You have been in Italy for 6 years, what did you do before Urbino?
I worked as a computer technician in Florence, Toscana. The company I worked for stopped because of the crisis in Italy. When my company stopped, I inevitably felt compelled to do something for myself. There is a Turkish proverb about this: “Hazıra dağ dayanmaz” (Wealth, whether inherited or saved, without continued earnings, cannot last forever even if it was in heaps as high as mountains.) After thinking, I took the road, tried to find my destiny and found it, thanks Allah.

How and why you decided to go Italy?
I took this decision under the influence of my relatives who live abroad. I saw the potential of their work, their dedication to it, and that encouraged me to come to Italy. If you want to do something, you have to want it. If you really want to do something, you can do everything. The key is “wishes and feelings”. We Turks have potential to explore and recognize innovation. When I saw my surroundings from Europe, I thought I could do ıt. Maybe more than them. I wanted determination and effort, that’s why I came to Italy. When my relatives who work abroad visit us, I saw their assets. That’s why I came to Italy, because of advantages.

What do you feel about working away from family, how often do you visit them?
My family lives in Turkey, working away from the family is really hard. We call “homesickness” and “longing” to this situation. Although the dıstance ıs long, wıth mountains between us; the important thing is feeling same things although we have different hearts. If I’m here and if I can do something for my family, blessed me. I am delighted that I can do something for them, I am gaining both for me and for them. I usually visit them once or twice a year, sometimes also three times. Inevitably, they miss me, they are my family after all. You’re a student here at the moment, your family will welcome you proudly when you will get back. You are studying in different country, you are representing us, this is a big honor. It is the same for us.

Did you think to work for a kebab store before?
I never thought about that before, I had different plans for my future. I achieved them when  I worked for the company I was talking to you about, but when it stopped I had to find another way to reach my purposes with this job.

Do you have a chance to return to your old job?
If the company starts working again, I will definitely come back.

Why did you choose Urbino? How could you find Urbino?
I came here through my friend. I had never been here before. I first met my friend when I used to live in Modena-Bologna. When my company stopped, I said to him let’s look for something somewhere else. Then he offered me to open a kebab shop and I thought it was convenient for me. Lots of people are making kebab, but the important thing is finding the right point. Like Italian pizza, we have kebab. For example, you cannot find the taste of the pizza you eat in Naples anywhere else. Kebab is ours, the “Turkish kebab”. The important thing is showing up with fingers.

How is the worklife in Italy?
They say there is a crisis in Italy but, for me, the problem is that taxes are high. When you open a business in Turkey, you do not pay taxes during the first year, because you have to develop first. Turkey has the support of state but in Italy there is not. But we have to work, life goes on.

How Urbino people and business owners welcomed you, did they accept you?
They are very good and friendly people. When we came here, all tradesmans came and welcomed us. Because, if you do good things, you offer people good things, you win a nice place in people’s hearts. I am happy for myself, when people come to my shop or when they meet me on the road they salute me. This means I’m doing good things. I am proud of it.

What are the ingredients in kebab, how do you make kebab, where do you buy ingredients, nutritional information?
It depends according to the meat. For example, some people make the kebab using beef, chicken, turkey; some people mix them. Some people make kebab using ground beef. Of course there are sauces and spices in it. The important thing in the kebab is the sauce. We now have the factory system in Europe, bringing produced kebab in factory that is different from the system in Turkey. Nutritional value is also high like its calories.

Do the tourists like Istanbul Kebap? Turkish tourists?
I can say yes. When people go to different places they want to discover something. They want to taste, they want to try. We are trying to provide quality. If we make low quality products, tourists and also people living in Urbino will walk away from us. They like us because of our quality. Turkish tourists visit us too. They are happy when they see us here, because we are Turks. We represent Turkey. Visitors are proud us, say thank you on behalf of our country, it is important for us.

Can you tell us information about your customers’ qualification?
Urbino is a small city where there are 15 faculties. Since there are 15 faculties, I cannot say that university students are “natives of Urbino”. Approximately 70% of our customers are students. The remaining 30% of customers are Urbino’s natives and tourists.

How Istanbul Kebab affected your life?
it has not changed so much, because I’m doing my job. I want to work, I am a person who likes working. If you want to change your life you have to work and you will succeed.

What are your future plans?
I am planning to do different things. Hopefully, we will open a second, a third shop. We are looking for places in touristic areas like Torino, Venice; in coastal regions, such as Rimini, Pescara. You always win in big cities. Now I’m planning to create my own business, I want it. Maybe it will  be a computer company.

Is there anything you want to add ?
Life is good, the biggest mistake in life is wasting time in vain. Therefore, we have to know the value of the time and the value of our life. We will work, we will work hard. Do not stop, keep moving. I also want students to work hard for their exams and lessons. If students are happy, we will be happy too. Because we wholeheartedly want people to win Because it’s inside us, in our culture.

Video

The post Interview With an Immigrant appeared first on Urbino Project 2015.

The runway stretches into the distance down the rustic brick of Via Mazzini. A warm evening light creeps in from the arched entry at the foot of the street. Lights, photographers, and posing marks for models adorn the catwalk. Railings on either side of the runway carpet split the catwalk from the hundreds of people slowly crowding in to watch.

Next to the top of the runway, a Renaissance-era courtyard now functions as an impromptu dressing room. Models run in and out for styling, hair and make-up, and final choreography before walking the walk. Outside the courtyard, at the top of the carpet, a DJ sits in the center of the chaos, flanked by two towering speakers that billow music at an energetically deafening level. Children dance beside their families and look on with excitement in their eyes for what’s to come.

“We are almost ready to begin,” the announcer says at a quarter to 10.

Models await their turn to start down the catwalk at Urbino’s Sfiliata Sotto Le Stelle–Parade Under the Stars.

This evening looks and feels like something out of Marie Claire or a Mercedes Benz Fashion Week event. But this isn’t Florence, Milan, or Rome. This extravagant night is the brainchild of the boutique owners, designers, and retailers of Urbino, Italy, who have turned an unlikely stretch of Via Mazzini into the perfect setting for a charming fashion night out. What started as a strategic move to drum up business and promotion has turned into a collaborative creative effort, says Stefani Palazzi, owner of Nashville Boutique and an organizer of the event.

“We do this because we feel it can represent the fashion culture in Urbino—we want to try to do our best to make this event very successful,” says Palazzi.

For centuries, Italian fashion has been among the most revered in all of Europe. As early as the 11th century, powerful cities like Venice, Milan, Florence, and Naples produced some of the finest textiles, jewelry, shoes, robes, accessories, and elaborate dress of Europe. At the peak of the Renaissance, Italian fashion became known for its extravagance — velvets, brocades, ribbons, jewels, and fine detail.

However, by the 17th century, Italian fashion was dethroned, and didn’t begin to regain popularity until the 1950s, around the time Giovanni Battista Giorgini, an Italian businessman, began hosting aristocratic soirees and fashion shows. At the most famous of these soirees, “The First Italian High Fashion Show,” held February 12, 1951, several famous designers, like Fabiani, Simonetta, and the Fontana sisters, presented collections at Giorgini’s Florentine residence. The show attracted the attention of international buyers visiting from the Parisian Haute Couture shows. Soon, designers and boutiques across the region began mass-producing the Italian collections and exporting them to foreign markets — thus kick-starting the prêt-à-porter (ready-to-wear) era in Italian fashion, setting Florence as the birthplace of modern fashion in Italy, and revitalizing the market for the country.

Now, 60 years later and 185 kilometers away, in this walled city of the Le Marche region, designers, boutique owners, and entrepreneurs alike are applying the tactics of innovators like Giorgini to market their ready-to-wear business model to the public. The Sfilata Sotto Le Stelle (Parade Under The Stars) fashion show on Via Mazzini is a highlight of the series of Friday night events called Serate Ducali (Duke’s Nights) that are reminiscent of Giorgini’s soirees. Taking place from early June through the beginning of July, the events are planned by the Associazione Commercianti di Urbino.

