A few years ago I was sitting here in my office at home .. half daydreaming about my past life with one eye on the computer screen while the other kept tabs on the TV set... just in case I miss something. All of a sudden my TV eye notified my mind's eye to turn all my attention to the TV screen. And there unfolding before me was a sequence of flashes.. familiar scenes straight out of my youth.... il palazzo communale , la piazza Signorelli , la chiesa di Santa Margherita , il Calcinaio etc... the historic townhall , Signorelli Square , Saint Margaret¨s Church , the Calcinaio Church etc... it was a programme showing the marvels of Cortona , Italy... an old Etruscan fortified or walled in mountain city in Tuscany where I had lived and studied for a number of years back in the late fifties and early sixties. I don't know whether any of you have ever heard of or read a book by Frances Hayes , Under The Tuscan Sun , published in 1996 . This work catapulted Cortona into the limelight and and an ensuing movie made it known worldwide for what it is... the most beautiful place on earth !! I checked it out on the net last night and .. my heavens to Betsy !! How things have changed !! Landgrabbers , real estate mania , University of Georgia has set up archeology courses there for Summer semester, ... like opening up the West !! Remember what happened to the Indians ? I haven't been back now in a few years . That time I stayed at my old Alma Mater some 500 meters below the old ramparts and visiting with some of the old peasant farmers who are still alive and remember me. I'll post a pic of my college immediately after this post and tell a bit more tomorrow about this God's Little Acre on earth.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Déjà Vu , Déjà Vécu.. Already Seen , Already Lived !!
A few years ago I was sitting here in my office at home .. half daydreaming about my past life with one eye on the computer screen while the other kept tabs on the TV set... just in case I miss something. All of a sudden my TV eye notified my mind's eye to turn all my attention to the TV screen. And there unfolding before me was a sequence of flashes.. familiar scenes straight out of my youth.... il palazzo communale , la piazza Signorelli , la chiesa di Santa Margherita , il Calcinaio etc... the historic townhall , Signorelli Square , Saint Margaret¨s Church , the Calcinaio Church etc... it was a programme showing the marvels of Cortona , Italy... an old Etruscan fortified or walled in mountain city in Tuscany where I had lived and studied for a number of years back in the late fifties and early sixties. I don't know whether any of you have ever heard of or read a book by Frances Hayes , Under The Tuscan Sun , published in 1996 . This work catapulted Cortona into the limelight and and an ensuing movie made it known worldwide for what it is... the most beautiful place on earth !! I checked it out on the net last night and .. my heavens to Betsy !! How things have changed !! Landgrabbers , real estate mania , University of Georgia has set up archeology courses there for Summer semester, ... like opening up the West !! Remember what happened to the Indians ? I haven't been back now in a few years . That time I stayed at my old Alma Mater some 500 meters below the old ramparts and visiting with some of the old peasant farmers who are still alive and remember me. I'll post a pic of my college immediately after this post and tell a bit more tomorrow about this God's Little Acre on earth.
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