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Showing posts with label Amelia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amelia. Show all posts

June 17, 2011

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Amelia, Umbria: In His First Criminal Trial, Cicero Defended Sextus Roscius the Younger from the Charge of Killing His Father, A Wealthy Resident of Amelia

by Catherine Schofield Sezgin, ARCA Blog Editor-in-Chief

Sometimes on this art crime blog we feature stories about Amelia, the town in Umbria that is hosting for the third year ARCA's Postgraduate Program in International Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection Studies.

This post is about not an art crime but murder. In 80 BC, during the dictatorship of Sulla, the only military commander to take victories in both Rome and Athens, a wealthy resident of Amelia was murdered in Rome. Sextus Roscius the Elder's estate in Amelia consisted of 13 farms and numerous slaves. He spent much of his time in Rome and left the farming to his son, Sextus Roscius the Younger, a middle-aged man who shunned social occasions and loved his work. One evening in September, while walking after dinner with two of his slaves, between 8 and 9 p.m. near the Palatine Baths, 'Old' Roscius was killed. Shortly thereafter, his estate was confiscated and put up for sale. This happened because at the time people who were not loyal to Sulla could be put on a list and have their assets sold. However, adding names to the list had stopped the year before Old Roscius was killed. Yet, sometimes, property was auctioned as if the owner had been listed. Two distant relatives, Capito and Magnus, purchased the farms.

A committee in Amelia felt that this was unfair so they sent a delegation to speak with Sulla and explain that Old Roscius had been in good standing at the time of his death and that the sale should be reversed. However, the delegation only spoke to a spokesman of Sulla who promised that the property would be restored to Sextus Roscius the Younger.

However, this delegation may have only been a smokescreen to appear to be seeking justice as the committee was headed up by Capito himself. What ended up happening is that Sextus Roscius the Younger was actually accused of killing his father in order to keep the property for himself. A witness came forward and said that the younger Roscius had been on poor terms with his father and was afraid of being disinherited.

No one thought that anyone would be brave enough to defend Roscius the Younger. Robbery and murder was common in Rome and the judicial court was easily bribed. People were afraid that they too would be accused by officials of or friendly to Sulla's regime.

However, the Roscius family had friends in Rome who convinced the 27-year-old Cicero to take the case.

The young advocat did not have to provide any evidence, just refute the accusations. Cicero defended Sextus Roscius the Younger by saying that he was uncouth and ignorant and the luxurious things meant nothing to him. In addition, Cicero said that the son had not been to Rome at the time of the death of his father, that he had been 50 miles away in Amelia. Cicero said that the younger Sextus had neither the means, the opportunity, or even the disposition to carry out such a crime. On the other hand, Cicero said, Magnus, a distant Roscius relative who had feuded for years over the estate, had been in Rome the night of the murder and had traveled to Amelia by dawn the next morning to tell his cousin Capito that Sextus Roscius the Elder was dead. Capito ended up owning three farms and Magnus managed 10 farms in the name of one of Sulla's administrators. Cicero gave such an impassioned speech that the 50 judges of the criminal court could not help but acquit Sextus Roscius the Younger, although Capito and Magnus never returned the property or faced charges in the death of Old Roscius.

In Amelia, just past Piazza Marconi and down Via Piacenti, you can find a plaque in memory of the Roscius family.

If you would like to read more about this case, you may read a summary of Cicero's "Pro Roscio Amerino" here and Chapter 4 of Anthony Trollope's book, The Life of Cicero, here.

June 11, 2011

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Amelia Art Crime Salon with Art Historian Tom Flynn Scheduled for June 15

British art historian and journalist Tom Flynn will lead the discussion June 15 at the Art Crime Salon at the B&B Cisterne in Amelia for this year's ARCA summer program students. This informal discussion, hosted by one of the returning students, will feature 'milk and cookies' and topics related to art crime.

Dr. Tom Flynn will lecture on "Art History and the Art World" the first half of June as part of ARCA's Postgraduate Program in Art Crime and Cultural Property Heritage Protection studies. The ARCA blog profiled him here in December. Readers may follow Dr. Flynn on his blog, artknows.

The following art crime experts will lead additional discussions: Author and archaeologist Neil Brodie on June 22; lawyer and criminologist Edgar Tijhuis on June 29 (you may read his profile here); Judge Arthur Tompkins on July 13 (you may read about him on the ARCA blog here.)

February 26, 2011

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Amelia, Umbria: "Ciao Ciao" to Giampiero Novelli

by Catherine Schofield Sezgin, Editor

One of the reasons I miss Amelia has nothing to do with pizza, gelato or art crime: Giampiero Novelli. Since my first walk through the open shops of the medieval center of Amelia, I would greet the man standing in front of the shoe store. He had a friendly smile and a quick cheerful "Ciao Ciao" which he accompanied with a wave. After seeing him sell tickets to the wine tasting festival, helping out at the dining room of Punto Divino (and sometimes in the kitchen), and organizing the medieval festivities in August, I understood that not much happens in Amelia without Giampiero, his wife Paola, and his brother-in-law Luciano Rossi (proprietor of Punto Divino) and Luciano's wife Manuela.

Giampiero's English is better than my Italian, but I asked his niece, Francesca Rossi, our correspondent in Amelia, to pass on a few questions to her uncle.
ARCA blog: Giampiero, how long have you lived in Amelia and are you happy living in this historic town?

Giampiero: I'm living in Amelia since 60 years ago...which means since I was born! And I'm really happy to live in here!

ARCA blog: You have a fantastic selection of shoes for men, women and children. What is it like to be a small businessman in Amelia right now?

