Our second week in Florence was, in general, much more quiet and relaxing. Our first week had been so hectic that we needed time to recover. The week’s activities included two lectures from another guest, Professor Lombardo. He is an Italian historian that focuses on the European Union. His first lecture was about Machiavelli and the second about the EU. Neither were terribly fascinating and it was difficult to understand what he was saying. He did, however, share an interesting story about Machiavelli arguing with friends over a few cents that he was owed while playing cards. His arguments were apparently incredibly intense and over very small subjects.
We also had another tour from Rocky Ruggiero on the Borgello Museum. In it, Rocky showed us his favorite room for sculpture in the world where we learned about the creation of The Gates of Paradise and saw two masterpiece sculptures by Donatello, his David and St. [name]. There was also a sculpture by Michelangelo depicting Bacchus. Rocky said that Michelangelo to make money as a teenager would sculpt statues in the Roman style, pour dirt on it, and then sell it as a Roman original. One buyer found out that it was not a Roman original when he went to clean the statue. Instead of punishing Michelangelo, he realized that he had a master with him and let him sculpt him a Bacchus, the god of wine. Michelangelo’s Bacchus was rejected when completed, however, because he depicted Bacchus as drunk with a wild face and teeth showing.
That friday, our professor canceled class because it was a holiday in Florence to celebrate St. John the Baptist. We spent the day relaxing, but that night we invited our professor over for dinner (I should say he invited himself when he found out that we liked the food we cooked). Dylan and I went all out cooking and Joe bought some fine Italian wine for the celebration. I made my version of bruchetta, grilled and buttered bread with melted mozzarella, tomato, and bell pepper on top. Dylan made his famous seasoned pasta where he puts a lot of spices, oils, and butter in the water before adding the pasta. He also made a red sauce to go along with it. We then bought a gelato cake for desert. It was a great time. After dinner, we all made our way toward the bridge in the middle of Florence to watch the amazing fireworks display. It was very crowded, but fantastic to be apart of a city as it celebrates.
The next day Joe, Dylan, and I got up early to go to Venice. Dylan had a friend that had been living there for a week and she met us at the train station to show us around. Venice is famous for being a city on water, and that means that all transportation is by water... slow moving, docking at every stop, water travel. This was great though as Venice could possibly be the most beautiful city I have seen. The water adds a polish to the characteristically worn buildings and bridges found in Italy. We took an hour-long bus ride that went around half of the city; a great introduction. We then went to St. Marco’s square where we climbed a tower there and saw the entire city. Afterward we went to the St. Marco Cathedral where, according to my dad, held the first dual choir loft on opposite sides of the church introducing music that echos itself from one loft to the other.
The rest of our day was spent visiting art museums that Rocky had recommended. In one we found one painting that gave us endless enjoyment. In the center was an old bearded man that was looking intensely at his spoon as if convincing himself that there really “is no spoon.” The other figure was at the left of the painting. He is holding an arrow and is about to strike a cat and dog as they fight. His arrow, however, looks like a Harry Potter wand, and his face is contorted and looks like he is yelling “AVADA KEDAVA!!” Dylan and I laughed for days about him. That night when we returned to Florence was White Night, where you can walk around with a 5 euro glass that you purchase from a restaurant, and then every other restaurant that you visit fills it with their house wine. There are also plenty of deals in the shops.
Sunday was spent recuperating from Saturday.
Our last week in Florence, this was it. We had to finish everything we had slacked off! We started with another lecture from Rocky Ruggiero (tired of him yet? IMPOSSIBLE!). He lectured on art history and gave us plenty to think about stylistically about pre-to-post Renaissance art. A group of us then asked if we could pay him for tours, and he said that he only had one spot open, and hour and a half on Tuesday. We took it and paid the money for him to guide us at Florence’s Academia where Michelangelo’s real david stands. The building was designed around the David, and it stands in a domed room that is built stylistically large, but structurally small to make David look larger than he actually is (17 feet tall).
Rocky told us more than I could ever remember about the David: about how the contract for it started before Michelangelo was born, and when he took it on it was already “badly sketched out” in the marble according to the patrons. Michelangelo took this started David and completed it for the top of a cathedral. When he was finished, the patrons decided that it was too good to be put far away, so they held a meeting with Italy’s greatest artists to decide where to put it. Leonardo da Vinci is recorded as saying that it should be put in some dark corner. It was decided, however, to place it outside Florence’s town hall where it stood for hundreds of years until finally moved to the museum to keep it from further damage. There is a large debate whether Michelangelo’s David depicts him before or after he killed David. The museum’s literature on the statue says that it is after he kills David. Rocky gave us this argument, and then told us why he thinks it is wrong. Between David’s sold stance to his face to the lack of Goliath’s head to several other features, Rocky gave a solid argument for why this David is looking straight at the giant for the first time, measuring up his opponent and getting ready to strike. I thought this before he said anything, and I think it’s true even more now. This David is looking at Goliath for the first time, I’m convinced. We also learned a lot about the tools Michelangelo used when sculpting, his obsession with the male body, and that he hated to waste marble, so some of his figures are giants that used all the edges of the blocks of marble he used. Phenomenal time at the Academia.
