Made in Italy, a guide to artisans throughout Italy

Made in Italy, by Laura Morelli

We all may be arm-chair travelers this year, but we can still travel throughout Italy in the pages of Made in Italy. 

Part Italian history lesson, part insider travel guide this compact volume takes your inside the towns and villages of Italy where traditional handmade traditions flourish.

An award-winning author of Art-historical fiction and writer of a guidebook series, Authentic Arts guidebooks,  Morelli has updated her popular series for the third time and gives the reader up-to-date suggestions on how to experience Italy via the people who make the Italian items recognized all over the world.

Covering 5 regions  in Italy from the North to the tip of the boot, including the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, this is a wonderful exploration of towns and cities a traveler will be enticed to add to their next itinerary. 

                                                        Sample of the map for the NE region

Helpful maps of each region assist planning the cities to explore while traveling between regions.  Each chapter includes the history of an area highlighting the particular handcrafted and artistic items each region is known for, often detailing how a product is made.   In addition, Morelli includes detailed information on specialty food items, vinegars and wines you can discover on your travels. 

Not only shoppers will enjoy this easy read, but travelers may find new ways to ‘experience’ Italy by interacting with locals, visiting a studio and leaning about skills perfected over decades to create items that are truly ‘Italian’.

“One of the many things that make Italy great, is their traditional handmade items that join the past with today.” a quote from her book

Finely crafted violins from Cremona

                            

You know about the lace makers in Burano, but have you seen the pupie marionettes in Sicily or the paper makers in Amalfi.

Sicily:   pupie

Amalfi hand made Carta (paper)

                  

You can watch women in Sardinia hand weave certini or admire the carved stone in the shops in Lecce, Puglia.   Some of the many skilled passed from one generation to the next

                                                                          

  

In a world filled with mass produced products it is refreshing to find craftspeople creating stunning jewelry, fine leather goods, pottery, carved wood, nativity pieces for the Presepe, perfumes from ancient recipes and so much more. 

On your next trip to Italy support a local artist.   All the new places you can experience on a trip Home to Italy!

Wood carving in  Legno

The author has compiled a list of recommended artisans and shops, Artisans of Italy, available to readers of Made in Italy, available on Amazon

Morelli has a PhD. from Yale, has written for National Geographic Traveler, USA Today and Italy Magazines and has published award winning novels including The Gondola Maker and the Painter’s Apprentice.  Her new work, The Giant, is available now.    www.lauramorrelli.com  all photos are the property of Laura Morelli    

Italy: closed for months but locals became very innovative!

        

Italians Became Creative during the shut down

Italians have stoically followed the directives of their regional governments to stay at home since early March and finally have started to return to what will become the new normal.  

Some worker were able to tele-commute from home while 

non-essential businesses, hotels, restaurants, cafes, museums, historic sites and even the Vatican closed. 
  

Not a tourist in site, Florence Photo credit:  Sheila Ford

Photo by Sheila Ford

Photo by Sheila Ford

Businesses depending on tourism and critically hurt when the world stopped traveling, hotels closed, restaurants and cafes only offered take away.    

A substantial part of the Italian economy is dependent on visitors and even international students. Without the constant flow of travelers to fill hotels, enjoy the restaurants and cafes or book tours, it became financially difficult for businesses to remain open.

Italians have become very resourceful during the stay at home order, creating new ways to market their products, connect with clients and promote future projects.    Some of these new business ideas may become a permanent part of future marketing.

Zoom has quickly become the go-to method to remain relevant to clients and reach new prospects in the virtual classroom or showroom.    

Instead of a palazzo outside of Lecce, Cook in Puglia offers live interactive cooking lessons via zoom.  Students obtain all ingredients prior to the meeting and prepare dishes along with the instructor Yle Sambati from their home kitchens.  

Wine appreciation classes with Michele Passero offers 10 live zoom sessions   You can learn about wines and how to enjoy then, from the comfort of your home.  Register with Cook in Puglia.  

You can also register for Italian conversation classed the will cover travel, food, cinema, music and shopping.  The 60 minute classes are kept small, 10 per class and offered in morning or afternoons.  Private groups can also be arranged.  Contact Yle for all details.

The Beehive   in Rome has been welcoming visitors to the ancient city since 1992.  Expats Steve and Linda offer boutique hostel accommodations near the central train station.   This not the typical hostel and appeals to all ages.  

The in house cafe is often the site for cooking events and family style dinners during the week.  Pizza and Pasta making classes have been offered as well.  

Linda offers insider tours to share her in depth knowledge of Rome.    Ask a local if you want to know about a city, you can learn much more than a tour book ever offers. 

Due to the worldwide pandemic the Beehive temporarily closed, and offered Gift Cards for future stays.   A unique program that some other hotels adopted. Guest would prepay for a future stay, helping the beehive with cash flow while the city was closed.  When travelers can return to Italy again guests will enjoy a stay during a future stay.

During the closure of the Beehive you could follow cooking lessons by Steve on You Tube.    

The cafe at the Beehive serves meals and often does cooking classes.

MailboxEtc #212 is accustom to tourists dropping in to ship their treasures home as well as the countless students who study in Florence each year.    With the closure of most if not all international study programs in March quickly followed by the suspension of most travel to Italy, the partners found new ways to
 keep shipping packages.

Collaborating with other stores in Florence, Mailbox Etc will pick up the items you select from the online offerings of olive oil, cookies, candies, pasta and other treats package your items and ship them direct to your or as a gift.

If you cannot visit Italy now, you can easily have your favorite treats shipped direct.  Contact via email:  mbe212@mbe.it  

Do you miss any of your favorite Italian products?