Giampiero: Even if we're going through a difficult period, this is still a job full of satisfaction and also, after 30 years doing that, there is also an affection and a devotion to the shoe business that is stronger than everything.

ARCA blog: As I've told our readers, you don't just operate a shoe store. You are involved in just as many activities as the mayor of the town. Have you thought of going into politics or do all your activities keep you too busy?

Giampero: Absolutely not! I like to be involved in volunteering roles to make a better Amelia and to improve the hospitality here but I'm really not interested in being a politician. (After pausing to think, he continued) See, in this moment I am both Prior of my "contrada" and President of the traders' association in town and you know what? Actually it's sort of like being in politics because you have to deal with all the institutions and politicians in town and obviously this give you a certain influence in making decisions.

ARCA blog: Giampiero, many of our readers are learning about Amelia for the first time through our art crime blog. What would you advise someone about visiting Amelia for the first time?

Giampiero: Well...I would suggest a visit to our Museum and obviously Germanico; the Ancient Walls; the S. Magno Monastery with its unique organ; the Cathedral; the Roman Cisterne; the Theatre; and none the less, take your time for a gastronomic itinerary to taste our food and wine specialties!

Editor's note: A contrada is a district, or a ward, of a medieval Italian city. Historical Amelia is divided into five contrade.

February 20, 2011

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Amelia, Umbria: Locals Sitting at the Porta Romana

by Catherine Schofield Sezgin, Editor

During the summer of 2009, as I went in and out of the Porta Romana a few times a day to go to class at ARCA's Postgraduate Program in Art Crime Studies, to eat at Punto Divino, to purchase fresh yogurt from the cheese shop, or to walk to the duomo at the top of this medieval hilltop town in Umbria, I, along with everyone else going in and out of historical Amelia, saw locals sitting to the entrance of town. Watching people or cars, as I've mentioned previously, is a past time in Amelia. I typically was too shy to say hello to the locals but on my last day in Amelia in 2009, I asked these gentlemen if I could take their photo and they consented. Grazie!

February 19, 2011

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Amelia, Umbria: Porta Romana

by Catherine Schofield Sezgin

Reconstruction of the current Porta Romana began in 1592 and took 47 years. However, the brick sentry box dates from the 14th century. The plaque above the arch honored Santa Maria Assunta in 1703 after a big earthquake left the historic center unharmed and devastated the surrounding area. The town's coat of arms is a blue shield embossed with the letters, APCA, topped by a royal crown, and followed by two braches of faro (also known as spelt). The ancient wood door is closed for a few minutes every August on a Saturday evening during a medieval procession of town members in wool costumes that commemorates the Statuti Amerini which turned this formerly free town into a papal city. Where a drawbridge used to defend the town during the Middle Ages, a ditch is now filled with dirt and plants. A drawing of the town in 1700 shows the drawbridge at the Porta Romana and all the other buildings seen today, including the walls of the garden of the Palazzo Farrattini. Outside the gate today is a round mirror set at an angle for car drivers and pedestrians to see around the corner to pass safely into town.

To the south, the Porta Romana opens onto the Piazza XXI Septembre, the busiest intersection in town with four roads leading to other parts of Umbria such as Orvieto, Terni and Narni, Orte, and as far as Roma. An apartment above the arch of the Porta Romana opens its windows north into the historic center onto the shops lining Via della Repubblica.

Tomorrow I will post my favorite photos of a few of the local men sitting on the wall adjacent to the Porta Romana. They sit in the sun, talk, and watch the world go by. And although they had never smiled at me all the day I ran in and out of the Porta Romana, they smiled for the camera when I asked and I am quite fond of the photo -- and of course, them.

February 18, 2011

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Classical Twist Emerged Last Summer While Lawyers Studied Art Crime in Amelia


Last summer in Amelia two students from ARCA's Postgraduate Program found the setting inspirational and formed a new musical group. Classical Twist is a duo of classically trained musicians, proving that lawyers can also be artists.

Leila Amineddoleh (piano) and Daniella Fischetti (violin) were students in ARCA's class of 2010 when they met and discovered that they were not only interested in the same legal fields, but that they were also both musicians. While enjoying an outdoor wine-tasting and dinner, they chatted about music and soon realized that they had mutual admiration for many of the same artists.

Leila, a classical pianist, and Daniella, classical violinist turned bluegrass/jazz fiddler, found common ground in Beethoven and Radiohead and got to work immediately. After five weeks of early morning rehearsals, picking apart a classical sonata and arranging the complexities of modern rock, the duo performed a recital in Palazzo Petrignani. Beneath a veil of frescoes with the sound of church bells echoing across the Umbrian hillside, they presented Beethoven's Fourth Violin and Piano Sonata, Radiohead selections, and a couple of Neapolitan street songs (to the delight of their Italian friends) to their fellow classmates, instructors and residents of Amelia. The recital was a hit, and due to popular request, the duo performed two weeks later in Palazzo Venturelli.

After a fabulous summer of playing music together in beautiful Amelia, the duo was sad to "break up the band." As luck would have it, Daniella and Leila both live in the New York metro area, and they reunited in the US after their summer abroad. The duo has continued to expand their repertoire, and they have a rapidly growing playlist of classical pieces, tango, traditional folk songs, and music by David Bowie, Portishead, the Gotan Project, the Beatles, and many others.

Ironically, one of the most difficult tasks facing the girls was creating a suitable name for the group. After months of debate, Daniella and Leila finally agreed on "Classical Twist," inspired by their classical training, fancy cocktails, and their own personal "twist" that they give songs.

