the Middle Ages

pics: 1) the Savages at the agriturismo Fattoria Collepina, 2) the olive grove at the agriturismo, 3) the view of southern Umbria from the agriturismo with Amelia on the hilltop in the distance, 4) the view from inside the walls of Macchie, 5) Eli and Dad at the soccer game, and 6) Eli trying to drink from a hose.

Read the post below for the story behind the pics. Except for the hose one. That's just cute.










Today was the first of the two Faculty/Host Family vs. Student soccer matches that will happen this year, and in case you were wondering, we kicked their butts. The final score was something like 9 -2, and I even managed to put one past the keeper. It was a beautiful day, and we all had fun. The next match is in April, and it just might take me that long to recover. My back more or less went out in the warmups before the game, and in true weekend warrior fashion I ignored the pain, played on, and really screwed up my back. Hence the title of this post. Now I do have somewhat of an excuse, mind you. The bike I have been riding (including a 50k ride this morning before the game) has a stem that is 2cm longer than the stem on my bike at home. What that means for you non-cyclists reading this is that I am stretched out a bit further as I rest my hands on the handlebars. This is putting extra stress on my lower back. And in case you aren't reading between the lines, I am getting old it seems.

In other news, last weekend we went with another American teacher, Ashley from Houston who teaches math, to an agriturismo outside of Amelia on the way to Macchie. Check the location out on googlemaps (search for Amelia Umbria Italy). This is rural Italy. Last week was cold in general, and we were looking for a way to get out of the apartment and see some pretty countryside. We thought we might see some leaves changing, but the lack of rain seems to have affected to changing of the seasons. The agriturismo (basically an inn that is part of a farm of one sort or another) was one we found online, and we had called ahead to make a reservation. When we walked in the door, we saw that there was no table in the restaurant with less than 15 people . 3 or 4 of these giant tables were multi-generational family affairs, and one was a group of youngish graduate student types. Then there was our table of four. We settled in for a fantastic meal that included many products produced on the farm, including the wine, olives, and now that I think of it, just about everything we ate. The winner was a dish that Ashley ordered, a ricotta ravioli with a taleggio radicchio cream sauce. It was one of the best dishes we have tasted since we have been in Italy. The real excitement of the meal, however, came when Eli was playing with a bunch of kids from the big family tables I mentioned earlier. He was having a blast with them; that is until he fell over. This fall was particularly notable because he put out his arms to absorb the blow, but his arms fell on either side of the rim of a giant ceramic planter. The edge hit him squarely between the eyes, and he had a bump there for four days.

On the way back we drove to Macchie, more or less just to say we have been there. The town is one of the smallest we have seen. We drove up to the walled section which consists of about 10 or so medieval houses at the crest of a hill. The local gentry were seated outside as we drove by, and we were the recipients of a good, long stare. I think our drive-by may be the annual total of tourist activity for this remote town. On the way back to Viterbo we had to make a stop because we thought that Eli soiled his diaper. It turns out it was just a big fart.

Enjoy the pictures!

Midterms

Sorry it's been so long since our last post. Sam has been bogged down with grading midterms and I've been bogged down with taking them. Well, I guess I haven't really "taken" any midterms, but I had to turn in a few midterm projects this week so that counts. There's been a flurry of trip planning since getting back from Sonata's wedding as well. Our friends Jer and Lisa and their 9 mo old, Zach, are visiting at the end of the month. We're heading up to Tuscany with them. I'm really looking forward to it. We've been avoiding Tuscany a bit so as not to spoil the freshness of the experience. We've done our fair share of wine research though to make sure we're well versed for the trip... very well versed. Adrian, one of my roommates from Columbia, and the Savage three have also just made plans to go to Istanbul in mid-November. I've been yearning to go to Istanbul for the past 12 years so you can imagine my excitement!

As for more local news, Sam and I are just getting underway with the conversation partners that we found. Mine is an architect here in Viterbo. His name is Fausto. We meet twice a week and do an Italian/English exchange. He speaks a bit of English but I think he wants to improve upon it 1) because his girlfriend is American, though they converse in Italian, and 2) because his business is about to hit it big. He just won a young architect's competition in the states. He's designing an international art institute called OMI up in Hudson, NY. Anyway, makes for good conversation. He has all sorts of interesting artist friends that drop by his studio while we talk - very fun. Sam is about start with his conversation partner next week, so I'll fill you in on her once I get the low down.

I've also had my first Italian "girls" night. I think they'll be quite educational. First lession: make sure you pronounce "penne" properly and use it in context.

penne = a type of pasta
pene = penis

Very wily, those Italians.

