SCHIETE, Italy – “Maurizio Gambini, the mayor of Urbino, is surrounded by friends young and old in the Centro Socio Culturale waiting to kick off Palio dei Trampoli, the centuries-old traditional stilts race here. The banner above him reads “Arte in equilibrio” – art in equilibrium.

It’s a fitting theme for the life Gambini now finds himself living juggling responsibilities to a city, a family and a business.

More than 40 years after quitting school, Gambini is starting the second year as mayor of one of Italy’s most famous Renaissance cities. It has been a remarkable and improbable journey with stops along the way tending crops, selling farm equipment and becoming immersed in organic farming before entering politics. 

Maurizio Gambini was elected mayor last June.

“I want to be the link between politics and the industrial world,” he said.

Aside from making appearances at public events and festivals, the mayor of Urbino makes the time to tend to the interests of his citizens first-hand, whether it is in person seated around the thick, timeworn table in his Renaissance-era office, or over the phone.

“The messages keep coming in,” he said. “If you do not solve them immediately, in five minutes there will be another problem.”

This wasn’t the life Gambini seemed destined for as a teenager.

Born in Urbino in 1960, Gambini was raised on a nearby farm He was forced to quit school at 14 to help out in the fields. When Gambini was 19, his father passed away, leaving him and his brother as the heads of the family. At 20, he took on odd jobs around the city, working in a factory and cleaning the streets of Urbino. Through months of manual labor, Gambini never forgot his great love, and at 22 resumed his agrarian lifestyle.

Within a few years his business interests expanded beyond the farm. He and a brother began selling farm equipment becoming successful enough to begin purchasing more farm property.

Eventually he became the president of his own business, Consorzio Agricoltori Biologici TerraBio Società Cooperativa – an association of organic farms whose products are sold across Europe. He also oversees the rental and distribution of machinery to other local farms. In recent years, the cooperative has expanded to include a department specializing in renewable energy. 

Mayor Gambini shares office space with Michele Cancellieri, the Secretary General.

His political career began in 1999. Under pressure from his fellow farmers and businessmen, Gambini ran for city council so that the farmers and the laborers would have a voice in the government. 

For the first five years, Gambini said he was extremely frustrated with the state of political affairs in the region. It was for this reason that he dropped his affiliation with the Partito Democratico – the Democratic Party, or PD for short.

Instead he became president of his own “civic list”, a community-oriented alternative to the party system which allows more direct involvementby members in political activity. Chartered in 2009, Gambini intended his Liberi Per Cambiare – Freedom for Change – civic list to result in more direct contact with residents, he said. He hoped to gain the support of Urbino’s working class, which had propelled him to the city council.

“Politicians feel entitled to their constituents, like they own them when it is, in fact, the other way around,” he explained. “Elected officials owe a great deal of responsibility to the citizens that voted them into office. Politicians should work for their citizens, not for their own wellbeing.” 

In 2014, Gambini announced his candidacy for mayor of Urbino. The decision was the next step in the now-natural progression of Gambini’s political career. He ran independently against two other candidates, one from the PD and one from the Movimento Cinque Stelle – the Movement of the Five Stars, and won with a 57% majority.

The headlines of the regional edition of Il Resto del Carlino, a national newspaper, called it a “revolution.” Gambini had unseated the PD, who had been in power in Urbino since the second world war.

The change was indeed a revolution in local politics. One of his first acts was to eliminate the chauffeured cars financed by public funds. Instead, Gambini drives himself in a Volkswagen Touareg, a luxury SUV with an automatic transmission.

Since his upset in the election last summer, Gambini discovered that winning may have been the easy part. When he is not holding court in his office with the citizens and other community leaders of Urbino, he can be found rushing across the hilly region, cutting ribbons at kickoff events, speaking at receptions, or even simply observing the goings-on at a construction site. 

Despite being the most powerful man in the city, Gambini has not forgotten his roots — cleaning the streets of Urbino. Last year, he spearheaded an initiative to purge the streets of binge drinking by students and the mess that ensues.

“Alcohol was invading the city,” said Gambini. “The citizens were angry with the students.” This initiative resulted in the banning of open containers of alcohol in public spaces within the city. 

Somewhere in the balance between his two jobs, Gambini also makes time for his growing family. His daughter, Lucia, is only a year and a half old. Lucia and her mother often accompany the mayor to his many social events – sometimes as many as three in one evening.

And sometimes the job and personal life mesh easily.

After a recent at the office, Gambini droves to Schiete near his home and company headquarters –just in time to preside over the opening of the Trompoli while sitting under the banner “Arte in equilibrio.”

