I made it back to Cleveland safely after a very crazy time of traveling and almost missing all but my first flights, and being walked through the airport by two Alitalia workers (let me know if you want the long story). During one of my last few days in Florence I walked through the city and took pictures of the famous buildings because I realized I had not taken good ones because I kept just telling myself “I have time”. And then I didn’t have time, so the pictures needed to be taken. The first is of il Duomo with the Baptistery in the corner, the second is of Palazzo Vecchio, and the last is the Ponte Vecchio at set.

So this title sounds like an album title on facebook. :/ Anyway but it really describes this picture and my semester. As I have said before my host family lives about two blocks away from the Duomo, therefore I tend to meet people there and spend time around it. From there we often go to Santa Croce, where there are plenty of bars and plenty of Sausages at the different markets. I as my departure day grows closer I have to decided to post a picture I took at the beginning of the semester when my host family took me to Piazza Michelangelo of Il Duomo and Santa Croce.

I know what you’re thinking… “another Duomo post? really?” Well, yes. I do live two blocks away from it and is an incredible piece of architecture and Brunelleschi worked hard to earn the commission for the cupola. So to visit it once again, instead of just focusing on it’s exterior my friends and I finally went up the 400+ steps to the top.  Over half way the climb up you walk around the interior of the duomo to give you the chance to see the frescoes up close! They’re so detailed and interesting. From there you finish by climbing between the inside and outside of the duomo. Despite the climb up, it was definitely worth the view.

Being up there also gave me the chance to take some Ariel shots of some buildings (including the Duomo) as well as see the detailing of the cupola up close. Enjoy!

This semester I am takeing two classes about renaissance art and architecture, both talk about the cupola of the Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore). Because the cupola was the last thing finished it is the only aspect of the duomo we study, but I find the facade amazing. I already talked about my first impression of the Duomo, so now I am posting some pictures I recently took of the facade, which also include some close up details.

When you’re in Italy’s Tuscan capital, it’s hard to tell if you’re in a city…or in a painting.

The best way to prepare for a visit to Tuscany may not be by reading guidebooks or watching travel shows, but by visiting a museum that specializes in Renaissance art. This is especially so if you plan to visit Florence.

The city itself qualifies as art work.

There’s something about being in Florence that makes you feel as if you’re walking through a painting by Michelangelo. Indeed, there are historians who consider Florence the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance.

If that’s true, the Renaissance could hardly have asked for a better cradle.

Maybe it’s the architecture, so much of which has changed little — or seemingly not at all — since the days that the Medici family ruled this place as a city-state in its own right.

The sea of roofs across the horizon comes in every size and shape, and each seems to lean and cant toward every point of the compass — but all seem to bear that same warm orange-reddish shade of clay tiles.

Maybe it’s the way that, from the hills above the river Arno, the city spreads itself across the horizon like an oil painting, flat as a table, gently offset by the hills just beyond.

Even the sky here, on a clear day, is an artist’s blue — subtle, nuanced, liquid, living.

Maybe it’s the way the massive cathedral known simply as “Il Duomo,” the dome, dominates landscape in all directions. A church so massive and visually imposing that it’s almost impossible to capture the whole thing in a single shot at ground level. Faith through intimidation.

Il Duomo at ground level.

Or maybe it’s the series of bridges that span the Arno — especially the Ponte Vecchio.

From a distance, it looks for all the world like a block of houses, suspended over the water on arches of air. But once on the bridge itself, you appear merely to be walking down another pedestrian arcade between two rows of shops, their display cases filled with gold jewelry and other trinkets to ensnare the passing tourist.

You can’t even tell you’re on a bridge.

Whatever it is, Florence has a visual quality about it that elevates the city as a whole to the level of art, and that’s not a boast that most of the world’s cities can make.

There are no freeways here. Not one. That alone might qualify Florence as a masterpiece. You make your way from place to place mainly along narrow cobblestone streets, many with sidewalks barely wide enough to handle more than one person at a time.

It’s no place for Hummers and Escalades. For many, the motor vehicle of choice here is a scooter. In Florence, a Honda Accord would be “big pimpin’.”

