…where the equestrian events of the 1960 Roman Olympiad were held and where occasional equestrian events are still staged today within the public park and gardens of Villa Borghese – where I find myself this morning on my way to see a conversation / presentation /poetry reading on 86 year old Italian artist Carla Accardi ..
…is a term that has been around since at least the 1970’s, so it was with some surprise when we heard the press swirling with stories about a kooky homesteading clan who actually went through the trouble to trademark it (I was equally surprised to discover that they had purchased the domain name edibleestates.com a ..
…the 1994 book by Oretta Zanini de Vita full of fascinating accounts of Roman’s relationships to food through time featuring folklore and recipes (with chapters including Mills on the Tiber, Pastoral Kitchen, Papal Table, Carnival, Osterias, Poet G.G. Belli, Jewish Cooking, Sweets, Tourists & Movie Stars, Tuscia, Sabina, Castelli, Ciociaria, Pontine Marsh, Ex-Terra di Lavoro, ..
…is something I would never ever ever ever have done to the surfaces around me back at casa L.A., I just don’t like stuff around, but hanging those cute shells I brought back from New Years at Capalbio in cute patterns on the wall above the seating area in my studio is exactly the sort ..
…there’s nothing quite like it to make you appreciate the little things again (you know, like being able to walk across the room at more than a shuffle, and feeling like you might be around next week, and morning coffee, and actually eating food, and going outside, and sleeping, and stuff like that) – and ..
…and their happy healthy plant residents enjoying this afternoon’s sun, are visible out the window as I shuffle around in my dim influenza delerium, at least encouraged to know that they are out and enjoying th..
…is my sick bed salvation coffee substitute which I have always loved anyway – a classic roasted caffiene-free barley drink brewed in the stove-top mocca coffee maker – with a big gob of some thick Tuscan millefiori honey. (orzo on ..
…are popping up in back – a late-mid-winter color boost – but I’m hearing from the gardeners that the mice usually get to the almonds well before they are ready for t..
…are my heros (managing to depose a tyrant while self-organizing to clean the streets where they were protesting – ver..
…is what I found in the pond at Villa Doria Pamphili this afternoon, installed by some thoughtful human, allowing the many duck residents to access the extensively wooded refuge of the island (sort of Animal Estatey) – but after spending some time duck-watching it seemed that one dominant territorial duck in particular was guarding the ..
…or ‘black cabbage’ (a loose-leaf Italian cabbage, or kale) has been on our plates almost every day this winter, and today will be no exception, as I harvest the lastest tangy dark leafy green bounty from the back garden where I help out Wednesday mornings when I can – and ‘cavalo’ is an extra expressive ..
…the Gent based dance company featured at the Equilibrio Festival at Auditorium Parco della Musica tonight, performed ‘Primero – Erscht’ – staged on bright green astroturf with vintagey furniture and costumes and a frenetic madly child-like sometimes repetitious but usually bordering on senseless sequence of complex detailed movements that can really thrill and scare you, ..
…the Milanese architect, teacher, and magazine editor spoke tonight (being much more gracious than I would have been when the projector didn’t work and he wasn’t able to show his images) at the opening of the British School at Rome show BioMilano featuring six of his unbuilt projects, “Six ideas for a bio-diverse metropolis; six ..
…comprised of the very charismatic Slovakian boys Milan Herich, Peter Jaško, Anton Lachký, Milan Tomášik and Martin Kilvády with highly individuated and endearing personalities (friends since childhood who shared the stage at the Vychodna folk festival when they were five – but now working together in Belgium) provided another amazing night of contemporary dance in ..
…the young Italian dance collective (or contemporary circus company, Compagnia di Circo Contemporaneo, as they also refer to themselves, whose name refers to the total weight of the company in kilos) we saw at the Auditorium Parco della Musica (the performing arts complex designed by Renzo Piano which opened north of central Rome in 2002 ..
…is the Italian school of architecture – with a building just north of Piazza del Popolo (whose suggestive nature from certain points of view was recently pointed out by my friend John) which I biked down to this warm sunny morning via Passeggiata del Gianicolo (in just 20 minutes!) – where I gave a two ..
…or “Cimitero degli Inglesi,” or ‘The Protestant Cemetery in Rome,” or the cemetery of artists and poets – such as Keats and Shelley – is a mysterious hidden place partially enclosed by the Aurelian Walls and in the shadow of the ancient Roman Piramide Cestia which I often pass on my bike, but on this ..
…from the Roman rooftop garden is good – and though some are still looking small and scrappy after months in the ground, growing very slowly with the cool temperatures and little light available to them in the winter – others are looking more robust and ready to eat, and I am realizing that my extreme ..
…or grotta in Italian, following up on yesterday’s thoughts on rustication, is another example of the thrilling primitive architectural underbelly of the Florentine Renaissance – today seen at Grotta del Buontalenti, one of the most famous examples, but sadly without all of the dripping water and cool spongy green-stuff to be found in the really ..
…the roughly hewn stonework often used on the lower floors of palazzi as an expression of fortification and solidity – which I recall studying in college classes on Florentine Renaissance architecture – is something I have a new love for today (as I find myself back in Firenze, the city I lived just outside of ..
Recent Comments