Umbra Blog – Page 97 – DEV – The Umbra Institute – Study Abroad in Italy

“Founding libraries is like once again building public granaries, amassing reserves against a winter of the spirit which from many reports, my own included, I see coming.”
– Marguerite Yourcenar, Memorie di Adriano

A library is a special place, a room that holds centuries’ worth of knowledge – beauty of many literary traditions, the copious annals of history and the fruits of intellectual and moral progress. Lest we forget, it’s also a quiet place to read, reflect and put our thoughts together in an orderly, logical manner.

The Umbra Institute is proud of its library, and rightly so, we say. Started over five years ago in the corner of a classroom with just a few dozen books, it now occupies two large central rooms in the Palazzo Danzetta, Umbra’s newest building in the historic center of Perugia on Via Mazzini.

The collection has a wide range of titles, from art history to the latest texts in international business practices. The Umbra library’s latest and most beautiful acquisitions, however, are the complete Codex Atlanticus and Codex Madrid, two extremely rare collections of many of Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks, including drawings, sketches and writings on a wide range of subjects all in da Vinci’s characteristic reverse handwriting. The Codex also feature modernized transcriptions of the texts and commentaries which will help students to benefit from da Vinci’s extraordinary intellect.

“Experentiae docet”, learning from experience, as the Umbra logo says. In Via Mazzini, Umbra students from all over the US and Italy learn from experiencing the best writers the world has to offer.

How long does it take to cook a pizza in a wood-burning oven? Who is the pizza Margherita named after? Do Italian pizzaioli (pizza makers) really throw the pizzas in the air? If you answered “about two minutes, Queen Margherita of Italy, and of course not” you might have been at the Umbra pizza night the other night, as these were among the questions that were bandied around between students and staff.

Pizza has obscure origins, mostly because flat bread baked with vegetables on top is a recipe common to many early cuisines around the Mediterranean basin. But pizza as we know it started in Naples, in southern Italy many years ago. It was poor man’s food until the Queen of Italy, the famous Margherita, decided she could not resist the delicacy. She noted also the color combination of the red-white-green made from the tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and basil, which of course was and is the color of the Italian flag. She hired her own pizza chef, and soon pizza became all the rage and defined itself as the food that symbolized Italy.

Nealy all pizzerias in Italy make their pizzas in wood-fired ovens which creates a unique and of course incredibly delicious taste…and that’s Umbra and local students got to savor this past Thursday at the traditional and monthly Umbra Pizza Night.

Winter is getting closer, and on the streets you can smell the intense perfume of those golden chestnuts, hinting that Christmas is coming. It’s also time for the new wine, the vino novello. That will be the theme for the last Tandem at The Umbra Institute: two hours roasting chestnuts, tasting the new wine from Sicily, Umbria, and Tuscany, and mixing Italian and English to improve a foreign tongue. Tandem, Umbra’s Language Exchange Program, is going to end for this semester. We’ll see you next time to say goodbye to your Italian friends at the last Tandem Night.

It was an intense and beautiful trip that took Umbra students from the little Perugian train station to the enormous one in Milan (with a stop-off in Florence). The subject of the trip was Leonardo DaVinci and Umbra’s own internationally renowned Leonardo expert Michael Kwakkelstein guided the students through all the genius of Leonardo. The whirlwind tour included six museums, from the Florence Uffizi to the Last Supper in Milan- students not only gazed at the masterpieces of art but also got the chance to play with wooden models at the Galleria di Leonardo. Even an unofficial fan club for the professor was created on Facebook by one of the students of the DaVinci class. Jen Keehner, the moderator, explained: “…with one look with those piercing blue eyes and a witty comment in that crazy accent, Michael makes all of our days (and lives) a little bit better.” … “I think we can all agree that we experienced a life-changing event on our field trip to Florence and Milan.”

Above: two moments of the field trip in Florence and Milan in different museums.

The cusp of October seems to be peak season for hiking the Cinque Terre. At least four groups of Umbra students struck out independently for Liguria’s craggy coast and found themselves meeting up not only with each other but with study abroad students from all over Italy. They encountered one another in such diverse places as: the bay at Monterosso, a cliff-edge in Corniglia, the restaurant La Torre at the brink of Vernazza and at the ever convenient Bar Centrale in Rio Maggiore.

