The orientation for my grant program was great. Met many fascinating people, both American and Italian. Saw the fabulous American Academy in Rome — sunny, spacious rooms, lush lawn overlooking all of Rome, birds gently singing. It’s enough to make you forget that you nearly bought the farm contending with insane morning traffic getting there. Toured the fabulous modern art housed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — a rich collection of sculpture, textiles, paintings, installations, and furnishings, most of which are on loan, housed in a severe, fascist brick of a building. (All the people were very nice, though. And our tour guide was really fantastic: both an engaging speaker and a real diplomat.) For me the day was also punctuated by two bouts of bus-sickness (aka “mal di mare”), only one of which was nearly, um, problematic.
That one-day whirlwind was followed by a day spent with a friend from home. M and I saw the cats at Piazza Argentina, went into the Pantheon (it never gets old), had gelato (which also never gets old), and went to see the catacombs of S. Callisto, out on the Via Appia. After my triumphant performance at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — where I understood the entire tour in Italian save two words near the end — the Italian-language tour of the catacombs was a reminder that, well, I’m not fluent. The deadpan, fast-talking, Roman-inflected tourguide only added to the experience, though. Big thanks to ML and C for letting me crash in their room for the night.
Catching cold on the way back from Rome meant that instead of careening into my actual work and hitting the library on Thursday and Friday, I was at home in bed. I mean all day both days, save an unsuccessful foray to the bank (talk about banker’s hours…) and a successful trip to the pharmacy (see previous post).
Finally this morning I got to the Marciana early and got a good day’s work in. Started making a dent in the list of manuscripts that I want to take a look at, even as I added to that list while waiting for my requests. Right now, I’m focusing on poetry collections (thus chapters 2 and 4 of the would-be dissertation) and am trying to look at as much material as possible so I’ll know what to focus on a little later.
I have no library pictures to share. I did, however, document my early-morning gondola ride which I took on the Sunday I left for Rome. My friend G (the gondolier) was taking out two apprentices for a lesson, and he very kindly asked if I’d be interested in coming along for the ride. Aside from the inherent interest of seeing this city from the water — and the just plain COOL factor of being an invited guest — it was so interesting to see the craft of voga alla veneta (Venetian rowing) being taught. We were almost run-over by a vaporetto just the other side of the Rialto Bridge, near the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, but came out unscathed. Many thanks to G and his students for letting me hang out!
Pics of some of these adventures can be found in the web album, linked above. (I think one or two is actually interesting. Any guesses?)