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URBINO, Italy – Marcello Tiboni carefully uses his thumb and index finger to pick up a sheet of paper, as thin as the translucent page of a Bible, and rests it gently on one of his many printing presses. He is demonstrating a printing technique called typography to citizens of Urbino at an exhibition for local artists.

Tiboni, 67, practices the arts of typography, lithography and engraving. Each is a form of printmaking often used for text or fine art. All three techniques typically involve a stone or sheet of metal with ink that forms a print on a blank sheet of paper when put under pressure. After some pedal work and lever-pulling, Tiboni has put enough pressure on his stencil to take out his print. The result is a detailed outline of his hometown of Urbino, the city where he runs his own print shop with help from his wife and two kids.

The press he is using in his demonstration is particularly small compared to the 17,000-pound presses in his spacious studio outside the walls of this city. These hand-operated presses are old enough to be in a museum but they still run well and Tiboni puts them to good use.

Marcello Tiboni demonstrates his lithography techniques at an exhibit in Urbino, Italy.

With fixed eyes and a furrowed brow he begins to brush jet-black ink into an etched sheet of metal. After wiping off excess ink with strips of newspaper, Tiboni carefully positions the prepared stencil into a Macchina Tipografica Manuale, the press he uses for small typography pieces.

Engraving techniques date back to the 15th century, which is motivation enough for Tiboni to preserve it. Its once practical use of printing text, maps and other important documents has become irrelevant with new technology. Tiboni and his family value the history of his craft and want to maintain and hopefully spread the cultural significance of it by opening a school for students to learn about print making.

“There are several young people who like this job, but unfortunately they don’t have the possibility to do what I’ve done,” says Tiboni.

Since the 1980 inception of his own print shop, the Stamperia Santa Chiara, named after his daughter Chiara, Tiboni has received help from his artist-filled family. His wife, Geraldina, is a painter who designs larger pieces for Tiboni and his son, Alberto, to create together.

Alberto has helped his father since he was a small boy, young enough to have needed a rope to be tied around his waist to safely help with the larger machines. Alberto went on to study art with a focus on computers and graphic design.

But he still finds time to help his father in the studio. This familial commitment to art and Urbino has helped Tiboni run a successful stamperia. And it should help him realize his life-long dream of opening a school for printmaking.

Tiboni retired from the Academia Delle Bella Arti, a school for fine arts in Urbino, after 40 years to focus on opening a specialty school to educate and preserve this old art form. Tiboni’s goal is to have ancient printmaking stay a craft rather than an unused art form from history. After eight years of struggling with the idea of opening his own school, recent meetings with Mayor Maurizio Gambini have restored his confidence in the project. If he can find a space for the school in Urbino, the school could open next year, Tiboni says.

As for funding, Tiboni wants to keep the donors local, hoping to return the knowledge he gained from Urbino to its citizens. He is considering a partnership with other art schools around Urbino as a way to support his project. Many students of his school would be graduates of the Academia Delle Bella Arti. A former student of Tiboni’s, 24-year-old Anastasia Eremita, says she would be interested in attending his school if it opens.  Alberto will teach students of the school bookmaking and Chiara, Tiboni’s daughter, will teach graphic design.

Tiboni is grateful to have lived in a town that values art as much as he does.

Marcello Tiboni in the studio he helped build alongside hired construction workers in 1980.

Urbino is a Renaissance town famous for being the birthplace of the painter Raphael. This historical recognition of art by the people and institutions of Urbino are a part of the reason Tiboni wants to give back to his city through a school. When the school opens, he plans to commemorate the office of the Duke of Urbino in the name, although he hasn’t decided exactly what to call it yet.

Tiboni wants to give students from all over the world a chance to participate in an art form so close to his heart and to the heart of Italy.

In his own studio, Tiboni opens a box full of yellowed pictures depicting the development of his work and the inheritance of printmaking knowledge throughout Tiboni’s family. Looking back on his past reminds him of how lucky he is to have his future.

Leaning against a paint-stained craftsman table, surrounded by old prints and massive presses, Tiboni’s snowy white mustache twitches. “I believe in this because I like mechanics and printing and I’d like to leave this thing to the young people of Urbino who are interested in it.”

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See the video “Olive Oil Tasting” produced by Olivia Parker & Jake Troy.

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URBINO, Italy – In an effort to start a dialog with local residents, the Gay and Proud Association of Urbino (GAP) last June held a screening of the movie “Pride”, a BBC film focusing on tough issues facing gay people in Europe – from hate crimes to family shaming. Giacomo Galeotti, a leader of the group put out 24 chairs, hoping a large audience would respond.

Only six seats were occupied.

