Stumbling Stones
[by Fred Lynch from Boston] As I turned the corner, they caught my eye. On the ground before a door in Viterbo, on a street I’ve walked for years, three brass squares shined in the light. They lay as replacements for the three original grey cobblestones. On each was engraved a name, some dates, and then “Deportato Auschwitz” and “Morto […]
Fountain Fight
[by Fred Lynch in Italy] The Pianoscarano neighborhood of Viterbo in Central Italy has a huge fountain that acts as a central gathering place and transit point. A gaggle of old men is ever present, sitting on one side of the piazza in the morning, and on the other in the evening—following the day’s shade. […]
Wedding Day in San Martino al Cimino
[by Fred Lynch in central Italy] While many of my fellow urban sketchers were spying the soaring skyscrapers of Chicago, I was teaching my annual journalistic drawing class in central Italy. Since then I’ve seen many posts of extraordinary modernity and cosmopolitism and I can’t help thinking of how my experiences were the very […]
Donkey Dread
[by Fred Lynch from Boston] Last summer, on a day trip of sketching in the countryside of Central Italy, north of Rome, I started my day in the peaceful little town of Corchiano. Like so many of the ancient towns in the area, Corchiano hangs on a peninsula cliff. I was determined to draw the […]
Remains of the Day
[by Fred Lynch who lives near Boston, Massachusetts] It wasn’t until the early 1800’s that historians learned about what the countryside outside of the walled city of Viterbo had held for over two thousand years. Of course, shepherds and farmers had worked the area for long time, but whether they understood what their sheep were […]
The Old New Roman Town
[by Fred Lynch, near Boston, Massachusetts] Jupiter himself greets you as you pass into Roman town of Falerii Novi. He looks down at you from the Gate of Giove (Jupiter) – one of the last of eight gates that once surrounded the town, along with eighty towers. This was a busy place, long, long ago. […]
The New Shrine
[by Fred Lynch, near Boston, Massachusetts] Carved above the door was the Latin quote, “Ego Sum Paster Bonus,” meaning “I am the good shepherd.” Viterbo, where I draw each July, has such layers of history. Many buildings have been around for centuries, while Italy is thoroughly modern at the same time. It’s the juxtapositions of […]
End of the Line
[by Fred Lynch, near Boston, Massachusetts] Coming upon a hollow, abandoned train station can feel like approaching Oz, the Emerald City, under the right conditions. I’ve written a number of times about the obstacles I encounter on my long sketch walks. All are self-made problems. At this stage in my career, it’s what I choose […]
Grand Entrance
(by Fred Lynch, from near Boston) Viterbo, in Central Italy, is a walled city with many gates, the most impressive of which is Porta Romana. While the walls were built between the 11th and 13th Centuries, this gate was redesigned a few times before settling in 1705 on today’s look. It makes a big impression […]
A House for a Wandering Artist
(by Fred Lynch, near Boston Massachusetts) “When I say a nice house, I mean a handsome house–old, tottering, and not exactly comfortable to English notions: a house a little off the perpendicular and inclined to fall into the neighboring canal; exactly the house for a wandering artist to depict; all the more that you could […]