No pictures today, but I'll work on getting more this weekend. In lieu of pictures I'm attaching a link to wood shop we found on our last trip to Orvieto. A whole section of town is devoted to his impressive work. His work is really folksy, and whimsical, and beautiful. Here's a link if you want to check it out. www.michelangeli.it/bottega/arredo_urbano.htm (double click on the images for a better look).

Happy Landing

Yes, Eli and I did land safe and sound back in Viterbo. The trip was great. It was so nice seeing the Columbia gang. We rented a house for the week so the fourteen of us had plenty time to catch up. I thought I'd post some pictures of us at the beach.

Eli and me

Eli enjoying the sand

Eli and Nana

The happily wedded couple

Just a few of the friends with whom we shared a house

They're back...

and not in that scary Poltergeist way.

Caroline and Eli landed safely at Fiumicino on Tuesday, and I am wicked glad that they are home. All reports suggest that Sonata's wedding was a grand event and that a good time was had by all. I am sorry to have missed the Crew on Fripp, but alas, someone has to bring home the pancetta. Miraculously both Caroline and Eli made the trip both ways relatively unscathed. At the tender young age of 13-ish months Eli has traveled to Europe twice, visited at least 7 states, seen two oceans, and is working on becoming bilingual. Not bad for a kid who still, you know, soils himself several times day.

Work has been really busy lately, and I am ready for a break of some sort. We hope to get into Rome this weekend for a change of scene. Caroline and Eli are settling right back in to the rhythm of things except for the fact the Eli's jet-lag has kept us up for the last two nights. We are hoping tonight he can make it through so that we can get our rest too. Tomorrow we are off to Orvieto to meet a Head Royce colleague who happens to be visiting Italy, and I look forward to getting away, even if it is only for lunch.

That's about it for now. I have to get back to grading a set of Intensive Latin Grammar tests (jealous?). We apologize for the lack of posts lately, and we will try to get back into the groove so to speak. Go Diamondbacks!

just like that movie...

Caroline and Eli are back in the States for Sonata's wedding in South Carolina, and I am here in Viterbo partying it up like a bachelor, just like Adrian Zmed in that movie "Bachelor Party." In my version there are fewer donkeys and the hilarious hijinks are really quite more tame in general. Anyway, they left on Friday morning, and I spent the day in Rome visiting a Groton classmate, Annabel Briger, who has lived in Rome for the last 9 years, and checking out the Capitoline Museums as well as the Museo Barroco, a small collection of ancient art from Mesopotamia, Assyria, Greece, and Rome. I will spare you all the lengthy historical lecture since you all probably got nauseous after my loggorrhea-tastic entry on Etruscan burial monuments. In short both museums were spectacular, and I can't even begin to list all of the cool things I saw. I will post some pics, but they are really the tip of the iceberg. On Saturday I went back to Rome to see more museums and sites. Basically I am trying to take advantage of the fact that Eli's 13 month old attention span and penchant for ranting at raised volumes are not presently in the country. Saturday's visits included: the Musei Nazionali Romani at Palazzo Massimo and Terme di Diocleziano, Santa Maria Maggiore, Palazzo Barberini and an extended walk through some streets on the Esquiline Hill. Again I can't even begin to list all of the mindblowing things I saw, but one true highlight was the Summer Triclinium fresco from Livia's (the wife of Augustus) Villa. It is exhibited in a room that is probably 20 feet by 40 feet and generally dark except for the fiber optic lights that illuminate just enough of the fresco to make out the extraordinary details and the vibrance of the colors. The fresco is about 8 feet tall and completely intact as it stretches around the entire room I described above. Looking at it I felt giddy and overwhelmed like the first time I saw the Water Lilies at MOMA or the Guernica in Madrid. It was a truly exceptional experience, and I recommend that anyone who comes to Rome not miss this room and generally the entire 2nd (3rd by American standards) floor of the Museo Nazionale Romano Palazzo Massimo. And then there was the food...

Annabel and I met at the statue in the middle of Campo dei Fiori where there was an active outdoor market of mostly food vendors, and she took me to a reliable (according to her) spot nearby where I had what was probably the best Spaghetti alla Matriciana of my life. I was a little worried when we got there because I had purposefully spoiled my appetite an hour or so before we met. By purposefully I mean that I have no will power when it comes to food (most of you know this about me), and the mere proximity to an eating destination dictates my behavior. And it just so happens I planned my walking route towards Campo dei Fiori so that it would take me past a particular destination. The site of this pre-lunch indulgence was Alberto Pica, a phenomenal gelateria off of Via Arenula near the Largo Argentina. Going on the advice of a wise friend (grazie for the tip, Jan!) I tried the riso alla canella (sort of a rice, cream, and cinnamon type flavor) and the cioccolato, and it was extraordinary. Despite this highly caloric peccadillo, I was able to down the pasta at lunch like Homer Simpson after a fast, and I even considered another trip to Alberto Pico to try two different flavors. But that was Friday, and I knew I had one more day in Rome to go. Pace myself, I thought, as I considered options for the next day's meals.