Enrica Rossi, who is a professor at Urbino Univeristy lectures on diversity and was not surprised. Gays of Urbino, as in much of Italy, are not ready to come out, she said.

“It is frightening because you know there is some people around us who are not living their lives,” she said. “And at the same time it is sad.”

As the rest of Western Europe has been granting official acceptance of gay, lesbian and transgender lifestyles, including legalizing same-sex marriages, Italians remain anchored to older, less tolerant traditions. While recent surveys show most Italians are willing to accept gays openly and even a majority would support same sex marriage, those opinions are sharply divided by age, religion and political association.

A May survey of Italian voters conducted jointed by La Stampa, one of the oldest daily newspapers in Italy, and Agency France Presse revealed the following opinions:

• 51% would legalize gay marriage in Italy.
• 67% favored civil unions for same-sex couples.
• 73% opposed adoption for gay couples.

Mauro Meloni is proud to represent other gay students in this region of Italy. Other students that were interviewed for this article declined to be photographed.

But Rossi said that the acceptance of the lifestyle expressed privately in surveys, is not always acknowledged publicly, creating a sense of fear among gays and lesbians over coming out. She said many older Italians that are ready to accept gay marriage stop short at supporting a right to raise children.

“My parents are absolutely easy with whoever and whatever (gays) do,” she said. “But they are nearly 80 and they are not really open to the idea of gay marriage because they are narrow minded. Their education has been totally different from mine and yours.”

Choices made by gays and lesbians in Urbino reflect those nationwide trends, she said.      

If studies showing between 5 to 20 percent of the world population is gay holds true in Italy, this city of 15,000 would have between 750 and 3,000 gay or lesbian residents. In fact, the GAP Facebook group has 232 members,.

But Galeotti estimates only about 30 gays and lesbians live openly in the city. Even gays and lesbians who agreed to be interviewed for this story asked that their identities be protected. But he is working to change that.

Galeotti spends his free time arranging times with schools to speak with Italian children between the ages of 13 and 19 about being accepting of the gay population of Urbino and not being homophobic. “My children they are totally differently open, we went to the pride parade last year with my daughter so its totally easy, ” said Rossi .

Five University of Urbino students and faculty members produce a magazine called Handkerchief. Lorenzo Toso, one of the magazine’s contributing writers, explains the title as standing for “The Handkerchief Code” also known as the Hanky Code. This is a sign language practiced in western nations to indicate the preference about sexual fetishes. Basically, if you wear a colored handkerchief in a certain way it means something to the code, he said.

It is frightening because you know there is some people around us who are not living their lives,” she said. “And at the same time it is sad.

 “We are sending the free magazine to interested associations and persons,” Toso said. “Since it is a university project, there is no profit and the printing, just like the collaborations, are spontaneous answers of those who want to help.”

The magazine was posted on the wall of the classroom where the movie Pride was shown for the GAP group, although most students and professors interviewed have never heard of the magazine.

Valery, a 25 year old University of Urbino student is studying communication and media advertisement who only came out to his family after coming to university, hopes the work will have results.

“I would really like Italy to legalize gay marriage,” he said. “Secondly I hope it will happen very soon, I want to be confident in that for my future.”

Rossi believes that change is happening. “We have to start changing minds at children’s level,” she said. “One more every single day will make a huge number in lets hope not centuries.”  

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See the video “Pausa: A Fading Italian Tradition” produced by Abbie Latterell & Brittany Dierken.

The post Coming out in Urbino appeared first on Urbino Project 2015.

Tito Micheli, 67, smiles quietly as he listens to his daughter excitedly describe her childhood memories of his employer, the Benelli shotgun factory. He reclines easily in his chair, dressed in a sharp navy-blue blazer and gray dress pants. Silvia Micheli, 38, recalls hearing nonstop about Benelli from her father as she grew up.

“He told me all of the time that it was a big family,” she says, describing the environment that her father worked in. “All of my life is in touch with Benelli, even if I wasn’t in Benelli. All the time, I listen to the way that he enjoyed his work. Benelli, for the people who started to work here when it was born, is family.”

Tito began working for Benelli in December of 1968, soon after the factory opened for business in 1967. There were fewer than 10 people working in the Urbino factory at the time. He watched the company’s products grow from a single gun prototype to the many models that the company offers today. In 2004, Silvia followed in her father’s footsteps and began working at Benelli.

Tito Micheli’s favorite Benelli shotgun is one that he made by putting the pieces of several guns together to create the perfect hybrid. The factory decided to produce this gun after he created it.

