Firenze Day Two

8:30 Group Breakfast. Our hotel came with a complimentary breakfast. The breakfast was good, but the granola ran out rather early and the coffee, as Lisa eloquently stated, was more like “anti-coffee.” Nonetheless, we all managed to have a “balanced” breakfast.
10:00 Palazzo Davanzati. At 10 we were given a special tour of the Palazzo Davanzati, a 15th Century house.


Usually the public are not allowed into the upper floors, but we were able to get in for free! The Palazzo had been reconstructed and outfitted with furniture to show the actual living conditions of the inhabitants. Among the most interesting items were a two foot long citrus juicer, a built-in octagonal bread mixer, and a large collection of lace. In addition, most of the rooms were painted with beautiful fictive draperies.


The Palazzo really gave us a feel for how Florentines in the 15th Century lived.
10:30 Piazza della Signoria. We then went to the large Piazza della Signoria, a large open area in front of the old Florentine seat of government.

We learned about the dynamic life of Savonarola, a religious zealot who was preaching apocalyptic messages and warning against hedonism. After enjoying a wealth of power, Savonarola pushed his luck too far and was excommunicated by the pope. Savonarola was then hung in the piazza and burned several times to destroy his remains. The Piazza is also adjacent to a beautiful open air gallery. We then went into the government building, which is now a grand museum.
11:00 Museo del Bargello. No pictures were allowed in the room, but here is one of the central courtyard.

The highlights in the Museo del Bargello were two versions of the David, one by Donatello and the other by Verrocchio. These were the original two David sculptures and formed the basis on which Michelangelo constructed his own masterpiece. There were no pictures allowed in the Museo, but here are online pictures of the two statues.

Verrocchio's David

Donatello's David

As you can see, Donatello’s David is somewhat scandalous: he wears a helmet, boots, and little else. Donatello was allowed to experiment with David because of the protection of the Medici family. Both of the sculptures were surprisingly small, especially when compared with Michelangelo’s David.
On the lower floors were Michelangelo’s Bacchus, the original version of Donatello’s St. George, and the two finalists for the door panel competition of 1401. We all compared the two panels, one by Brunelleschi and the other by Ghiberti, and tried to decide which one we personally thought was better.
12:00 Lunch break. Some of use went across the Ponte Vecchio while others of us started the hunt in search of the best gelato in Florence.

3:00 Uffizi gallery. The Uffizi is a massive gallery with over 40 rooms ranging from medieval art through the 17th Century. One of the favorite rooms was the Botticelli room, which featured both the Primavera and the Birth of Venus. Again, no photos were allowed, so here are some online representations:

The Primavera

The Birth of Venus

I never realized how large these paintings were until I saw them in person. The depictions of Venus are very stylistic and beautiful. Many of us just sat in the middle of the room, basking in the aura of these paintings. The Uffizi also housed some paintings of Venice by Canaletto, some portraits by Rembrandt, and important works by Caravaggio. It was interesting to compare Caravaggio’s version of Abraham and Isaac with those on the door panels.
5:00 After the Uffizi we had some free time. Some of us watched a mime performer while others continued the Florentine Quest.
8:00 A large group of us went across the Ponte Vecchio and found some small restaurants for dinner. We crossed the Ponte Vecchio right around sunset.

Personally, my dinner was delicious: rabbit ravioli and sage chicken.
Overall, a great day with lots of Renaissance art. Wandering around the beautiful city of Firenze brings a fresh breath for all of us as we prepare for the final two weeks of Rome.

-Ben Drum

Wednesday July 8, 2009

Firenze: The Introduction—July 8, 2009

Our first day in Firenze began with a quick train ride from Rome to Florence. Most people slept the hour and a half, hoping to get a few more minutes more of sleep before a long day of walking and touring began.




We began at the Church of San Lorenzo then walked over to the Duomo. The architecture and arts outside the Duomo are nothing like what we have seen in Rome. The colors are vibrant, and the size grand. We learned about the history, how the church was built. Originally the church was commissioned to have a dome, but at the time they did not know how to build a proper dome, but expected that by the time the church was completed that someone would know how to build it, but this was not the case. The church sat without a roof for 120 years until Brunelleschi came and convinced the guilds to allow him to build it, despite his lack of experience. He was a skilled architect, employing new techniques never used before, and keeping his workers content by serving them lunch and watering down their wine. Today the dome is quite large, 463 steps to the top that a few of us climbed for the view of the whole city.






