How to put a museum in a historic church

Here I am laughing at something Elisabeth said while she took my picture. We have been here a week and have seen many many churches. I'm not sure which one this is.....



This is the hot spring in the middle of the historic city center. The water was super hot-way to hot to take a bath in. It was refreshing to splash a little on my face.



The Roman Ruins! We had a great guide for this stop-she was originally from England and spoke Italian with an English accent. Even though tain tracks run through part of the site, they have done a really good job of preserving the site. The signs are in two languages and they provide graphics to give the visitor a good idea of what the town looked like. 

Pretty building across the street from the post office in Alessandria

Awesome musuem inside a historic church! The entrance fees to the museum are paying for the restoration of the ceiling in the church. To house the musuem, they built a room inside the church to create a climate controled environment.

More pictures from inside the church

Pretty church!

Part of a park in the middle of the city-it had great views overlooking the city.

The most AMAZING Day...

The team went to a world famous restaurant in Alessandria to meet with the chef and to work in the kitchen with him and his staff. It was everything I hoped it would be and more. Laura got to chop tomatoes to be used in a bruschetta.

This is the owner and chef of il grappolo. His name is Beppe. We had a great time talking about food.

Elisabeth was making mousse.

Tim cleaning squid. He alo cleaned mussels and anchovies.

This is the sous chef making bread and foccacia.

Beppe showed us how to make his world famous risotto.

We had a glass of wine with our risotto. We took a short walk around the city before coming back to the restaurant for lunch.

Cheese and bread stuffed vegetables.

Foccacia...warm right out of the oven.

Octopus ink risotto with calamari.

Wine...of course

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My new friend.....

We also visited a culinary school for high school students. This is the kitchen and some of the students working. This is a demo classroom with 20 stations for students to watch and practice at the same time. I love this. What a great way for students to learn.

The pastry kitchen

The lasagna we had for lunch.

The meat and russian salad that was our appetizer. We also had roasted pork for lunch.

We visited a villa/winery on top of a mountain. This was truly the prettiest place I have ever been.

We tasted some wine out on the lawn with the owner. Who is also a Rotarian.

The restaurant at the vineyard.

The snacks we enjoyed with our wine.

          We have been in Italy for a week now, so I am way behind in blogging.  I’m glad I have team members who are very tech savvy with postings and pictures.

So much has happened after only one week.  Jet lag was definitely a problem on Saturday, May 19, after an overnight flight from Dulles to Munich to Turin.  Our driver, Roberto, brought us from Turin airport to the Hotel Europa in Alessandria where we were warmly greeted by District 2030 GSE Chair Bart Berello.  Joining him were Luigi Frati (Alessandria RC) and Silvia Miglietta (Vercelli RC).  It was very helpful to have an opportunity to meet and discuss the plans for our week in Alessandria and surrounding cities. 

                Silvia, Bart, Nancy, Tim, Elisabeth, Laura, Tara, and Luigi in lobby of Hotel Europa

My initial vocational experience was unforgettable.   I spent the morning at the Azienda Ospedaliera Nazionale with Alessandria RC members Alberto Peracchio, Director of Safety & Technology, and Carlo Poggio, who acted as interpreter.  After changing into OR garb, we were welcomed into an operating room by well-known surgeon Dr. Giuseppe Spinoglio (also a Rotarian) to watch him perform robot surgery using the da Vinci surgical system.  To my surprise, Dr. Spinoglio invited me to sit down at the da Vinci console and view the high-resolution 3D image of the surgical site, which was inside the patient’s abdomen.  Then he told me to place my fingers into the hand tools that allow the surgeon to make precise micro-movements with the instruments.  I couldn’t believe that I was actually moving the instruments -- very slightly and very carefully!!  I was very careful not to move my feet, because there are pedals that control clipping, cautery, etc.  After a few minutes, I was glad to turn the surgery back over to Dr. Spinoglio.  When Alberto informed him that it was time for us to leave, Dr. Spinoglio got up and posed with us for pictures.  Unfortunately, I don’t have the pictures yet (Alberto is sending via email).  The picture below is from a meeting today (Sat., 5/26) where I also had the honor of meeting Italy's Minister of Health, Renato Balduzzi, a member of the RC of Alessandria (waiting on email of that photo too).

                                             Nancy with Dr. Giuseppe Spinoglio

5/24: Shall we see what Rome is all about

Absolutely my favorite day! ROME. Today we visited Acqui Terme the sight of Roman baths and the hot springs. Nancy, Laura and I visited the old Roman city of Acqui Terme. I soaked my face in the sulphuric springs of Acqui Terme. Noticing many similarities between district 7570 and 2030.

Tara and Elisabeth were doing there thing at a vocational cooking school while we checked out the town. The weather has changed for the better. It was a beautiful day to tour the city.

We met the girls at the school and had a nice lunch prepared by the students of the school.

Later in the afternoon we visited the Roman ruins of Gavi. What an amazing experience. The Roman city was not rediscovered until the mid 1800's. We saw the ruins of a colisseum, theater, forum and patrician dwellings. WOW! I was in heaven. I walked around the sight for a long period of time by myself imagining what life was like and how people lived. When not walking in complete amazement I was able to talk to our rotarian guides who had knowledge of the site. I am humbled by the experiences I have had and look forward to having time to fully contemplate what I have seen.

At the end of the tour I met the president of the Gavi Rotary Club, Scarsi Fabrizio.
What an amazing time I had with Mr.Fabrizio. I drove to the sights with Mr.Fabrizio and we instantly became friends through our love of history. Mr.Fabrizio shared that he would like to restore the Gavi ruins and have a celebration every year and reenactment for the village to educate and entertain to raise awareness of life during the Roman times. I had been thinking of the same idea and was very impressed by his vision and mentioned that I thought this was a great idea. Is this not the purpose of Rotary? One day I will return to Gavi and see the fruition of the work of Mr.Fabrizio.   
A very impressive club president who has inspired me!

After seeing the old fort that protceted Gavi (impressive in its own right) we visited a very old vineyard. Mr.Teodoro Lechner setup an amazing afternoon before our rotary meeting in Gavi. Is this really happening is the common thought through my head. We visited a vineyard from the end of the Middle Ages. As such on this trip we had our own personal tour of the hotel, vineyard and restaurant. If or when I get married this may be the spot. Absolutely gorgeous! It turns out Mr.Lechner worked very closely with PPG which is a company from Pittsburgh, PA. My hometown! Talk about a small world. Also,Sandy one of our guides and the wife of a rotarian, her mother went to James Madison University. She said when she read our biographies she was astonished, just as I was. An amazing day spent building lifelong friends. It was also nice seeing a familiar friend in Mr.Magnone's son Franco who has become a great acquaintence and help. Goodwill and friendship shared by all.

Sorry for the long post : (