Francesco Paolo Michetti (1852-1929): Famous Artist of the Abruzzo
Francesco Paolo Michetti (1852-1929) is a famous artist of the Abruzzo region of Italy. Born at Tocco da Casauria near Chieti, a large percentage of his paintings are of his native Abruzzo. His paintings of the Abruzzo also give us a great idea and understanding of what life was like at the time he was alive, which for me matched closely the dates of my great-grandparents lives that my historical novel, The Strega and the Dreamer, is based on. Michetti is another great resource for anyone interested in the Abruzzo of this time. Read my most recent piece in Pollinate Magazine: The...
Read MoreThrough the Apennines and the Lands of the Abruzzi
In my research into the Abruzzo region of Italy that my family is from, for my novel The Strega and the Dreamer, I found the work of women ethnographers, folklorists and travel writers of the early 1900s to be the most helpful. Ethnography is: 1. The branch of anthropology that deals with the description of specific human culture, using methods such as close observation and interviews. 2. A text produced using such methods. I feel that these types of books have gone somewhat out of style. They are travel journals which include collected stories, folklore and local customs as well as...
Read MoreA Teaching Gifted to Me by My Great-Grandmother, the Strega
My great-grandmother was a Strega, an Italian wise woman, witch and healer. I am of this lineage. The lineage was lost or broken in my family and I have spent the last 20 years endeavoring to return it to myself and my family. In 2005, in a shamanic journey, I met my great-grandmother, the Strega, in a cave where she was busy crafting something which I could not, at first, see. After repeated visits I was finally able to determine that what she was crafting was something that I call “Wombs with Wings.” It took me fifteen years to understand the meaning of this image. Wombs with Wings Wombs...
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