Context brings the brightest minds to your living room with perspective-shifting online lectures.

A Second Slice of Sardinia with Kate Bolton-Porciatti

A Second Slice of Sardinia with Kate Bolton-Porciatti


No events are scheduled at this time. Want to be notified when it’s back? Click the blue button to the right and we’ll notify you.

Can't make this time? A video recording will be sent to all participants after the seminar.

A cultural historian and travel writer Kate Bolton-Porciatti journeys across the magical island of Sardinia. Partly recorded on location, our adventure begins in Cagliari, on the island’s south coast, where the greatest religious procession in the Mediterranean world is celebrated: the Festa di Sant-Efisio. We then embark on a literary pilgrimage to Màndas to meet the great-granddaughter of Calogero Lunetta, who hosted the writer D.H. Lawrence here exactly a century ago, inspiring passages from Lawrence's classic travel book Sea and Sardinia.

From Màndas, we take a virtual ride on the ‘Little Green Train’ that putters along a historic 130-year-old railway, past glimmering lakes into Sardinia's wildly beautiful interior. We enjoy the languorous rhythms of mountain villages where time seems to stand still, and stay at an ancient Sardinian ‘borgo’ owned by the same family since the 16th century. We will sample Sardinian food and listen to the haunting and elemental sound of the ‘launeddas’ – a traditional polyphonic reed pipe, thousands of years old. Finally, we explore the quiet coves of the east coast in the Nuoro province – the area famed for the longevity of its inhabitants - and the pristine beaches of the celebrated ‘Emerald Coast’.

Led by an expert on Italian culture, Kate Bolton-Porciatti, this Conversation will offer a taste of Sardinia's captivating beauty and its distinctive cultural traditions. Designed to inform curiosity as well as future travels, participants will come away with an increased understanding of one of the most alluring islands in the Mediterranean.

This seminar has been designed to accompany the first seminar in the series: A Slice of Sardinia with Kate Bolton-Porciatti.

Kate Bolton-Porciatti is a professor of Italian cultural history and music at the Istituto Lorenzo de'Medici in Florence, where she teaches BA and MA courses in the humanities. She also lectures at the British Institute, Florence, and at the Chigiana Music Academy in Siena. Kate has published extensively as an academic and a journalist; she is a music critic for BBC Music and a travel writer for The Daily Telegraph, UK. Before moving to Italy permanently in 2005, she was a senior producer and broadcaster for BBC Arts & Classical Music in London and has won prestigious Jerusalem and Sony Awards for her programs. She did her M.Phil. thesis in Italy, exploring the musical culture of early Renaissance Florence.

This conversation is suitable for all ages.

90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.

Customer Reviews

Based on 9 reviews
100%
(9)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
K
Kris Shapar (Slough, GB)
Informative and comprehensive

Guest did not leave comment

R
Rosa Ines Vera (Ashburn, US)

Guest did not leave comment

k
kareen (Chicago, US)

This second piece on Sardinia was excellent. I would just love to visit Sardinia one day. Kate covers all areas so you feel there are many places you want to see.

T
Toni Criscuolo (North Haven, US)
Visit to Sardinia

This talk had a little, history, culture, food and was very informative. I know little about Sardinia and found the language and the music fascinating-- beautiful landscape and a unique people. Presentation covered it with style and was fun to learn

E
E.P. (Wollongong, AU)
A FANTASTIC REMINDER OF OUR MONTH IN SARDINIA

During Covid we saw Kate’s first lecture on Sardinia. Loved it.
This covered areas not covered i the first. Kate’s technique is a perfect blend of carefully constructed talk., and brilliantly illustrated with her in situ talking about the site, bring it all to life. A novel approach to illustrate her subject. She tells a wonderful story carefully developed with background and context. Excellent presenter, thank you Kate.

Customer Reviews

Based on 9 reviews
100%
(9)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
K
Kris Shapar (Slough, GB)
Informative and comprehensive

Guest did not leave comment

R
Rosa Ines Vera (Ashburn, US)

Guest did not leave comment

k
kareen (Chicago, US)

This second piece on Sardinia was excellent. I would just love to visit Sardinia one day. Kate covers all areas so you feel there are many places you want to see.

T
Toni Criscuolo (North Haven, US)
Visit to Sardinia

This talk had a little, history, culture, food and was very informative. I know little about Sardinia and found the language and the music fascinating-- beautiful landscape and a unique people. Presentation covered it with style and was fun to learn

E
E.P. (Wollongong, AU)
A FANTASTIC REMINDER OF OUR MONTH IN SARDINIA

During Covid we saw Kate’s first lecture on Sardinia. Loved it.
This covered areas not covered i the first. Kate’s technique is a perfect blend of carefully constructed talk., and brilliantly illustrated with her in situ talking about the site, bring it all to life. A novel approach to illustrate her subject. She tells a wonderful story carefully developed with background and context. Excellent presenter, thank you Kate.