It is not unusual for families to work together in Italy. From tiny local bakeries to the automaker Fiat, 83 percent of small- to medium-sized Italian companies are family-owned, according to a 2008 estimate. Benelli puts a modern twist to this tradition: Drawn by their family’s love of the company, children sometimes follow their relatives into jobs at the shotgun factory. According to Lorenzo Caldari, head of human resources at Benelli, 14 percent of the factory’s 270 employees have followed their mothers or fathers into positions at the company.

Tito Micheli began working at the Benelli factory after serving in the Italian military. There were no departments at Benelli at the time, just a handful of employees who worked together and solved problems as their expertise grew. Tito soon noticed that the environment in the factory and his relationships with the other employees were crucial to his experience. He noticed that the company paid a lot of attention to people and that there was a lot of respect for the employees.

Because Tito was a part of the factory’s birth, he often worked strange hours. But, “when you enjoy it, it doesn’t feel like work,” he says. “You are here in holiday, not for work, because you enjoy the time that you spend with the people.”

As a child, Silvia treasured the time that she spent with her father. Her weekdays were occupied in her mother’s shop, who is a hairdresser. On the weekends, she tagged along with her father. At the age of seven, her father gave her a Benelli shotgun to call her own.

“When I was younger, my mind reminded me a lot of that,” Silvia says. “I usually did not spend a lot of time with my father, because he had to work…he was a good shooter. The first advertisement with Benelli was with him, because he can shoot five shots in one second. So, he started to shoot during the Saturdays and I spent the time in the shooting range with him. So my reminder of him is with the guns, with Benelli, and with shooting.”

Silvia remembers her father having only good things to say about the Benelli factory. “The situation was great,” she says. “He told me that there aren’t a lot of companies like that, where it is like a family.”

In 2004, her own journey with Benelli began. At 28, she became an intern; six months later, she was hired and has worked there ever since in the marketing and communications department.

The Micheli father and daughter both worked at the factory for nine years before Tito retired in 2013. Because they worked in different departments, they didn’t see each other often during the workday. But at the end of the day, after going home, their conversation was filled with Benelli and the people with whom they worked.

“I think the most important thing is to spend time in the office in a good way,” Silvia says, describing her friendship with a co-worker. “Our relationship is good,” Silvia explains. “I think it is one of the most important things, because we’ve spent four years together like this and we speak all of the time and then during the weekend, we see each other. I would like all the people who work to have this experience like me. I have seen other offices, and they are not all this way.”

The Grimani family has had a similar experience with Benelli over the years. In 1994, Fortunato Grimani and his daughter, Assunta, left their home in Foggia and headed to Urbino, 270 miles away, to find employment.

Fortunato heard about Benelli from his brother-in-law who worked there at the time. When Fortunato first started working at Benelli, he put guns together piece by piece. Then he became a guard for the shipping department. When his brother-in-law left the company, Fortunato took his position as a transportation coordinator. Assunta, meanwhile, went to middle school, high school, and college in Urbino where she studied languages. She knew of Benelli from her father and uncle.

The walls of Tito Micheli’s home office are covered in pictures of his family, including this one of him with his daughter, Silvia, on a hunting trip.

Assunta now works in the export department. “I finished university and could not find a job,” she says, “and four years ago I started working here at Benelli, thanks to my father and uncle.” Fortunato says, “It is very nice to work with my daughter. It is easy if I have a problem because I can just go to her and ask her a question. There is a lot of coordination between the two departments.” Assunta says she and her father have a very good relationship at home, which helps in the office.

The Grimani family agrees with the Micheli family that working at Benelli is like working with relatives. “I really enjoy working here because it is like a big family,” Fortunato says. “The relationship between the boss and other people in higher positions is not formal or stressful. You don’t have to jump through hoops to try and have a conversation with one of them.”

Assunta has noticed a link between the environment that they work in and the effort that employees are willing to give. “If you really want to work,” she says, “you are going to have a good relationship with everyone. Generally, everyone here wants to work and so everything works well.”

Because he often travels for Benelli, Fortunato has seen how other companies work. “I saw that this place is an exception. In other companies, there is a lot of distance between people in high positions and the other workers. This is why I am still working here. I like it here,” says Fortunato.

These English setters accompany Tito Micheli on hunting trips around the world.

When Fortunato first began working at Benelli in 1994, he said that it was difficult to adjust to a new town and new work environment, but once he spent more time with the company, it got easier. “It was because of the good environment,” he says. “When you are in a healthy environment, you come in the morning and you don’t feel stressed, so you want to keep working and you’re okay with working.”

Fortunato says that he really enjoys working with Benelli and chuckles as he adds, “even if I’m not a hunter.”

