IT'S ALL ABOUT WEAVING!

"DARE SPAGO" in Italian means that you are letting someone
express him/herself, you are letting someone have it
his/her way.  Spago in Italian means "cord"

I AM 

AN INTERPRETER

I'm not taking into consideration professional simultaneous interpreting (too fast for me!) chuchotage is ok. However, written translations are my favorite (no loneliness anymore in Facebook times), interpreting artists and meeting customers' needs is my mission!

                                               

                                                                                            ♥ Roberta Niccacci

"DARE SPAGO": Something I have really enjoyed in my life is when someone did let me express myself in what I liked to do: caregiving, teaching, selling ceramics. I appreciated it so much that this is exactly when I gave my best performances. This is the reason why I am using the same method in my new entrepreneurial experience; I am going to be very selective and it is something easy to do for me,  I am letting people in only and if they are "giving cord" to me!
I will test immediately if the eligible artists and producers have "Filo da Tessere" (tr. yarns to be woven), their openness might be there, it must be full openness! I am not looking for people who like to "dare filo da torcere" (tr. to give someone a hard time).

A classical expression of an angel
going through frustration. His effort to save
his favorite good person in the world was useless.
(this Angel is by Giotto, from the
Basilica of Assisi. He must be more polite than
other angels but he /she could not manage
his/her bad feelings)

Cama's best customers and fans know of my recent history: I was forced to abandon all my dreams about my home town Deruta because ceramicists did not need me in the first place, above all they could not understand what I wanted to do. Indeed there was not much I could do except sell their ceramics, rearrange their stores, creating a unifying way of doing business. No way to enter their ceramics factories my way. Among all the ceramicists I "bothered", only one of them fully understood what I wanted to do without much explanation. He was so deep in his understanding that he appreciated my efforts so much and to such an extent that he considered it as a way for Deruta to a healing path. But I am not competing to become the next  Saint of Deruta, St. Roberta of Deruta (maybe St. Robin would sound more international) most of the times Saints did not die in their beds at home, they were grilled on a grate like Saint Lawrence, if you were lucky enough a few angels could come and help, such as in the case of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint Protector of Deruta but the help of the angels was not enough because she died beheaded right afterward, another example of a lucky Saint is Saint Sebastian, angels came and help him the first time, then he insisted with the Emperor and the Emperor ordered to kill him by scourging, who wants to become a Saint? Their problem was INSISTING. Therefore who wants to insist on a town which does not want you? (ceramicists want your customers and they want to keep their power at the same time. Who doesn't want that? They are jealous of their small garden, of course, not to mention the workers who are dead in the heart, they are not willing to cooperate for something innovative, fearful of losing their rights.

Mystics can hear the voice
of Angels, one of them is
St. Cerbone who sang his prayers
at dawn and heard the angels reply.

This is what an angel looks like;
when he/she comes and
help.
They carry wreaths
of flowers in their hands!
They are not undertakers!
Angels want to help you
to stay alive.

A rare image of angels talking,
they have the rule of
silence but here they
were forced to ask for
mutual advice, they do not know
what else to do, someone is under
risk of immediate death,
risking becoming a Saint!
No room for suicide committers
in Paradise. 

This circle of angels is too beautiful! From
the nine Angels' choirs.
Hildegard's Illuminated  Prayers Book
It is a mandala!!!

Additionally, because I do not like to be a tourist guide, I do not want to become a licensed tourist guide, I do not want to be a guide at all, I was forced to leave Deruta for the new horizons leading me towards the borders between Umbria and Tuscany and about a year later after my moving to Piegaro I could scream "TERRA!" (tr. "Land!") like Cristoforo Colombo at the sight of the land which was actually America back in 1492, in times of high Renaissance in Italy. No Derutese should dare to come to my new land, I will close the entrance door to Piegaro, I have the keys to this town, I live in the toll-house of the village, as a matter of fact, everybody from Deruta should ask for my authorization to come in. "Tertium non-datur", Latins said, there will not be a third chance for you, my dear citizens of the beautiful declining town of ceramics.

Cors-Cordis means "Heart"
in Latin. Thinking of the
word "Cord" in
English! "Toto Corde"
means "with all my heart. 

