March 2013 – DEV – The Umbra Institute – Study Abroad in Italy

The Umbra Institute is welcoming three new faculty members. While all three have been collaborating with the Institute for the last year, they will take the reins of one of the Institute’s classes starting next semester.

Dr. Elisa Ascione received her undergraduate and master’s degree at the University of East London, and thereafter her doctorate in anthropology at the University of Perugia. A Perugia native, Ascione will teach the summer course in food history (SOIT 361: Not Just a Meal: The History and Politics of Food in Italy), as well as STFS 330: Sustainability and Food Production in Italy, starting in September 2013. Ascione has also been named the coordinator of the Food Studies Program (FSP) and will work closely with FSP Associate Director Zachary Nowak. Ascione is creating a service learning component for the sustainability course, one which introduces the doggy bag to Italy.

Ray Lorenzo received his MCP (Master of City Planning) from Harvard University and has lived for years in Perugia. He has numerous publications in both English and Italian and has worked most recently with Umbra prof Giampiero Bevagna on the academic internship and seminar that deals with urban engagement (INIT 350: Academic Internship and Seminar).

Dario Parenti received his undergraduate degree in Viticulture and Enology from the University of Florence, after which he worked as an enologist in Italy, Languedoc, and Sonoma. In addition to teaching university courses about wine marketing, Parenti has his own wine export consulting business and has written a book for small wineries looking to export to the United States. He has co-taught the BUFS 380: The Business of Food: Italy and Beyond course and will teach it full-time in September 2013. He will direct the continuing service learning project, helping local winery Castello Monte Vibiano prepare a launch of their eco-wine in the US.

Umbra Institute Professor Giampiero Bevagna will give a lecture entitled “Pompeii through the Ages: Ravage or Rescue?” at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., on Monday.

Bevagna, currently teaching the Archaeology and Roman Civilization courses at Umbra, plans to discuss how the sudden eruption of Vesuvius froze the vibrant, ancient city of Pompeii for 1,500 years until its discovery in the late 16th century, launching various societies’ subsequent censorship, rediscovery, plundering, conservation, and current exhibition of the ruins.

Trinity College Italian History and Culture Professor John Alcorn said the lecture “promises to be a lively talk and discussion” centered on the key question: “Will the remains of Pompeii survive the environmental and economic pressures of the modern world?”

“The idea is to show how the perception of Pompeii has changed over the course of time,” Bevagna added. “There’s a Pompeii for every era, from the city of the Romans to the current tourist destination.”

Pompeii is fresh in the professor’s mind: March 22-24, Bevagna led his Roman Civilization students through the ruins on an Umbra field trip.

A Perugia native, Bevagna has taught courses in Italian history, culture, and archaeology at the Umbra Institute for 11 years.

“It’s great to have faculty visit a prestigious university in the United States,” said Umbra Director of Academic Programs Francesco Burzacca. “We are happy to strengthen our ties with our partners in the U.S. and add to the internationalization of our faculty.”

Umbra UNICEF volunteers have finished their Pigotta dolls! Students committed two hours a week over five weeks designing and sewing their dolls with the help of Italian volunteers. This semester, an ice skater, a scarecrow, Cleopatra, and a ballerina were among the imaginative dolls students created. The last meeting on Tuesday, March 26th began by adding the finishing touches on each Pigotta doll and ended with a small festa to celebrate everyone’s hard work. Students also received certificates acknowledging their participation.

The Pigotta dolls will be displayed at the Umbra Institute from Monday, April 15 to Thursday, April 18 where students will have the opportunity to adopt them for 20 euro. Each doll that is adopted raises enough money to fund a vaccination kit for a child and his/her mother against disease in developing countries.

UNICEF is the leading children’s rights organization helping fight poverty, disease, and discrimination. The Pigotta doll is the symbol of UNICEF in Italy.

Last weekend, Umbra students in the Roman Civilization class embarked upon a trip to Southern Italy to see the

wonders of Pompei, Ercolano, and the Neapolitan area – a cradle of ancient beauties. They left very early on Friday morning, and after a four-hour drive they got to Ercolano to see the ruins of the city, which was completely flooded with lava and volcanic materials back in 79 AD. Professor Giampiero Bevagna managed to intrigue not only students, but even a group of American tourists, who kindly asked if they could join the class for the visit. He made them realize how powerful the eruption must have been, since the city was formerly on the beach – a sort of five-star Caribbean resort – and now it is 6 km away from the ocean.