Works for me.

I’m told that Florence is a virtual mecca for art students from around the world. Honestly, I’d be stunned if it weren’t.

You see them everywhere, college-age kids drawing sketches on paper, painting landscapes on canvas, even faithfully re-creating the works of Michelangelo and other masters on the cobbled streets themselves.

Some of them are so talented already that you’re not sure whether to applaud them in awe or kick them in envy. And when some delivery truck leaves tire tracks across one of their chalk art street works, you want to snatch the offending driver out of his cab and beat the hell out of him, until you remember that he’s probably seen — and driven over — a few thousand of these things in his working life.

It doesn’t matter. There will always be more. Florence is never likely to run out of art students. And as long as they stay here, they won’t lack for inspiration. Almost anywhere you look, you can find something worthy of pen and ink, watercolor, oils, a photograph.

IF YOU GO
Florence is easily reached by air, highway or train. Most international air travelers will connect through Paris or Rome. My advice: If you fly into Rome, take advantage of Italy’s high-speed rail system for a smooth, comfy and scenic ride to Florence. Time: about an hour and 40 minutes. There’s also an overnight train from Paris, with sleeping berths.

In Iatly, the city is not called Florence, but Firenze. So if you see a bunch of signs referring to “Firenze,” don’t freak: You’re in Florence.

Hotels are plentiful in Florence and they cover the full spectrum of price range and creature comforts. Shop around online.

Warning: At high season, tourists jam the public markets and squares, making them prime territory for pickpockets and con artists hawking knock-offs or even stolen goods. One of my good friends got ripped off there. If you’re there during the busiest time of year, try to time your visits to those crowded places so that you’re either among the first or the last to arrive.

Julius Caesar founded this town as a retirement home for Roman legionnaires, but don’t come here expecting to find nothing but ancient ruins and octogenarians. Beyond the art prodigies, Florence is a prime vacation destination for students from 20 different European countries, most of them within an easy day’s travel of Italy.

You sit down at a cafe next to a bunch of kids whom you think are studying art in Florence, and they turn out to be engineering majors from Germany, business majors from Ireland or language majors from the Czech Republic — and at least half of them will be from the States!

What you get out of that is a city dating back to Roman times, but with a decidedly youthful vibe. It’s a contrast that’s almost electric.

At one point in its history, Florence was considered the capital of all Italy. It still is thought of as the capital of Tuscany, a region whose history predates that of Rome. All the jockeying for power back and forth between city-states like Florence, Rome and Venice generated enough intrigue to produce a few dozen spy novels — and an equal number of murder mysteries.

Those city-states are long gone now. These days, people flock to Florence more to enjoy the beauty that survives in the light than ponder what went on in the shadows.

UNESCO declared Florence a World Heritage Site back in 1982. Say what you want about the UN, but they clearly know a living work of art when they see one.

Art students re-create an Italian masterpiece on street pavement in chalk. Florence, Italy.

I just started my second week of orientation classes today.  The first week went really well.  We have lessons in history of Florence, art history, language, and cooking (yes, cooking!).  The professors for these classes are all incredible, which is particularly exciting because some of them are the professors who teach our first semester classes at the Sede.  For the art class we all took a trip to San Miniato, a beautiful church high above the city.  The view was incredible:

In addition we had activities to help us get to know the city.   For example, one day we went to a market where fresh fruit, cheese, bread, and meat are sold (similar to a farmer’s market, but more permanent and open more often).  I bought pecorino al peperoncino (sheep’s milk cheese with chili pepper – the italian version of pepper jack cheese) and went back today to buy more!  We  also had a caccia al tesoro (treasure hunt) around the city, in which we had to find certain sights around the city by using a map and asking people for help in Italian.  At one point we had to translate a label of a statue, but we didn’t know the word orafi.  Then, while walking to our next destination I noticed that we passed a hotel called Hotel degli Orafi.  It was perfect!  We went inside and I asked (in Italian, of couse! ) what orafi means in English, and we learned it means goldsmith.  Overall it was a lot of fun and a great way to practice speaking.

