relazioncine: Assisi 2000! May 2000
Assisi ... where time stands still, where the sermon to the birds is replaced by the hunting of the mosquitoes came into the room where ... drivers come off the boots and scream ...
user profile! (REPORT OF A JOURNEY TO ASSISI)
On 17, 18 and 19 you are going to Assisi ... between 16 and 20 May we will be in the basilica of S. Francis ... will spend two days there ... we will spend three days in Umbria ... it is a Friday, a Saturday and Sunday ... maybe even Thursday! These are vague information from the professor of medieval art Francesca Flores d'Arcais, also called Fra Fra or simply Flo Flo, closest to the students, like me, anyway.
So when you go to Assisi? Nobody got it, but fortunately, many students decide to be the case of eight o'clock in the morning of Thursday 18 before the Holy See of the Catholic University
[1] , and, ironically, also appears to accompany the dilapidated bus, with their driver, who came directly from Bergamo, but I say high ... very high! With the eye a little off and the buckles of his shoes melted to ventilate your feet, walks to the car: in these conditions will lead to the end of the trip, saying, "drinking, drinking" from time to time.
The worst seems to be over, even when it appeared the real star of the trip: our Flores!
She struts majestically, throwing all the more complete disappointment, since his clothing is not completed by the charming coat - green billiard table, the one that showed off in class, also called "living the carambola, more students from bullies, as, indeed, me too.
Accordingly, its passage is accompanied by a "Oooohhh" of disappointment from those who had already organized bringing the sticks, balls, chalk, and why not, a bottle of whiskey to be consumed preferably after defeats.
The trip appears to be quiet: the driver allows a sandwich with bacon, offers it to Flores, a smile that agree, and when, autogrill, the peace of these guys is troubled by a large group of policemen, until armed police patrolling the area around the neck. It is better to leave quickly and take the long way ... meanwhile, already appearing most striking characters of this tour: Enza is called Pierre, or Pierre said Enza, Pienza, by assimilation, a student during the eighteenth year out, working tenaciously to numerous activities such as perforation of the backs of others through annoying peg, let the people go crazy during the day, we make people crazy at night, breath at will, take a shower in the rooms of others without asking for permission ... and much more.
Then there is the group of "trainees" in art, an elite group of educated young people, cultured, erudite, led by "Miss specis specis know everything better," which never tires of showing off his knowledge.
Closes Series Terzaghi's assistant, also known as "mythical Antelami" or "mythical Donatello", which in Perugia, where he held the first leg of our journey ... uh ... ordeal, he also manages to impress on two bulls of the place.
in this city has unfortunately been built a fountain of priceless art: that of brothers Nicola Pisano and Jupiter. Since "Fortunately you do not pay the ticket to see the fountain in Piazza" (word for word, the friend Flo Flo), a very graduate student decides to forward the other all his endless knowledge of the monument, involving them in a way of cross almost 2 hours long, which provides for 13 laps around the fountain in question, concentrating on every detail historical, artistic, philosophical, literary and symbolic, in the hot sun of afternoon. And when the tour seems to be over, the relief gives way to disillusionment, "we shall now proceed to the analysis of the top '... and go! Start another lap slower than the previous one and inexorable. The first-year students are exhausted and angry, and are faced with two possibilities: either throw in the fountain (I wonder why ... I tried to get them in good spirits), or take advantage of the many distractions of Flores to make the case for tourists and, why not eat an ice cream. Discarded the first hypothesis, many are directed at the nearest ice cream shop, abandoning Fra Fra and scholarly commitment to expose the girl called Cra Cra (because it stood out like a toad in the background of the fountain).
Finally, following a visit to the palace of the Currency and the Museum of Perugia, the imperishable stars rise again on the tour bus to go to Assisi, where he awaits a very special hotel: the reception (with adjoining restaurant) just 500 meters climb through the streets of Assisi (who happens comes from the word "ascended") from their rooms, located in this branch and ... unlucky!
But no matter! It is time for supper and scholars are eager to silence their hunger ... they could not do better ... with a plate of pasta really ambiguous, drenched in oil, best before June ... a few years ago. Concluded
somehow the meal, our heroes do not just have to rest before the second, terrifying day when they will close the Basilica of St. Francesco ... not to get out more ...
To begin with, the Flores considers it appropriate to spend the whole morning, from nine to noon, in the lower church, which is not the subject of monographic course! And so, between kicks and punches to foreign tourists, more or less insistent scolding by the guards and some friar, there could not come across the great leader of the restructuring of the church, explaining to the young, more or less aspiring restorers, his work, speaking with fluency of his misadventure during the earthquake, which saw him trapped under the rubble precious, "but" says "you see that was not my time ..." and continues with the same ease his long dissertation, all without leaving the room ... In
afternoon the tour continues to the laboratory of the fragments and the upper basilica, which students can finally nice to see live, and not in black and white photos of the slides of Flores, destructive and criminal.
Back at the hotel, after an uplifting encounter with a diabetic cat, and, moreover, with the redoubtable Pierre, after rest and dinner, some talking in what to do for the evening, and, ultimately, the decision can not be that one: return to the basilica to enjoy it even by night! Obviously, there is a hand of Flores, and therefore, some unknown, vaguely disgusted, decided to go back to the hotel to work hard in various activities, such as: eat the bed of Fabiana, Fabiana crumbled on the bed, and more. They take
also intelligent games such as: requirement of truth, which forces the unfortunate variant (alas) strawberry juice to drink, and, since the flavor of the beverage in question is not the best, appear many juicy details that no one would ever expect: veritas juice.
And finally the next day, Saturday, he returns home. Abandoned by her friends from the small Flo and residents, returning by train, after a brief pause at the Porziuncola, assaulted by police and armed police to the neck from all over Italy (again disturbing the peace of the boys), our heroes are alone at the mercy of the driver, nicknamed pancettomane, or more briefly puncettone, who delights in insulting Anissa, a girl of the party, calling it "stupid" guilty because they prefer to Cadorna S. Ambrose.
worse than this can not go? I would not be so sure, since the thrill of travel-time is when the driver discovers that lapped the back of the bus is going up in smoke, and decided to stop in a safe place close to a deep slope, which seems almost say to the poor passengers "hey ... look a bit 'down !!!». All stand up, they want to get off, leave the car as soon as possible, but given that this is not possible, are content to walk from one side of the bus, making it swing in a situation already precarious enough.
But the pseudo-driver decides to take the situation in hand, and change the water in the radiator, having understood enough to have prevailed on all travelers ... and then, return home safely, happily, each with their own thoughts, perhaps aimed at examining throughout this visit, particularly the more diligent students, as, indeed, certainly not me ... and anyone who writes on the history of other malignancies and its teachers!
[1] term used to designate the headquarters of the university