I heard back from Dr. Forcella! She met with the countess and her husband, and they told her that the frescos are so large they don't keep them in the house anymore; they're in a depository somewhere else. However, she said they might be able to get a couple of them out for me to see (!!!) and she's going to hear from the husband again Monday evening, and we'll see what happens.
Meanwhile, Dr. Cooper's friend connected me with another scholar, who sent me the email address of yet another scholar (American, this time) who has worked extensively in Bergamo. He works on the educational system during the Renaissance, and it just so happens that I used his dissertation as a source for my thesis. In fact, I literally wrote that paragraph this morning. Small world! He's apparently at Villa I Tatti all year, the lucky bastard. That's Harvard University's private villa for Renaissance scholars right outside Florence. An I Tatti fellowship is a coveted thing: it has an incomparable library, plus, duh, you're living in an Italian villa on Harvard's dime. That's definitely among my goals (especially if they have some kind of "bring your husband along for free!" deal going on. Fingers crossed).
Anyway, I'm just amazed at how all of this is happening less than a week before the trip. Madness!! Meanwhile, my thesis is up to 32 pages, even BEFORE I've consulted the twenty-odd sources I have listed for the library in Bergamo. I might even be able to squeeze something in like "well, from my personal observation of this fresco..." Ha.
The final piece of awesome comes courtesy of Google maps: we can take a train about fifteen minutes outside the city, and from there it's a ten-minute cab ride to the village of Trescore Balneario and Villa Suardi. In other words, if this goes down, we don't need to pay $300 for a one-day car rental, nor a ridiculous sum on a cab for the whole way. I love you, Google. This is why I allow you to run my life.
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