Apr

“Where Are the Women?”

by Joyce McGreevy on April 16, 2019

Shadow of a woman on stairs in a restorer's studio in Florence where Jane Adams of Advancing Women Artists is working to restore the hidden half of Italy's artistic heritage. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

At a restorer’s studio in Florence, art by Renaissance women emerges from the shadows.
© Joyce McGreevy

The Hidden Half of Florence, Italy’s Artistic Heritage

“First came the flood,” says Jane Adams. “Then came the flood of helpers.” A passionate builder of partnerships for Advancing Women Artists, Adams meets me at a café near the River Arno. The setting is picture-perfect: Florence, a 2,000-year-old city and the center of Italy’s artistic heritage.

In Florence, reflections of buildings in the Arno river that flooded in 1966 and threatened Italy's artistic heritage. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Mirroring calm today, the River Arno turned deadly in 1966.
© Joyce McGreevy

But on November 4, 1966, the Arno surged over its banks with brutal ugliness, tearing the city in two. It killed 101 people, and inundated historic buildings to a depth of 22 feet.

By the time the water receded, it had deposited 600,000 tons of mud—one ton for everyone in the city. Slicked with motor oil, it swallowed up 14,000 treasures of Renaissance art.

In Florence, a flooded piazza in 1966 is a reminder of threats to Italy's artistic heritage. [image in the public domain]

A café in Florence, Italy, after the flood of 1966.

The Mud Angels

Almost immediately, volunteers showed up by the hundreds. In that pre-digital era, gli angeli del fango—“mud angels”—converged on Florence from across Europe with astonishing speed. According to historian Richard Ivan Jobs, “even before soldiers arrived as part of the official government response, ‘the city was already in the hands of the young’.”

The painstaking work of restoring art began.

But the flood was not the only threat to Italy’s art, says Adams. Artworks by women had long been buried by neglect. For centuries, the hidden half of Florence’s artistic heritage was relegated to basements or incorrectly attributed to men.

Who would undo that damage?

Jane Fortune of Advancing Women Artists inspired worldwide support for the restoration of forgotten works by female Renaissance artists who are part of Italy's artistic heritage. (image by Advancing Women Artists Archives)

Jane Fortune’s book inspired the Emmy-winning documentary
Invisible Women: Forgotten Artists of Florence.
Photo courtesy of Advancing Women Artists

Florence’s Good Fortune

In 1967, a college student in Florence named Jane Fortune was heading home to her native Indiana. As Adams tells it, Fortune said to herself, I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but I will find a way to give something back to this city.

In 2005 she got her chance.

Returning to Florence as an art columnist, Fortune explored museums and was soon moved to wonder: Where are the women? Highly visible as subjects, they were rarely seen as artists.

The San Marco convent and museum in Florence that evokes the forgotten artists of the Italian Renaissance who are part of Italy's artistic heritage. [image in the public domain]

Something was hidden away in a corner of San Marco, Florence.

Then Fortune read about Plautilla Nelli.

The first-known female Renaissance painter, Nelli had been wildly successful, an achievement made more remarkable by the fact that as a woman she could not study anatomy or join a guild. Nor was she a lady of leisure. The prioress of a convent, she taught classes, managed budgets, and met daily demands.

Yet Nelli became one of the few women included in Europe’s first major art-history book, Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1568).

As Vasari observed, “There were so many of [Nelli’s] paintings in the houses of gentlemen in Florence it would be tedious to mention them all.”

The masterpiece Lamentation with Saints by Plautilla Nelli shows why Advancing Women Artists is working in Florence to restore the hidden half of Italy's artistic heritage. [public domain image]

Praised for its raw grief, Nelli’s Lamentation with Saints almost vanished forever.

Searching for Nelli

Intrigued, Fortune sought Nelli’s work, but only three paintings remained. When she tracked down one of them, it was a dark canvas streaked in dirt and infested with woodworm.

Fortune decided then and there to commit herself to the restoration of Nelli’s work.

Rosella Lari and Jane Adams view Plautilla Nelli's The Last Supper, an important work in Italy's artistic heritage that Advancing Women Artists is working to restore. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

The discovery of Nelli’s massive, highly personal Last Supper made global headlines.
© Joyce McGreevy

In the process, Fortune inspired a movement. As more people supported the effort, the number of artistic search-and-rescue missions grew. In 2009, Fortune founded the Advancing Women Artists Foundation.

“Our aim is to create a connection between art lovers of the present and women artists of the past for everyone’s future,” says Adams.

It’s a mission that she and AWA director Linda Falcone have inherited from Fortune. “Indiana Jane,” as she was affectionately nicknamed by the Italian press, died of ovarian cancer in September 2018.

