THE POZZO DELLA CAVA IN ORVIETO – UMBRIA

di Benedetta Tintillini

Three cave complexes can be visited in Orvieto, very different one from the other: the famous St. Patrick’s Well , the Mill of Santa Chiara and the Pozzo della Cava.
The cliff of Orvieto, hides an endless series of caves and tunnels (1204 are the explored ones) excavated along 28 centuries of history; that’s why the Pozzo della Cava is so amazing and particular, here we can admire a series of artificial cavities of very different eras, from the Etruscans to the Renaissance.
It is located in the medieval quarter of Orvieto. As it was impossible to expand the city due to the particular shape of the cliff, the inhabitants were forced to transform and readapt the underground cellars, according to their actual needs; that explains the constant changes and transformations of the cavities.
The water supply in case of siege was the need that caused the creation of several wells, the first to be realized was the Pozzo della Cava.
But let’s order !
In the first room at the road level (the rooms at this level were used as workshops or stables, the upper floors were used as houses), there is a furnace of ceramics from the Middle Ages. Part of the chimney and the furnace it’s still

THE CONCORDIA THEATER IN MONTE CASTELLO VIBIO: THE SMALLEST THEATER IN THE WORLD WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE

by Benedetta Tintillini
Monte Castello Vibio, a small village that has preserved its medieval shape, holds within itself a place so special and unique. But is it really the smallest theater in the world? The challenge is open with the theater of Vetriano near Lucca, which is registered to Guinness, but in this case it is not a space created as a theater, but a nineteenth century building, conceived for other use, then converted to a meeting place in which it was made a theater.
The Concordia Theatre (then called “establishment”). It was founded by 9 upper-class families of Monte Castello in the early 1800s as a private place, which could be accessed only by invitation of the owners.
After about 40 years of total neglect, in 1993 the theater came back to life, that was the realization of the dream of a child, whose portrait can be seen in the only vintage photo of the theater dated 1929: the child’s name was Nello Latini.
That child, who was allowed to enter to watch a puppet show on the day of the Epiphany, fell in love with the Concordia Theater and loved it until the last day of his life.
75 year old in 1993, in possession of the theater keys, he began to open it to tourists and the curious, and show the theater returned to its former glory, giving way to the activity that is currently the major source of livelihood for the association: the theater guided tours .
He used to make such as theater stamps reducing the image and cutting the borders, and in 2002 , with the approval of the then President Ciampi, the stamp with the effigy of the Concordia Theatre in Monte Castello was issued. Another dream came true.
I could talk about the frescoes made by the Agrettis, father and son (14 years old!), the perfect acoustics thanks to the wood that covers the ceiling, or the particular atmosphere that you breathe, but I wish that everyone discovers it, lives it, visiting and becoming a friend of the theater and helping it to grow.
Volunteers welcome visitors, and always with renewed enthusiasm, tell the history, stories and lives, linked to this magical heritage of Monte Castello and all of us.
Are you thinking about a journey? Click HERE

 

FABIO BOCCANERA : THE ITALIAN VOICE OF JOHNNY DEPP (and much more…)

Benedetta Tintillini e Fabio Boccanera

by Benedetta Tintillini

English version by Joan Malloy
Honestly I think that half the success that Johnny Depp receives in Italy, is due to Fabio Boccanera and his awesome talent. The general audience is not even aware of the high level of professionalism that the ‘Italian Voice Actors’

ENCOUNTERS – THE CONCORDIA THEATRE IN MONTE CASTELLO VIBIO : WHEN DREAMS COME TRUE

By Benedetta Tintillini

Edoardo Brenci

As in an exclusive lounge. That’s the way Edoardo Brenci, art director of the smallest theater in the world, welcomes the guests before the start of the show.

As in his living room , the host greets the guests, watching the faces and recognizing the regulars from new friends, mostly tourists, curious to know

ENCOUNTERS – ROBERTO SEBASTIANELLI : I ALWAYS DREAM ABOUT FOLWERS

by Benedetta Tintillini

Benedetta Tntillini

A multi-sensory experience: a joy for the eyes, a delight for the palate, a poem for the sense of smell. All this and much more is Roberto Sebastianelli ‘s food.

Born in Senigallia, he won the World Championship in 1998 in Luxembourg, and, not satisfied of the

ENCOUNTERS – RITA MIRANDA : NATURE, LIFE , ART .

by Benedetta Tintillini

Rita Miranda

I meet Rita in her studio in Todi, city where she was born, lives and works, for a pleasant chat about her art.

She started rather recently, thanks to the lucky prolific meetings with the Maestro Bruno Ceccobelli and Enzo Tilia, with whom she learned the ancient Raku pottery technique knowing the pleasure of giving life, with her own hands, to forms suggested by her sensitivity, and her fantasy.

The concept of Nature expressed in the title is the main theme in Rita’s art. The

ENCOUNTERS – ENRICO SARSINI: THE PHOTOGRAPHY BETWEEN HISTORY AND STORIES . PART I

Benedetta Tintillini

by Benedetta Tintillini

I am in front of a great photojournalist , who lived, and captured the most important events of history (the one with a capital S ) for the last 60 years.

I have the unique opportunity to listen to stories and events from a man who experienced them firsthand, but such is the affection for Enrico and spontaneity that I cannot realize it, and lose myself in a pleasant chat .

I look at his picture hanging on the walls , easy to read for a careless and

ENCOUNTERS – POPE FRANCIS AND THE INFIORATORI OF SPELLO

Benedetta Tintillini

by Benedetta Tintillini

Miracles are to be recognized in the unexpected joys that happens every day.
I have the honor , for about a year , to be a Infioratore of Spello (card 740 ) , which fills me with pride and that allowed me , today , to be full of pain in the whole body but also of great happiness .
The President of the Association, and dear friend , Guglielmo Sorci , gave me one of the most intense ( and exhausting ) days of all my life , giving me the opportunity to participate in the realization of the Infiorata on the occasion of the visit of Pope Francis in Assisi.
Each of us Infioratori came home with a wealth of memories and feelings that I do not think we will be able to forget .
The uniqueness of the Pope’s visit to Assisi is known, but the chorus of people to attend the event in Spello is amazing.

MATAVITATAU : A REAL AND VIRTUAL JOURNEY AMONG THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL WONDERS OF ANCIENT ROME

Benedetta Tintillini

by Benedetta Tintillini

Next appointment with our past will take place on September 29th in Rome. The Matavitatau Cultural Association scheduled the activity entitled: LIVING IN ROME : THE DOMUS of Palazzo Valentini , the Trajan’s Column and the ROMAN DOMUS of Celio Hill.

Memeber and not-members will have the opportunity guided by the President of the Association , Nicoletta Bernardini , to discover the excavations made ​​in the

ENCOUNTERS – FRANCESCO BAIANO: HISTORY AND MEMORY OF THE CERAMICS OF DERUTA

Benedetta Tintillini and Francesco Baiano

I come into the shop – workshop – museum “Antica Fornace” of Deruta, immediately greeted by the founder, Mr. Francesco Baiano. He accompanies me, with courtesy and enthusiasm, on a visit through his collection of ceramics, an astounding collection of pottery and ceramic production in Deruta from 1400 to the present.

He tells me of his relatives, Mr. Margaritelli, who created the first Factory of