Gemelli Newsletter of Friends of Ravenna Issue 90 September 2023 “A friend in need…” Dear Friends I hope you have had an enjoyable summer in spite of the rather turbulent weather patterns! Maybe you caught up with family, went travelling or worked on home and garden projects!? Hopefully, there was time to meet up with friends too? How we appreciate our friends! Where would we be without them?! The letter from Michele de Pascale opposite expresses this heartfelt appreciation of friendship. On behalf of the people of Ravenna, he underlines the authenticity and value of a friendship that is expressed not only in words but in action. It’s rather moving to be thanked in this way and it reminds us of what, in essence, twinning is all about. No doubt we will hear a bit more firsthand about the current situation when the Ravennati visit in October (4th-8th). As part of the programme, there will be opportunities for you to be involved in welcoming our friends to Chichester—at the Mayor’s Reception on Thursday 5th October and also at the buffet supper meal with community choir on Saturday 7th October at FROM THE CHAIRMAN Westhampnett Hall. Please come along if you
Gemelli 90 - September 2023 FRIENDS OF RAVENNA PRESIDENT The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Chichester Councillor Craig J. L. Gershater VICE-PRESIDENT The Very Reverend Nicholas Frayling CHAIRMAN Jacky Storey07743 484059 VICE-CHAIRMAN Liz Turner 371309 HON TREASURER Dave Heywood 530499 HON SECRETARY Lynda Murray 788207 Alastair Alexander 532171 Jane Batholomew 776231 John-Henry Bowden 07504 846083 Mike Evans 698113 Steph James 07968 700083 Jennifer McNeill 07901 528397 Sarah Quail 776757 Anne Scicluna 789065 Frances Walker 07799 010929 From the members are able! Before that, however, our monthly meeting programme begins with Canon Ruddock’s “Roman Reflections” on Thursday, 21st September. Over the following year, we will welcome speakers on a wide range of subjects from the Italian world of politics, fashion & design, music, travel, art, archaeology and gardens. Your ongoing support and participation in making all this happen is very much appreciated. Best wishes Jacky Storey Philip Jackson's bronze of Dante in Midhurst By David Tregear The renowned sculptor Philip Jackson has, it is reported, given his full life-size figure to Midhurst (the nearest town to his studio in Cocking). After some local discussion a site has been chosen next to the South Pond. Funds are being raised towards a stone base and installation. At the AGM on 12 June Friends of Ravenna resolved to give £1000 for this cause and further contributions could be made via our Treasurer. With a lack of any apparent connection between Dante and anywhere outside Tuscany, the question of why Midhurst, was raised at the AGM, but it seems he wished it to be placed at Midhurst as Philip Jackson regarded it as close to Paradise as anywhere on Earth. The literary importance of Dante around the world and well beyond Italy has been assured by translations. His great work, The Divine Comedy has universal significance. In this poem Dante details his understanding of life after death, through 24 circles of Hell, 7 cornices of Purgatory and, at the end, through spheres of singing heavens, to find his heart wheeled by the Love 'that moves the sun and the other stars'. A tremendous story which surely needs for full appreciation of the allegory, knowledge of Dante's theological, political, and personal backgrounds. It is perhaps in the opening stanzas of the poem where a clue to location may be found. Every reader's attention is at once caught by these starting words (as translated by Dorothy L. Sayers): Midway this way of life we're bound upon I woke to find myself in a dark wood Where the right road was wholly lost and gone Midhurst as a name echoes its local origins in the
middle of part of the Weald. Placing the bronze near the clear water of the Pond seems appropriate to invite reflections leading to a deeper understanding of life. A Visit to St Joseph’s School By Liz Turner After an appeal from a year 5 teacher for assistance with a school project on Europe, and in particular Italy, Chair Jacky Storey and I visited St. Joseph’s Primary School in Chichester on April 21st. The teacher wondered if we could prepare an illustrated talk for about 40 children to last about an hour – quite an ask. Jacky and I had a great time and the children, and their teachers, seemed to enjoy it too! We did a sort of double act introducing them to the Italian language followed by a quick geography lesson pinpointing Italy in Europe. Jacky produced a high heeled boot – it was an illustrated talk after all! We invited them to spot Ravenna and other well known Italian cities. Had any of them ever been to Italy, how would you get there and how long would it take? We talked about twins as a way of introducing Chichester’s twinning arrangements. We then talked about the similarities between Chichester and Ravenna, particularly our coastal locations and then our Cathedral and their Basilica which led on naturally to pictures of their mosaics and Fishbourne Roman Palace. Then differences – different seas, different