November 2012 – DEV – The Umbra Institute – Study Abroad in Italy

During the afternoon on Thanksgiving, the Urban Engagement class worked up an appetite by helping the Borgo Bello Neighborhood Association clean street numbers along Corso Cavour. Alongside Italian volunteers, students took turns climbing the small ladder to scrape the numbered stones clean before applying soap and paint. The Borgo Bello Neighborhood Association taught them how to properly use the tools and the techniques needed to keep from scratching the stones.

Umbra Urban Engagement_ Painting — Emily Martin paints house numbers on Corso Cavour.

The Borgo Bello Neighborhood Association and Umbra students had met before to discuss the regeneration of the neighborhood and the problems and opportunities in such an undertaking. Helping to paint the house numbers brought students even closer to the community and their time volunteered to improving the appearance of Corso Cavour was much appreciated. Even mayor Nilo Arcudi came to thank them!

This Urban Engagement Academic Seminar is led by Professor Giampiero Bevagna and urban planner Raymond Lorenzo. In this course, students focus on urban planning and exploration to understand the relationships between people, places, and values.

While their friends and family ate turkey back home, the Umbra History and Culture of Food course students celebrated Thanksgiving weekend by eating prosciutto and parmigiano reggiano in the celebrated food capital of Parma, Italy.

“Going to Parma during Thanksgiving

weekend made me forget about being away from my family and home,” said Lauren Cudney of the University of Denver. “And what else could you want during Thanksgiving but food galore?”

Through hands-on tours of family owned factories and cooperatives, the Food Studies students learned about the traditional and complex processes involved in creating some of Italy’s most famed food products.

“This trip was the ultimate foodie experience,” said DePauw University student Madeline Vering. “It’s one thing to hear abou the production of food, but it’s really incredible to see it in action!”

The trip was not complete without a tasting at each of the factories. Students could finally put into practice the curriculum from the classroom and the information they learned on the tours and actually experience the food. The favorite part of the trip was tasting aged parmigiano reggiano and the unfamiliar but decadent treat of balsamic vinegar on top of vanilla ice cream.

“Like the other co-curricular trips, the goal was to learn about the production of these important food products but with a historical-cultural context,” said Food Studies Program Director Zachary Nowak, adding: “And it doesn’t hurt to try some great cheese, prosciutto, and vinegar!”

For more information about the Umbra Institute or its Food Studies Program, contact Nowak. You may also watch a short overview of the program on YouTube.

Editor’s note: This story is by University of Denver student Marisa Pooley, a Food Studies Program student.

“Look — they are really experiencing it,” said Umbra Art History Professor Adrian Hoch, surveying her “Leonardo da Vinci” students’ reaction to the Renaissance artist’s celebrated “The Last Supper.”

“What do you think?” she asked as the group filed out of the Convent of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan. “Worth the wait?”

The students agreed wholeheartedly – as they do every year without fail, Hoch reported.

Over the last two weekends, the art history professor has led two field trips for her courses. After months of lectures accompanying PowerPoint pictures, the students saw the artists’ original work.

“Any photographic image does not relay the sense of the object,” Hoch explained. “On field trips, students get a sense of it in the context – how it was meant to be seen. They also get a sense of the historical context in which the work was created.”

Nov. 9-10, “Leonardo da Vinci” traveled to Florence and Milan. In Florence, students wandered through the Uffizi and the Palazzo Vecchio, pausing only for a quick caffé before hitting the road for Milan. The next morning, the group reconvened to visit “The Last Supper,” walk through the church of Santa Maria Novella delle Grazie, marvel at da Vinci’s larger-than-life murals – along with original full knights’ armor – in the Castello Sforzesca, gaze at the grand Duomo, and read original pieces from da Vinci’s notebooks (written backwards) at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana.

Last weekend, “Survey of Renaissance Art” embarked on an art history odyssey through Florence. Friday, the class also walked through the Uffizi before visiting Santa Croce, Santa Felicita, and Santo Spirito. Saturday, they wondered at the Cappella Brancacci, walked through Santa Maria Novella (more than just a train station!), and Bargello. They waved to the David at the Accademia before visiting the Florence Cathedral Museum, a recently-reopened site that Hoch had wanted to show students for the last 20 years it was under construction. One train ride later, the students were back in Perugia.

This semester, two students in the Contemporary Italy: Culture, Society, and Trends course are participating in the Famiglia Italiana Project. Annie Bodian and Taylor Speranza meet with a local family once a week to participate in their daily life, go on cultural outings, and get a taste of Italian family life.

“This experience goes alongside my sociology classes at Wake Forest and now I can see parallels in my Contemporary Italy class,” said Taylor.

As an Italian Studies major at Brandeis, Annie agreed, “It definitely puts everything into real context; it also gives us a little aspect of a homestay because we get to be in a real Italian home.”

La-Famiglia-Italiana_-Making-Pasta — Annie Bodian and Taylor Speranza learned how to make pasta during their experience in the Famiglia Italiana project.

