Life on a Tuscan Farm

On Thursday, Alice and Justin, two intern alumni who met at Spannocchia during the Spring 2005 Internship Program, were married in Siena. The ceremony was held in the Siena town hall in front of over 40 of their family and friends, including most of the interns from their group. The party continued with a meal at the Grillo Morro restaurant in Sovicille and finished at Spannocchia with Tuscan dancing and music with Riccio’s band, a traditional Italian wedding cake and wine. Congratulations to the happy couple! A presto!

Over the past week, if you were lucky enough to take a walk in the Spannocchia woods, you might have come across a very interesting project to make wood charcoal! Rusty Lamer, Spannocchia’s Intern Program Director from 2002/2003 came back this spring, after completing his master’s degree in Landscape Architecture at UC Berkeley, to bring to life an important aspect of Spannocchia’s past.

Spannocchia’s forest was once a prime location for carbonaia (piles created for the production of wood charcoal). The charcoal is made by creating a huge wood pile and covering and packing it with soil and then tending to it while it burns for two days in an oxygen-depleted environment. Rusty was helped by a local charcoal expert named Rodolfo, who came to Spannocchia each day to help create the pile and monitor the process.

The charcoal can then be used in barbeques or for creating art (as in charcoal pencils). Rusty will remain at Spannocchia for another few weeks to complete an art project using the charcoal he created. A presto!