neighbours, flags, roof tops etc. We then did a bit more language work showing them some fun Italian gestures and Jacky got them counting to 10. We asked if anyone could spell the most popular word in Italian – CIAO – and to our astonishment one girl could! Food words came next which they could all relate to – pizza, spaghetti, lasagne and all our local Italian restaurants! With permission we handed round some Tarallini for them to try and we showed them some euros. We concluded by telling them about a visit by children from their school to Ravenna about 15 years ago which interested them very much. All in all we felt it had been a worthwhile and successful visit which may produce some future members of Friends of Ravenna. PADUA—A stroll around my city—2 By Carla Gaita In the last edition, I left you having a coffee at the famous Caffe’ Pedrocchi, less than 50 meters from it we are now in front of the 15th century Palazzo del Bo, the main seat of the University of Padua, which is also my alma mater. In this very building, many years ago, I presented my dissertation on Shakespeare’s King Lear on the day of my graduation, so this place will always be a bit special to me. Speaking of Shakespeare, many of you will know that The Taming of the Shrew is set in Padua, a city Shakespeare chose because in his time it was very well known as a centre of learning and knowledge throughout Europe. In one of Padua’s squares, Piazza Capitaniato, there is a plaque where you can read, in English and in Italian, a few verses from the play. Padua is home to one of the oldest universities in the world. I particularly like the story of its foundation: apparently, the University was founded in 1222 by renegade scholars from Bologna seeking freedom of culture and expression! The university’s atmosphere of Gemelli 90 - September 2023
cultural openness, which was rare at the time, attracted European students and professors and produced many renowned scientists. Among those who attended the university or taught here were Andreas Vesalius, who founded modern anatomy, as well as the astronomer Copernicus, and Galileo Galilei. In 1678 Elena Cornaro Piscopia, a Venetian woman of noble descent but born illegitimate, became the first woman in the world to receive a Doctor of Philosophy degree - in reality she was pursuing a degree in theology, but the bishop of Padua refused on the grounds that she was a woman. Elena was a prodigy child and received a classical education, studying Latin and Greek and becoming proficient also in French and Spanish by the age of seven. Her later studies included mathematics, philosophy, and theology; she was also an expert musician and became interested in physics, astronomy, and linguistics. Her degree was conferred in Padua Cathedral in the presence of the university authorities, the professors of all the faculties, the students, and most of the Venetian Senators, together with many invited guests from the Universities of Bologna, Perugia, Rome and Naples. The event was talked about at length throughout the continent; however, unfortunately, the university changed its statutes to prohibit women from graduation, and it would take almost two centuries for a woman's graduation to become a normal fact. A statue portraying Elena is now located in the palazzo; a tribute to the first woman graduate in the world, but today also a symbol of female emancipation. Galileo Galilei taught mathematics and mechanics at the university for 18 years (1592- 1610) and wrote about his experience : ‘I spent the best eighteen years of my life there’. Welcomed by an atmosphere of cultural openness which was rare at the time, he enjoyed the academic life intensely (and family life as well, living with a mistress who bore him 3 children!), also welcoming students in his home near the Basilica of St. Anthony. This way Galileo was able to supplement his professor’s pay and finance his experiments and the construction of his instruments. Next to the Aula Magna is the Sala dei Quaranta, with as many modern portraits. Our stroll around Padua is almost over but there are tempting sights to see which I shall tell you about in the next edition. Gemelli 90 - September 2023 Galileo’s podium, built for him by his students
A Visit to Naples Peter Turner We arrived on the Monday too early for our room in the Hotel Caravaggio in the old part of Naples, so we indulged in the first of many cappuccinos and visited the Pio Monte della Misericorda, just across the narrow street from the hotel. The Misericordia is still a charity and houses Caravaggio’s 1607 painting ‘Seven Acts of Mercy’ still in its original position. The next day we took a train to Herculaneum. A tip for anyone visiting this fantastic site is to catch the train, the Circumvesuviana, from the terminus station on Corso Garibaldi rather than from the Stazione Centrale on the piazza Garibaldi. That way you will get a seat rather having to stand all the way to Herculaneum or Pompeii. Herculaneum is fascinating, covered by mud and ash on August 24, 79AD and is a smaller site than Pompeii. The first stop on Wednesday was the Capella Sansevero, having worked out that it is a timed ticket