Congratulations Rachel and Welcome to the World Penelope!!!

I just received word from GRANDMA Cindy that Penelope was born at 8:09 this morning! She is a perfect 7 lbs 9 oz and 19 in, and both baby and mommy are doing great. Congratulations Rachel and welcome to the world Penelope! I wish I could be there now. Please know that I love you both and am thinking of you and sending you much love! I can't wait to meet you Penelope! Love, your GREAT Uncle Ieszic.

Oh, the Labors of School in Italy

The school program here covers the classes I would be taking at home and also allows us to take unique art classes as well as several fieldtrips and tours.

My core class is called “Methods and Applications” which is a study of the primary methodologies behind landscape architecture and tasks us to apply them to a particular real world project. In the graduate student group from Cal Poly Pomona we have 11 landscape architecture graduate students (including myself) plus one architecture graduate student. Of that we have formed two groups to work on two different projects. The project I’m working on is based on a site on the western coast of Rome in a city named Ostia Antica. In a nutshell, we’re working to find a way to reconnect several various land use areas that have become separated over a course of many years into one interconnected community and space. The other group is working on a site on the island of Sardinia where they’re charged with addressing environmental issues in the city of Sorso.

I’m also taking a landscape history class, a painting class, a class on “survival Italian,” and a class in stone carving! Nice classes, huh?

Part of our program includes many tours of historic and landscape/architectural importance. The tours are given by our professors Phil and Ken as well as by members of the Santa Chiara program and occasionally by hired professional tour guides. Each week we take a chartered bus or the local train to a new city or site for a day trip and tour. Part of our assignments for these fieldtrips is that we produce at least one sketch and one poem from each site. It’s a neat way to make you think creatively about the site and see it in a unique way.
The man in the red shirt is Paolo, the founder of the program here at Santa Chiara, and the man in the background is our professor Phil. Phil and Paolo are both great tour guides and are an incredible wealth of knowledge on the historic, political, artistic and landscape happenings of the sites we visit. It’s wonderful to listen to them as they guide us through sites because you can see the fire in their eyes as they talk. It’s great to watch people doing what they love. And this only adds to the quality and enjoyment of the tours.


Here’s our group heading up a steep street here in Castiglion Fiorentino for one of our first tours of our new home town.


On this tour with Paolo and Phil we were able to visit the interior of the church next to our school, Chiesa San Giuliano. The interior was beautifully decorated and contains some spectacular paintings as well as stone and tile work.


This painting of the Virgin Mary with child Jesus dates back to the 1200’s. The colors and gold leafing on the painting are still so vibrant and beautiful.


Paolo was able to get us a special tour into the local museum and library. This guy has some clout around here as we always seem to get special treatment when he’s around. Here, in this library, the curator let us into a special room of ancient books. These books date back to the 1100’s! Can you imagine? They were just incredible and the shelves on the walls were lined with them! What a wealth of collection. In this picture the curator and her little girl (I assumed) are taking out one of the impressive pieces of the collection for us to take a close look at it.


This book is a bible from the 1200’s that includes Gregorian chants. The leather cover and bindings are all original. It was about 2 ½ feet long and 1 ½ feet wide.


Inside the book Paolo showed us the beautiful hand painted lettering and music. The pages are all made of sheepskin.


The colors were so vivid and beautiful! We were all just in awe. Such exquisite work and from 800 years ago. It’s hard for me to get my mind around that. The time and effort that went into making this one-of-a-kind work of art is unbelievable.


Paolo also showed us a medieval journal of legal events taking place here in Castiglion Fiorentino. This book documents legal proceedings, property information and also the not-so-pleasant demise of several people. The hand painted icons on the left of the page show hanging people indicating that the person was, well, hanged. The icons of the boats indicate that they were exiled. It was really fascinating!


After visiting the library we walked around town and stopped at several important locations where Paolo would captivate us all with wonderful stories and history. This picture shows the original “measures” of Castiglion Fiorentino. Back in medieval times each city displayed their standards of measurement near the city center. These standards would tell everyone exactly how long a particular metric was by having a unit of the measurements cut in metal and built into a wall to be displayed. This way everyone was measuring things to the same standards in that town. Most towns of the region had the same measurement standards but they did occasionally vary as these remote little towns were often forgotten (out of sight) by the aristocracy and were ruled by a local elected government.