Since returning from Italy, Classical Twist has performed at private parties, holiday functions, and restaurants and have a number of performances lined up this spring. Daniella and Leila look forward to continuing to share their love of music and are working on a number of albums to share with their fans. Playing together reminds the girls of their wonderful summer adventures in Umbria, Italy, a place filled with beautiful art, delicious food, musical memories, and wonderful friends.

To learn more about Classical Twist and hear samples, please visit http://www.myspace.com/classicaltwistmusic, and stay tuned for www.classicaltwistmusic.com- new site coming soon!

February 13, 2011

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Amelia, Umbria: An Introduction to Its History

by Catherine Schofield Sezgin

Amelia, the oldest town in Umbria, is about 60 miles north of Rome. You can get there by car in about an hour. You could get there by train to the station at Orte, in either one or two hours from either Termini Station in Rome or from the airports, depending on whether or not your train stops at every town. Orte, a another small medieval town, is about nine miles from Amelia through beautiful green hills with cypress trees. If you don't have a car, you can take a bus, unless you arrive on a Sunday in July or August, or later than 10 o'clock at night, then you will have to call for a driver. Outside the doors of the train station, a sign indicates a phone number for a taxi company. But the taxi company, or just a sole driver, I've never figured out which, does not always answer the phone or send a car. So it's helpful to have the name and number of a private service that will agree to meet you upon your arrival for the cost of 25 or 30 euros.

As I've discussed before, most visitors stop at Bar Leonardi for refreshments or to make arrangements to reach their lodgings. From the patio of Bar Leonardi, you can sit at a table and view the walls of the medieval town and the main gate which is known as the Porta Romana. This entrance deserves a photo and a blog of it's own so we'll just say for now that if you're not waiting on the patio of Bar Leonardi, you're waiting on a low wall that extends outside of the Porta Romana. And I have a photo which I will also show in another blog of some local men that agreed to have their photo taken. They, or someone like them, sat on that wall most morning and evenings. However, the sitting wall is typically available during the afternoon siesta so I recommend that when you want to feel like a local and check out all the cars and pedestrians going in and out of the historic center, that you first sit on the wall during a hot afternoon when no one else is around. Because you'll want to make sure you have the right detached pose ready as you inspect everyone and everything going in and out of that town.

People may have lived on this hilltop for three thousand years, allegedly beginning with the Umbrian King Ameroe more than 300 years earlier than the settlement of Rome. The Umbrians traded with Greeks and Etruscans and produced pottery. Pliny the Elder, historian and military commander, wrote that the Umbrians were the oldest people in Italy -- that the Greeks called them 'Ombrici' because they were believed to have survived the great flood Zeus unleashed to cleanse the countryside at the end of the Bronze Age to express his anger with the corruption of the Pelasgians. This history is relevant when you're in Amelia because you can feel the sense of pride and tradition in the town's clean streets and well-preserved buildings.

Between the 6th and 4th centuries B. C., the Etruscans protected Amelia by stacking limestone blocks, one on top of the other, fitting them together without mortar. These walls, 8 meters high and 3.5 meters wide, extend around the town for more than 700 meters. One legend claims that these walls thwarted an attack by Emperor Federico Barbarossa. A 30-meter segment of this wall collapsed in 2006 and is still under repair as the town awaits for government funding and tries to figure out how to duplicate the original construction. In May 2008, another gate opening from the third of fourth century B.C. was rediscovered.

February 12, 2011

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Amelia, Umbria: Bronze Germanicus Home in Museo Archeologico di Amelia

By Catherine Schofield Sezgin

Of the most important and complete bronze statues of the first century A.D. ever found in Italy resides in Amelia.

In 1963, outside the walls of Amelia’s historic center, a group of workers digging a mill found the broken remains of a first century bronze statue. Over the town’s objections, the fragments were transferred to Perugia, restored, and then decades later returned to Amelia to an archaeological museum built to display the bronze of Germanicus Julius Caesar.

Francesca Rossi, an Amelian and daughter of Luciano Rossi of Punto Di Vino, a local wine bistro, recalled seeing the restored head of Germanicus on display in the old town hall when she was a little girl. “I fell in love with him,” she said. “I told my mother I wanted to marry him.”

The charisma of the bronze head likely belonged to a statue created to commemorate the early death of one of the Roman Empire’s most beloved commanders. Germanicus, adopted younger son of Julius Augustus, would have followed his brother Tiberius as Roman emperor if he had not been poisoned in Antioch.

Austrialian-born writer Stephen Dando-Collins claims in his book “Blood of the Caesars: How the Murder of Germanicus Led to the Fall of Rome” (John Wiley and Sons, 2008), that the death of Germanicus in A. D. 19 predated the fall of the Roman Empire. But Germanicus’ fame catapulted his son Caligula and his grandson Nero to the throne. It was his wife Agrippina the Elder, the granddaughter of Augustus, who used her husband’s good name and affection of the people of the Roman Empire to further her family’s political ambitions. Yet, it was Germanicus’ lack of political ambition, his unwillingness to use his popularity to unseat Tiberius, that may have motivated his wife and her reputed lover and one of Rome’s greatest philosophers, Seneca, to poison her husband, according to Dando-Collins’ book.

Ruthless women characterized Germanicus’ family. His paternal grandmother had been six months pregnant when she divorced her husband and married his political rival, the future Roman Emperor, bestowing upon her great wealth and ultimately the title of Roman deity. Women used marriage and motherhood as the only available political tools. Although his grandmother’s mother had been the daughter of a magistrate, her father was from two patrician families, Gens Julia and Gens Claudia, of Ancient Rome.

