Where one fattens well

"Io fui de li gani de la santa greggia che Domenico mena per cammino u'ben s'impingua se non si vaneggia." 

"I was among the lambs of the holy flock that Dominic leads by a path where one fattens well if one does not wander."

 -Paradiso, Canto 10:94-96

Cured Meats (Prosciutti) at Consorzio Agrario di Siena

 Dante uses the metaphor above (one who fattens well), repeatedly in the Cantos we are studying now (Cantos 10-14), echoing the words of Beatrice to resist the folly of running away from a good meal (or at least that's what I think she means in Canto 5:82-84). Food and feeding are certainly mentioned a lot in this Canticle and it is no wonder. Dante is Italian, after all!

Last night I joined the other lambs to eat at one of the most wonderful restaurants I have been in. Osteria del Gatto is located near the Porta di San Marco about 15 minutes walk from my apartment. The menu changes every night and features all local foods prepared by the proprietor's mother. I shared an appetizer, primo piatto and secondo piatto  with my housemate. In fact, we all shared each other's dishes-not sure if this is the right thing to do at such a restaurant but we couldn't help ourselves. Here is a run down of the food for you foodies: the antipasto was a huge hunk of cured pecorino cheese and a fig compote-I love figs but this was something entirely beyond love. Primi piatti  are usually the pasta course-there was a lot to choose from but we finally settled on gnocchi with smoked scamurza  cheese (made like mozzarella and provolone by stretching the curds) and basil -which the waiter translated as basilica -certainly a holy meal. The main course was a Fiorentino  which is an insanely huge T-bone steak best shared by 3-5 people. We had three sharing it  and I was over stuffed. The photo shows it mid-demolition.

I returned home around 10 pm with two hours of reading ahead of me-and right outside my window I could see the bell tower of San Domenico winking at me.

 

Reaching for the bread of angels

"O voi che siete in piccioletta barca, desiderosi d'ascoltar, seguiti dietro al mio legno, che cnatando varca:tornate a riveder li vostri liti, non vi mettete in pelago, chè forse, perdend me, rimarreste smarriti"

 "O you who in little barks, desirous of listening, have followed after my ship that sails onward singing: turn back to see your shores again, do not put out on the deep sea, for perhaps, losing me, you would be lost" -Paradiso 2:1-6

Detail from illuminated manuscript in Duomo library, Siena

I am going to push on with the journey despite Dante's warnings in Canto 2 of the perils therein.  Lately I have been thinking about the power of discussion. One of my blog readers reminded me of a favorite guide on this topic: Jurgen Habermas About Habermas. Habermas was writing at a time when words really mattered (post WWII Germany), and in a place where the stakes were pretty high (not unlike Dante in 14th century Italy).

Truth, to paraphrase Habermas, is what we would arrive at if we had access to information and an equal say in unrestricted dialogue.* As I struggle through Paradiso  (and no this is not a contradiction !), I wonder what discussions he imagined his words prompting. Certainly he meant for readers to be informed and to take our own journeys to knowledge-but how he meant early readers to act on his  words interests me. In his Epistle 13 (directed at his patron Can Grande and noted in our text), Dante says that he wants readers to take a journey from misery to happiness. He means this in a very broad sense. We are to pay attention as we read to notions of justice, Ben Comune  (good government), and virtue. But the deeply personal nature of the poem points to our individual accountability as well. We are to learn to read and learn, and to teach.

 I have a feeling I will be leaving my 6 weeks of intensely reading Dante prepared to intensely read Dante. Perhaps this is what Dante means by stretching ourselves to get " the bread of angels, which one lives on here though never sated by it".

* I am indebted to Rick Wilson and Howard Cell for discussion summaries on Habermas.

San Gimignano

Just 40  km Northwest of Siena is the medieval town of San Gimignano. It is an easy bus ride from Siena-with the added bonus of stopping in the hill towns of Monteriggioni, Poggibonsi and Colle de V. d'Elsa. If you are traveling in Tuscany, you must go here!


The town's striking towers announce both its presence and history from a long way off.  There are currently only 14 full towers left of the between 70-76 that were built in the 13th century. Partly these towers were used to spot outside invaders and prepare defenses, but by Dante's time they were being used as internal panopticons by feuding families.

Reading the Commedia, one is always conscious of Dante's life outside of the persona of celebrated poet. He was involved in military campaigns including the Battle of Campaldino near Arezzo  1289, and that same year at Caprona near Pisa. This last battle finds its way into the Commedia (purg. 5: 91-129)

Dante's entrance into politics coincides with a period of intense factionalism (not that any of us know what THAT is like today). F  City records show that he was elected to a two month term in June,1300 to serve as one of the  7 priors (members chosen from the local city guilds)  that comprised the governing body of Florence.

