We go to the beach

'rustico' at dawn

rustico

rustico

We got up early on Tuesday and left about 6 to go and sketch this little 'rustico' or rustic farmhouse. Abandoned and empty the farmer plows the field nearly to the walls of it. The little add on to the left was probably for animals or tractor or even just storage. The main entrance is up some steps on the right hand side, now overgrown with vines.

As you can see from the series of photos the light changed quite rapidly.

Jana's garden

When it warmed up we went back to the Retreat and had breakfast. Jana has a lovely garden just outside the studio and the bedrooms. Jana claims she is not a gardener and that she believes that whether the plants live or die is their own choice, she just sticks them in the ground and they go their own way. The lavender grows luxuriantly all about as do several other herbs and roses.

pink rose in Jana's garden

blue flowered herb

John and Jana have two cats that Jana found on the road last year, along with two dogs. Here Chester the dog tries to get in on the cats play.

the beach at Pesaro

After breakfast we rode with Jana and the girls to Pesaro, a seaside town. Here Jana had rented us 'sunbeds'. The Adriatic was much warmer than I expected. I had some bad sinus issues and wasn't very energetic; mostly laying about in the shade. Although I did take a dip in the ocean. The water is pretty shallow for quite a ways out, just up to my waist or so.

There is of course a fortification up on the hill above the beach and we were tempted to go have a look, but everyone was very tired, especially the children, so we decided to go another day and just came back to the Retreat.

Little Ivy enjoys the beach.

Smerillo and Roman ruins

old fashioned haystack

On Monday afternoon we left Force and wound around through the hills, no special destination in mind. We drove through a tiny place, Ceresola, where we stopped to take a photo of this very old fashioned haystack. You don't really see these any more, not even in rural Italy, as most all the farmers use the round balers.

Then we turned around to get back in the car and saw this adorable couple.

We came across the little town of Smerillo, this is the view from the main road. We parked and walked up the stairs because there was a sign for a pizzaria and we were ready to eat lunch.

Garden in Smerillo

As we walked up the steps there was a beautiful garden and the gardener harvesting and weeding. She didn't speak any English but we told her the garden was 'bella', she seemed a bit embarrassed, but maybe a bit proud also.

Looking down the street in Smerillo

Roman gate, Smerillo

We ate lunch at the pizzaria. No one spoke English but we know the names of the pasta dishes and ensalata (salad) and so had pasta and salad on the terrace. We sat and drew a little while, then too a walk to the tower we had seen from the road. Smerillo was a Roman fortification and the tower has been restored a little.

Smerillo, Roman gate

Smerillo, Roman gate from above

old door, Smerillo

plants grow on a roof, Smerillo

view from Smerillo

We walked to the other end of town to discover that we had been here last year, having lunch at La Loggia; had we realized it we would have eaten there, tho the lunch we had was delicious and sufficient. La Loggia sits right on the edge of the old Roman fortification and there is another arched gate way near their car park. Then you can follow the old road to another town, but that would be a long hike. So we settled for smelling the flowers and taking in the view, then back to the Retreat.

Smerillo Roses

Roman Arch by maryhysong

Force, Museo de Arte Sacra

Embroidery in Force

On Monday as we were walking back down to the car from the top of Force, there was a sign for the Museo dell' Arte Sacra, Museum of Sacred Art. The above photo is about half of one piece, it's behind glass so I couldn't avoid all the reflections.

embroidery close up

embroidery close up

Here are some close ups of the big piece above.

These priests garments are in another case.

and here is a close up of a bit of it; I believe it's gold thread. There was nothing at all about it in English and I haven't had time to try and translate the Italian.

Here is a close up of the cutwork that you can see in the above photo.

Here is the placard in the Italian if you want to translate it!

Force

Egyptian Church, Force, from above

1. On Monday we drove up to Force (pronounced For-chay) We parked on a lower street and walked up to the central piazza. Force is a small hill town with narrow streets. There is a church on the top, around the piazza (plaza) and then there is the 'Egyptian' church lower down. The Egyptian church cracks me up; the windows and brick work make faces.

I'm not sure why our hosts call it the Egyptian church, I will try and find the proper name of it though.

Force

Force, piazza

Elise stood by the wall and drew the landscape and I settled on painting  the buildings on a little street. We had several admirers, though only one, an Albanian worker, could speak English. I did figure out that one of the gentlemen was also an artist and painted in oils.

Begonia, force

Everywhere in Italy, any little sliver of land there is a garden and where there is no land there is an abundance of flowers growing in pots.

street in force

geraniums in wall pots, Force

Most of the little hill towns are similar, built on top of a hill, the main road spirals around to the center, then back down the other side of the hill. Buildings are built on curves to conform to the streets. The towns all have one or more churches, the main church and often any government buildings will front on the piazza or central square. If the town has a market, this will be where it is held one day a week, as well as any seasonal festivals.

street in Force

little old door, Force

old door, Forcce

There are many interesting bits of architecture in the old towns, this door still seems to have a very old lock attached to it, though I don't think they still use it. this door is probably to a store room of some sort.

View of the Retreat from Force

Street in Force

All the shops close up and the traffic is very light in the afternoon for siesta. Then everything opens back up about 4 or 5 until 6 or 7, except the restaurants which of course are open later.

We Arrive in Force

View of Force from the Retreat

On Saturday evening we arrived in at The Retreat in Force. Actually the Retreat is across the valley from the town itself. Had a lovely evening just relaxing and catching up with our friends, John and Jana, and their two girls, Lilly and Ivy.

