Siena

Our first outing was July 10 when we traveled to Siena and San Gimignano. Siena is home to the world's most famous horserace, the Palio, which is run in July and August. It is a walled city which is home to Italy's largest department of communications and some of the country's richest bankers. It was the banking industry that made Siena important and rich. It also is the home of the Basilica of St. Catherine, the city's patron saint, who died at 33 years old. Her head is on display in the basilica. She was the second person in history to be struck with the stigmata of Christ.

According to legend, Siena was founded by the two sons of Remus, as in Romulus and Remus fame--who were called Senius and Ascius. One rode on a black horse and the other on a white one, and this is the tstory behine the Sienese blak and white shield which has been such a strong symbol over the years.

However, it is likely the town had inhabitants before this mystical pair. On a more historical note, it is likely siena was founded by the Etruscans and then became a Roman colony. It flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries and was considered one of the major towns of Europe. Its position on the route from France to Rome meant that the large number of French pilgrims passing through left their mark in the way of the Romanesque architecture, atypical of most Italian or Tuscan towns. Later, however, through continual battles with neighboring Florence and the onset of the Black Death in 1348, Siena lost its hold as one of Italy's greast cities and became a minor provincial town.

Every summer the floors of the Duomo cathedral are uncovered for a short time ony to display a fantastic inlaid marble floor.

Facing Windows

What are some of the story characteristics in Ferzan Ozpetek's Facing Windows that illustrate modern Italian filmmaking?

The Florence Classroom

Just think, you are walking on the same streets as Dante, Michelangelo and Galileo, our students were told on their first walking tour of Florence, Italy. Perhaps their footprints will be as famous one day.

For the time being, however, we just wanted to see their footprints safely back in Los Angeles after an educational experience of a lifetime. As the Summer International Media Institute in Florence, Italy enters its fourth year, we’ve nursed students through strep throat, bronchitis, stolen wallets and homesickness. We’ve also seen their eyes light up at the great treasures in the Uffizi and Accademia, the beauty of the Pitti Palace, the Vatican and Roman Forum and their first taste of Italian gelato. And we can’t forget how impressed last year’s students were when they were invited to the Roman villa of Gaddi Vasquez, then U. S. ambassador to the United Nations. More than one student commented how he inspired them to reach the heights of a Dante or Michelangelo in their chosen field.

The other part of the “we” is Robin Larsen, professor of communications at Cal State San Bernardino. Our sister campus joined the program a year after its inaugural trip. We’ve seen the program grow from nine students to Cal State Fullerton’s largest summer study abroad program. Even more important has been the strong friendship forged between the two of us and our knowledge of Italy which students have come to appreciate. It is truly a team effort.

And we learn just as much as the students. For example, today’s lecture at the Uffizi centered around the changing images of the Madonna by the great Italian masters. In the famed walled city of Siena, the home of the world’s most famous horserace, the Palio, we, along with the students, last Friday learned a new dimension to the city and its treasures.

On weekends, Europe becomes a playground for students. Last weekend one group headed for Venice while another decided to explore Cinqueterra and the Italian beaches to escape the brutal Florence sun. (It has hit three digits here.) We headed inland. One of us escaped the sun by heading to the mountain city of Cortona, made famous by Frances Mayes’s Under the Tuscan Sun and took a hike to her treasured Bramasole again. (By the way, Mayes, one-time creative writing professor at San Francisco State, is nothing like the person portrayed by Diane Ladd.) The other headed toward Bologna.

When professors and students return at the start of the week, Florence becomes a giant laboratory for their six hours a day of class and out-of-class assignments in feature/travel writing and Italian cinema and history. Some can’t get Florence out of their system and return, such as last summer’s study abroad student Gina Baxter, a CSUF Communications major. She’ll spend the fall semester at the College of the Medici in Florence. The Summer International Media Institute in Florence is an experience of a lifetime for our students.

Tony Fellow,CSUF chair and professor, Department of Communications, and Robin Larsen, professor of Communications, CSUSB, launched the joint Florence program with the help of CSUF Professor Fred Zandpour four years ago.

Life Is Beautiful

Life is Beautiful, though critically acclaimed, generated much controversy. Do you think that controversy was justified. Do you see any similarities between the neorealism of this film and that of Open City?

The Son's Room

What do think is Nanni Moretti's message in The Son's Room? Do you see any connection with The Son's Room and the rest of the movie?

Nights of Cabiria

What is surreal about Fellini's plot in the Nights of Cabiria?

The Bicycle Thief

In Roberto Rossellini's Open City, it was easy to spot the hero--those that stood up to the Nazis, such as the priest. However, In Vittorio De Sica's work, if is a bit more difficult to separate the villians and heros. In a paragraph discuss who the villian is in The Bicycle Thief OR talk about portrayal of the church.