Last summer, Lisa Evans (Spring 1982) revisited Syracuse Florence with her son and recounted seeing the funeral of Countess Bona Gigliucci, the daughter of Count Mario Gigliucci who designed the Villa Rossa for his family, in Piazza Savonarola (seen behind her in the photo above). Lisa kindly shared some photos and memories with us.
On Returning to the Villa Rossa
For decades a return visit was interrupted by a busy life. In August I finally made a trip to Florence, along with my son. I was excited to share the city that my semester at Syracuse taught me so much about. On our last day in Florence, we visited Villa Rossa. When I walked into the building, I was transported back 40 years. Much has changed, but the feeling of being in that beautiful building was so familiar. In one room I recalled my Italian Literature class, and reading Dante’s Inferno.
The wooden mailboxes are still hanging on the wall in the foyer! Before email and text, finding a letter addressed to you in your slot, was a great day. Lastly, the spiral staircase holds a memory. When we arrived for the semester, we were assigned a local family to live with. We all lined the spiral staircase and looked down upon the families, waiting for our name to be called , and a family to go home with. It was so stressful and exciting. Standing at the top of the stairs and looking down, I was taken right back to that time.
On the Funeral of Countess Gigliucci
I don’t ever recall being introduced to the director, or of running into him at the school. So when I was sitting in the piazza in front of the school, and I saw him walking solemnly behind a group of what obviously were mourners, I knew that something important was happening. The event really stuck out to me ( I can remember it 22 years later). Here were about 20 people, dressed in black, walking in a group very slowly in the road around the entire piazza. No one talked to each other, and there was no music of any kind, which I remember struck me because the group all seemed to be in step with each other. They were gone and out of sight as somberly as they arrived.
On Italian Class in the Garden
As soon as the weather warmed up that winter ’82 semester, we all spent a lot of time in the back garden. Lunch picnics were daily. I found the photo of our beloved Italian language teacher (this was a required class, and no one complained. We all wanted to be able to speak Italian in our “adopted” country). I don’t remember her name, sadly. She was beautiful, fun and taught us very enthusiastically! She would hold class outside in the garden as much as she could. I had forgotten about the beautiful bougainvillea!
On Field Trips
The other photo [below] is of classmates enjoying a rest stop, during a school day trip. We all loved the school organized trips, either day or overnight. No one would think of skipping one. We had some amazing experiences, which we got to share together as new friends, and learn from the professors who organized the itinerary.
