Location 
Last night students from the Fresco Painting, Pastel, and Photography courses unveiled their works from the summer semester to the Umbra community. As always, visitors were blown away to discover what talent lies in the halls of the Umbra Institute! From top left, works from the pastel class, students Ashley Hall and Jenifer Miller-Dickey with Professor Martha Wakeman, and Alexandra Sedor and Amanda Romano pose by their newly completed fresco.
Month: June 2009
Wednesday evening Umbra students met up with Italian students from the local universities for an hour of casual language practice and cultural exchange.
Tandem was hosted this week at La Terrazza, an open air lounge above the mercato aperto in the center of Perugia, with live music and a breathtaking panorama view across the hills towards Asssisi. Students chatted about Italian and American stereotypes as well as the topic on everyone’s mind as the weather turns warm — plans for summer vacation!
Tandem will be taking a pausa for July and August… ci vediamo a Settembre!
Creative Writing professor Cynthia Clough and her class took the ferry across Lago Trasimeno to Isola Maggiore last week to find inspiration in writing. The weather could not have been better, and the class enjoyed hiking, dining, and working on writing exercises to extract some of their most creative ideas.
Isola Maggiore is a small island on Lake Trasimeno and a tiny fishing village with houses dating back to the 
14th and the 16th centuries. It is the home of only 15 permanent residents, and gauging from the black and white postcards everywhere it’s clear that little has changed on the island’s single street. Visitors can find not only stunning views, but a healthy array of flora and fauna.
The islands main attractions are the church of San Michele Arcangelo that stands at the top of the hill. It is from the 12th century and has fine Umbrian school paintings from the late 13th century to the 15th century. There is also Guglielmi castle, built in 1885. It was built on the site previously occupied by the 1328 convent and church of St Francis. Oddly, the islanders specialize in making Irish lace. The technique was introduced in 1904 by the Marchesa Elena Guglielmi, when she imported an Irish housekeeper to the island.
Foligno, in the heart of Umbria and Italy, is famous worldwide for the Quintana, the jousting tournament which in June and September renews the challenge among the knights of its ten wards. It is a great feast of people, colors and passions, but also an accurate historical, scenic, iconographic and gastronomic reconstruction of the Italian Baroque. The historical center of Foligno is traditionally divided into ten rioni (wards).
The festival’s main events take place in the piazza, however, it is in the taverns were you will find the real action. The Taverns are the heart of the wards and where people meet and taste Umbrian dishes, an occasion which brings back the atmosphere of the spectacular banquets typical of the Baroque period. The food served in the taverns by characters in costumes is prepared following the 17th century recipes. From the architectonic point of view the taverns are very interesting because they are located in the cellars or other parts of the old palaces
The Giostra della Quintana is a knight ring jousting tournament based on a historical event. The definition of Quintana comes from the 5th road of the Roman military camps, where the soldiers were trained to the lance fighting. They run against a dummy-soldier, trying to catch a ring hanging from an arm of the dummy. Here the origin of the tournament’s name, but the first definition and documented “Quintana” as a knights’ jousting tournament during a festival, dates back to 1448. Since then, in Foligno, the “Quintana” has been held uninterruptedly every year. The knights are 10, each representing a quarter of the Town. Rushing at gallop, they have to catch 3 rings having smaller size at each tournament. The rings are hanging from a rotating statue represent Mars the Roman god of war. A number of happenings involve the whole town and a parade of 800 persons dressed in original-like precious dresses walk in the town the day before the joust takes place.
