Category: Umbra Blog

This weekend the History and Culture of Food in Italy class embarked on what can only be described as an epic food voyage through Parma, the capital city of Italy’s “food valley,” Emilia-Romagna.

The once-in-a-lifetime culinary adventure began bright and early Friday morning, when our intrepid group of food researchers, led by foodie-in-chief Professor Elisa Ascione, departed from Perugia and headed north to Parma.

First stop? Salumificio La Perla, a family-run producer of world-famous prosciutto, or salted ham. Tour guide and full-time salumificio employee Silvia lead us through the rigorous 24-month salting, drying, and aging process that has been developed and perfected since the time of the Romans. At the end of a series of meticulous temperature adjustments and precise waiting periods, the prosciutto must then be examined by an expert taster who spears the meat with a horse bone in five different locations. The bone’s porous texture allows the scent of the meat to linger only momentarily, during which time the taster will decide if the prosciutto has earned the right to have highly controlled stamp of Parma printed on its surface. The visit was capped off with a homemade, prosciutto-filled lunch to remember!

Friday’s second stop was to the Museum of Prosciutto, where students gained insight into prosciutto’s economic and socio-cultural importance to the Emilia-Romagna region. The butchering of pork and labor- and time-intensive production of prosciutto is more than the creation of a life-sustaining food: it holds a place of utmost importance at the intersections of tradition, regional pride, and social engagement.

Students were then free to enjoy an evening in the lovely city of Parma, with its beautiful architecture and café-lined streets – highly recommended for a daytrip!

Saturday morning once again began early, this time with a trip to the Consorzio Produttori Latte Parma to watch parmigiano reggiano being made.  The process follows artisanal methods, the most important aspects of which are still done by hand.

The group then headed to Acetaia Villa San Donnino, where third-generation balsamic vinegar producer Dario led a crowd-pleasing tasting of his signature products.

Each different variety is made with the same ingredient – grape juice – and aged in a series of barrels of decreasing size to concentrate the flavor. Students sampled white balsamic vinegar, as well as three different types of traditional balsamic aged six, twelve, and over twenty-five years. The tasting ended with the unconventional but delicious pairing of balsamic vinegar and vanilla ice cream!

Professor Ascione summed up the importance of the trip thusly: “Students have the chance to link products with the specificities of the territories where they are manufactured. They can see all aspect of the production: they trace historical continuities with the past and understand contemporary changes in techniques and values attached to these products. Visiting  a place like the Prosciutto Museum after the prosciutto factory, for example, allows students to understand the changing culture and knowledge attached to butchering and preservation of cured meats though the centuries.” Tasty and educational! Buon appetito!

This semester Umbra Italian Professor Giuliano Agamennoni took it upon himself to organize Umbra’s first-ever soccer team! The team met every Sunday afternoon, leaving the students plenty of time for studying and travelling the rest of the week.

 Professor Agamennoni noted that, “We know many Americans love soccer and play in the States, so we wanted to give them the opportunity to continue to play here in Italy – especially as it is the country’s most popular sport!”

“The first meeting had only six students, but by the final match there were 15 – not including the large group of spectators cheering on their classmates! This is the principle object of the project: to spend time together, have fun, and play a little soccer.”

What does the future hold for Umbra Soccer? Hopefully, within-Umbra tournaments amongst three or more teams, as well as a match against our sister school, ISI Florence, to experience, as Professor Agamennoni puts it, “the joy of competition!”

Umbra’s Intercultural Marketing course provides students with the theory behind business and marketing practices in international companies. This semester, Umbra is continuing its collaboration with Pashmere, a family-run luxury cashmere company.

Last week, the students visited Pashmere’s offices just outside the center of Perugia. They were treated to a tour of the facilities with two third-generation members of the Pashmere family. The company’s reach really impressed the students – pictures of multiple Italian movie stars decked out in Pashmere products lined the walls!

