Italy School Refurb June 14

8:00 am and the dramatic notes of the piano resonate around the house and draws us reluctantly from our slumber. Still, it puts you in a better frame of mind than your typical alarm and its always followed by the hissing of coffee working its way through the espresso pot.

Not wanting to be late a second time for Massimo, the School Director, we all pile in the car and zoom off to Citta di Castello. Massimo is acknowledging our efforts with a personal tour of the city, releasing golden nuggets of architectural wisdom on the way. He pointed out how the archways can be read, with each type representing a different period of time in the city's evolution. He linked history with architectural typology, showing us towers strategically demolished due to the threat that arose when gunpowder was invented. We saw the a grand palace built by an influential 15th C family and listened to the story of the lady who dropped her hanky on the men below... We saw a 500 dead saint and deconstructed a painting by Raffaello.

Ice cream for a welcome burst of energy then a fruitless search for hoop screw for Rhiddi's toilet flush intervention. Back home for sandwiches and a siesta. The evening was spent on our making projects-painting, welding, sawing and glueing what we broke. Not to mention running Marcus's new plane through a screwhead.