Celebrating Seattle – by Ian Caruana

Palazzo Priori - Perugia

This past June and July, a delegation of some 13 People descended on Perugia, Italy for a week of festivities to celebrate 20 years of Sister City friendship between our two very different, but also very much the same, sister cities. This all began with a friendship between Dr. Hans Lehmann, a Seattle physician who had attended university in Perugia, and Giuseppe “Beppe” Vicarelli (Saluzzo), a notable Perugian landowner and community activist, who also held a reception for the Seattle group at his castle during our visit.

These two men enlisted the city of Perugia and its then mayor Mario Valentini to take on the project of officially creating the Seattle-Perugia Sister City Association (SPSCA). Twenty years later, Seattleites and Perugians were celebrating a successful two decades of friendship, the sharing of art and culture, and dozens of Seattle members having studied  Italian at the Universita` di Stranieri di Perugia.

Toasting one another

A team of people on the Perugia side hosted, organized, participated in a 20th Umbria and Perugia such an intriguing place. We have so much in common, both being university towns with an appreciation for food, friends, family. We have urban living with nature all around in harmony with people. We share a love of art, music and culture and our people are kind and welcoming with a vibrant tourism industry in both cities. Still, it’s the differences that keep our connection interesting, alive and worthwhile. 

anniversary schedule that gave us a chance to experience the things that make

Torgiano

Both states (Washington and Umbria) grow and produce tremendous amounts of food, fruits, nuts, wine and wheat. Not to mention the exquisite chocolate we produce is on an equal level. We are different in Seattle as we have both inland ocean waters and lakes surrounding the city and region, whereas Umbria is the only landlocked state in Italy. Washington and Seattle are relatively young compared to Perugia and Umbria that have about 3,000 years of “modern” social history. But we each share mountains, rivers, national parks, and rolling hillsides with an extensive variety of green trees and vegetation (Washington is the Evergreen State; Umbria is known as the Green Heart of Italy).

Daniella Borghesi and others from the city of Perugia, who oversee the sister city relationships for the commune, were the main organizers of this commemoration. The entire staff worked tirelessly day and night to make sure our visit was an extraordinary experience.

An opening night dinner on June 30 at Il Sole restaurant just off the center of town started off the weeklong celebration. On the first full day of events, we again declared our relationship between our two sister cities in City Hall with the mayor of Perugia, Wladimiro Boccali, and Michele Scoleri representating the mayor’s office in Seattle, by signing documents in front of a large group of dignitaries consisting of the American visitors, officials and members of the city of Perugia and nearby communities, former mayors (including Mario Valentini), and members

of the Perugia sister city organization, including Elisabetta Valentini, daughter of the former mayor, who is the Perugia president of SPSCA.

It was quite an event held in a beautiful reception room at city hall with frescos abounding, along with historic artifacts from Perugia, all housed in an ancient building off the main piazza.

Completing our first day, we visited the oldest school of art known in the world, the Pietro Vannucci Fine Arts Academy in Perugia, where a panel of

L'Acedemia dell'Arte Pietro Vanucci

distinguished art and cultural representatives from Umbria explained the importance of art and the special relationship the academy has with artisans in Italy, plus Seattle artists who receive scholarships to attend this exceptional school. We also had a private tour of the academy’s beautiful museum that features dynamic statutes, paintings, and other art forms.

L'Antica Deruta - Galleria Moretti

During the following week we went to many amazing places for lunches, dinners, receptions, were provided private tours of several museums, plus enjoyed Assisi, Spoleto, and Deruta. In the latter, we visited the L’Antica Deruta ceramics factory owned by the Moretti family. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious ceramics factories in Italy, offering both traditional and contemporary artworks. Their family foundation donated a permanent 40-plus piece collection of ceramics and glass to the city of Seattle in November 2012.

excursions to nearby towns such as

Lungarotti Winery

We also visited the long-established Lungarotti Winery, including a spectacular private tour by one of their owners, Teresa Severini, through their award-winning and totally organic winery on the Oil Museum. Both are housed in a 17^th century noble residence that adds a genuine ambience to the historic collections.

outskirts of Torgiano. That was followed by a private tour of the Wine Museum of Torgiano that covers 5,000 years of winemaking, plus the adjacent Olive and

The museum, driven by Severini’s mother and distinguished art historian Maria Grazia Lungarotti, was recently named the best museum of its kind in the world. I would agree if you find antiquities interesting, there is something for everyone in these museums with a huge display of historical artifacts in a relatively small space. A tour of the Fishing Museum on Lake Trasimeno

Lago di Trasimeno

completed that day, followed by a beautiful sunset dinner party at the summer home of the Moretti family that provides a panoramic view of the lake from its hilltop site.

An important relationship between our two cities is the University for Foreigners in Perugia (Universita` di Stranieri di Perugia). They award two scholarships every year to deserving applicants from Seattle in conjunction with SPSCA. The school provided a tour so we could see one of the important aspects of our ongoing relationship. The university teaches the Italian language to visiting students from all over the world.

Chiara Giudice 

We were treated to an opera performance by Chiara Giudice on July 4 at Villa Pieve Country Home and International School where Umbrian art and cultural representatives assembled for a special dinner hosted by Rosella Vasta and the Vasta family (and the Americans gathered together to sign the Star Spangled Banner in honor of our Independence Day).

Sister Orca Sculpture - Perugia

The next evening we celebrated the fifth anniversary of the installation of the incredible Sister Orca sculpture created by Seattle artist Marvin Oliver and purchased by the city of Perugia for the mall at the end of the Minimetro line in . Instagrammers Perugia photo exhibition titled “Sister Water,” and a special Seattle photo show provided by yours truly. We capped off the evening by attending the opening night of Umbria Jazz and a performance by jazz artist Diana Krall. 

A true delight was our visit to the studio of Giuliano Giuman a renowned glass

Giuliano Giuman at his workshop and gallery

artist from Perugia. His works are displayed all over Italy and the world. He will be visiting Seattle soon and we hope we can help him realize his dream of showing here one day.

It was a full week of activities and we had a blast. We celebrated with old friends and made lifelong relationships with new people. We also reinforced the current relationships between the two cities and its members, and continued binding our two groups together to share cultures for future generations. We all were LivingLifesBest during this distinctive week and we thank the people of Perugia for being such incredible hosts.