Linda Lappin

Why "Spirit of Place?"

Traditions the world over hold sacred the spirit of place. The myths of Africa, Asia, Australia, China, Tibet, and the Americas have all celebrated the guardian spirits known to the ancient Mediterranean world as the “genii loci.”

The spirit of place may reside in a feature of the landscape, in a quality of the climate, in an animal or plant of the natural or mythic habitat, in the character of a people still thriving in or long since vanished from that place, or in an artefact passed down to us through time. It may be expressed by an emblem, a symbol, a work of art, or a mode of speech.

The spirit of place, often unnoticed and unquestioned, nourishes our roots, our connection to past times and places and acts upon our imagination whenever we set off from home intent on new discoveries. Often our response to our surroundings remains unconscious and untapped, yet it is the
informing power of place which shapes our wonder and our impression of our environment wherever we may be.

The workshops organized at the Centro Pokkoli are designed to explore and celebrate that spirit
in diverse ways in writing and in the arts.

As writers we all have our spiritual geographies -- our maps of terrains trekked across or still to conquer -- with their islands, oceans, highways and parking lots, cemeteries, signposts, landing strips or ley lines. We will retrace those inner itineraries and attempt to unlock the voices and impressions hidden in places of the past. Through special exercises, discussions, readings, we will learn to evoke and recreate atmospheres of those places and make them come alive in our writing. We will also explore the very specific spirit of place in Vitorchiano, a medieval village of Etruscan origins in a unique natural and architectural setting, and we will craft new pieces of writing in response to that spirit.

Workshop Report Summer Workshops 2005

In June 2005, the Officina Culturale Pokkoli & Co. hosted two creative writing workshops in Vitorchiano, Italy. Both were a great success. The first workshop, from June 5 -12, was conducted by the Kenyon Review Creative Writing Workshop, and was the first time that this prestigious American literary journal had taken its workshop students abroad. The second, from June 15 -25, was co-taught by Susan Tekulve, Professor of Creative Writing at Converse College (Spartanburg, S.C) together Linda Lappin of the Università della Tuscia.

Students were lodged at the Hotel Piccola Opera, just outside Vitorchiano on the cool, wooded slopes of the Cimini Hills. Classes were conducted in workshop space in the heart of the historic center of Vitorchiano, overlooking the canyon.

It was the first time US creative writing workshops had come to the Tuscia, where the warm hospitality of Vitorchiano and especially of the hotel staff, were greatly appreciated. Sig. Artemio, director of the Piccola Opera, was particularly gracious and helpful in organizing side trips, excursions, and local transportation. Meal time, with the hearty, traditional Italian dishes prepared by the hotel chef, was a moment of collective celebration. To say nothing of the excellent wine.

The Kenyon Program offered a poetry workshop with David Baker, poetry editor of the Kenyon Review, and a fiction workshop with Nancy Zafris, fiction editor. Editor David Lynn and assistant Ellen Sheffield were also on hand organizing and administering the program. The Converse workshop instead concentrated on Creative Nonfiction with a focus on spirit of place in memoir and travel writing. The Kenyon and Converse participants hailed from a variety of backgrounds --- there were undergraduates, MFA students, professional journalists, new writers and experienced ones.

Workshops took place in the morning. The hotel provided transportation to the center and back for all the participants’ needs. Afternoons were devoted to excursions, outings, and of course, writing time, since both the Kenyon and Converse instructors gave writing assignments and insisted on the production of new work. Sergio Baldassarre, president of the Associazione,
and qualified language teacher, taught classes of “Survival Italian ” based on a notional-functional communicative syllabus.

For the Converse program, Susan Tekulve focused on the three major forms of travel writing: the destinational piece, the literary essay, and the lyric essay with reading assignments and special writing exercises for each form. Linda Lappin’s lectures included an overview of the Literary history of the Tuscia: Pilgrims Sacred and Profane, and an introduction to D.H. Lawrence and the Etruscans. Her writing exercises concentrated on defining a sense of place, learning to read the signs of cityscape and landscape, working with images of interiors as symbols of the self, and an enquiry into the beautiful, the sublime, and the picturesque.

On their outings and excursions, participants became acquainted with the many faces of the Tuscia, visiting the sculpture garden of Bomarzo, Villa Lante, the Etruscan rock tombs of Castel D’Asso, the painted Etruscan tombs of Tarquinia, and the Palazzo Doria Pamphilij of San Martino al Cimino, where Dr. Ceniti, director of the APT, the local tourism board, invited the Kenyon group on a private tour of the palace, complete with prosecco and tartine served in the belvedere at sunset. Both groups were received by writer Mary Jane Cryan at her historic home, the Palazzo Pieri Piatti in Vetralla— with its exquisite antique furnishings and its stunning terrace — for a rinfresco. For the Kenyon group, Mary Jane read from her new book Travels to Tuscany and Northern Lazio.

The student and staff reading of the Converse workshop was held in Linda and Sergio’s courtyard in the old city center of Vitorchiano, amid potted palms and cypresses. Susan Tekulve read a new travel essay, Poet Rick Mulkey, chairman of the Converse Department of English, read from his new book Bluefield Breakdown, Linda read from her novel, The Etruscan, (Wynkin deWorde) and students read new work.

During free time, some workshop participants made it as far as the seaside at Capalbio for a quick trip to Niki de Saint Phalle’s phantasmagoric Tarot Garden. Others hiked through the chestnut groves around Lake Vico. A few lazier souls hung out at the outdoor pool in Vitorchiano to escape the heat wave as temperatures rose in the nineties. Luckily the cool pine groves around the hotel added welcome relief from the heat.

Readings, receptions, and pizza parties were organized on a few evenings in Linda and Sergio’s courtyard, though on most evenings participants were free to do as they liked. Many discovered the wonderful gelateria and enoteca, Nando al Pallone, just round the corner from the Piccola Opera. The favorite ice cream flavor was “Nocciola” made with local hazelnuts. The excellent
Gavi, and Greco di Tufo hit the spot for those with more mature tastes.

Both workshops included a “free day” when participants could travel where they wished, with the hotel providing transportation to and from the train station in Orte. The most popular destination for the day trip was Orvieto, though a few participants opted for Rome (40 minutes by train from Orte) or Florence (2 hours from Orte)

Though most participants stayed at the Hotel Piccola Opera, a few more adventurous souls rented the Casa Capati in Via Manzoni, the mysterious farm house “where time was not” inhabited by Harriet Sackett, heroine of Linda Lappin’s novel, The Etruscan. The house was immediately immortalized in new works of fiction by its summer tenants.

The Kenyon program ended with a gala dinner at the Rosa Blu, Slow-Food associate in Vitorchiano, organized by chef Maurizio Cerocchi, and the promise to return.