Just before this, Dante was sent to San Gimignano as an ambassador of the Florentine Republic and the Palazzo del Comune  (or del Popolo)-the city government building, has named it's council chamber Sala di Dante in his honor (and as a tourist draw). In this room is an enormous fresco  of the Maestà  done in 1317 by Sienese master Lippo Memmi. Lippo was the brother-in-law of Simone Martini by whose Maestà  in Siena  he was influenced.Memmi's Maestà

The kneeling figure in the center is Nello de Mino Tolomei who was podestà at the time (an office similar to mayor), and a major patron who commissioned the work. 

At the Collegiata di San Gimignano (a Cathedral before but now an educational church as there is no bishop), are spectacular frescoes by Lippo Memmi -scenes of the New Testament done between 1333 and 1341; Bartolo di Fredi -scenes of the Old Testament done in 1367; Benozzo Gozzoli-St. Sebastian and honorary back drops for the lovely wooden statues of Gabriel and Mary during the annunciation. The frescoes cover every wall in the Collegiata and give you a sense of what was lost due to decrees that declared churches should be standardized in decorations. (About which, more later)


Benozzo Gozzoli also has frescoes in the church of San Agostino which portray the life of St. Augustine. They are spectacular. Many of Gozzoli's works have characteristic quirks like little dogs, tufts of plants and piles of stones on the ground, and extremely realistic people whose personalities fairly jump off the wall. We were not allowed to take photos but here is a link to a wonderful interactive site that allows you to tour the narrative frescoes: Benoozzo Gozzoli's Frescoes

I climbed the Torre Grossa off the Palazzo Comunale after our session, and was rewarded by the indescribable beauty of this region. It seemed another narrative like those told in the four frescoes we viewed-a narrative best told in images.


The final reward was gelato (of course!) but this time at the World Champion gelateria. The gelatos are made by hand with local ingredients and are another narrative of place, community, love and tradition that I unfortunately cannot convey on this page. I had two scoops: one was local saffron and toasted pine nuts, and the other was chocolate and whole hazel nuts. The first was called Crema de Sta. Fina recipe for Crema de Sta. Fina after the local Saint who was struck down in paralysis for 5 years and never complained of this travail. When she finally died, yellow pansies rained down at her burial from the town's towers. I can't vouch for this particular miracle, but the combination of the frescoes, the countryside and the gelato are miracle enough for me.

God talk

Following in the wake of the poet.

Paradiso starts out fast and furious-and our discussions today followed suit. Like a stern athletic trainer, Dante expects us to keep up with his increasingly layered and systemized way of talking about justice, spiritual salvation and God. It was breathtaking and exhausting-just like running a race.

"Nel ciel che più de la sua luce prende fu' io, e vidi cose che ridire nè sa nè può chi di là sù discende, perchè appressando sè al suo disire nostro intelletto si profonda tanto che dietro la memoria non può ire." Paradiso 1: 4-9

"In the heaven that receives most of his light have I been, and I have seen things that one who comes down from there cannot remember and cannot utter, for as it draws neear to its desire, our intellect goes so deep that the memory cannot follow it."

"Oh good Apollo, for this last labor make me such a vessel of your power as you require to bestow the beloved laurel"
Paradiso 1: 12-14

I struggled with the task of staying alert as I read-it requires constant vigilance. Dante-poet advises us that the journey in this singing boat will entail not just reading but internalizing and analyzing. It reminded me in so many ways of learning and teaching in general. Foremost in the challenges is the theological language that Dante uses here. It has been a long time since I studied my church history. I know that Dante's earlier readers would have had instant recall for many of the controversies and doctrines upon which he draws to lay out his own vision of righteousness.

In stark contrast to the increasing rigor needed to read and digest the poem is the ease of daily life here. At home Rick is faced with taking care of my farm animals and the house maintenance that I usually spend much of my day on. Here I am responsible for feeding myself, getting dressed, and trying to use a new language. Gratitude is a central emotion, and with it comes a sense of wanting to bring back what I have seen. I wonder if this sentiment (though certainly tempered by different experiences) is in any way what Dante must have felt as he was writing. His love for his city and community and feelings of obligation to his art are so palpable.

Reading the layers

This week we start Paradiso. As readers of this blog know, I am reading the Durling and Martinez editions of the Commedia and each volume runs to almost 1000 pages including notes and commentary. Rick's visit coincided on the schedule with the end of Purgatorio  and the arrival in Paradiso in a real sense-he brought the third volume with him!

the climb

Each of the cantiche of the Commedia has its own geography and rules and understanding this is a challenge. Taken together, the multi-layered world is even more complex. I love the fact that we have been seeing multi-layered stories everywhere we go in the visual representations of medieval understanding of both physical and spiritual worlds.

The Florence Baptistery (see July 12th post) is perhaps the most striking of these for me. I got the chance to see the mosaics again with Rick and consider how these images would have struck Dante and his 14th century readers. First, a bit about the structure of the building itself. The earliest records date construction to around 897 c.e. when marble pilasters taken from the Roman Forum were added, as well as Roman Sarcophagi for use by prominent Florentine families (see history of the Baptistery).