On Friday, I went with some girls from the program to see the Duomo (which you can see in the view from San Miniato above).  I pass this structure every day on the way to the Sede, so it was great to finally stop and see it!  We first went inside the church that the Duomo is a part of, Santa Maria dei Fiori – it was absolutely HUGE.  We then climbed all the way to cupola of the Duomo.  The view of Florence from the top was incredible and very worth the hundreds of steps we had to climb to get there.

View of the bell tower and church from the top of the Duomo

Also, I learned this past week that I might be able to do (astro)physics research and classes while I’m here!  I’m much more excited about this than I thought I’d be.  My original plan was to have this be a year off from physics, but I keep thinking how cool it would be to learn it in another language and another country.  (Also, I think Galileo inspired me!)  Giovanna (our program director) and I are going to meet someone this Friday about the research, so we’ll see how it goes –  right now I’m really hoping it works out!

(Look for a post about my weekend trip to Cinque Terre sometime in the next couple days!)

I arrived in Florence yesterday mid-afternoon, having traveled here from Boston with 5 other girls in the program.  The trip went completely smoothly, although my bags were rather difficult to carry!  The hotel we stayed in last night was very close to the Smith Center (the Sede) and downtown Florence (il centro).  A group of us walked around after we settled in and saw so many amazing sights: il Duomo (HUGE!), il Ponte Vecchio (literally, the old bridge), the local river called the Arno, and, most importantly, the Boar.  (Why is the Boar so important?  There is a copy of this statue right in my hometown of Greenwich!)

The Boar

We had our first meeting in the Sede this morning and soon afterwords we were sent to our families.  So far, I really like mine.  My host mother is named Marissa and is very sweet.  Her daughter, Elisabeta, lives with her along with three gattine – cats!  One of them is particularly friendly and another has similar coloring to one of my cats, Wonton.  I think having them around will help a lot with homesickness.  My room is nice and cozy, especially now that I’m basically moved in.

My bed, with Cuck and Rupert (my viola)

My bureau, window, and desk

After meeting our families my roomate and I walked from our house to the Sede – it took 45 minutes!  I don’t think we took the most direct route and we got lost once, so hopefully it won’t take this long every time.

Tonight I’m looking forward to my first ever home-cooked Italian meal.  One of the girls that lived with Marissa last year left us a note, and in it she said Marissa was a great cook.  I can’t wait!

It’s been sort of rainy in Florence, but I don’t mind because a) I have puddle-resistant and hip Converse, which all Italians covet greatly, b) it’s made it cooler, and c) I am the proud owner of one of these:

All classy Florentines wish they had one.

Yes, that IS the Duomo. Cheesy? Duh. Brilliant? Clearly.

Rain I can handle.  It would take a hurricane, or probably just a strong gust of wind, to crush my Duomo and take me off the streets.  But earthquakes? Those I cannot handle, as I learned during my first one last night.  It was so subtle that many people, including my roommate, didn’t even notice it.  I did notice it, and not it in a calm or collected manner.  You know how I react to stray hairs on me or in a shower? Multiply that by 100.

But I’m trying not to let a crippling fear of the earth splitting apart beneath me get in the way of real life, so here’s some other stuff I’ve (bravely) been up to:

Cooking class where we made gnocchi (from scratch!), veal sauce, and tiramisu (tough)! YUM

Hunting for Florence's best gelato- Vivoli and Gelateria de' Medici are tied

How I spend my lunch breaks during school. How pretty is my bruschetta??

I intentionally picked all food pictures because those will make you guys most jealous, but mostly because pictures of us in class or walking all the time and earning our feasts aren’t as cute.