The models from Nashville Boutique are paired to compare and contrast styling options.

The association was started around 10 years ago in an effort to cultivate a partnership between the many shop owners of the city and bring more business to the historic center of the town. The organization now works year-round planning events for winter holidays and the summer months that showcase the products and services the shops provide. At the heart of the association’s efforts are the Serate Ducali events. This year, the third year of the celebration, Serate Ducali now offers six different evening events, including the fashion show on Via Mazzini, street art nights, evening dancing, and live performances.

Marco Lazzari, president of the Associazione Commercianti di Urbino, says that when they created the Serate Ducali events, the idea was to have different nights with varying forms of entertainment in the historic center of the city.

“The goal of these events is to make Urbino come alive in the historic center,” says Lazzari.

Each lively event requires months of strategic planning. These kinds of bureaucratic duties are a large part of the event planning process and what the association does as a whole, Lazzari says.

“The association is voluntary; everyone pays a bit of money each year so that we can organize the events, like Serate Ducali. Politics are not involved in these events but we want to engage the administrations here in Urbino,” Lazzari says.

Lazzari works with a four-person team primarily focused on requesting city authorizations needed for events like the fashion show. He also works closely with event organizers and shop owners like Valeria Violini, owner of the Vodafone store in Urbino’s Borgo Mercatale, and one of the three producers in charge of the fashion show. The Sfilata Sotto Le Stelle was first held a year ago when Violini and a few other shop owners hatched the idea for the fashion show as a part of Serate Ducali.

“Our reason for doing this is to make the town more lively and offer something different to the public, but also respecting the rules in the process,” says Violini.

Hairstylist Stefano Iacomucci outfitted his models in Roman-inspired dress.

Now, the Sfilata Sotto Le Stelle fashion show features over a dozen retailers and designers of the region all jammed into an action-filled one-hour runway show. Around 6,000 euros and a prodigious catalog of models are only a few of the essential pieces to make this event happen.

In preparation for this year’s show, Violini and the other producers started contacting boutique owners and designers in the region to provide accessories, clothing collections, jewelry, and other merchandise to be showcased. The organizers of the event met with the association once a week for six months to trade ideas and collectively come up with a formula for the event that best fit everyone’s needs. From there, they cast models and divided them among each boutique. The models were then split up based on categories such as cosmetics, accessories, and other styling details. Then Violini decided on the order of the show. After the models were cast and grouped, the organizers hired a choreographer and had two rehearsals before the event. Violini describes the planning process as a multi-layered undertaking that involves bureaucratic duties, civil responsibility, and creativity all at once.

“The fashion show is a way to give exposure to the stores. It’s a good way for them to get publicity and also give alternative entertainment to citizens, both students and old people,” Violini says.

All the planning lead up to this: One hour before showtime, workers roll the carpet down Via Mazzini. More than a dozen models are in Mazzini Parrucchiere salon being styled by young cosmetologists and the owner, Stefano Iacomucci. The models are all covered with a layer of shimmering golden glitter dust and clad with flowing white gowns, inspired by historic Roman dress designs. Their hair is keenly styled in high buns and up-dos accented by fresh olive branches and leaves. The men are a bronze golden tint from their spray tans—each of them shirtless and wearing revealing white cloths gathered at the waist by a single golden rope. Iacomucci says that he is very inspired by history and wanted to modernize a classic dress practice to offer something different.

It’s now 10 p.m. and on the runway are models representing Palazzi’s Nashville Boutique, wearing glowing neon orange-and-white wigs. A brunette with a bun saunters out of the courtyard in an elegant white trench-style overcoat paired with designer slippers. Following her is a short, petite young woman wearing a shining orange wig and a black romper-style jumpsuit with a low pointed heel.

Palazzi styled the models in pairs to offer a unique presentation on the catwalk. Together the looks compare and contrast each other giving the boutique a well-rounded offering. Palazzi’s vast knowledge of trends and ready-to-wear markets are the product of years working in retail; she now owns the same boutique where she started working 34 years ago. She is precise in the way the models are styled with garments that are either in-season or trending, mixed with classic staples, giving her collection a fashion-forward feel.

Palazzi’s models line up at the end of the runway to make their exit. Standing together, the breadth of styles they cover is staggering: business casual, street chic, evening wear and seasonal dresses that incorporate almost every Pantone color and in-season silhouette.

Many more boutiques hit the runway as the night goes on; what was supposed to be a one-hour event has turned into a full-blown runway show. There are so many different styles: classic, modern street-wear, sportcore. Each shop shows their newest collections and designer items like Gucci and Marc Jacobs. The attention to details and accessories like scarfs, jewelry, and styling speaks to this region’s precise fashion interests.

It’s 11:30 now and the mood changes. The streetlights cast a soft, romantic glow on Via Mazzini. The music slows to a powerful ballad, and out glides a woman with a slicked-back ponytail in a white, halter-collar gown. The model is with five children: four little girls with matching white dresses and flower-bedecked pigtails and one boy with parted hair in a three-piece suit. The girls skip and throws flowers as the boy holds the woman’s hand and walks her down the runway.

Atelier Cardelli’s bridal fashions took the stage at the finale.

This is the finale of the show with the Atelier Cardelli bridal shop taking the stage. Vinicio Cardelli, now lead designer of the shop, was born in Urbino and studied here before he went to work with his family in Acqualagna. Atelier Cardelli has operated for over 70 years. Cardelli says that their gowns are designed with classic details, seeking to fulfill the buyer’s needs.

“We don’t just sell clothes; we sell dreams. The woman who buys the dress doesn’t want the dress [itself]; she is dreaming of something, so we try to give them that dream,” Cardelli says.

Now, a brunette paces onto the runway with an up-do adorned by two large curls that frame her face and lead the eye down the length of her veil. She is wearing a white velvet-and-lace mermaid-style gown. Her hands trace the outline of the dress and she beams widely, as if she is dreaming of her own wedding as she walks. Lace detail sprawls all over the dress and adds an accent on the veil. She has on a small pearl necklace and white gloves. Behind her is a couple, a man in a black Tuxedo with a wing-collar dress shirt and a woman with a gleaming ball gown studded with jewels and complex embroidery patterns.

Cardelli says that he likes to have drama and action in his shows and wants the ending to always be shocking or exciting. He and his three sisters put this elegant grand finale together, something their family often does.

“I love everything about my job but I really like doing fashion shows because if you don’t show what you create it doesn’t mean anything, and that’s why I like to do these shows because you need to show people what we can do,” Cardelli says.

Adele’s “Someone Like You,” starts playing, and the last of the models file out onto the runway. All of them, about a dozen, from the Atelier Cardelli show are lined up side-by-side, taking up the entirety of the runway. Women begin to make their way to the railing on either side of the runway with a look of desire in their eyes.

“Never mind—I’ll find someone like you,” Adele sings from the speakers as the music roars into the night.

The announcer hands each model a rose, and, on cue, they all throw their roses into the air. In that split second, hundreds and hundreds of hands reach up into the sky toward the stars, and everyone erupts into applause for the Sfilata Sotto Le Stelle fashion show.

Slideshow

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 Urbino’s Fashion Night Out appeared first on Urbino Project 2015.

On a cool, cloudy morning in June, high on a hilltop overlooking the village of Calcinelli, the field alongside the pig house is empty. Rain begins to fall, then stops, then starts again. Suddenly a large, fully grown brown male pig pokes his nose out of the shelter’s opening and wanders out. Minding his own business, he walks around, freely eating grass in the field and fruit that has fallen from trees. Another pig walks out of the house, and another. Soon about a dozen animals are roaming freely around the fenced-in yard, a few of them trotting, not minding the rain at all.