Saturday was no let down either. I ate lunch at an enoteca called Trimani which is bascially the wine bar sister of a reputable wine shop near Termini train station of all places. This was the sort of place our food guide (Great Eats Italy by Sandra Gustafson. We have used this here and also her Paris edition, and we are very pleased with her recommendations. Plus the reviews are just fun to read.) led me to believe is not the sort of place that welcomes extremely cute and boisterous toddlers. With the kid out of the picture I thought this was my chance. (Sorry, Caroline. Maybe one of the nice people reading this will come visit and babysit for us while we go there together.) What followed was probably the best meal I have had so far in Italy. The first course was a spaghetti with salted cod (baccala) and shrimp that was truly divine. The second course was a steak tartare served on endive (?I think?) with some sort of gorgonzola sauce that brought down the house, so to speak. After ordering these dishes I asked my waitress to recommend a wine to accompany them, and she delivered with a truly delicious Barbera d'Alba. I wrote down the name of the bottle and hope to head back to the wine shop next to the restaurant to pick up a few bottles. Any of the aforementioned babysitters might just find themselves enjoying said wine while watching the cutest baby in the world and listening to him explore vocal ranges previously known only to castrati and warthogs respectively.

Of course no day in Italy is complete without gelato, and the scene of Saturday's crime was the oldest gelateria in Rome, Palazzo dello Freddo. Here I sampled their riso, crema caramel, and nocciolato (a hazelnut/chocolate flavor), and I was not let down. Now that I have tried most of the gelaterias in Rome that have been recommended to me, I have to say that each one has it's own thing going for it. For those Bostonians in the house it's kind of like the difference between Herrel's, Toscanini's, J.P. Lick's, Emack and Bolio's and Kimball's in Westford. Each one has it's own particular strength whether it is the intensity of the flavors, the creaminess, or the overall experience. In short, I like them all, and I hope to make repeat visits to each and every one.

Sorry for the long post, but I am here alone and writing in this blog is more appealing to me than watching an Italian infomercial or some weird Sam Neil television series from Australia dubbed in Italian that always seems to be on. Hope you all are well. Skype me if you get the chance. I'd love to chat if you have a few free minutes. Here are some pics of stuff I saw on Friday and Saturday.


















p.s. If there is stuff we are leaving out that you are curious about, let us know, and we will be happy to post on the subject.

"Ciao!" says Eli

Eli the master mind...

The snuggler...

Eli on the go...

I've noticed that our pics have been a little light on our favorite subject, Eli, so I thought I'd post a few now. Eli's doing really well. He's loving his babysitting situation with his host mom, Patrizia. Patrizia has a fifteen month old daughter, Sarah, and two older children that are school age. Eli and Sarah are great playmates. I think they've got a bit of a crush on one another. Apparently, Sarah only says two words to date, "Mama" and "Ee-i". Unfortunately, they're both sick this week. I think they may have caught a bug from one of Sarah's older siblings. Then Eli and I are off to South Carolina this Friday for Sonata and Drew's wedding, so they won't get to see each other for awhile. I already can't wait to see the smiles and hugs when they're reunited. I'll try to get a picture of them together.

In other Eli news, I think we can officially say that "Ciao" is Eli's first word. It's certainly understandable. Since ciao's used for hello and goodbye, he hears it about 5o times a day. People love saying ciao to babies! He said it to a couple of shopkeepers on Saturday, and then to Patrizia and Sarah on Monday. We haven't been out and about much since then due to his cold. Very exciting news though.

It's been hard to get pictures of Eli lately. Now that he's walking, he won't stay still. Some of the blurry shots illustrate my point. When he's not on the go, he's spending a lot of time trying to figure out what things are and how they work. Not too many smiles this week, due to the cold, but still as cute as ever. Watching him grow gets better and better...

Tumuli and a sore butt

Nice title, right?

Anyway, Friday was the first field trip with the students, and it was great. Caroline and Eli met us there, and I took the bus with the kids and other faculty who came along. As it turns out none of the field trips are mandatory for the American faculty, but we (including Caroline and Eli!) are welcome to come along if there is room on the bus. The school will even cover our admission on most of the trips. The educational content is provided by the ancient history and ancient art history teachers. I am allowed to add content if I feel so moved. In short, Caroline, Eli and I get to go to these great places and listen to lectures and tour guides who explain to us what we are seeing, and we we don't have to pay a cent. Pretty sweet deal. This time we went to Cerveteri where there is an ancient Etruscan necropolis (lit. city of the dead) that has burial monuments dating from the 9th to the 2nd century b.c.e. It was awesome. Once you enter, the site is spread out along a hillside, and you can basically wander anywhere you want. There are no fences or barriers; just walk into a tomb, take a look, and move on to the next one.

