Welcome to Florence: Newsletter June 8-June 17

CET Events/Activities: 
Thursday, June 9 

12:30 – 3:30 pm Lunch and walking tour of Florence

7:30 pm Welcome Reception Dinner Meet at CET

Saturday, June 11

Picnic in the Boboli Gardens and walk to the Piazzale Michelangelo. 

Tuesday, June 14

Pizza Making Class

Friday, June 17                          

La Traviata in Verona! Day trip and an evening of opera in Verona’s famous amphitheater

Summer Events in Florence:

Art exhibitions

Voices of the East. Miniatures and classical texts from Byzantium to the Laurentian Library

from March 4 to June 30. Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana www.bml.firenze.sbn.it

Figures, memories, space. Drawings from Fra Angelico to Leonardo Da Vinci

March 8 to June 12. Galleria degli Uffizi www.unannoadarte.it

Picasso, Miró, Dalí: angry young man: the birth of modernity

from March 12 to July 17. Palazzo Strozzi www.palazzostrozzi.org

The School of the world. Drawings by Leonardo and Michelangelo in comparison 

from April 20 to August 1. Casa Buonarroti www.casabuonarroti.it

Virtual Identities

from May 21 to July 17. Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina. www.strozzina.org

Music, theatre, cinema

Concert by Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen music by Modest Musorgskij,

Zoltán Kodály, Hector Berlioz. 17 June. Piccolo Teatro del Comunale.

Meetings, literary prizes

Bloomsday – celebrations of James Joyce

16 June The British Institute of Florence www.britishinstitute.it

 

Folk festivals, sport events

Historical Florentine Soccer Tournament

18, 19, 24 June. Piazza S. Croce

72th St. John's Evening Run – walk/race 10 km

18 June. piazza Duomo

St. John Fireworks Display

24 June. Piazzale Michelangiolo www.sangiovannibattistafirenze.com

FIESOLE

Free bike tours between nature and culture (take the #7 bus from Piazza S. Marco in Florence – 15 min)

11, 19 giugno  June. www.fiesoleforyou.it

IMPRUNETA

Pizza Festival 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19 June

Sede del Rione delle Fornaci  www.rionedellefornaci.it

June 23, 7-10pm
Knitting group - Le Murate, Via delle Vecchie

Carceri, first floor (Contact bettaknit@gmail.

com to reserve a spot)

July 12-Aug 3 Opera Festival 2011  Giardino di Boboli 

Student Correspondent News: Indelible delec-tables

After spending 3 months slicing, dicing and stirring as a gastronomy intern, here are the top ten things I've learned and loved about working in a Florentine restaurant: 

10. Knife skills - 

Being used to the12-inch knife I bought at Target, I was surprised to be handed something twice as big and is extremely sharp that looked like a machete. I got a quick lesson on proper technique an committed it to memory. I'm now a decent dicer and can cut over 150 tomatoes for bruschetta in under twenty-five minutes.  

9. Italian Soccer - There's an old, tiny radio duct-taped to the wall in the kitchen. It's primary use is to entertain us with American pop songs and classics while we clean the kitchen from top to bottom. No one really cares what comes on, it's just good to have some background music. On Sundays and Wednesdays however, it's a different story. Those are soccer days, and when the Fiorentina or Inter Milan are playing, the game is on and it's not background noise. Coming from America I couldn't have cared less about European soccer but after a month of listening to the guys yell at this tiny radio twice a week, I become pretty fond of the game. I've enjoyed my time rooting for the opposing teams just to bust on the chefs, but there's a big match coming up against Juventus and I dare not root for them. It'd be like wearing a Sox jersey to Yankee Stadium in October.

8. Making Ribollita - The best way to describe this "soup" is to think of a really thick stew without any meat. It's the very first item on the menu that I prepared from scratch and it's very Tuscan. There's not much to it, just a bunch of vegetables, beans, tomato sauce, and bread but it's been my responsibility since I've been working and it's been fun to make. I'm definitely bringing this recipe back home.

photo cred

7. Handling Seafood - We cook a lot of fish and there are pasta dishes with some shellfish in them. Therefore, the American handles all the smell-fish, cleans it and preps it. I've learned how to properly treat and clean clams, mussels, shrimp, prawns, squid and octopus. The best skill I've pick up though is how to filet a fish. I clean fish regularly and have gotten pretty good at it but am still incredibly slow compared to those deck hands on charter boats who filet your fish on the way back to port.