These are not average pigs. They can’t be found anywhere in the world outside of the Italy’s Le Marche region. They are Marca pigs, a special genetically engineered breed created by combining three different types of pigs that live in this area. The 30 or so Marca pigs living on this hilltop are also unusual because of their “semi-wild” lifestyle (unlike a group of several thousand that have a confined, mostly indoor life in a long building nearby). Their diet is above average, because the phrase “you are what you eat” is true for pigs as well as people. Besides the natural grass and fruit they find in the yard, the pigs are given other healthful foods, free of chemicals and undesirable ingredients.

This farm and its carefree pigs are part of the Fraticelli Salumi company’s strategy to create high-quality, good-tasting cold cuts and other pork products. After the company shifted its goals from large-scale production to a smaller, superior approach, it has been recognized for excellence. In 2010 it won first prize in the Premio Cremona competition for the best salami, and in 2015 the town of Cartoceto named the Fraticelli processing plant the best and cleanest factory in the region.

The Fraticelli factory is located in Cartoceto, a few kilometers away from the hilltop farm. On a recent sunny day in June, the air outside the factory is hot and dry. But past the factory’s doors, a gust of cool wind refreshes the senses and pushes the summer heat away. All that wind is followed by a rich aroma of salami and ham. Loris Fraticelli walks up wearing what looks like a chemistry lab coat. He has white hair and stands over six feet tall, yet he seems to have a soft, humble side. He gives a firm handshake with his large hands and bulky fingers, and offers a friendly greeting. Excited to discuss anything and everything about salami, Fraticelli wastes no time and starts to talk about his factory.

Fraticelli started producing pork products in 1967, continuing for 30 years, and then retiring at the age of 70, leaving the business to be run by his children. But that was not the end of his career. Only five years later, he came back to his own company after hearing about a new breed of pigs that were genetically engineered by Carlo Renieri, a scientist at the University of Camerino. With funding from the university and the regional government, Ranieri and his team combined the best genetic traits of three breeds of pig that have been living in the Marche for over a century. The new breed is called Marca. Today these pigs are raised in the town of Matelica, spending their first 70 days with their mothers, feeding on natural milk, before Fraticelli buys them and continues to raise them in his hilltop farm.

Walking through the cold air-conditioned factory, Fraticelli explains proudly with fire in his eyes that all his Marca pigs eat a nutritious diet consisting mainly of corn, oats, bran, barley, soybeans, and cereal that the company produces. All their food is free of preservatives, chemical additives that other farms use to speed up growth, and genetically modified organisms. This, says Fraticelli, reduces potential hazards to consumers, including increased cancer risks, as well as threats to the environment. He adds that raising the pigs in a “semi-wild state” is also a way to help the very best flavors of the salami come to life. Fraticelli explains that the semi-wild state is similar to “extensive farming”—what in the U.S. might be called “free-range”—in which farmers allow animals to roam freely in fields. In Fraticelli’s farm the pigs are free to go in and out of the barn-like house where they sleep at night. They can walk and run in an open field, which they do when it’s not too sunny and hot, and there they can also eat the natural grass and fruit. Fraticelli says his free-roaming pigs are fitter than average, with stronger muscles, which makes the meat tastier.

Fraticelli is very strict about how much his pigs weigh. Unlike less demanding operators who take animals for processing when they reach 110 kilograms, Fraticelli says his pigs have to weigh at least 170 kilograms. The pigs need to be fatter and heavier because he wants them to have a layer of fat that is at least three centimeters thick. That, he explains, makes ham and other products taste better.

Since Fraticelli redefined his business as a small, high-quality effort, the factory holds fewer people and fewer machines. The whole process can be done in just two rooms, each about 10 square meters. On this quiet day in June, only one man is needed for the special task of cutting the parts of the pig and seasoning them. Fraticelli points out that a lot of the process is done by hand with great care. He walks over to some carved meat and describes where each cut comes from by tapping his own body: neck, back, leg. Fraticelli says he is not concerned about his production rate; the most important things are how the pigs are raised and the quality of the process here in the factory.

Fraticelli walks excitedly to a door in the corner of the room and opens it. An even stronger aroma rushes out of the room. Inside are carts holding fresh-looking salami and different types of ham. Fraticelli explains that the meat is waiting to be seasoned enough to develop the company’s signature flavor. It will go through repeated seasonings, using only salt, pepper, and garlic. As it does, the meat will darken. This is important because most other factories use colorants to keep the salami looking red and ripe. Others may also use milk flour as an astringent and preservatives, which contain potentially cancer-causing nitrites and nitrates. Fraticelli says his use of salt allows the salami to keep its rich flavors and naturally preserves the meat for more than two months.

When asked to describe his career with one word, Fraticelli takes a rare pause. Then he looks up and says, “artigiano,” which translates as artisan, a worker in a skilled trade—in his case, the food industry. He says his dream is to provide better ingredients, better quality, and a higher standard of salami for those who are willing to pay for that experience. His future goals include having a stronger connection with other European countries and Russia in order to sell his salami, taking part in the World’s Fair in Milan, and keeping his customers happy. He also looks forward to having more happy pigs strolling around their fields on that hilltop.

Slideshow

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 Special Pigs, Special Salumi appeared first on Urbino Project 2015.

Laughs echo off of the brightly painted, gold-trimmed walls of Teatro Comunale in Cagli. The voices of British actors Julian Curry and Mary Chater fill the room, passionately describing their love for Shakespeare and Italy. Both have spent their artistic lives working with his plays, and in doing so drew a significant connection between the two.

“Shakespeare wouldn’t have been Shakespeare without Italy,” says Curry. “I feel it’s a bit messianic… I feel we’re sowing the good word about Shakespeare in Italy,” adds Chater.

The couple’s program, Shakespeare in Italy, aims to keep Shakespeare’s work alive in the Le Marche region. Not only will they present his plays, but they also have created a program for English-speaking students. The program allows participants to study selected plays and identify the influence that Italy and Shakespeare have on one another.

The beautifully detailed ceilings of the Cagli theater, enclosed by a section of the 500 seats that encircle the stage.

Tucked into the valleys of central Italy, Renaissance towns Cagli and Urbino are the ideal setting for a cultural association dedicated to the profound connection between Shakespeare and Italy. Teatro Comunale in Cagli is where the program’s plays take place, whereas Urbino University is where students will be attending lectures and discussions.

After years of playing the roles sculpted by Shakespeare, Curry and Chater both have a first-hand understanding of the different aspects and angles that mold each play.

Aside from being overflowing with Renaissance art and culture, Shakespeare critics may wonder why Urbino and Cagli were the areas of choice for such a program.

At least 13 out of his 38 plays are partially or wholly set in Italy. Romeo and Juliet’s forbidden love bloomed in the balconies of Verona. The manipulation to obtain power in Othello occurred among the canals of Venice. Still, there is no obvious mention of the Le Marche region within Shakespeare’s work—or is there?

Curry and Chater pop up in their seats, exchanging enthusiastic looks before sharing their insights into what from this quaint region of Italy may have been one of the greatest influences on the playwright’s career: Baldassarre Castiglione’s The Courtier, a book published in 1528 in which a main character is Duke Federico of Urbino.

“This book is about how Duke Federico in the mid-1400s organized his court,” explains Chater. “He  built an amazing Ducal Palace. In this palace, he made sure everyone could sword fight, read, play music, sing, dance–everybody, not just the famous or rich. Castiglione’s book told you about how society could be ordered if you had this wonderful way of educating people.”

Curry and Chater are not the only Shakespeare experts who believe he read the book and was influenced greatly by its lessons in how to organize a court. This view is shared by, among others, Sylvia Morris, author of The Shakespeare Blog and a contributor to Cambridge University Press’s recent book Shakespeare and the Digital World.

One crucial aspect of The Courtier was the requirement that a gentleman portray himself as humble and with ease rather than effort. As Morris discusses in her blog, this idea is paralleled in Shakespeare’s own work, Richard III, as Richard cannot ascend at court because he does not possess the attributes that are described by Castiglione. He is not graceful or put together, and as a result becomes a villain of the play.

Manager of Shakespeare in Italy, Sandro Pascucci, as he shares his knowledge and experience with Teatro Comunale in his 15 years as manager.

