Ferruccio Ferragamo : " We Wanted The Pictures To Tell The Main Story Because ... " In IL BORRO A Land Of Living Traditions. Beautiful Work Of Art!

I take to heart what Ferruccio Ferragamo writes in his family's book : IL BORRO A Land Of Living Traditions. I read his introduction yesterday afternoon sitting right here in the same spot on my living room cough with my daughter's cat curled up here in between my feet, nestled warmly on a day that earlier saw a sky filled with thousands of streams of white snow falling through the air from a white blanket of sky. No blue. No sunshine. Quiet and peaceful. It's a bit precarious now typing with my HP laptop pushed close to my face. I like it. ... Today I have gone back and studied some of the pictures and I must say that there are some that I really like. That includes some of the maps as well. The picture on page 89 may be my second favorite after the picture on pages 72 and 73 of the incredible field of sunflowers. The picture on page 89 is also one of sunflowers yet that's just the bottom half with the upper half being of a brilliant blue sky and the middle being the hills and the deep greens of the forrest and trees. The sunflowers also have to share their magnificent glory with the delicate colors of the lavender that also spreads through this flat valley. Wonderful, lavender and deep cadmium bright yellows. Being a painter I am drawn to these colors, shapes, forms, textures and sunlight, too. Everything life-affirming as I imagine the audio sounds that we would be enjoying if there of bees buzzing around busily and all other insects and animals moving around doing their chores to survive here in this beautiful valley of Il Borro, Tuscany. ... Is there any artwork that survives that may be included in the next edition/ printing, from the past that is? I like looking at the sepia-toned photographs and really enjoyed the picture of the young children sitting on the road on page 38. That was perhaps my favorite of all of them. .... ( this picture is not taken in Tuscany. Those will have to wait until later. This one I took in Washington D.C. with my family and it's just to break up the writing. Tuscany has beautiful skies like this one : we all share them thankfully. .... I also liked some of the pictures of the restored town itself. I liked best the ones that were not so dazzlingly crystal-clear and complete, and that permitted my imagination, as well as me some more liberty to enter into them and add my own observations and adventures. I compare it to wine : I like some space to move around in, for my whole body and all my senses to fit into : a picture or a taste that excites and invites me in, and welcomes and permits my body and my thoughts/ feelings some room to move. Very much like music as well as in the famous song called : " Room To Move " by John Mayall on his album : Turning Point. This fits here as what the Ferragamo family has done and been completely supportive of is a turning point, too : one for the better, for the good and prosperity of all those there in the region I would hope? .... I can see myself screwing up my nerve and my courage on the four photos on page 63 to walk along by myself and encounter whatever was in store for me with very little Italian under my belt. I would perhaps even get the nerve to go up the stairs in the upper right-hand picture and knock on the door and see who would answer? I'd have my sketch pad in hand with my pens and my oil pastels and motion with my hands holding these that I would like to draw them? That would at least help to relax the situation, bring smiles and giggles to everyone's faces and make it an overall positive experience for everyone? I would hope so. ... I would like to see some people and animals in these pictures of Il Borro today. Just like the old sepia pictures of the past it would be more alive and inviting with some life in these beautiful pictures of form, shape, color and texture and yet void of visible life? Just an idea. .... ( This is an earlier watercolor that I did, again to break up my text and these colors are some of the very same, the shapes and the textures an forms, too that my daughter and I enjoyed on our lovely afternoon with Salvatore Ferragamo, his dog, his assistant Sarah on October 29th, 2009 when we toured Il Borro and had a wonderful tour and wine-tasting. Prego Salvatore, Sarah and your dog, Salvatore : and your wife and family for permitting you to drive from Florence to Il Borro to meet with my daughter and me. Prego ). ... Page 116 is also a great image of Il Borro as it encompasses so much between the natural beauty of both the village perched on the side of a verdant and beautiful hillside soaked in sunshine with flowers, stone, small dwellings up ahead, a lovely path to get there and in the left foreground an assortment of ingredients essential to any and all meals : bread, a bottle of Il Borro olive oil,yellow peppers , cheeses, rosemary and other herbs, small red flower clusters, sausages, red tomatoes , and so much more including what looks to be three or so cut irises from the greens shoots to the side cut in half?!? This picture alone Ferruccio speaks columns. It's practically a story or at least three of four