CET Student Correspondent News: Umbilicus Urbis Romae

In mid-February we spent three days in Italy's capital city on a traveling seminar. From Audrey Hepburn to Lizzy McGuire, we've long been inundated with cliches about living la dolce vita. Finding ourselves in the dead center of Rome's 'umbilicus urbis' (literally Rome's belly button) in the place to which "all roads lead", and wanting to "fare come fanno i romani" (do as the Romans do), we turned to our resident blogger, Hannah Rogers, for a list of the top five when-in-Rome tips, which we have we extracted from her entries (which you can read in full here):

5. Get a Roma Pass
"the best deal if you ever visit Rome and want to see all of the museums and use the public transportation". 


4. Forget sex on the beach, 
              have a Vestal Virgin on the rocks.  

Our professoressa, Alexandra Massini, is the most intelligent person I have ever met. She is a licensed tour guide for the entire city, wrote this guidebook, speaks five languages fluently and is working on her second PhD. Basically, we could not have asked for a better tour guide of the Roman forum,  the center of Roman public life, the site of elections, public speeches, gladiatorial matches, commercial affairs and the heart of ancient Rome. This was the most important stretch of real estate in the Western World. Now, it is just bunch of rocks, but it was interesting to imagine the temples and buildings that existed during the peak of the Roman empire. The most interesting section of the Forum was the House of the Vestal Virgins, which was the model for medieval convents and monasteries. Chosen from noble families before they reached the age of 10, the six Vestal Virgins served a 30-year term during which they were honored and revered by the Romans. They took a vow of chastity and their main duty was to keep the fire in the Temple of Vesta burning. As long as the sacred flame burned, Rome would stand. If the Vestal served her term faithfully, she was given a huge dowry and allowed to marry. If they found any Virgin who wasn’t, or if a Vestal let the fire go out, she was buried alive. How crazy is that!?!


See Hannah's slideshow of Ancient Rome here


3. Cliches are cliches for a reason, 
    the Sistine Chapel actually is amazing.
A fresco is the art of painting on freshly spread, moist plaster with water-based pigments, so that when the plaster dries, the painting is a part of the wall and when executed correctly, will last forever. It took Michelangelo four years to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and it took eight years to clean all of the smoke, soot and candle wax that had accumulated after centuries of use. The restoration is still controversial in Italy and both sides believe their opinion strongly. Some believe that the restoration greatly enhanced the fresco, while others believe it destroyed the nuances of Michelangelo’s work. I am not entirely sure what I think. The Last Judgment was my favorite part of the entire chapel, especially since there are three hundred portraits included in the fresco, and not one of them resembles another. Impressive indeed. I could talk about this forever. 

Also check out the Borghese Gallery! Scipione Borghese was an early patron of Bernini and an avid collector of works by Caravaggio. This museum was beautiful. My favorites were Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne, the Rape of Proserpine, and most of the paintings by Caravaggio.

See Hannah's Vatican slideshow here

2. It's okay to be a tourist 
                     (and for a good cause!)

Becky, Kendall, Lauren J., Lauren M., Hannah, plus Shannon (VU '10)

By throwing a coin into the Trevi fountain over your left shoulder, legend has it that you will return to Rome. Also, all of the coins collected in the Trevi fountain are used to help feed the hungry and poor in Rome. An estimated $4000 (3000 euros) are thrown into the Trevi Fountain each day and collected each night.












5. Weigh in (literally) on the best gelato:

photo cred

The two oldest gelato establishments in Rome compete over who has the better recipe. The owners of San Crispino are considered gelato “purists.” They only use ingredients that are in season and will only serve their gelato in cups because they believe that cones interfere with the natural taste of the gelato. Whatever works. I had the cioccolata fondente (dark chocolate) and carmello (caramel). Giolitti serves 50 different flavors, in cups AND cones, with a delicious whipped cream on top. It is definitely the better of the two. Since I was already so full of chocolate, I had the lampone (raspberry), mandarino (mandarin), and banana (same spelling as english). They were DELICIOUS and the most amazing gelato I have had in Italy, so far. I would go back to Rome for the day just to get gelato from Giolitti. 




Hannah Rogers, 
CET Student Correspondent 
Spring 2011

Student Correspondent News: Interview with a Museum Director

Interview with Filippo Camerota, Museum Galileo’s director 

By Christine Williams 

CET Student Correspondent & intern at Flo n' the Go in Florence, Italy

History of Art and Italian Studies, CET Fall 2010 

As American students in Italy, we are, of course, shepherded along with our classmates and countless other tour groups through crowded museums on a fairly regular basis. As awe-inspiring, beautiful, and historically fascinating as the pieces are and as much as I love art, it’s hard not to think it feels like a forced march after a while. The Museo Galileo, however, is a rare environment that has been redesigned to be relaxed yet informative at the same time. We were lucky enough to be able to meet and interview Professor Filippo Camerota, the museum’s Vice Director and Collection Manager.