entry. This Chapel was the creation of Prince Raimondo di Sangro, an eighteenth century alchemist, the centrepiece being a carving of a dead Christ covered by a veil, carved out of a single piece of marble. We were both moved by its realism and by the skill of the sculptor Giuseppe Sammartino. After the Capella we walked to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale. This is where the artefacts retrieved from Pompeii are exhibited, and there are a lot of them. Frescoes, surgical instruments, kitchenware, a silver dinner service and of course an exhibition for grown-ups: AD79 pornography. The people from Pompeii had quite a taste for rude pictures and statues. On Thursday it rained. We had decided to take a minibus trip along the Amalfi coast to see Positano and Amalfi. There was a debate among the nine of us as to whether it was worth going in the rain. A vote was taken, the one dissenting American was persuaded and we went. The beautiful views of the coastline were intermittent between the rain showers but when we reached Positano it stopped raining and the sun nearly came out. Positano was very pretty, built on a hillside running down to the bay, but a bit ‘touristy’. Our trip to Amalfi was by boat from Positano. It was blowing a force eight gale but we made it, having houses owned by Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren being pointed out to us en route. The ride back to Naples was uneventful, the American was glad she had voted to come, and we both decided that there was no way either of us would have driven the Amalfi coast road. Friday was another train ride, this time to Pompeii. Bigger than Herculaneum, and in the shadow of Vesuvius, Pompeii was rather like a set for a disaster movie. The amphitheatre was most impressive, we had just missed a performance there by Pink Floyd. Saturday saw us walking through the posh bit of Naples, a bit like Oxford Street, to Piazza del Plebiscito where we got caught up in the celebrations of the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Italy’s alpine regiments. A lot of men in Tyrolean uniforms and feathered hats. Coffee had to be taken at Café Gambrinus. Very smart, surly waiters, £22 for coffee an cake ! (Zeppolano and Sfogliatella). I have mentioned just a few of the things we did and saw. There are lots more, the Duomo with its vial of blood (look that one up), the Catacombs, many more churches with their beautiful paintings and statues and of course the food. We would recommend Naples for a week’s visit. It is not relaxing. It is noisy, dirty in parts, but very exciting. Gemelli 90 - September 2023
Recent Events 17th May—Social evening About 50 members were brave enough to test their wine tasting skills in public! The venue was St. Paul’s Church Hall where the catering committee had laid out beautifully decorated tables and provided an excellent light meal of cheeses, charcuterie, bread and olives to accompany the wine. The tasting was in the hands of Jonathan Rogers from the lovely little shop in Emsworth called Vin Wines. He put us at ease right from the very beginning by a statement which shall be cherished forever! He said that “a wine was only good if you liked it!” and then proceeded with a Call my Bluff game. One by one he presented 6 Italian wines Gemelli 90 - September 2023 Paradiso a Chichester By Libby Alexander No one who has seen the film Cinema Paradiso can forget Ennio Morricone’s hauntingly nostalgic theme for it. Hearing of his sad death in July 2019 brought back a memory from the past. I had become friends with Michela Prodan firstly when I had lived in Rome and then when we lived in Singapore in the mid-70’s. She came from a very artistic family with one brother an actor and another who became a legendary musician in Argentina. She also became involved in films and became a dialogue coach and assistant director. From Singapore, we went our separate ways, she back to Rome and we to Hong Kong and Australia but we always remained in touch. Then in 1990, I got a call from her. She was in Worthing acting as guardian to an Italian boy actor who was at an English language school for some weeks. He was an exceedingly active child and she wanted a day of shared responsibility and diversion. As it happened we were going to watch our son in a match at Westbourne House School so suggested that she bring him over there. It turned out he was Savatore Cascio who played Toto in Cinema Paradiso. The film had been released two years earlier and he was required to learn some English for subsequent ones. You may remember his round face and pointed ears. In real life he was just as lively as he appeared in the film and curious about everything, constantly asking questions. I am not surprised Michela needed a diversion: he must have been exhausting to spend all day with. Among many things he was amazed by in England were “Case con paglia sui loro tetti”, by which, of course, he meant thatched cottages. As he rushed round the school he had the wideeyed look so reminiscent of him in the film. Michela was very concerned at the time that his father, who was a grocer, purloined all Salvatore’s earnings and invested in a supermarket. However, his acting career didn’t last into adulthood and the family now owns two supermarkets, a guest house and a restaurant in his home town of Palazzo Adriano in which they are all involved, so it worked out well in the end. In a recent visit to Sicily we tried to make contact with him but he was away and we only spoke to his brother. Perhaps on another visit we shall actually go to his remote village and meet up with him again. Salvatore inspecting a thatched cottage in Itchenor