chapters already of a fine book. I like it, I like it a lot. My only comment is : why is there not some olive oil poured in a clear container besides the bottle so that we may luxuriate in both the color and the clarity of one of the essential food items from Il Borro? And if I wanted to be a real nuisance I would also ask : where/ dove e a bottle of Il Borro wine? But hey, I do not want to be either a pest or a nuisance : I like very much this book and I will return someday I hope. .... One of the things that I told Salvatore when I saw him again for the second time was that visiting Il Borro had come highly recommended by my two dear Italian winemaker friends : Andrea Fossi of FOSSI Chianti and other Italian wines like his Vino Nobile, Primitivo and more : and Alessandro Furlan that has made wine with his family's winery in Friuli, Italy called FRANCO FURLAN. Now Alessandro brings a collection of small family-owned estate wines to the United States. They both worked with me in the eighties at the Mayflower Wines & Spirits that imported wines from Italy with the help of owners Aaron and Hellen Millman, Sidney Moore and Michael Downey. Those were some mighty fine days and it was then that our friendship started and have grown to where they are today. They both at separate times saw Il Borro on my list of possible places to visit and they bot said to be sure and visit Il Borro! Prego Alessandro e Andrea! ... ( another photo I took of the sky when visiting Washington D.C. and the National Aquarium with my family on a weekend ). ... On page 118 is another very important picture and one that I think also speak volume Ferruccio. It's a picture of a bottle of IL BORRO 1999 Toscana Indicazione Geografica Tipica on a light cream paper and with a sepia-colored drawing/sketch of the village of Il Borro. I like that because it's all that there is on that page and it brings the wine together with the village : the two are dependent on each other, one cannot exist without the other. Or, more to the point : one should not exist without the other as there is a great relationship created this way that rewards everyone that lives or comes to IL BORRO or learns of IL BORRO. Cheers e bravo! I like this, too. ... Once again, if I wanted to be a slight nuisance I would say : please include another picture of this sepia-toned sketch of the town of Il Borro enlarged on the same page so that we may better see it and appreciate it : like looking at the fine old maps of the region around Il Borro on page 23. I like how that map shows in detail what has been planted and what grows in this region. It's very beautiful this map, and some of those images can be enlarged, again to give us all a better appreciation of them, with labels by their sides so that we know exactly what they are. ... ... ( a watercolor that I did years ago where some of the colors remind me of the Tuscan landscape that my daughter drove in and around Il Borro in late October 2009. Cheers. ... As I leafed through this book again : IL BORRO A Land Of Living Traditions and looked at the many photos I was again struck by how well-executed, composed and organized this book is. Fresh as the day it was published back in 2001. Bravo. I like how it has an expansive framework and vision. It was clearly well-thought-out. I enjoy how all the elements of the land and the water sources, the forests, the hills, the valleys, the woods, the flowers, herbs, wheats and grains, the chestnuts, the various trees, crops, livestock and wild animals, bees, butterflies, : many elements - all living are photographed and beautifully arranged for us. Again, if I wanted to be a pest I might say that a couple of aerial shots taken from a plane would be nice to include to show better the relationship and the proximity of one thing to another. ... I wish that I had had more time with my daughter in Italy so that we could have driven around to better see and record in our own mind's eye where all this was , and how all the glorious pieces fit together here? It definitely takes some time and attention, and not being rushed. That's exactly what the Ferragamo family is providing of course with their guest houses and rooms for people to come from all around the world and relax and absorb, appreciate, experience the experience that is Italy, that is Tuscany, that is the land, the tradition , the past thriving and blooming in the present : that is Il Borro! ... I have much more to add and I have not even gotten to the pictures of the winery, cellars and vineyards yet1 i will leave you all with the image on page 148-151 of the Ivory cattle that graze there - the Chianina. The picture of the three Chianina on page 150 is spectacular : two of them facing us and fully attentive, and the one in the back with it;s back to us seemingly unaware, not caring, not to be disturbed. I love that. Priceless really. ... Cheers and stay-tuned for my next blog on IL BORRO A Land Of Living Traditions. This is Part-Two. Be sure and read Part-One. Take care e prego ; caio! Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn

Inspired By Reading Today : IL BORRO A Land Of Living Traditions , Prego Salvatore e Ferruccio Ferragamo E Everyone Involved In This Impressive Piece Of Art!