The second day students visited Pompei ruins, on the other side of the Vesuvius. All of them were struck by the grandness of the dead city: It is a complete city that still hides incredible beauties within the walls. Student Kayla Peterson was disappointed by the absence of the famous plastered dog, currently in an exhibition in Madrid. They all admired the theatre, the House of the Faun, and the Forum incredibly preserved.

Students then visited the National Archeological Museum of Naples, where many “frescoes” from the ruins were taken in the XIXth century, including the notorious “secret cabinet,” where all the images with some erotic reference were hidden due to prurient taboos in the Borboni court when Pompei was first dug up from the ground.

On Sunday, students visited the Piscina Mirabilis, a unique and huge water-tank in the Capo Miseno Peninsula, before taking a look at the Archeological Museum and Archeological Park of Baia. They then rested in the sun on a beautiful beach before taking the bus back to Perugia.

Word of Perugia’s charm has spread: Umbra Institute alumna Stephanie Cavagnaro recently published a travel article about Perugia in Going Global, the blog for a television series for savvy world travelers.

Full of descriptions designed to deliver nostalgic pangs to her fellow alumni and to remind locals of their good fortune, the article walks its readers through a visit to Perugia, from stops at the Etruscan ruins to the best pizza in town ([very] arguably Pizzeria Mediterranea) to an evening swim at Hotel Brufani.

Cavagnaro knows her stuff: She studied at Umbra for a year in 2008-2009. When Going Global requested an article for its “Get Out of Town” section, which features off-the-beaten-path destinations, Cavagnaro instantly thought of Perugia.

“Perugia was the perfect choice, being close to both Rome and Florence,” she explained. “I also decided to write about Perugia because of its rich history, location in one of the most beautiful Italian regions, and the delicious food that I swoon over every time I visit. It is a city I miss dearly.”

After her year at Umbra, Cavagnaro graduated from Northeastern University in 2010 with a B.A. in English literature and Italian. She currently lives in London as a travel and food writer; in addition to Going Global, Cavagnaro contributes to Secret Escapes, Sublime Magazine, and others.

“My time living in Italy and studying at Umbra influenced where I am today significantly,” Cavagnaro said. “While there, I was able to learn about Umbrian culture and cuisine through agriturismo trips, wine-tasting seminars and pizza-making classes. Through these experiences, Perugia was where I first began experiencing the world through travel and food.”

“Luna, trova il tartufo (Luna, find the the truffle)!” called Matteo Bartolini after his dog as she scrambled down the muddy bank.

Picking their way carefully over the uneven ground, Umbra Institute Food Studies Program students followed Bartolini – and the truffle-hunting Luna – as the farmer showed the class around the woods and meadows of his farm, nestled in the Tiber River Valley in northern Umbria, last Friday.

As Luna sniffed out truffle after truffle, Bartolini demonstrated how he used a medieval-looking shovel to carefully dig the fungus from the ground. When Luna found the rare white truffle, she was rewarded with cubes of Parmesan cheese.

“We think of truffles as elite food,” said Bartolini, as he scrubbed a truffle with a toothbrush after the tour. “But it was the hungry farmer who first tried the food on his pasta centuries ago.”

Thirty-six-year-old Bartolini is not only a truffle hunter and farmer but one of Italy’s representatives to the European Union agricultural committee in Brussels. Umbra Institute Professor Zach Nowak deemed Bartolini’s tour ideal for the course he is teaching through the institute’s Food Studies Program (FSP) this spring.

“The field trip was a great opportunity to reinforce themes we’ve talked about in the classroom: foraging for wild foods as an integral part of the Italian diet, as well as the rural economy,” Nowak said after the class enjoyed a four-course meal with dishes like pork cutlets and a rich pasta dish, all cooked with the same truffles found earlier that day.

His students agreed.

“It is interesting to see how the food industry is more than just restaurants and grocery stores but also agriculture,” said Meghan Baraw.

“Watching the dogs dig around for truffles and get excited when they found something was awesome,” added Caitlin Smith. “It was such a hands-on experience: I feel like I got a real piece of Italian culture.”

