Umbra Blog – Page 57 – DEV – The Umbra Institute – Study Abroad in Italy

Quando si parla dell’Italia non si può che non parlare di cibo e sapori, e questo è anche l’argomento preferito da noi italiani.
Mmmm, squisita!!! É l’unico aggettivo che posso usare per descrivere la seconda cena per il gruppo di Italiano Intensivo presso il ristorante “La piazzetta” in via deliziosa.

Risulta difficile pensare di descrivere una cena così buona quando sei così concentrato sui sapori e sugli odori di piatti così semplici e pure così eccezionali quando preparati da mani esperte.La filosofia di questa serie di “cene a lume di candela”, è di offrire un esperienza di una cena molto elegante in tutto stile italiano con l’accostamento ben indovinato di 4 vini, uno per ogni piatto.

Ecco di seguito il menu di abbinamenti:
Per iniziare, un antipasto composto da piccoli pezzi di sedano perfettamente sposati con del morbido speck esaltato da alcune spezie aromatiche, il tutto adagiato in una foglia di radicchio, degustando un magnifico Grechetto Chardonnay non troppo leggero per bilanciare l’intensità dei sapori dell’antipasto.
Siamo passati dopo una piccola attesa meditativa al primo piatto, dei classici fusilli conditi con una salsa alla norcina tipica della zona di Norcia (famosa appunto per i suoi salumi e salsicce); in abbinamento a questo piatto un delicato Montepulciano d’abruzzo Cerasuolo, con il suo caratteristico colore rosso ciliegia, da cui prende il nome, ed un gusto asciutto ed armonico.
Come secondo, delle delicate fettine di sella di maiale arrosto, ricoperto da una salsina alla spoletina in perfetto abbinamento con un rosso di Montefalco, un vino tipico umbro composto da diversi tipi di uva come il Sagrantino, il Sangiovese, il Merlot e il Cabernet Sauvignon.
Per concludere la magnifica cena durata più di tre ore, un semifreddo di ricotta e amaretti con un vino siciliano, lo Zibibbo ottenuto da uve passite, un vino da dessert aromatico con retrogusto mandorlato tipico.
Se vi ritrovaste affamati dopo aver letto questo articolo vi suggerisco di soddisfare il vostro gusto in uno dei tanti luoghi del bere e del mangiare.

Another Intensive Italian event described above! This time students were treated to a “candlelight dinner” complete with four courses and four different wines (Grechetto chardonnay, Montepulciano d’abruzzo Cerasuolo, Montfalco and a Zibibbo) complete with an explanation of which wines compliment which courses and why. Besides the incredible food, the best part of the night was that is was absolutely prohibited to speak English for the entire meal! There is one more “candlelight dinner” next week for the students in the Intensive Italian Program.

From June 2nd until the 5th, there will be full days of activities surrounding the theme of architecture and the relationship between planning and politics. There will be exhibitions in the street, at Teatro Pavone, in multiple rooms of the Palazzo dei Priori, and in the Palazzo della Penna off of Corso Cavour. More information about FESTARCH can be found on Abitare Magazine’s website, including when and where the individual events can be found. This is also a very international festival, with events being held in both Italian and English!

American Association of Teachers of Italian saw a strong contingent of professors from Perugia at its annual meeting.

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Since they’ve already been through orientation, including Officer Michele Canneschi’s famous safety talk, everyone is beginning to explore on their own and find out which pizzeria is the best (Ian stands firmly by Mediterranea) and who makes the tastiest panini (Ciao Ciao, without a doubt).

Tonight, they’ll begin to see some of Perugia’s gelaterie with the Umbra Gelato Night, an evening of free gelato at “La Fontana,” which we believe is easily in the running for the best in the city. In fact, food professor Simon Young likes it so much that he asked them to make him beer-flavored gelato for his food course last semester!

We have no doubt that the students will find their own favorites and run into as-yet undiscovered restaurants and shops. Again, benarrivati!

Umbra students have been helping with an intercultural research project for years as both research interns and subjects. (more…)

Here we are again, getting ready to greet another group of students! With the impending arrivals, Umbra staff are doing their usual preparations: making sure the busses are ready to bring students up from Fiumicino, putting the final touches on orientation preparation, and enjoying the warming Umbrian sun.

Once the students arrive, the Umbra staff takes great care to make sure that they are well-situated in their new home. They get oriented in their new apartments, a run-through on places to shop (both for food and clothes!) around town, and a talk about safety in Italy. Following that, they jump straight into classes… quite the load for the first few days!

The good news is that they’ll be coming into a city that is culturally rich — see the Umbria Jazz festival, the Green Days festival, and the many others that Perugia hosts — and surprisingly welcoming. Can’t wait for you all to get here!

One on one learning with Umbra faculty advisors makes in-depth research while studying abroad possible. (more…)

This semester twenty Italian students enrich the Umbra Institute’s already integrated academic environment! (more…)

Umbra professor gives radio interview regarding his recently published book, Celtic Revolution, “a popular history of Celtic civilization.” (more…)

The Umbra Institute is equipped with its own library–a great resource for students while abroad.

It’s rare that a study abroad institution has a library of its own for its students. Most institutions rely on public libraries or the local university’s library as sources for their students’ research. Local resources alone would be great…as long as the local language weren’t a barrier.

While students at the Umbra Institute have access to three local libraries–Universita’ degli Studi di Perugia’s library, Biblioteca Augusta—the public library (which houses books up to four-hundred years old!) as well as the library at the Universita’ per Stranieri, students are fortunate to have a library of their own right here at Umbra.

The Institute claims an in-house library with nearly 3,500 books that’s constantly being enriched and expanded by its professors, some of whom have authored the books themselves. Complete with books in both English and Italian, Umbra’s bibliotheca has a rich selection on books ranging in many topics from Italian history, culture and food to politics, art history literature and the arts; photography, music, opera and cinema.

Umbra has furthermore just recently updated its cataloging system, enabling students to access the library’s catalog directly from Umbra’s networked computer lab which now has over 30 PCs and high-speed WiFi coverage throught the Institute.

Even more unique is Umbra’s access to online journals and databases including JSTOR, Wilsons and more. With independent research and honors programs becoming more and more popular at Umbra, it is imperative that students have access to as many research sources as possible. It allows the professors to ask more from our students when extensive research resources at their disposal.

The Umbra Institute will soon be initiating a library development campaign; We hope that alumni and friends of the Institute will help us reach our goal of 5,000 well-selected books by the fall semester 2012.