Statistics say the same about the company. Marco Vignaroli, technical director at Benelli, explains that the company has a “very, very low turnover.” “This is a good indicator of the level of happiness in the company,” says Vignaroli. He says that the employees typically don’t leave the company except for personal reasons. “We try to give people the best place to work, and they recognize that,” he says. “It is a good environment that is safe and clean that gives good attention to the people. This is reinforced for children whose parents work here. They see it demonstrated and they already know it before they work here.”

Vignaroli explains, however, that simply having a family member who works at Benelli is not enough to land a job with the company. “We have positions we need to fill and if someone’s competencies, skills, and degrees match our needs and their family has been a part of this company for 40 years, then they have an advantage,” he says.

The atmosphere at the Benelli factory is comfortable and relaxed. “Ciao!” rings from the open doorways as people pass by, greeting friends warmly. Business combines with friendship both in the offices and on the factory floor. The halls have the air of a bustling Italian alley where women call to neighbors while hanging laundry out the windows.

The homey atmosphere is no surprise: Founded by six brothers, the Benelli factory began as a small family business. Over the years, it has kept its family feel. It is a place where employees are at home and the relationships they make last a lifetime. And where an appreciation of those values is sometimes passed from one generation to the next, like a family tradition.

As Silvia Micheli says, “My father transmitted his love for the company to me.”

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This article also appears in Urbino Now magazine’s Urbino Centro section. You can read all the magazine articles in print by ordering a copy from MagCloud.

The post Benelli Born and Raised appeared first on Urbino Project 2015.

“Attenti ai cani”—beware of the dogs—reads a sign on the narrow dirt road that leads to Varea le Coste, a bed-and-breakfast two kilometers outside Urbino, Italy. My companion and I can hear dogs, many of them, barking in the distance. A little fearfully, we drive up to the two-story brick house, on acres of green grass, where owner Vittorio Scalbi awaits us. He smiles brightly, takes off his hat—which reads “Trainer, Top Breeder”—and holds out his hand to introduce himself, saying “Come meet the dogs.”

We walk down a hill behind the bed-and-breakfast. The barking is louder, and a kennel comes into view. Then Scalbi opens the kennel gate, and it becomes clear there is nothing to beware. These dogs are his best friends. A dozen animals jump up and down, each hoping to be chosen. Ringo, a black-and-white pointer, runs out of the gate and, with joy in his eyes, leaps on Scalbi to deliver a wet kiss.

Like others in these parts, Scalbi is a truffle-dog trainer. He teaches dogs to find and retrieve the elusive mushroom used in Marche cuisine. But unlike other trainers, he doesn’t sell his dogs. Instead, he keeps them for life, falling in love with each and every one.

Luna, a Branco-Pointer mix, retrieves a truffle from the nearby woods. Luna is currently being trained by owner, Vittorio Scalbi.

The Marche region is known for a precious delicacy: truffles. The area around Acqualagna, a town 18 kilometers south of Urbino, produces the second largest quantity of truffles in Italy, after the region near Alba, in the northwestern part of the country.

“Truffles are special in this region because they are so rare elsewhere,” says Monia Constantini, owner of Tartufi Antiche Bontà, a store in Urbino that sells truffles and other Marche specialties and provides tastings. She explains that a truffle is a fungus that grows under the soil, drawing food from the roots of other plants. There are two kinds of truffles, white and black. Black truffles are in season from January to August, and are less rare than white truffles, making them less expensive. On average, black truffles cost 250 euro per kilogram. White truffles are in season from October to December, and their price each year depends on the weather. If it rains more in the summer, more white truffles will grow, dropping the price. In the Marche, says Constantini, these fungi are added to pasta sauce or soup, melted into gnocchi, or topped on an omelet or beef, adding a pungent, earthy flavor with a hint of garlic and mushroom.

Finding this delicacy is not an easy job, however. Pigs and dogs, known for their exceptional sense of smell, are often trained to hunt for truffles in Italy. In the United States, however, only about 15 percent of truffles are found with dogs, says Alana McGee, founder of the Truffle Dog Company located in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. More often, says McGee, American hunters rake up truffles while they are still immature and not fully aromatic. Hunters in the Marche work strictly with dogs, says Constantini, who buys the truffles for her store directly from hunters in the area. These dogs could be sold for up to $10,000 in the United States, according to McGee.

Growing up in the countryside around Urbino, Scalbi began training dogs to hunt game, such as small birds. When he was a teenager, he hunted animals with friends, which then turned into hunting truffles as well. Training a dog to hunt animals comes first, Scalbi explains, followed by training it to hunt truffles.

