That Soup Tureen in Orvieto
The reasons are long gone, but not the memory or the feeling. I needed that ceramic soup tureen I saw in a shop in Orvieto. Orvieto is in the Umbria region about a half hour train ride north of Florence, but no less a step-sister. There are phenomenal frescoed ceilings in the main cathedral that can blow the renaissance socks off the Baptistry of San Giovanni. Anyway, I was introduced to Deruta pottery, typical of the region. A kind of Maiolica or tin-glazed pottery that is not really suitable for travelers such as myself and my husband who hopped on and off trains with small backpacks. In Orvieto I fell in love with a feeling, a desire, call it homesickness. I longed for Soup Club. Back home in Chicago our fourth floor in the building where we lived had loosely established a once weekly soup club. Much like a potluck one person volunteered to make soup for the whole floor, roughly 40 people. Someone else might bring homemade bread and someone else a left over—we stretched the food t...