Nowak’s course, “The History and Politics of Food in Italy,” fulfills the Umbra FSP’s goal to encourage students to think about the basic questions of what we put in our mouths. Where does the food come from? Is it important that it be “local” or “organic?” What do the labels really mean?

These questions are fundamental to life in our globalized world, Nowak explained.

One bus ride later, the students were back at the Umbra Institute.

Monday night, Umbra Fairtrade interns Susanne Khatib, Susanna Kroll, Jessica Guerrero screened “The Dark Side of Chocolate” at ONAOSI, a foundation for Italian students, for an international audience.

Produced in 2010, the documentary film treats of the exploitation and slave trading of African children to harvest cocoa beans.

The interns then led a discussion about the documentary and its significance before passing out samples of Fairtrade chocolate from Monimbò, the local Fairtrade cooperative where the interns volunteer.

“The interns did a great job with the introduction in Italian and the taste testing,” Falk said. “They’re learning a lot.’

Guided by Umbra Professor Giordana Pulcini, the Fairtrade interns in the INIT 350 Academic Internship and Seminar course work with Monimbò to organize a variety of cultural events, rallies, and school-awareness campaigns. Throughout the semester, interns learn about Fairtrade philosophy and products, interact with customers, help other volunteers with bottega operations, and assist with Fairtrade promotion and major seasonal events. Fairtrade promotes “better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world,” according to its website.

Early Friday morning, Umbra students enrolled in Leonardo da Vinci piled into a private bus, ready to travel to Florence and Milan to see the master’s works come to life.

The class met Professor Adrian Hoch in Florence, where students saw works such as “The Annunciation” at the Uffizi and the infamous “da Vinci Code”-like fresco by Giorgio Vasari, which allegedly covers a Leonardo fresco in the Salone dei Cinquecento (Hall of the Five Hundred) in the Palazzo Vecchio.

By early Friday evening, the group was piling off the bus at the hotel in Milan, ready for dinner and a good night’s sleep.

Saturday morning, the class walked through the many security measures at Santa Maria delle Grazie Cathedral to see Leonardo’s “Last Supper,” which was “definitely one for the bucket list,” as one student whispered in the cathedral dining hall-turned-museum.

After a brief turn around the cathedral itself, the group walked to the nearby Castello Sforzesco to see Leonardo’s sculptures and frescoes. The final stops included the Milan duomo and the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, where Leonardo’s original well-known notebooks — written backwards — are housed.

By late Saturday evening, the students were back in Perugia.

From the ancient, mysterious Etruscans to the less-ancient and mysterious Romans, Umbra Professor Giampiero Bevagna and his Archaeology class discovered centuries of these civilizations’ ruins in Rome last weekend.

The (pre-papal conclave) Vatican Museums were the first stop Friday morning. Led by Bevagna, the group spent hours wandering through the seemingly endless rooms of ancient artifacts. Along with providing a timeline for ancient civilization, the Vatican proves a valuable asset as a “museum of museums,” Bevagna explained. Walking room to room, visitors can admire the progression of exhibits; the Vatican Museums are more than 500 years old.

Hours later, the group hopped the metro to the Capitolini Museums, which house more artifacts pertinent to the class and one of the most comprehensive and beautiful views of Rome.

The Archaeology class reconvened Saturday morning to visit Villa Giulia, a beautiful old estate well worth the trek off the beaten path. Built in the mid-1500s by Pope Julius III, Villa Giulia hosts the National Etruscan Museum, full of artifacts that students will use for their final projects, which are to focus on a specific Etruscan item (e.g. mirrors, jewels, weapons).

Students were released in the early afternoon, free to continue to explore Rome or return to Perugia.

Dr. Elisa Ascione, recently named the Coordinator of the Umbra Institute’s Food Studies Program, will be a speaker at an upcoming conference on Perugia’s traditional Easter bread. The conference, which will take place on Thursday, March 21, in the nearby town of Mantignana, and will examine this typical food product from a variety of points of view: anthropological, nutritional, and historical. Dr. Ascione, who received her doctorate from the University of Perugia in anthropology, will present on the “Anthropology of Feast-Day Bread.” The conference is sponsored by the University of Perugia’s “Man and Territory” department, the Region of Umbria, and Slow Food Umbria.