Winter has returned (cough, cough)

The freezing cold weather returned, just as I was considering acquiring some spring clothing. With the low temps and wind came a vicious cough which kept me up all night and I'm out of commission today. I called the school office to tell them I wouldn't be in class this morning or afternoon. They said they would tell my professor. (Tuition status: still haven't paid.)

My friend Marianna will be coming into town Tuesday evening. I'm very excited to see her. She'll be here for about two weeks, and we'll spend time together for Pasqua (Easter). She's bringing me a new power cable for this shoddy Mac, and the external DVD drive. Fingers are crossed that this will solve some of my infrastructure challenges.

A dear friend and colleague told me about Villa Viviani, which is just outside of Firenze. I wrote a letter to them requesting an opportunity to visit it. Here is the description from their website:

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Villa Viviani is an ancient villa located on the hill of Settignano, in the neighbourhood of Florence, surrounded by nature and open spaces. It has a fine view over Fiesole and Florence.

Its wonderful garden, in perfect italian style, is surrounded by vintage oliven trees and characterized by a row of high cypresses.

Mark Twain, guest of Villa Viviani in 1892, composed his tale "Pudd’nhead Wilson" right here; in the introduction to this tale he wrote:

"Given under my hand this second day of January, 1893, at the Villa Viviani, village of Settignano, three miles back of Florence, on the hills the same certainly affording the most charming view to be found on this planet, and with it the most dreamlike and enchanting sunsets to be found in any planet or even in any solar system and given, too, in the swell room of the house, with the busts of Cerretani senators and other grandees of this line looking approvingly down upon me, as they used to look down upon Dante, and mutely asking me to adopt them into my family, which I do with pleasure, for my remotest ancestors are but spring chickens compared with these robed and stately antiques, and it will be a great and satisfying lift for me, that six hundred years will."

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I'd love to visit this place. I'm hoping to have the opportunity to take some photos and make some drawings and maybe edition some prints. If I have this opportunity I would donate a print of each edition to the organization. And of course, I would gift them to Don!


Related links:
> Villa Viviani

Milar in Milan (Sunday)

I wake up lying sideways in a king-sized bed. There is a buzz at the door and it's my complimentary morning coffee. I'm either dreaming or I'm waking up from my "Faster Free Night" at the Park Hyatt Milano. It's american coffee in a silver carafe with skim milk. Here in Italy I love me some espresso, but this is a heavenly alternative.

I spend the morning documenting my stay in photos.




Checkout time was noon, I think I checked out around 12:30. "We hope you enjoyed your stay Mrs. Sotoodeh." Heh. My only charge was internet access. I stayed away from the minibar as pineapple juice would have been 8 euro. And continental breakfast would have been 30 euro.

For lunch Kayvan recommended La Bruschetta. A quaint trattoria in a small piazza behind the duomo. Per said recommendation I ordered pizza bianca con rucola (white pizza with arugula). Favoloso! I sat near an Italian couple who was touring and they asked our waiter if he was Toscano (Tuscan), he replied "No, Sardo. (Sardinian)." I found this little mistake amusing coming from Italians. It's the kind of question I would want to ask myself, but I'd be afraid to be wrong!

It was a beautiful blue sky day. There was a Kandinsky exhibit that I wanted to see at Palazzo Reale, but I decided instead to enjoy the weather. First was a visit to the duomo, where I lit a candle for my grandmother, viewed the stunning stained glass windows, and descended some stairs to visit a dead saint's body encased in glass. Then I went up to the roof terraces to take in some sun and visit gargoyle-y things and many, many spires.



I went for a walk in the park and visited the aquario (aquarium). They have a bright blue lobster (very odd) and the most colorful tropical fish from the Red Sea.



I walked back through a carnival in the park with a parade of people dressed in soldier uniforms and carrying flags and old guns. Still unsure what it was about, but i learned it's much easier to cross the streets in Milan while you're walking alongside a parade.

So I returned to Firenze, energized by the discovery of a new city and the zen spa aspects of the Park Hyatt Milano.

One amusing note upon my return. I was on a train that continued on to Roma, and as I was exiting my traincar I noticed a group of carabinieri (military police) surrounding none other than... the Roma calcio team. They were boarding my train, and specifically my traincar. I wanted to get back on, but my ticket was only valid through Firenze, darnit!

Milar in Milan (Saturday)

I have just returned from a whirlwind weekend in Milano. My dear friend Kayvan gave me his "Faster Free Night" award to use at the five-star Park Hyatt Milano. (He must be a Hyatt Gold Passport member.)

Saturday morning I boarded the Eurostar at Stazione Santa Maria Novella. The binario (platform) number eventually appeared on the departure board, I validated my ticket and walked towards my traincar. On the way I overheard some Americans trying to locate their traincar. "We're in number two again?", one of them asked. I laughed to myself because there's a common mistake that foreigners make on these trains. It's an easy one to make. For whatever reason, all of the traincars have a large "2" printed on them. But the car numbers are printed very small on the door. So often foreigners with car number two printed on their tickets will board any one of the cars thinking it's number two, and then later find out it's the wrong one. (ed note: the large number "2" on the traincar refers to second class. And first class cars have a large number "1", which I didn't notice. Thanks Paola and Cristina!)