During those gaps of time between meals called real life, I’m trying really hard to learn Italian so I can chat up hot Italian men feel a little less helpless doing things like grocery shopping or, well, anything.  Unfortunately, our class in school is moving at a positively glacial pace — I’ve learned more from those language tapes they play in restaurant bathrooms than I have from this stupid class!  Today I decided to take matters into my own hands with two moves to improve my Italian, one uncharacteristically intrepid and the other exactly the sort of stupid shenanigans you’d expect from me:

• Bold- I’m volunteering with Florence’s Festa della Creativita to translate/edit the plaques next to the visual exhibits into English.  I’m really excited about this! It’s supposed to be one of the coolest things that happens in Florence and everyone I’ve met around there is really nice and welcoming.
• Typical- As a little kid, I learned to read by working my way through Calvin and Hobbes anthologies.  Today I saw a book of Peanuts cartoons in Italian in a bookstore and decided to see if the trick would work a few years later with Italian… at the very least it will make me adopt a more adorably cynical and practical joke-prone tone.

Fun weekend coming up! Going to Elba for some Napoleon history and Mediterranean beauty, Pisa for shoddy tower engineering, and Chianti for a wine festival!

I’ve been in Florence (or as the locals call it Firenze) for about four and a half days and have only really seen a small section of the city. This is not because I do not want to, I would love to spend a day walking around every niche and cranny of the center of town, but because I seem to be repeating the beginning of freshmen year. We have had meeting after meeting to make sure that we are all set for the next 3+ months we will spend here.

Out of all the important places to see as of Thursday afternoon, when I moved into my home stay, the only thing I could  check of my list was the Ponte Vecchio (in case you don’t know what that is, it’s a famous bridge with shops on it). And then Friday afternoon I finally made it to Il Duomo. Seeing it reminded me that a building that is as large and has as much detailing as it does cannot have its presence justified in a picture, not even a group of pictures.

As you’re walking down the street, it’s just there at the end of the street, sitting like a wall. You almost run into and you’re not expecting it to be as massive as it is. ( According to my guide book it is the world’s 4^thlargest cattedral and took about 150 years to complete. You look up and awe at its façade and then look back to the actual dome portion and have a it fans out at the tip to create the cross shape that cathedrals are built in. (The art historian in me is coming out, I can feel it.) The cross is then topped with a large cupola (dome). The decoration of the façade is breathe taking. In addition to the geometric layering and placement of colors, there are navati (naves) with carved marble statues of saints.

I’m obviously in awe of the building and am happy to post my first picture from Italy of Il Duomo.

(Feel free to correct my Italian).

Panen kindlasti ka veel paar pilti Firenzest siis ülesse. Esmamulje linnast on suhteliselt segane – nii Volkerile kui ka mulle meenutab see tõesti veidi Pariisi – pisikesed tänavad, poekesed, samas on kõik veidi hall ja vana . Kõige kreisim on siin aga ikka il Duomo! Ma ei kujuta ette, kes sellise asja siia linna planeeris ja üles ehitas! Väga muljetavaldav igatahes, ehkki minu meelest küll mitte eriti ilus .

Samas peab tunnistama, et me ei ole linna kõiki turistiatraktsioone muidugi veel näinud, kõik see aeg on seni kulunud elamise otsimisele ja Itaalia ametnike ootetoas (täna nt poolteist tundi). Ehk see pühapäev saame minna vaatama, mida see linnake siis pakub. Tahaks kindlasti turule, häid toite ostma . Ja parki pidime minema, jooksma, pühapäeval. Seni on nii talumatult kuum olnud ja graafik nii tihe, et esmaspäev Freiburgis jäigi viimaseks korraks, kui jooksime… Mnjah.

Igatahes, lähme homme veel üht korterit vaatama ja siis on Feierabend ja muud rõõmud!

After a long day of travel, art and food, interrupted by 2 delayed trains, Sasha and I finally arrived in Florence a few hours late but excited as ever. We checked into our 16th century palazzo of a hotel, Palazzo Niccolini al Duomo, located here, right across the street from Brunelleschi’s masterpiece on top of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore . Even though Sasha was tired from our very long day, I was determined to start the Florence section of our trip of with a proper Florentine meal. And in La Giostra, I found one.

La Giostra is run by members of the Hapsburg Lorena family. Italian princes from when Italy was under Hapsburg rule, the family home is at Barberino Val d’Elsa in Chianti where for many years, like others in the Chianti region, they had produced olive oil, wine and other culinary delights. The restaurant is run by the colorful and bracelet covered Dimitri, his brother Soldano and Anastasia.