Many dog trainers, Scalbi says, do not feed their dogs prior to a truffle hunt. This will make them hungry enough to want to find the truffle, knowing they will receive food when the fungus is retrieved. Scalbi does not believe in this type of training. He starts training dogs at 8 months, feeding them meat mixed with dog food from the beginning. He then spreads the meat mixture onto a truffle and hides the truffle under the soil next to his home, down the road from his bed-and-breakfast. In the beginning, many dogs eat the truffle instead of returning with it. However, Scalbi trains each dog to return with the fungi by rewarding the dogs with a treat for their accomplishments. The treat is a type of meat the dog is not usually fed, but something better, such as salami. The dog will slowly begin to associate the smell of meat with the smell of a truffle, in order to find the fungi in the woods. Scalbi helps the dogs in training locate the truffles by pointing them in the right direction. They are fully trained when they can finally retrieve a truffle on their own. However, he continues to train them throughout their lives, and occasionally still treats them to hunting animals for fun.
 
By training one hour each day, a dog can be ready to hunt truffles in only 15 days, says Scalbi. Any dog can hunt for truffles, he says. In fact, McGee, the American trainer, has even taught a Chihuahua and a Yorkie to find the fungi. However, Scalbi prefers hound dogs, because of their keen sense of smell and ability to hunt small animals. But the best hunting dogs aren’t always the best truffle hunters. “The better a dog is at hunting animals, the longer it will take me to train,” Scalbi says. “Good hunting dogs get more distracted in the field, as they look for animals instead of truffles.”

After training the dogs to detect truffles on their own, Scalbi heads to the woods near Urbino to hunt for real truffles. Because of the pricey cost of truffles, most hunters sell their findings. Vittorio Scalbi does not. He is not in it for the money; it is simply fun and relaxing for him, he explains. He gives his findings as gifts to family and friends instead.

Vittorio Scalbi gives Luna a warm congratulations, for finding a truffle in the woods on her own.

Each month, Scalbi meets fellow dog trainers at a nearby park. The trainers hold a competition to see whose dog will retrieve hidden truffles the fastest. Scalbi has won this competition multiple times, even at a national level in 2011. “There is often a prize, such as a trophy or a ham. But I don’t do it for the prize, I do it for the love of the game,” he says, nevertheless proudly pointing to the dozens of trophies that line the walls of his home. After all this time, truffle hunting is still a hobby, and a way for Scalbi to connect with his best friends, his dogs.

Back outside the kennel, Ringo sprints up the hill, excited to find the truffles Scalbi has hidden, knowing he will earn a treat. Scalbi follows his companion. They arrive at a small field, where multiple truffles are hidden under the soil around trees. The black-and-white spotted hunter sniffs through the grass, digging up nothing but dirt this time around. Scalbi yells, “Vai, vai, vai!”—“Go, go, go!”—and points Ringo in the direction of the truffles, giving him encouragement. Ringo finally detects the prize, digs it up, and grasps the black truffle between his teeth. He turns back around to spot his owner, who is holding a piece of salami in the air. Ringo jumps on Scalbi to reach the salami, trading the fungus for the treat. Truffle by truffle, Ringo impresses his owner, earning his favorite meat. Scalbi watches as Ringo continues to sniff through the field, bringing back truffles with ease. Each time his dog returns with a truffle, Scalbi leans down to pet him, receiving more wet kisses.

The two work as a team, like old friends finding truffles together. Scalbi gives directions while Ringo listens, and follows. “If you are not friends, you cannot work together,” Scalbi says. The relationship the two have formed has made hunting truffles easy. “You cannot have an enemy that works with you,” says Scalbi, describing his friendship with Ringo and the dozens of other dogs he has worked with. He has never had a favorite dog, because picking one would be too hard. He says, “Dogs are like people, some are more friendly than others,” but one is never better than another, in his mind.

Later, as we drive out the dirt road, I turn around in my seat to look back at Scalbi who waves goodbye with his best friend, Ringo, by his side. “Attenti ai cani” was nothing more than a joke, because there was nothing to beware.

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This article also appears in Urbino Now magazine’s Urbino Centro section. You can read all the magazine articles in print by ordering a copy from MagCloud.

The post Man’s Best Friend, in Training appeared first on Urbino Project 2015.

URBINO, Italy – The Cathedral pews are half empty for the 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass, but the three Spadoni women are there as usual sitting side by side: the grandmother in a conservative dark dress suit; the daughter-in-law and her teenage daughter both wearing denim.

All three recite “Thanks be to God” memorized since childhood: Rendiamo grazie a Dio. Their voices join with others to become a booming echo up in the 165-foot high Duomo, as elegant and older than the dome of the U.S. Capitol. Then a choir turns this echo into heavenly singing, including the voice of the Spadoni daughter-in-law’s sister.