A Citizen of Florence

“What she did, she did in partnership,” says Adams. “It was for the sheer good of giving back something to Florence, bringing back to the forefront the hidden half of the Florentine Renaissance heritage.”

Rosella Lari stands before Plautilla Nelli's The Last Supper, which she is restoring as part of Advancing Women Artists' efforts to illuminate the hidden half of Italy's artistic heritage. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Rosella Lari has devoted four years to restoring Nelli’s Last Supper.
© Joyce McGreevy

The Art of Making Art Visible

Now Adams and Falcone are carrying that partnership forward, inviting us to practice the art of making women’s art visible.

Before-and-after details from Plautilla Nelli's The Last Supper reflect the painstaking efforts by Advancing Women Artists in Florence to restore the hidden half of Italy's artistic heritage. (Left: Image by Francesco Cacchiani for Advancing Women Artists; Right: Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

“Restoration is not re-creation,” says Adams of the painstaking process of
revealing original work.
L: Francesco Cacchiani for AWA / R: © Joyce McGreevy

AWA has restored 61 paintings and sculptures, published a dozen ground-breaking books, and identified 2,000 forgotten artworks. The foundation is building the world’s largest digital database of 15th- to 19th-century women artists.

Meanwhile, a painting once covered in dirt and infested with woodworm is nearing the final stages of restoration. When it goes on view in the Santa Maria Novella Museum, it will be the first time in 450 years that it has been publicly displayed.

Oh, I see: The hidden half of Florence, Italy’s artistic heritage is steadily coming to light.

Jane Adams, partnership relations director of Advancing Women Artists, is working in Florence to restore the hidden half of Italy's artistic heritage. (Image © by Joyce McGreevy)

Adams (above), Falcone, and donors from 19 countries are giving new visibility
to historic women artists.
© Joyce McGreevy

Join the worldwide effort to save women’s artwork here. Follow AWA here.

Explore Nelli’s Last Supper, the world’s largest painting by a female Renaissance artist here.

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Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Italy/The World's Art & Design

Mar

The Daring of the Green

by Joyce McGreevy on March 11, 2019

A man adjusting a dining room chandelier in Glendalough suggests that Ireland’s culinary renaissance has dispelled stereotypes about Irish cuisine. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

From Glendalough (above) to Galway, cooks have cast Irish cuisine in a whole new light.

Irish Cuisine Turns the Tables on Culinary Stereotypes

St. Patrick’s Day is coming and you know what that means. It’s time for the Annual Feast of Culinary Stereotypes!

Once a year, sales of green food-dye soar in the U.S., evidenced by neon green bagels, chartreuse cupcakes, and acid-lime donuts. Meanwhile, Corned Beef and Cabbage (which originated in the U.S., not Ireland) will be dutifully served at Irish-themed parties.

Don’t get me started about green beer and “shamrock” milkshakes. No wonder many people believe “Irish cuisine” is a contradiction in terms.

Forty Shades of Cuisine

But feast on this: To dine at one Michelin-starred or Bib Gourmand restaurant per day in Ireland, you’d need a 40-day vacation. You’d travel from County Down in the North, along the Irish coast from Dublin to Cork to Galway, and across Ireland’s well-fed middle from Limerick to Kilkenny.

A woman gesturing toward a seafood platter in Howth shows that Ireland’s culinary renaissance has dispelled stereotypes about Irish cuisine. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Grainne McMorrow and I share a feast of fish on Dublin’s Howth Peninsula.
© Joyce McGreevy

That’s just for starters. Because you needn’t carry loads of “green” to feast on great Irish cooking.

Oh, I see: Today’s Ireland is studded with culinary gems. From storied estates and castles to gastro-pubs, food trucks, and farmer’s markets, Ireland’s culinary renaissance offers something for every palate and budget.

A vegetable garden in Inish Beg Estate, Cork, Ireland evokes the way Ireland’s culinary renaissance has dispelled stereotypes about Irish cuisine. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Inish Beg Estate, Co. Cork typifies a “growing” trend toward organic food production.
© Joyce McGreevy

Recipe for a Culinary Renaissance

Only a few decades ago, critics had their knives out, suggesting there was nothing so bad on Irish menus that Irish cookery couldn’t make it worse. The Ireland of today is a trend-setter, thanks to a whole new recipe:

Start with an island smaller than Indiana but bountiful in seafood, freshwater fish, and forage-able plants.
Add economic prosperity and strong support for organic farming.
Fire up keen interest in new ways of using traditional Irish ingredients.
Stir in meticulous technique and bold experimentation.
Season with cross-cultural inspiration.
Serve in as many creative ways and settings as possible.