After that we visited the Etruscan museum here in town which had a very nice collection and exhibit. Castiglion Fiorentino has several sites of Etruscan settlements and some are very well preserved. This image shows one of the excavations discovered underneath the building that is now the museum.


This image is of Etruscan pottery found at the site.


Back inside the school, we have two studios that are dedicated to the Cal Poly Pomona students. We use these studios for painting, computer work, classes and project work. Unfortunately, many of the undergrads also use the studios for ping pong, games and hanging out which doesn’t make for a productive, creative working environment for anyone else. Geez, I sound like and old man! The studios are great spaces, just not usually a good place for quite work.



Whenever the weather is good we have our painting class in the late afternoon outside in the school courtyard. We started with watercolor and some pencil figure drawing and are just now moving to oil paints. It’s been a lot of fun and also very frustrating for me. Inside I feel like I have a lot of creative talent just waiting to burst out but then when I see what I turn out I’m often disappointed. I guess it’s a matter of practice. At any rate, the classes have been great.

Here my friends and classmates Jason and April are analyzing the sky as we were working on an assignment to paint the clouds.


And here’s Merilee and company hard at work with watercolors.


Speaking of being hard at work, in this picture you can see some of my watercolor tools. One of these cups is for cleaning my brushes and one is not. Can you guess what’s in the dark glass? I love Italy!


And here’s a common character who visits us during watercolor class. This is Henry, who I mentioned earlier. He’s our resident crow who lives here and is completely comfortable with the people. In this shot he’s fresh from fluffing himself up after a bath. You have to keep your eyes on this guy or you might lose your breakfast and/or paint brushes!


In addition to the classes offered by the school, we were able to register for art classes offered by local artisans. I chose to sign up for a stone carving class taught by a local artist named Alberto Bruni, whom we call Maestro Bruni. He’s a wonderful character and a very talented artist. He’s quite famous in this region and even has work shown in famous New York galleries. Currently he is in his late 70’s and is both a stone sculptor and a painter. His introduction to art is a rather sad story though. Earlier in his life he was a mason and a home builder. However, 20 years ago his wife passed away and so he began to dabble in painting and stone carving to “fill the void in his life” as he describes it. He’s had no formal training as an artist, and is completely self-taught. In 20 years he has disciplined himself to be a very talented artist. He said the stone carving all began when he realized that he needed a new mantle for his fireplace and decided to carve it himself from stone!

He doesn’t speak any English, so all of this is understood through the occasional translator, gestures, and the little bit of Italian that I understand. We seem to have developed a good relationship though, and he is very kind to me. As we work (our group of about 6 people) he walks from person to person and helps us with our carvings. He shows us how to hold the mallet and chisel (which he made for each of us!) and guides us with how to accomplish our designs. He’ll walk by, laugh, put his hand on the back of my neck and give me a shake saying, “Bene, bene!” I’m only hoping he’s not making fun of me!

Here’s the man himself, Maestro Bruni!


His work is just amazing. This is a bicycle, with spinning wheels, a chain with moving links, and a horn that actually whistles, all carved from stone!


This dresser he carved from stone has working drawers that easily slide in and out just like a wooden dresser. It’s just beautiful!


The picture here doesn’t do this piece justice, but this is a completely functional hope chest that opens and even locks with a key and a locking mechanism all carved from stone!


Maestro Bruni’s style is beautifully naïve. His sculptures of people and his paintings are almost cartoon like and have wonderful expressions. This sculpture of a woman with a pack on her back makes me envision an older lady coming home from a long day working in the fields. The smile on her face makes me imagine that she’s happy to be going home to a nice hot pot of soup and someone she loves.


A REALLY quirky thing about Maestro Bruni is his interest with people pooping. Yes, pooping! He paints and sculpts things from everyday life – from the life he knows as having grown up with few resources and working hard on the farm. And, well, people poop. So, he paints and sculpts this too. Kind of odd, but a fact of life, and I appreciate that he’s not afraid to express that. What a character! Here is one of his pooping paintings…


This man is also in the Guinness Book of World Records for carving the longest piece of chain from a single block of stone. Yes, CHAIN! With moving, individual links. It’s incredible! The chains are kind of his specialty and they’re really quite beautiful. This is the piece that made the world’s record. Imagine, a single block of stone!


