Wednesday, March 13, 2019

A day of flowers, scents, tastes and sights make up our Festa della Donna

Perfumes were common in Roman times,
and there are even surviving recipes detailing
the ingredients needed.

One doesn’t have to be a woman to enjoy the Festa della Donna, though it certainly helps to have a woman handy with whom to share the celebration! Lucy and I went to two events last Friday that were advertised as special events for women (which mentioned that men were also welcome), and we thoroughly enjoyed them both.

Travertine stone in Lucca that has been there
for more than 2000 years, placed by the Romans.
In the morning, I went out into the woods to cut off some sprigs of mimosa, which I carried back for some of the female shop owners in Montecarlo—being careful to save the biggest and best for my own favorite donna. In the afternoon, we attended an unusual tour directed by Elena Benvenuti of Discover Lucca with Elena. The itinerary followed that of a typical exploration of the Roman roots of Lucca, but it also included special aspects on the role of women in Roman society as well as sensory experiences that allowed us to smell, taste and feel ancient society along with the usual visual and auditory aspects of a tour. We learned about Roman walls that have survived for two millennia, the history of the anfiteatro and teatro and the discovery in 2010 of the buried ruins of an important Roman house, now called the Casa del Fanciullo sul Delfino, or the “house of the child on dolphin.”

Our guide to the Domus Romana.
I’ve written about Lucca’s Roman ties more completely in A journey to Lucca’s Roman roots, but to enhance the current experience, Elena gave us all samples of perfume, drinks and a dessert that were common in earlier times to help us jump back to the past. With the assistance of Elena and a presentation by archeologist Lucia Giannicchini, we learned about perfume, hair styles, clothing, social life, occupations and other aspects of women’s lives during ancient times. Women in Rome were citizens, and while they could not vote or hold political office, those from wealthy or powerful families were free to study, write and exert influence in less direct ways.

Three of us on the tour were not completely fluent in Italian, but that turned out to be advantageous once we reached the Roman house, because our little group had the full attention of an enthusiastic and knowledgeable English-speaking guide. Dressed as Caesar, Marco was a font of information on Roman society.

Two balls were placed in Lucy's hands . . .
That same evening, Lucy and I attended a performance of magic and an apericena (a dinner of appetizers) in San Salvatore’s Bar Boccaccio, and once again we were part of a small group—about 15 people—enjoying a first-class show. Before the spettacolo started, the magician spent time at each table performing card tricks, and even though we were inches away from his hands, we have no idea how he possibly could have done the things he did.

She closed her fist, opened it, and suddenly there were three!
The DJ playing music at dinner recognized that we were not native italiani, and after asking where we hailed from, he played God Bless America to make us feel welcome. We then were treated to a clever display of sleight of hand. Lucy was pulled reluctantly on stage to help with foam ball tricks. Each time she opened her fist, the number of balls that appeared differed from the number that the magician had previously placed in her palm. She still refuses to tell me how she did that! The ball trick and most of the others were completely mystifying, but we did figure out how a few others might have been performed. We have no idea how the bar could have made any money by hiring a magician for an intimate crowd for only the price of aperitivi, but it made for a stimulating and gratifying end to our Festa della Donna celebration.


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