Guests at a Hilltop Castle

Palazzo Orsini , Mugnano in Teverina

balcony  across  the piazza 

One of the many  castles  perched on hilltops  along the A1 Autostrada north of Rome  is Palazzo Orsini located  in the tiny village of Mugnano in Teverina, just a speck on the map and not included in any tourist itineraries. 

meeting at  Mugnano 's tiny park

the Barberini sisters  in  the courtyard 

 The owners are  sisters Elsa and Gabriella Barberini who   grew up here, a slice of heaven in Northern Lazio, bordering on the  regions of Umbria and  Tuscany .

the castle's  loggia 

entrance to Palazzo Orsini 

 

When they inherited the  rambling palazzo  from their parents they began the long, difficult restoration.  Over a period of many decades  they put their time and money into the huge project, while working as teachers. 

 courtyard with bricks in fishbone design 

The most recent  restoration involved repainting the façade and the installation of a new roof using the original terracotta roof tiles.

steep  stairway 

Now  Palazzo Orsini has been returned  to its original splendor, and has been officially inaugurated as  a very special historic  B&B with only   3 bedroom suites.  

Breakfast is served in one of the several frescoed halls or on the south facing  loggia and often the castle hosts receptions and  wedding parties which use the  tiny church  on the main piazza for the ceremony.

frescoed loggia overlooking the Tiber valley 

When a group of friends led by Pamela  and Terri  recently came to visit, the sisters  invited us to stop by on our way to  Bomarzo’s   Sacro Bosco  nearby.

homemade  crostata  and yogurt cake 

The day was splendid  and the views over the Tiber river valley from the castle’s frescoed loggia were breathtaking, especially to ladies hailing from  the flat plains of midwestern America.

hospitality for American  visitors 

  Elsa and Gabriella  showed us around their beautiful castle home pointing out  the different  phases of  restoration and original  architectural details such as fireplaces, secret  doors, frescoed walls and coffered wood ceilings. 

original door with peephole 

geraniums on the loggia

 What castles have you visited in Italy?  

Your comments are welcome.

the rose symbol of the Orsini  family   

Reverse Culture Shock

a typical New England  town common 

Reverse culture shock really exists…especially  after 50 years  in another country.

My recent  visit to the States  lasted  12 days and each day  I discovered several reasons why I could no longer  live there .

  Here are a few   things that bothered me …and a few positive things that I liked :

1.  the absurdity of  wooden poles  to hold   up heavy power lines, often cutting through magnificent trees

chrysantemums were everywhere... in Italy  it is a flower only for the dead
and cemeteries 

the autumn foilage  was brilliant 

painting  expressing  the fast pace of life

2  the   fast pace  of life— suburban Americans  are   chained to their cars: there are   drive thru (even the spelling  is rushed!) lanes  to pickup cardboard containers of horrible coffee and donuts.

Even banks and pharmacies  are outfitted  with drive thru lanes   and windows.  What is all the rush about?   We felt weird being  the only people  walking  along the sidewalk during the week, yet  bike trails  were crowded with bikers on weekends.

the very busy drive thru lane at Dunkin Donuts

3. the huge portions of food at restaurants, fried onion rings,  bare tables with not a tablecloth in sight

4. the ever present air conditioning… the  temperature of   our hotel suite’s was  Siberian each time we entered  and the beds  were  equipped with down comforters…so it was either  freeze  or  sweat. The windows  opened  only a crack. 

magnificent, but chilly,  hotel lobby

5.the  tipping dilemma, how much  and when to tip?  to the waiter, the shuttle bus  driver ? Being used to Italy’s family owned  restaurants and  services, made it difficult  to figure out.

There were many  positive  discoveries too.

historic homes open  to public

1.      The lovely  museums  and  historic homes that were  open  to the public, even if the Federal shutdown meant that  major national parks and sites were closed

at the Chelmsford   historical museum 

another private home   open to visitors

2.      Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum  in Boston with its  Gothic Room, the  new wing and  restaurant where we met  curator Anne Marie Eze  for lunch and exchange of books

3.      Senior discounts were given by   our  hotel, the train  to Boston and even Dunkin Donuts 

cub scouts   near the hotel 

4.      No sales tax  in New Hampshire  meant  I saved  on a lot on purchases at the Mall, including   $35 tax off the purchase of an iPad  (now I have to learn  to use it )

a violin  serenade  for  100 year old  Aunt Mamie

5.      The joy of  seeing family and participating in several  marvelous festivities: the 100^th birthday celebration of Aunt Mamie , the meet up with old family friends  and the wild wedding weekend of my beautiful niece Shana.

getting together  with all   my brothers and sisters  

seeing  the younger generation of the family ...

and visiting with  101 year old friend Eleanor and her daughters  Val and Ellie

  

Have you  experienced culture shock  when going back to the States?

