Today began the “Art” part of the trip. I got up a little nervous not knowing what to expect in my class today, but ate a little breakfast and tried to wake up with some stout coffee in preparation for anything and everything. I was at the door of the Orsoni building 13 minutes early and all doors were locked. As we waited, a lady came and unlocked the door and went in, but didn’t acknowledge us. Therefore we waited a few more minutes and a young lady came and stood by us to get in. Since we were both there waiting, Guy went ahead and started back to the hotel as I was in good company. Her name was Sahar and she had been here before, but had returned as an Intern for two months. She was VERY friendly and I felt better already. I wanted her to stand by me all day!! So she rang the bell a few minutes after 9 and the same lady that didn’t make eye contact a few minutes earlier opened the door and let us in. We explained who we were and she took us to a room with two chairs and told us to wait. She said “Mondays we move very slowly”. No worries. So after a few minutes a tall thin Italian man walked by and Sahar popped up to shake his hand and introduced herself. I also stood as it seemed like the thing to do and introduced myself. When he walked away she leaned in and said “That is Luca Chiesura and he is VERY f-a-m-o-u-s” in a long drawn out voice. She then proceeded to put her hands in the air and said “he manages this entire facility”. I looked him up on facebook and he has been at Orsoni since 1986. I’ll have to hunt up some of his artworks. I’m sure I’ll be amazed.
Sahar was snatched up by one of the employees and I was suddenly left all alone sitting in the small room wondering if my hammer and hardie skills were enough to get me through the next three days. Soon after, I was taken to the room where I would be working and was joined by three others. We were told to sit at any of the 4 tables and so I just took the one closest to me. It is a small room in the upstairs of the glass making factory with large lovely windows that were our only source of air conditioning. Behind me was the wall filled with tiny numbered tubs that held a large selection of colors of glass that we’d be working with today. Once seated, we were asked to present our sketches so they could be evaluated by the instructor and we were given boards to trace our sketches onto. I had two sketches, one was a more detailed version, and the second was a back up plan that was a simplified version. They asked which I wanted to do and I told them I didn’t know if I could get the more complicated one finished in time. She assured me that I would and she proceeded to dig in her stash of wooden boards and gave me a 10X10 square, asking me if it was too small. I didn’t know how to answer and I said it will be just fine. Suddenly Sahar appeared in our room and I was relieved to see her. I thought they may have her assisting us the entire day, but she was only there for a short time. When the instructor went on to the next person she leaned in and said “the larger the board the easier it is to work with”. Alas…the two men next to me chose boards nearly twice the size of mine, but the other lady in the class, Margaret, chose a small one like mine. They are here all week, so that makes sense. Anyway, I was definitely feeling a bit nervous.
We were shown a board with all the smalti color options that were available to us and the number next to the glass was also on the outside of the little tubs. Colors were easy to find and I chose a few of the colors I wanted. I didn’t want to take a bunch, but when I asked for a color they were out of, she left the room and came back with a huge pile she put on my table. So, I certainly didn’t feel bad about getting more. The instructor sat in my chair and showed me how to use the hammer and hardie. She told me to sit and try it. Luckily, my first tap of the hammer was a good one and she looked and me and said “Perfecto” and moved on to the next person. 😅 After that she told everyone to begin cutting up their pieces and placing them on the boards. Once I had a fair sized area done, she told me I need to put the “mortar” (that’s my word for it) on first, so I had to slide off all my work I had done up to that point, which she called “a pity”. 🤣 I was told to begin on the left and work my way to the right. In sections. That was about all the instructions I had so I sat in my seat and began my masterpiece.
At 1pm, Guy met me outside and we went to grab a sandwich. We brought it back to the room so I could soak up a bit of AC and rest for a minute. We were supposed to be back at 2pm. I was back a bit early, but the doors were locked and when I rang the bell no one came. They were serious when they said lunch from 1 to 2. About that time, Luca walked by and I told him I wasn’t sure how to get back in. He said “The Garden door is always open”. He rang the buzzer and pushed the door open. Not sure if someone let him in or that buzzer opens the door. Either way, I headed back upstairs. I was the first one back, so I sat at my desk and started working again. Shortly everyone started filtering back in and my new friend from Germany, Boris, told me he had TWO spritz drinks at lunch and was a bit dizzy. He was funny. He had lunch with the other gentleman in the class who I would have in his late 60s early 70s and was from Mexico. He came to take the class as it was always in his bucket list of things to do. Margaret is also older than me and was born in Mexico, but lives in Germany. They all speak Italian, but Boris prefers to speak in English with the teacher because he is a bit more proficient in it. The teacher prefers Italian, but she’s very accommodating even tho she said his Italian was good enough. Boris is the funny one and he asked me where I was from. I said south of Chicago. A few minutes later as we were all working on our projects he said, “So Beth, what do you do everyday in the South side of Chicago besides dealing drugs”. Ha! I explained that by “south” I meant five hours not five miles and I lived in the country and was no where near the craziness of Chicago. He and his family had lived in New York for some time, so he was apparently familiar with the ongoings of Chicago as well.
The afternoon flew by and class was over at 4:30. Our teacher, with purse in hand, was quick to leave us telling us she would see us tomorrow. Boris feels overwhelmed and was in no hurry to go and seemed a bit sad everyone was leaving already. I was told that if I wasn’t going to be finished in time, I can come any evening and work on it. So that was good. If you stay at their B&B, you have 24 hour access to the working room. So they didn’t make you leave at the end of the day. It’s a VERY chill experience. The Italians are a very laid back people and this experience is no different. This class is more of a supervised workshop vs. a teaching class. I suppose that is why it is called a Master Class. Some experience was required and we are mostly there for the experience of working in this rich-in-history glass facility.
Back at the room I’m relaxing for just a bit before dinner. Most restaurants don’t open until 7pm, so I thought I’d blog a bit first and then get ready for our evening adventure. We are eating at a restaurant that the front desk person told us was a favorite of his and is not touristy. We prefer that. Guy already walked by it today and made a reservation. I think the stress of today is playing out in my belly, so I chewed two Tums to ease the squiggles inside so I can enjoy a nice meal.
Oh boy…dinner was amazing. It was called La Colombina. We sat at a small table outside. It was off the beaten path so it was quiet and just perfect. We had a “welcome” drink that was fresh tomato juice with a tiny zucchini strip in it. I ordered a traditional bean and pasta soup and ravioli with Buffalo mozzarella and spinach. Guy ordered a sampler first plate (fish, meat, vegetables he was told) and sea bass with zucchini. I told him as soon as she walked away…you will not eat anything with raw fish (he is allergic to undercooked seafood). I just had a hunch, but yep, two of the four samplers were types seafood tartar. The server was super sweet and said she’d be right back. So on his plate this time was a cod mousse with a vodka soaked prune (I ate the prune) as well as a meatball, zucchini mouse with red onions and a fried sardine. Much better. And his sea bass. I’ve never seen anything quite so beautiful. I also had tiramisu for dessert. All wonderful, including the cool breeze that made the evening so lovely.
As we walked back to the hotel, Guy stopped for gelato and I snapped a few photos around the street that our hotel is on. Wow, it looks so different at night. This is our first time being out and about after dark!
A really great day. P.S. photos didn’t want to load via google images, so I’ll just put them all below.
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