We work in his studio with him which is on his property just behind his home.


He has set each of us up with our own mallet and chisel (which I mentioned he made for us!) and a tile of stone to “practice” on (picture below). However, I’m still “practicing” in my first tile so I don’t know if I’m going to make it to a “real” piece, but I’m having a great time learning, I’m enjoying the experience of working with Maestro Bruni, and I’m having fun.


So see? I am working hard, I am! Art and landscape architecture school in Italy is tough work. It’s not for everyone. It requires intense training and much preparation. Umm, yeah. Anybody buying this? Hell, I’m the luckiest guy in the world!

In all honesty though, this truly is a wonderful learning environment and opportunity. We are reading, studying, writing reports and working on projects. But, at the same time we’re touring incredible places, eating more than is humanly possible, and drinking wonderful wine and cappuccino. Jeff, honey, I think WD-40 might need a logistics office here!

Castiglion Fiorentino, A Walk Around Town

I really love our little town here and it has come to feel a lot more like home than I had imagined it would. When we go out for fieldtrips or excursions I always look forward to coming back to our sweet, quiet little village.

I thought I’d take you on a “walk” through our little spot here and show you some of the highlights and things that I’ve enjoyed.

Just next to our school, in the square called Piazza Collegiata, is the main church of the town named Chiesa di San Giuliano. “Chiesa” is Italian for church. It’s a beautiful church that dates back to medieval times of the 14th and 15th centuries. They hold mass here every day, and people come from all over town every Sunday to attend mass.


On the left side of the church is this beautiful bell tower that you could see in the town view picture of my last post. It’s one of two towers in our town, which is really useful. If you’re ever out walking through the valley and get turned around, just head toward the tower and you’ll find your way back home. At the top of the tower are giant bronze bells that ring every day. I love the sound of the bells, even when it wakes me up early in the morning. I just wake up a little and smile as I realize I’m in Tuscany.


This close up of a side door to the church gives you a sense of the beautiful brick and masonry work on the building.


Being a medieval town it was built at a time when they encircled their cities within walls and gates. These walls and gates still exist and are still the main entrances to the city. Today the city has spread past the walls and down the hill though due to expansion and population. Unfortunately not all of the development down the hill is as picturesque as inside the walls.

Here is an image of Porto Romano, which means it’s the gate to/from the city that points toward Rome. Notice the simple yet beautiful buildings on the hill and the wonderful rock work.


This is a close up of the rock used to build most of the structures in the old center of town. In several areas it’s quite eroded, but still holding up just fine. The lichen and plants that grow on the walls make them look like they’re right out of a fairy tale.


Just outside of the gate is this large section of the original city wall. Can you see how part of the base of the wall is made of the existing bedrock? Behind and on top of this wall is where our little town is.


The city has 3 gates, and this image is of the gate on the opposite side of the town from the first gate picture. This gate is named Porto Florentino because it points toward Florence. Inside this gate is the main street of the town named Corso Italia. Many of the little towns we’ve visited in Italy have streets named Corso Italia. I get the impression that it’s similar to the way we use the name Main Street.


Here is Corso Italia on a quiet, cloudy morning. The street is lined with a variety of shops selling food, clothes, jewelry, travel arrangements and more, as well as offering two pharmacies (which double as little urgent care clinics) and a few cafes. As you can see the buildings come right up out of the street, and there is no sidewalk. The narrow street is shared by pedestrians, motorists and cyclists so when you hear a car coming by you have to squeeze over to the edge. These folks in the picture are locals going about their day. Look everybody! Real Italians!


On Corso Italia is my favorite bar, Bar Maro. However, the word “bar” here is used to designate a café where they sell coffee, sandwiches and pastries. They do sell liquor here, but I go there for the nice people and the best cappuccinos in town. They recognize me now and wave to me when I walk down the street. The “Caffé Sandy” sign tells you what type of coffee they serve there, like in Belgium the beer signs on the restaurants and bars tell you what type of beer was served. I love that system!


Also on the Corso is a local stationary/art supply store where I go to buy many of my supplies.