The Courtier also may have helped Shakespeare in his own aspiration to reach the top, guiding him on how to be a gentleman himself after starting in the lower class. In any case, this direct connection to Urbino demonstrates the local air that entered Shakespeare’s artistic lungs, giving his work life at its core, and still now striving to keep those works alive.

While settings are the obvious connection between Shakespeare and Italy, the themes are in fact where the relationship lies.

“It [Shakespeare’s work] is a heartbeat… it’s for all of us,” says Chater as she smiles at the thought of Shakespeare’s universal themes, their applicability, and how they unite everyone.

Common motifs that stitch together the playwright’s work include power struggles, love, guilt, and retribution. These are themes that remain relevant regardless of place or time. Moreover, they are themes that, although couched in Italian settings, spoke to issues arising in England at the time.

Urbino University’s English literature professor Roberta Mullini contends that Shakespeare’s strategy of using Italian settings and characters was the playwright’s creative way of magnifying the issues of his own country.

“I think that even if they [Italian stories] have the flavor of Italy, they are actually to talk about England… to talk about English history, because he [Shakespeare] couldn’t do that. I think he had both aspects in mind: the Italian flavor and the English underneath that, and the possibility of talking about his own country,” Mullini explains as she opens the shutters of her dimly lit office, allowing the smoldering heat and bright sunlight of mid-afternoon Urbino to illuminate the room.

Mullini, who has taught Shakespeare since 1976, gazes out the window as she speaks, eyes floating over the cobblestone roads and endless hills of central Italy that disappear into the blue sky just as her words trail off.

One work that comes to mind when considering this theory is The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, believed to be written in 1599, that is partially set in Rome.

The play demonstrates issues that were prevalent in England at this time, such as power struggles and uncontrollable rulers. It also put emphasis on the issue of succession to the throne, which was a concern of England with Elizabeth I at the time.

The play’s assassination of Caesar begs the question of what Shakespeare was trying to inspire within his own country, whether it be a rebellion or just a simple seed planted in the minds of a few, and it is arguable that he used his plays as a roadmap to justice.

Others experts, such as artistic director of Shakespeare in Italy Bill Alexander, assert that Shakespeare is among various writers of the early modern period who were influenced by Italy.

“It was the center of the Renaissance thought and the revival of classical learning,” says Alexander.

Chater believes that it was Italy’s alluring atmosphere, both in attitudes and in developments, that drew those from England in, just as it drew her and Curry. It filled them with curiosity and wonderment until they would overflow without the ability to channel it in some way, such as writing plays.

Sandro Pascucci, manager of Teatro Comunale and the Shakespeare in Italy program, gestures towards the sea of seats and brightly lit ceiling of the Cagli theater. As he does so, he references the 500 people it can hold, as well as its history, going back to its opening in 1878.

The intricately carved balconies that line the walls of Teatro Comunale.

This summer will be the program’s second time inviting students to immerse themselves in Urbino for two weeks of lectures, discussions, and practical work on scenes of Shakespeare’s plays. They will focus on Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Winter’s Tale. The program runs from June 30 to July 14.

Pascucci says the history of theaters in the Le Marche region makes it the perfect area for a project such as this one. Although small, the area has the most historical theaters in all of Italy, 80 in all. Teatro Comunale specifically was most recently restored in 1999, a project in which Pascucci participated.

“The main difference between this program and others is that it gives students the opportunity to study Shakespeare in a place that influenced him,” says Pascucci, who has been a manager for 40 years, experiencing a variety of  programs.

This unique characteristic allows students to envision what Shakespeare was so taken by, the aspects of the Renaissance that drew him in and inspired him to create the works that they will analyze in depth, picking out each correlation along the way. Specifically, Urbino is filled with art, culture, and previously mentioned influential landmarks such as the Duke’s Palace. These students will have the advantage of walking the same streets as people who were so deeply influential to Shakespeare’s work, such as Castiglione.

“It’s in a place that makes you feel the time in which he lived,” says Pascucci, and thanks to Shakespeare in Italy, a place that continues to keep him alive.

Slideshow

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 The Shakespeare Connection appeared first on Urbino Project 2015.

MONTEMAGGIORE AL METAURO, Italy – Giorgio Sorcinelli has been instrumental in the encouragement of quality olive oil and oil tastings. He promotes the art throughout Italy as well as Croatia, Slovenia and Greece.

Sorcinelli, the secretary for the Organization and Laboratory for Expert Tasters, O.L.E.A., coordinates oil tasting classes around Europe.

There are few experts who have the experienced palate Sorcinelli has, and fewer who can describe a taste the way he does.

It’s like a sommelier’s wine-tasting, but different. Sorcinelli demonstrated, sitting behind the fragile wooden desk in the center of Mariotti Cesare’s olive oil storage room.

The olive oil tasting glass is blue to hide the color of the oil and prevent biases in a judge. Color is no indication of the quality of oil.

Cesare, producer and owner of this oil orchard and winery, pours his Raggiola olive oil into a glass in front of Sorcinelli. Raggiola is a variety of olive with naturally sweet pulp, but the oil is revered for being deceptively spicy.

The storage room is small room, but large enough for four hulking oil containers against one wall. On the opposite wall are pictures of Cesare’s family, as well as awards recognizing Cesare for his oil and wine production in the Le Marche region.

Sorcinelli’s fingers grip the sides of the cloudy blue, beaker-like glass holding the olive oil. He lifts the glass off the desk to sniff its fragrance.

He sips on the oil without swallowing. Pressing his teeth together he sucks on the olive oil, coating his mouth, tongue and throat. Sorcinelli begins to cough. Cesare pours water into a cup and hands it to him. The spicy nature of Raggiola burned Sorcinelli’s throat.

“The first thing an oil should have is a fruitiness, but it can be a spiciness as well,” Sorcinelli said. He places the cup of water on the desk. The flavor of the Raggiola had a “spice and bitterness that makes this oil a unique product, it results in a fresh oil, and an alive one.”

Based on the taste, Sorcinelli declared that it wouldn’t lose its freshness for six months, if properly stored. He then commended Cesare for producing an oil with a smooth texture and fruity almond taste.

In 1985, Sorcinelli pursued mild interest by taking a simple olive oil tasting class. He enjoyed the first class so much, he took more classes for the next 10 years in Le Marche regionS. During those 10 years Sorcinelli became an olive oil sommelier for Le Marche region and started traveling around Europe to experience olive oil variety.

Inspired by his passion, in 1995 Sorcinelli and a team of sommeliers from Le Marche formed O.L.E.A. The organization promotes events in which people from across Europe can become acquainted with quality olive oil. This year, O.L.E.A is instructing olive oil analyzing classes in Pesaro and Fano on Le Marche’s Adriatic coast and, further afield, in Comune di San Dorligo della Valle, which closely borders Croatia and Slovenia.

The highest quality olive oil comes from the least mechanized process. Today’s olive picker uses a wooden rod to thwack the tree branch, causing olives to fall into a tarp at the base of the tree. Although hand picking is the most effective way to properly harvest olives, it is also the least efficient and most expensive.

Extra virgin olive oil meets very specific requirements when being produced. The process includes the olive coming fresh off the branch and pressed at no more than 27 degrees Celsius within 24 hours. The oil is then extracted through mechanical cold pressing, without the use of solvents, and is bottled immediately.

Olive oil produced from Italy that follows these procedures has created a standard for olive oil producers around the world.

The sun shines bright on the facade of Mariotti Cesare’s oil grove and vineyard, where his oil and wine steel tanks sit in the shade in Montemaggiore Al Metauro, Italy.

O.L.E.A.’s mission is to promote quality olive oil awareness.

In today’s olive oil business there are many forbi, or forgers, of quality olive oil, Sorcinelli said. The forged oils are cut with less quality oils, similar to a gas station selling watered down gasoline. This has hurt the reputations of oil producers throughout Italy.

