This Saturday, Umbra students were led to Città di Castello, a small Umbrian city famous in Italy as being the cradle of the country’s modern printing industry. The students had a tour of Italy’s oldest still-working printing company, run by Signor Gianni Ottaviani. Sig. Ottaviani is the seventh generation of owners of the family business, and explained that he has been setting type since he was a child. The students learned about the typographic, lithographic, and engraving processes and were given demonstrations by the enthusiastic Sig. Ottaviani in each one. The students also discussed the "ins and outs" of modern offset printing and saw how graphic layout and pagination programs are turned into printable files. "It was cool to see, … [Read more...]
Archives for January 2006
No Doubt – Winter’s Here
Perugia, normally boasting countless outdoor cafes, sheltered by looming white umbrellas has now made the the unmistakable transformation into winter mode. What's normally a symbol of social encounters--the beloved fountain--the perfect meeting point between friends and romantics is now frequently found uninvitingly iced over. Long gone seem the days when Corso Vannucci, a crowded, vibrant street full of shoppers and elegantly dressed Italians stroll up and down the street or as they say in Perugia "fare una vasca". The atmosphere on the main street seems to have lost its hustle and bustle. There's good reason for it. Corso Vannucci makes for the perfect wind vane. Only a week ago Perugini were walking around in unzipped light jackets, … [Read more...]
Students Soak in Hot Springs Under Umbrian Moonlight
In the first of Umbra Institute’s “Lost Weekend” trips, fourteen students boarded a chartered bus with few details about their destination. The first stop for the group was a surprise dinner at “La Cantina,” a classic Umbrian restaurant in the center of medieval Castiglione del Lago, which sits on a hill high over Lago di Trasimeno. After an “antipasto misto” of cheese and Umbrian salami, the students had “picci all’aglione,” a hearty, garlic-laced pasta dish with handmade pasta. After a fruit dessert, the students reboarded the bus and continued on to the hot springs of San Casciano dei Bagni. Italy is volcanically active and there are a number of hot springs that well up in the central Italian hills. These springs are in the valley … [Read more...]
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