A Visit to the Vatican Mosaic Workshop

           

Theresa (far left)  and group in the Vatican Mosaic Workshop

    
                         With guest blogger  Theresa Potenza

One  of the most  popular tours  I lead within the Vatican  is to an area off limits to  the general public, where only Vatican City employees and church clergy are allowed. 

Visitors must pass  through security several times; first being checked by Italian police, then getting saluted by the illustrious Swiss Guards in their colorful stripped uniforms. Finally the Vatican City police  hand over  entrance badges  which allow us inside the Vatican mosaic studio and gallery space. 

Security is on high alert here  since the studio  workshop has  a new next door neighbor: Pope Francis. 

Vatican mosaic artist at work 

Just after the Pope was elected he made the unprecedented decision not to live in the Vatican palaces, but rather in a hospice building designed for the Cardinals’ accommodations during the papal election.  It is an unassuming building compared to the rest of the Vatican complex, as is the exterior of the mosaic workshop.

  The interior of the workshop instead is a wonderland  where a handful of privileged craftsmen painstakingly work to create  mosaic  masterpieces. They spend their time  chiseling  color compounds and delicately applying  colored marble and glass tiles onto a canvas with a putty base.

Reproducing a famous Vatican mosaic 

Next to their workspace a  gallery displays  the masterpieces that are for sale. There are  mosaic reproductions of  Impressionist paintings like Vincent Van Gough’s Sunflowers as well as  religious themed Renaissance paintings such as Raphael’s Madonna of the Goldfinch. Prices for mosaic panels can cost  from $6,000 to $50,000 depending  on the size of the panel and  the size of the  mosaic tiles used.

The Vatican’s mosaic artists have been  well known for centuries, making  masterpieces for the Pope to bestow as gifts to foreign heads of State. The studio walls are hung with photos  of popes throughout modern history presenting diplomatic gifts. We see  Pope John Paul II with Fidel Castro and Pope Benedict XVI with President Obama and the First Lady and meet  the artist who  made the landscape scene with Christ the Redeemer that Pope Francis recently presented to the President of Brazil during  World Youth Day.  

Less than a dozen artists work in this studio that was founded in the 18^th Century.   The artists are more accurately called “painters in mosaic” and their main task is to preserve and restore the 10,000 square meters of mosaics that decorate the interior of St. Peter’s Basilica.  They also craft  mosaic portraits that make up the Chronological Series of Popes located inside the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls. 

After watching the artists burn, smolder, chisel, and polish  tiles  (tessere )from the vast array of 26,000 different colored tiles, one of the craftsmen, wearing a long white tunic,  escorts us  through a back door to visit the Basilica. Here inside St. Peter’s  we are able  to admire  their creations  on site,  for the  11 huge interior domes and all the 45 altar pieces are works created by Vatican’s  mosaicists over the centuries.

 Theresa Potenza is an art historian and tour guide in Rome. For more information  see her website: 

More stories about the Vatican  here and here 

Boosting Tourism in Viterbo

E. Frangipane, A. Delli Iaconi, G.Curti, A.R. De Alexandris at new BIC center 

This  week  saw two important events  in Viterbo  for boosting  tourism: a visit of an  international meeting,  Certess,  organized  by the Lazio Region and the 16^th international workshop BUY Lazio. The first  took place in the new  building of BIC Lazio, once  the  city's slaughter house. 

Recycling  an old building to new use

CERTESS  workshop with G.Curti & Bruno Blanco  

international  delegates 

translating  for  BIC workshop 

I  was happy  to be involved   as translator, meeting people from Palma di  Majorca, Finland, Croatia, Poland and several other European countries. 

 pilgrim guide to  Papal Palace 

The  visit  included  a workshop, discussion  and exploration of Viterbo’s   medieval quarter accompanied  by  an authentically dressed medieval pilgrim   (Massimiliano Vinci)  who led the group along  the old pilgrims’ route, Via di S. Clemente,  to the Duomo  and Papal Palace.