6. Butchering Bistecche - We have these huge (about 3-feet long) short loin/tenderloins in the fridge downstairs that we use for our signature Florentine steaks, the bistecca fiorentina. I've learned how to use all 3 feet. The short loin makes up the "T-bone" steak and that's what we serve grilled with cracked pepper. The tenderloin is cut into filets, and the extra meat is put in the grinder and used as the main ingredient in our ragu sauce. It's a pretty neat process, nothing gets wasted.

photo cred

5. Learning the language - Obviously I've picked up on food and cooking terms while I've been working at Il Teatro. The best part has been learning the slang and local terms that I can use outside the restaurant. It goes unsaid that some of the phrases I've learn shouldn't be shared outside the kitchen, but a lot of phrases and vocabulary have helped me in the classroom and on the street. Ho anche un discreto accento toscano ... 

4. Learning how to clean- It sounds stupid but I used to suck at cleaning. Plates I would wash would have specks on them or countertops would be all streaky when was done with them. Now though, after cleaning the kitchen top to bottom every night, nothing gets by me, I'm like Mister Clean with hair.

3. The Doggie bags - Aside from it being my responsibility to pack up doggie bags for customers, I get my own doggie bags to take home. I've taken full pizzas home, Florentine steaks, pastas, cakes, and several bottles of wine. I haven't been to the grocery store in awhile. 

2. The Food - No one can work on a empty stomach. To solve this problem, everyone sits down together and enjoys a huge dinner from 6:30 to 7:00 pm, before the dinner rush. It's always family style and the food is amazing. We've had everything from pasta with chicken hearts to American breakfast (which they think is hot dogs and eggs, close enough). I've never left hungry and that's because they always push the leftovers towards me around 6:50 and I finish everything off.

1. The Friends - To be honest, going into this experience I was expecting to be treated like "the American" and was bracing myself for constant ridicule and jobs more along the lines of cleaning toilets. The complete opposite turned out to be true. Everyone, and I mean everyone, couldn't be nicer at Il Teatro. The owner lets me come and go as I please. The chefs all try to teach me things and are extremely patient with with lack of experience, The waiters and waitresses all take care of my friends and their families from school when they come for lunch or dinner and always find the time to joke around with me in dining room. I consider everyone there my friends and have really enjoyed working with them every day.

By Mark Madden, 

History of Art & Italian Studies in Florence

Spring 2011

CET Student Correspondent News: Accidental Tourist

According to many travel websites and guidebooks, San Gimignano is one of the top ten cities to visit in Italy, and it is only an hour away on the regional (cheap) train. The town is known for its medieval towers and great scenic views of Tuscany.

San Gimignano

We get off the train and it looks like a scene from the movie The American. This "town" is deserted, most of the windows are boarded up and there are zero towers. We are confused. We rationalize and figure that all the touristy stuff must be on the other side of town and decide to get some lunch. We're starving and about half a mile into town we go inside the first restaurant we see, the Osteria da Camillo. We stand in the doorway for a good 10 minutes, no one comes. Is this place open? 

We leave and try to find another restaurant. An old Italian man wearing a funny hat is sweeping his stoop, this scene looks straight out of some classic Italian movie. We ask him where the restaurants are, he rambles something in Italian, smiles and points towards the restaurant we just left. We return to da Camillo and twenty minutes later, when we're on the verge of passing out, we are seated in a small room in the back of the restaurant. The hostess is the bartender, dishwasher and waitress. Our waiter is the owner. We order a ton of wine, there's fresh bread, cheese plates (Pecorino with honey was my favorite), an antipasto with prosciutto, parmigiano, soppressata, artichoke hearts and crostini with chicken liver spread. I had my first plate of rabbit. 

Coniglio (rabbit)

soppressata

Completely stuffed, we order some caffè because the owner said it would help us digest. I think this is a myth but want it anyway. The owner brings the check and small glasses of Limoncello for everyone (also to "help digest"). I don't believe this either but that doesn't stop me.

Time to find some towers. After 20 minutes of exploring we do see some castles, but they seem to be miles away. We ask a passerby how to get to the center of San Gimignano, and he laughs and tells us it is a bus ride away. We have spent the entire afternoon in the town of Poggibonsi, this is not a typo.

Poggibonsi's bustling city center

The next bus for San Gimignano leaves in an hour, but it's getting late and there is a train that leaves in 20 minutes for Siena, which is about another hour south. Siena is pretty large relative to Poggibonsi but then again, everything is large in comparison to that town. We walk the 3 uphill miles to the center of Siena from the train station. We can hear what sounds like a parade of some sort coming from the main street. We join the parade. The people are dancing and singing along with the beat of these huge drums. Everyone is Italian and dressed in red. We're confused but enjoy walking a few blocks with these people. 

I later learn that the parade we walked along was a communist rally. Apparently Tuscany is very "red" and has a strong communist following. Our day trip was official weird. No towers today, but no real loss either.