The octagonal shape is one used in baptisteries from early Christian times-6 days of creation, one day of rest and the 8th day of regeneration (represented in the baptism itself). The present day baptistery was largely completed in 1059. (It is hard for me to even get my head around buildings older than a couple hundred years...).

The mosaic ceiling is for me the most exciting part of this building. Started in 1225 and completed by Venetian masters (and most probably some Sienese masters like Cimabue) by the 14th century, the mosaics are read in layers  in the same way that one reads the Commedia. 

Above is a short video shot by Linda Vannoni this past week.(the video is about 2 minutes long so allow it to load) In it you can see three huge secions above the altar-a large Christ and the Angels of Judgement on either side of him, and on his right hand the rewards of those saved, on the left the evil doers punished and damned.

The other layers can be read from top tier to bottom and from right to left. The top has the Choirs of Angels and Thrones (Powers, Virtues, Dominations), then the stories from the Book of Genesis, stories of the life of Joseph, Mary, and Christ and  finally the lower tier as described above (the Last Judgement).

Love, kindled by virtue

"Amore, acceso de virtù, sempre altro accese, pur che la fiamma sua paresse fòre"

"Love, kindled by virtue, always kindles other love, as long as its flame appears externally."

-Virgil to Dante in Purgatorio Canto 22:10-12

St. Catherine Struck down by Love
Basilica di Provenzano, Siena

 External appearances of love (aka generosity of spirit) made several appearances today. The first was in our class dealing with Cantos 24-28. We had  been asked to separate out two quotes, a visual image and a question on each of these cantos. As we worked in groups on our assigned canto, it was clear that the details we picked out helped us focus on broader questions. A good poet does this with his readers-words and images stand out for a reason and point to the universal themes he wishes us to explore. To experience this, read through a Canto tonight and just highlight one tercet (three lines of the poem) that stand out for you for whatever reason. Think about why you chose these three lines-and then grab a copy of the Commedia  with notes ( I really like Mark Musa's comments but we are using Durling and Martinez  in the seminar). See what comes up. It is the mark of a powerful poet that the most minute details express a larger picture.

This seems to apply to other experiences as well. This afternoon Rick and I took a walk to the Basilica di Provenzano. We had had a great meal at Il Cavaliere Errante on my first night in Siena just in front of this church, and I took Rick on Sunday (his first full day in Siena). As fortune would have it, the church in front was open and we peeked in. It was stunning as churches seem to be everywhere you look. More importantly, however (and more to the point of the quote above), Sorella Gina (Perugina) was there. She was diminutive and welcoming, like a fairy godmother, and sensed our awkwardness immediately. "Entra, benvenuti" she exclaimed-pausing in her knitting (something with bright pink yarn) to usher us to the front of the magnificent church. She encouraged us to take pictures. With my broken Italian I was able to say that we appreciated her welcome and the beauty of the church. "Well" she said practically " since I have given you permission and the Virgin welcomes everyone, you may as well take pictures of everything here" . And Rick did.

Cow eating trees-a universal theme and External Flame

 Generosity has been an oft kindled theme during my time here in Siena. Not only the generosity of our NEH directors whisking us from one dream-destination to another, but in the daily interactions with people around us. Sorella  Gina was one such example. Another occurred as we were on our way from lunch (yummy porchetta panini - NOTE to sis: please learn how to make porchetta!) to the Pinoteca  (city art gallery) when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Goats! Unmistakably goat like movement! We hoofed our way down to where the goats were (a little field not far outside the city) and  there I was able to talk to the man obviously in charge (he was occupied in trying to keep the goats from eating the peach trees nearby). We had a terribly stunted, strained conversation whose stutters and stops deterred neither of us. From him I learned that he makes cheese using the dried rennet from his own kids, and he learned from me that you can use nettles as rennet. It was glorious and foolish and a tiny flicker of a flame to kindle others.

Florence

Rick and I joined our group for the final trip to Florence at 7 a.m. On the schedule were Sta. Croce, the Museo dell' Opera (works of the Duomo or Cathedral), and a look at the Baptistery doors. The weather was unbelievably cool and lent an air of ease to the trip that was absent the first two times that we visited. We walked more briskly but were less rushed somehow.

Luca della Robia-dancing cymbalers

Amongst the treasures of the city, the most rewarding sight for me was seeing Rick get to stand in Sta. Croce where many of his heroes are now buried or have stood themselves. I took pictures of him next to Machiavelli's tomb and didn't quite capture the moment but here is one:

At about 2 pm we had finished a full day. We went off to explore-ate a wonderful simple lunch at Gusto Leo pizzaria, climbed the Torre of the Duomo, went to the Baptistery (my second time and it is still totally magical), and got the requisite late afternoon gelato.

One sculpture that really stays with me was the Mary Magdalene by Donatello. It is such a moving image-it shows her in the wilderness mourning and emaciated after fasting from grief. I love art but am not normally so struck by it. This small wooden statue is so atypical of any of the many lovely ones I've seen ... no words for it.