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!
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.
After 10 days of vacation, Umbra students and staff gathered Tuesday evening at Lunabar Ferrari to eat, drink, and be merry for the Welcome Back Aperitivo.
From Madrid to Morocco, students’ spring break destinations varied. The majority of students, however, reported visiting Paris and Barcelona.
Spring break marked the middle of the semester. This, combined with vacation’s extra adventures and expenses, inspired many students to focus the majority of their impending weekend plans in Perugia and the surrounding area.
Students in the INIT 350: Academic Internship and Seminar – Education visited the POST Science Museum of Perugia to continue their video project on Tuesday afternoon. The class is creating two videos for POST’s Smartboard technology that will illustrate a particular subject in science for elementary school children who visit the museum. The videos will be part of interactive workshops, including hands-on activities and experiments, and will also introduce English vocabulary. After the videos are completed, students will lead the workshop.
During this week’s visit, students began the video storyboards with the guidance of museum staff. This is an exciting project for both Umbra students and the museum as they work together to create the first videos specifically for elementary school students. The videos will be used at POST and in elementary school classrooms.
Students in INIT 350: Academic Internship and Seminar – Education also intern with a local scientific high school and a Montessori high school as English teaching assistants.
Paris and Barcelona are the most popular destinations for this semester’s spring break.
At 5 p.m., the last of the mid-term exams will be handed in, and spring break will officially start for all General Studies students. Look out, Europe: You’re about to get a taste of our temporary Perugini.
Don’t forget to fill out an independent travel form either online or at the front desk!
Direct Enrollment students will stick around Perugia; the University for Foreigners and the University of Perugia are on the Italian system. Umbra will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. next week (Monday through Friday).
Students will be back in the classroom Monday, March 4.
Buona vacanza from the Umbra staff!
Students enjoying milk and cookies in the Umbra Library.
Mid-term exams are well under way at the Umbra Institute! Students have been busy this week balancing studying, taking exams, and packing for Spring Vacation.
On Tuesday evening, Umbra providing a tasty study break by providing milk and cookies in the Library. Students enjoyed the diversion, coming back for seconds and thirds, before hitting the books again.
How did Corso Vannucci get its name?
When he wasn’t decorating the walls of the Sistine Chapel, Pietro Vannucci — better known as the Renaissance painter Perugino — spent his time in Perugia.
Perugino was born in Citta’ della Pieve, a small Umbrian town about an hour’s drive from Perugia.
Read more about the city and Perugino’s life here.
“Sono Dario Cecchini, e ho 250 anni (I’m Dario Cecchini, and I’m 250 years old),” joked Dario Cecchini, whom the LA Times calls “the most famous butcher in the world.”
Students pose after a hike through the Tuscan foothills during a field trip Saturday.
Umbra’s Sustainability students visited Cecchini’s butcher shop in Panzano in Chianti, a small Tuscan town, on a field trip Saturday afternoon. After a hike through the foothills, students learned about real-life sustainability while they ate a meal composed of parts from an entire cow.
“The field trip was a great opportunity to reinforce themes we’ve talked about in the classroom,” said Professor Zach Nowak, the Food Studies Program director. “Local food will not always have the least embodied energy, meat can be ‘green’ if it’s grass-fed, and tradition should help us with current problems, not shackle us to an idealized past.”
Cecchini provided a real-world example of Nowak’s lessons, though he does not fit the stereotype of a small-town Tuscan butcher. Sporting spiked hair, a bandana, and crocks, he is just as likely to play AC/DC or Led Zeppelin on his stereo as Vivaldi.
Dressed in white and red (right), world-famous butcher Dario Cecchini poses with Umbra’s Sustainability class outside his shop and restaurant.
Using a modern take on yesterday’s traditions, Cecchini’s philosophy focuses on “the whole cow approach.”
“My father was a butcher, but I never had a steak until I was 18,” Cecchini explained. “We ate what was left over from the butcher shop, and my parents used peasant recipes to turn these cuts into tasty dishes, instead of throwing them away like most butchers do now. The whole cow menu: That’s conservation, that’s sustainability, that’s delicious, and that’s what we need to do.”
Cecchini’s comments coincide with the Food Studies Program curriculum, which encourages students to consider the basic questions about what people eat. What are the food’s origins? Is it important that it be “local” or “organic?” What do these labels mean?
The students agreed Friday’s field trip changed the way they perceived food.
“Dario serves cuts of meat that I wouldn’t have thought to eat, but it all tasted great,” Gabriella Gobiel said. “Dario says if you’re going to be a carnivore, be one responsibly and use everything you can from the animal that was killed.”
“It made eating animals more meaningful,” agreed Kelly Miliano. “We got to hear where the cows came from, how they lived, and how they were butchered.”
One scenic bus ride later, the students were back in Perugia.
Two Umbra Institute classes took to the road on academic field trips this weekend.
Two Umbra classes visited the celebrated Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi on academic field trips this weekend.
Friday morning, Professor Adrian Hoch’s art history course, Saints, Sinners, and Harlots, traveled to nearby Assisi, where they toured the city’s many cathedrals, including those of San Damiano, Santa Chiara, San Rufino, and the well-known Basilica of Saint Francis.
On Saturday, Professor Alessandro Celani’s Pagans and Christians course also visited St. Francis’ Basilica in Assisi. The class then moved on to Spoleto, where they walked through the duomo and the Church of San Salvatore.
The weekend’s field trips were timely: Mid-terms begin Monday, and spring break starts Friday.
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