Pizza Workshop

Last night was the last in a series of different workshops offered to Umbra students. Umbra students partook in a Pizza Workshop at local pizzeria Pizza e Musica. Students learned from owner, Felice, what goes into making the pizza dough, how to successfully create pizza's circular form, how to top the pizza and then... how to put the pizza in the oven and rotate it without burning. Everyone was successful and the enjoyed a slice of each pizza made. Just when they thought they couldn't eat any more, we sat down for another pizza (of our choice) made by master pizziaolo, Marco.

(At left, Ian Glass from UC Boulder puts his pizza in the oven to cook, at right, Elizabeth Miller, also a UC Boulder student, poses with pizziaolo, Marco and her pizza)

Fresco Students in Rome

Last Friday, Professor Bill Pettit took students from Umbra's Fresco Painting courses out of the studio and down to Rome on search of inspiration from antiquity. Students started out at the Basilica of San Clemente where they saw the evolution of mosaics and fresco painting from pagan times through Christianity and the Byzantine empire. After a stop at Santi Quattro Coronati, students visited the Scuderia at the Quirinale to see the exhibition running only through January, Rome: The Painting of an Empire. Students gained a new level of appreciation for frescos from antiquity, which were not only produced for their beauty but also as a practical mode of communication and story-telling during the Golden Age of the Roman Empire.