What brought you to the Museo Galileo?

I have been vice-director since 2003. Before that, I taught history of architecture at the University of Florence. I began to collaborate with Museo Galileo in 1984, at that time known as the Institute and Museum of the History of Science. Before I was on the staff, I helped them organize workshops and exhibitions. In 2001, there was a workshop on Renaissance Perspective and later that year we put together “Nel segno di Masaccio”, in which we displayed reconstructions of perspective machines. Once the vice-director of Museo Galileo resigned, the director asked me to fill that position, because of our previous interactions. It is very different from my previous job as a professor, but my background in the history of art and architecture makes me a historian, which also allows me to be a historian of science. This institution is very interested in art and science and believes the two are tightly knit.

What was the origin of the Museo Galileo?

The artifacts and instruments in the museum were originally the collection of the Medici family. The collection grew in the Palazzo Vecchio, the Uffizi, and the Pitti Palace. It became a public collection at the end of the 18^th century, when the Medici Dukes lost power and the country was unified. In 1929, the government organized an exhibition of the collection and realized the need for a National Institute of the History of Science. Just last June, after two years of restoration, we reopened the museum as the Museo Galileo.

Why the change in name?

The new name gives homage to Galileo. We have many of his surviving instruments and much or our exhibit is dedicated to the scientist. We are permanently celebrating his discoveries by giving him a real institution. There were also marketing reasons involved. The shorter name is easier to remember. Tourists had already nicknamed the museum “The museum of Galileo,” so it was a natural change.

What do you think is the most important aspect of the museum?

There are so many different unique pieces. The armillary sphere is the largest one of its kind. The only other is in Spain. The Duke gave the model of his sphere as a gift to the Spanish Monarchs. There are also Galileo’s instruments; the telescopes, the compasses, and the glass instruments which are all very unique and important. The glass instruments are special because they tell the story of Galileo as well as the story of glass craftsmanship of Florence.

What is one thing visitors should remember about your museum?

Visitors should remember that this collection was not made by scholars. It is a historical collection, created by the Medici family. It is a part of the history of Florence, which is not only a center of art, but also a capital of science. There was a tradition of science here begun before Galileo and continued after him. Visitors forget the science part of Florence, but recently there has been a movement to see science and art as interconnected.

How does the museum communicate with its visitors?

Our approach to communication relies on multimedia. Science is very difficult to explain without many pages of technical explanation, and instruments don’t talk. Images help. We published an entire multimedia catalogue on this collection, so that visitors without a background in science can understand. They developed multimedia displays because more and more museums are focusing on education rather that the objects. By next spring we want to have an interactive museum where visitors can touch the models. There will be an Astronomy room where you can use a telescope and see the beams of light that make it work. There will be a Mechanics room that focuses on clocks and a sundial room. The sundial outside the front door of Museo Galileo is already a part of the interactive museum. We no longer learn how to use a sundial in school because it is not a part of our daily life, but they are still important to understand.

Would you tell us about the library?

The library is very important because we are not just a museum, we are a research institute. When the instruments were created, the inventor wrote a book to explain his calculations as well as the use of the instrument. The books are necessary, because you cannot use the book without the instrument or the instrument without the book. You need both. The library is open to everybody and you can read here in our library or on our website. When I was an architecture student, I used this library since it has books on architecture as well as on science. When the collection left the hands of the Medici, the Uffizi received the instruments for the mechanics room and the National Library got the manuscripts. The Museo Galileo wanted to reunite them.

In step with that merging of art and science, a matter of cardinal importance to the Museo Galileo is that of communication. After all, how is one to learn if there is no avenue to relay the information? This is one of the main things that sets the Museo Galileo apart. It is a collection of rare and amazing scientific artifacts, but it is also an active place of learning. One cannot help but want to discover more.

See here for more information about the Museo Galileo and Flo n' the Go

CET Student Correspondent News: Sagra del Tortello

Today, my roommates and I traveled with CET to a small town outside of Florence called Borgo San Lorenzo. The town was hosting their annual “Sagra del Tortello e del Maiale” (Pork and Tortello Festival). Tortello (plural: Tortelli) is a delicious ravioli-like pasta filled with potato. We had a pleasant train ride with some wonderful views and enjoyed a delicious meal. Here are some pictures and a description of some of the food we tried.

