Updates
1 July, 2008
Please click on the link below for a wonderful video clip of the La Romita experience:
29 June, 2008
Coming soon to this page: video clips by Mark Forman <www.markforman.com>.
The amazing Indiana Plein Air Painters, led (somewhat) by the indefatigable Frank Downton, just departed from La Romita with cases full....FULL...of paintings. They are one of the most prolific and talented bunches ever to grace our studio. They are also warm and funny and incredibly cosmopolitan for a group with hometowns with names like Noblesville, Martinsville, and Crawfordsville.
Here are a couple of photos:
First, Frank and some of the gang on a three mile hike to a special country piazza...
thinking outside the shutters...
an abundance of creativity...
Now Benno Philippson, artist, architect, and sketchbook maestro, has brought his Portland based followers...along with some Coloradans, Californians, Texans, Jerseyites, Marylanders, and....well, you get the idea. They've already visited Orvieto and the hidden jewel, Valle San Martino....pictured here:
22 May , 2008
Thanks for your patience with this new website. We want to make it more interactive and up to date....so...a bit of news...
The 2008 season is under way and the first session, with Marian Dunn was a great success. By the end of the two-week period, one of our participants said that she'd found twenty new best friends. This is hardly unusual at La Romita. We visited medieval fairs in both Narni and Assisi...here are a couple of photos from Assisi...
and while we're in Assisi, let's make a little comparison between the gorgeous Umbrian wheel windows...first at the basilica of San Francesco...
and then at Santa Chiara (St. Clare)...
Session 4 ... July 29 - August 12 is now an open studio session...at a much reduced price. Some accomplished artists have already signed on. There will be no lessons, but the studio will be available for artists 24/7 and there will be some special presentations (optional of course..) by Enza and Ben and Edmund and some guided tours of some of the museums and towns in our area. Otherwise, the amenities will be available....food and wine, the daily trips to the hilltowns, and slide presentations. For more information, contact us through this site or call Jenny in Washington DC toll-free ..
800-519-2297 access code 03
A note on the Euro vs. the Dollar:
When the Euro appeared on the marketplace in 1999 and became mandatory for the 12 European Union countries in 2002, it was pegged to the old currencies---the Lira in Italy. It was at the time unrealistically weak against the dollar---at almost 2000 lira per dollar. It was a boon to American shoppers to be sure, but was destined to be temporary. Now the dollar is struggling against many of the world's currencies but has reached a kind of equilibrium with the Euro. Since La Romita participants are shielded from the daily expenses a traveller would encounter in Europe these days, a visit to La Romita has actually increased in value. The occasional lunch on your own or shopping in the towns will not be as expensive as you might think; even at $1.50 per Euro, a wonderful lunch in Perugia...with pasta, salad, wine, dessert, and coffee, normally about 20 euros, will still cost only about $30.00.
Ben and Enza and I are getting ready for the arrival of Kay Russell's group from the City College of San Francisco. Unfortunately, one of the true friends of La Romita, Dee Levin, won't be able to make this trip this time but I'm sure she will in the future. For now, she will be in everyone's thoughts and prayers...Forza Dee!!!
tante belle cose,
Edmund
