Introducing Pierre Giacomo Petrioli

PG in all his glory.

4-20-10

I would like to take a second to describe the doll that is my art history teacher. His name is Pierre Giacomo Petrioli (but everyone calls him PG). PG is about 5 ft 1 inch on a good day. He has a round belly to match his welcoming round face. He is nearly bald, smokes out of a pipe every minute we are not in class, and has square glasses that shape his face. He lectures to us about art history in Italy for two hours, two days per week. I cannot get enough of him. He is the epitome of an authentic (and always happy) Italian man. Some mornings he brings the class chocolate ‘to help us think’ , even though our class is at nine AM. His English is quite good, but he has certain mannerisms and phrases he uses frequently. He greets you with a “Ciao ok”, but this phrase comes out as one word like “CiaoOOOK”. For example instead of saying “he was one of the best painters of all time” PG says, “he was the best painter of every time”. He often refers to some of the artists as full of ‘bullshit’ (with an accent on the shit), and mumbles under his breath praise to the great genius of thousands of years ago like Giotto, Dante Alighieri, Cimabue, and Michaelangelo. He is a professor I will never forget and miss dearly back in the states.