Mark Madden

History of Art and Italian Studies in Florence, 

Spring 2011

April Newsletter

CET Events and Activities
April 8, 2011: IPS day trip to Venice


April 19, 2011: Spring Luncheon at CET 1-2:30 pm


April 22-25: Easter Break 


April 30: Day trip to Montepulciano, Pienza and Montalcino. Sign up today!


Events in Florence
Sunday, April 10, 5 pm "I Shall Paint a Piece”
Dramatic readings drawn from the Florentine poetry of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Performed on the "piano nobile" in Palazzo Davanzati by actors Devon Black and Matt Douglas, who have just completed a North American tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Robert Shaw Cameron, associate artistic director of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Palazzo Davanzati, Via Porta Rossa 13, Firenze. Free entrance, reservation required. email lapietra.reply@nyu.edu to reserve. 

April 11-14: Shakespeare Week at the British Library 


Monday 11 April
15.00 Public Reading: Twelfth Night or What You Will
A reading of the play in its entirety. All are welcome to come and listen or to join in on the reading in any
language. With the participation of members of FESTA International Theatre Company. Afterwards there will be Elizabethan and Jacobean music, and a light buffet.

Tuesday 12 April
16.00 John Madden’s Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Marc Norman and Tom Stoppard’s clever reworking of texts and plots from Shakespeare’s life as well as his plays Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet.

Wednesday 13 April
6pm  British Library“Draw the curtain and show you the picture”: the graphics of Twelfth Night
Professor Keir Elam of the University of Bologna addresses the role of pictorial, cartographical and other graphic modes in Twelfth Night, as part of what we might term the optical allusion at work throughout the play. The issues addressed include the problem of visual perception as a source of knowledge, and the relationship between ‘competing’ arts in the drama.

8 pm British Library Trevor Nunn’s Twelfth Night
1996 film version 


9:15 pm Duomo
Free chorus performance. www.maggiofiorentino.com


Saturday, April 16: International Slow Art Day 

What: Guided visit of the exhibit at Palazzo Strozzi followed by high tea. Cost: 8 euro. Guided conversation and complimentary English High Tea: Meet the group at 5pm in the Loggiata (open space on the third floor, wear your jacket).Reservations required. 

Sunday, April 17: Excursions between nature and culture (free!) www.fiesoleforyou.it

Thursday, April 28: 7-10 pm Knit Lounge at Le Murate plus free aperitivo

(Piazza Madonna della Neve, 1) Craft and Knitting workshop (beginning to advanced, English and Italian). You can purchase a kit or bring your own materials to make a yarn necklace, cotton pillow, and iPad case. 

Saturday, April 30: Notte Bianca

Annual all-night party in Florence; Palazzo Vecchio open all night, Jazz music in the Uffizi, events throughout the city. 

On-Going Events in Florence

April 2-30. Evening openings of the museum in Palazzo Vecchio 

(ticket office open until 11 pm every day except thursday). 

Through July 17: Picasso, Mirò, Dalì. Giovani e arrabbiati. 

Palazzo Strozzi www.palazzostrozzi.org


Every Tuesday
Language exchange at the Casa della Creativita'


Every Wednesday 7 pm wine tasting & aperitivo at Negroni


Art Tuesdays
Free evening admission to state museums: April 26, May 31, June 28, July 26, August 30, September 27, October 25, November 29 and December 27. In Florence, the participating museums are the Uffizi Gallery; Galleria dell'Accademia; Bargello Museum; Medici Chapels; San Marco Museum; Museum of Palazzo Davanzati; Gallery of Modern Art and Palatine Gallery, both in Palazzo Pitti.

See Current Events April-June for more on-going events

CET Student Correspondent News: (Un)Easy Rider

I ask my Italian roommate where I can buy a bicycle. "Don't buy one, it will just get stolen" he says. Surprisingly this is about the third time I've heard this. It's a crappy answer, I just want a bicicletta!!!

I surf the internet looking for bike shops in the city while eating some fresh pasta. Google maps is in Italian and I can't even figure out how to change it back to English. I just leave and stupidly hope to just come across a bicycle shop. I literally wander Florence for two hours completely lost. I stop and ask a guy who's chaining up his bike (in Italian) where I can buy a bike. He smirks and tells me "il negozio di biciclette” (a bicycle shop) ... Thanks.

Seems like everyone in Italy has a bike except for me (and this guy). 

I ask a street cleaner. I thought it was a good idea at first because she works on hundreds of streets every day. She has no idea, I guess she doesn't clean the section of town with bike shops. I finally find my way back because I recognize the train station. There's bikes for rent right outside, I think this is the perfect person to ask. Wrong. I ask the million dollar question. “Why should I tell you where to buy bicycle, rent here!" she says. Good point. 