The guests were surprised  to see how coins were   minted at the  workshop of Maestro  Marco Guglielmi who also dressed the part.  This eclectic  artisan  works in  ceramics as well as coinage and has published several books.

Master  coin maker 

Throughout the  weekend  Viterbo was  bustling  with over  200 delegates at  the 16^th edition of Buy Lazio,where buyers and sellers meet to  exchange information and  offers for  touristic services. The workshop is held in the ancient papal palace whose  soaring arches and tufa stone halls  recall the papal court which met here in the 13th century.

Buy Lazio stands 

Snappily dressed young  men and  girls (with dangerously high heels considering the cobblestones and steep stairs) were busy  promoting the folklore, traditions, gastronomy archeology, environment  and special itineraries  that exist for tourists  in the  five  provinces  of the Lazio region:  Latina, Roma, Rieti, Frosinone and  Viterbo.

red carpet  at the Papal Palace 

Buyers converged on Viterbo from  24 different countries  as far away as Mexico, Norway and Russia with a large percentage from central and eastern European countries (Slovenia,Ukraine,Slovakia Luthuania,  Hungary, Austria,Poland) and  Scandinavia (Norway, Finland,Denmark,  Estonia Sweden).
 As I write, on Sunday morning, the foreign participants are being treated to a post-workshop tour of Tuscania, Bolsena and Tarquinia before heading back to their respective countires.

Things  have changed  in these past  16 years: instead  of  reams of papers and  heavy  catalogues  appointments are now set up electronically so that face to face meetings and exchange of business cards are all that is  needed  to make contacts  leading  to a future  of sustainable tourism  for the  Viterbo area and all of Lazio. 

Hill towns near Rome: Ronciglione

If you are watching  the TV series  “The Borgias”  you are taking a virtual tour of  some of the  hill towns in the area north of Rome.  

Main gateway entering Ronciglione 

  Last night’s episodes  featured  a bull fight in the amphitheatre of Sutri and   a visit to the Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano. See more about this castle on the blog posts of the past couple of weeks. 

gorge  and medieval quarter, Ronciglione 

  

laundry  with cupola and bell tower 

Vignola's   fountain of the Unicorns 

exploring the back streets  of Ronciglione  

  The  film director  used some  good camera work  to make the view from the castle gardens  look like  the Bay of Naples.

Ronciglione  once had a  ghetto 

garden on the street 

Those of us who live here  have our personal favorites: usually they are the towns we know best…where our friends live, or where our  favorite restaurants are located.

castle of Julius II 

 Many of  the hill towns  in the Etruria area  coincidentally  begin with the letter “V”: Vignanello, Vallerano, Vitorchiano and  of course Vetralla.  I’d love to hear why from  a specialist in  linguistics.  

medieval  alley way 

 Last weekend’s outing  brought me to  an “R”  town; Ronciglione, known familiarly  by  the natives  as “Ronciò”, which is also the name of a typical farming utensil used  to hoe and cut crops. 

It has also been used  as  a murder weapon  in the dark days  when families such as the Borgia   lived and ruled in this area. 

Entering  the town through an imposing doorway topped with papal coat of arms,  we walked along the main street where colorful Baroque period  facades  made a sharp contrast  with the  dark stone  of the medieval houses. 

 Each February a terrifying  rider-less horse race is held  along this street to celebrate  Carnival time .   

bright Baroque 

The town is dotted with churches,  bell towers, palazzi, convents and castles and the medieval quarter  is intact and  perfect for a stroll , but watch out for falling roof tiles.

a green corner of the medieval quarter 

Ronciò  cat  

cats rule

Being  originally  from the mill town of  Lowell, MA where the rushing waters of the Merrimack river created  the Industrial Revolution  in the 1840s-60s and the famous “Mile  of  Mills”, I felt  quite at home in Ronciglione.
Which is your favorite hill town in Italy? 

The streams  which rush through the gorges were used  as a primitive source of water power which made Ronciglione an early industrial center with production of metal objects and printing. Playing cards produced here were famous around the world. The tradition is continued by the Spada  printing company  which produced  my book Etruria.