At the age of 14, Livia Drusilla married her cousin Tiberius Claudius Nero, an ally of Mark Antony and Julius Caesar. For years she lived in exile before a peace agreement between Antony and Octavian in 40 BC allowed her family to return to Rome. Apparently, Octavian, her husband’s rival, fell in love with the pregnant 20-year-old Livia, divorced his wife Scribonia the day after she gave birth to her daughter Julia, and then married Germanicus’ paternal grandmother. Three months later, Livia gave birth to Germanicus’ father, Drusus. She allowed her first husband to raise her sons until his death and then they went to live with their mother and her husband who was elevated to Augustus, first Roman Emperor.

Germanicus’ maternal grandmother was Augustus’ sister, Octavia, and his maternal grandfather was Augustus' rival Mark Antony. When Antony took up with Cleopatra, then committed suicide, one of the nine children he left behind was Germanicus’ mother, Antonia the Younger. Thus, Germanicus’ grandparents were the second wife of the first Roman Emperor, the sister of the first Roman Emperor, and two political rivals of the first Roman Emperor.

Germanicus’ wife, Agrippina the Elder, was the granddaughter of the First Roman Emperor through his daughter Julia who had been abandoned by her father Octavian when he married Germanicus’ maternal grandmother Livia. Agrippina’s father, of course, was Agrippa, a political ally of Julia’s father. After her father died, her mother married Tiberius Caesar, Germanicus’ uncle and the ruler to succeed Augustus.

Germanicus, adopted by Tiberius at the will of Augustus, was patiently waiting his turn when his wife, the direct descendant of Augustus, grew impatient and plotted to poison her husband at the age of 34 so as to undermine Tiberius and raise her son to the imperial throne.

When the pieces of a bronze statue were dug up outside the city walls along the “Via Ortana”, probably the ancient road that follows the route of the Via Amerina, likely on the grounds for the old campus for ancient games and gymnastic competitions. (Archaeological Museum of Amelia, website). The statue was erected in honor of Amelia and in memory of Germanicus, also known as Nero Claudius Drusus, born in 15 BC. Germanicus, the son of a famed and beloved commander who succeeded in the Germany territories and also died young, on his horse, also earned adulation of the Roman people.

The bronze fragments were reconstructed with the use of steel frame that was anchored to a wooden structure to support the basis for the bronze fragments.

The statue, more than two meters tall, is of a “Young Germanicus” triumphant as a victorious general, with armor and the arm resting on a spear, the head turned to the right, in the direction of the raised arm.

The artistic decoration of his armor shows the scene of the attack of Achilles in Troy, perhaps linking this memory with Germanicus’ military operations in the East.

The archaeological museum is located in the Boccarini Palazzo built between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. In 1410, it was the seat of the papal government whose jurisdiction included Amelia, Orvieto, and Terni.

http://www.umbriaearte.it/museo_archeologico_amelia.htm
Museo Archeologico di Amelia
Piazza Augusto Vera, 10 - Amelia (Tr)
Tel./fax+39.0744.978120

February 9, 2011

Wednesday, February 09, 2011 - ,,, 1 comment

Amelia, Umbria: An Eyewitness Account Recalls the Allied Bombing of Amelia in 1944

By Francesca Rossi, Guest Contributor

During the World War II, people in Amelia felt quite safe from the fighting because there was no reason for them to suppose Amelia would be considered a military target. But they were wrong. On the 25th of January in 1944, on a beautiful winter day in Amelia, no one could have predicted what would happen that morning, especially not Umberto Cerasi who at the time was just a young boy. In his book “Amelia – Un anno di storia dal 25 luglio 1943 al 13 giugno 1944: ricordi, testimonianze, documenti”, Mr. Cerasi tells us also about that day (translated from the Italian):
“I remember that morning because I was there and because you can’t forget those kind of facts. I was an apprentice at a typography studio nearby the Public Gardens and I was working when I heard the sound of the warning siren located on the top of the Cathedral bell tower. I started to run, trying to find a shelter, but I could already hear the rumble of the B-29 and when I looked up, I saw the training aircraft above me. There was a weird twinkle under the fuselage: cluster bombs were being dropped over us!”

“The bombs exploded on the ancient polygonal walls and again on Via Cavour hitting the elementary girl’s school, the church of Saint Elisabetta, the house of the parish, a house owned by Mr. Ammaniti, and other nearby houses. It was a massacre! An unknown number of people were severely injured and twenty-six people died including the Director of Education Ms. Iole Orsini, twelve little girls and three nuns. It was terrible!”
“When the explosions stopped, I could hear only people crying. So I came back home, actually hoping to still find my home and terrified not to find my family anymore. Fortunately there it was, and so was my mother and my father. Then I reached Via Cavour, the most damaged area, and as I approached the area I could realize the magnitude of the tragedy: parents holding in their arms the little girls who had been in the school, with tattered clothes and faces covered in white dust. There were a lot of people in front of heaps of rubble from where dead bodies were beginning to be extracted. I was just a kid but I could realize my presence was a hindrance, so I went away with my eyes full of tears and my heart pounding in my chest."
No one ever knew the real reason for this act of war: there are different hypotheses but the most probable is that it was just a tragic mistake in the attempt to hit the bridge on the nearby Rio Grande. What we know is that on January 25, 1944, all those innocent people died and since then, every year, everyone in Amelia attends Mass in the church of Santa Lucia, built on the ruins of Santa Elisabetta, to commemorate the 26 victims:

