First, this happened.
Then, I left America.
I started out this trip in Manchester, England, with David, Nathalie, and Amelie.
On the first day I was pretty badly jetlagged and just had a slow day with a nice lunch, a little tour of Wilmslow, and then a walk to pick up Amelie from her school.
The next day, Wednesday, David and Nathalie took me into Tatton Park for a tour of the mansion and a drive through the town. It was rainy the whole time so we weren’t able to walk through the garden, but it was an incredibly beautiful place, and there were deers and sheep on the lawn.
On Thursday, I got to meet the whole family at a series of pub meals, and there were certainly plenty of characters. I was introduced all at once to 20 or so relatives, and it was such a fun and lively day.
The next day I shipped out for Italy, and spent nearly the whole day on planes and planes and busses and trains, but made it into Rome with enough time to walk around and eat a little dinner. I walked from Termini down to the ghetto for a stop, of course, at the Cenci. It was so weird, seeing it completely dark and locked up with no one out smoking on the stoop. It was sad, but mostly just completely surreal.
From the Cenci I went for a little loop through Trastevere, but at that point mostly everything was closed and it was getting pretty late, so I didn’t stay for much more than a gelato.
The next afternoon I took the train into Siena, and then the bus to Vescovado. Apparently Mussolini didn’t like Siena because of it’s liberal/communist leanings, so he made it really difficult to get there – there are no direct trains from Rome to Siena, so there were all sorts of stops and transfers to finally get into Vescovado. This town is incredibly, incredibly small, but the landscape is beautiful.
From there the days were pretty relaxed. Apart from the dig, there’s really nothing to do during the day. The first two weeks were incredibly rainy. Everybody was covered in mud, and worried about damaging artifacts. There was even a day that was cancelled due to the rain. I know there was similar weather in June back in the states, which is also strange, but Tuscan summers are famously dry and sunny, so this threw everyone off a lot.
Every day we were up before the sun, so that the diggers could start work before the sun got too hot. It was hard getting used to that schedule, but absolutely worth it for being able to see the sunrise every morning. It was breathtaking.
Every morning! I have so many of these pictures.
The first weekend a few of us took a trip into Siena, to see more of it than just the train station. After a relatively sunny morning, we got caught in a terrible hail storm, and aside from a quick spin through the duomo didn't get to see much.
To compliment the weather, the first few weeks of drawing were also terribly confusing and disorganized. There wasn't really anybody in the position to direct us, and no projects to start yet. We spent a good while choosing artifacts freely, drawing whatever interested us. It was frustrating not to have direction, but really cool to have the freedom to sort through drawers and drawers of ancient objects and pick what looks neat.
There were a lot of cool bugs and bones in Vescovado.
The Siena Palio took place in the second week, and we were given a day off from drawing to see it. It was absolutely incredible. It was an experience that would be completely impossible to get in America. It was corrupt, terribly dangerous, and absolutely thrilling. I was right up against the gate so I could see all the action. I imagine it would be terrible to be somewhere in the middle of that crowd.
The second weekend in Vescovado was the 4th of July, and I opted out of any weekend trips. I had, at this point, not rested for about a month and was ready to sit by a swimming pool.
The next weekend I took a reluctant trip to Florence. I had already been to Florence and seen all the big sights - the Uffizi, the Duomo, the Accademia and all that. I decided, instead of going to all these places again to instead hit up the La Specola, a natural history museum from the 19th century. It was amazing. It had an incredible taxidermy collection, and room after room of wax figures of organs and bodies. I loved it. A couple other people came along, and I think didn't enjoy it as much as I did. Sorry guys.
I also got to see Pontormo's Deposition. I had forgotten where it was, and just stumbled on it while leaving a church. That was a great surprise.
On the next weekend a few of us planned on a low-key weekend trip to Siena, but ended up getting sidetracked to Perugia instead. It was the first day of the Umbria jazz festival, which is a pretty big deal over there. We didn't get to see any of it because it started that evening and the last bus back to Siena was pretty early, but we got a nice lunch, some good chocolate and took a walk. We all kind of fell in love with Perugia that day. It's a beautiful and lively city. It's also a lot greener than Tuscany.