Annie and Taylor have made fresh pasta with Francesca and her 6-year-old daughter Elena (“I didn’t realize how much work went into it!” said Taylor) and recently went to a “Christmas House.” They both agreed that the Famiglia Italiana Project has given them a taste of normal life beyond being a student living in the historic center of Perugia.

Their Italian skills have also improved:

“I love this experience because I’m also a Teacher Education minor and am hoping to teach at an international school so speaking with Elena is great. It’s good exercise in slowing down when I speak and in translating. We’ve found a good balance between English and Italian,” Annie explained.

Taylor added, “I came to Italy as a beginner and I pick up on a lot of what they say. It has given me more opportunity to speak Italian and Francesca can help me if I have questions. I am also remembering more in class when I use new skills.”

La-Famiglia-Italiana_-At-the-Christmas-House — Annie and Taylor pose with Elena at the Christmas House during an outing in Perugia.

Through this experience, Taylor and Annie have gained unique insights into Italian culture and everyday life. Taylor has noticed that while there are small differences, she has found many of the same values in both Italian and American family life. Annie agreed, saying, “Their home life and parent-child dynamic is surprisingly similar to the US and there are little differences, but one of the things I love the most is getting to spend time with a family in their home.”

Everyone is familiar with the image of a connoisseur pushing wine around in his or her mouth and describing the quality and the “notes” of this and that in it. Umbra Institute students learned to do the same last week during a workshop dedicated to Umbria’s “liquid gold.” The workshop, part of Umbra’s Food Studies Program, was led by Maurizio Cozzi, a local food expert.

Maurizio first talked about the history of olive oil, and how in the past the farmers were more interested in producing more oil, not better oil.

“Don’t think that everything in the past was better. When I asked my father how the oil was, he would reply, ‘Good. 20 liters per 100kg.'” It was quantity, not quality that a poor farmer looked for. Nowadays excellent quality olive oil is available to everyone, but Maurizio explained that you need to know how to find it.

“Price and place of origin are the signals we most often look for,” he said. “But excellent olive oil can be had for €4-5, and awful oils are made in Tuscany.” Maurizio showed the assembled students how to suck just a little bit of oil into their mouths and wait for the burn to die down. “See, you don’t need years of experience, you’re ready to find good oil tomorrow,” he said.

The workshop is in a series that acquaint students with Italian food culture. The next workshop is about cheese.

On Tuesday, November 13th, Pizza & Musica hosted Umbra’s Pizza-Making Workshop. Ten students listened intently to the history behind Italy’s famous dish before crowding around the pizzaiolo to learn the art of the perfect pizza. First, students spread the dough into a circle by spinning it right to left on the table while simultaneously spreading their fingers. Once the dough was in the correct form, circular and thin with a bit of a crust, they spread one spoonful of red sauce and sprinkled a small handful of mozzarella di buffalo on top. There were numerous toppings to choose from so every pizza was personalized!

Katrina Cicerello and Brittany Anthony putting toppings on their pizzas.

The next part was a little more difficult: getting the uncooked pizza into the oven using a pala. Pala means shovel in Italian and is a long-handled tool with a wide surface at the end to scoop up the pizza. Swift movements were key and many students made the transfer without a hitch! The pizzaiolo then taught students how to rotate the pizza while in the oven using a paletta (a similar tool with a smaller circular surface at the end). In a wood-fired oven, pizzas only take 3 to 4 minutes to cook so students had their personal pizzas in no time.

New culinary skills, delicious pizza, and good conversation with friends made for a fun and successful evening!

On Friday, November 2^nd and Saturday, November 3^rd, the Roman Empire class trekked through Rome to see first-hand the monuments, forums, and geography of their class material. The first activity was a walk that followed the same path as the ancient Triumphus tour, a celebratory parade through ancient Rome to display the spoils of victory and military heroes. Next on the agenda was a tour through the Capitolini Museums.

“This way, students can see the real monuments and the real places where everything we say in class actually occurred, so they can use their imagination to make those places living back into the Roman times,” explained the course professor, Giampiero Bevagna.

Saturday began with a tour of the Roman Forums. Professor Bevagna led students through the ancient public spaces, explained their importance, the history behind them, and the emperors they were associated with.

Seeing the forums enhanced the material students are learning in class. “We were able to apply knowledge from the classroom to a real world setting,” said Max Richards.

Charles Hancock added, “It put a location to our studies – it made everything tangible and relatable.”

The field trip ended with a tour inside the Colosseum. For a final project in Roman Civilization, students will each focus on a different Roman emperor; now, they will have the images of ancient Rome in their minds to bring these figures to life. All in all, a great start to the weekend!

While their Italian neighbors slept peacefully in their beds, Umbra Institute students — many of whom are first-time voters — spent the early hours of the morning glued to classroom seats, watching the 2012 presidential election unfold.

From 2 a.m. onward, students, staff, and faculty members vacillated between triumph and despair as swing states flopped every quarter hour. Composed of constituents from Mississippi to Massachusetts, the bipartisan group remained amicable.

“I thought it’d be more tense,” admitted Annie Bodian around 3:30 a.m. “But it’s been fine – it’s been fun! Because we’re the only people here watching the election, we’re able to be just excited about watching this together here (in Italy). We don’t have to focus on these differences.”

