We’ve had a jam-packed first day. We spent the morning on a three-hour, hot hot hike to the top of a hill, which was strewn with thousands of shards of Ancient Greek and Roman pottery. My “find” turned out to be an uninteresting piece of 200 BCE kitchen crockery, but others found beautiful pieces of decorative pottery from centuries before that.
The law requires us to leave it where we found it, as everything is considered a possession of the state. So much here has been looted by collectors, whether private rich people or places like the Met and the British museum. Tonio brought us to a burial ground of thousands of ancient graves, many of which were looted by collectors who even smashed artifacts to make them easier to carry.
Thinking of things that old actually makes me a little queasy and disoriented.
In the afternoon, we had a presentation on conservation techniques and principles. Because it was after lunch and a comfortable chair, it was nap time for me. Hope my snoring and drooling wasn’t too distracting for the others.
Gigi's Italia 