We would like to invite you to join the creative community of convivial like-minded people who have become Watermill patrons. There are lots of bonuses when you do so. Not least, exclusive podcasts of Just in Time for an Aperitivo, Bill’s love letters to Italy.
If you love Italy, you will be intrigued and charmed by Just in Time for an Aperitivo.
From time to time, Bill has been writing a series of essays, a new and unique way of looking at the smaller historic towns that make up the true Italy. As a Watermill patron, you receive exclusive preview of these essays in podcasts. There is a new one this month on Arezzo.
The idea is this: Four friends with different passions and expertise arrive Just in Time for an Aperitivo. They enjoy the evening passeggiata, an aperitivo, a dinner sampling local specialities, then a good night’s sleep in a hotel/pensione, awaking refreshed to see the cultural and scenic attractions of the town and the local area. They talk about their own enthusiasms and expertise, with amusing and insightful anecdotes about people and places, music, history, art and architecture, language, culture, food — everything that contributes to la bella vita italiana. This is not a traditional guidebook, but a series of love letters to Italy. The essays are delightfully read by Lois. (Bill is unable to do so because his parkinsonism precludes elegant speech.) Lucca, Orvieto and Mantova (Mantua) are already ‘in the can’, and more are on the way.
To give you a flavour, here’s the beginning of the essay on Arezzo, birthplace of many famous men…
If you want to follow the teaching of the author of the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible and ‘praise famous men and our fathers that begat us,’ you could do far worse than begin in Arezzo.
For a start, how about Guido d’Arezzo, the 10th Century monk who is regarded as the father of modern musical notation? Then there’s Francesco Petrarca, better known as Petrarch — poet, scholar, father of Humanism and co-creator of the modern Italian language — and Giorgio Vasari, artist, architect, town-planner and author of Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, the first-ever art history book. Throw in Michelangelo Buonarotti, born nearby, the greatest artist of his age, perhaps of any age, and Piero della Francesca, whose serene frescoes capture the soul of the Tuscan Spring, and you’ll agree that Arezzo has had more than its fair share of famous sons. And as for begetting, who better than Abraham, who at a ripe old age begat two boys, Ishmael and Isaac, forefathers of the Arabs and the Jews.
We met Abraham on the ceiling of Giorgio Vasari’s house, painted by the artist himself in his modest mansion in a quiet quarter of the town, having called in late in the afternoon with our friends Helen and Pasquale, before making our passeggiata and taking our aperitivi. Vasari was one of the busiest artists of the 16th Century, what with painting the inside of the enormous cupola of Florence cathedral and designing the Uffizi and that flying corridor for the Medici among other prestigious projects. Of course, he had a team of assistants to help, but he liked to escape regularly to his quiet house in Arezzo “in the borgo of San Vito, which has the purest air in the city†and you can imagine him pottering about the vegetable garden inspecting the beans and the basil, before getting back to painting the inside of his own house. All in, it took him (and his team) from 1542 to 1568 to do so and we’ve no record of what Mrs Vasari thought of having workmen under her feet all that time…
Become a Watermill patron and hear more in Lois’s dulcet tones. And there are more essays to come on Mantova, Orvieto, Pistoia, Tellaro… We would love you to join us for an aperitivo as a Watermill patron.
Patrons also receive regular exclusive videos keeping them up to date on all our activities and on top tips from our renowned creative tutors, and, of course, delicious recipes from the Watermill kitchen. We have already produced a dozen or so exclusive items for our Watermill patrons. And there are other perks, such as free access to some of our live, interactive online painting sessions and discounts for our renowned residential creative courses here at the mill. You will have your say, too, on future exciting projects at the Watermill.
The first step is to click here to see an introductory video and read more. Then join up to become part of our new Watermill adventures.