Italy 2013 Day 6

Morning walk with Carol and the little black kitty who went almost the entire hour with us, then breakfast, then planned for the painting I would work on.  I wasn't happy with what I had done previously and got a nice shot of the scene at daybreak today and decided to revamp it to that lighting condition. Margaret did a demo and talk on skies and clouds. The portrait painting planned for the afternoon got moved to Friday as Margaret has a cold. It was announced that we would have a 3-hour walking tour with a guide tomorrow in Florence. Dinner was after a critique and I enjoyed the pasta dish. The funny thing is that I had told friends that we seldom had pasta on our trips, and this time we are having it everyday. Generally we have a 1st, 2nd, salad and desert menu with a choice of 2 or 3 items in the 1st and 2nd courses. These vineyards produce a fine quality of wine under the name of Fra (for the brothers who had a monastery nearby), so it's Frasole, Framonte, Fravento, etc.

Pasta course

Marie Cahill and sister, grew up in Salem, MA.

My friend Judy's friend from Punta Gorda

My side kick, Carol

Our friend, Sandy's friends

Soup course, Primi.  Home made pasta.  Everything is made from scratch here.

Margaret demo'd the sky one day and laying down the road the next day.

Laura from New Jersey

Shot that inspired my third attempt to paint the ruin.  Note just to the right of center, the ruin in shade with rim light.

More rim light of the foreground.

Carol and kitty on our morning walk.

Italy 2013 Day 5

Up at 5:30, breakfast at 6, bus at 7 to Padua, a city founded in 1183 BC.  Went to Capella degli Scrovegni, a chapel built in 1303 AD, and commissioned to Giotto to paint it.  The story about the purpose of the chapel was documented by Dante. The painting took 2 yrs, was originally shocking to the populace as it was a new style of painting but was praised in later times.  After walking around Padua for an hour or so we took the bus to Vincenza where we had a wonderful lunch with our hosts' son.  We visited the markets and toured the city and visited the landmark: Teatro Olympico by Andrea Pallardio--the first ever covered theater in the world.  The UNESCO site is truly awesome, no other place like it exists.  Then back to Modigliani for supper, which seems like about 3,000 calories for today, maybe more!

nice shot of famous trees of the area from bus

 

grounds near the famous chapel

Padua, downtown, very nice city

Market day in Padua

Margaret and Arwed's son treated the group to lunch at this restaurant

primi course, lasagna

Delicious tender stuffed roast pork with escalloped pasta rags

How's this for Terramasu?

Water to cool off in.

First covered theater in the world, a masterpiece of depth and perspective, it's probably 15 feet deep behind the stage.

The seating area, the entire threater is an ellipse. Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padua.

Garden and entrance area at Scrovegni.

Shop window.

Italy 2013 Day 4

After our breakfast we could paint or go on a walk with the owner, Lorenzo, through the vineyard.  I went on the vineyard tour.  Lorenzo has an excellent command of the English language and we learned a lot about grapes, wine, how the vine grows, how it is cultivated, how important the sun is and how it is planted (north to south for example) how close it is planted, how it is pruned, how it is picked, how it is checked by the authorities, also that the roots go down about 50-60 feet, how many make a bottle, how much it costs for him to buy a plant, plant it, how much land costs, how they say how old the wine is, how old the grapes are, how old the vineyard is, modern methods vs old, and a little bit about olive oil production.  The earth here is mostly basalt, a white material, similar to limestone.

After returning from the vineyard walk, I painted for a while, then we went on another walk to a now defunct ancient monastery which had its beginnings in the 7th century and heard a lot of stories about it as well as stories of local lore.

We were expecting to go on another unofficial trip, this time to see wild horses, but the transportation couldn't be arranged because more people decided to go. 

Dinner tonight will be served (not buffet) and I'll try to take pictures.

Italy 2013 Day 3

Carol Pike-Webb and I usually walk in the mornings for an hour.  Today's walk was down the hill whereas yesterday was uphill. It was a very steep grade paved with rough cement. Amazingly there is another agritourisimo and a few homes built along this narrow path. After breakfast we boarded the bus for the 1 1/2 hr ride to Ravenna.  Our guide was an expert on the history of Ravenna, the early history of Italy and is a mosaic restorer so she was even more knowledgeable about the process, procedures and appreciation of that art form. We saw 2 magnificent  6th century churches, Dante's tomb, the main (piazza) square. We stopped for lunch and a gelato, a grocery store, another church and was early for the 4 pm bus.  On the way back we drove past the ancient port of Classe.  After the buffet dinner we were able, with the assistance of about 12 people, to get online and make a reservation for Venice.  A big thank you to the Roses for their assistance.

Dante's tomb

tour guide and mosiac restorer demo's cutting a piece of glass

Mason Peck and me on the grounds of this famous church pictured below

Explanation of the murals done in mosaic, she was a great guide.

WIFI too tricky for words here in Italy

I usually can't get online here at the agritourisimo in Modigliani so I will post whenever I can.  I am able to write them in the Blogger mobile software but can't for some reason carry it over to the regular full-blown version. I do want to let friends know that Carol and I have excellent accommodations for Venice.  Please keep checking as I will post when I can.

Italy 2013 Day 2

Margaret Egli-Thomson did her demo to a large audience and then we had lunch.  Lunch was about 8 Euros plus wine. Some attendees painted in the afternoon. I set up and started a landscape of the local ruin,  hillside and town. Dinner was great and Sandy arrived by late afternoon by plane, train, bus and taxi. We discovered that our Venice room arrangements probably won't work out and we couldn't get the wifi to work so don't have anything yet.

Dessert anyone?

The dining area for our group of about 40 people.

The local ruin.  The dirt/rocks here are balalt, a white material like limestone.  Water carved out the hillsides.

The idea for my landscape.  Eventually I chose to do it with a sunrise lighting effect.  Note the patterns on the hills.

The gathering place overlooking the town below, also the outside breakfast area.