The restaurant space (they have two dining rooms on the same street located here) dates from the sixteenth century when it was used as a storage area for the painted horses and other parts of the Salvemini square carousel. In fact, the restaurant takes its name, La Giostra, a word that used to mean ‘the joust’, from this very carousel.

Dining room and former carousel storage facility from the 16th Century

The food at La Giostra is traditional Tuscan; rich pastas, hearty meats and strong wines abound. I was seated for my first meal in Tuscany, surrounded by the cacophony of a full restaurant in an old, narrow, brick room, ordered a bottle of 2006 Canneto Vino Nobile di Montelpuciano Sangiovase and prepared myself for a feast.

Antipasta La Giostra: Bruschetta with pomodoro and chicken liver with rabbit, tomato, mozzarella and mortadella, roasted peppers, potato salad and two mini quiches

Tagliatelle con Porcini and Nipitella alla Toscana, a mix of traditional Tuscan spices

Osso Bucco La Giostra; Amazingly sweet and soft (almost candied) carrots make this dish shine

For those interested in this very fine restaurant’s menu…here’s some it is.

Mass at the Duomo

At Florence we visited the Duomo, which is the second largest church in Christendom, and we were given the privilege to celebrate mass at the side chapel of the Madonna.  Fr. Eric Nielsen is distributing Holy Communion.  Fr. John Baker (background) gave the first homily of our trip here in this chapel. The outside of the Duomo is covered in beautiful green, red, white, and yellow marble. The inside is more austere mostly granite.   It was a practice of Cistercian monks to decorate their chapels sparsely so as not to distract one from prayer. The dome of this Cathedral is very ornately painted with a scene of the Last Judgment with Heaven and Hell.

Doney teaching a class

Our guide in Florence was an Irishman named Doney (short for Donnell). He showed us his Beato Angelic art studio, which he founded in order to re-establish the making of sacred art for religious use. He focuses a lot on the masters such as Michaelangelo, Raphael and Bernini. We learned that the body has a language and great artists know how to use the body in art to convey a message. Beautiful art expresses the goodness of the human body and the greatness of God. We discussed how the current misunderstanding of the body and human sexuality (mostly due to the separation of the mind from the body) leads to a modern art that is formless or perverted.

-Photos and text submitted by seminarian Ryan O’Neill

On a recent trip to Milan, climbing the stairs to the roof of Il Duomo, was a must. The cathedral was first begun by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in 1387, but took almost another 500 years to complete.

The view from the top is amazing and it is a unique way to get an overview of this interesting and varied city.

Bottcelli's Primavera

Botticelli's Venus

One of the next rooms had three of Leonardo’s, and when I attempted to take a picture of the Adoration of the Magi, I got yelled at, so there are no more pictures from the Uffizi. However, the Da Vincis were great to see, there were also some Raphaels, Caravaggios, a Michelangelo mandorla, Titian’s “Venus,” and some Rubens, among hundreds other artists.

From there, we went back to the Duomo so that we could go in and up to the top. The inside was nice (it’s hard going into any churches after St. Peter’s), Don and Duch decided to go up to the top of the dome for €8, while I stayed courtside. Don got some great video from the top which I’ll post when we’re back – this internet connection is awful.

Inside Il Duomo

After seeing the inside of the Duomo, we rolled down the road towards Michelangelo’s school, the Galleria dell’Accademia which contains the original plaster mold of the “Rape of the Sabines,” the mold for a sculpture copy of Titian’s painting “Venus of Urbino,” a few plaster molds of Michelangelo’s “Slaves” (intended for his own funeral monument) and the larger-than-life “David.” Photos here were also illegal, but I got a few off without anyone noticing.

Michelangelo's David

We began our march back in search of food, and went across the Ponte Vecchio while it was packed, the gold shops shining brightly.

Ponte Vecchio at night

After a quick bite and a look at some of the coolest gelato we had seen (below), we headed to the train station, bought our tickets, and were back to Rome…

Sweet gelato

Our plan for today was to get up early, around 9am or 10am, to grab a train to Florence from Termini Station, however, the running theme for us seems to be completely inept at setting alarms, so we woke up around 11:30am, and were on a train by 12pm.

