June 23rd

After a day and a half at the beach we returned several shades tanner and sunburned to the Cabras Museum. Roberto got assistance from David and Eddie in moving the large boxer fragment we call Rocco into the courtyard. And wet cleaning continued on the archer torso and lower abdomen fragment which we discovered fit together. Around mid morning we took a trip to the opposite side of the lake in Cabras where a team of archeologists had began new excavations on the Monte Prama site. Already 16 new tombs had been discovered, but the primary purpose of the dig was to excavate the mysterious stone structure beside the tombs. It's meaning may shed light on where the Monte Prama statues originally stood and why. 
After visiting the excavation Roberto gave the group a tour of an ancient fishing village where an early roman cistern was repurposed as a church when Christianity was an "underground" religion. One of the most interesting elements of the church is the 2nd century roman graffiti showing fishing boats, women, and animals.
When we returned to the museum it was time to remove the stones that had become encrusted on Rocco, the boxer statue. Then the fragment was run through the atomizer. 
After dinner, Roberto lectured on the CCA's conservation of the mosaic of the Saint Catherine Monastery on Mount Sinai. The descriptions of the problems they faced and their ultimate success left us speechless.

June 20th-22nd

These past few days we continued our work documenting, dry cleaning, and wet cleaning the new fragments. We learned how to use atomized water to gently clean the objects in a noninvasive way. The atomizer sprays a carefully measured amount of water and air to create a fine mist that cleans the object without damaging its surface. The process is necessary to remove all the layers of unwanted dirt and encrustations that have built up over time. 

However, we ended these two work days early and took off all of Monday to enjoy the beautiful Sardinian beaches. We went to Tharros and Is Arutas. Is Arutas is known for its amazing marble sand and it lived up to our expectations. We also explored the various beaches right around Tharros looking for the perfect combination of soft sand and still, clear water. Tharros also was surrounded by Spanish towers that were once used to protect the coast from pirates. Part of the area was also a Roman town which was currently under excavation. Finally we were treated to a traditional Sardinian pasta dish made with dried fish eggs.

June 19th

Today we spent the day working, but we ended early to take a trip to Cagliari. While there we got the chance to see more of the Mont'e Prama sculptures at the National Archaeological Museum of Cagliari. Andreina gave us a tour and we got the chance to better study the different typographies. This helped us to better understand how the fragments we were cleaning in Cabras fit together. There also many other pieces of jewelry and pottery at the museum. Furthermore, we had the chance to hear Roberto speak at a Rotary club meeting about Mont'e Prama and his award. Although the presentation was in Italian, there were plenty of pictures and we were happy to cheer Roberto on. After the presentation, we got pizza and got a quick tour of the historic district of the city before heading back to Cabras.

June 17th and 18th

We began our conservation work with the Mont'e Prama fragments. We split into our groups for documentating, labeling, mapping, and dry cleaning new boxes of limestone fragments. For documentation and mapping we noted any noticeable features or damage and attempted to determine the typography of the the piece. It could fit into any of the following four typographies: boxer, warrior, archer, or a nuraghe tower. We labeled each fragment with its corresponding number and cleaned them using scalpels and brushes. We were even lucky enough to find a match between one of the leg fragments we cleaned and the new boxer that was recently uncovered. The most exciting part of our day, however, was Roberto's return from Oslo and his lecture in Rome.

June 16th

We finally had the chance to get a tour of the museum in Cabras where we will be working for the next 2 weeks. A museum staff member gave us a private tour to view the Mont'e Prama statues already on display. Halfway through the tour we were finally reunited with Andreina, who was returning from Oslo, Norway. Andreina explained more about the conservation techniques used to prepare the statues and she divided us into groups for the next work day.

June 15th

After an overnight ferry we finally arrived in Sardinia. With that said, we did not waste a minute and went straight to visit the museum in Oblia where we learned about the long and complicated process of restoring objects found in salt water. Next we climbed our first nuraghe, now a mere 17 meters, 8 meters shorter than the original. We were blown away by the size of the rocks and the amazing panoramic views of the countryside from the top. Later in the day, we visited the tombs at S. Andrea Priu. They were built inside caves along the mountainside and served multiple purposes for several cultures throughout the centuries. One of the caves contained layers from prehistoric, Roman, and Byzantine civilizations. It was even more incredible when we learned that Roberto and Andreina had actually conserved the frescoes painted along the walls.