I am always inspired by Italy and Tuscany, art and culture, food and wine, family and tradition. My son's trip this fall to Tuscany, to Florence has inspired me even more and so the other day I went on search of this book, a piece of real art and inspiration, beautifully written and presented and with wonderful pictures, too : a gift to me and my daughter on October 29th, 2009 from Salvatore himself. Prego Salvatore. I know the date because when Salvatore gave us the book I asked him to sign it and he did but as he did he said that this was the first time that he had signed the book : a real honor, prego. When we got the news from our son at NYU in the Big Apple the other day we were outside sitting on our deck honoring our tradition and looking out on our garden and bit of woods and the many fruits of our labors on our small piece of land that surrounds our home. It's a whole lot of work to maintain and that, along with the call from our son with his news was about simplifying the amount of time we had to spend on the garden as it was really almost a full-time job! I said to my wife suddenly : " Excuse me " as I went in search of this beautiful book published in 2001. I knew where it was and I wanted to show it agin to my wife to inspire her, too about the natural beauty of Tuscany. It was just the right thing to do and it would make the whole idea more real and exciting to the both of us as we sipped our wine outside and chatted , caught up on each other's day before sitting down to our dinner. So today, Sunday March 24th, 2013 I decided to look at this book once again for further inspiration about Italy and it's fine wines, about Florence, Tuscany and I had forgotten how well-written, researched, translated, what wonderful photographs and what pleasing layout the book offers. It's really s delight and I want to thank everyone involved in this process from Maria Cesira Roccatelli ( editing ), Zeffiro Ciuffoletti, Duccio Bacci, Margherita Innocenti ( texts ), Rova/Weber Design, Roberto Quagli ( photography ), Niccolo Orsi Battaglini ( other photographs ), Julia Hanna Weiss ( translation ), Artigrat Florence ( printed by ) and Fotolito Toscana, Florence ( photolitho by ). I must say that the one picture that made it all come alive for me and make mr relax and want to take more time and care to enjoy this book was the one of the field of the sunflowers on pages 74-75. Bravo Roberto for this wonderful image : I LOVE it, really I do! I also want to add that as I looked at this book and saw that it was published in 2009 that it looks as bright and fresh and as current as ever. Bravo for this : it has not aged at all : it's looking timeless here to me and that's a thrill to be able to share with you all. I think that everyone should spend some time and care with this book as it's insightful, relaxing, informative and a visual treat with text that is easy to read and understand and a layout that is also very pleasing and easy on the yes and other senses. I enjoyed reading what Ferruccio Ferragamo wrote as an introduction : " We wanted the pictures to tell the main story because, like music, they are, indeed, a universal language, and because the countryside around Il Borro is one of the most eloquent in all Tuscany ... ". I like that, I like that a lot. Being an artist myself I will write of this referring to these pictures and the text that accompanies them. My only critique of the book and something that I would add on the second printing ( I have already mentioned this to Salvatore in a previous email ) is to add a line or description under many of the pictures so as to make it easier for us less-familiar with Tuscany and the natural terrain, vegetation, plats, herbs, flora and animals there easier to identify. That's the only part I found difficult at times : identifying parts of the text with the pictures. This will be an on-going blog that I will " add " to as I have and can make the time. But for now I will enter it " as is " to give others a reason to search for it and to pick it up and look at it carefully, linger on the pages and the text, absorb some of the wonder that is Tuscany and Il Borro , " a land of living tradition ". Bravo to Ferruccio and Salvatore and all the Ferragamo family for keeping this tradition alive, working, organic, healthy and an integral part of Tuscan life and all those that count on it for their livelihood. Cheers, prego again, I do not think I can say prego enough! Anthony (TONY ) Quinn

The First Poem I Wrote After Stephen Daddario's Untimely/Unexpected Death - March 5th, 2013 : Bye Bye Old Friend!