The slight cloud cover and drizzle did nothing to deter Umbra diehards from trekking the entire 18 kilometers of coastline–from the flat but scenic passage from Rio Maggiore to Manarola, to the steeper, rockier climbs between Vernazza and Monterossa. Students were heartened (and goaded on!) by the number of late-middle age trekkers with their walking sticks and even stalwart Desiree-the-dachshund who astonished all with her stamina and eager climbing. The swimming was as good as the hiking despite the jellyfish; the kayaking and ferry journeys to each of the five lands even breathtaking. Students, ravenous from endless activity, took advantage of the many sumptuous lunches and dinners offered by local restaurants.

In photo: Sunset in Cinque Terre

On your list of “Great Things The States Gave To Italy,” right after peanut butter, 24-hour photo stores, and the Gallup poll, you can add “Halloween.” Last night the streets of Perugia were full of ghosts and goblins, prom queens, Barbies (but strangely no Kens), ax murderers and their victims, and even Elvis (circa 1972), but the best thing about the party was that it’s become more than just American study-abroad students getting odd looks from passers-by. Waves of Umbra students have introduced their Italian friends not just to dressing up, but also to bobbing for apples and telling scary stories in a darkened living room lit only with a candle. Halloween, at least in Perugia, is becoming more and more naturalized, and is even less commercial than in the United States…and the Umbra Institute is proud to be part of that, ‘cause heck, bobbing for apples is fun!

Above: Umbra Student (and Miss America 1969) Sarah Pies leads off a group of Umbra Urchins.

On October 3 and 17 Professor James Schwarten led his students to Rome as part of his course titled Contemporary Italy: Culture and Society.

The destination? Italy’s state television channel RAI3 for the live taping and broadcast of a weekly program, Ballarò, which covers issues of current interest on Italian politics, economics, culture, and society. Professor Schwarten and students were able to meet the show’s host, Giovanni Floris, as well as get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of a live television program.

Among other topics in his course, Professor Schwarten discusses Italian mass media, and students were encouraged to compare and contrast Ballarò with U.S. television programs treating similar topics with regard to content and structure, the role and conduct of the host and panel members, and the ways in which the viewer is involved or affected.

How do students deal with the transition back into American college life after spending a semester in Perugia, Italy?

Not easily, from what several recent Umbra alumni have told us. However many of these former students are finding ways to continue the Italian experience from home. Dan Bower hosted his first meeting at Northeastern University for an Italian Club, joining Italian exchange students and Americans in one cultural organization.

Bree Barton performed with the Human Beings International Theater Group in Perugia – now she takes a lead role in an improv group at Amherst College (in photo, right).

For many, there is one way to savour the memories of studying abroad – by eating. Jocelyn Fielding (Northeastern) and Rachel Bethany (Brandeis University) met for some pasta in Boston’s – famously Italian – North End district (note street sign).

Umbra alumni, how do you handle the transition? Email us [email protected].

Wine is an important aspect of Italian culinary culture,

and as such it is often the subject of American study abroad programs’ extracurricular activities. Students are taken to an Italian enoteca and sample different kinds of wines, learning the basics of evaluation and wine/food combinations. At the Umbra Institute, however, students go one step further: actually making the wine. This past Saturday staff

member Zach Nowak took a group of twenty-five students to the small vineyard that he takes care of, where the third edition of Umbra’s winemaking class took place. The students first had the “theory” part of the activity, where they learned about fermentation, the action of yeast, and the process of making wine. They then lived out their “I Love Lucy” dreams, rolling up their pant legs, washing their feet, and actually stomping the grapes in turn. Not all the grape juice landed in the demijohn for fermenting but enough will be turned into wine to make a bottle for each student. As an extra, some students stayed later and helped Nowak chop and press a barrel of apples. “Apple cider – just like home in the Fall!” commented Danielle Urciullo (Northeastern University).

The winner of the Umbra Photo of the Month contest is Jennah Beilgard for her photo of “Cinque Terre with Micheal”

Jennah will enjoy a freel meal from Quattro Passi Pizzeria! Auguri!