Donuts and Wine

I realize it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but in all reality this has been a magnificently slow week.  I have been reveling in the uneventful nature of the past few days and thus neglected to post. This upcoming week marks the conclusion of our first class-

On a side note: apparently it has been a matter of some confusion, but the fact is that I do indeed attend classes whilst here and do other things of a scholarly nature.  Unfortunately it isn’t all trains and toblerone. (I don’t think toblerone is Italian…but the alliteration there just worked so magnificently and I have a rather sizable addiction to alliteration).  The way our schooling works is that from 9 am to noon we have class from Monday through Thursday.  In this case it has been renaissance art history.  Fridays are reserved for class trips/field trips to see the places we learn about. We also have Italian class from 3-5 pm on Mondays for the duration of our stay.  Anyway, Thursday brings a comprehensive exam of identifying all the frescos we’ve seen from photos of them on the screen (very Mona Lisa Smile if you’ve seen that) and the due date for an 8-12 page research paper that has been slowly encompassing all life up here on the 3^rd floor (another reason you haven’t heard from me).

But yesterday we all took a break from class work and general studies to celebrate the feast of San Giuseppe.  It was lovely! San Giuseppe is Joseph, husband of Mary, by the way.  In Orvieto there is a statue of him that is processed from the Duomo to it’s own church at roughly 5 pm on the festival day, followed by a service and then celebration.  We arrived promptly at 5:30 to find the square jam packed with people pushing and shoving, yelling to friends, pointing out their children in the band, etc.  On a stage in the center an eclectic band of students and middle aged citizens played festive tunes whilst every member of the crowd pushed toward the tents where one could obtain the fare of the holiday: wine and donuts. Once you pushed to the front of the throng you were immediately confronted with any number of short, round “church ladies” safe behind a barrier of bike racks with packing boxes filled with take-out boxes of freshly made donuts.  The stared at you warily until you put your euro or 2 euro coin into the “donations” box, at which point they lit up like you were their favorite grandchild and presented you with the number of boxes corresponding to your generosity.  Then, if you had managed to evade bodily harm thus far, you elbowed your way to the wine table where a very loud, red-cheeked, jolly couple were throwing about carafes of red wine and doling out overflowing plastic cups for free. 

“Ciao bella!! Vino? VINO!! San Giuseppe!! Ciaociaociaociao!!!!”

The ironic thing is that in America one would assume that the donuts would be the free end of the deal…

They were actually made of rice, as I later found out (they were very soft and moist), with a citrus element, lightly fried and covered in sugar.  Each box had 7 or 8 of these treats roughly the size of a Dunks Munchkin (heck yes that was a dunkin reference!!) The wine was also of pretty decent quality and the two made a surprisingly pleasant combo.  After the wine ran out/got packed up the party dispersed within a few minutes and Kat, Kelsey, Caitlin, and I took to the streets to stroll through ceramics shops, practice a little Italian and have a decent walk before dinner. 

All in all it was a lovely celebration, more about community and honoring a saint then it was about food and drink, and completely devoid of drunkenness.  I would suggest bringing such a holiday to the States if I thought it were even remotely possible to keep the celebration free of open drunkenness.