July 2007 – DEV – The Umbra Institute – Study Abroad in Italy

The end of every Umbra semester culminates in a combination art show and photography exhibit allowing students a chance to showcase their work. This summer, the show took place in the Umbra III building, and exquisite pieces of watercolor, pastel drawing, and black and white photography hung from the walls as students perused their colleagues’ work. Over glasses of wine and finger foods, program participants chatted with one another about their time in Perugia over the summer, and all the memories made.

One student, however, walked out with more than memories in pocket. Chloe Keeney, a student in Martha Wakeman’s Pastel Drawing in Perugia class, had several pieces on display. So impressed by Keeney’s work, a fellow student asked how much she would sell them for; an offer was promptly made, and two of

Keeney’s pastels were carted off. An Umbra staff member shortly followed suit and purchased another drawing. Asked if she’d expected to walk out of the art show a richer woman, Keeney smiled graciously and shook her head. It just goes to show that you never know what can happen on a last day in Italy.

Just a few hours after the art show, students lined up in Piazza Italia to board

the buses that would take them to Rome’s Fiumicino Airport. Amidst a sea of luggage and the occasional unchecked tears, students bade farewell to the city they had come to call home over the last five weeks, and a cluster of newfound Italian friends were there to see them off. At 2 am, the chartered buses whisked students away under a starlit night, across the hill towns of Italy and finally to the gateways of the Eternal City. Whether or not they return to this enchanted land is only up to them.

Another semester over; another adventure begun.

Perugia is known for many things—The Umbra Institute’s innovative study abroad program, for one— but perhaps foremost among them are chocolate and jazz. The city hosts two yearly festivals to celebrate the two, and chocolate lovers herald from the world over to ring in Eurochocolate in October. In July, however, it’s music on display. And the Umbria Jazz Festival brings in the best of the best, as well as a whole host of international visitors that fill the streets with noise and merriment.

Since 1973, Umbria Jazz has brought some of the world’s best jazz musicians to Perugia; past greats have included Van Morrison, James Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis. This year, Gary Peacock and Keith Jarrett made a sensation, and they weren’t the only ones. In addition to the ticketed concerts, free music overflowed from the Giardini Carducci and Piazza IV Novembre every afternoon and evening, and these venues featured the likes of Ellis Hooks, the Good Fellas, Toni Green, and the Ohio State University Band. With a Peroni in hand, festival goers could grab a seat overlooking Perugia’s beautiful panorama of the surrounding Umbrian countryside and tap their feet to a little soulful jazz before dinner. And in the evening hours, Corso Vannucci was packed with all kinds of people and displays and vendors. The city was lit up long after its usual bedtime, with stores and restaurants staying open well into the night. And the streets came culturally alive with a mix of all kinds of languages, as Umbria Jazz draws people from all over the globe.

To those of us who have come to know Perugia as a quiet, off-the-beaten-track Italian secret, Umbria Jazz showed another side to this paradox of a city. For two weeks, the city swelled with rhythm and commotion and rollicking good fun. Now Perugia has a good month or so to simmer down and recuperate before the next grand arrival: Umbra students, Fall 2007. Let the games begin.