“It is a beautiful and close family,” Donatella Spadoni said later in Italian while looking at both her mother-in-law and daughter. All three women have brown hair that glistens in the sunlight and a smile that stretches wide. One can tell by the way they interact how close they are.

Grandmother, mother and daughter talk amongst themselves in the Fortezza.

Donatella Spadoni, an Urbino native, currently resides about five minutes away in Gallo di Petriano with her husband, Giorgio, and 14-year-old daughter, Ludovica. Donatella and Giorgio have been married 20 years and have always remained close to their extended family, especially Giorgio’s mother, Maria Spadoni.

Maria, one of four siblings, has lived in Urbino her entire life. She has four children who all remain in close contact with her and blessed her with eight grandchildren.

“Maria is a very special grandmother because she loves each one of her nieces and nephews in the same way,” Donatella said.

Italians have traditionally remained closer to their parents when compared to Americans. According to the Pew Research Center, 64 percent of Italians remain in contact with their parents at least once a day, whereas only 38 percent of Americans contact their parents at least once a day.

Lucia Silverstrini, 38, an Urbino native who spent two years in the United States teaching Italian at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, has seen this difference first hand.

“I think we (Italians) are more attached to our grandparents because we all live in the same town,” said Silverstrini, who works in the city’s tourist office.

She understands the difficulty of staying in close contact with grandparents in the United States because American families tend to live so far apart.

Silverstrini thinks the relationship that Italian grandparents have with their grandchildren is beneficial. “They teach their grandchildren so many interesting things and are so affectionate.”

The relationship between Donatella and her mother-in-law, Maria, is especially striking. Different from most mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships, Maria and Donatella are very close.

“We really respect each other,” Maria said.

Donatella smiled. “We don’t butt heads like traditional mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationships do.”

Family has always been important to the Spadonis. It has been a value all of their parents have passed down to their children.

“I can see the value of family in my daughter and my nieces and nephews because they still dedicate time to family even though they are busy,” said Donatella. “They even introduce their girlfriends and boyfriends to their grandparents because it is important to them. It is the small things that make the difference.”

Their favorite memories growing up revolve around Christmas. Christmas is the time of year when their family is the closest.

“Christmas has always been the best time of the year for families to get together, ever since my mother-in-law was young,” said Donatella.

The Spadoni Christmas happens in two phases. They begin by meeting at Donatella’s parents’ house for lunch and in the late afternoon move to Maria’s house to continue the festivities.
 
The three Spadoni women acknowledge with some sadness that Italian families are decreasing in size. The total fertility rate of Italy is only 1.42 children for every woman. And occasions in which families get together are becoming less common. So Christmas is the time for families to reunite.

But staying close as a family is not a challenge for the Spadonis, they said. And they hope it never will be.

They all get together for lunch on Sundays – brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews.

“Sunday lunch is special because it brings our family together,” said 14-year-old Ludovica.

Eight Spadoni family members usually attend these Sunday lunches, which last approximately four hours. They will even occasionally meet on Saturday afternoons to prepare food for the lunch.

Sunday lunch typically consists of a first course, second course, side dish and dessert, most of which the Spadonis make by hand.

Maria, Donatella and Ludovica also have a tradition of going to Mass together on Sunday. They go to the Duomo – Urbino’s historical cathedral – because that is where Maria went to church as a child.

One aspect of their life that may be affected by the changing Italian culture is the decision of where Ludovica is going to college. Will she stay home or leave? Traditionally Italian children choose to stay close to home for their studies because they want to be near their families. However, that tradition is slowly changing.

Three generations of Spadonis join their hands together, symbolizing the unity between them.

Lucia Silverstrini, from the tourist office, noted that it is becoming more common for kids to get their bachelor’s degree in Urbino and then leave Italy to go get their master’s degree somewhere else in Europe, often in England, Germany or France.

“I don’t think people in the U.S. mind moving as much because there are more opportunities in the United States,” Lucia said. “Italians don’t think of moving that much.”

“Going away to school is important for girls because in today’s society women must have the possibility of having their own economic independence,” Donatella said.

“If I need to go away to study what I want, I’ll do that,” Ludovica added, “even though it would be difficult to leave my family.”

Although Donatella understands her daughter’s concerns, she continues to encourage her to pursue her dreams because she wants Ludovica to have as many opportunities as possible.

“It is very important to build your own future,” said the mother. “You can’t always stay in your hometown. You have to experience something else. If she wants to and we as parents can afford it, she has to go away for studying.”

