A Final Journey

Journey with me on my last day of class as I climb my way up the stairs to school:

Left above: The window on the left, highlighted by the sun is our classroom. Right above: The       

entrance to the School from the lower street opens into a courtyard.

Left: Once in the courtyard, you enter through this door climb a few stairs, turn the corner and head up the next flight of stairs (below).

 

Below: Around the next corner, if you need to catch your breath you can stop here. (Just for the record, we never did. The issue isn't the number of stair [sixty-seven] it is how steep they are...)

Right Below: After the previous flight of stairs, you walk down a wide hall and it opens up into a large room, but you are not there yet - one last flight of stairs (below).

You are Almost there!!!

Just two more steps and there is the door!!!
You made it!

Two Italian Men: One Younger - One Older

The Younger One is In Love! 
(Our waiter at a favorite restaurant)

So is the older one.... Need I explain?

Assisi: La Nostra Ultima Gita

Our last excursion was to another walled city atop a hill. Assisi is the birthplace of St Francis, the son of a prosperous silk merchant in the 12th century. Following a vision in his youth, Francis abandoned his life of wealth devoting himself to God and a life of poverty eventually founding the Franciscan order. The synopsis of his life can be seen in the beautiful frescoes lining the walls of the Basilica named after him. Italians have a deep appreciation for beauty. Even the ceilings are covered with rich art in the porticoes as well as buildings.

Assisi is likewise the birthplace of St Clare, who also abandoned a life of wealth after hearing St Francis preach. Neither of their families were happy about their decisions. Both have very interesting life stories. Many of us will remember the beautiful film Brother Sun sister Moon directed by Franco Zeffirelli (1972).

The well-known prayer, often referred to as Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace, is attributed to St Francis.

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, the faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;

To be loved as to love.For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

After touring the Basilica, we had time to wander the steep streets of Assisi finishing our time with an aperitivo at the Piazza Commune. Afterward we began our descent out of the village enjoying the beautiful  twilight scenery as we went. 

Assisi - also referred to as The City of Peace

Entering the Twilight Zone

On our late night return from Bologna the call for Siena came over the loudspeaker and we quickly departed the train. Collectively, our third time at this stop, we knew the routine. Or so we thought. Typical to train stations, we had to cross under the tracks, which meant going down a flight of stairs, turn right and then straight ahead to the end of the underpass, back up the steps to the train tracks and out to the sidewalk. There we would find the usual line up of taxis awaiting patrons. 

Only that is not what we found… (In case you are not already tuned into the background sounds… imagine the eerie theme song to the Twilight Zone softly setting up the scene.) Unexpectedly, rather than steps leading back up to the train tracks, we exited the underpass onto a rolling sidewalk leading us upward which lead to another, even steeper rolling sidewalk. Hmm a different way to the street we wondered?

The top of the moving sidewalk led to a double door suddenly opening into a brightly lit food court - like those you see in a shopping mall. A steep escalator in the center of the court went up and out of sight. Di dove siamo?! Where are we? was the question of the moment! Did we get off at the wrong stop! But no… they called out Siena, we saw the sign and it was obviously the last stop. Not knowing what else to do, we continued our upward climb on the escalator. (Remind you of Paris Joelle?)

Retracing Our Steps During Regular Business Hours

At the top of the third escalator we found ourselves at the base of yet another steep escalator in the center of what appeared to be an underground mall. We left the stores behind us and continued upward with each escalator appearing steeper than the last.

  

We continued up higher and higher with no signs of the outdoors. Were we underground? Where were we going? We had absolutely no idea until the top of the tenth escalator finally brought us out onto the street. There was our long desired taxi zone, but without the benefit of taxis. Other than the fact that all the signs were written in Italian, we had no idea where we were! If we were in Siena, we were outside the city wall. 

Retracing our steps.... in the daylight

On the other side of the street a small ristorante showed signs of life, so across we went to see if we could discover where we were, and more important, how to get where we wanted to be. Inside Annette asked a blond hair, blue eyed girl “You don’t happen to speak English do you?” She did and she also knew where to direct us.  “Where are you from?” she asked. “California,” we said. “Me too,” she said. “What part? we said. “The far north,” she said. “Us too,” we said. "Where?" someone said. “Redding,” we all said.  

An Excursion to Pienza and Bagno Vignoni

Bagno Vignoni

For our cultural excursion the third week of school, we “went by auto” through lush green countryside and rolling hills until we reached a small village seated atop a hill overlooking the scenic Val d’Orca.

 

     Europeans probably wonder about American's
     fascination with their outdoor clotheslines!

