Category: Umbra Blog

Why have such a distinguished people like the Italians chosen to represent themselves through their cuisine? Why could a humble food like pasta advance to become the most “Italian” food item? Umbra Professor Peter Fischer (History and Culture of Food in Italy) posed (and answered) these questions and others last night in his lecture. Fischer argued that starting with Artusi and his historical project of a “culinary Risorgimento” over the definition of a unified Italian cuisine in the Little Italies of early 20th century America, up to the development of a pronounced culinary conservatism in post WWII Italy, the construction of a common Italian culinary identity became the nucleus around which Italians where able to create a sense of distinction and resistance to cultural assimilation in a modernizing and globalizing world. 

The lecture was well-attended by both Umbra students and faculty, as well as by the public. The lecture was part of a series, a collaboration between the Umbra Institute and a local foundation.

It is the hope of all educators that a semester abroad enhances a student’s education. So often study abroad opportunities are attacked as a “semester off” for students to travel the world before graduating college.

Turpin included traditional iconography in a modern adaptation of a triptych. Several scenes of Turpin’s triptych mirror works by Michelangelo (The Pieta and Creation) and Piero della Francesca (Duke of Urbino portrait). As stated in Turpin’s statement: “My paintings incorporate Renaissance themes and imagery, but superimpose not what was culturally acceptable in Renaissance times, but rather what we today as a culture publicly accept through our images of violence, sex, and drugs seen in our mass media. By exploring this dichotomy of Renaissance and modern popular culture, I hope the viewers can decide for themselves the trouble that might be associated with this type of blind societal acceptance of popular culture which has become so commonplace that we forget what implications it might have.”

In photos: detail of triptych; Turpin discusses artwork at Wabash College Celebration of Student Research.

Traditionally, during Lent, parties and feasts were prohibited. The last days before the beginning of Lent were the opportunity to eat and drink and make merry, and this became known as Carnival. There are differing interpretations but the most likely etymology is carne vale, “goodbye to meat,” as the eating of meat was forbidden during Lent as well. Though Americans have Venice in their mind as the spot for Carnival, in reality the Italian city of Viareggio’s carnival is the most frequented by Italians themselves (and this year will be by Umbra students as well!). But for those studying that week of Martedì Grasso (Mardi Gras), there will be a number of Carnival celebrations in Umbria too

The Seattle Channel released a video of Perugia, Italy, and its relation to the American sister city of Seattle, Washington. This video traces the history of Perugia back to the Etruscans, while also exploring issues of modernization in the city. Spend 26 minutes with host Mike James to learn more about the city, people, art, music, food, and shopping which provide the “human side of life” in Perugia. 

Did you ever wonder where coffee houses acquire the names for all those beverages with the double consonants? You guessed it, Italy! Although Italy does not actually grow the bitter red bean, Italians have no problem boasting the best coffee. When bringing this small matter to their attention, they reply that it is their coffee machines that process the ground to its finest contextual flavor.

Due to cultural differences, study abroad students often feel the pull of simple absences in their daily routines. Dependent on their American coffee-house chains, café grandes, and the typical heavier breakfasts, the morning routine may be one of the hardest to readjust for Americans. In Italy the morning breakfast norm is a simple pastry and a cappuccino, or an espresso (shot of strong coffee). But beyond those two, there is a myriad of other combinations of formed from the essential ingredients: ground coffee beans, hot water, and milk – not to mention lots of rules when to drink which one.
Last night at Caffè di Roma (led by Umbra staff member Paul Schiller) some students enjoyed un caffè all’italiana! Armed with their new vocabulary, they learned how to order like an Italian and which robust gusto they preferred.

There was also a short demonstration on how to use a caffetiere (the typical Italian stovetop coffee maker, and a curious-looking object that most students have in their own apartments) in order to make their daily bright-eye brew. The workshop also enlightened participants briefly on the subject of coffee’s absolutely non-banal history and history in Italy. If you want to know more, click here for a short essay on coffee.

The winner of Umbra Spring 2009’s first photo contest is Sarah Davis from the University of Colorado-Boulder. This month’s contest was an extremely tough decision! Sarah’s photo is of Assisi taken from below the Basilica di San Francesco. Sarah will enjoy a free meal from Quattro Passi Pizzeria.

Auguri Sarah!