Jed Don Duch en route to Florence

The hour and a half train ride cost €38, the car was actually really nice, and the trip was mostly comprised of sleeping (directly after that picture was taken). When we rolled into downtown Firenze at 1:30pm, it was raining, but not hard enought to stop and see some things before heading off to find our hostel. First, we stopped at the famous Santa Maria Novella, near the train station, which houses a variety of paintings by Giotto, Lippi, and other early Renaissancers, a crusifix by Brunelleschi (who also did Il Duomo), and it’s most famous piece, a fresco by Massacio done in 1427 called the Trinity and is also the first ever experimental use of perspective (!). I tried to take an illegal picture, but unfortunately it turned out too poorly to post here. Google it.

Piazza della Signoria sculpture gallery

From there we walked in the diretion of the river, our hostel, and a couple other sites. We walked through the Piazza della Signoria which has a sculpture gallery on the south side (above), a pretty sick neptune statue to the north east, and the Palazzo Vecchio to the south east. The sculpture gallery contains two extra famous pieces: Giambologna’s twisting ”Rape of the Sabines” and Cellini’s gory “Perseus” below.

Rape of the Sabines

Perseus Slaying Medusa

At this point it was coming down pretty hard, so we decided to hightail it to our hostel to dry off before exploring any more of the city. We walked south through the Uffizi passageway (for a glimpse of what we’d do tomorrow), and east along the river to our apartment for the night at the Riverbank Hostel. Pleasantly surprised, we found the apartment was bigger and nicer than the one we were staying at in Rome, and it was only €13 per night per person. The colors were a little weird though…

Riverbank Hostel room We laughed about the keys they gave us. They were straight out of the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or Harry Potter. When the owner showed me the biggest one on the lower right, I wanted to be like, "Wow, so we're in Florence, yet we rented a room in Narnia?"Ridiculous room keys

Once the rain had slowed and now that we were dry and refreshed, we ventured out towards the Santa Maria del Fiore, better known as Il Duomo. Truly breathtaking, the Duomo dominates the piazza with the Campanile (bell tower) directly to the south and the Baptistery to the west.

Santa Maria del Fiore aka Il Duomo

The Duomo was closed by the time we got there, and we didn’t feel like going into the Baptistery – the famous bronze doors on its east side – Ghiberti’s “Gate of Paradise” depicting scenes from the Old Testiment - were enough to look at. Apparently, there had been a contest between the major sculptors, artists, architects in Italy for the commission of the doors. In the finals, Ghiberti beat out Brunelleschi (the guy that did the freakin Duomo) and set up a shop enlisting other early Renaissancers, like Donatello, to help out with the project. 

Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise

One of the panels close up

We then decided to orient ourselves with the city by going up the Campanile right next to the Duomo for one of Florence’s best views. €6 and about 430 stairs later:

It got tighter than this as it went up...

Not getting near that railing...

Duomo from Campanile

We headed back to find a place to eat, walked around the Ponte Vecchio (it was dark by then, so pictures turned out badly), and made reservations for the Uffizi for 11am tomorrow. We also found a place to go for the night that had a beerpong tournament with the grand prize of a weekend trip to Prague, Berlin, or Amalfi, which neither Don nor Duch found out until after they had won it. Unfortunately, it leaves out of Florence in a couple weeks, and they’d have to pay the airfair there and back; instead, they sold the trip to the girls they beat for €10.

A beautiful evening at the gorgeous Piazza Duomo in Milan, an autumn October night of 2008.

Milans reputation for being a rather ugly city is, in my opinion, extremely unfair. Of course I´m not talking about the suburbs; Like in all cities suburbs are suburbs. But there´s lots and lots of amazing sights and places in Milan. I will bring my iPhone around Milan the coming weeks and try to photograph some of them…

I’ve been forcedly removed from the Il Duomo. The deafening tick of my biological clock was putting penitence of the rosary.

love and light,

Dawn.