We had to get back to Siena for our hotel reservation. In Siena we had a really nice dinner at a restaurant near the Campo, where I had sheep milk souffle with caramelized pears. It was amazing.
During the week, Joe McKendry, the RISD teacher who recruited us for the dig, came to give us a little direction. He got us started on our own personal drawing projects, so we weren't just drawing the same old dry artifacts. I did a drawing of the etruscan wool-spinning process, recreating the tools with what parts of them we had found.
Joe McKendry and the Intergalactic Risdoids
The next weekend was a three day weekend, so that people would have more of an opportunity to travel farther. Instead of making the hike out to Rome or something I went to Assisi to visit the Fortini family, whom I stayed with for a while during my year in Italy. It was so wonderful to see them. They were so warm and fun, and so little had changed. It was also really fun to be able to talk with them just a little better than before. My Italian still wasn't good enough to keep up with their fast paced banter, making dinners a little awkward, but I could certainly communicate better.
Annalisa, (front, center) the young daughter of the family who acted as primary hostess while I stayed there, had an important exam that Monday so was fairly busy. Marco (far left) took me on some trips on his motorcycle, which was thrilling. We ended up getting to go the the Perugia jazz festival. It was really fun, and also really interesting to hear Italian interpretations of a very American kind of music. We also took a day trip across the valley to little hilltowns. We went to Montefalco, where Marco works sometime, and Cannara, the Onion capitol of Italy.
These motorcycle trips with Marco turned into a weekly thing, and I ended up being able to see a lot of Tuscany, as well as parts of the northern coast by Motorcycle. We went to Montalcino, where they make Brunello, and Bagno Vignoni, a town with a giant thermal bath. Another weekend we went to Livorno, a very strange coastal town up north where a lot of the men were wearing silver suits. We had dinner with some of Marco's friends (who were not wearing silver suits) and I was further embarrassed by my poor Italian. These weekend trips were incredible. Motorcycle is such an incredible way to see/hear/smell/feel a place.
Bagno Vignoni
Cool Cows, I don't know where.
Livorno
Tuscany, fast!
Other than the weekend trips, there wasn't much more going on. The last week of the dig was a mad rush to get all of the drawings done, and we didn't get out of the storage space very much.
On the last night, we had a big group feast, and with a lot of speeches, national anthems and grappa, and the next day we shipped off. I went into Siena for a night to meet with Becca. It was so wonderful to see her again!! We had dinner and got all caught up on each others lives and what all was going on in Louisiana. After dinner we ran into Taylor and Mike, from the dig, and got drinks.
The next morning the four of us found a place that served omelets, which we had all been craving after a long summer without a single hearty breakfast. Becca was maybe less excited, but you must know, Italians just do not do breakfast.
After eggs we said goodbye to Taylor and Mike and shipped off to Orvieto. Orvieto was so wonderful and so beautiful and relaxing, and the food was so good. Becca and I just made a bunch of dinners and walked around the little city, and I spent a good portion of an evening on the internet checking emails and catching up on everything I'd missed in the world.
Orvieto has a really beautiful duomo, with a little chapel that had some of the most beautiful and bizarre frescoes I've ever seen. Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures in there.
Orvieto is famous for its ceramics, and beautiful views.
Becca and I spent a wonderful week in Rome, which was fun, sad, and exciting. We went back to all of our old favorite spots, ate at Roscioli, bought weird jewelry from Porta Portese and had a cappuccino with Ezio (il uomo). It was so, so so so wonderful to be back in Rome. It was every bit as much home, and I think coming back after a year of reflection it was a lot easier to deal with the aspects of Rome that are most frustrating (mostly, unfriendly locals). We also got to see the Bernini fountain in Piazza Navona, which was closed all year while we were there, and also when I came in the beginning of the trip. Mostly though we just ate.
View from our apartment
Food, food, food food food. Also, wine.
Bernini! Finally!
I had a wonderful, wonderful summer. I'm hoping to be able to go back next summer, and keep Italy a part of my life always.