And then there’s my favorite Tabacchi. No, I haven’t started smoking. The tabacchi is a tobacco shop but also operates as the local convenience store of sorts and also sells stamps, maps and all kinds of stuff. It’s kind of a unique phenomenon here in Europe, but they’re handy little stores to have around.


And the list wouldn’t be complete without the local hardware store. It’s the strangest little hardware store. They sell hardware, garden supplies and have a great selection of art supplies. Weird, huh? But a good resource nonetheless.


While we’re talking about favorites, I have to include a picture of the best gelato place in town. Unfortunately it’s closed in this shot, but this is the place to go for great gelato! However, I just heard a terrible rumor that they’ll be closing for the winter soon, so I’ll have to stock up!


Shopping is really fun here with the quaint little stores that sell unique items and doing your shopping is more like an outing. In this picture the red doors on the left is the local “fruterria”, where they sell fresh fruit and produce and lots of other random items. The shop is run by a really sweet older lady and her daughter. The older woman is wonderful! She wears a house coat all the time and when you take your items up to the register she reads each item back to you as she rings them up and then once again as she goes over it with you reviewing the receipt. It’s really a good way to practice Italian! Two more new friends to add to the list! On the right of the fruterria, in the arched doorway is another nice bar/café, run by the lovely Michela, that has a nice patio where I often go to read and study while enjoying cappuccinos and the valley views below.


Here’s the inside of the wonderful little fruterria. She sells all kinds of good stuff.


This is the view of the valley from the patio next to the fruterria and cafe. It’s a beautiful place, isn’t it?


Of course we have clusters of Italian Cypress trees everywhere. A Tuscan town wouldn’t be complete without them.


Here’s another nice image of the valley, though this one was taken from our school courtyard.


The valley surrounding the town is full of agriculture. The primary crops appear to be sunflowers (for oil), olives (for oil & fruit), grapes (for wine), and tobacco (though I haven’t seen any but have heard they do grow it here).

The olive groves are just beautiful with their silvery green leaves. Just now the olives are starting to turn purple. The harvest will take place about one month from now.


And, of course, the vineyards! There are some really nice wine producers here in the area and one that we love and drink often who lives and works right here in town. The vineyard name is La Pievuccia and is run by the Papini family. Their wine isn’t fancy but it’s very good and very affordable, hence a local favorite.


And one more view, just for art’s sake.


Back into town now, there’s a beautiful fortress, around 700 years old, that was also once grounds of ancient Etruscan ruins. The tower of the fortress is the second tower of town. Here’s a photo of part of the ruins.


And here’s a photo of the fortress tower.


On the other side of life in our little town is the “Garden Underground.” It’s a local night hot spot where all the locals and students gather to imbibe and party. Some a little too heavily! Of course I’d NEVER do that! (Wink, wink!) The Garden Underground sits in a park just outside the city walls and is open only during the summer. In fact, it closed just about 1 week ago. In the autumn and winter the owner opens up a second location called the “Velvet Underground” which is painfully close to our dorm house. I said painfully because I can hear the music and the people until about 3am! Ear plugs come in very handy some nights.


A really beautiful feature of this region is the Italian Stone Pines. They’re everywhere here and they smell wonderfully. They stand about 40 feet tall with trunks about 18 inches in diameter.


Our dorm and school sit about half way up the hill, so in order to get to the main Corso you have to walk up. This is the street just across from our dorm that leads to the main Corso. The town is full of these wonderful, old, steep streets lined with beautiful rock work.


This is a nice image of just your ordinary street in our little town.


Here’s a close up of the beautiful rock work and masonry you see in the buildings here.


Castiglion Fiorentino is filled with these wonderful narrow views between the beautiful, old buildings. I love the white linen shirt hanging to dry in the far back left. You see laundry hanging out to dry everywhere. It’s really quite pretty!


A nice view through the arched entrance to a walkway. These little roads are pedestrian only (as only a dirt bike or Jeep could make it up them!) and they lead to people’s homes and apartments.


Here’s a beautiful view with a bit of the valley in the background.


And because you know I’m into details, I had to throw in this picture of this wonderful old wooden door. All the stores, homes and shops here have wonderful, old, unique doorways.


And that concludes our walk through Castiglion Fiorentino. I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry we didn’t get to spend more time at the Garden Underground bar! Shortly I’ll post more stories and photos on my trials and tribulations of living in Tuscany. Until then…