Umbra staff members were pleased with the turnout of the event; approximately 30 students attended throughout the morning.

“It brings students together during an exciting time – we can feel more connected to what is going on in the U.S. and also to each other as Americans living abroad,” said Umbra intern Julia Bourque, who drew on her own experience as a study abroad student in France during the 2008 presidential election when she was organizing today’s event. “I think it’s important for students to feel like they are a part of the elections, and doing a red-eye event is a fun way to watch the news – especially with a B.Y.O. Breakfast!”

The students enjoyed nutella on toast, makeshift jam sandwiches, and a variety of cookies; around 4 a.m., they flocked to the in-school espresso machine.

By 5:30 a.m., CNN projected President Barack Obama’s reelection. Students sang along to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” as they left the building, happy to have participated in their first national election.

“There’s an old peasant proverb: ‘Leave the land a little better than you found it,’” said Stefano Cantelmo, head engineer for Montevibiano Vecchio Winery in Italy.

Standing 20 feet below ground level, Umbra Institute students listened carefully to Cantelmo as he leaned on one of the 85 oak barrels full of new wine. The students visited the winery on Friday during a field trip for the Business of Food in Italy course, which focuses on the differences in production, distribution, and consumption in the Italian food sector.

After showing the students the barrels in the winery’s cantina, Cantelmo described his work.

“I designed the sustainability project for the winery,” he explained. “We use both high-tech (e.g., solar cells and biodiesel) and low-tech (passive cooling and roofs painted white) to reduce our carbon footprint. And in 2010, we were certified zero emissions.”

Montevibiano has since won a Slow Food award for sustainable winemaking and an award for wine quality – a great combination for a winery, according to CEO Lorenzo Fasola Bologna.

“We started the project because zero emissions was the right thing to do for the environment, and it was the right thing for the winery in terms of visibility,” he explained after offering the students a ride on the solar-powered golf carts to see the wineries’ vines.

Bologna and Cantelmo are interested in the possibility of selling the eco-friendly wine in the U.S. market.

After Friday’s field trip, the Umbra students — many of whom are in the Umbra Institute’s Food Studies Program — will create two proposals for the Montevibiano Winery and two concepts for marketing the “green” wine in the U.S.

“‘Green’ isn’t the typical color you think of when you think wine, but we think it’s an even more important color than red or white, in the long run,” Nowak joked. “Montevibiano’s wine is the perfect marriage of tradition — their castle is over 1000 years old — and innovation. The students’ proposals will be focused on how to make eco-wine popular in the U.S., to promote responsible consumption that helps the earth.

His students said the field trip complemented both their course and semester at the Umbra Institute.

“It was crucial to our business class,” Madeline Vering said. “It really connects schoolwork to practical, real-life experience.”

“Today was a great addition to the overall experience of my study abroad program,” agreed Ivan Krayniy. “The drive to the vineyard, the golf cart drive, the tour of the production facility, and finally the tasting gave me a great idea of the business and culture of wine in Umbria.”

The center streets of Perugia are vibrant with crowds of Perugini and tourists alike perusing the dozens of stands selling everything from gilded candlesticks to Slovakian sausages for the Fiera dei Morti, a five-day Italian celebration akin to the Day of the Dead.

Piazza Italia is dedicated to tents for Perugia’s sister cities, which include Aix-en-Provence, France; Bratislava, Slovakia; Potsdam, Germany; Tubingen, Germany; Seattle, Wash.; and Grand Rapids, Mich.

Selling Michigan’s finest dried cranberries and caramel popcorn to curious Italians, Umbra alumna Anna Marotti was in the middle of the commotion. Marotti was first involved with Perugia’s sister city partnerships during her semester at Umbra in spring 2009, when she participated in an internship with the Comune. When she returned home, Marotti joined the committee of Grand Rapids Sister Cities International, an organization dedicated to maintaining relationships with international sister cities. Recognizing Marotti’s background in Italian and international marketing, GRSCI flew her to Perugia as a representative.

Marotti holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations and economics from Grand Valley State, where she is currently pursuing a master’s degree in teaching English as a second language. GVS offers scholarships for students to study in Perugia and educational exchanges for Italian and American students; in fact, three Perugini are studying at GVS this semester, and three GVS students are studying at the University of Perugia.

Surveying one of her old classrooms at Umbra, Marotti said her time at the institute led her to where she is today.

“Umbra offered me so many opportunities,” Marotti said. “I polished my Italian – which I’ve been able to teach to kids in my town – and I took a marketing class that ended up changing my entire major. It was great.”

The Grand Rapids booth was sold out of its goods by early Friday afternoon. All the money the booth earned will be allocated to scholarships and exchanges between Grand Rapids and Perugia. Her time in Perugia suddenly freed, Marotti has the opportunity to explore her old haunts and spend time with friends until she returns to Michigan on Wednesday.

While the center is bustling, Marotti is following the crowds of Italians to Pian di Massiano, the minimetro’s last stop and the location of the majority of the Fiera dei Morti festivities. A variety of food (think: county fair), amusement rides (!), and stands (hello, holiday shopping) will take over the area through Nov. 5.