Week Due:
It’s been a very busy week and a half. Most of the present week has consisted of fittings with the Singers and fixing any fitting notes. Many sewing projects were completed, but also I was presented with collaboratively designing a look for Elvira in L’Italiana in Algeri. I essentially converted a modern prom gown into something an Algerian woman would wear. I added a jewel-toned jacket with gold trim and a sash.
Tuesday evening I had a brand new cultural experience. It was Le Notte Di Cento Cantini, here in Novafeltria. Le Notte translates roughly to “The Night of the Hundred Basins. “ The event essentially celebrates the summer solstice. Vendors sold flower petals to place in a basin in the moonlight. In the morning you’d wash your face with the water and become beautiful.
The whole night was an enigma to me. I wasn’t really sure why they were celebrating the evening, so I looked up the whole reasoning behind the evening. Via Altarimini.it, I found a synopsis of the legend surrounding the evening, “The Lord of Maiolo on the night of June 23, 1700, invited the elders and villagers to his palace to celebrate the wedding of the daughter Harmony, with toasts and dancing. Many brought gifts to the palace. The dance held an atmosphere of serene joy, when a young witch made his way through the door and presented a gift to the bride. The gift was a dress, that was, unbeknownst to everyone, tainted by every vice.
The dance held joy, but after the dress was donned they became degenerates. Soon lewd behavior broke out. People began stripping their clothes and remained naked to until dawn. They did an unbridled dance Angelico, the dance opened the imagination of demons. The divine punishment was immediate. The top of castelllo was clouded by a storm horde and the mouth of the sky opened exposing water, thunder, lightning and thunderbolts. The entire scales landslide and collapsed into the bowels of the earth. Only two towers remain upright mutilated there on the Rock, as you can still see evidence of the destruction in the Montefeltro.”
All the Interns
Overall, a very interesting tradition to observe and very different than the traditions we have in America.
We had a day off on Sunday and we decided to climb the mountain, Maioletto.
It was an extraordinary view. It was quite the climb but worth every moment.
I’ve realized I have grown sick of pizza and pasta. I don’t know how Italians do it. Gelato, however, never grows old. As Americans, our Technical Crew (Set Designer, Props Intern, Myself and Fellow Costume Intern, Costume Shop Manager, Technical Director and Lighting Designer) all plan to celebrate the Fourth of July here, calling it ‘Fourth of Gelato’ and it shall also be an interesting experience.
ALBRIGHT ELCDC 