On Wednesday, we had a day trip to Sienna and St. Jimmy Johns (look up real name). Early in the morning, our class met at the train station and took an hour-long bus to Sienna. When we got there our tour guide brought us to a church dedicated to St. Catherine, the one who brought the pope back to Rome. We had our first introduction to relics here. This church had St. Catherine’s scull inside a golden display. This church also had one of John the Baptist’s fingers inside another golden display. I had already seen these types of golden displays on our trip, but I never made the connection that inside all of them were dead people’s body parts. The church with the most body parts is often the most decked-out in gold.
We soon left this church and began to travel around the inside of Sienna. The city is built on 3 tall hills and looks a lot bigger than it actually is because of them. It is also surrounded by walls that used to serve as protection, but Sienna hasn’t expanded much beyond 60,000 people, so there has been no need to destroy the walls. While we were there, Sienna was celebrating a horse race that they hold every year. The city is divided into districts and each district has a rider. The first district we entered was the goose district. Children decked out in green (the goose color) were running about the small streets in excitement, something was going on. Our tour guide explained how each child is born in a district and baptized there to become a goose, a snail, an elephant/tower, a unicorn, dragon, caterpillar, forest rhino thing, etc. These districts have allies and enemies. The goose are allies with the snail and they are enemies with the elephant. Deals are made between allies to take down their enemies in the horse race. If they fail to complete their deals, the rider shamed by the communities, and loses honor. If enemy districts get into a fight, if you get hurt or hurt an enemy, you are praised as a hero and gain honor. One time, however, a child was killed in a fight, and the entire city came to his funeral, lifted his casket toward the goose district so he could see it one more time, and buried honorably.
Sienna is an example of times lost in government, when people held a connection to where they lived beyond economic reasons or even familial reasons. These people were born in a district and they fought for their district. This is what Professor Craig in Rome was trying to get his students to understand about ancient Rome. Without a tie to where you live, what makes you act in its favor? What makes you care to help your community and stop trying to gain individual wealth? The answer lies in Machiavelli, the author we are reading for our Florence Class.
Our time in Sienna was short, and after a quick lunch we hopped on the bus and headed for St. Jimmy Johns. We dubbed it St. Jimmy Johns because we couldn’t figure out how to pronounce its real name. This city was built in the medieval period and when you walk into it, it’s as if you have traveled back hundreds of years to another land now lost. There were once 76 towers in the city, each for families wealthy enough to afford them. There remain only 13 towers, and I climbed the tallest. 200-some steps later, we were looking over the small city. Tuscany was the background full of fields and hills that reminded me a lot of Kansas. The city is tightly packed, each building with its own unique roof giving a wonderfully textured look. Ivy climbs up the walls of the stone buildings and streets branch off in every direction. The city is beautiful, and perhaps my favorite one I saw on my trip to Italy. The downside is that it’s very touristy, unless you go off the main rode. Overall, our last day-trip was our best.
Our last class was on Thursday and so we spent the rest of the day sleeping. Friday, Elli, Caryn, Dylan, Joe and I went to Pisa to visit its Duomo and Leaning Tower. We got some pretty amazing pictures, some of which will never see the light of facebook. Everything else is what you imagine, we saw the tower of Pisa, and it is leaning. It is really cool, but it is sad that an entire city is reduced to a very small section of tourism.
Dylan, Joe and I continued this trip to Carrara where (you guessed it) Rocky told us is where the marble mountains are that have been excavated for thousands of years. As a result, sides of the mountain are missing and snow-like marble shines through, giving the look of marble mountains. The government decided that they didn’t want to destroy the look of the mountain anymore, so they now hollow it out instead. To hold it up they place giant pillars all over the cave. Imagine something like the Mines of Moria from The Lord of the Rings. Sadly, Dylan, Joe and I couldn’t get to the mountains, so we spent the day in Carrara -- probably the most “average” Italian city we have been to with little to no tourism. We walked around the city enjoying our spotting of marble here and there and guess as to why the entire city isn’t steeped in marble everywhere. It was a great day.
The rest of my time in Florence was spent mostly with Dylan as we traveled around the city finishing our check list of “Things To Do In Florence.” I’ll have to ask him what we did Saturday, because I can’t remember. I know we went to the Florence Duomo museum and then bought chocolate at the Lyndt super store.
Sunday, however, was a day for the history books. Dylan and I walked through the two most expansive museums in Florence: The Uffizi and the Pitti Palace. Both were places of residence for the Medici family at different points of their rule, and both exhibit some of the most expansive collections of Renaissance art in the world. After both of those, we then walked across the city and up a huge hill to a Vespers gorgorian chant that happens every night at 5:30 right before mass. We then headed to Piazza Michelangelo to get a last view of the entire city. On our way home we visited the town hall Signoria, the Duomo, and ended the day with gelato at the park next to our apartment. What a day! That night, Joe and I packed up and left for our all-night train to Paris. Florence was over, and we were on to our next adventure!
No comments:
Post a Comment