Lots of bikes to rent, ma io la voglio comprare!

My Italian teacher comes through. She gives me the name of a bicycle shop over by the train station, and sure enough this place is stocked with old bikes. Some are in great condition and others look like they were fished out of the river. I ask the owner how late he's open and tell him that I'm coming back later with one of my friends to buy some bikes. I get a blank stare, he speaks no English. I try to repeat in Italian, he laughs and gives me a business card. By business card I mean piece of paper that he scribbled his name and number on. It looks like hieroglyphics, I throw it away.

One of my friends, Julian, and I go to the bike shop after class. We can't communicate with this guy but at least he recognizes me. He explains to us that of the whole rack of used bicycles (around 30 of them) the only ones that are for sale are these two. Funny that there are only two bikes for sale when two Americans walk in. The new bikes on the top rack were really nice and the sign said 85 euro. He told us we could get them for a special price: 100 euro. How is that special??? 

Of the used ones for sale one's a rusty piece of *@#! but for some reason Julian likes the rusty one, fine by me. With two good locks (a necessity here) the total for both bikes came to 140 euro. Not When it's time to pay Julian and I just give his assistant 120 euro. He counts it, says very good and we ride off in the Tuscan sunset. 

My new ride

Mark Madden, 

History of Art & Italian Studies in Florence

Spring 2011

CET Student Correspondent News: Corso di Cucina

Ciao! Last night, a group of us went to In Tavola for a three-course cooking class! It was informative and very fun. I worked at the table with three of the Italian roommates: Denny, Caterina and Elisa, so I also improved my Italian.

The best part was eating everything afterward, of course. Here is a list of what we made:

Millefoglie di Verdure (Vegetable Millefoglie): We cut eggplant into slices and layered the eggplant with cheese, salt, pepper, oregano and a potato/zucchini mixture. After a quick bake in the oven, they were an easy to make and delicious appetizer.

Millefoglie di verdure

Potato Gnocchi: This was so fun. We peeled potatoes that had previously been baked and then mashed them. To the potatoes we added one egg yolk (or 1 “yellow” as the chef referred to it as), a flour mixture, cornstarch, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Then, we kneaded the dough and rolled it into a “sausage” where we cut the roll of dough into smaller pieces. Those pieces then had to be rolled into smaller “sausages”, cut into 1 inch pieces and shaped into balls. Gnocchi is also easy to boil because, as our chef says, when they are ready to be removed from the water they come to the surface and yell, “save me!

We also made two different sauces for the gnocchi: Ragu alla Bolognese (a typical tomato with meat sauce), shown above, and Sugo all’Aglione (tomato and garlic sauce).

Gnocchi alla bolognese

For dessert, we made Dolce al Cioccolato which literally means chocolate dessert. This had a soft center and was my favorite part of the meal, per usual.

In Tavola also offers a gelato making class, so maybe I will be back there soon!

A dopo (see you later)!


Hannah Rogers
CET Student Correspondent
History of Art and Italian Studies, Florence, Spring 2011

March Newsletter

CET News and Events

March 2
Cooking Class at InTavola

March 3-7 Traveling Seminar to Catania 
March 3: Walking Tour of Catania, dinner with CET Siena and Catania students

March 4: Guest Lecture, “Sicily: Traditions of the Past and Future", meeting with Addio Pizzo, Aperitivo at Cortile Alessi with Sicilian students

March 5: 
Full-day guided tour of Mt. Etna

March 6: Free time!

Events in Florence 

March 8
International Women's Day (Festa della donna). Free museum entrances! Women's Day and Fat Tuesday (martedi' grasso) happen to fall on the same day this year. Parties and events throughout the city.

March 12-14 
Taste Festival. Stazione Leopolda

March 12 
Picasso, Miro', Dali': Angry Young Men. Palazzo Strozzi (March 12-Summer 2011)

March 16 Celebrating 150 Years of Italy! 

Events in Piazza della Signoria: 
7 pm Parade

10 pm Dance Performance

11 pm Concert
Midnight Fireworks

Events in Piazza S. Croce
7-10 pm Readings from the Divine Comedy
10:30 pm Concert

There will also be booths set up in Piazza del Duomo. Palazzo Vecchio and the other state musuems will be open until 1 A.M. 



On-going:

Films at the Odeon 
click here for showtimes


Every Tuesday: Language Exchange and Aperitivo
see here for info


Every Wednesday: British Library Lecture and Film 
see schedule here 

Outside Florence

March 6, 8, 13: Carnevale a Viareggio