My museum today was the streets of Siena — I set out on a “Palio Hunt”, looking for symbols and landmarks of the contrade, but soon found other things that interested me. Such as the strangely antique reserved (parking?) space in the alley behind the headquarters of the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world’s oldest bank:
During our excursion in Pisa today, one of the students asked me why there were triangles carved into some of the paving stones in the Campo dei Miracoli. I had no ready answer for her, so I went back later to walk around and look more carefully.
Continue reading “Mysterious letterforms in Pisa”
I took my Drawing students on a field trip to Isola Maggiore, one of three islands in the Lago di Trasimeno, south of Cortona. The island is tiny, with only a few houses lining one main street, fifteen permanent residents, two restaurants, a couple of cafès, and a handful of churches. It also has a ruined 19C castle that was built over a monastery founded by St. Francis, and some fascinating and tragic history from the time of the second world war.
Continue reading “Slow Museums: September 21, 2016 – Isola Maggiore, Lago di Trasimeno – Museo del Merletto”