Antipasti (Appetizers). We were served several plates of “Tavolozza di Maiale” which is a pork plate, including prosciutto, ham, salami and ciccioli. Ciccioli is cured lard (gross!), but everything else was delicious.

Primi (First): This is the first course of small pasta portions. We had Tortelli al Ragú(the potato stuffed pasta with tomato sauce), Tortelli Tartufati (pasta with truffle sauce), Gnocchi Tartufati (this one was my favorite) and Penne al Pomodoro (penne pasta with tomato).

Secondi (Second). This is the second course that usually contains the meat dishes. By this course we were already full of pasta, but we had chicken (Pollo) and a barbecue plate of different grilled meats (Grigliata). They were both delicious.

The second course is served with side dishes, or contorni. Marge, Noelle and Alex had the mixed salad (Insalata Mista), the table shared the roasted potatoes (Patate Arrosto in Forno) which were similar to french fries, and I had a delicious white bean dish (Fagioli al Fiasco).

Although we were all very full, we still saved room for sweets (dolci). Marge and I shared a delicious cake called “Millefoglie” and others shared a tart, or “Crostata”.

Hannah & Margaret

L-R: Margaret, Hannah, Stephanie, Lindsay, Elisa, Noelle, Alex

It was a wonderful day in Borgo San Lorenzo and I am still so full that I won’t have to eat again for another few days. Arrivederci!

Hannah Rogers
CET Correspondent
Spring 2011

February Newsletter

January 31, 2011. Margaret's creation

January 31 - February 1

5:30 pm. Meet at the CET Center for Pizza-Making!

February 5 
Day trip to Tortello Festival in Borgo S. Lorenzo. Meet at Santa Maria Novella Train station at 11:15 Borgo San Lorenzo is the biggest town of the Mugello area of Tuscany, full of important landmarks, such as 15th century Medici villas. The Tortello Festival is one of many local food festivals held here throughout the year. Tortelli are similar to ravoli in shape and stuffed with potatoes. 

February 7-23
Fiorenza International Soccer Tournament. See sign-up sheet, schedules, and rules in the student lounge. 


February 8 
Belltower Climb and Language Exhange at the Casa della Creativita'. 


February 17-20 
Imagery and Public Space Traveling Seminar to Rome. 




Other Events in the City


Wendesday, February 9
"Eat the book": 8:30 pm Il Rifrullo (Via Rondinelli 24r, just behind the CET Center); 30 Euro (drinks included); Evening dedicated to Tuscan Cuisine. 


Feb. 14-18 
Chocolate Festival in Piazza Santa Croce. www.fieradelcioccolato.it 


February 24-27 
DANZAINFIERA 2011 Fortezza da Basso (www.danzainfiera.it). International dance fair with free lessons and performances. 


February British Library Lectures (Wednesdays at 6)

Wednesday, February 02, 6 pm

John Hoenig - Making a spectacle: Buontalenti's theatre designs for the wedding of Ferdinando de' Medici and Christine of Lorraine

Wednesday, February 09, 6 pm

Mary Westerman - All dressed up with nowhere to go: display techniques of historic costumes

Wednesday, February 16, 6 pm

Readings for St Valentine's day - The rose's red, the violet's blue, / The honey's sweet, and so are you

Wednesday, February 23, 6 pm

Gert Jan van der Smam - 

Art is long, time is fleeting: images of Giovanna degli Albizzi Tornabuoni

February British Library Film Screenings (Wednesdays at 8)

Wednesday, February 02, 8 pm

Talking Pictures:My Own Private Idaho (Henry IV, Henry V, 1598-99)

USA, Gus Van Sant, 1991 with River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves and James Russo

Wednesday, February 09, 8 pm

Talking Pictures: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (Hamlet, 1601)

UK, USA, Tom Stoppard, 1990 with Gary Oldman, Tim Roth and Richard Dreyfuss

Wednesday, February 16, 8 pm

Talking Pictures: O (Othello, 1605)

USA, Tim Blake Nelson, 2001 with Mekhi Phifer, Julia Stiles and Josh Hartnett

Wednesday, February 23, 8 pm

Talking Pictures: My Kingdom (King Lear, 1606)

with Richard Harris, Lynn Redgrave and Emma Catherwood

Odeon Original Sound Theater (Piazza degli Strozzi)
Little Fockers, True Grit, Biutiful, Away We Go (click here for showtimes)


Out of Town: 
February 12-14 
Verona in Love http://www.veronainlove.it/