Pienza, originally called Corsignano is the birthplace of Enea Piccolomini (1405), who later became Pope Pius II. After becoming Pope, he had the entire village torn down and rebuilt as a model city typifying classical and philosophical thought of the Renaissance. Similar to early paintings, the positioning of the buildings, which are not symmetrically positioned around the main Piazza, portrayed a message. The cathedral was positioned in such a way as to give the impression that God is reachable and coming toward the people. The civic build is set facing the church, yet shifted slightly to the side so that the two do not line up – perhaps representing the difference in God’s authority or ways and man’s. The new village was laid out artistically with the streets curving rather than in a grid. Unique to this village is the fact that it was the first whose design was pre-planned as opposed to being built atop or alongside the old. 

Left to Right: Tracy, Greg, Julie, Camille, Me, Annette by the Pienza city wall

Mauro encouraged us that Italians love to talk, so we need to give them the chance to do so. Thus as we wandered the town we attempted to strike up conversation with a few locals. We came across two women sitting on stools overlooking the valley beyond the city wall, one was crocheting what we later learned was to become a table cloth. We took turns asking her simple questions such as, “What are you making?” “How long have you lived here”

Today, among other things, Pienza is known for its delicious cheese. We purchased cheese, meats and wine to enjoy later for our aperitivo at the nearby village of Bagno Vignoni (see photo above). This tiny village, also seated atop a hill with scenic views, has a famous thermal bath in the town center. While the center location is no longer used, there are still hot springs in use close by. It was a windy day and as the sun set, many of us wished to slip into that warm water!

 

Cucina 101

On Saturday Elettra offered a cooking class. Upon our arrival everything was set up and ready to go including all the necessary Italian vocabulary written on the dry erase board seen in the photo below.

Our menu was:

Antipasti: Melanzane (eggplant) alla parmigiana and Ribolitta, a traditional Florentine soup

Preparing the Melanzane alla Parmigiana

Preparing the Ribolitta

Rolling out the Pici

Primo Piatto: 

Pici cacio e pepe, 

Pici is a traditional Senese pasta, similar to a very thick spaghetti, made with flour, water and a little oil. The cooked pici is folded into a sauce of melted Pecorino cheese then seasoned with pepper. Pecorino cheese is a local traditional cheese made from sheep's milk.

Peorino Cheese

We could definitely tell the difference between Elettra's pici and ours.

Cooking the Pici and melting the Pecorino cheese

The end result was a very rotund pici al dente.

Italians serve each dish separately. You will never see a side dish served on the same plate as a main dish. And they never serve bread with pasta. 

Contorno: Insalata di finocchi alla Siciliana.

Italian cuisine, in some ways, is very simple. They do not cook with several different spices and ingredients in the same dish, yet the results are amazingly delicious.

Our final preparation was  Dolce: Panna cotta alle fragole - a light custard-like dessert (cooked cream) covered with fresh crushed strawberries.
Afterward we sat down and enjoyed the meal together. It was buonissimo!

Una Macchina di Fotografia

Siena Italy with the Torre del Mangia

Italians are passionate about many things for example their traditions, opera, soccer, the Palio, food and its presentation, etc. Language is not excluded from this list. Like other romantic languages, Italian has a poetic rhythm where the words almost dance off the tongue. In many cases letters have been changed or added so as not to sacrifice the beauty of the sound for the sake of the structure. I have been told that Italians appreciate when they meet foreigners learning to speak their language.

Siena, Italy with the Duomo in the background

Experience has proven this to be true. When addressing a store attendant in Italian, they almost always respond in English often saying, “Speak English please.” However once it is discovered that you are learning their language, you suddenly find you have an enthusiastic Italian tutor. They typically respond “Brava, la lingua Italiana e` una lingua bellissima” and correct or fine tune any errors in my communication.

A few days ago I purchased a camera. I went into the store and said, “Buon giorno. Vorrei comprare una macchina di fotografia.”  Ten minutes later I walked out of the store, new camera in hand having completed my transaction utilizing more Italian than English.

Il Pranzo Ogni Venerdi`

Il Pranzo Ongi Venerdi` (Lunch Every Friday)

The View Out Our Classroom Window

Our third week of class was a mixture of success and brain failure. As Julie put it “Brain overload… Failure to connect.” While we have had many “light bulb” moments that have pulled together concepts Ugo and Gerri have taught us at home, there are things about the Italian language that just don’t make sense to English speaking students. The Italian language is a very specific, yet at the same time word meanings often change depending on their usage.

