From 11/2/10

On Saturday, several other girls and I were sitting in our favorite caffè. We sipped foamy cappuccinos, which we enjoyed almost as much as the dramatic scene taking place outside—an Italian conversation. It is true—watching Italians talk together is watching every emotion surge through the air, being tossed back and forth by swift hand movements. Hand gestures are as much a part of the Italian language as transitive verbs and the many uses of fare are. As we watched the group of Italians outside, their speech, facial expressions, and gestures were so animated that it made no difference that the glass between us prohibited sound waves—their body language was loud enough to compensate for the silence.


One thing I have acquired a taste for, besides prosciutto and EstaThè (the most delicious peach iced tea), is people-watching. It’s not just the lively Italian conversations I find appealing, but the restful quiet of sitting near the street, soaking up the town until it becomes a part of you. I have spent many afternoons at Gerasmo’s doing exactly that. Gerasmo’s is the best caffè in Sansepolcro, partly because it is directly across the street from our palazzo, but mainly because it is owned by Fabrizio and Sonia. They also have the most heavenly bomboloni (Italian doughnuts), but I think that is because Fabrizio and Sonia’s sweetness rubs off on the pastries. Friendliness makes everything taste better. They always talk with us when we come in, know all of our names, and they even sang happy birthday to Molly yesterday. It is nice to know people and to have faces to recognize, even when you are in a different country.


One of the things I love most about Sansepolcro is the closeness of the town. The fact that I can see several people I know walk down the street while I sit at Gerasmo’s sipping my cappuccino is charming. I also love that the town itself is small. From my bedroom window I can look down at the street and see Gerasmo’s, two pizzerias, and a gelateria. Everywhere I go I pass a friendly face or familiar place. Living in a small town has allowed us to truly become a part of the Sansepolcran community. Throughout our stay here, there have been many things that encouraged us to immerse ourselves into our community. First, we participated in the Balestra festival, an important tradition that we were blessed to be a part of. We also routinely have local guests for lunch, and we teach English in local schools.

This weekend, we had what seemed to be every Sansepolcro resident in our palazzo for a children’s Halloween party. Perhaps we shouldn’t have invited 200 elementary school students, because although the actual number of attendees was far below that, our modest dining room and lounge areas were bursting at the seams. But despite being crowded, it was a huge success. We spent most of the day beforehand doing Halloween grocery shopping and making decorations out of whatever materials we could find. By the time we finished, the palazzo was completely decked-out. There were spider webs on every window and door, orange balloons hanging from the lampshades, paper bats fluttering in the hallway, festive table cloths, a skeleton in the corner, and even a path of paper pumpkins, bats and ghosts from the front door leading up the stairs to the lounge.


When the children began to trickle in—or, more realistically, pour in—we had many activities planned to keep them busy. We had coloring, leaf-rubbings, noodle necklaces, cookie decorating, and fishing for candy. It hadn’t occurred to me until I was facing 20 brown-eyed Italian children and was trying to explain the crafts to them that none of them spoke English. Perhaps I took for granted the language abilities of my middle school students, but needless to say, I employed the sign language that, out of necessity, I have nearly perfected this semester. However, they seemed to have a wonderful time and it was very entertaining to see all the little witches, skeletons and other characters running around the palazzo. It was also a good feeling to invite everyone to our home. I think our guests enjoyed the opportunity to become acquainted with the ragazze americane, and it increased our sense of belonging in our Sansepolcran community.


In case it is not obvious, I am very much in love with the town. This love has even begun to manifest itself in my color theory projects, several of which are inspired by different things in Sansepolcro. Last week we had to create a design and repeat it in several different color schemes that we have been learning about. One had to be painted in primary colors (cyan, magenta and yellow), one in secondary colors (green, orange and violet), one in tertiary colors (blue-violet, blue-green, yellow-green, yellow-orange, red-orange, and red-violet), one in an analogous color scheme (three colors next to each other on the color wheel—I chose yellow-green, green and blue-green), and lastly, one in a monochromatic color scheme (different shades and tints of one color—I chose red). For my design, I created a simplified version of a photo I took of the bell tower here in Sansepolcro. I wanted to base my design on something Sansepolcran so that when I return home, I can take a little bit of the town with me. I was quite pleased with the way it turned out, and so glad that now I have something to remind me of my time in Italy when I am back at home.