Orsini Iole, 40 years old: Director of Education
Bertini Quinta, 25 years old – Sister (nun and religious educator)
Bolli Teresa, 74 years old- Sister
Martini Jolanda, 23 years old – Sister
Paolocci Fiorella, 10 years old – schoolgirl
Ciancuto Graziella, 10 years old – schoolgirl
Silvani Paola, 6 years old – schoolgirl
Fiorucci Maria Teresa, 12 years old – schoolgirl
Barcherini Graziella, 7 years old – schoolgirl
Lanfaloni Consiglia, 10 years old – schoolgirl
Proietti Rosella, 6 years old – schoolgirl
Suadoni Geltrude, 11 years old – schoolgirl
Proietti Palmira, 10 years old – schoolgirl
Botarelli Maria, 12 years old – schoolgirl
Corvi Fedina, 8 years old – schoolgirl
Marzoli Rossana, 4 years old – schoolgirl
Servi Nazzareno, 67 years old – worker
Esposito Pasquale, 28 years old – worker
Grisci David, 68 years old – farmer
Castellani Emilia, 54 years old – housewife
Tinarelli Castorino, 36 years old – worker
Grilli Enzo, 13 years old – apprentice
Quadraccia Ferrero, 14 years old – apprentice
Margheriti Gregorio, 64 years old – shoemaker
Fabrizi Agenore, 39 years old – farmer
Olivieri Palmira, 77 years old - housewife

(Source: “AMELIA – UN ANNO DI STORIA DAL 25 LUGLIO 1943 AL 13 GIUGNO 1944: ricordi, testimonianze, documenti” di Umberto Cerasi)

Francesca Rossi will be writing about the history and culture of Amelia as a guest writer for the ARCA blog. Ms. Rossi graduated from the Universitá degli Studi di Siena in Arezzo with a degree in biomedical laboratory techniques. She is an interior designer and responsible for the identify brand for an interior design studio in Amelia. Although born in Terni, Francesca was raised in Amelia, the summer base for ARCA's Postgraduate Certificate Program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection.

Wednesday, February 09, 2011 - ,,,, No comments

Amelia, Umbria: Rosa Venerini's Schools and a WWII Tragic Bombing

by Catherine Schofield Sezgin

February 9 is the anniversary of the birthday of the 17th century educator who has a school named after her in Amelia. A statue of Rose Venerini on a walkway of a small school in Amelia commemorates the founder of public schools for Italian girls more than 350 years ago. Rose opened forty schools from 1685 to 1728, including one at the foot of the Campidoglio, the smallest and most famous of Rome’s Seven Hills. The motto of the Maestre Pie Venerini is “Educate to save.” Nearby a plaque memorializes the Allied bombing of this school on January 25, 1944, which killed students, teachers, and residents of a nearby house. The Allies missed an ammunitions factor in nearby Terni, and that morning, innocent people died. The bomb also destroyed the church of Santa Elisabetta. Parishioners constructed a new church, Santa Lucia, on the site in 1956.

January 20, 2011

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Amelia, Umbria: Pasticceria Massimo's Appearance in Daniel Silva's Novel 'The Defector'


by Catherine Schofield Sezgin

While studying in Amelia at ARCA's Postgraduate Program in Art Crime Studies in 2009, I looked forward to July 21, the release date for another book in Daniel Silva's series on Gabriel Allon, art restorer, spy and assassin. Downloading the book from Audible.com would allow me to listen to The Defector on my iPhone although I was in a medieval town in the middle of Umbria. And although I had been looking forward to this book since Silva had signed my copy of Moscow Rules in 2008, I would not be able to listen to the book until midnight.

That day, a Tuesday, Monica Di Stefano, Italian teacher extraordinaire and gracious Umbrian host, guided a group of students and attending family members through Narni, visiting a church, the duomo, and a stage theatre. We lunched on curried chicken, pesto trofilo, and meatloaf with mashed potatoes at a cucina off a side street. Desserts, baked there, included a flourless chocolate torte, a fruit crumble, and a crème brulee.

We explored Narni underground, an area discovered by some children in 1979 when they climbed into the vegetable garden of an old man who asked them to explore an area from where he could feel fresh air. Inside the opening, they discovered an old church used by the Dominicans from the 12th century and beyond that Inquisition torture chambers. A prisoner in 1759 had left carvings on his cell wall explaining his name, his military rank of corporeal, and signs related to Christianity and masonry. The man was likely a leader of the guards for the Inquisition chambers and had been put in prison for 13 years because he had tried to save another guard from torture. Another prisoner of the Inquisition was accused of having two wives -- something awful in Italy because two wives meant two mother-in-laws -- and when he killed a guard and escaped, he ended up in L'Aquila, outside the protected walls of the papal empire. The hidden chamber also revealed two skeletons, including one of a tall woman with a full set of teeth and clothing tied by ribbons at the sleeves, not sown, putting her in the 19th century.

After this field trip, we returned to Amelia, prepared for the next day's lecture and not until midnight did I insert earphones to listen to The Defector. Minutes later I heard: "Chapter Four, Amelia, Umbria."

Silva's Gabriel Allon describes the town:
"Amelia, the oldest of the Umbria's cities, had seen the last outbreak of Black Death and, in all likelihood, every one before it. Founded by Umbrian tribesmen long before the dawn of the Common Era, it had been conquered by Etruscans, Romans, Goths, and Lombards before finally being placed under the dominion of the popes. Its dun-colored walls were more than ten feet thick, and many of its ancient streets were navigable only on foot... It's main street, Via Rimembranze, was the place where most Amelians passed their ample amounts of free time. In late afternoon, they strolled the pavements and congregated on street corners, trading in gossip and watching the traffic heading down the valley toward Orvieto."
Allon enters Pasticceria Massimo and orders a cappuccino and a selection of pastries.