Stephen Died Pen In / Hand Desk @ Slump / Lum Lump Ump Ohh Oh / So Over Final Devast So / Tatata Tating Over Will / Son Called Cannot Grasp / Imagine So Quick A Heart / An Attack A Sudden / Take Away Life I'm Sad / So For Will So Sad A Fine / Fine Man So Much He Shared / So Many Photos So Much Good / Will A Fine Man Was He To / Spend Time With After Parents / Take Good Care I'll Miss You / Stephen You're Already Up / In Heaven Look Us To Down / Smile Grin Always A Good /






Word We're Devastated So So  /  Sad A Passing A Fine   /  Man He Did Thorough  /  I Did Respect A  /  Great Example He Did  /  Still Does For Me Forever  /  Set A First Rate Individu  /  Dua Dual He So Many /  Fine Momes So Much Pass  /  It Did Pass Our Short  /  Visits At Store We  /  Many Small Exchanges  /  Words Palabras Mots  /  Passing Back-Forth, A  /  Encouragement A Help An  /  Assist A Mention A Copy  /  Back Forth A Communi Ca Ca  /  Cat Cati Catio Cation Shared  /  Given Loaned So Freely  /  A Quiet Kind Alert Caring  /  Valued His Family Historian Like  /  Me- A Wonderful Man Our Grave  / Grave Loss !!


  written on le 6 Mars, 2013  Mercredi matin  en Virginie en voiture  avec la neige, la neige tombent maintenant ... gris/blanc partout .... bye bye Stephen Daddario my friend.

     Now as I type this and listened eralier to Hendrix On The West and Jimi's guitar and vocals I see that Nature with it's wet, gloppy snow fall that morning, like all of us now : Will, Joanne, Susan, Parker, Richard, Marilyn, John, Becka, Stephen's other brother, too, his parents, Mario, Delphine and so many others  : we ALL cried/cry for Stephen's passing as he will be missed sorely by all of us that have him and all he did and said over these years to lift us up and carry us along as we are privileged to have known him and to live our lives fully and with each other. Cheers, Bye Bye old friend. I will enjoy your records given to me by those that loved you - your collection of 33RPM'S and think of you as I listen to them and enjoy them ...   Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn

Anthony Quinn ( Me ) Enjoys Some Great White Wine With Friends & Family In The Comfort Of Our Home , 2013 : CHEERS!

It simply takes a few precious moments to focus and to pick up my camera and to preserve a moment to better appreciate and reflect more upon later. That is what I have done here. Hope you like these pictures, I will write more. Cheers and await more soon. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn Mercredi soir a 11:32PM chez moi avant de dormir. Bonsoir : good dreams, too of wine and food and friends and family. That's what it is all about with a sprinkle of art and a dash and splash and sip of love, TONY I do love my wine! I throw myself into it, I do ... I will have to look more carefully at these photos once I post them and then comment more after I do. Cheers. it's a process, a chain of events, serendipitous and rewarding ... I love that I am wearing my Jed Steele t-shirts, they are so comfortable. The store at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits has a " new " infusion of the Jed Steele wines as well as the Shooting Star ones. Nice. Everything is nicely coordinated here : everything awash in gold and yellows and golden lights, too. I was really enjoying the wine and recording the moment as you can see. Have to take lots of pictures just in case ... to tell a more complete story, more compeling?!? I was in " the Zone ", my " Zone " at least ... Cheers to you all, cheers, too to both Stephen Daddario and his son Will, as well as to Phil Carroll and Kim. It's been hard for everyone. I raise a toast as well as a toast now to Pope Francis , a Jesuit priest of Argentina. Anthony ( TONY ) Quinn It's been a beautiful day today and very emotional as I wrote about my son going to Florence : what great news, as well as received Stephen Daddario's family at Cleveland Park Wines & Spirits and toasted with them Stephen Daddario my good friend. Take care, TONY