A brief history lesson from a poorly informed and likely entirely inaccurate source:
Basically there were four types of funerary monuments at this site. The Iron Age/Villanovan (i.e. 9th and 8th centuries b.c.e) types which at first were simply large stone urns for ashes and then were trench tombs (i.e. graves like we know them). This change in funerary practices from cremation to burial leads some people to believe that the Etruscans migrated somewhere else, probably Lydia. Others believe that the Etruscans were autochthonous and that this change simply represents the adaptation of new cultural practices discovered through trade with other cultures, namely the Phoenicians and the Greeks. The next type of tomb was called a tumulus (pl. tumuli) which was an artificial mound created by piling up tufa (a volcanic stone found in abundance in this part of Italy) on top of a chamber tomb, most of which seem to have consisted of 3 or 4 rooms. They sort of look like big huts with an entrance cut out facing the northwest. Some of these were really extraordinary with detailed molding on the outside and detailed stone work on the inside.

These tumuli represent the period in Etruscan history where established trade ties led to more wealth and a stratified class system. The wealthiest families built these tumuli for themselves and their descendants. The site in Cerveteri lies in between the ancient town and the port. We walked on the same ancient roads that the Etruscans would have used daily to bring goods to and from the sea. In fact, we saw the grooves the wagons had worn in the stone pavings. All by way of saying that this burial complex was integrated into the daily life of this town. These tumuli would have commanded respect on a daily basis. Relatives would come by and make offerings, and the rest of the people would have visual proof of the importance of certain families. These tombs would have been painted brightly and filled with treasures. The paint is gone because they used no adhesive to bond the paint to the stone, and the treasures were either stolen by grave robbers or are sitting somewhere in the Vatican Museums.

The next phase in the burial customs of the Etruscans were the tombs built into the walls of the hills and often punctuated by squared tufa brick facades. These were aligned in streets, and the theory is that as urban planning developed, the burial customs literally created a "city of the dead" modeled after their own city. In this part of the site you can see entrances to tombs lined up along roads like shops on a busy street.

Above are some pictures for you to look at. One is Eli at the entrance to a tumulus. Another is me in front of a few tumuli. Then Caroline in front of some tumuli. Then a tumulus. The last one is a picture of the later kind of tomb that was modeled after the contemporary urban planning. These are just the tip of the iceberg at this site. It was truly amazing, and I can't wait to learn more about the Etruscans.

And now...just a quick report on my bike ride yesterday (Saturday). We met at the piazzetta again, but this time the group left without us because we were waiting for Pat. Renato, a very nice man and friend of Pat and Rolf (another American teacher), waited with us, and when Pat arrived he said that the day's ride was to Amelia, in Umbria. I was ready for the challenge and off we went. We got to Orte, the furthest point in last week's ride, and rode on, crossing the Tiber and up the hills on the far side of the Tiber Valley. I have to admit I still get a chill when I see the Tiber. In Orte it is really nothing much to look at, but I am in awe of the history that river has seen and the peoples and cultures it has helped feed. Anyway, on the long and steady climb to Amelia we crossed into Umbria with it's wooded hills dotted with olive groves and vineyards. A lot of people were harvesting their grapes, and this meant that around several turns we were greeted with the smell of the crush as the farmers got started producing their next vintages of wine. I have smelled this before up in Napa, but this was certainly a special experience. We were on a tiny road within feet of the farmers cutting the grapes off of the vines. The views were spectacular, and the ride was pleasant. That is until we leveled off, and I thought we were just moments from Amelia. We actually had one more climb to get to Amelia, and that one hurt really badly...and not in a good way.

In Amelia we stopped for a caffe macchiato and some caloric intake, and while we were at the bar we saw the other riders from the group who had taken the other route from Orte to Amelia. We hopped back in the saddle and headed out on that other route back which despite the rules of geography is also uphill. "How can that be?" I thought as my legs began to feel deadened, and I began to worry because we were only half way. We had 50 kilometers left to ride, including the hill coming out of Orte that destroyed me last week. To make a long story short. It hurt, something awful, but I made it. This was the hardest ride I have ever done, and I am glad that it is now a gilded memory. Caroline, Eli and I celebrated this triumph with gelato followed by pizza at a great place out in the country with the American faculty, Dave, Roberta, and Daniel (pictures coming soon), and now I can start to worry about next week's ride.

Hope you all are well. All prossima.