Demijohns: delightful to look at, but difficult to paint
They call them damigiane in Italy – demijohns to us Brits – elegant large bottles, usually in dark green or brown, and used in the past for storing olive oil…
Blog Archives
Our ‘Rolling Stone’ gathers moss
He doesn’t look like Jagger. He doesn’t move like Jagger. But in his own way he might be regarded as a ‘rolling stone.’ He is stone, of course, and…
The serendipitous story of The Watermill at Posara
We first set eyes on the mill in 1989. One of us wandered down the millstream and, quite simply, fell in love. At the time, the property wasn’t particularly pretty,…
Knitting tourism essentials: what to pack for a week of wool and wonder in Italy
We’ve welcomed knitters from all over the world to the Watermill, and over the years, we’ve noticed something charming: many of them arrive with suitcases that are, shall we say,…
This Watermill bedroom is named after a strange old bird
Continuing our notes on the early Renaissance artists after whom our Watermill bedrooms are named*, today it’s the turn of Paolo Uccello. Uccello (1397-1475,) was a pioneer of the use…
Learn Italian in Italy (and laugh at your mistakes along the way)
You could be forgiven, as a beginner Italian learner, for strutting into the bakery and greeting the staff with a confident “Buon pomodoro!” A cheerful attempt at “good afternoon” that,…
Convivial creativity at The Watermill
The trip of a lifetime – or two! We must be doing something right! From the beginning of this season’s unique ‘convivial creativity’ courses, we have been overwhelmed by the…
Buongiorno vs ciao
With the Italian word ciao in almost universal use as a friendly greeting, it is tempting to use it in Italy with almost everyne you meet: passing acquaintances, business people,…
Putting genius into perspective
Not content with creating the stupendous dome of Florence cathedral, the architectural miracle of its time (or, indeed, of any time), Filippo Brunelleschi also invented (or possibly, reinvented) Linear…
How to make the most of your landscape painting workshop
What is landscape painting? Landscape painting is one of the oldest and most cherished traditions in the visual arts. The term refers to artwork that depicts outdoor scenery such as…
Reverse benchmarking points the way ahead
Benchmark, Carlisle Cathedral by Adrian Taylor, CC BY-SA 2.0 . Detail. <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons Don’t copy – innovate When I hear the word benchmark, I immediately think…
Why going solo on a knitting retreat might be the best gift you give yourself
A knitting retreat in Italy may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of travelling solo, but it has quietly become one of the most…