If I were a Saint, St. Robin would be my
popular nickname, and the bird, the
Robin (for Roberta) would be my symbol
of remembrance. It may be included in my personal
coat of arms, like important family
members did in the Renaissance,
same as Popes and Saints. The neck of the Robin
is red from the blood of Christ, for the blood
of Jesus' good heart. 

It is not me who says that. On the contrary, I have tried to help with all my heart like my professional friends tried to, it is the predictions of consultants and market analysts, 80% of the workshops will be gone, only small studios will survive this recession if nothing will be done to fight against it.
This said, I have closed the heavy book about Deruta now and abandoned my dreams of unity for Deruta, which was the first priority to me in order to do a good job. I would have had a lot of work to do but the field was hard to work, the soil too hard to move and ears too strong. As a consequence, I am now concentrating on following the stream of my beautiful new experience on the border between Umbria and Tuscany. I wish to start by understanding where the Italian saying "Dare Spago" comes from. I cannot blow the horn until I have reached a safe shore but I could not resist communicating how happy I am to sleep in peace at night, getting over the sense of guilt I had in Deruta and my unhappiness, my frustration in not being able to help my way. Etymologically "Dare Spago" means that someone leaves allowance to a cord, a rope, deleting limits, giving freedom of action and speech, it comes from the use of attaching animals to a place by the use of a rope, such as a horse, so that it would not go too away. Regarding the English word "CORD", it is amazing how this word has the stem in common with the Latin word "CORS-CORDIS-CORDE", which means HEART!
The reverse of "Dare Spago" (tr. give cord) is "Dare filo da torcere" (tr. to give a hard time) and the meaning clearly comes from the textile industry. Last but not least someone talented "Ha Stoffa", someone talented has fabrics, this is the literal translation. The origin of these Italian sayings will be the subjects of additional posts in the future. I am taking to this new experience all the loyal Cama fans and customers, the Friends of Cama, who come as part of my precious treasure in this new world in Italy!

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- Original Posts by Roberta Niccacci -

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GIULIETTA

On October 8th all the cobwebs in the houses of my American
friends in the US are officially Halloween decorations, I am
learning this today from Kelly. Very witty!

EMOTIONAL MARKETING

Customers are the same as bugs, when they become resistant to attacks it is a good sign for the life of virtuous companies, and for the customers themselves, it means they are not slaves of advertisements. In the near future customers will buy your products only and if there are added values, which go beyond the benefit of low prices based on cruel competition, a consequence of the Industrial Revolution as much as Globalization now. Cama, my family's workshop was decades ahead in this process, this is one of the reasons why Cama was so beloved by its audience: genuine, true, authentic service to the customers, who do not forget.  

♥

In Piegaro like in many small villages in Italy, people carry nicknames and I really like the one they gave me: Giulietta, which is, of course, the Juliet of "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare. This whole thing started with my engagement with one of the citizens of Piegaro back in the month of January of this year. The first thing I thought of was the commercial on Tv for an Italian car, Alfa Romeo in which they had selected Uma Thurman as a testimonial with a very appealing and elegant style. Mrs. Uma Thurman during the commercial uses words of appreciation for the car (a symbol well described by Carl Gustav Jung in his essays as basically a woman, in this case, a modern Juliet for the benefit of the car producer, [Alfa] Romeo).  These are the lines in Italian that they use in the commercial making you think of "Romeo and Juliet" By William Shakespeare:

“Io sono la purezza,

Io sono la bellezza,

Io sono la potenza,

Io sono la tecnologia.

Io sono tutte queste cose e molto di più.

Io sono Giulietta e sono fatta della stessa materia di cui sono fatti i sogni. Senza cuore saremmo solo solo macchine."

