We could not get over the immense kindness of Chef Andrea who welcomed us to his country restaurant and into his kitchen.  Students were taught the proper technique of cutting vegetables (starting with practice on onions), and then we followed Andrea’s instructions to make vegetable lasagna with bechamel sauce. We made our own noodles–mixing flour, eggs, and olive oil; kneading the dough with our hands; and then running it through a pasta machine to flatten the dough; and finally, punching out the shape with a circular cutter. Also on the menu: pumpkin flowers stuffed with ricotta and lamb ribs, which students cut with a huge butcher knife.

We began making lunch at 9:30 AM and finally sat down to eat at 1:00 PM!

(Starting at the left) Kaitlyn Welden, Rosanna Hendrix, and Cara Beth Heath build our appetizer: zucchini and eggplant with tomato sauce and cheese

Prof. Lott:

“Today I took the class into the old city proper, then plunked them down one
by one every few yards on a street that led down from Piazza della Libertad.
The assignment: Look at what you see in front of you, and write about home
based on what you see. But don’t mention Spoleto, or what you see right now.
What does this foreign place make you think about the place with which you
are most familiar?

They wrote, and I had to corral them, finally, at class end in order to get
them to stop.

And one of the things they witnessed: this archetypal
local, sport coat worn like a cape, walking up his street:

PS: I stood under the archway visible in Courtney’s photograph to talk to
one of the students, and a pigeon unloaded fully on me. Luckily, I had my
hat on.”

Saturday was a free day in Florence. Several of us got up early and climbed to the

cupola at the top of the Duomo — 463 steps in all, though I only counted

422 and so am suspect of the counting system used by the Italian

authorities. Many pictures were taken from that lofty height, though somehow

none of them managed their way into my iPhone.

——————

Sunday, we traveled by train back to Spoleto.

Prof. Lott:

“On Friday we took a walking tour of the city. Our guide, Klauss, is
finishing his PhD in art history, and his love for both art and architecture
was infectious. A perfect day. A day worthy of three–count ’em, three–
photos.

Here we are (1) in the courtyard of the Strozzi Palace, the Medici family’s
arch enemies; and (2) out on the Ponte Vecchio, looking back on the Arno.

Finally, (3) is of Donatello’s extraordinarily moving sculpture “Mary
Magdalene,” in the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, the museum of the Duomo.
Before we left Spoleto, Dr. Rosko assigned her poetry class to find a work
of art in the city and then park themselves and write. When I walked into
the room where the statue–it is carved wood–is housed, I found five of
our students seated on the floor before the work, and writing. A very moving
moment.”

We took an afternoon train from Spoleto to Florence, checked in at our
hotel, and then made our way down the street to the Duomo, which sort of
appears from between buildings and suddenly looms above everything.

Between the morning and afternoon classes on Wednesdays, we bring in a local
chef, Leonardo, who sets up a terrific lunch for us all. Here in the photo,
bottom to top: Farrow, a splendid grain salad; fagiole with celery and
anchovies; panzanella, a bread salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and
basil (my favorite); roasted fresh vegetables–zucchini, eggplant and
tomatoes; and a pizza of broccoli and sausage. After this we had the pasta
course, bucatini all’amatricciana. For dessert we had strawberries and
cream. Leonardo is, of course, the fellow cutting the bread for us.

The second picture is of last night’s inaugural reading, at which students
read from their own original work. This is a requirement, the presentation
of one’s new work to us all, and John Vasoli is reading a story he had just
finished this day. Professor Rosko and Professor Lott also read, along with two other
students, Maggie Bacon and Raena Shirali. This as the sun was setting.

We took a tour of two wineries in Montefalco this day, one a micro-vineyard
— the one pictured, solely owned and operated by a fellow named Ducio —
and the other a rather large and corporate-style operation with outlets in
America. Both produce beautiful wines, and especially the local superwine,
Sagrantino, famous throughout Italy for how sturdy and tannic it is.

Ducio’s winery, Colle Fonte, is on only a few hectares of land, small enough
that we walked most of it. Then we had a tasting of the two wines he
produces, Sololoro, the Montefalco Rosso, or blended red; and his
Sagrantino. He had sold out of last year’s vintage of the latter, and filled
a bottle for us to taste from the vat he was getting ready to bottle and
sell in a month or so. It was a terrific wine, better even than the
corporate version’s Sagrantino. He was quite proud as he poured each of us a
little bit to taste.

Here we are looking down the slope of his vineyard:

Ducio is in the orange shirt in the center, a shard of color you might be able to make out.

While sitting out on the patio with Dulcio after our walk, his wife bringing
out cheese and meat and bread and Dulcio pouring wine to taste, I heard one
student say, “This is the best day of my life.”

Prof. Lott:

“Today was a bit cold and windy, and so we held classes indoors. The boys’
apartment (there are six apartments at the villa, one for the three boys,
three for the ten women, then one for Prof. Rosko and one for myself) has the
largest single room, so we commandeered their place for both classes. Here
they all are, writing an exercise for my travel memoir class. The remarkable
thing is that though this may look posed — See the industrious students! —
they really are simply writing. Outside the wind whipped through the trees,
the temperature in the forties.”

A good chunk of the students went to Rome for the weekend, their first foray out. Some of us stayed home. Some of us did our laundry, and then it began to rain.

This is how we dry our clothes on a rainy day in Spoleto:

Today, we took a day trip to the towns of Norcia and Castellucio. Norcia is
the birthplace of Saints Benedict and Scholastica; Castellucio is the
mountain village perched on the hilltop across this valley. We got
sandwiches in Norcia, then drove here, to the Piano Grande for a picnic before heading into Castellucio. Shown here are Prof. Rosko and two students: Maggie Bacon and
John Vasoli.