Time is flying here in Sansepolcro and I am trying to grasp every minute of it. The evidence of fall is becoming clear as the colder winds blow in and the trees are being to change color. Even though I will be missing my annual autumn trek to the North Carolina mountains to see the leaves, somehow I feel as though these Tuscan hills will be just as beautiful. The kids are beginning to go back to school and class here in the Palazzo is in full swing complete with midterms, papers, and homework. With all this school work, my daily escape is to venture across the street to Café Gerasmos and order a grande café latte with lots of sugar!
Daily life in Sansepolcro feels like hometown living. I walk down the familiar streets and wave to the various people I have come to know since arriving in Sansepolcro: Andrea, Stella, Sara, Elena, and several others. It has only been four weeks but those weeks have felt like a lifetime now. I have become a lot more confident in my Italian and more aware of how things work in Italian life. Now, I walk into a café order what I want and continue on. Compare that to my first week in Sansepolcro where confusion was a consistent state of being and the change is apparent! I am reminded constantly that I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world, and I make an effort to enjoy being outside as much as possible. Staying inside is such a waste of time when the weather is gorgeous! A few times I have taken a bicycle out to ride around town down the back alley ways. In these secret nukes and crannies the hidden treasures of Sansepolcro are found, things that cannot be found anywhere else. An open window pouring out a pleasant smell of freshly baked bread is around the corner, beside the quirky doors and windows that don’t match anything else on the building, and the friendly dog comes near looking for a friendly rub. Last week, John Rose held a very interesting English conversational session for the locals. We were invited to attend and contribute to the conversation. I realized that my own English is constantly being tweaked by him in conversation and by Dr. Webb in writing, so by the time I leave Sansepolcro I will indeed have a much fuller knowledge of Italian and proper English.
Everything in Italy seems to be a little more formal than America, especially the way of dress. I rarely see an Italian in sweat pants and a t-shirt. The most common sight is a well dressed woman in form-fitting pants a button-down shirt and high heels. Only in Italy have I seen the “man purse,” a high-fashion bag that is usually worn as a sling across the body. The common fashion-forward styles for men seen on the streets of Sansepolcro are a high contrast to the khaki shorts and sporting event t-shirt that are worn by the average American college male. Finger foods are also a foreign concept to the Italians who always eat with a fork and knife even French fries. When not standing on ceremony I like to kick back and relax by listening to my grammatically incorrect American beach music. Listening to Jimmy Buffet belt out, “Cheeseburger in paradise, medium rare with mustard be nice!” certainly made me start craving a “huge hunk of meat!” The only problem was that I wasn’t exactly on the familiar beachside where I could obtain one in just about every restaurant on the causeway: I was in Italy! After searching the town for a decent piece of American cuisine we finally struck gold at the local Irish pub, the Compass Rose. We could hardly wait to get our hands on the golden burger complete with a real bun with seeds! We learned quickly that Italians don’t drown their food in sauce and condiments the way most of us do in America. The plate only came with one packet of ketchup for fries and a burger! I am making a trip this week to PAM, the local grocery store, to buy my own bottle of Heinz 57!
On Saturday morning the group got up early for another excursion with the Bankers. A one hour and thirty minute journey over the mountain and through many small country towns brought us to Urbino a famous Renaissance university town in the north-eastern part of central Italy! The road to Urbino was a winding route on the side of the Alps with a bonus of a panoramic view of Tuscany at its finest in the fresh mountain fog. Urbino is a walled city nestled on a sloping hillside. The University of Urbino was founded in 1506 and has about 22,000 students and is known for its humanistic studies. The Bankers specifically chose Urbino for our excursion primarily for its beauty and secondly for its classical style architecture. The Ducal Palace was the main sight we were interested in viewing. The Palazzo Ducale was built in the 15th century by Federico II da Montefeltro. The palace designs reflect Federico's devotion to classical and humanistic studies. The palace is home to the Galleria Nazionale delle Marche which houses famous Renaissance pieces by Raphael, Piero della Francesca, and Viti. The palace had many interesting things that I never realized a palazzo would have. The stairs to the entry way were very flat and spaced out, this being for horses to come up the stairs and into the palace as the rider pleased. Oddly enough the most interesting thing to me was the bathroom and the water filtering system which I thought was very advanced for the time period in which the Palazzo was built. Urbino is now an elegant city full of culture and many different kinds of young people. While we were there we saw two weddings going on, and thus two happy couples starting their life together in a beautiful city!
This week I am looking forward to my family coming to Italy! It will be their first trip across the pond and they will be staying in Sansepolcro for a week! Patsy and I are looking forward to traveling to Venice with them while they are here. I have learned new lessons every week and each week I become more comfortable and confident in my abilities as a world traveler. I wonder what will happen next?
