Christiane Joost-Gaugier writes,
"For most of April and May I will be in the southern part of Italy — Puglia — where I will be doing research on a new book for which I am collaborating with an architect friend; it will be on the Architecture of Puglia — which is very, very interesting since ancient times. There is even a medieval Muslim town in Puglia, Lucera. For our work, we will be centered on an olive oil farm near that town.
Then in June I will be giving a talk at the Harvard Club of New York City the evening of June 11; that talk will be about my recently published research on the Sistine Chapel as a whole. I would love to see any classmates who happen to be in New York and who would like to come. After returning to Washington I will be giving a special seminar on Venice at the George Washington University here in Washington.
During all this time I am also working on another new book — on the very early history of wine in ancient literature starting at the beginning with the literature of ancient Sumeria, going through Egypt, Syria, the biblical lands, Greek and Roman times and ending with Early Christian writers, when wine became a sacrament. All good wishes to all."