[mentre passa la voce con "Io sono Giulietta e sono fatta della stessa materia di cui sono fatti i sogni." appare la scritta "Noi siamo fatti della stessa materia di cui sono fatti i sogni." firmato W.Shakespeare]

So I searched the tragedy of William Shakespeare by the famous title of "Romeo and Juliet" to give the above lines a context and I could not find such lines, on the contrary, the only line that appears written on the commercial is listed under another famous tragedy by William Shakespeare, "The Tempest" (tr. "La Tempesta") which reads "We are such stuff/ as dreams are made on; /and our little life/ Is rounded with a sleep"...this is the only line that belongs to William Shakespeare. Not much truth for the spectators who read things second-hand and do not research about what is true and what is an adaptation in order to sell the products. The line which is making us feel so strong and delicate at the same time, just like women are, has nothing to do with Romeo and Juliet. It belongs to a different tragedy. 

Now, what...is the dream over? In this case, Alfa Romeo produces one of the best lines of cars in Italy, they are beloved by families and single men, the favorite color is a RED passion for singles and black for families. This was an example of a commercial regarding an excellent Italian product, the product is very good to start with. You would not run any risks with Alfa Romeo cars. They basically do not need commercials. They would not run into trouble by using some wise understatement policy. It would be better if they made us save that investment on the car price! 

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Original Posts by Roberta Niccacci www.friendsofcama.blogspot.it  www.facebook.com/friendsofcama

Money and Beauty. Bankers, Botticelli and the Bonfire of the Vanities

Crest of Pope Urbano VIII Barberini
who became Pope in 1623. The noble Barberini
family was originally from the county of Florence
(Semifonte, Barberino Val d'Elsa, Italy).

"Money and Beauty. Bankers, Botticelli and the Bonfire of the Vanities" (17 September 2011-22 January 2012)


This is the title of one of the several beautiful exhibitions that are organized at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. Sometimes during the year, I get to visit Florence and I am probably going to accept the invitation of a new friend of mine from Piegaro to visit Florence again before wintertime. I love Florence and for me, it is a source of inspiration every time I go.
Regarding this exhibition in particular I recall that at the end of my visit, while walking back to the train along with the streets of downtown Florence I was feeling drawn back to the Renaissance times and it was a wonderful feeling, I could appreciate everything around me with so much pleasure, Renaissance scenes were still lively around me thanks to marble details, names of banks, arches, family crests, as if I had gone through a voyage back in time.
In times of recession for many of us, the temptation of destroying the wealth of others is very strong, the Vatican is running great risks these days, Pope Benedict XVI would be better off keeping silent, staying home, and inviting his followers and crews to pray for the peace in the world, stressing out what nuns and friars do every day among other obligations serving other people with welcoming homes for the poor, schools and retirement homes. Many people in Italy and in the world are currently pointing the finger at the wealth of the Vatican and the contradictions between their ethical comments about what is happening in our corrupted society and what they do bad and especially own: wealth, money, and at least one huge bank: The Bank of the Vatican known as IOR.

The famous "Last Judgment" by Michelangelo Buonarroti in the Sistine Chapel was commissioned by Pope PAUL III Farnese. 

In the Renaissance one of the representatives of the Catholic Church, Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498) incited rich people in Florence to get rid of their wealth, repent of their sins and give up on beauty and money, it is said that the artist Botticelli himself had some of his paintings fired in the so-called Savonarola's "Bonfire of the Vanities", which was one of the subjects of the exhibition in Florence, indeed the culmination of the story of the evolution and flourishing of the patronage of arts supported by banks in the city of Florence.

Urbano VIII born Maffeo Barberini (Florence
1568-Rome 1644) was elected Pope in 1623
and is buried in the Basilica of St. Peter in
Rome. 

Nowadays the process of condemnation seems to be reversed, the Church is being for the moment "verbally" attacked, in times when popes are no longer patrons of the arts despite the wealth they have accumulated in centuries of power. These days popes are no longer supported by the fact of preserving art and culture because it comes from their education, in the past being patrons of the arts was protection for themselves and their cortege in the first point. Art and beauty are a blessing for everybody while vile money is not a reason for being respected especially if popes are not coming from noble families like in the past, where their wealth had noble origins or at least what they made through the Church was being camouflaged by the respectability of their nobility. 