June 10-13th

On Wednesday we visited the towns of Assisi and Spoleto! They involved a lot of uphill walking but luckily most of the stairs featured lovely escalators so we didn't have to walk up the mountains. In Assisi, we visited the Basilica of St. Francis and the Basilica of St. Clara, both of which were absolutely stunning. Assisi also had stunning views over the countryside. The cathedral we visited in Spoleto was once again amazing and we got to walk across this bride near an ancient Roman aqueduct very high off of the ground. We also got our first gelato! We were all exhausted from walking around all day so we went to bed pretty much right after dinner.

On Thursday, we had our hand skills "test" which was to see how heavy our hands were when we cleaned marble with a scalpel. This was also to practice what we'll be doing in Cabras. The marble had multiple layers of paint and crust which came off in varying levels of difficulty. In the afternoon, we visited Rieti and another church which had painted walls to look like marble. There was actually a conservator in there working on cleaning one of the columns which was really cool. When we got back it was time for pasta making! We made everything from scratch starting with the pasta dough made with only eggs and flour. We kneaded, rolled, and cut the dough with the help of Laura, a friend of Roberto, who was teaching us and Maria, who I will stress again is an absolute kitchen goddess. We made sauce from scratch as well, using tomatoes, mushrooms, olives, garlic, and herbs which we chopped ourselves and cooked on the stove. The end result was so delicious. Right before dinner, we received great news that the Mont'e Prama project had received the People's Choice Award for Cultural Heritage, given by the European Union. The award was given to Roberto at an awards ceremony in Oslo, Norway which we watched on the projector. We were all so excited and happy - but this means we are also now working on an award winning project so we feel slightly more pressure.

Friday, we woke up really early to see the sunrise and left early to go to Rome. Half the group went to visit Peter Rockwell, a sculptor from the U.S. in his studio. We immediately went to work carving and chipping away at marble and limestone, trying to make designs. It was very hard, especially when we tried to carve the marble. It makes you really appreciate the old masters' work. We got to try an old drill technique with a pulley and also an air drill for faster carving. We had lunch at a cute cafe place and then did a tour in the afternoon where we saw the Roman Forum and several other forums and ruins, as well as another church. For dinner we went out to a stone-fired pizza restaurant where we each got our own personal pizza. Afterwards, we went out to explore the nightlife of Rome and found a cool market/shopping area along the Tiber River.

Saturday was all tours, in the morning led by Francesca and in the afternoon by Peter Rockwell. The tours were a lot of walking in the hot sun so they were very tiring but cool because Francesca and Peter always had interesting stories behind the sights, churches and pieces of art we saw. After dinner we went out to the Tiber River festival again where they had a bunch of shops and restaurants.

June 9th

Today, we spent much of the day in the classroom learning about the region of Rieti and its history, the history of the convent, and the Mont'e Prama project. We also discussed causes of deterioration, ranging from natural causes such as earthquakes to man-made causes such as attacks by ISIS. Roberto has experienced all of these issues firsthand. We also went over the logistics of the trip and took a lot of coffee breaks! 

                          Family dinner!

           Our first class

June 8th

We finally arrived in Italy after a long and endless flight. upon arriving we were greeted by Gian Mario and Francesca who work at the CCA. They treated us to a lovely picnic with fresh fruit and sandwiches. We then headed to an archeological site at Villa Adriana. However, we only saw a model since it began to hail, which is not a common occurrence. On the bright side we got to play with a cat. After a long ride up the mountain, we arrived at the convent and met Roberto and his wife, Andreina. Then we picked our rooms and were treated to an amazing home-cooked meal of mushroom and truffle risotto, pork, and potatoes. After 2 days of no sleep we were finally given the opportunity to rest. 

             Picnicking outside an archaeological site

                View from the convent

           Cat hanging out at Villa Adriana

3 More Days!!

Just three days until the University of Delaware art conservation students leave for Italy. We are getting so excited!

We may not have constant wifi access during our stay, but we will aim to write and post pictures as consistently as possible.  Here is our itinerary for the trip so you can follow along on our adventure! We will be landing in Rome on June 8th and then we will be traveling to Sardinia for the second half of our trip on June 15th.