Since 1990, the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts, which has been a focus of cultural activity on Paros since 1966, spends its September in Italy, hard at work away from our beloved island. Many Parians, both foreigners and natives, have asked me what we do there and why the doors of our welcoming building are mostly closed then. After all, September is the time to swim, to enjoy the cooling of the air by day and the dew by night, to greet friends recovering from the August swell, and to wonder how long the sweet autumn tomatoes will hold out.
Have you ever noticed that people who love Greece tend to love Italy? And for the art historian, the cultural achievements of ancient Greece and of Renaissance Italy rhyme, and are intensified by study in concert. Humanism, realism, science, philosophy, individualism, and a craftsmanly energy close to frenetic characterize them both; our ideals of beauty accept or argue with theirs. (Parians love to say of our Italian tourists: “mia fatsa, mia ratsa” – one face, one race.) The Center’s director, John Pack, designed this programme to set such study in action, and it has proved successful.
The regular staff – John and Jane Pack, Jeffrey and Elizabeth Carson, and Orfeas John Munsey, usually accompanied by a visiting artist or guest lecturer or two – arrive several days early at the Villa Rospilgiosi in the countryside outside of Pistoia (less than an hour’s drive west of Florence). Then students arrive, to find they are staying in a Renaissance villa, set amidst gardens, a fountain, and the natural beauties of Tuscany, often reproduced in the intellectual landscapes of Renaissance painters. And the small city of Pistoia, which sees few tourists, is full of pre-Renaissance churches – with their abundance of sculptures, paintings, and decorations – palaces, ancient streets, elegant shops, and friendly people. The town is happy to have us, as former mayor Yannis Rangoussis discovered when he showed up, invited by Pistoia’s mayor.
The students come mostly from America, but also from everywhere else, including Paros. They are not there (I trust) to have fun; fun is not fun, work is fun: if you don’t like long visits to churches, museums, and palaces, and are bored by architectural walks, stay away. Generally we tour every other day. Whole days are spent in Pisa, Lucca, Siena, and sometimes Prato. Florence is visited repeatedly. Away from the villa we spend three nights in Venice (the world’s most romantic city), three in Rome (the city richest in history and antiquity), and on our return three in Athens (three hours on the Acropolis).
On days we don’t tour, we visit Pistoia, have classes in painting, photography and music, read poetry, and discuss everything.
When students reach Paros, their heads are buzzing with motifs, meanings, procedures, and are, we hope, permanently affected by classical culture. Their first October swim on Paros only reinforces this. And we teachers are glad to be home.
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Samples of some beautiful wild flowers of this Greek Island.
Cooking recipes from Alice Meyer-Wallace's Cookbook.
Mary Godfrey's humourous illustrations of life in Paros Island.
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