Bolsena’s Basilica di Santa Cristina: Two Prodigious Acts

Two atti prodigiosi – “prodigious acts” – are inextricably linked to Bolsena’s Basilica di Santa Cristina, named in of  honor one of the town’s patron saints, Cristina.  According to local legend, young Cristina was finally martyred after numerous grisly futile attempts, those scenes acted out throughout the town in tableaux  annually by appassioned bolsenesi on the vigil and day…

Bolsena Infiorate to Celebrate Corpus Domini

Bolsena celebrates in floral splendor the Feast of Corpus Domini, for after all, this feast promulgated in the 13th-century – and also known as “Corpus Christi” – originates with a miracle here in this lakeside gem.   The Festa di Corpo Domini also unites the town to the nearby Umbrian hill town of Orvieto  as you…

Il Punto Assisi: Still Uniting All

As I recently entered the gate leading into the cloister of the 11th-century Church of San Giacomo de Muro Rupto  (St. James in the Broken Wall),  I noted the sign indicating the Laboratorio di San Francesco. I thought about those summer days decades ago when I brought our Giulia to that laboratorio (w0rkshop) here for the programs…

In Assisi, Crafting One’s Own Lutes

As a child growing up in Assisi,  craftsman of medieval stringed instruments, Luca Piccioni,  would have been familiar with  such instruments from an early age.  School trips in elementary school would have included guided visits of the medieval fresco wonders in the 13th-century Basilica di San Francesco.  Gazing at the 14th-century Simone Martini frescoes in…

In Assisi, Wood-working Artisans, Past and Present

The creative output of many Assisi artisans is owed to the inspiration of family members of past generations.  And so it is for the assisano wood-carver, Rossano Rondoni, great-grandson of Domenico, art restorer, painter and photographer whose photograph reigns in Rossano’s bottega (workshop). Rossano’s grandfather, too, was a man of many talents and interests, including wood-working.…

Assisi Artisans, Past and Present

Aspiring to write a few notes linking ancient Assisi artisan treasures to present artisan wonders, I decided that there would be no better place to start than right in the center of Assisi on the main piazza, Piazza del Comune.  I’d start at the Zubboli bookshop (opened in 1870), Assisi’s “artisan centerpiece”…. …which faces the…

Renaissance Masterpieces Live On in Deruta’s Museo della Ceramica

In Deruta, a sacred spot of the Middle Ages holds sacred treasures.  In this small Umbria hilltown, a 14th-century Franciscan monastery now houses the first ceramics museum of Italy – founded in 1898 – displaying over 6000 maiolica masterpieces spanning four centuries: The museum’s first name, Museo artistico pei lavoranti in maiolica (Art Museum for Maiolica– workers), embodies…