GENIUS IN
MY HANDS
January
9, 2006
I guess
you could call this my typical Roman day.
The usual, the good, the bad and the totally impossible are what make
this trip so great and testing all at the same time. It is later in the evening than I usually
write. We have been watching “American
Splendor”, on our computer. We had seen
it before on the big screen, but it had a sweet luster even on the
computer. Watching movies on the
computer, especially one with a 12” screen is not easy; you must pay
attention. The sound sucks and the picture
is rotten but when you get a good film it doesn’t matter. The everyman nature of Harvey Pekar, a guy
you couldn’t stand for more then 10 minutes feels like the truth. No review here but a nice ending to a strange
day.
I was
determined to close my bank account today.
It did not happen. The bank
manager and I had one of those seminal moments that only can happen when two
cultures collide. I kept thinking throughout our discussion that I was the
customer. I am not exactly sure what he
was thinking, but it didn’t have much to do with “customer”.
More likely, why do I have to deal with his guy? At one point in our discussion he said, “I do
not have any obligation to speak to you in English. I will not close your account “. My response is probably not exact but it had
something to do with me saying, “Why are you being so rude to me, all I want to
do is close my account”. This was
followed by his saying, “If you don’t bring in all your unwritten checks, I will
never close your account. This is not
America, it is Italy and we have our rules”.
I will return tomorrow to do exactly as he has suggested. There is no way to overcome this Italian
triumph. It reminds me of a cop who has
the power. In retrospect, I don’t think
opening the bank account was a very good idea.
I spent
the morning with my friend, Mario Telari, printmaker, teacher and new
friend. I have asked Mario to come to
San Francisco so that I may honor him with the same generosity that he has
shown me. We went to the Gabinetto of
Prints and Drawings at the Farnesina Palace.
It is not the one that is now the French Embassy in Campo de Fiori but
the one that the Chigi family built with them on the Trastevere side of the
Tiber. He had called in advance to
arrange a special showing and they had gotten out all of the best things for me
to see. I was regaled by and actually
held Piranesi prints, a Goya artist book, A. Durer drypoints and a fantastic
Rembrandt print. We looked at dozens of
things from the 1400’s on, all prints on hand made paper. What a moment for me. So special and
delivered by a teacher who knew all the answers and all the history. A wonderful couple of hours in a beautiful
palace. After we looked at the prints,
Mario took me to the presentation hall, up a flight of marble stairs done in
perspective with frescos on the ceiling.
The hall was painted in trompe l’oeil.
Mario explained that the frescos were done as if the floor never existed
and we were looking at Rome from a terrace.
It was extraordinary. Then to the
drawing room for the piece de résistance, a Raphael fresco that was realized
for the Pope. Pope who, I can’t say but
I bet he loved it. It was a Roman
moment.
Kim came
back from her morning of touring churches about Mary Magdalene in the same
mood, feeling good about our time here and trying to get all of our lists done
for our departure. It keeps on
happening, the juxtaposition of the really unbelievable and the trial of no
language and cultural differences. What
will I do without this incredible stimulation?
Even with the most difficult Bank Manager this place is like a motion
picture that never ends. It is not easy
for me but neither is golf.
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