Poached eggs from Glebe Gardens, Co. Cork, suggest how Ireland’s culinary renaissance has dispelled stereotypes about Irish cuisine. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Poached eggs at Glebe Gardens, Cork, make breakfast a culinary wake-up call.
© Joyce McGreevy

What’s on the Menu?

This year, ditch the green food-dye and treat yourself to a feast of today’s Irish flavors. Here’s a Travel Menu with options for home cooks:

A man cooking at home in Galway, Ireland evokes the way Ireland’s culinary renaissance has dispelled stereotypes about Irish cuisine. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Home cooks in Ireland celebrate local and cross-cultural ingredients and techniques.
© Joyce McGreevy

Starters: In Ireland, where appetizers are called “starters,” the best starter is a food tour. No matter which part of Ireland you visit, there’s a food trail worth following.

Or go straight to Chapter One (18-19 Parnell Square, Dublin). Michelin’s review says: “Good old-fashioned Irish hospitality meets with modern Irish cooking in this stylish restaurant beneath the Writers Museum…Boldly flavored dishes showcase produce from local artisan producers.”

Home cook’s starter: Vodka-Cured Salmon with Avocado Cream, Pickled Vegetables, and Horseradish Mayonnaise (The New Irish Table: Recipes from Ireland’s Top Chefs, edited by Leslie Conron Carola; Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc., 2017)

Gourmet Grocery: Fallon & Byrne, Dublin, “offering the season’s good stuff from land and sea.”

A plate of smoked salmon and brown bread in Galway, Ireland evokes the way Ireland’s culinary renaissance has dispelled stereotypes about Irish cuisine. (Image © Carolyn McGreevy)

Wild smoked salmon with brown bread is the perfect St. Patrick’s Day appetizer.
© Carolyn McGreevy

Main course: Want the whole Irish enchildada? (Yes, Ireland’s reinvented enchiladas, too!) Take classes at Ballymaloe Cookery School, set on 300 acres of organic farmland in County Cork. Or head to Michelin-starred Loam in Galway for dishes like Lamb Shoulder, Turnip, and Damson fruit.

Home cook’s main course: Discover Allen’s marvelous take on traditional Shepherd’s Pie, made with roast duck and parsnips. Or savor Allen’s Wild Garlic & Potato Soup.

Gourmet Grocery: English Market, Cork City’s outstanding 18th century covered market.

Supper at The Piemaker, Galway, showcases Ireland's culinary renaissance. (Image © Carolyn McGreevy)

Diners line up for savories at The Piemaker, Galway.
© Carolyn McGreevy

Dessert: Feast your eyes on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, then thrill your taste buds with Murphy’s Ice Cream. Founded in Dingle, Murphy’s also chills in Galway and Dublin. Flavors range from Rainwater Sorbets and Caramelized Brown Bread to Honey Lavender and Candied Chili Pepper.

A dessert at Kai Cafe in Galway, Ireland evokes the way Ireland’s culinary renaissance has dispelled stereotypes about Irish cuisine. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Rhubarb meets edible flowers at Kai Café in Galway.
© Joyce McGreevy

Home cook’s dessert: Bake a “dark and majestic” Guinness cake (from Clodagh’s Irish Kitchen: A Fresh Take on Traditional Flavors, by Clodagh McKenna, Kyle Books, 2015).

Gourmet Grocery: McCambridge‘s, Galway, pleasing palates since 1934.

A baker and cake at Burren Cafe, Co. Clare show how Ireland’s culinary renaissance has dispelled stereotypes about Irish cuisine. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

A luscious black walnut cake at Burren Café favors taste over symmetry.
© Joyce McGreevy

Irish Cuisine Made Easy

Most U.S. grocers stock Irish soda bread, Kerrygold butter, Dublin cheddar, Irish tea, and other Celtic fare. Add easy-peasy Roast Root Vegetables, with or without chicken or Limerick ham. Then settle in to watch Dare to Be Wild (Netflix), easily the most gorgeous Irish movie you’ll ever see.

A display of plates at a restaurant in Dublin, Ireland evokes the way Ireland’s culinary renaissance has dispelled stereotypes about Irish cuisine. (Image © Carolyn McGreevy)

The diversity of dishes in Ireland surprises first-time visitors.
© Carolyn McGreevy

You’ll be glad you skipped the culinary stereotypes and sampled today’s Irish cuisine.

