Perugia
To celebrate my beautiful friend Syrie’s birthday, a gaggle of girls flew en masse to a remote villa in Perugia, Italy. The villa is owned by a renowned astronomer, Sperello Alghieri, and descendant of Dante of the same surname… conversations with this man were infinitely intriguing, to say the least. The history of the actual villa, Villa Aureli, was fascinating as well, having been occupied in the 1940s by Nazis. The then caretaker of the villa built a false wall behind which he stored the valuable antiques of the family, paintings, maps, sculptures dating as far back as the 16th century. The works of art and records were left unharmed, and I was able to receive a tour of the library and smell the beautiful paper of 17th-century Dutch atlases. The ladies visiting all came from artistic backgrounds, and I couldn’t resist creating a small photo session with them to commemorate our time together. For many of the gals, it was their first time meeting, but it didn’t stop us from becoming fast friends, dancing into the late evening with one another, and taking turns making coffees in the morning. A beautiful and heartfelt experience for us all.