The Spadonis know they are lucky to have a family that is so close.

“If your family is united, everything you do in life is going to be positively affected,” Donatella said with another quick smile. “It’s as simple as that.”

Slideshow

See the video “Dance School” produced by Ashley Manske & Courtney Bochicchio.

The post Italian Family Circles appeared first on Urbino Project 2015.

Urbino, Italy – The Bucci family left their home for work and school around 7:30 a.m., but at 1:00 p.m. they pour back through the door to prepare and bond over the most significant meal of the day.

It’s pausa time.

Lunch in the U.S. may be a trip to a drive-through window or a brown bag at school, but many Italians are fighting to hang on to a family tradition called “ora di pranzo” – a three-hour lunch break.

Rita Rosatelli, mother and wife to Daniele Bucci, opens a bag of spaghetti noodles to mix with tomato paste for hora di pronzo.

Especially in smaller cities and towns, lunch remains the time when schools and most businesses close so families can travel back home to share the day’s largest meal and rest.

This famous Renaissance city in the province of LeMarche is no exception. While two large supermarkets recently decided to remain open between noon and 4:00 p.m., the doors to most other retail outlets display a sign stating “Chiuso” – closed.

“There are a few rules concerning meal time in general in Italy,” said Rick Zullo, a Rome-based travel writer and blogger. “Everybody sits down together and there’s no sitting in front of the TV or playing video games. It is a time to sit down altogether and eat.”

While it is unclear exactly when of why the tradition started, Dr. Peter Cullen, professor of language and culture for business at the University of Urbino, believes the warm mid-day weather in Italy may have played a large role centuries ago.

“Until the advent of air conditioning and ice cold drinks, there’s no relief [from the heat],” he said. “You don’t want to physically over tax employees during the hottest part of the day, so they take a longer break.” 

Dr. Raffaella Sarti, a professor of early modern and gender history at the university and author of “Europe at Home: Family and Material Culture 1500-1800 (Yale U.P., 2002)” said pausa was considered a worker’s right during the 17^th century.

“Those who worked the fields knew that during the heavy work of harvesting they were entitled to a nutritional surplus, that could stretch to seven meals a day. During some festivities, people could stay at the table for hours,” she said.

The pausa tradition continued unabated, the researchers said, until the last few decades when social and economic changes began moving through Italian culture.

Women have been choosing careers away from the home, large national chains have expanded into smaller communities, families are moving to suburbs and immigration has brought a wave of new residents with different traditions. Now the American style one-hour lunch break near the office is becoming more common.

“It’s the small, family-owned places that still honor the pausa even in Rome,” Zullo said.

A large plate of pesto pasta is the centerpiece and is served to all.

One of the most sudden and startling changes in Italian eating habits, researchers said, is the advent of fast food restaurants and “to-go” food and drink.

“For centuries spreading civilization and good manners at a table implied using cutlery and not eating with your hands.” Sarti said. “We are now often eating panini – sandwiches – and pizza where you don’t need forks.”

The next generation is also being weaned from the pausa tradition, Sarti said. Children used to be released from school and would go home and eat a prepared meal, but now cafeterias have been opened to serve the in the schools.

“Unhealthy and cheap food is spreading and this is a problem particularly among children,” Sarti said. “Some schools have a cafeteria, but not all. Therefore, many children, especially teenagers, eat junk food from home or in restaurants.”

The Bucci family is refusing to surrender the pausa tradition. They gather around the kitchen table to celebrate “hora di pronzo” every day around noon. Rita Rosatelli, mother and wife, has the meal waiting when the children and Daniele Bucci, father and owner of BD Construction, come home.

“It is natural for us,” Bucci said. “My wife and I work really close to home, so we come home from work, eat lunch, take a rest and go back to work.

“It’s a way to divide the day. It’s the moment when you don’t think about working or about your job and to think about your family and nothing else. If the lunch is at home it is also healthier.”

Rosatelli picks fresh vegetables from her garden and makes her own pasta for pausa each day.

“In Italia it is very important to eat lunch and dinner and be with your family,” she said. “Cooking for my children is a way for me to show love and I also grew up with the mother always cooking for her children. It’s also a way to bring people together.”

But Zullo thinks the families like the Buccis eventually will be a part of Italian history.

“In an increasingly globalizing world everyone has to drift towards the norm in order to survive,” he said. “It’s a shame really, because it is a great tradition and part of the life here.”

“It’s going to be slow to go, but it will go unfortunately,” Zullo said.

Slideshow

Video (By Brittany Dierken & Abbie Latterell)

The post Pausa: A Fading Italian Tradition appeared first on Urbino Project 2015.