The baptistery outside the main church houses the “Gates of Paradise” done by Ghiberti and gilded in gold. The original doors are not present outside the baptistery, only copies. Around the baptistery are other doors by artists, depicting stories from the Old Testament and the life of Jesus.

A large factor contributing to the growth of Florence as a cultural center in the 15th century was the fact that Florence was a Republic. This allowed guilds and families to earn their own power by patronization and competition. The Orsanmichelle is a chapel of large size that housed the guilds’ center. Outside are niches that were given to each guild to fill with a saint. The guilds competed to have the most beautiful and spectacular niche with their saint. If they didn’t fill it, it became available to the other guilds to fill. These, along with many other factors, made Florence a cultural center for arts, politics, and society.

After a break for lunch and adventures we went on to the Church of Santa Croce. I found this church to be so simple and beautiful. Unlike the churches in Rome, these churches still feature the classic Gothic style. They simply house and point to the splendor of Jesus and are not as overwhelming as the gilded churches in Rome that have their ceilings covered in frescos and art work. In Florence the rafters of the church are painted simply and there are not the classic side chapels.



We returned to our hotel to do some reading, homework and napping, and then went out for our group dinner. Trattoria ZaZa had great food which each of us got to order off the menu. Many of us chose ravioli with truffle sauce, gnocchi, or wild boar sauce to try new things. These dishes are classic in the area where truffles an wild boars are common to the Tuscan region. The secondi featured sausage, chicken, and many other fine dishes. Fine dolce of crème custards, panna cotta, and strawberries in lemon. The meal was overall a great experience, with fun conversation, and developing new friendships. Our first day in Florence ended with a little walking around, and then very needed sleep for our the days to come in Firenze.

Ciao: Maggie Harlow

Tuesday, July 7th

Today was the last day in Rome before our trip to Florence! We started out with a group presentation in Mona's class about Babette's Feast. Anand, Maggie, C'Havala, and Nikhil brought up some interesting points and questions about the story and movie. Though some of us were a little tired and worn out by the heat (I didn't know it was possible to get so hot in the morning...), we had a great discussion centered around the report!

After a long break, we moved right on to the bloody and violent world of Sacrifice! So Mona got out the lamb and we gathered round it in the seminar room.... No, just kidding. We merely transitioned from talking about the Gift to learning about Sacrifice, but that does not make it any less interesting! Sacrifice is in many ways a much more provocative topic than the Gift, since it is intertwined with both religion and violence. We discussed the origins of Sacrifice and the implications of its violence in religion and human nature. The whole class was both very thought-provoking and controversial, which is a good mix in my opinion!

After an hour's break, we met up at the portone for Lisa's class! We set off right away to the Jewish Ghetto, where Devin told us all the difficulties the Jews had to go through in Rome. Pope Paul IV segregated the Jews into this tiny quarter of Rome in 1555, and they were forced to live there until 1870! It was almost heart-breaking to walk down the dark, narrow streets, see the conversion churches, and then to hear about the emptying of the Jewish Ghetto by the Nazis during World War II! Definitely a darker part of Rome's history. Here is Devin relating the story to the group:


Next, we hiked up to Il Fontanone for Maggie's presentation! The ginormous fountain marks the end of the Aqua Paola, an ancient aqueduct restored by Pope Paul V to bring water to the peoples of Rome! We discussed the use of water as propoganda--by building the fountain, Pope Paul V both gained support from the people and plastered his name everywhere (the symbols for the Borghese are all over the fountain). We took a big group picture in front of the epic fountain, and I even dangled my feet in it!


Afterward, Lisa took a group of us girls out dress shopping. We tried on a ton of dresses and had quite the fashion show. We were planning on getting about 20 dresses between all of us and getting a group discount. However, when we got to the counter the cashier refused to give us any money off! Disgruntled and disappointed, we all put our dresses back and left the store to teach him a lesson. We decided to end the trip on a positive note with gelato at Giolitti's, though!

We then retired to our separate apartments to get ready for our trip to Florence! Yay!

Monday, July 6th, 2009

At 8:45 AM, "Bill the marvelous cook" first took some of us around the Campo de' Fiori to show us the local market. He pointed out individual fruits and vegetables, gave their Italian translations, and also explained from where in Italy they came from, if they were locally grown or if they were purchased from elsewhere. He then took us out to the bakery, Forno's, and ordered Pizza Bianco for all of us.