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Art of Travel/Ireland/Stereotypes/The World's Chefs

Feb

A Taste of Italian Wordplay

by Joyce McGreevy on February 12, 2019

A woman serving gelato reminds the writer that Italian wordplay includes many Italian food idioms—that aren’t about food. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Spice Up Your Speech with Italian Idioms

One of the pleasures of travel in Italy is immersing yourself in the language. As you treat your palate to its cuisines, treat your tongue to Italian wordplay.

Oh, I see: Sampling Italian idioms is a rich, non-fattening way to savor Italian culture.

An array of Italian side dishes remind the writer that many Italian idioms refer to food. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Complimenti Allo Chef!

In English we favor plain statements when seeking the simple truth: “Tell it like it is.” “Give it to me straight.”

Now chew on the Italian equivalent: Diciamo pane al pane e vino al vino. “Let’s say that bread is bread and wine is wine.”

In English, we call kind people “as good as gold.” Ah, but walk into a panificio just as the ciabatta emerges from the oven in yeasty clouds of glory. You’ll understand why Italians describe an especially nice person as buono come il pane—”as good as bread.”

A loaf of bread signifies the link between pane and the wordplay of Italian idioms. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

In English, workers “bring home the bacon.” In Italian, they “bring home the loaf.”
(portare a casa la pagnotta)
© Joyce McGreevy

Bean There, Done That

If that Nice Person is also “the life of the party,” Italians say, È tutto pepe! “She’s all pepper!” Add a talent for turning up at the right time and Italians say she “arrives at the bean” (capita a fagiolo). You can also apply that to events, like winning the lottery the day after losing your job.

Italian food idioms often have more crunch than their English cousins. Whereas we “give someone a taste of their own medicine,” Italians “give back bread for . . . another kind of bread” (rendere pan per focaccia). I’ll toast to that!

Here’s how we English speakers describe a dream couple: “like two peas in a pod.” Passion and peas? Pull-eeze! Unafraid to go for hot and cheesy, Italians say compatible couples are come il cacio sui maccheroni—“like cheese on macaroni.”

Italian macaroni and cheese calls to mind the Italian idiom "come cacio su macheroni" and other wordplay, pasta and present. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Metaphors on the Menu

As you can see, many Italian food idioms have nothing to do with eating: Prendere uno spaghetti literally means “to take a single strand of spaghetti.” Sounds like something a laid-back cook would do, right?

In fact, it means to feel so freaked out you practically have a heart attack. Fortunately, only the metaphorical kind.

Time and again, Italian food idioms jazz up English equivalents like a five-star chef giving fast food a gourmet makeover.

Case in point: In English we tell someone who ignores unpleasant realities “you’re sticking your head in the sand.” It’s a thing of bizarre beauty, based on total nonsense about how ostriches react to predators.

Bonus round to us, right? Wrong, mio amico.

The Italians have bested us once again. They say such people “have their eyes covered with ham” (avere gli occhi foderati di prosciutto).

Score another point for Bel’Italia. (Deli) case closed!

A woman looking through prosciutto-covered glasses views Italian wordplay and idioms from a unique perspective. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Just Desserts

Of course, not all Italian language idioms are based on food. Currently I’m in Ferrara, la città di biciclette, the city of bicycles. Ferrara has more bikes per capita than any other Italian town.

So naturally, Italian culture includes an idiom built for two.

In English we might say, “You’ve made your bed—now lie in it.” Italians say, Hai voluto la bicicletta? E adesso pedala! “You wanted the bike? And now you must ride it!” Way to pop a wordplay wheelie!

Two bicyclists in Ferrara, Italy call to mind the wordplay of an Italian idiom with ‘bicletta.’ (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Feelings are more fun in Italian, too.

“Out of your mind” with stress? In Italy, you’d be “outside like a balcony” (fuori come un balcone).

Annoyed? Declare Ho un diavolo per capello!— “I have a demon for every hair on my head!”

Are friends keeping something under wraps? Tell them, Sputa il rospo!—“Spit out the toad!”

From Ostriches to Osterias

Oh yes, Italian idioms toad-ally cover every Animale nello Zoo. There’s even one with ostriches. In Italian, somebody who can eat anything with no ill effects has “the stomach of an ostrich” (uno stomaco da struzzo).

And those toads you spat out? Well, some days, you’ve just got to inghiotti il rospo—”swallow the toad”. That’s the Italian take on “eat crow.”

A cat in Ferrara, Italy call to mind the wordplay of an Italian idiom about swallowing a toad. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

But let’s nosh on something tastier. See that osteria on the corner? Gather your amici, order aperitivi, and sprinkle your conversazione with a few Italian idioms. For in the cookbook of life, Tutto fa brodo. “Everything makes broth,” including Italian wordplay.

Just remember to remove the prosciutto from your eyes.

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Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Italy/Proverbs & Sayings

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