Among the Popes of the past, one of the most important Patrons of the Arts was Paul III born Alessandro Farnese, whose family owned a palace in Caprarola, Italy which is one of the best examples of Renaissance residences in Italy. Pope Paul III used to stop in Piegaro, Italy to rest during his travels from Rome to Perugia. He stayed in Piegaro five times at the end of which he named Piegaro "Terra" (Latin word for "estate") which was the highest title for a place as a thank you to the Piegarese for being welcoming and kind.  Pope Paul III is remembered for commissioning the "Last Judgement" (painted between 1536 and 1541) to Michelangelo Buonarroti. He honored Piegaro with his gifts in 1547 because the appointment "Terra" was accompanied by the public clock for the bell tower and the exemption from a tax for the 18 years to follow.

On the contrary the Barberini family, a Pope's family whose crest reproductions are numerous in the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome (three golden bees over a blue background), where the most important member of their family is buried, Pope Urbano VIII, they were known for the saying "Quod non fecerunt Barbari, fecerunt Barberini" (Latin for "what the Barbarians didn't do was perpetrated by the Barberini family") and is referred to their destroying attitude towards the arts (such as the fusion of bronze antique girders of the Pantheon to make the baldachin of the Cathedral of St. Peter) and towards the city planning in Rome which during their papacy underwent major remodeling. Nevertheless, in recent years, art critics have reinstated the Barberini family affirming that the saying was a slander of opponents of the Barberini family, propaganda that put the shame on the Barberini family to politically destroy them. Indeed Pope Urbano VIII, born Maffeo Barberini, was a great patron of the arts, the first sponsor of the famous Italian architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini who became famous all over Europe thanks to the intuition of this pope and is the author of the questioned baldachin, which we still admire in the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome.

Sandro Botticelli, The Calumny of Apelles (1494) Uffizi Gallery
Slander is today's most used weapon in politics, religions, and many attacks on opponents in private life. 

As nobility is concerned especially these days popes should belong to noble families, this is the other shield against attacks because once you are deprived of nobility, you end up being on the same level as the people you are praying to, as alternative holiness maybe your other shield but only in case, you are a saint. And if you are a saint you have no money to defend yourself from the attacks of other people. Saints are the richest people among the poor (we are all poor compared to the wealth of a few people in the world) and thank goodness there is no money involved, we would be attacked likewise.

A Swiss guard at the Vatican
seen through a kid's eye. 

Art and beauty with strong roots add warmth and love to our lives, they were part of the Renaissance period as main themes, in a period which was exclusively Italian and created in Florence. If we think of the 17th century as a transition - the Baroque Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome is probably the greatest example of this period - the century that followed, the Enlightenment, was deprived of humanity; science may be right and perfect but forgets about the fact that mankind has a soul, indeed the 18th century gave vent to Romanticism which is likewise a period without balance concerning the feminine and the masculine in nature. Art and beauty are also the cure, panacea of our uproarious feelings, no matter how bad our feelings can be and regardless of their origins. Long-life to the Italian Renaissance and to those who appreciate it as a tradition of the Italian talented artists longing for peace, kindness, and love, this is one reason why in Italy we are very talented for uniforms!

It is probably a legend that the uniforms of the Swiss guards of the Vatican were designed by Michelangelo but we like to think this is a true story, as a matter of fact, these uniforms were inspired by Renaissance paintings and they are very fascinating especially in the drawing herewith displayed. The Swiss guards have been to the service of the Popes in the city of Rome since 1506, the year in which Leonardo finished his "Monna Lisa".

The Monna Lisa edited by my friends at Sezione Aurea, The writing is sarcastic for these
times and "L'agio conta" translates "wealth matters". 

A note from the Desk of Roberta Niccacci 

Dear Readers, 

Thank you very much for your patronage. I wish to know all of you one day, maybe by serving you with products and services. Today the blog has reached 30,000 visits with a steady flow of 3,000 visits a month in the past quarter. I see your statistics, the keywords you use to find my blog but I am not receiving any comments or feedback from your side. Well, maybe this is just how blogs work. Anyway, if you wish to receive more of my posts you may "like" my Facebook page at the following address: www.facebook.com/friendsofcama. This would be much appreciated. 

With Affection and Warm Greetings from Italy, 

Roberta Niccacci

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Original Posts by Roberta Niccacci -

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