January 15
Finally, a morning to sleep in. After a slow start, Katie and I explored the park outside of our house (seriously, how is this January? Everything is so green) before wandering downtown to the market. We met up with a few more classmates, then split up into different groups and took off. I joined Anna, Sam, and Tyler in search of the Ponte Vecchio, or the Old Bridge. There are several bridges that span across the River Arno, but this one is famous for the shops that line its sides. Today, most of the stores contain really expensive jewelry, so after taking a few pictures, we just took off in a direction that looked interesting. And stumbled upon the Palazzo Pitti. That’s the thing that I love about Florence: I can wander anywhere, turn around, and fall in love with a new piece of art. Either I’m just that easily impressed or Florence is really that beautiful.
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| The buildings along the River Arno from Ponte Vecchio |
The Palazzo Pitti, which was also the home of the Medici family at one point, just happens to be one of the places that our museum pass lets us get into free. Anna randomly picked out tickets to the Costume Gallery, but we never made it into any of the galleries because we were distracted by the Giardino di Bobli. The gardens are absolutely gorgeous right now; I can’t imagine what they will be like in the spring. There are sculptures scattered around every corner, fountains, tiny forests, and of course another breathtaking view of Florence. From up on the hill, you cannot hear a thing from the city below and the buildings are so close together that you can’t see any people or vehicles. It was eerie, looking down upon what seemed to be a deserted city. I love that Florence has such an abrupt division between city and countryside.
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| Palazzo Pitti from the Bobli Gardens |
While wandering, we found a sign that pointed towards the Lemon House. Assuming that, of course this place would offer free lemons, we headed down the hill. When we were understandably disappointed that there weren’t any lemons (but we did find a black and white cat sitting on the porch, whom we immediately named Lemon), someone said, “When life gives you lemons, it’s the best day ever!” Looking back, I think that’s a pretty good quote to sum up this last week. Life has given me a ton of new challenges and experiences, and while I am homesick and way out of my comfort zone, I’m still having the time of my life.
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| If you look closely, you can see Lemon sitting in front of the door |
January 16
After three hours of Italian and a trip to the local market, Jodie took us on to the Orsanmichele. This church used to be an open-air market, but it is most famous for housing the patron saints of various guilds in its many niches. The original sculptures have been relocated to the second floor, but the replicas gave us a feel of how people would have viewed the originals—for example, the leg of the Doubting Thomas leans out into the audience’s space, drawing the viewer in, despite the fact that scene takes place well above one’s head. The statues are either sculptured from marble or molded from bronze using the lost wax process. Both methods are time consuming, but bronze was more valuable and therefore only the wealthier guilds could afford this luxury.
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| The Doubting Thomas at Orsanmichele |
The inside has now been converted into a church where the Madonna and Child with Angels now resides (“No foto!”), as well as an altar to St. Anne, Mary’s mother. We climbed some more steps (seriously, no wonder everyone is so skinny) to view the original sculptures. By Donatello, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, and Verrocchio (who’s most famous student is none other than Leonardo da Vinci). It was amazing to view each of these sculptors’ works side by side, as they were constantly trying to outdo each other for commissions.
January 17
We’re beginning to learn past tense in Italian. I need to catch up on my flashcards; I’m only a little bit OCD when it comes to reviewing my notes each day to make sure that I’ve recorded every word that Umberto has ever mentioned in class. I was never this meticulous while taking Spanish at Knox, but then again, I could walk out the door and be confident that the first person I saw would speak English.
After another delicious meal from the market (seriously, this food is like a drug or something), Jodie took us to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze. We started the tour in the gardens, which is full of reconstructed Etruscan tombs. The Etruscans were a group of people who inhabited Tuscany before the Greeks and Romans (the museum is also home to an extensive collection of Egyptian art, so it’s interesting to compare how the cultures were influenced by each other), and their influence on the arts is mapped out wonderfully in this museum. The tombs were moved to this garden and rebuilt in order to preserve them (so much has been lost due to flooding). The construction reminds me of the pictures I’ve seen of Machu Picchu’s walls—the stones are cut very precisely in order to ensure that the tomb will withstand time (brick and mortar was introduced by the Romans at a much later time).
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| Reconstruction of an Etruscan tomb |
Back at Linguaviva, I had checked out a book, a field guide to Florence, in hopes of diminishing my chances of passing out after rounding a corner and coming face to face with one of my favorite works of art. There was only a small blurb about this particular museum, but there was one name that caught my eye: the François Vase. Last fall, I took a Greek Art and Architecture course at Knox and we spent an entire class period on this vase. Honestly, I forget the details of the very complex story that is inscribed upon it (it relates to the Trojan War, of course), but I recognize that this is an extremely influential piece and it is an honor to be able to view it in person. So we were getting towards the very end of the museum, my classmates were getting restless, and I was frantically searching for the room with this vase. I went to catch up with everyone at the end of the hallway, passed a doorway, and quite literally skidded to a halt and backtracked into the room. Found it! Spent a few moments enjoying the piece by myself before people started to wander in. Fun fact: In 1900, the vase (which is incomplete to begin with) was shattered by an angry guard. The chair that he used is still sitting in the corner of the room, with a small sign that says, “Not to be used for sitting, except in case of emergency.”
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| The François Vase in all its glory |
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