Questo e Quello

January 18

Began the day with a race to see what the fastest way to get to Linguaviva was: Katie took the bus and I walked. She ended up beating me by about three minutes. Class was cut short by a field trip to the market with our Italian professors. Most of us had already visited, but it was interesting to hear Luigi and Umberto explain things (and snack on free samples of cheese and salami). After lunch, we got our opera/ballet passes, which will help us get discounts on even more cultural events!

After lunch, we met up with Jodie at “Money and Beauty: Bankers, Botticelli, and the Bonfire of Vanities,” an exhibit that is closing soon and wasn’t originally on our itinerary. It was fascinating to see how the florin evolved and shaped everyday life. There were elaborate books recording how bankers and merchants paid each other (which I still don’t completely understand, so I won’t try to explain it because I’ll just confuse myself and give the wrong information…) and artists’ interpretations of bankers greedily counting their money. Other paintings depicted what happened to the greedy and how bankers went about their business. The “Bonfire of Vanities” refers to objects that people believed led to sin, such as manuscript, art, mirrors, etc. Botticelli destroyed several of his own works, but thankfully not “The Calumny of Apelles.”

Botticelli's The Calumny of Apelles

That evening, we attended our first Italian football match between Florentina and Juventus. We had great seats on the first level, right in the middle of the field. The teams were both B-Teams and nobody scored, but the game was still interesting. I had more fun listening to the fans (and probably could have picked up some swear words if I had listened a little harder) and talking with the people around me than watching the game.

Watching nobody score...

January 19

After Italian, we had about forty minutes to find our way from Linguaviva to the Galileo Museum, which is over by the Uffizi. I wasn’t sure what to expect—this is an art trip, not science—but the museum was absolutely awesome. There were several devices of optical illusions, various sundials, and other trinkets of the Medici’s wealth.

One of the most fascinating pieces was the Armillary Sphere. It was completed in 1593 as a wedding gift to a member of the Medici family. The entire structure, which is over twelve feet high, is coated in gold leaf. Most of the parts are original, which is quite fortunate because the museum is right along the River Arno and was hit quite badly by the flood of 1966. The sphere shows the rotations of the planets around the Earth (this was before Galileo introduced his heliocentric model).

Armillary Sphere

Galileo Galilei was born in Pisa and originally wanted to be a monk (because monks had the best opportunity for education). His father, on the other hand, wanted his first-born son to have a more prestigious career, so Galileo went to the university. He never married, but had three children, and ended up paying the church a sum to legitimize his son. In order to convince the Medici family to become his patron, Galileo named some planets (wandering bodies) after the Medici brothers. The creepiest part of the museum: when Galileo’s body was moved to Santa Croce, people took relics, including a couple of fingers that are on display at the museum, (the grossest part of the museum was the terra cotta replicas of the womb that doctors used to study the birthing process).

All of these relics are starting to creep me out

After the tour, Shayla, Christina, and I visited il Porcellino, a bronze statue of a boar. If you rub his nose and put a coin in his mouth, you’ll have good luck and return to Florence. Sounds like a good deal. We stopped at Grom, because even on a cloudy, drizzly day, there’s still time for gelato.

January 20

After struggling through a second week of Italian, a group of us went out to lunch at a restaurant around the corner from Linguaviva. I need to start trying foods other than pizza whenever we go out, but it’s just so good! Tagged along for a little bit of shopping, but then went on a hunt to find a museum.

My first stop was the Anthropology Museum, but it turns out that closes at 1 PM during the week (really?). I had glimpsed another Archaeological Museum at the library that the ACM students are members of, but when I arrived, I found out that it wasn’t open during the latter part of the week. So I ended up going to the Uffizi. I wasn’t planning on it, because I know that I’ll probably end up there with a class and I don’t want to have a bunch of repeat visits because there is still so much to see. After visiting, my only regret is that I didn’t go sooner.

By the time I made it up to the second floor, I was so excited that I almost walked in without handing over my ticket. Whoops. Walked into the first gallery and encountered a Madonna and Child that is in almost every art history book. Started to get a little light headed. Recognized Piero della Francesca’s Duke and Duchess of Urbino. Saw the sign to the Botticelli room. And that’s when I forgot to breathe.

When I walked into the Botticelli exhibit, the first thing I saw was Spring on the opposite wall. I made a beeline for it, glanced to my left, then stopped dead. In front the Birth of Venus. I just froze in front of the painting for several minutes (sorry to the tourists and tour guides who were trying to look around me, I physically could not move). There were benches in the middle of the gallery, and for a good reason. When I was able to move again, I went over and collapsed onto one, only to sit and stare for a few more minutes. I’ve never been so overwhelmed by a painting before, and I never expected this reaction from The Birth of Venus. The Sistine Chapel, perhaps. I remember looking at the piece and thinking, “This isn’t paint. It’s magic.”

Primavera (image found)

The Birth of Venus (image found)

There were many paintings on loan or in restoration, which just translates to I’M COMING BACK. Especially for Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes (1567). It’s usually right next to Caravaggio’s Bacchus (!!!), but it’s at an exhibit in Milan until the end of January. I wrote a paper on it, I have to see it in person! I ended up buying a guidebook, which goes through each gallery and lists all of the paintings and sculptures. When I go back, I’m going to make sure I don’t miss anything.

Bacchus (image found)