For this journey I treated myself to first class, as it seemed appropriate for a traveler staying at the Park Hyatt. If you want to see non-calcio (soccer) playing Italians move fast (bad attempt at a calcio joke), check out the refreshment cart on the Eurostar. I know this from past experience, so I prepared myself and had to shout a "Scusa!" to order my tea. And for my effort I was also rewarded with biscotti and a towlette before the cart burned rubber and headed for the next traincar.

I took the metro (so easy!) to the Duomo station and upon ascending the escalator to the piazza I was rewarded with a direct view of the cathedral. Surreal, as I vividly remember studying this cathedral with great interest in Art History in college, and it was a poignant moment to actually find myself seeing it in person.

The hotel was just steps from the piazza, adjacent to the galleria. I checked in under Kayvan's name and receive a "Yes, Ms. Milar, we were expecting you. How were your travels?". Oh what a spoiled girl I am!

Check-in was brief and simple. I'm also given a card for complimentary coffee in the morning. (This must be related to Kayvan's status with Hyatt.) A kind figure named Giraldo takes me up to room number 323. (I find this room number to be appropriate as Kayvan lives in the 323 area code. It becomes a little reminder throughout my stay of how I arrived there.) I am asked if "the room is to your liking." Ha! Travertine marble desk, Bang & Olufsen television and sound system, Laura Tonatto bath products (featuring an exclusive fragrance for Park Hyatt Milano), travertine shower and bathtub. I tested the bed, deep-inhaled the bath products, and plugged in my laptop. Then the bell rang. Another kind figure named Paola arrived with my welcome fruit: a yellow plum, grapes and strawberries in a pewter bowl.



Then it was time to check out this smog-filled city. Milan has a reputation of being smoggy, as it is an industrial city. This day was no exception. Kind of like LA. I headed out for an exhibit called Picasso Illustratore at the Palazzo Stelline on Corso Magenta. I took a short detour to walk up Via Dante and found a food stand where I bought an arancino (ed note: Thanks again Paola!) for lunch (breaded, deep-fried risotto with ragu in the center). Then to Picasso. This exhibit featured etchings and lithograpy that Picasso created specifically for publication, in the capacity of an illustrator. I loved this exhibit so much, as it focused on his stampe (prints), and many people aren't aware that he was a master at etching as well. I was pleasantly surprised to find they were also exhibiting his lastre (copper printing plates). First I viewed the prints, then I went to view the lastre. At that point I did what must have looked like a dance, running back and forth between each lastra and stampa. I wanted to purchase the catalog, but ironically the masterful prints were poorly printed in the catalog. But there was another book I found that included a decently reproduced selection of these prints and I purchased it.

On the way back I found a charming bookshop specializing in theatre and music arts. There was a Bob Dylan biography in Italian, with color photos. The pricetag stated 28,000 lire. I picked this up as I am considering doing a print of Dylan.

I had a webcam date with this weekend's benefactor, Kayvan, to do pug chat, so I headed back to the hotel and logged on. This chat served two purposes, 1. to show him my/our room, and 2. to see the pugs. Such fun to see the "piggies" in motion! As a remembrance, I made little pen drawings of the web chat windows on the Park Hyatt stationery and the this morning I mailed the drawings to Kayvan, Vince and the pugs.

I could no longer ignore the bathtub and products, so immediately after the pug chat festivities, it was zen-spa time.



Related links:
> Park Hyatt Milano
> Join Hyatt Gold Passport and earn a free night after two stays
> Picasso Illustratore

Printmaking technique: Mezzotint

The past two weeks we've been working in mezzotint. It's a method of incision utilizing copper. We rough up a copper plate using a steel tool called a rocker. This step takes hours, if not days depending on the size of the plate. Then you use scrapers and burnishers to remove or smooth out the rough copper burrs on the plate surface. The rough areas, when inked, will print black; the smooth areas, white; and areas in between are various shades of gray. This technique is unique in that the etcher is working in reverse. Removing the light areas, rather than adding dark areas.

Here are two of my mezzotint prints.





This is a photo of my workstation today, customized for this technique.

Eccola primavera (or "Things that make me happy")

Firstly, no Mom I'm not just playing all the time! I've done a lot of work at the studio. Tonight I will recharge my camera battery, then I'll take and post some photos of some of my prints here.

It appears la primavera (spring) has arrived! The weather has been most beautiful for the past two days. We have spent the last two afternoons in the park for lunch (see photo of Sissi, Adria and me).

Things that make me happy:

Today's weather
Wearing jeans everyday
The pizza I ate last night at il Pizzaiuolo
Remembering our trip to Bologna
Looking forward to my trip to Milano
Being a printmaker
My new family of friends here in Firenze

Carnevale di Oliveto

We wake up in the morning wondering what the day will bring. It begins with a Livornese bearing both croissants and the opportunity to attend the Funerale della Sarocca, (translated as the Funeral of the Sardine, also known as the Festival of the Sardine). Croissants are eaten, tea is served and silly drawings are made on napkins. Then we prepare for our sardine adventure.

