Today on Monday Mysteries we explore an oddity of an ice rink in Piazza Bra.

It’s not the oddity of there being one there – we remembered a temporary one being set up during this time of year several years ago in the same spot in Piazza Bra.

Ice rink (foreground), L’Arena, the Stella Cometa, and City hall beyond

We happened to be walking by that morning as a crowd was starting to gather, awaiting the official opening of the rink:

Kids waiting for the rink to open

Now, this rink is not very big. Here’s a panorama view, which is distorted, so that it looks like it is curved. It’s not – it’s just a rectangle:

View from the other side of the rink (panorama effect; in reality, the rink is not curved)

I get why the kids are excited to skate – I liked skating on the river when I was a kid. But what I didn’t get was why all the fuss with the big opening. Take another look to the far right in that photo with the little girl above. Do you see the yellow and blue ribbon? Yes, it was a ribbon stretched across  the entrance — there was an official ribbon-cutting ceremony to “open” the open-air ice rink.

Ribbon cutting scissors on a velvet pillow

This is the mystery for today’s post: why does this tiny little temporary rink in Verona rate such a big to-do about it’s opening? I mean, there were a half-dozen dignitaries on hand to address the crowd:

Dignitaries gathered waiting for the mayor to arrive

Actually, those men had to wait for the mayor to arrive before they could get the ceremony underway. Now, look back up at the first photo. City hall is the big building in the background.  As you can see, to get from there to the rink the mayor had to go such a long way across that plaza.

I’m kidding, of course. You can walk across it in under a minute if you just go from point A to point B.  But it took the mayor 10xs that long. Or more. He stopped to shake hands and chat with people he knew all along the way. Then he was stopped by reporters who wanted sound bites for their TV or radio shows. Then he posed for additional photos with parents and children.

Not, though, with the little boy standing near me who had 10 minutes earlier asked his father why they had to wait for the mayor, couldn’t they just get on with it already?

Anyway, the mayor finally got to the rink, only about 15 minutes behind schedule.

Speechifying – the mayor is the one with the microphone

Note that yes, that is Santa Claus who is photo bombing the dignitaries in this photo. He’s standing in the background with the skaters who are behind the wall.  Santa Claus is called Babbo Natale here in Italy; one little girl was just sooo excited to see him while we were waiting for the mayor, she excitedly called out “Babbo Natale!, Babbo Natale!” over and over. Very cute.  Even though we’ve always been told that Santa Lucia is really the bigger deal here in Verona over the holidays, clearly some kids here are still excited at the sight of Babbo Natale.

There were bunch of speeches; most of the men had a turn. I believe I heard the mayor say that this rink was back this year after not being there last year, and maybe that’s why it’s such a big deal? I think he said something about budget cuts, etc. — but it was in Italian, and I was busy taking photos, so I only sort of caught the gist. Like the little boy next to me, I was getting cold and also ready for them to get on with it already.

But finally, there was a scrum around the mayor as he took those fancy scissors and cut the ribbon to open the rink officially. At least, I assume that’s what happened; from my angle I couldn’t actually see it, but the mayor did make people move back to allow the guy on the ice to get a good shot of the ribbon cutting, so it seems likely that it went OK.

Anyway, finally, it was time to skate:

Let the skating begin!

Babbo Natale got in on the action, too.

Babbo Natale on skates

But how he had time to skate on Christmas Eve is another mystery … even if it’s not the main Monday mystery for today.