get your clothes dry by hanging them out on the line. They have a lovely clean smell after being dried in the sun.

I'd be afraid to go out on the balcony in the center of the photo below for any reason! Do you think the people who live there have noticed what's happening to the underside of their balcony? (Click on the photo to enlarge it and see the full extent of the damage.)

Crane City

Wherever you go around Molfetta, if you look up you will see a crane. This is particularly true on the outskirts of town, all the way around the town. Construction of new buildings was basically completely blocked in Molfetta for about 30 years. This led to major price hikes on the existing homes. As a result, many young couples just getting started in life had to leave Molfetta, moving to neighbouring towns like Giovinazzo, Terlizzi and Bisceglie. This in turn drove up the housing costs in those towns.

Luckily a couple of years ago the problem was resolved and the building of new apartment complexes commenced. Hundreds are being put up all around the perimeter of town and even in those few empty spaces in town.

This means that many families are moving back to Molfetta. Others who have been making due in tiny inadequate apartments just for the cnvenience of staying in town are finally able to move into more reasonably sized ones. Not that they are large or cheap...the average new apartment is 100 sq. meters and costs around €300,000.

p.s. Just a curiosity...the word for crane in Italian is "gru" which means both the construction tool and the bird, the same as in English.

Would you call it Salmon?

A pretty apartment building in the piazza on Via Sant'Angelo. I love the color of the facade. Notice the typically Molfettan *green* shutters...you can't escape them in the town center!