Our test on The Gift

At 10:00 AM, all of us assembled into the First Floor Seminar Room of the UW Rome Center to take Mona's first test, on The Gift. The test was fairly challenging, and was designed really well to test our understanding of the material and, especially, the points of view of each of the authors we discussed. All of us then split for lunch at 11:15 AM, tired and worn out from all of the writing.

We returned to Mona's class at 12:10 to discuss two of Wordsworth's poems, The Old Cumberland Beggar and The Discharged Soldier. Mona compared Wordsworth's political agenda with our view of the homeless, and though few of us may provide them with some spare change or a small meal here and there, we never provide them with conversation and human companionship. We also discussed The Gift of the Magi, and analyzed the two characters using the Gift Bibles and the views of Mauss, Hyde, and other authors we studied. We then took an hour long break before Lisa's class.

At 3:00 PM, we met indoors for a change for Lisa's class, where she gave us a PowerPoint presentation on the development of the Renaissance. We all battled against the heat, as we learned how the Renaissance began in Venice and what some of its causes were.

Lisa's lecture on the Renaissance

We then reconvened at 7:30 PM in Mona's apartment for a cooking class, run by "Bill the marvelous cook." We sipped on our vino and juice while he talked about his career in the catering business and the heads of state that he's served. He started out by making the dessert, because that would take the longest to set. He assembled the ingredients together for the Panna Cotta, passing around a sheet of the gelatin, since none of us had seen it in sheet form before.

Some of the students then helped in preparing the rest of the meal. The other entrees included a risotto with two cheeses and baked chicken with a tomato sauce. Mayme and Yogesh helped with cutting up the beans and Peter and Anand helped cut the bread. Erin also used the new onion-cutting technique Bill taught us to perfectly dice an onion. We ate appetizers of bread with two types of cheese, including Talleggio, and also some salami piccante. We then feasted upon the cheesy risotto and the baked chicken, followed by the panna cotta with peaches. It was a fantastic meal and we all learned a lot about Italian food and culture, and how to cook.

4th of July!

This Saturday was an eventful day for all of us, not only because we had class, but also because it was Independence Day in the U.S... which of course called for a celebration!

For Art History class, we took a bus up to the Galleria Borghese, where Ben gave an excellent presentation on the Borghese family. The gallery houses many paintings and sculptures of the Borghese collection, which was begun by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, nephew of Pope Paul V. Scipione Borghese was an avid collector of paintings by Carravagio, as evidenced by the prescence of many well-known paintings including Boy with a Basket of Fruit, St. Jerome, and Sick Bacchus. Borghese was also an early patron of Bernini, and we saw several amazing Bernini scultures, such as Rape of Persephone, Apollo and Daphne, and David. We walked around the sculptures several times in order to appreciate the direction, use of lights and darks, and movement that are defining aspects of Baroque art. We were all awestruck at Bernini's ability to transform marble into a variety of textures. Skin, bark, leaves, hair, and clothing were all rendered as if they were actual objects that had been frozen in stone.

Arriving at the museum (unfortunately, no cameras were allowed inside.)

Ben gets a round of applause after his presentation

After exploring the museum, about half the group took the bus back, while the rest of us decided to make the long trek home on foot. The Borghese gardens were beautiful, but it was a very hot day and we were all glad to get back to our apartments.

Overlooking the city of Rome, with the Piazza del Popolo directly below.

Later that evening, we had a 4th of July party! Doug, the CHID professor, offered to host the party at his spacious apartment above the Campo. This was very fortunate for us, as it included a terrace, a grill, and plenty of space for sitting, chatting, and eating! Also, we had a chance to meet some of the students in the CHID program and eat the tasty kebobs they brought.

Lisa was our grill master for the night, but some of us helped out as well! Here is Alex setting up the first round of burgers.

Each apartment brought a few food items to make a true American 4th of July feast: we had salad, hamburgers, two kinds of potato salad, and watermelon. It was delicious!

The terrace provided a great view of the Campo, which was particularly lively that night. We watched musicians, mimes, tap dancers (pictured below), and partygoers at one of the American bars, Sloppy Sam's, which was of course all decked out in American flags for the occasion.

As the night went on, a dance party got started and everyone busted out their favorite dance moves to such classics as Backstreet Boys, Michael Jackson, and Journey, as well as newer rap and pop songs.

And what would a 4th of July party be without fireworks? We actually set off a few small fireworks right from the terrace, and everyone lit some sparklers!

