Month: September 2006

This past Friday the ever-intrepid Umbra Professor Cynthia Clough led a group of students on a mountain ramble. Clough, who teaches Creative Writing at the Umbra, is an accomplished hiker and decided that the weather was perfect for a hike up Monte Luco. The students met up with Clough at the Spoleto train station and from there they hiked up the street to the town of Spoleto. This main street is called the “Rubber Road” by the inhabitants of Spoleto because of the rubber traction on it (Spoleto is on a step hill). Up, up, up they went to the Rocca, Spoleto’s imposing fortress, and then on to the summit of Monte Luco, where the group had a marathon three-hour lunch at the hilltop Ristorante Ferretti. Ferreti’s specialty is ravioli filled with porcini mushrooms in a lemon sauce. The group also indulged in a few bottles of Montefalco wine and a classic Spoleto dessert, crescionda (made from almond and chocolate dessert). Students later laughingly commented that despite the heavy lunch, the walk down was much easier than the five kilometer climb.

In Photo: Student hikers posing in front of Spoleto’s Rocca.

The first of a series of Umbra Optional Trips took place last weekend. Forty-five students experienced southern Italy for three days as they toured the ancient city of Pompeii, walked the winding streets of Sorrento, gazed at aqua-blue and green waters surrounding Capri and sampled pizza in it’s birthplace in the center of Naples.

The weather was perfect from the second they stepped off the bus in Pompeii. On Capri many students rented boats for private tours of the island including a dip in one of the many hidden grottoes. The weekend was topped of by a tour of the Sorrentia Penninsula and guided tour of the historical center of Naples. For lunch, many dined at Pizzeria Brandi, where the Margherita pizza was born.

In photo: Colleen O’Brien, Lauren Walker, Jana Heffernan, Dane Marini and Liz Palka enjoy a breathtaking view from the very top of Anacapri.

Few Americans have ever had the experience of slipping into hot springs, water heated naturally by underground geological activity…but Umbra students did just that this weekend. Under a fall moon the group set out on a bus with staff members Dave Dickson and Zach Nowak. The first stop was a surprise dinner at “La Cantina,” a classic Umbrian restaurant in the center of medieval Castiglione del Lago, which sits on a hill high over Lago di Trasimeno. After an “antipasto misto” of cheese and Umbrian salami, the students had “picci all’aglione,” a hearty, garlic-laced pasta dish with handmade pasta. After a fruit dessert, the students reboarded the bus and continued on to the hot springs of San Casciano dei Bagni, out in the middle of a field in the Tuscan hills near the medieval city of Città della Pieve. The delighted students soaked in the hot sulphur springs under the stars until midnight, when they had to board the bus and return to Perugia.

But the weekend fun and Italian experiences didn’t stop there, because Nowak and Dickson take care of a small vineyard in the center of Perugia, tucked between arches of an old fortress in the Porta Sola neighborhood. The two staffers invited the students to come the next day for the grape harvest, and many did. Nowak, Dickson, their European friends, and Umbra students picked grapes and stomped them before loading the bags into a refurbished press. All this hard work was rewarded with the white wine from 2005, brought out at the end of the day (along with delcious salsicce, Umbrian sausages) for a barbecue in the vineyard. Also in attendance were staff members Mauro Renna and director of the Italian Program at Umbra, Dottor Francesco Gardenghi. A good time was had by all!

As part of a rich cultural activities series, the first of a number of Umbra Cooking Classes began last night. Professional chef and part-time resident of Perugia, Christine Hickman, walked the students through a recipe for traditional Italian gnocchi (potato dumplings). Hickman has been teaching cooking courses for close to 15 years and her expertise is warmly welcomed by Umbra students.

Students first prepare the gnocchi and the fresh tomato and basil sauce themselves and then sit down to enjoy their savory creation.

Along with offering the class some of her delicious homemade oatmeal cookies for dessert, Hickman also supplies the students with the Italian recipes and helpful cooking tips she has acquired up over the years. Hickman will lead more cooking classes throughout the semester before returning to Santa Fe, New Mexico for the winter where she’ll continue working on her new cookbook dedicated entirely to the many varieties of gnocchi. Buon appetito!

In photos: Sarah Chadwick from Baldwin Wallace College; and Caroline Cuddihy and Adriana Quiros look on as Christine Hickman demonstrates.

One of the best parts of studying abroad in Italy is the food. Students enjoy grabbing a piping hot cornetto to go with their creamy cappuccino on the way to class at their favorite café almost as much as topping off the perfect Italian meal with Tiramisu. Although the world famous Italian food spoils students and their taste buds, sometimes a taste of home is a welcome variation.

Umbra’s Photography Professor Philippa Stannard has decided to take this matter in her own hands by starting up www.sweetperugia.com. Friends and family can order their loved one’s favorite goodies online at where Ms. Stannard offers an array of homemade American favorites like cookies, brownies and classic Apple Pie. She’ll even deliver directly to your students’ apartment. Apart from baking her own tasty recipes, Philippa also accepts other recipes, for a more personalized surprise. For example, during the Thanksgiving holidays families might want to contribute to their student’s Thanksgiving dinner away from home by sending Philippa a favorite family recipe of Pumpkin Pie. Of course ingredients can be limited in Italy, so the recipes must be approved ahead of time.

Philippa says that her idea to start this new venture is due to the fact that over her semesters teaching at Umbra, she has seen one too many hopeful students open their surprise birthday packages and find remnants of what used to be cookies. While these packages are received with joy and gratefulness (and sometimes great envy by fellow classmates) it seems that there could be an easier way to enjoy American classics, like a simple chocolate chip cookie. Now, thanks to Philippa, there is.

Despite a trans-Atlantic flight just two days before, the nearly two hundred new Umbra Institute students were wide awake at the Institute’s Orientation yesterday. Orientation was held in the prestigious Sala dei Notari, the main room of Perugia’s town hall. Umbra’s new Director of Academic Affairs, Dr. Carol Clark, gave the opening presentation and welcome to the students and was well-received. After staff introductions and some instructions and advice for a fun and productive semester, all the students gathered on the steps of Perugia’s cathedral for the traditional class photo. Then, as if on cue, a rally of Fiat 500’s (Italy’s equivalent of the Model T) passed by, giving the Orientation a colorful finish.

The Umbra students hail from all over the United States and come from colleges and universities of all sizes, including students from Roanoke, Richmond, Lebanon Valley College, the University of Connecticut, and Arcadia.

The students will begin their immersion in both their classes and the Italian experience, Monday September 4^th. Integration in Italian and Perugian culture is easy with Umbra, which facilitates it with a variety of programs: the TANDEM language exchange program with local students, weekend excursions, cooking classes, historical walking tours, sports, art shows, and much more. We wish tanti auguri to all of our new students, who have just become temporary citizens of Perugia.