On our way home after an ill-advised social engagement (who knew the virus would last so long, when we RSVPed earlier this year?) we stopped to do penance at one of the oldest Romanesque churches in all of the Aretine province.
Continue reading “l’abbazia di Farneta”Author: Kris
picking plums
L’abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore
When the first major lockdown in Italy began to move into a gradual phased reopening, we made a hesitant excursion out of Cortona, to the nearby Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore in the Crete Senesi.
Saluti da Cortona, part II
Another update from Cortona under quarantine, late April – mid May.
Continue reading “Saluti da Cortona, part II”Saluti da Cortona
We’ve received dozens of messages from our friends and the UGA Cortona family, urgently asking for news about how this much-beloved city is faring in the time of the Coronavirus.
Continue reading “Saluti da Cortona”Layover in Detroit, anytime
I am a connoisseur of airports, and I recently discovered an excellent one: DTW, Detroit Metropolitan, with its sleek silent hypnotic oscillating elevated indoor tram, and this brilliant and soothing water feature in the McNamara Terminal.
Continue reading “Layover in Detroit, anytime”Slow Museums: December 17, 2019 – Madrid, Spain – Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza
“A Street Called Home” Mural Is Demolished
Back in August I posted an article about how “my mural” was to be demolished. On September 16, 2019, the tear-down actually began, and a few days later some local residents and the media figured out what was going on, and finally then there was an outcry. Not enough of one to save the mural, however.
Teatro Povero di Monticchiello
“A Street Called Home” Mural to be Demolished
I left my teaching job at the Columbus College of Art and Design and moved away from Columbus, Ohio in 2013, to take the position of Associate Director of the University of Georgia’s Cortona Studies Abroad program in Cortona, Italy. I have lived full-time in Italy for almost six years now, and have drifted out-of-touch with the goings-on in downtown Columbus. It was therefore a shock when my friend Fred Fochtman, a painter and art conservator who helped me restore the mural in 2013, messaged me to share the news of State Auto’s decision to demolish the warehouse on which the mural is painted, in order to build a parking garage.