Afterward, we all went out to gelato at Giolitti's--which is becoming a daily fix for many of us! It was delicious as always. Then we went on a tour of the other girls' apartment, where some stayed for an impromptu dance competition, while others went home to sleep, study for the test on Monday, and get ready for the Sperlonga trip on Sunday. It was a fun and eventful weekend for everyone!

Cat, 3 July 2009

Gift and Sacrifice

Presentation on Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice

Devin, Ben, Melanie, and Alina did an excellent job today highlighting the important themes of gift exchange in the written play and the movie. Their clear and concise presentation addressed things that had completely gone over my head. For example, I hadn’t even noticed that Portia gave the ring to Antonio to give to Bassanio, much less thought about its significance. Their presentation helped me connect what we’ve been learning about all these gift theorists to something more real-life and applicable. Thanks, guys!

Test Review

Our first test is fast approaching! Fortunately, Mona is making every effort to help us succeed. Since we’re going to spend most of Sunday lying on the beach, we’re studying today (Friday) and tomorrow instead…

Babette’s Feast

This afternoon we watched Babette’s Feast, another film about the gift. It was one of the funnier movies I’ve seen in a while, and not just because of how different the dubbing was than the subtitles! The end of the movie was sadder to me than the ending of the story, because it emphasized the connection between the sister that sings and Babette - both gave up their artistic talents and dreams for what they saw as personal necessity. Babette’s Feast in both its forms showed how something can be both a gift to the giver and the receiver at once, which is a concept I feel we haven’t spent too much time covering in class.

No Art History today!

Apertivo!

At 7 o’clock tonight the girls from both apartments went out for a girls’ night! We’ve noticed that usually one apartment of girls hangs out with another apartment of guys – and the two girls’ apartments almost never meet up! So we planned an adventure for ourselves. We dressed up and went for drinks and appetizers in Trastevere. We ended up at a little bar without enough table room, but pretty good food and decently priced drinks. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly, even though we had to sit on the stairs outside!



Afterwards we broke into a few groups, but it seems like we all ended up walking at least a little of the way along the booths at the banks of the Tiber. They were touristy, for sure, but there were some booths that were interesting – one had all as-seen-on-TV products, for example. We were a little perplexed as to why all the bars seemed to be set up not like ordinary bars but with cushions surrounding low tables, though. It probably would have been just as easy to set up folding chairs, right? But maybe the cushions set the mood better.


Looking forward to the Weekend!

Saturday, the Fourth of July!

Hope to see you all at the potluck! I really don’t know that much about it, but I do know that our beef is very fresh: from Italian cows, ground and formed into patties right before our eyes!

Sunday, Sperlonga!

Thursday, July 2nd

Today was a busy day! We had two presentations scheduled for our art history class with Lisa and added a third since it had been postponed from earlier in the week. We began the day with Alexandra's presentation of Michelangelo's statue of Moses, which is now housed in the church San Pietro in Vincoli. Michelangelo claimed the statue to be his best work and considering its impressive size and detail, it's easy to see why. The face of Moses also has a certain, somewhat elusive quality that we discussed in relation to an article we had read on Freud's thoughts on why he found the statue so moving.



Next we headed off to the Capitoline Hill for Melanie's presentation! Michelangelo came up again as he was the one who designed the piazza and surrounding area. It was not finished until long after his death but incredibly the builders stayed almost entirely true to his original design. It is still hard to believe that we are actually walking through and seeing buildings and works of art by some of the most important artists in history!


We then broke for lunch and reconvened for Anand's presentation at Il Gesu church. We learned about the history of the Jesuit order, of which Il Gesu is its most important church. Although I was impressed by its size when standing out front, I had no idea how amazing it would be inside. No expenses were spared on the huge amounts of marble, statues and paintings that both covered the walls and ceilings and appeared to emerge out of them.

The presentation ended at about 4 pm and Lisa informed us that at 5:30 a "miracle" would take place in the church! At first she was going to let us wait and see what it was for ourselves, but she eventually told us that each day at the church, the painting above the tomb of St. Ignatius is lowered down to reveal a huge, silver statue of the saint himself. We had some extra time and many of us explored the area surrounding the church before returning to witness the event.


Later this afternoon, an impressive thunderstorm engulfed the city! One of my roommates and I just barely made it back to the apartment with groceries before the rain started pouring. Many of the other students ran to the Pantheon to see the rain fall through the opening in the roof.

Like I said, a very busy but enjoyable day!

-Andrea