So the next day, after waking at 9 a.m., breakfasting at 10, ironing at 11 and getting dressed at noon, my family and I followed Gabriel Allon's path into Pasticceria Massimo to try the cappuccino and cream puffs. Massimo, the owner, and a woman wearing eyeglasses behind the counter -- possibly the model for the girl who had served Gabriel Allon in the book -- did not know of Daniel Silva or his books but were pleased to learn of the connection.

The Illy espresso was delicious, the foam smooth, and the service gracious. We later learned of Massimo's great tiramisu cakes and added Pasticceria Massimo to our daily routine. We were able to share our story with Daniel Silva and his wife Jamie Gangel who sent a signed bookplate to "the girl who presided over the gleaming glass counter of Pasticceria Massimo" as Daniel Silva wrote in his book. In exchange, the woman in the eyeglass at Massimo's, of course her name was Daniela, sent a memento of Amelia to Daniel Silva and is waiting for The Defector to be translated into Italian.

My first visit to Massimo's was followed by a two-hour Italian class with Monica Di Stefano and then a lecturer by Diane Charney, a French Literature Professor at Yale University, on the heroic work of Rose Valland who copied the negatives of looted art works processed through the Jeu du Paume in Paris during World War II.

That evening, after a trip to the fromaggerie for fresh yogurt and cardinale cheese in the afternoon, a group of us dined on pizza at Porcelli's Taverne and then two of us walked Diane Charney to her guest apartment on Via della Repubblica until Richard Ellis, founder of Scotland Yard's Art Crime and Antiquities Squad, joined us on the street. When I introduced myself, he said that he had already met my husband and children earlier that day. The four of us chatted long enough for his wife to call and wonder what had happened to him when he went to park the car.

Without the aid of my journal, I would not have remembered that finding Amelia mentioned in Daniel Silva's 2009 novel was sandwiched in between Narni underground's Inquisition torture chambers and meeting Scotland Yard's Richard Ellis. But I have recalled those two days here for those potential candidates considering the program who wonder about the consequences of enrolling in ARCA's Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection Studies. It was not a summer of lectures and assigned readings I had anticipated -- the rest of the summer could fill another novel!

Photo: Daniela Grillini, Pasticceria Massimo, possibly the model for Daniel Silva's character who "presided over the gleaming glass counter."

Pasticceria Massimo
Via delle Rimembranze, 8
Amelia (Tr)
Chiuso il lunedi/Closed on Monday

January 19, 2011

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ARCA 2011 Student Zachariah Mattheus on Going to Amelia

Zachariah Mattheus will be part of ARCA's 2011 summer program in art crime studies and cultural heritage protection. He is an independent art director and graphic designer working in branding, print and web design. HIs professional collaborations over the past ten years with Warner Music Group, Rhino Records, Kerouac Films, Bloomberg, Conde Nast, Envirosell, Vox Guitars, The New York City Ballet and Jordache exhibit his penchant for the telling of great stories. His work can be seen at www.zachmattheus.com.

ARCA Blog: What is your academic background and how did you come to commit to a summer in Umbria studying art crime?
I received my degree in Graphic Design from The School of Visual Arts. I came across the ARCA program in a NY Times article about 1.5 years ago. I already had a fascination with art crime, especially forgery, from reading every book I could get my hands on about the subject, both non-fiction and fiction (Fake!, The Forger, The Rescue Artist, The Lost Van Gogh, The Art Thief, etc). The ARCA program was the logical next step for me in immersing myself further into the world of art crime.
ARCA Blog: Have you traveled or lived in Italy and what would you like to do there when you are not attending lectures?
I have lived in Italy twice before, once as a student in 1999 and once as a teacher in 2002-03 in Florence at Studio Art Centers International. It was there that I met my wife-to-be Jess Hayden who will be joining us in Amelia this summer. We are both very excited to return to Italy, especially to an area that we do not know and are eager to explore. We love a good dinner party, although she is definitely the chef, and intend to eat and drink our way through the summer. While we are there we intend to spend some time with old friends and explore the areas along the Adriatic and in the south. And of course get back to Florence and one of our favorite restaurants, Garga.
ARCA Blog: The program culminates in the writing of a publishable article. What area of art crime or cultural protection would you like to research?
At this point I would say I would like to further explore the world of forgery, but after seeing the ARCA prospectus who know what direction I will be pushed in once classes begin.

January 16, 2011

January 14, 2011

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Amelia, Umbria: A view from the Historic Center


by Catherine Schofield Sezgin

This view from inside the historic center of Amelia is of Via della Repubblica looking down to the Porta Romana, the main gate of the town. The street is lined with shops. A coiffeur salon just inside the Porta Roma extends like a well-lit cavern alongside the medieval walls. Continuing up the street are clothing and jewelry stores, a fabric store, a pharmacy with the town's longest lines in the morning and evening; a hat shop; and Giampiero's shoe store where he can be found most mornings greeting his friends and clients with a smile and "Ciao, Ciao!" When Giampiero is not too busy at the shoe store, he walks up two doors to help his brother-in-law Luciano Rossi serve lunch at Punto Divino. A deconsecrated church, San Giovanni Decollato, once the Ospedaletto, a hostel for pilgrims traveling to or from Rome, opens sporadically to display and sell art and crafts for charity.

