Michelangelo and Ric Return

Two years ago my intent was to create two shows on Michelangelo, one for his works that appear in Florence and one for his works in Rome. One of the earliest shows, number 9 in fact, had Ric Hirst, my friend and sculptor in marble, narrating the technical aspects of Il Divino's work. After waiting quite a while during which time many others ideas intervened to take precedence, Michelangelo in Rome finally aired a couple of hours ago. I created the nucleus of the show, and then Ric and I honed that product with his making several suggestions on how to make the presentation better by adding or deleting several photos. I then looked it all over at home and added a few photos to enhance the product, and voila, what you, as viewers will see is that final version begun so long ago.

Everything was relatively smooth except that whenever I have a guest with me, I forget to do my normal chores of television production in the studio and I did several mishaps before and after the show. Even Ellen became distracted when she received a phone call a few minutes before we were scheduled to go on the air. We later agreed that we do our best when we are alone in the studio with no last minute phone calls. Nonetheless, the phone call was important and having Ric Hirst with me a priceless and remarkable exercise in broadcasting. Ric's expertise, breadth of knowledge about just about everything, and insights are invaluable and made for a wonderful experience for me. I feel like I am in school with a private art history professor sitting at my side. It doesn't get any better for an Italophile like me. Ric even promised to return soon to do a show on the Orvieto Cathedral, a stunning architectural achievement from the Middle Ages complete with the stunning frescos by Piero della Francesco. In fact I have several ideas for Ric during the coming year.

Next week, I will do my show on one of my favorite restaurants in Florence, La Grotta di Leo. I first started to dine here in the 1990's continuing during my solo visits of the early 2000's up to the present. This very informal but excellent restaurant has been the kind of place I return with great comfort and confidence that the meal will be superb, especially the pizza. Everything here is tasty and the employees are always helpful and appear happy to be working there. In this case we will have several video interviews with the owner, pizza chef, and a few waiters. In the coming weeks we have a show about the shop owners in Orvieto with interviews and then will come a series of shows on several of the smaller towns surrounding Florence like Colle di Val d'Elsa, Citta della Pieve, and Pistoia. Then I will have several shows revisiting a theme I used during the first year using the Alinari photos of the 19th century. I purchased two books while in Florence which have a treasure trove of stunning images.

Meanwhile, as you know, I am back at college teaching and loving it, but will never give up Alan's Italy so stay tuned.