Location 
On Friday, March 29th, HSWS 38 Saints, Sinners and Harlots: Medieval Women in Central Italy went to Siena on a day trip. The academic field trip began with a tour of the Duomo di Siena, which included the Piccolomini Library displaying illuminated choir books. In the cathedral, Professor Adrian Hoch showed students works of art they had studied in course lectures and described the history and meaning behind Saint Catherine, the patron saint of Siena. After lunch, students reconvened in the famous Piazza del Campo to begin their tour of the Palazzo Pubblico to see the many intricate frescoes. The group then visited Santa Caterina to see where the saint had lived. The field trip ended in the Basilica di San Domenico to see several more works of art, as well as relics. The Basilica is home to the mummified head and thumb of Saint Catherine so the trip finished with quite the sights!
Category: Umbra Blog
This blog documents the experiences of students currently studying at the Umbra Institute in Perugia, Italy, offering an account of their day-to-day experiences, extra- and co-curricular activities, and special events. We hope you gain some insight into what adventures Umbra students find outside the classroom during their semester in Perugia, a medieval town in the mountains of Umbria. Cheers!
Academic and Non-Academic Internships
Summer Internship
The Umbra Summer Internship launched last year and was a great success. Food Studies Program students interned with Lungarotti, one of the largest Umbrian wineries, to help the company improve its online presence. In Summer 2013, the summer internship will be at Castello Monte Vibiano, another local winery that is certified zero emissions. Umbra began collaborating with Monte Vibiano on a year-long service learning project in September 2012 for the BUFS 380: The Business of Food: Italy and Beyond class. This project will conclude this summer with a student from University of Denver from the Fall 2012 semester returning to intern with them. Her role will be to conduct market research about a possible product launch in the U.S. market. The internship is non-credit bearing, and students receive housing in the historical center of Perugia.
Education: POST Science Museum
Students in the INIT 350: Academic Internship and Seminar – Education are participating in a new service learning project with the POST Science Museum of Perugia, creating educational science videos for elementary school students. These videos will be part of interactive workshops using Smartboard technology and hands-on experiments that incorporate English language learning. Umbra students will lead their video and workshop once they are completed both at the museum and in the classroom. This is an exciting project for both Umbra students and the museum as they work together on this pilot project, creating the very first videos specifically designed for elementary school students.
In this academic internship and seminar, students examine educational psychology, pedagogical models, and English language teaching methods. Students intern with either a local public scientifico or Montessori high school, working closely with English language teachers and Italian students. Depending on the placement and the teachers’ needs, student interns either assist with lesson planning and classroom instruction or design and implement English language workshops with a specific theme such as music or travel. Both the internship and the new service learning project with POST allow students to experience theory discussed in the seminar part of the course.
Urban Engagement
The INIT 350: Academic Internship and Seminar- Urban Engagement course works closely with the Borgo Bello neighborhood association to explore the relationships among culture, history, and people in this unique part of Perugia. The Borgo Bello Association and Umbra students discuss the regeneration of the neighborhood, its main issues, and goals to shape the semester’s projects. Students meet with the association’s president, American ex-pats, museums, theaters, and businesses in the area to gain insight into how new initiatives are shaping the current sentiment with locals and tourists. Past projects have included repainting civic numbers and organizing a photography exhibit, bringing visitors and residents closer to the community.
Service Learning
International Marketing
Students in BSIM 390: International Marketing collaborate each semester with a local Italian business that has developed or would like to develop business relations with the United States. The Spring 2013 students are working with the eco-friendly winery Castello Monte Vibiano. Having toured the facilities and met with the owners, students will analyze and present marketing strategies that utilize social media to increase current and future sales of their zero-emissions wine.
Creative Writing
Students in the CWIT 340: Italian Tales and Stories: Creative Writing Through Literary Models course cooperate with an Umbrian local online newspaper, La Nazione, where they meet with Italian journalists to see their newspaper operations firsthand. Afterwards, students will write and submit articles in English for their website. At the end of the semester, the class will wrap up the semester with a Creative Writing Readings for the Umbra community.
Archaeological Discoveries
The ARAA 320: Archaeological Discoveries: A Passion for Classical Antiquity class is working with the Museo Archeologico Nazionale dell’Umbria to improve the way the museum welcomes international English-speaking visitors. Students will develop a project of their choice that assists the museum in attracting these visitors by researching the museum’s current practices and marketing efforts. The service learning project will help visitors understand the museum within the context of historic and modern Perugia through informative print material.
Recently Professor William Pettit’s Fresco Painting course, ARFP 210, visited several churches to see paintings on site and to inform their study of the increasingly rare technique of fresco. The highlight of their trip was perhaps the Abbey of San Pietro, with a huge selection of internal and external frescoes from the 14th through 16th centuries. The fresco class also visited the church crypt, which contains frescoes that pre-date the founding of the church around the year 1000 CE.
With a young priest as their guide, students took in rare paintings in the sacristy, including a fragment of a Caravaggio canvas. They visited the secret Porta del Paradiso behind the choir to enjoy a view many notable people have enjoyed before them, such as the Queen of England and the Italian poet Carducci, who have left their signatures on the wall.
Like the fresco class’s other field trips, for example to Perugia’s Galleria Nazionale, this church visit was a great opportunity for students to see how painting functions in a space and to learn to recognize different painting media and styles by both sight and touch.
The fresco painting course focuses on design and technique, where students work in groups to create full size wall paintings in the true fresco style, which has remained unchanged for over 2,000 years. The course is a unique opportunity to study the ancient technique. Umbra is one of the few programs in the world to offer such a comprehensive course in fresco painting. Learn more about the Umbra fresco course here.
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.