We drive to a large intersection in Bologna to park the two cars, meet with friends, dogs and friends’ dogs. Cigarettes are purchased, candy is eaten and then we’re off to a town called Oliveto.

Oliveto is a tiny town on top of a hill. So we drive up to the town, through one block of the town, then back down the hill to park the car. Then we walk up the hill. Halfway up the hill Lana, the dog, runs back down the hill. My guess is she doesn’t like sardines. She happily chooses to wait for us in her car. When we arrive at the town, some young men are dressed in red capes, parading about loud and festive. One of the gents kisses my hand and gives me a red piece of paper that says Grassa, Grossa, Balorda, Rossa (I’ll loosely translate this as Fat, Big, Crazy, Red). This is my introduction to the sardine festival.

First we gather at Valentina’s brother’s house at one end of town, then back into the center of the town to see what this is festa is about. Well, it’s about the sarocca. And people are walking around in costume with sardines tied to themselves as accessories. There are fish-shaped sculptures, fish-adorned flags, many types of music, folk dancing, crafts, food and wine. The views of the countryside grow more incredible as the afternoon sun emerges. The people are open and truly enjoying themselves. I loved every single minute of the day. We dined on polenta e sarocca and fried sandwiches. We drank vino from plastic cups. The highlight of the event is the funeral of the sarocca, where they hold a fish above the crowd in ceremony, then bury it in a mini, fish-sized crypt. Fascinating, and delivered with that hint of blasphemous spirit commonly found in modern-day Italy.

In parting, Valentina gave me an adorable rubber vespa (wasp) pin to wear. Then a friend of a friend who was enchanted by my American-ness decided to kiss my vespa pin. I don’t know if this was proper, but I’ll forgive him as it was all in the spirit of the Funerale della Sarocca.

Andiamo a Bologna!

After two months without leaving bella Firenze, I plan an overnight trip with friends to Bologna, to visit the Museo Morandi. We met at 10:30 am in front of the McDonald’s at Stazione Santa Maria Novella, piled into Tommy’s Fiat Punta and head up the autostrada del sole towards Bologna. My job was navigator, I had good written directions and we made it to the apartment with ease. We then took the bus into il centro for lunch. We wandered around for a bit and ended up in queue at a rosticceria. We dined on roasted meats, stuffed tomatoes and roasted potatoes seated under some ominous-looking meat hooks hanging from the ceiling.

Next step was to take caffe on the way to il museo and this particular barista was quite the artiste. Delivering a new take on the happy face and a macchiato homage to Munch’s The Scream.


It was inspiring to see Morandi’s work, specifically his aquaforte (line etchings) and still life paintings. After the museum we found an outdoor market with an eclectic selection of wares so it was time for some shopping. I bought some fingerless glove-type things called manicotti and a coin purse. Total price 3,50 euro.

Passagiata (taking a walk about town) is a ritual in Italy, particularly practiced on weekends. We spent much of the time in Bologna in this manner. We met up with Tommy’s brother Francesco, his girlfriend Valentina, and their dog Lana. Next stop was a tiny bookshop that specialized in graphic art books. They were offering a calligraphy class while we were there. The students were practicing writing in the style of the typeface Neuland. I found a design book I wanted to purchase and the shopkeeper mentioned that he also had the previous volume, so he offered me both with a discount. Best bookshop I've visited in many years.

Next stop was a gallery to view a show of a Bolognese illustrator. This was a well-curated show featuring colorful, graphic illustrations. The artist was a bit demented, but I found the show to be compelling. Most of the illustrations were created in the 80s and early 90s, so given my age and my past life in the magazine world, I enjoyed the show on many levels. And there was a door to the back patio where you magically find yourself on a charming canal in the center of Bologna.

During aperitivo with friends we turned the enoteca (wine bar) into a temporary tattoo and shiatsu massage parlour.



We made dinner at our temporary home, visiting with our new friends. And we slept like three rocks and one cat. But I have no pictures to illustrate this.

Tuition update

On Friday I had lunch with the segretaria at Arci. And I said "Posso pagare oggi?" (May I pay today?). He said, "No, Lunedi e meglio." (No, Monday is better.) This morning I was walking to class late, as usual, and he called to me in the street, "You have a letter waiting for you in the office." I said "Thanks, I'll come over to get it." Then he said, "No, Bijou can bring it to you."

Still haven't paid.

Royal Pub

Here are some pix Eloise took a couple of weeks ago. Tommaso drew this picture at my house during the hamburger and apple pie gathering, then afterwards we went to the local pub for the remainder of the evening.

Some photos

Adria is a hard rock girl. This particular day I borrowed her lipstick and everyone called us sorelle (sisters).


Friday was a slow day in class. So Tommaso drew this dolphin on my arm.


Julie and Popeye at Arci. My new Belgian friends. I hope to visit them in May.