Category: Umbra Blog

…for her new American “temporary citizens.” Since its inception in 2001, the Umbra Institute has had over fifteen hundred American study abroad students pass through its door to take classes (in wood-lined halls and under ceiling frescoes) in its buildings in Via dei Priori, Via Marzia, Via Danzetta, Via Mazzini, and now in Via Bartolo. Students learn not only within the Institute’s walls, though: co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, as well as the exploration and observation that the city itself encourages. The Umbra Institute is perhaps the mediator, but the City of Perugia itself the host.

Perugia now has returned to some semblance of normality after the August invasion of daytrippers. The Dutch no longer crowd Caffe’ Morlacchi, the Steps of the cathedral are now host to returning university students, not groups of Japanese schoolchildren. The holidays are over and its time for the newest of the city’s temporary citizens to arrive. Tomorrow the first group, students who will participate in the Full Immersion program, then Friday the rest of the Class of Fall 2010. The staff looks forward to sharing the city they love (and live every day) with you!
A presto! (See you soon!)
The Staff of the Umbra Institute

2011 Intensive Italian Language and Culture Program now extended into July with Umbria Jazz

Umbra is pleased to announce the new program dates for Summer 2011.

The summer programs have been split into two sessions, starting with the Regular Program which begins on May 21st and ends on June 30th. The Intensive Italian Language and Culture Program begins a bit later on June 2nd and goes through July 16th. This means that the Intensive Italian program overlaps Perugia’s most famous cultural event Umbria Jazz.

The additional week affords more time for the intensive Italian language students to practice their newly acquired skills in Perugia and experience the festival in Italy.

Summer in Perugia presents a dramatic question: where to get ice cream. This vital query is made all the more difficult by the fact that one can’t simply exclude the “bad” ice cream places…because there just don’t seem to be any. We can start out with Gambrinus in Via Bonazzi: it’s stuck back in that little alley but has nothing to hide, with large servings of rich gelato. Fontana Maggiore, back int he far corner of the main piazza, has Rino Pinguino, a mix of chocolate and vanilla with chocolate chunks, and, (get this!) free correzione panna (whipped cream on top). Grom, a national chain, has made a splash with lines every evening outside their store at the corner of Piazza Matteotti and Via Mazzini. Finally, Augusta Perusia in Via Pinturicchio (near the Stranieri) brings their chocolate-making experience to gelato making.It’s a hard life, but someone’s gotta eat it!

Olivia Lott and Jon Ernest have been following in the footsteps of legendary pittori italiani as they create a fresco from the ground up – or, really, from the wall out – with Professor William Pettit. The pair began by learning the complex technique required to apply the various layers of sand, lime, and marble dust required to create a workable surface and have since spent nearly two weeks on their final project, which they estimate to be about halfway finished. They were inspired by several frescoes that they saw on a day trip to Rome with Professor Pettit and have since been recreating it piece by piece in the Umbra Institute fresco studio.

Summer in Perugia presents a dramatic question: where to get ice cream. This vital query is made all the more difficult by the fact that one can’t simply exclude the “bad” ice cream places…because there just don’t seem to be any. We can start out with Gambrinus in Via Bonazzi: it’s stuck back in that little alley but has nothing to hide, with large servings of rich gelato. Fontana Maggiore, back int he far corner of the main piazza, has Rino Pinguino, a mix of chocolate and vanilla with chocolate chunks, and, (get this!) free correzione panna (whipped cream on top). Grom, a national chain, has made a splash with lines every evening outside their store at the corner of Piazza Matteotti and Via Mazzini. Finally, Augusta Perusia in Via Pinturicchio (near the Stranieri) brings their chocolate-making experience to gelato making. It’s a hard life, but someone’s gotta eat it!

Cold coffee, that is! Yesterday afternoon was the much-anticipated Coffee Safari that Umbra offers each semester as part of its food-engagement extracurriculars. Students studying at Umbra’s Summer Session took a break from the books and headed out on a short traipse around the center, learning about the various “personalities” of the center’s cafés (sleek perugini here, Bohemiens there) before sitting down at Bar Turreno for the coffee itself.

Staff member Zach Nowak ordered a variety of caffeine-filled cups –caffè macchiato, marocchino, caffè freddo, caffè sciakerato, latte macchiato freddo — that students sipped on; meanwhile Nowak explained the location of each coffee in Italy’s “social geography”: cappuccino for Italians is a morning drink, for example, and ordering it after lunch will raise eyebrows of Italian waiters, while an espresso in a little glass vup (caffè in vetro) is a touch of elegance. Because of the heat, most of the coffees were cold, though, like caffè freddo and caffè sciakerato. This last delectable treat is made of two shots of espresso shaken with ice and a little sugar in a cocktail shaker, then poured, foam and all, into a cocktail glass!

Perugia is perhaps best known internationally for (other than its baci chocolates) the Umbria Jazz Festival, which begins every year on the second Friday in July. A local favorite as far as music, though, is the Onde Rock festival, a three-day rock-in of the best of central Italy’s homegrown rock bands. “Not too heavy, not to light” seems to be the leitmotif of the weekend. The venue is the Casilini fair ground, near Panicale. Interested? Do a little Google research or ask any staff member how to get there with public transport. Onde Rock 2010 takes place on June 18th, 19th, and 20th.

Last night was the Umbra Pizza Workshop…but with a twist. As part of Professor Robert Proctor’s “Intensive Italian Through Culture” program, students got a brief history of pizza from staff member Zach Nowak, made pizzas with the direction of headpizzaiolo Felice, and ate their handiwork while chit-chatting in one of Perugia’s most quaint pizzerias, but all in Italian. Proctor’s innovative program–intensive Italian taught not only in the classroom (grammar, pronunciation) but also outside the classroom, in museums and pizzerias–seeks to immerse the student in both the Italian language and the Italian culture. Round Two of “Workshop della Pizza” is tonight at 7:15pm (or is it 20:15?): meet at the Fontana Maggiore in the main square.

This past Friday a group of Umbra Institute students (here with their professors from Trinity College) took an outing to Cortona. In addition to getting a beautiful view of the valley and of Lake Trasimeno, the students were able to put into practice what they learned in class while visiting the newly-restored Etruscan Museum. Professor Diane Zannoni’s class was able to pick out pottery imported by the ancient Etruscans from Athens as well as identify different epochs of Etruscan civilization by their burial rites. The trip was already a success but a gelato on the main piazza definitely didn’t hurt, either!

Yesterday was a perfect day for a traipse around Perugia’s historic center and about thirty Umbra students did just that, taking Umbra staff member Zach Nowak’s nearly world-famous “Perugia Nooks & Crannies Tour.” The tour started at the iconic Fontana Maggiore in the center of the main piazza but wandered into back alleys (like Via Alunni, where Perugia’s orphanage was) and even into the only vineyard inside the city’s Etruscan walls. Light on history but heavy on great views and semi-true historicalish anecdotes, the tour was just the right event for a Sunday afternoon.