Category Archives: Belonging

Belonging in Anghiari: Cinzia Talozzi

While I was staying in Anghiari at Christmas time, 2016-17, I began conducting interviews with people who live in the town. Some were conducted in Italian, some in English. They will all be posted in both languages. Here are two new posts – interviews with mother, Cinzia, and daughter, Armida.

Il senso di appartenenza ad Anghiari: Cinzia Talozzi

Con le figlie Armida e Margherita, Cinzia gestisce il suo ristorante che si trova nel cuore di Anghiari, al confine tra la città medievale e quella rinascimentale. Mi ha invitato da “Talozzi” e dopo un pranzo squisito che mi aveva preparato lei, l’ho intervistata insieme ad Armida. L’intervista con Cinzia, condotta in italiano, è stata trascritta e tradotta in inglese da Mirella Alessio e questa ne è una versione editata.

La mia è una storia particolare perché la mia famiglia non è di Anghiari… Comunque, io sono nata in un piccolo paese in provincia di Siena, che si chiama Buonconvento, un paese interessante, antico, dove si produce un vino ottimo, siamo vicino a Montalcino, al Brunello.20170108_124057_resized

Mio padre faceva il daziere, il daziere era l’esattore delle tasse. Nel 1969 fa un avanzamento di carriera e diventa direttore e viene a dirigere l’ufficio del dazio che era proprio qua, in Anghiari. Quindi io a 9 anni vengo trasferita qua con tutta la mia famiglia: la mia mamma, il mio babbo, la mia sorella e io.

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Belonging in Anghiari: Carlo Rossi

While I was staying in Anghiari at Christmas time, 2016-17, I began conducting interviews with people who live in the town. Some were conducted in Italian, some in English. They will all be posted in both languages. Here is the first of these.

Il senso di appartenenza ad Anghiari: Carlo Rossi

Carlo, 54 anni, è un artista. L’ho intervistato nel suo studio nel centro medievale di Anghiari, in una gelida giornata di gennaio. L’intervista, condotta in italiano, è stata poi trascritta e tradotta in inglese da Mirella Alessio e questa ne è una versione editata.20170108_120449_resized_1

Praticamente…vivo nella casa dove sono nato, ancora vivo lì, dormo nel letto dove sono nato. Praticamente, dopo aver viaggiato tanto, sono tornato a casa ad abitare con i miei e quindi sono rimasto sempre con loro e ora ci sono io in quella casa e ci vivrò fino a quando non morirò.

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Master woodworker

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This morning I visited Mastro Santi (Santi del Sere), a maestro in cabinet making and woodwork – in wood carving, inlaying, gilding, and restoring antique furniture. As one of only a handful of remaining artisans in this field, Mastro Santi is keeping alive a centuries’ old Anghiari tradition. (In future blogs, I hope to talk about other people who are keeping alive local traditions.) He also works in ceramics, and he is a member of a local group of musicians and singers who perform traditional songs, and he writes. (He has written a book about his own story in woodwork which gives a detailed account of his materials, tools and techniques. Other autobiographical writings are held in the national diary archive located in the nearby town of Pieve Santo Stefano.) Continue reading Master woodworker

Sun, and fire

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Yesterday, after days of very bleak weather, there was sun. Everyone I ran into, in shops, in the piazza, in the bar, said, ‘oggi c’è il sole!’ People were out and about, even if not pausing for long in the piazza, as the temperature was still well below zero. It was very likely to be the last day of sun before I left Anghiari, so I decided to go for a walk. (The weather has precluded the possibility of walking for some days now.) Continue reading Sun, and fire

Dialogue in class

Towards the end of my teaching session last year I experimented with a dialogue in one of my classes. We had read Bohm earlier in the session and although most of the students expressed disagreement with him, they seemed really interested in the ideas. When it came time to discuss their relationship to their research projects (how they were feeling about their research practices and work habits, their topics, the ethics involved in doing their research) I decided to run the class like a dialogue group. I explained what we were going to do. They would each have a turn offering something about their current relationship to their projects; together we would draw out connections and extensions between everyone’s comments and write them up on the board; then the dialogue would begin. Continue reading Dialogue in class

The Pharmacist in Anghiari

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This is going to be a short blog, about an ordinary everyday encounter. One morning last week I went down to the pharmacy to buy some band aids. I’d cut my thumb the night before in an absent-minded moment. With great care, the pharmacist, in a white jacket, took me around to a seat behind the counter and asked me to put my thumb on a bed of cottonwool so that she could look it. When I was going on about how stupid I’d been, she said, with understanding, ‘it happens’. We laughed about the state of ‘being in a hurry’. Continue reading The Pharmacist in Anghiari

Christmas mass at Il Carmine

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Simona, from the tutto shop, arrives punctually at 9.40 to take us to Il Carmine for Christmas mass. In the car with her are her mother-in-law, and her daughter, Irene, who tells me that she is attending the music secondary school at the top of the old town of Anghiari. She is learning the flute, the piano, and also conducting, for the school has an orchestra.

There is still mist in the valleys but everyone hopes it will be a sunny day. Continue reading Christmas mass at Il Carmine