At least this time it’s only for the evening! Tonight from 9pm until tomorrow morning early residents of Perugia’s historic center won’t have any water. No, it’s not an emergency, just an opportunity for the town to replace some old water mains, work that will all be done in a night. Perugia’s water supply is a good history lesson. The oldest well in the city is the Etruscan Well, dug more than 2,400 years ago straight down (111 feet) into the bedrock. Legend has it that when the city’s acqueducts were bombed at the end of World War II, residents simply dropped their buckets into the Etruscan Well’s still-pure waters.

In the Middle Ages that well and the city’s others didn’t quite meet the demand for H2O, so engineers built (starting in 1255) an enormous collecting tank on a hillside six miles away and then constructed an acqueduct which ended at Perugia’s beautiful Fontana Maggiore. This acqueduct kept the city supplied until more modern ones were added in the fifties. Given all that history, we guess that Perugians (and Umbra students, who are “temporary citizens”) can’t complain too much if it’s just for the night!

Yesterday evening, in true Italian fashion, a group of Umbra students discovered the importance of the Mediterranean tradition of stimulating the appetite before a meal with what is known as the aperitivo. Seventeen students and Umbra staff member Paul Schiller went to the hip Lunabar Ferrari on the main thoroughfare to socialize in true Italian spirit.
Before the actual drinks arrived, the students learned about the history of the aperitivo. There is no consensus about the origin of the aperitivo itself, but the word is derived from the Latin verb aperire which means “to open.” Some say the concept of drinking a small amount of alcohol before a meal dates back to the ancient Egyptians.

Records show that the aperitivo may have first appeared in 1786, when Antonio Benedetto Carpano invented vermouth (fortified wine with spices) in the city of Turin. Aperitivo was already widespread in the 19th century in Italy, where being served in fashionable cafes in Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan, Turin, and Naples. Typical drinks are small glasses of wine, cocktails made from Campari, or prosecco.

Italian students often meet for an aperitivo, enjoying a small drink and lots of finger food for a low price. Umbra students did just that, and acquired perhaps a new taste for the popular bitter/sweet Campari Orange. Students learned that the aperitivo that most of the cafes offer can be great place to make appointments with their new Italian friends.

Imagine walking into a room filled with fifty students, some of whom you may have a met a few weeks ago, but many of whom are total strangers. Then someone asks you to sit down in a group of five or six, introduce yourself, and make conversation for an hour. Now consider that only half the people in your group speak your language, while the others speak a completely different mother tongue. Sound like a recipe for one very quiet and possibly awkward evening?

Quite the opposite! Last Wednesday, sixty American and Italian students met to kick off Tandem for 2009. Every semester the Umbra Institute organizes this language exchange program as a way for students to practice their conversational Italian.

In doing so, our American students studying at Umbra get the opportunity to meet Italians friends and become more integrated within the greater international student community here in Perugia. The Italians, in turn, are always eager for a chance to practice their English with native speakers. The result turned out to be a very noisy evening, and when we finally ended the official Tandem, many students left school with new friends and headed out to Perugia’s pizzerias and cafes for dinner and drinks. Tandem is off to a great start for 2009, and see you in a week for the next meeting!

Last Sunday, students through Arcadia University were treated to a day in the Umbrian countryside as a part of their orientation. Flavio Orsini and his family continue the time old traditions of Italian farming in the town of Passignano sul Trasimeno close to Lake Trasimeno. Flavio took students on a tour of their property and of the inside of their home. There students learned about the preciousfagiolini del lago (smalls beans from the lake) and watched as his uncle demostrated how baskets are weaved. Some students even tried out their own skills under the careful eye of the expert. After the brief tour, was a lesson in pasta making. Flavio’s wife, mother-in-law and other women from the town demonstrated the traditional method of making pasta from scratch and talked about how this method is still used today.

Students then donned aprons and lent a had as well. After the pasta making, with everyone’s tummies grumbling, students feasted on a typical Umbrian meal made completely with locally grown goods. A misto di bruschettacomplete with the now infamousfagiolini del lago served as the appetizer. Homemade tagliatelle pasta with a typical Italian meat sauce wetted the appetites just enough for a trio of secondi-Umbrian sausage from Flavio’s farm, sauteed spinach and torta al testo (a dense bread typical from this region). Stomachs and minds amply full, students re-borded the bus for the short drive back to city life in Perugia.

In Photos: Signor Orsini demonstrates the Italian art or basket weaving; Umbra students enjoy the view from Flavio Orsini’s home