A Tuscan View - from Umbria

Bonfire of the Vanities

15th June 2007

Marito didn’t intend to start teaching art courses straight away. I think he meant to have a little break, maybe a spot of light demolition, angle grinding and mixing concrete. Any spare time would be filled with sun-bathing and personal grooming.
But, as word got out that we were here to start running art courses, people began to express an interest and, one day, he was accosted outside the local farmacia by a small group of ladies. They were, they said, a painting class without a teacher and they insisted on being taught. How could he refuse?
And so it is that they are currently about half way through their first 10 week course, devised to include drawing and painting with some juicy art history thrown in to get them going.

One Tuesday the lovely ladies and marito visited the seminal city of Florence, arguably the most beautiful city in Italy, crowned by Brunelleschi’s wondrous Duomo. Its wealth of Renaissance masterpieces makes it far too much to take in in one day, so he decided to skirt around the Duomo and head instead for one of his personal favourites, the cool, serene cloisters of San Marco. It was here that Fra Angelico created perhaps the most luminous and touching Annunciation in Renaissance art, as well as 50 or so other meditative frescoes for the monks who lived and worked there. The lavish patronage of the Medici founded this monastery but, ironically, it became the seat of power in Florence for the dark, melancholic monk Savonarola. His pious fire-brand preaching opposed the Medici in every way culminating in the colossal ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ in the great Piazza della Signoria and led, ultimately, to his brutal execution on the very same spot. Powerful stuff!
Of course, all ladies like to lunch, so that pretty much finished off the day.

The Best thing I ate today;
Piccola Torta di Riso

I first came across these shy beauties in a bar in Siena – my radar honed in on a plateful, dusted with icing-sugar, as they jostled for attention amongst the flaky cornettos and oily pizzette on offer for breakfast. It was, as they say, a ‘good call’.
Today is no disappointment, the tender buttery pastry of this tiny tart is filled with sticky ambrosial rice; creamy and scented with oranges. It has the same magical melting moment as Latte Portughese (custard tarts) or Proustian Madeleines and is a worthy partner to this morning’s ‘Cappuccio’.
Two bites and they are gone, so although I do agree with mio bello marito that sometimes ‘less is more’, this is an occasion when one is definitely not enough.

Where to get it;
Caffetteria Stefanini, Citta della Pieve

Three little words

10th June 2007

It had to happen sooner or later.
I thought I was prepared, but you never really are.
When the builder tells you to ‘clear the site’ he means business. Suddenly all the pretence is over and I have to start doing some real work. I had told him that I wanted to do as much work on the house as was possible, and he gave me a rather withering look as though he’d heard that one so many times before. Now I know that I need to impress him during the next two weeks before he comes back to check on my progress.
He also reminded me that every brick counts, as the old ones cost up to 4 euros each from a builders merchant and so, if I can carefully excavate each one I find, I can save myself thousands of euros. But brick is as nothing when compared to old stone, every one of those counts too, and sections need to be arranged for the builders in careful piles; stones (called ‘baby heads’ for obvious reasons), full bricks, half bricks, one-faced bricks and rubble. Finally I’ve found a use for my sledgehammer.
I have also now bought an angle-grinder, despite mistakenly translating it as ‘ankle-grinder’ in the DIY store. It is the most ferocious and scary piece of equipment I have ever used and I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it or even begin to start enjoying it, but it has its purpose and makes for an impressive photo at least.

The stupidest thing I did today;

Making the foolish assumption that sunglasses are an appropriate equivalent to safety-goggles.