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Archive for March, 2012

Full of Art is Not that Bad!

Posted in Expat in Italy, Italian Culture, Italy, Living abroad, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Travel, Umbria, tagged , , , , , , , , on March 18, 2012| 18 Comments »

You’ve probably heard of the Stendhal syndrome, named for the famous French author who detailed his experience of being overcome with emotion by the immense beauty of Florentine art.   In 1979 an Italian psychiatrist finally gave the syndrome its official name after reporting nearly 100 tourists at the Galleria degli Uffizi had fainted – some sent to hospital when their heads hit the hard marble floor. Personally I have never actually swooned from viewing a painting, but I do get a bit light-headed at the sight of Michelangelo’s David.

Art: The Good, the Bad and….

Unfortunately there won’t be any swooning happening here. You see, at the base of the rock that I live on, in front of the town’s train station sits a sculpture in a fountain. This “work of art” makes a very strong first impression to visitors arriving by rail on their way up to town. It is my understanding (I did some asking around) that the artist is internationally renowned and important enough that the City commissioned not one, but two of his works for installation.   I don’t get it.  I can’t even describe the fountain to you without using terms that would make a 9 year old boy collapse in a heap of laughter at my “potty” humor.  Fortunately no one really cares what I think about the fountain, and why should they?  Who the hell am I to judge the merits of a piece of art?  What I know about art couldn’t fill an espresso cup.  Art, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder.  Enough said.


by Toni DeBella

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Scrivere: To Write

Posted in Expat in Italy, Italy, Living abroad, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , on March 12, 2012| 10 Comments »

writ·er [rahy-ter] noun. a person engaged in writing

The words scribbler, dabbler, pencil pusher and hack all come to mind as a description of the activity in which I am now engaged.  But the term “writer” – that particular word sticks in my throat. For me the title has always been reserved for those who actually deserve it, such as the likes of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Capote, Irving and Bradbury. 

So what makes someone a “real” writer?  Are you a writer when you are paid to write?  If so, how much money buys you this status?  Is a writer someone who gets published?  Today’s publishing landscape has changed to include self-published websites, bloggers, contributors, ghostwriters, editors, etc.  Which of these capacities qualifies you as a writer and which do not? How many people in the world must agree that you are a writer in order for you to call yourself one?  Do people fill out a ballot designating you as such?  What is the litmus test one must pass to become a member of this elite club?  

Even if I had answers to the above questions perhaps they might not amount to a hill of beans?  Could it be that the name you give yourself isn’t really that important? Perhaps it isn’t what you say you do that matters, but that what you do brings about fulfillment.  Every day I sit down at my computer and put words onto a page.  Maybe that’s all I really need to know.  I write.

by Toni DeBella

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The Blackboard Jungle Italia

Posted in Americans Abroad, Expat in Italy, Italy, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Travel, tagged , , , , on March 6, 2012| 15 Comments »

The information I was given at the education office of the centro sociale (community center) was that the Italian class commenced at 3:25 on Thursday afternoons.  The photo is of the scene on Thursday at exactly 3:24 p.m.  Oops, apparently the class actually begins at 4:30 p.m.  I located the teacher and she recommended I come, instead, to her class on Tuesdays at 2:30 p.m.  Okay, I’m game.  I’ll be back on Tuesday afternoon…

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

If I hadn’t experienced it myself, I don’t think I would have believed it.  My friend, who attended class with me, was witness to the casino (mess) that was my first public funded italiano per stranieri (Italian for Foreigners) course.

It was a blast from the past – reminiscent of the glory days of flying spitballs, pimple-faced awkwardness and hallway passes alla “Welcome Back Kotter”, the iconic television sitcom about a street-wise teacher saddled with a class of overzealous, unruly misfits.

This afternoon’s cast of characters: a pretty blond, if not somewhat scattered teacher; a macho hooligan who passed out our text books while making wisecracks with a unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth;  a skinny, greasy-haired and sullen boy who interrupted class to take a call on his cellphone; a dull-witted, sloppy adolescent surfing his Facebook page during the lesson; a painfully shy North African women who refused to  speak if asked a question – she just sat there until the teacher moved on; a young Eastern European couple who sat so close together they almost became one person and, my favorite, the know-it-all teacher’s pet who corrected your answers before the instructor got a word in edgewise.

The class was disorganized, the overhead projector didn’t function and the audio CD was scratchy and unintelligible. However, I did learn some things I didn’t know before – the words l’orario fisso (fixed schedule); lo stipendio (salary), and turni (shifts).  Also, silenzio! (be quiet!);  No, non si può fumare qui dentro! (No, you cannot smoke in here!) and Spero che tornerai la prossima settimana (I hope you will come back next week).

I believe “sweathog” translated into Italian is sweathog.

by Toni DeBella

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Il Mondo e’ Piccolo: San Francisco to Orvieto

Posted in Americans Abroad, Expat in Italy, Italy, Living in Italy, Orvieto, Travel, tagged , , , , on March 5, 2012| 10 Comments »

It never ceases to amaze me how tiny the world has become.  From my little apartment in San Francisco, I have an idea.  I sit down at my desk and pound out my thoughts onto my computer.  Because of the nature of the internet today, my viewpoints and impressions are broadcast instantaneously across an ocean where a man sitting at his computer in Italy happens to run across my article, Orvieto, Italy: A Land Where Time Stands Still.  Something moves him to send me a short note – he says he likes what I wrote about his hometown.

Just a few short months later, I find myself sitting across the dinner table from a lovely couple to whom I’d been introduced that evening.  Halfway through the supper conversation we discover the link: “So, you’re that Toni DeBella”, the husband declares to our astonishment. You could have knocked me over with a feather!

In these crazy moments, the once unthinkable becomes imaginable.  Here we all sit together in a restaurant in Orvieto, experiencing firsthand the growing obsolescence of continents and landmasses with hard-drawn borders.  Can’t you just picture it – the entire human race clustered in one big archipelago – chained loosely and floating alongside one another, just waiting to collide?  And do you know the most amazing part?  My story is becoming more and more common and every day.  Il mondo e’ piccolo (it’s a small world), and it’s getting smaller all the time.

Read another “small world” story by Lisa Chiodo at Renovating Italy here.

 
by Toni DeBella

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