Sorcinelli wants everyone to appreciate the quality of olive oil for its own sake, but the customer’s ability to discern quality will also help end the oil forging business, he says.

He is looking to the future. He has helped put on several promotional events in primary schools in Le Marche region.

Looking at a picture in an O.L.E.A.-published book of a child eating bread and olive oil, Sorcinelli’s expression melted into a look of bliss. “Kids are really interested because they are naturally good at smelling things.”

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Video (By Jake Troy & Olivia Parker)

The post Taste-Testing Olive Oil appeared first on Urbino Project 2015.

Natalia Gasparucci is strolling the quiet streets of Sant’Ippolito, leading an informal tour of the stonework that decorates the city’s houses and ancient walls. She points to a keystone over a doorway and explains the carvings on its front. The grapevine in the center suggests that the people who commissioned this keystone were involved with making wine, and the letters “CD” stand for the family name. She says with pride that this work dates back to the mid 1700s.

On the building’s wall just to the left of the keystone is a sculpture of a Madonna. She is intricately carved and detailed, wearing a patterned dalmatica, or dress, that is covered in stars and small crosses. And she holds her baby, as many Madonnas do. This Madonna’s eyelids are closed, the trademark characteristic of a local artist known for such sculptures.

In response to a visitor’s question, Gasparucci looks from the sculpture down at her hands. With a small smile she confirms that this is her work. While happy to show off the ancient carvings in the city, she was hesitant to point out an example of her own work that was perched less than two feet away. In fact, Gasparucci’s Madonnas can be seen adorning many homes and structures throughout the city.

Natalia Gasparucci is a stone sculptor in Sant’Ippolito, a town rooted in tradition of this art and rich with history that dates back to the 13th century.

That humility is also one of Gasparucci’s trademarks, though she has many other defining characteristics. Her short, bleached-blonde hair is dazzling in the sunlight. The creative fire inside of her is much bigger than her petite build. She is full of energy, and apparently willing to talk about anything with anyone, even people who are practically strangers. With her thick black eyeliner and Crocs almost as colorful as her personality, you’d never guess that she is a grandmother.

Gasparucci moves away from the old doorframe, takes a sharp right turn down a small hill, and passes through the open doors of her studio, Bottega Artistica Della Pietra, the Artistic Studio of Stone. It is time to continue her work.

The studio sits right outside the old walls of Sant’Ippolito, a city with centuries of stone carving history and traditions. It is also the place where Gasparucci was born and has flourished. She raised a family and still lives in the house above her studio. Sant’Ippolito was once overflowing with studios and sculptors. Today, the studio Gasparucci owns is the only one remaining within the town; only a couple of other sandstone sculptors have studios in the area.

Gasparucci picks up a chalk-covered drill and drives it through a block of pietra arenaria, sandstone, breaking off small chunks. The noisy drill overpowers the chirping of birds outside the shop doors. Her gloved hands fly in every direction. Silver bracelets on her arms clink lightly, partially covering the tattoo that stretches from the top of one wrist to the middle of her forearm, a flower with vines. Her voice reaches every corner of the large room as she explains her process. Then she brushes away the dust that has collected on top of the piece to reveal the outline of an olive branch. This piece will be a keystone.

Sant’Ippolito was once the patria, homeland, of stone carving in Italy. At its height, the city was home to more than 30 studios and many well-known sculptors. One of these artists was Amoretto, who was called from Sant’Ippolito in the 14th century to do work at the Palace of the Pope in Avignon, France.

According to Renzo Savelli, a researcher and author on the topic of scalpellini, or stonemasons, there were large quantities of high-quality sandstone in the territory around Sant’Ippolito. It was because of this kind of stone that traditions grew so strong in the area starting in the 1300s.

During the 15th century the artists in Sant’Ippolito, through their connection with Florentine sculptors, developed their techniques. The old houses that still exist in the city once belonged not to middle class citizens, but to the elite class of carvers in the city. Wealthy barons commissioned artists to create sculptures for their houses, keystones, and doorframes. Artists traded with each other—sculptures for everyday items like flour and grain.

Savelli explains that sandstone carving declined after the 17th century when marble became more fashionable. However, sandstone carving’s small flame continued to burn, and the art made a comeback in the last part of the 20th century.

Twenty-five years ago, an art professor with the help of town administrators and the Pro Loco of Sant’Ippolito, a group that organizes events for the city, picked up a project that Gasparucci has never put down. The town opened small sculpting studios, at first aimed at teaching middle school students. When the focus shifted to adults, Gasparucci was asked to sculpt in one of the studios. She and her supervisor, Luciano Biagiotti, an art professor from Urbino, were given an abandoned theater right outside of the city walls as their workspace. With this project, the stone carving traditions in Sant’Ippolito were rediscovered.

“It was just as a game,” Gasparucci says laughing, referring to the start of her sculpting career. At the time, she was concentrating on oil painting. She and Biagiotti began sculpting in the theater whenever they had time after dinner.

She was only in the old theater for a short time. Bottega Artistica Della Pietra soon became her working space and has continued to be for 23 years.

Gasparucci has filled one of the three gallery rooms connected to her working space with sculptures of the Madonna of Loreto, a famous symbol of protection for the Le Marche region and for military aviators. Madonna of Loreto has been produced in many forms. Raphael, the celebrated Renaissance painter from Urbino, has his renowned Madonna of Loreto painting in Musée Condé in Chantilly, France. Carvaggio created another famous painting of Madonna of Loreto, which hangs in Rome.

Gaparucci’s Madonna sculptures range in size, some no taller than a bottle of wine. Each is slightly different, although Gasparucci’s overall style and characteristics remain consistent.

Gasparucci’s Madonna sculptures, which she’s most known for, are pieces for sale and exhibition.

The traditional style of Madonna of Loreto has a conic shape to her body. Gasparucci pulls inspiration from this, but sometimes sculpts the figure with her baby and sometimes without. Gasparucci combines Egyptian, Byzantine, and Mayan art in her sculptures, borrowing characteristics from each distinct style.

Some characteristics of the Madonnas are unique to Gasparucci. When the Madonna is not holding a baby, Gasparucci carves her with hands pressed together, as if praying. The faces of Gasparucci’s Madonnas also wear her unique style. Their perfectly smooth faces look peaceful and content, with soft smiles and closed eyes.

“It’s a form of sweetness,” she says about the closed eyes. “It invites you to a moment of reflection, of thinking about something.”

“The special thing about Natalia is that she not only works in the tradition of Madonna, but she introduced new subjects,” says Savelli, who is familiar with Gasparucci’s work. He explains that she is innovative; along with religious subjects, she also sculpts faces of women and men.

“She’s a great artist,” he says. “She deserves to be valued and to be known.”

Over the years, Gasparucci has been recognized for her hard work.

“My life is full of events,” she says when asked about her favorite memory or exhibition. Her work has taken her all over the globe to places like Korea, France, the United States, and every region of Italy. Gasparucci donated a sculpture to the Pope’s Palace in Avignon, France, and has been recognized with national awards. She has been interviewed by daily newspapers and popular magazines like AD, Grazia, Tutto Turismo, and Itinerari. Her work can also be found in the bank of Sant’Ippolito and many museums in the Le Marche region. One of her sculptures is in a specialized museum in Ancona, Italy, that caters to those who love art even though they can’t see it.

The director of the Museo Tattile Statale Omero, the State Tactile Museum, asked the town of Sant’Ippolito to donate a piece of art. Gasparucci sculpted Virgo Lauretana, a Madonna of Loreto holding her baby. Gasparucci explains that she spent a lot of time perfecting the details in the sculpture. She says the dalmatica had to be extra detailed, as blind people would only be able to enjoy it by touch.

Gasparucci has also donated a sculpture of Madonna of Loreto as homage to Pope John Paul II. This sculpture, presented as a gift from Gasparucci and the Le Marche region, now sits in the Vatican in Rome. Despite the world’s acknowledgement of her talent, Gasparucci remains humble.