We hung about the Retreat on Sunday, drawing and painting and getting -reacquainted with a familiar landscape. In the evening we went with John and Jana into town where an Englishman, Chris Owens, was having an art opening. Chris and his wife have summered in the area for several years and hope to move permanently from England over the winter.


We were also introduced to Adam Williams and his wife Hong Ying, both best selling authors, who come on holiday each summer. We then went to a lovely restaurant and had dinner with Chris and his wife Terry along with John and family.then back up the mountain to have drinks under the stars and off to bed.

          

Force view from the Retreat

Liberate Your Art Postcard Swap

I participated in the Liberate Your Art Postcard swap and just before leaving for Italy received the last of the postcards. So here are the ones I received with links to the artists. This has been really fun. Kat Sloma organized the swap. How it works is I sent 5 postcards to Kat with postage. Kat then selected 5 postcards to mail back to each participant individually. Very nice work. There are links to all the participants websites over on the Liberate Your Art blog.

http://www.kateyeview.com/

Denise Baldwin

Stereo Hearts/Gym Class Heeros/Jen

www.WalterHawn.com

 

 

http://lovelifeandpictures.blogspot.com/

Not all of the artists added their contact information to their postcards, and I haven't had time to hunt them up yet. I've given the info I have available at the moment here. See a list of all the participating artists at Liberate Your Art.

Fabriano, Paper Capital of the World

On the road to Fabriano

On Saturday we said 'Arrividerchi" to Agritourismo San Fellissimo and traveled towards the town of Fabriano. Along the way we left the wide open and flatter valley around Perugia and began climbing up into the thickly wooded mountains.

On the road to Fabriano

I was especially interested in going to Fabriano because it is the papermaking capitol of the world.


Paper has been made here since around 1300 AD. Handmade paper is still made here as well as machine made. The commercial paper is sent all over the world. In an old cloister is the papermaking museum:
Museo della Carta e Della Filigrana.

The convent where the paper museum is housed.

The paper makers of Fabriano invented many things after they learned the basics of papermaking from the Chinese. In past centuries only cotton and linen rags were used to make paper as those fibers lasted the longest.

Even so, in many countries right up to the 20th century official government documents such as deeds and contracts could only be written on vellum parchment made from animal skin. This was because the vellum would last much longer
than any paper.


At the papermaking museum we learned that it takes apprentices 7 years to learn their craft, especially the actual making of the sheet of paper. We also saw many types of water marks, which were invented by the papermakers of Fabriano. I was not allowed to take photographs inside any of the rooms of the museum, only outside in the courtyard. The museum does offer workshops of varying lengths about making paper and that might be a fun trip.

The museum shows how the rags are torn into small peices, then put into wooden tubs with water. There are large beaters made of wood that go up and down, three to each tub, with nails on their bottoms to shred the rags into pulp. The beaters would have originally been powered by a water wheel. This was a very noisy process. Since the museum is in a convent building without access to a river they use an electric motor for the demonstration.

Here I am standing next to some antique machinery for making paper.

The pulp is then transferred to a large vat where the paper sheets are actually made. The mold is a wood frame with a fine screen on it; the watermark is actually fine wire bent and sewn to the screen to make a decoration in the paper sheet. But the watermark is only seen in the finished paper sheet when it is held up to the light. Filling the mold with the pulp is the most important part of the whole operation and is what takes so long for the apprentice to learn to do well. It takes time to learn exactly how to dip the screen into the pulp and get just the right amount of pulp on the screen, then how to wiggle and shake the screen just exactly right so that the pulp settles evenly across the screen. Otherwise the sheet of paper might be too thick or thin or have an uneven thickness.

After draining the sheet for a minute the paper is turned out onto a piece of thick wool felt. The docent said these felts are very expensive, now costing about 200 euros each for what looks to be a piece about 20x30 inches (give or take a few). She also explained that in the medieval period, when the felts were totally worn out for paper making they were given to the wives of the workers who used the good parts for making jackets, bags and other things. The felts and paper sheets are stacked up and then they are put into a heavy wooden press and the screw turned until most of the water is squeezed from the stack. Then each sheet of paper is hung up to dry.

At this point the paper is still very absorbent and it is not possible to write or draw on it. Another innovation of the paper makers of Fabriano was 'sizing' the paper. Scraps of animal skins, hooves and such were melted in a huge copper pot until the gelatin they contained was boiled out. (pretty much the same gelatin you see on cold roast beef or that you use to make jello). Then the sheets of paper were dipped into this sizing and hung to dry again. After that they were rubbed all over with a wooden tool to help smooth out the surface. Then they are ready for writing or drawing on.

Of course today, there are machines that do many of these tasks. Even some handmade paper is finished by machines doing the pressing, sizing and drying. The museum had a lovely gift shop where they sell the paper that they make there. The gentleman there also directed us down the street to a book shop that sold commercially made Fabriano paper where we bought sketch books and souvenirs.

There was a park next to the museum and that was the way we walked to the shop. Beautiful chestnut trees and grass, along with a little tea house that was very unusual looking. It looks a bit like a Chinese pagoda, not the sort of thing you usually see in Italy. But we didn't have time to have a look and find out about it.

light through the chestnut leaves

We found a little coffee shop nearby and had lunch. Then back into the car to continue to The Retreat.

Balcony, Fabriano

Elise at the paper museum

wall pot- Fabriano