After the tour, the group listened to Umbra intern Ashley Webb’s presentation about her work to expand Pashmere’s presence over multiple social media platforms; this initiative stems from last semester’s intercultural marketing student projects. Over the next several weeks, current students will work in groups to present Pashmere representatives with their own suggestions for the company. Presentation topics will include social media, product development, and the Asian market. This partnership gives students a real-world example of the efforts and challenges behind running an internationally-minded family business.

Last weekend, the students in Professor Simon Young’s HSIT350: The History and Culture of Food course went on an exciting truffle-hunting field trip to Matteo Bartolini’s agriturismo and truffle school, Ca’ Solare, near Citta di Castello.

Matteo gave an informative presentation on truffles, or tartufi, tubers which grow underground in a symbiotic relationship with oak, poplar, and willow trees.  He explained that truffle-hunting is a tradition in Italy; couples and families will often go truffle-hunting with a dog on Sundays.  Although there are about one hundred variations of truffles, Matteo cultivates the five most famous ones, of both white and black variations.  Each has a different season and price, fetching from $100 to over $1000 euros per kilo. Matteo has worked with the University of Perugia’s agronomy school to develop the ultimate conditions for cultivating truffles in his newly planted oak grove, and he encourages wild propagation by gathering them sustainably in his land’s forest. 

After the lecture, the class was introduced to his truffle-trained, well-behaved, and almost-blind dog Sole (nicknamed The Professor). Together, they ventured into the forest to hunt for truffles. Unfortunately, in Italy, hunting does not recognize private property – and that includes truffle-hunting. Early that same morning, Matteo’s land had been poached by two truffle-hunters and their dogs who had refused to leave when asked nicely.  In this competitive life-style, hunters often destroy the possibility for future truffles to generate by leaving uncovered holes, and they sometimes even attempt to poison other truffle dogs. The class took this opportunity to learn the realities of the truffle-hunting lifestyle.

A truffle grows underground for months, and when the mysterious conditions are exactly right, it can ripen instantly. Sole, with his supernatural powers of smell, managed to find the only remaining, pea-sized ripe truffles underground.

Student Michael Madigan commented that “watching the chemistry between Sole and Matteo was an experience in of itself,” and that “it was amazing how small some of these truffles were that Sole was able to find.” He now understands “why, aside from the taste, the prices are so astronomical for many truffles: lots of work goes into finding small amounts of truffles.”

After the hunt, students were instructed on how to store and prepare truffles, and then they got to taste them. For lunch at Ca’ Solare, the group was served a delicious, homemade meal, which of course included Matteo and Sole’s hand-collected truffles.

For the seventh year in a row, the Umbra Institute has collaborated with UNICEF Perugia to complete the “Progetto Pigotta,” or “Rag Doll Project”. Umbra student volunteers, both Italian and American, have worked for the past several weeks to create unique, hand-made rag dolls with the help of Università degli Studi di Perugia students and UNICEF volunteers.

Started in Lombardy, Italy in 1988 by Boston native and UNICEF volunteer Jo Garceau, the project was conceived as a way of raising money for basic medical supplies for mothers and their children around the world.

Each doll has been made with love as well as imagination, and as a result each one has a lot of character! This year’s finished products include a ballerina, a clown (complete with a set of shiny gold boots!), a Scottish Highland lass, and many more. If you’d like to “adopt” a Pigotta for 20 euro, they can be found downstairs at Umbra 1. The proceeds from each adoption provide a vaccine kit for an expectant or new mother and her child, including essentials such as the polio vaccine, to give both a better start in life.

This past Tuesday Umbra’s UNICEF volunteers celebrated the semester’s hard work with a party starring some amazing torta di pasqua (cheesy Easter bread) and homemade desserts. Maria Luisa Blasi, Coordinator of the Pigotta Project in Perugia, had the final word, thanking the volunteers for their time and reiterating the project’s importance: “What we do here may be just a drop in the ocean, but without this drop, the ocean would miss it.”

To learn more about Umbra’s Community Engagement opportunities, click here.