“If I am famous, I’m still modest,” she says. “I am not so self promoting.” She says she is not driven by money so much as her passion for sculpture.

“Masterpieces only come once,” she says. Special works are linked to special feelings and states of mind, and Gasparucci says they are very different from works that are commissioned. If someone wants to purchase a work that she has a special connection to, she will not sell it.

One of these personal pieces is a sculpture of the bottom half of a face, from right underneath the nose down to the chin. The lips are plump, the mouth shaped in a serious line. In the same gallery room just behind this sculpture is another of a whole face. The chin, lips, nose, and eyebrows are visible, but the rest of the skinny features are covered in strips of stone fabric. Both sculptures were produced at important times in Gasparucci’s life, and for this reason she will never sell them.

While she still sculpts often, Gasparucci isn’t as busy with her work as she once was. She spends a lot of time with her family, particularly her grandson, Jacopo.

“Come take a photo with your poor grandmother,” she says to Jacopo during a break from her work. The five-year-old is not interested in being obedient. He is far too preoccupied with his friends playing nearby in the park. Wearing thick, black-rimmed glasses and a polo-style shirt with the collar turned up, he stomps over to Gasparucci with crossed arms. She takes his hand and proudly explains that he likes to play with her sculpting tools and leftover stone. He also asks a lot of questions about what she does.

“He’s very intelligent,” Gasparucci says.

Gasparucci starts by using a drill, but the rest she does by hand. Sculptures take anywhere from a week to 15 days.

After about 45 seconds of pleasing his grandmother, Jacopo runs back to his friends. 
Gasparucci puts her thick cloth gloves back on and returns to the keystone she’s been working on. Her small, fluffy white dog, Cica, finds a spot on the floor by her feet for a nap.

Instead of the loud drill, she pulls out a pointed tool and mallet. She chips away small pieces of the stone, the olive branch becoming more visible with each smack of the mallet. The afternoon sun warms the entire studio; sculptures in various stages of production reflect the rays in different ways. The only sounds are that of the mallet hitting the metal, the metal chipping the stone.

An expression of concentration takes over Gasparucci’s whole face. Her mouth forms a tight, serious line, her nose scrunched, her eyes, smudged with black eyeliner, unblinking through her glasses. She uses a brush to loosen chunks from the top of the sculpture and then runs over the smooth stone with her gloved hand. Her lips turn up into a small, satisfied smile.

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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 Carved in Stone appeared first on Urbino Project 2015.

URBINO, Italy — Veli Ljatifovski looked out across Ponte Armellina, a housing development he has lived in for the last 20 years. He saw buildings spotted by mold from the corrosive effects of humidity, open sewers spilling into the streets, and derelict cars and mattresses strewn across weed-filled front lawns.

“It wasn’t like this before,” said Ljatifovski, 44, who arrived here in 1995 as a refugee from Yugoslavia after escaping war in his homeland. Ljatifovski, one of the oldest residents and homeowners in Ponte Armellina, helped found the community of immigrants that have made the neighborhood home.

“It was like paradise, clean, with good buildings,” he said.

Veli Ljatifovski stands outside Bar Raffaello which closed two years ago.

While listed inside the borders of Urbino, one of the most beautifully preserved Renaissance cities, Ponte Armellina is seven miles from the city’s historic center. It is a community formed by documented immigrants who moved to Italy in the mid-90s to chase the dream of a better life. As years passed and the buildings decayed, Ponte Armellina residents faced precarious living conditions and little attention from local authorities. Residents inside the walled city and local media stigmatized the community, labeling it “Urbino 2.”

Since 2009, the municipalities of Urbino and Petriano have been planning to rebuild the neighborhood, believing that by improving the physical decay, social problems will be addressed.

But residents are skeptical and confused. Before the redevelopment occurs, they have a number of worrisome options. Those who own their apartment would have to sell them at huge losses and leave. Those who are renting from private owners could have to move if their apartments are sold. Those in public housing, the largest group, would be moved into other subsidized housing during the rehabilitation. A small group of residents who occupied the apartments without paying rent will be evicted.

The €7.9 million ($8.8 million) urban redevelopment will be funded by the region. The project is meant to build bigger and environmentally friendly affordable housing, expand and create public services, improve urban landscape and sport facilities, and integrate more non-immigrant Italian families into the neighborhood.

According to engineer and assessor of city planning Roberto Cioppi, the project entails of purchasing 45 apartments as small as 320 square feet in buildings owned by the Regional Agency for Public Housing (ERAP) for €7,000 to €8,000 ($7,815 to $8,931) each. They will be turned into 26 apartments of 756 square feet each.

After the redevelopment, a square foot in a new apartment will cost €1,200 ($1,339) said Cioppi.

“The goal of this project is the urban regeneration of the area,” said Cioppi.

When Ljatifovski moved to Ponte Armellina, the neighborhood was a failed student housing project built by a private company in 1990. Parents bought many of the units, but students soon realized they were too far from the campus for an easy commute. The building soon became vacant.

Ljatifovski purchased his apartment from a Neapolitan family for €75,000 ($83,678) when the economy was good and it was easier to obtain a mortgage. His apartment is located in one of the two buildings that will be rebuilt in the redevelopment. As a private owner, Ljatifovski said he has been offered to sell his apartment for €25,000 ($27,903), due to a heavy devaluation of real estate in the area, or to pay a negotiated lease if he wishes to stay in a remodeled apartment.

“We don’t agree with them because we suffered to pay for this apartment,” said Ljatifovski.

Eduardo Barberis, a sociology professor at the University of Urbino and expert in Italian immigration policies, did a quantitative analysis of population, risks and social needs in Ponte Armellina in 2011 along with a team of students. The study, which was presented to the municipalities, revealed 20 percent of Ponte Armellina’s 600 residents owned their homes.

“For a 646 square feet apartment, residents paid more than €150,000 ($167,366) with a mortgage. Property value is now at around €20,000 ($22,322)” said Barberis.

Cioppi said that more funding will be pursued to increase the offers to homeowners unhappy with the current price.

Urbino Mayor Maurizio Gambini said the reason for the devaluation of property in Ponte Armellina is that Italians don’t wish to move into an area heavily inhabited by foreigners and that the quality of the houses is not that good.

“We are working in spite of the fact that many people say we shouldn’t follow through with the project and use this money for the redevelopment,” said Gambini. “These are Italians who don’t want extra-communitarians (people not from the European Union).”

The majority of adult residents in Ponte Armellina migrated from Northern Africa and The Balkans. Barberis’ study found that 60 percent of the residents are Moroccan, while 25 percent are Macedonian.

Many residents are skeptical of the outcome because of previous broken promises.

“They’ve talked about [the redevelopment] for years,” said resident Ben Sabir Mohamed, 40, of Morocco. “Today they say they want to eliminate this, tomorrow they say they want to fix that, another day they say something else. We don’t understand a thing.”

Ljatifovski agreed.

“There are many other things [problems] we told them about, but no one has done anything yet. Now they told us to keep calm, that they have money and will start building,” he said. “They’ve been talking about this for six years.”

The soccer field is a meeting place for children. Two tennis courts and a playground will be built next to it as part of the redevelopment.

Cioppi said the project will start around March 2016 and will take one year to complete.

Resident Abdel Maler, of Morocco, said that it would be a great benefit for everyone if change comes to the neighborhood. He’s been living in Ponte Armellina since 1996.

Maler, who is unemployed and lives in an apartment owned by the court, does not need to pay rent because of his employment status.

“It belonged to a private owner, then they failed to pay their mortgage, so the court took the whole thing.”

According to ERAP, minimum rent is €50 to €100 ($56 to $112) and residents must qualify based on income. The redevelopment will not affect those who legally live in ERAP apartments.

ERAP plans to evict those who moved in illegally, and have no plans to resettle them.

At the initial stage of the project, some families feared a possible eviction if the redevelopment took place. Cioppi said that only those who have occupied the apartments illegally would be evicted, but that the cases are very few.