January 13, 2011

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Amelia, Umbria: Porcelli's Beats Out Napoli Pizza



by Catherine Schofield Sezgin

One of the reasons for our fondness for the restaurants in Amelia is certainly due to the ubiquitous owners who have to close their eating establishments to get any time away from their businesses. Valda, as she is known by her customers, the smiling and gregarious owner of Porcelli's, arguably serves the best pizza in Amelia. Personally, I favor the gargonzola cheese with sliced pears and crushed almonds. My children love the nutella pizza that Valda often presents to regular customers at the end of a late meal. Then there's a salad that's only on the Italian menu that has greens, kiwi fruit, and walnuts dressed with a vinaigrette.

Many people prefer pizza from Napoli. However, when my family and I tried the pizza in Napoli, I had to agree with my husband -- even as I enjoyed a seven cheese pie -- when he said, "This pizza is not as good as our pizza." I understood he wasn't talking about pizza from Pasadena. Because after living in Amelia for a month, 'our pizza' had become pizza from La Misticanza or Porcelli's. The pizza in Amelia typically has a thin crust, with cheese topped with thin slices of toppings such as zucchini, eggplant, red peppers, prosciutto, or even truffles. Oil does not drip through the pizza boxes or congeal on the plate as in California. With whole pies selling from three to eight euros, we ate pizza daily.

Valda, with her trademark dark eyeliner and long eyelashes, opens her taverne in the evening and keeps it open for as long as her customers and musicians play. It's not unusual for someone to arrive at midnight. Porcelli's is carved into the hillside and has spacious dining rooms stretching into caverns whose walls are decorated with art by Valda's deceased husband. The space is perfect for musicians to perform long into the night without disturbing the neighbors. However, the customers smoking outside Porcelli's doors on Via Farratini may not be so accommodating if the party is particularly good. And the party, like the pizza, is always good.

January 12, 2011

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Amelia, Umbria: La Misticanza




by Catherine Schofield Segin

Two of my classmates, Lauren Cattey, a criminologist, and Katie Ogden, an art historian, and I were sitting at one of the many shiny metal bistro tables on the patio of Bar Leonardi overlooking the Piazza 21 Settembre, the large open space outside of the walls of historic Amelia. As students of ARCA’s Postgraduate Program in Art Crime Studies, we had by then survived three weeks of lectures, five days a week, five to six hours a day. Our course time had cut into prime grocery shopping time that on Thursdays in Amelia meant from about 8 a.m. to about 1 or 2 p.m. when the stores closed for the afternoon and the evening. Drinking espresso drinks and prosecco, nibbling on potato chips and nuts, we watched the Italians around us, smartly dressed in various hues of purple, the men with their man-bags which held their cell phones and cigarettes, the women who that summer flagrantly displaced purple or leopard bra straps. We considered our options for dinner – inexpensive pizza from the shop across the park – and then we ran out of ideas. We’d eaten lunch at Punto di Vino, as usual, and could return since it was the one place that always remained open.

Our counting of purple outfits – we often reached double digits – was interrupted by a tall man who exited from a car in a parking space in front of us and ambled over with a piece of paper. In either Italian or English, likely the latter as that is why he chose us, he asked how he could find La Misticanza. We were baffled. We'd lived in Amelia for more than three weeks and although it was a small town and we were always discovering a new food market or shop -- and sharing the information as to when they were open -- Porcelli's was closed on Tuesdays, Cansacchi was closed on Wednesdays and Le Colonne was closed on Thursdays -- we hadn’t heard about this Misticanza. The fair haired man, now we were guessing he was German, claimed that he was meeting friends so in helpful desperation I recalled a pretty sign with a floral motif outside a bar door across the road from Bar Leonardi and directed him around the corner to the left.

This bar we had sent the newcomer to seemed to be deserted during the day and yet attracted a boisterous crowd in the evening but we'd never been inside the open doors nor had we seen a menu. So, as soon as it grew dark, we crossed the piazza, stepped into the sit down area of a brewery and walked up to the cashier and then peered into a side door to find a crowded dining room overlooking the Porta Romana. Using our rudimentary Italian, we ordered what we thought was one plate of salami and cheese only to receive three large platters of antipasto. We were laughing by the time the pizza arrived but didn’t turn down what would become one of our favorite pizzas, the caprese, a puffy crust covered in slices of tomato and mozzarella with basil and drizzled with olive oil.

We would return a few more times, very careful to order just pizza, as the gregarious and talented chef could be creative with the menu and the bill. Many long evenings were spent in the place we came to know as “Crazy Johnny’s” where nothing is predictable except the excellent quality of the food.

Tomorrow’s post will highlight Porcelli’s, a pizza tavern inside the historic center.

Top Photo: View of the Porta Romana from La Misticanza
Middle photo: The dining room of La Misticanza
Bottom photo: Caprese pizza

January 11, 2011

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Amelia, Umbria: Punto di Vino's hospitality



by Catherine Schofield Sezgin

While Bar Leonardi is the prime meeting place in Amelia, Punto Di Vino, a wine shop and cafe operated by Luciano Rossi and his extended family within the medieval wall of Amelia, fed me, connected me wirelessly to friends and family, and fed my chocolate addiction with double chocolate biscotti.

My first day in Amelia in 2009, as one of the students in ARCA's Postgraduate Program in Art Crime Studies, fell on June 2, a national holiday to mark the end of the monarchy in 1946 and the beginning of the new republic. I lived in a new apartment above Bar Leonardi but when I stepped out of my door mid-morning into a rainy and windy day the piazza was empty. I would later learn that few people venture out into the rain. If you want privacy in Amelia, pick a Thursday afternoon (when the shops close each week) during a thunderstorm in the summertime when fewer people are out than at 3 a.m.