Italian Stories arranges visits with artisans throughout Italy for visitors to experience how Italian fine products are created.  Experiencing Italy through her crafts and art takes you beyond a tourist.

While Italy was closed, Italian Stories brought craftsmen and artisans to world wide audiences through a series of online 

video visits shared by Eleanor Odorzzi .  

You can tour many studios and learn about the people who create fine Italian products on the Face Book feature:
Il Caffe in Laboratorio

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Large numbers of travelers may not return to Italy until later this year.   Until we can return to Italy, we can find innovative ways to assist their recovery.    This may be the perfect time to shop online for an authentic Italian product, take an online virtual tour or book a future stay with a local business.  

Padua to visit the Scrovegni Chapel

Part of the massive fresco "The Last Judgment"

Most visitors race from Firenze to Venice without considering a stop at any of the wonderful cities that can easily be visited during this trip.  Travelers, unlike tourists, seek experiences that may not be on the top 10 list of a tourist guides.  Padua offers a number of experiences that should be added to your travel list even if you only spend a few hours in the city:   the city market, restaurants, cafes, churches and a pedestrian shopping street.   Padua also has a massive weekly market with products for locals not the tourist market!

Padua city center is a short walk from the train station.   The station was a wonderful surprise for a traveler.    It includes a full service tourist office, several restaurants and a grocery store in addition to the usual station services.

On a June trip Home to Italy I saw a post on author  Susan Van Allen's face book page mentioning the new hours/tours available at the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua.   Since I was staying only 40 minutes away, I booked a visit.








According to giottodibonone.com, "Italian artist Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267–January 8, 1337), better known simply as Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence.   He is generally considered the first in a line of great artists who contributed to the Italian Renaissance."    Years ago, as an exchange student in Firenze, our class often visited some of his original work when studying the Renaissance artists.


Enrico degli  Scrovegni, a banker in Padua in the 1300's, built the chapel as part of the family palace complex.   Scrovegni commissioned Giotto to decorate the interior of the chapel.  The theme of fresco cycle is the life of the Virgin Mary.  

Taking photos from 5 feet off the ground do not do this amazing array of paintings any justice.  And visiting in the afternoon limits the natural light available.  note:  photos were allowed but NO flash
The colors are far more vibrant and the expressions on the faces in the paintings are very lifelike.

There was far too much to see and appreciate in this short time period.  

The chapel walls and ceiling are covered with frescoes created centuries ago, but are as alive with color as if they were in the 1300's.

  …………….…..
VISITING THE CHAPEL

The chapel is one of the buildings in the large green park area.  It is set apart from the visitors center/gift shop and the exceptional museum that was included in my ticket.   Suggestion:  arrive early so you can check in, line up for a mandatory bag checking and review the many tour guides available for purchase.

In the gift shop you can rent an audio map with and interactive wand, 2 Euros on my recent visit.      An amazing feature that describes each of the paintings.    Be sure to review the descriptions before you enter the chapel, there will not be sufficient time while you are in the chapel to do more that gaze and perhaps take photos.

The chapel is separate from the main buildings, a short walk to the meeting point.  BE ON TIME.  If you miss your assigned ticket time you will not be admitted.    The doors lock to begin the mandatory 'atmosphere stabilization' process.    There are staff to answer questions but it was not clear what time to line up or where to find the start of the tour.

The waiting room that is air locked for 15 minutes before your visit

Each tour group waits in a comfortable room for 15 minutes prior to visiting the chapel.   The climate-controlled air locked vault is used to stabilize the temperature between the chapel and the exterior.   You do not feel any change in temperature or air pressure while you watch the video presentation.    The excellent video with English subtitles is very quick paced giving an overview of the paintings we would see in a few minutes.

My group was only 3 people but we found a large tour group in the chapel who had purchased an 'extended visit' of 40 minutes.   This was unfortunate because the tour guide was loud and the group reluctant to move away from the paintings so it can be more difficult to peacefully view this incredible site, depending on the group.

Art experts spend decades studying the work of Giotto so my 15 minutes was more of an attempt to see as much before the signal to leave was announced.   Wikipedia has a wonderful review of the panels giving me background for the photos I was able to capture.

Fortitude

Visiting the Scrovegni Chapel reminds me of a visit to the Sistine Chapel for the first time:  too much to see and absorb in a single visit.




On the lower portion of the side walls you find depictions of the 'vices' and 'virtues'.   There is little color in these painting but the vivid message they offer is clear.  I particularly enjoyed the woman with the snake in her mouth:   envy

Prudence

Envy

Injustice

Infidelity

I did not allow enough time to visit the amazing museum that is also in this location.   It was almost empty and you could have viewed every item up close and without distraction.   The manager of the ticket office strongly suggested I at least see the wood cross attributed to Giotto so I race walked through the 2 floors to reach this room.

Equally striking were two carvings outside the exhibit, very arresting:

                                                                   Viewing some of the museum without any other visitors.

Additional information

Information on purchasing tickets is available on the online ticket system:  http://www.cappelladegliscrovegni.it/index.php/en/
Purchase your tickets in advance.  You can pick up the tickets in the  ticket office/entrance prior to your entry time.


The addition of evening tours offers a different way to view the chapel.  http://www.giottosottolestelle.it/index_EN.html#home

And animated tours with actors re creating the scenes in the paintings, available in Italian.  http://www.visiteanimate.it/visite/giotto-sotto-le-stelle

Even a guided tour is available, when booked in advance, according to the web site instructions.    Fees and restrictions on the web site.