This is the fourth year in which museum interns will be sponsored by the generous donations to FSU of Suzanne Bucher in memory of her husband Robert Loewenstein. The interns are working in Italy, at the archaeological site of Cetamura del Chianti, and are curating their own archaeological exhibition at the FSU Study Center in Florence, according to Nancy de Grummond, director of the FSU International Program of Cetamura, called Archaeology in Tuscany. 

THE BUCHER-LOEWENSTEIN RECIPIENTS

Selected in competition for the internship this year are Audrey Jones and Liberty West, whose multi-disciplinary strengths combine Classics, Anthropology, Art & Art History, Museum Studies, and Chemistry.

Audrey Jones is a recent graduate of FSU majoring in Studio Art. She attended the FSU Florence program in the fall of 2022, where she took the Art & Architecture in Ancient Italy course with Professor Nora Marosi, who is also the chief conservator of artifacts for Cetamura. This experience sparked Audrey’s interest in and love for the process of artifact conservation, and she is excited to be at Cetamura this summer where she plans to put her artistic skills to good use by drawing and photographing artifacts.

Liberty West is a senior at FSU with a double major in Anthropology and Art History–and minors in Chemistry and Museum Studies. She is passionate about connecting the past with the present, from her own experience of connecting with family heirlooms to her study of anthropology, archeology, and Italian culture. Becoming an artifact conservator for a museum is her ultimate career goal; she is excited that the Bucher-Loewenstein internship will help her gain crucial museum experience that is not often available for undergraduate students.

PLANS FOR THE EXHIBITION

Their exhibition, called In Vino Veritas: The History of Wine at Cetamura, is scheduled to open on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in the Ruth A. Owen Galleria Belle Arti at the FSU Study Center in Florence.  (On the naming of the gallery, see https://www.cetamuradelchianti.com/excavating-the-past-molding-our-future/)

The Interns will present a chronological narrative of Cetamura’s extraordinary love affair with grapes and wine-making as an immersive experience. By combining the results of modern scientific analysis of the water-logged grape pips with knowledge of the site of Cetamura, the exhibit will take the viewer on an exploration of vine cultivation in the Chianti from the Etruscans to the Romans. Their display will include religious and cultural aspects of wine at Cetamura, along with examples of vessels and other paraphernalia that have been excavated from the site over the years.