starting with 3 white – Laneway Vermentino, Serenissima Pinot Bianco and Fiorosso Fiano. We then had 3 red – Fiorosso Vino Rosso, Amicone and U Turn Ancellotta. From his description and tasting notes we had to note down whether each was true or false. This created lively debate but, as far as I could tell, very few correct answers! However, there were obviously some seasoned and experienced wine drinkers among us and Howard Bottomley took home a bottle of wine as overall winner. It was a very relaxed and enjoyable evening and Jonathan stated later “they are a great bunch”! PS Rumour had it that in fact Jennifer McNeill had more points than Mr. B. but we were amongst friends! Liz Turner 12th June—Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting was held at the Hall of St Paul’s Church on 12th June and presided over by the new Mayor, Craig J. L. Gershater. After receiving and approving the accounts and receiving the report of the Chairman, the Committee and Officers were elected. Richard Roberts, Jennifer Bottomley and Mike Bonser had resigned and were thanked for their long and hugely beneficial service to The Friends. Steph Janes and Dave Heyward, our Gemelli 90 - September 2023 new Treasurer, who had previously been co-opted onto the Committee were elected and the balance of the current committee members were re-elected. A minor change in the constitution was voted on and approved. This provided for any vacancy among the officers or the Chair to be appointed by the Committee. After some discussion as to the sum, £1000 was approved towards the plinth for the statue of Dante Alighieri by Philip Jackson to be placed in Midhurst, probably adjacent to the South Pond. Afterwards, most of those present retired to lunch at Franco Manca by The Cross. 26th June—Four Cities Event An Evening with Simon Brett There was a special celebration this year with the inclusion of Speyer as the new city twinned with Chichester and we were given a short talk on the association and the city itself at the opening of the evening by Rob Campling. The main event was t h e m o s t entertaining talk by S i m o n B r e t t , producer of such Radio gems as I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue and Just a Mi nut e, a m on g many others, and writer of four series of light-hearted detective novels - Charles Paris, Mrs Pargeter, the village Fethering, and Blotto & Twinks. It was not surprising, therefore that we were entertained to many hilarious anecdotes, all delivered off-the-cuff without notes. Afterwards, each of the Friends groups provided canapés/bruschette and wine, providing an opportunity for all the twinning groups to mingle. Alastair Alexander
Italian Language CLASSES and GROUPS Practise speaking Italian and enjoy the company of others of similar ability. The lessons are fee-paying but there is no charge for the conversation groups. LANGUAGE CLASSES We are very fortunate to have the help of Cristina Taylor, a native speaker and teacher of Italian. Cristina is offering classes at three levels, each with conversation, grammar, reading and some home study. This year classes will take place at Cristina’s home in Chichester. Advanced—Tuesdays 10.00 -11.30am Intermediate/Advanced— Tuesdays 2.30— 4.00 pm Intermediate—Wednesdays 10.00-11.30 am Intermediate/ Advanced — Wednesdays 2.30-4.00 pm Intermediate—Thursdays 10.00—11.15 am Intermediate/Advanced—Thursdays 12.00- 1.00 pm Cristina has spaces in some of these classes and anyone wishing to join one of them should contact Cristina directly on 01243 788804 or [email protected] We are fortunate to have the services of Andrea Hill, an experienced teacher of languages, who runs Beginners and Year 2/3 classes. This year, the classes are as follows: Beginners— Year 2 class—Tuesdays 4.00– 5.00 pm Year 3 class—Thursdays 9.30-10.30 am Anyone interested in joining either of these classes should contact her directly on 07801 988257, or by email at [email protected] . CONVERSATION GROUPS In addition to the classes, there are two groups who meet informally once a month for Italian conversation. The Advanced Group meets on the second Thursday of the month from 5.30— 7.00 Intermediate Group on the third Thursday of the month from 5.30— 6.45 Anyone interested in joining one of these groups should contact Andrea on the above number or email. FORTHCOMING EVENTS Thursday September 21st 'Roman Reflections', a talk by Canon Bruce Ruddock October 4th– 8th Visit of Amici di Chichester Tuesday October 17th 'Italian Fascism', a talk by John Foot Tuesday November 14th 'Italian Design', a talk by Greg Votolato December 5th, A musical event for Christmas, with Jon Grave Gemelli 90 - September 2023