After drinking just one caffe latte at Bar Leonardi, I walked south and found a warm shop, Pizza & Company, with rotisserie chickens and platters of grilled and lightly fried vegetables and sheets of pizza which looks like what we call foccacia in the States. Still jet-lagged and fairly oblivious to what a national holiday meant in Italy, I purchased some grilled eggplant drizzled with olive oil and chives and a serving of roasted potatoes, thinking that I'd return to the shop in the afternoon (which did not reopen because it was also Tuesday).

I walked for hours through the town. It is not that big, but it is beautiful and I kept stopping to take pictures such as the one of the view through one of the gates of the town. After a visit to the duomo, viewing the cathedral's beautiful art and listening to the wind howl, I toured the Cisterne Romane where the Romans had stored the town's water, and then stood outside the doors of the closed archaeological museum until retreating into what seemed like the only open establishment in town -- Punto di Vino.

Luciano's son, Alessio, was likely working as he spoke English and oriented myself and the other students who wandered in that evening and throughout the night.

Although we would gradually discover other great eating establishments in Amelia, the hospitality of Punto di Vino was extended to us for lunch, during the afternoon siesta, and for dinner. Other restaurants may close once or twice a week in Amelia, but Punto di Vino stays open all the time during the summer. It is located on Via della Repubblica inside of the historical town so it's opened doors allowed visibility to everyone who came in and out of the city. In addition, Luciano, his son Alessio, and his daughter Francesca answered endless questions about the town, its customs, and provided fresh food such as salami and cheeses, risotto with fungi, and insalata di pomodore (a "divine" tomato salad with olive oil, vinegar and lemon).

After a day of grey clouds and cold, the warmth of Punto di Vino on that first day was the best of Italian hospitality which has never paled. The next day, a Wednesday, I was startled when I stepped out of my apartment onto the piazza to sunshine and hundreds of people milling around Bar Leonardi.

Tomorrow I'll write about how it took us three weeks to discover one of the best restaurants in town that was just across the road from Bar Leonardi.

Photo: Luciano and Alessio Rossio (standing) pictured with Robin Munro Tyner, Julia Brennan, and Colette Loll Marvin (2009 ARCA students).

January 10, 2011

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Amelia, Umbria: Everyone gathers at Bar Leonardi




by Catherine Schofield Sezgin

ARCA's Postgraduate Program in International Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection Studies will be held for the third year in Amelia, Umbria, in 2011. The deadline for student applications has been extended to January 21, 2011.

Amelia is a beautiful walled medieval town about an hour drive north of Rome. It can also be reached from Rome by taking a train to Orte, then taking either a bus or a taxi to Amelia. Most visitors directed to Amelia are instructed to meet their host where all roads leading to the old town converge: Bar Leonardi, an establishment across from the main entrance to the old town, the Porta Romana, and on a piazza adjacent to a park.

Bar Leonardi opens very early in the morning and stays open late and, most importantly, in Italy, it stays open all day. In the morning, customers typically pick up espressos and cornettos, read newspapers, and greet friends and business partners. In the afternoon, during siesta, the bar can be quiet except for customers dashing in to play the lottery or to pick up cigarettes. After siesta, people emerge and gather again, drinking prosecco and more coffee. Of course, only the Americans order lattes and cappucinos so late in the day and although the server may admit to a wry smile, he will bring the milk-based drinks that cease for Europeans by 11 a.m.

I have just a bit of advice for a regular customer at Bar Leonardi: be consistent. Espresso drinks are inexpensive and plentiful; however, the cashier, who is often the ever-present owner, prides himself upon greeting you by remembering your order and the whole charm of buon giorno will be marred if you have to correct him with your whim of the day.

If you like a cappucino, then a latte, and maybe an espresso later on, I recommend that you order a cappucino from Bar Leonardi, another from Massimo's Pattisserie across the street, then cross the piazza to the smaller bar run by the red-headed Amelia to order a latte, and when you're ready for your fourth drink, maybe another latte or cappucino in the afternoon, you can visit Caffe Grande inside the walls and their staff will prepare you anything and include an artificial sweetner if you prefer.

Decaffeinated espresso is always available in Amelia's coffee bars. My bartenders well remember me for my order of 'decaffinato doppio cappuccino, per favore' which was a unique request in Italy although not in California where I normally reside. In Amelia, the cappucino is one euro or less; in Los Angeles, it's $4 so you can understand my free-for-all on the decaffeinated drinks.

Another reason people go to Bar Leonardi: everyone in town eventually goes to or passes Bar Leonardi so you can just sit at an outside table and wait. If your friend doesn't walk by, someone who knows your friend will walk by, and you can inquire, have you seen so and so, and that friend will be able to say, yes, I just saw them in Punto di Vino or at the Biblioteca because it only takes about 15 minutes and a pair of strong legs to cover the commercial area of Amelia which offers a few grocery stores, a couple of great eating establishments, many takeout places, and boutique clothing stores.

Later we'll talk about procuring food in Amelia -- when restaurants are open and closed requires knowledge of the weekly schedule.

December 3, 2010

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Renowned Art Conservator Julia Brennan discusses her adventures in conservation and the ARCA Postgraduate Program in the Study of Art Crime


Julia Brennan is a renowned art conservator specializing in textiles. In an interview with Noah Charney, Julia discusses her international adventures in conservation, the ARCA Postgraduate Program in the Study of Art Crime, and the cleaning of The Ghent Altarpiece.
Read more at Suite101: Renowned Conservator Discusses Art, Art Crime, and Van Eyck http://www.suite101.com/content/renowned-conservator-discusses-art-art-crime-and-van-eyck-a316311#ixzz173Y2vP4B

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