What a fabulous year it has been! After many months of preparation, Casa Verna finally welcomed its first students in September. Amity, Ellen, and I were delighted to host 11 students and several of their partners in our house/art center in Umbria. The classroom buzzed with new creation as students made personal books recording important moments in their lives. (More on that in the next blog.) For now, a few pictures of our students (and new friends!) during their stay with us.

We started with a reception on the newly restored terrace, the sun going down in Tiepolo colors over the hills. In the ancient kitchen, my wife Nadine and our great friend Goedele Soetewey (a fine calligrapher and letter cutter) prepared a traditional Italian meal. Italy is food, and we made sure the students enjoyed the best we could offer, including Nadine’s world-class tiramisu and a trip to the local pizza place.

There were field trips too: Spoleto, Assisi, and Perugia. Assisi is less than an hour from Casa Verna and is one of the most magical places in all of Italy. The tiny cloister of San Damiano, just outside the medieval city walls, is the most perfectly tranquil place on earth. The spirit of Claire and Francis can still be felt there, reminding us to stop and praise the beautiful world around us. The great basilica of San Francesco, home to the largest cycle of frescoes in Europe, simply takes your breath away.

And then there is Perugia, where I studied Italian in my youth. Every visit is a nostalgia overload for me, which I love sharing with the students. The ancient Moretti-Caselli stained glass studios send me into a downward spiral of dreaming, taking me back to the days when calligraphy for me was still closely tied to medieval ideas of craftsmanship. From there it is only a few steps to the Biblioteca Augusta and their great collection of medieval manuscripts. No white gloves or glass cases here. Students were allowed to turn the pages of the illuminated manuscripts themselves, giving them a chance to get up close and explore the whole book.

Classroom time was intense. Students were ambitious and very talented. The show-and-tell on the last day was an emotional experience as people shared important moments in their lives.

While all this was going on, Amity’s husband Glenn and a couple of the partners harvested our olives. It was a bumper year. In the autumn, all of Umbria talks about only two things: the wild boar hunt and the resa of the olive harvest (i.e. how many liters of oil per hundred kilo olives). We had a great resa – 11% – and were able to treat students to bruschetta with freshly pressed oil on the last night. Amity, industrious as ever, has already bottled and labelled her oil with the Casa Verna label.

It was total immersion in authentic Italy for two weeks. Medieval cities, illuminated manuscripts, artistic creation, great food and wine, new friendships, the olive harvest……is there anything missing from this picture?  Amity, Ellen, and I are so pleased to be able to share this with our students.  We hope you will join us at Casa Verna too!