Italians don’t ‘get’ anything. In fact they don’t even have the verb “to get” in their language. Italians take coffee and do or make showers. They don’t ‘ride’ anywhere; they go by car, by horse and by bike. Italians never miss a train – they lose it. They don’t wear clothes; they carry them on their body. When a table has food on it, it is a tavola, but remove the food and it becomes a tavalo. Italians don’t like things; things are pleasing to them. When we go – they come… I consider the study of the Italian language to be a form of preventa-tive medicine aka Alzheimer prevention.

Il Primo Pranzo: Leann, Julie Mauro, Annette, Me Sabrina (left to right)

Each school week ends with students and staff coming together for a lunch fatta in casa [homemade meal]. Italians have an expression Che aria di casa. It has to do with the experience of feeling at home. While observing the various conversations taking place around the tavola, combinations of humor and warmth, I thought to myself, “This is part of what the school provides – lingual education, cultural experience and an aria di casa, the experience of family and community thousands of miles from home.”

Julie, Annette, Me, Greg, Tracy, Camille, Sharon, Elletra, Amon, Mauro, Sabrina (left to right)

Il Mercato Fuori

Siena, like many other Italian cities, has a weekly outdoor open market. Items available range from household goods, clothing, jewelry, plants, fresh fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meats – you name it – everything one needs and doesn’t need, aside from health items, can be found there.

Our third day of school we went on our first excursion to Il Mercato Fuori – the outdoor market in Piazza Gramsci. In preparation, our instructor Sabrina gave us several descrip-tions of the market and what we would find.   Following are photos of the food market in Siena as well as a few from Bologna.

Similar to a Farmer's Market in California, every week the vendors set up their produce and wares only to tear them down several hours later. The next day they do the same in a nearby village. A variety of personalities can be found at the market. Both weeks I witnessed one young produce vendor making the most of his routine by picking up un carciofo (artichoke) on a long stem and proceeding to use it as a microphone. He began calling out the the customers words that I unfortunately was not able to interpret but were obviously humorous to the crowd. The next week he was singing into his Carciofo Mike - perhaps once the inspiration for karaoke? 

Street Market in Bologna

Bufalo Mozarella and Other Cheeses

Fish, Fish and More Fish

Another point of interest at the market, especially for the women of elderly years, is I Tre Uomini Belli - the three good looking men at the fish stand. These men, apparently smart entrepreneurs, are very attentive to their customers, helping them with selections, offering suggestions of how to prepare the fish, suggesting recipes, respectful, etc., what Italians might refer to as being molto gentile. As a result the older women flock to their stand to purchase fish.

The Fish Vendors AKA I Uomini Belli

Most of our time was spent in the food section where we purchased food to stock our kitchen. The buffalo mozzarella is amazingly creamy and delicious. We enjoyed Caprese Insalata: sliced fresh tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and a basil leaf. (Confession: I hadn't known that Buffalo mozzarella was made with milk from water buffalo's - not bison)

Crespellano Part 1

According to Ugo, a native of Bologna and also one of our Italian teacher/tutors at home, Bologna e` il centro di tutto il mondo (Bologna is the center of the entire world). In 2011 we traveled with Ugo for four weeks spending two of those weeks in Bologna. During our time there, we had a unique opportunity to experience Italian life and friendship that touched us in ways that I am sure none of us will ever forgot.

I Amici (The Friends): left-right  Giuseppe, Vitorio, Franco, Gianni Badaloni, Gianni il Saggio 

Since 1950 (sixty-five years), Ugo and eight of his childhood friends have remained in close contact. Together they have rented a stone farmhouse located in the countryside twenty minutes from Bologna. There in Crespellano these men have met every Friday for over 40 years to share dinner, conversation and friendship. Just the men; seldom are any of the wives or girlfriends included. But we, three women, have had the honor of being invited out to Crespellano - not just once but three times.

When it was learned that we were returning to Italy, we were again extended an invitation to dinner at Crespellano.  Following a 3 hour train ride to Bologna, Giuseppe met us at our hotel to drive us to Crespellano. (I will tell you about that adventure at a later point.) The quaint two story farmhouse is situated back off the road between farmland and fruit orchards. The men were waiting outside to greet us - giving each of us the traditional Italian embrace. We were soon ushered into the dining room, a large rectangular room resembling a man’s hunting lodge with a long dining table running down the center and a stone fireplace at the far end. A very small kitchen, which I am certain has produced a lot of amazing food over the years, is situated to the left.

Two large frames on the wall hold old black and white photos of them as young boys, grown into young men and now older ones. The strong bond between these men is evident. The recent loss of two is still a tender spot in their hearts.  

Talking with Ugo: Ugo talks with I Suoi Amici every Friday. Before by phone- now on Skype