The mayor has also guaranteed that families will not be removed from their homes.

“They will not be sent away. They will be moved somewhere here in Urbino for the time of the redevelopment,” said Gambini.

The families who live in the apartments that will be remodeled will be temporarily moved to other buildings in the complex.

Gambini said he understands that the project has been promised for years. He is positive it will happen because the municipalities were able to secure funding two months ago.

Despite living in the area for more than 20 years, obtaining a legal status, purchasing property legally and their children being born in Urbino, residents who migrated from outside Europe face discrimination from locals who base their beliefs against them on stereotypes, residents and city officials said.

In 2011 a raid took place in the neighborhood in which 100 carabinieri, Italy’s military police force, stormed into every apartment looking for undocumented people as part of a national stop and search campaign around the country. They didn’t find any irregular activity, and all the residents had proper documents.

“Everyone who lives here is legal and has papers,” said Ljatifovski, who is an Italian citizen.

“The only thing they did was prevent some children to use the school bus because they didn’t have tickets, which is really something horrible,” said Barberis, who was doing research in the neighborhood when the raid took place and remembers the coverage it received from the local media.

Barberis, a member of Regional Anti-discrimination Committee, blames the media coverage of Ponte Armellina for perpetuating stereotypes related to criminal activity in the area. “Local media is extremely racist, perhaps not explicitly. Every day they give ethnic label to criminals. If an Italian makes a robbery, then it’s a person making a robbery, but if it’s a Moroccan making a robbery, then it’s a Moroccan robber,” said Barberis. “It’s giving ethnic labels to behaviors.”

“At first it was kind of a bad neighborhood, but then newspapers made it worst,” said Maler. “They mixed facts with politics.”

Giovanni Lani, editor of the local edition of Il Resto Del Carlino, a national newspaper, does not think his publication gives a bad reputation to Ponte Armellina.

“If you go to Gallo di Petriano or other places near Urbino 2 and ask people what they think, they say it’s dangerous,” said Lani. “We don’t say this, the administration says it and we repeat it.”

Lani said the use of terms that could be seen as problematic could’ve been the case in the past but not now.

“I don’t know if they [residents of Ponte Armellina] can read Italian or if they read the newspaper.”

As a way to break the negative stereotypes tied to the community and neighborhood, filmmaker Andrea Laquidara made a documentary called Fuori dalle mura. In the documentary, Laquidara showed how people consider Ponte Armellina a second Urbino.

“Ponte Armellina is part of Urbino on paper,” said Laquidara.

When he premiered his documentary in Urbino last January a person from the audience asked him why he hadn’t interview Urbino residents. In the documentary, Laquidara interviews a child from Ponte Armellina who was born in Urbino and is of Macedonian descent.

“People don’t consider them as citizens,” he said. “A stereotype is that citizens are only those whose relatives come from Urbino. We have a new kind of society now.”

Ljatifovski said there are two Urbinos.

“People who live inside of the walls don’t know who is outside of them,” he said.

Gambini said Urbino is a city that welcomes immigrants and that they have always been present.

“The main goals are integration and to avoid creating ghettos,” he said. “Schools should be granted to everyone and help the process [of integration].”

Despite the problem residents face, the majority of the community of Ponte Armellina is glued together by faith.

“We are mostly Muslims. The country you’re from doesn’t really matter. What keeps us together is our faith,” said Marel.

Ljatifovski remembers that a few years back a resolution of the region labelled his neighborhood “the worst area in Le Marche.”

“If people don’t come here they won’t see what the reality is,” said Ljatifovski. “We are not animals.” 


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URBINO, Italy - As a customer walks into the small, two-room grocery on Via Nicollo’ Pellipario asking for fresh peaches, shop owner Luigi Valentini greets her with a smile, steps from behind the register and begins to hand-select the ripest fruit. Meanwhile in the adjoining room, his wife, Iside Mancini, is slicing prosciutto and ciabatta for the panini for a regular’s daily order.

“You need to feel affection for your job, you have to have fun!” Luigi said.

Luigi spends around half an hour unloading and organizing his fruit in the morning.

The couple own Frutta E Veroura. It is an alimentary, one of the small, neighborhood grocery stores offering fresh produce and meats that can still be found on the streets of most Italian cities.

As the rest of the world is moving to the impersonal, pre-packaged, bulk shopping at huge discount sellers, the tradition of one-on-one local grocers remains strong in Italy. It seems the alimentary is still valued in a nation with a cultural demand that meals be cooked daily and with the freshest ingredients.

Luigi and Iside have been filling that need in this Urbino neighborhood for 40 years and have no plans to change professions.

“In life you need to have the singular will to do something,” explains Valentini. “Everyone is meant to do one job and you have to enjoy it, and I love this job.”

He begins each morning at 5:30 on their vast farm about 4.5 miles from the two-room store . While most of the city still sleeps, he loads his aging white Ford van with produce grown on their fields. By 7a.m. he’s opening the doors of Frutta E Veroura and Iside has arrived to open the cheese and meat counter for the first of what will be a steady flow of customers begins. 

Costumers from all walks of life come in and out of Valentini’s doors in a consistent, rhythmic flow. From young parents going in for a few hand picked veggies to cook with dinner to old friends just stopping in to say hello, each costumer is greeted with a smile and a warm “Buongiorno!” Luigi tries to make every customer feel valued and appreciated.

With new fruit and veggies coming in every day, chain stores can’t compete with the freshness of alimentaries.

The only break the couple gets on these busy days are during pausa, the traditional Italian three- to four-hour lunch break. Valentini and Iside head back to their lovely home to relax and eat, although Valentini also likes to use this time to maintain his farm. Once they are refreshed, it’s back to the store by 4 p.m. where work continues until 8 p.m.

Luigi and Iside have managed to keep their business strong even as large chains have moved inside the walls of this famed Renaissance city. Luigi believes the strong personal relationships with his customers and the other alimentary owners help them survive.

“In the past, there used to be around fifty shops” he explained. “When Conad (a major Italian chain) came into town, they asked shops to join them and become investors. Some joined and some did not. We were the stubborn ones!”

Stores like Conad carry a large selection of produce at a much cheaper price than an alimentary, so most of the students in this college town as well as many residents tend to opt for the savings and can be seen carrying Conad shopping bags.

Luigi takes pride in his relationships with his customers, making it one of the many reasons why he loves his job.

Alimentary owners have fought back by forming alliances.

Claudio Polidoro, owner of an alimentary in town, explained. “When I am out of a certain kind of food that a customer wants, I will send them to a different shop that I know will have it,” he said

Luigi and his wife remain confident in the future. Luigi makes it clear that in order to be successful in a business where competition always surrounds you, you must have qualities that make you unique.

“Competition is the ugly beast of commerce and you must fight against it!” Valentini says forcefully. “I have fresh fruits here. It’s not pretty but it is good quality. It is why I’m still here.” 

He also says maintaining positive relationships with his costumers have been essential to their success. “Some of our costumers have been shopping here for 38 years!,” he said. 

The alimentary lifestyle apparently appeals to some younger Italians as well. Just up the street from Luigi’s shop, Daniela Formica and her partner run La Verde Mela.

“We bought this shop from our neighbors because they have a child and didn’t have the time to keep up with the shop,” explained Daniela. “[Competition] doesn’t scare me because we keep our products fresh.”

Valentini Luigi says their chances for success are good – as long as they provide fresh products and love the life.

“If you like your job, you will overcome the difficulties,” he said. “It is your art.”

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Video (By Rachel Killmeyer & Jules Graham)

The post The Alimentary Rule of Italian Shopping appeared first on Urbino Project 2015.

URBINO, Italy – The bells from the Ducal Palace echo through the empty Renaissance streets as the bell tower strikes eight. While the city is still waking, Nikolas Zazzaroni sets foot in his shop, Officina Del Gelato. All the lights are off except one, but morning sunlight fills the gelateria.

Nikolas, 25, wearing his signature “iGelato” t-shirt, turns on the radio, and glides through the kitchen starting the process of making Italy’s famous milk-based version of ice cream.

Nikolas and his mother, Eleonora Zazzaroni, are the owners of the relatively new and trendy gelateria called Officina Del Gelato—Puro & Bio Urbino. Although it has been open only a year – marking its first anniversary on June 4 – the Zazzaronis have managed to create a successful business. Eleonora says that she and her son opened the business because the job market in Urbino was tough, and she wanted to help her son succeed. They both spend ample time working at the shop.

Close up of gelato topped with figs.

The organic elements used in the gelato come directly from a larger company called Puro & Bio, the sole provider of organic ingredients for Officina Del Gelato. Officina Del Gelato is also the only Puro & Bio shop in Urbino, a policy of the supplier that cuts down on direct competition for the individual owners that sell Puro & Bio gelato in any given city.

Most days Nikolas comes in early in the morning to start making the gelato, and typically around midday, Eleonora or Nikolas’s younger brother Mattia will come in and take over the afternoon shift.

“Someone in the family is always working,” says Nikolas.

Mattia, 20, sometimes works alongside his older brother, but they don’t always get along, so they tend to work different shifts. When they get home, Nikolas says, it’s open season for bickering.

Several other employees help out at Officina Del Gelato. One is Maria Chiara, 17, who is a good translator for English-only customers, since Eleonora speaks little English.

Maria often works the night shifts because they prefer to have a woman working during closing so the store is cleaned properly. “My brother and I clean too fast and don’t do the job well enough,” Nikolas says.

Stacked gelato cones.

Gelato sales do well in the spring and summer, but decline as the months get colder. Eleonora and Nikolas anticipated this. Starting in October, they swap out the gelato that fills the large humming refrigerator, and in its place they store chocolates.

Eleonora is also an exquisite baker. She makes cakes for special occasions such as weddings, birthdays and baptisms and sells them at the store. Nikolas makes cakes as well, but bashfully admitted that his mother’s cakes are a bit better than his.

Nikolas acknowledged that their location, a five-minute hike up one of the steep hills from the center of town, where several other gelatorias are located, is a challenge for their newer business. But they remain upbeat.

“The customers that come to our shop know the quality of our ingredients,” Nikolas says, “and that is why they keep coming back.”

Slideshow

Video (By Kaitlin Kling & Rachel Dale)

The post A Family Gelateria appeared first on Urbino Project 2015.

URBINO, Italy—A faint purring can be heard as Raffaella Betti brings in her two young adoptees for their annual check-up at Oasi Felina di Urbino (Feline Oasis of Urbino). The infirmary is small, with barely enough room for one or two people, a few small animals, and the syringes, medicine bottles, and other medical equipment that adorn the walls. The cat carrier is opened, the mewling increases, and cat eyes widen.

The cats in Oasi Felina are always up for some tug-of-war.

With a firm hold, a visiting veterinarian administers the required vaccines. Meanwhile, Enza Vaccarello, owner and operator of Oasi, quickly writes notes in her extensive records for the two young felines. Vaccarello is adamant about keeping up to date with all the adopted residents of Oasi—always asking for pictures, visiting the new homes, and keeping in close contact with the owners even years later.

“We need to be sure the cats are taken care of once they leave here,” Vaccarello explains. “There are many [people] who aren’t reliable enough to have cats, but adopt them anyway. If so, we can take them back here. At least here we know they live happy lives.”

Having taken their shots with little complaint, the brother-sister duo are well-behaved, sitting calmly on the plastic exam table with no coaxing. They’re back at home; they have no fears here.

Oasi Felina, on the outskirts of Urbino, is a hidden refuge. It may seem overgrown with weeds, and a little far out of the way to most. But Oasi Felina is a sanctuary and paradise to these forgotten felines. There’s room to explore, eat, and live behind the fences that surround Vaccarello’s cat care. Curious eyes dart in and out between bowls full of kibble, cloth mice, and water as Vaccarello makes her way through the rooms. The bright-eyed cats know who she is, and are drawn to her encouraging words, kind smile, and her bag full of treats. She is partial to none. She loves all her cats, but knows not to get attached.

Ana De Angelis grabs Zigghi the cat for a quick cuddle.

“They’re like having children,” says Vaccarello. “They are under your care for a while, then they go off to be happy somewhere else.” She has three cats she calls her own to keep her company at home, so she doesn’t worry.

The average number of resident cats at Oasi is between 80 and 100. They come from all over Italy, some even as far away as Naples. Some have been rescued by volunteers and other Urbino citizens from unfortunate situations and abusive homes; these can be fearful of every human that approaches. But there are many like Zigghy, Alex, and especially Ullo Mao, a tattered looking tabby with a big heart, who never hesitate to trot up to new visitors with a wagging tail. They readily rub up against anyone who pets them.

Vaccarello, a former English language teacher in Urbino, and originally from Turin, is well aware of the problem surrounding stray cats in all of Italy. She says the problem stems from people not taking the responsibility to care for those less able to care for themselves, human or not. It doesn’t affect only cats, either.

“I love cats because I love the world,” Vaccarello says. “If I had found a dog, I would have a dog rescue. Same if I had found a lion. But I found cats.”

Vaccarello came up with the idea for Oasi Felina around 20 years ago purely from seeing three abandoned cats outside a church, not far from where the sanctuary now sits. She then joined an organization called Noah’s Ark. Created in 1998, Noah’s Ark’s goal was to aid the community in awareness and care of street animals. Oasi Felina was founded in 2001, moved to its current residence in 2003, and has bolstered Noah’s Ark’s effort to shelter and adopt formerly wild cats.

Oasi Felina is a volunteer-based enterprise. Generous donors provide all the funding, which pays for veterinary care and infirmary needs for all cat families. Urbino resident Ana De Angelis is a volunteer who Vaccarello says is the true brains behind Oasi. De Angelis has been donating her time and effort since 2013. She names the cats, cares for them, plays with them, and even performs the dirty work of litter box cleaning. De Angelis picked up this mission after leaving her job at a bakery in which she worked 10 years. Even with her time split due to her saxophone playing in a local band, she is giving Oasi Felina almost five hours every day.

Enza Vaccarello looks out at her feline oasis, making sure all cats are playing nicely.

Guilia Baldelli, a biotechnology student at Camerino University in Camerino, Italy, is another major reason for Oasi Felina’s success. She uses her artistic spirit and public relations skills to make the organization a community-known name with active public support. Baldelli runs the Facebook page, as well as Gatti Matti, a website dedicated to the cats, their lives, and which ones are availiable for adoption. To generate donations, Baldelli and her mother make merchandise and sell cat treats and toys at events. “I wanted to be involved in something off campus,” Baldelli says. “And knowing that I’m helping these animals while meeting new people makes me happy.”

On June 5th, 2015, Oasi Felina di Urbino hosted a fundraising dinner at the local restaurant Il Cortegiano. Forty-five people sat at several tables in the garden behind the regular seating area, and were treated to a seven-course affair. The vegetarian plates continued as the volunteers hosted a lottery. The crew proudly donned new Oasi Felina T-shirts with the slogan, “I gatti di un gattile sono la razza piu bella” (The cats of a cattery are of the most beautiful race). Winners received baskets full of ornaments, cat treats, cat-themed bookmarks, and even more. According to Vaccarello, over 2,050 euro was collected that night, a wonderful success.

The dinner ended with a bang as a large cake was wheeled out to the garden. Two sparkling firecrackers erupted from the icing, and the crowd clapped and laughed in response. Vaccarello smiled along with them, knowing that she would carry all the support and love from the fundraiser back to Oasi Felina. Thanks to donors, volunteers, and the citizens of Urbino, unfortunate cats can live out their lives in an oasis all their own.

Slideshow

See the video “Studiolo in Palazzo Ducale” produced by Katie Potter & Isabella Ciano.

The post Saving More Than Nine Lives appeared first on Urbino Project 2015.