Thoughts on Northern Italy
our resident film-maker, Judy Hallet, has interviewed everyone in terms of their thoughts on Northern Italy...here they are...enjoy.
VENICE, VECENZA AND FLORENCE
JANUARY, 2006
Reflections on our trip North
Interviewed by Judy Hallet
RYAN NOVI
Venice: Venice was amazing. It definitely has a character like no place I have been. The first thing that stuck out was the quiet. Because there were no automobiles, you could hear the church bells resonate throughout the city. At first it seemed like such a chaotic and disordered place, until we took a boat ride and then I saw how ordered it really was. It wasn’t until after the boat ride that I could really find my way around. It was fascinating to me to see how the city was so carefully organized and how in those narrow allies you were almost forced to look at things. I really liked San Marco Square -- how it was not so perfectly organized -- how it was just off -- how in a sense it was not human. It has been the only place where I have been inspired to sit down and sketch and then go back and finish my sketch. Overall, I would say it is a very inspiring place. It is nothing like anywhere I have visited before.
Aside from that, I really enjoyed shopping and eating in Florence. I think because of the way the streets are set up, it is more like the way I am accustomed to in the US. I felt more comfortable there than in Rome. It was also good to finally have a good piece of beef. I guess to sum up, I really enjoyed being in Florence for two days. Upon returning to Rome, it was revealed to me, however, that if I were to choose somewhere to live that I have seen so far, it would be Rome. Florence was beautiful but it seemed so small that within a few days, I could become bored. But Florence was a fascinating place to visit.
Nikki BLASETTI
Venice: I really liked Venice during our free time when we were just exploring the city. It was strange how you would walk through these narrow streets where you would start out in a wide street and then suddenly the street would narrow down to almost a crack in the building. There was never an indication of what was on the other side. A lot of times something so small would lead to a large open space like a piazza or a church and it would become this wonderful surprise. The night before we left, Ryan and I decided to find our way home by ourselves. Everyone knows I don’t have a good sense of direction. At nighttime the streetlights were barely lit so we were wondering around under these dim lanterns. We would deliberately walk down the narrowest street and find ourselves face to face with the Grand Canal. The street would dead end onto a tiny wooden platform and there was no choice but to stop and take in the scenery -- the view -- and then turn around and find a new way home. That was the most rewarding way to get lost.
I also liked studying the Piazza San Marco. I enjoyed how vibrant it was on the outside of the church, especially the mosaics. It was a very eclectic building and it stimulated in me a lot of emotions. After spending time photographing all the details on the church, I found the rest of the Piazza had that same vibrant colorful display. I found that every single store had displays in the windows. They took all their most beautiful merchandize and pressed them right against the glass and you had no choice but to stare and forget where you were headed. It was so bright and I guess shocking to go down a narrow street and be surrounded by Venetian glass, long beaded jewelry, and all kinds of leather shoes, purses and oil paintings. Nothing was ever dull. Everything was really vibrant. I thought that the large patch of birds in Piazza San Marco when seen from the distance was amazing to see. I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw Matt Starr covered head to toe in birds. It was incredible to see someone throw a handful of food and then a swarm of these black feathers would follow the seed in a heartbeat. However, I saw Alfred Hitchcock’s movie, “The Birds”, and that made Piazza San Marco possibly the scariest place I have ever been in my life. The other thing that struck me was the ability to walk over a bridge. It was a part of your path. There was no avoiding it. It was your connection to your destination in Venice. To walk a little further and be able to look back at that bridge from a completely different perspective made looking back on the journey very special.
Vicenza: The train ride was very eerie because we left Venice on a clear day and within probably fifteen minutes the train was passing through a thick fog, so thick that you couldn’t see more than 30 feet outside of the train. All I could see were ghost-like trees and run-down barns. It was very unexpected. When we arrived in Vicenza, we began sketching Palladio’s Basilica. For the most part, I walked around by myself so I could set up a section through the building. An old Italian lady came up to me and started rambling in Italian. I could not understand what she was saying. So I said, “Parla Inglese?” She laughed and walked away. The minute she walked away, another Italian lady came up to me and starting speaking but I didn’t understand her either. Then I realized there were people all around staring at all of us and waiting for the first person to come up to speak to one of us. Once one person came up, they all came up. That was pretty cool.
Wherever we go, I like that we get to see Judy’s purchases. Judy bought a really nice sweater in the open-air market here in Vicenza. The Teatro Olimpico was very interesting to draw and analyze because of the forced perspective. I really got lost in sketching that. After spending about an hour sketching the theater, Ryan and I needed a break. We decided to get lost again and in doing so we found this amazing little pizza place. Taking breaks with Ryan like that, taking our own path away from the group, it makes the trips easier. I really appreciate those times when everything slows down and the two of us can just quietly reflect on everything we have seen. And the cappuccino was pretty good.
The best part about Vicenza was La Villa Rotonda. The building itself was beautiful despite how proportional it was. I took more pictures of students sketching than I took of the building. Everyone was so focused in his or her thoughts. We were surrounded by this beautiful landscape where in every direction there was another breathtaking view. I am thinking about sending everyone’s parents a picture of their kids and saying, “Hay, you see, we are doing work!” Every photo seems like it needs to be framed.
Florence: Florence I liked the street activity more than Venice. It had a welcoming nightlife. We spent the whole day walking around looking at the different shops. The leather markets were incredible. The people were really friendly. It got to the point, though, that I was afraid to make eye contact because the minute I would look at someone, they would grab something off a hanger in their little booth and hold it up and say: “Here try it on”. One time this man asked me: “Do you like it? I will give it to you for ten Euros.” I said: “Yes. I just have to go back to my hotel and get my money.” Then he yelled at me for not having any money and said: “We take credit cards.” I kept walking. I turned around and said: “Do you want me to come back or not?” and then kept walking.
When we got away from the leather market and saw the actual stores, they were very beautiful and were very nice quality for the price. I bought a dress shirt for my brother and then I couldn’t stop. Everywhere I went I saw dress shirts that would look great for my older brother. Now I am back in Rome and I am still buying shirts for my brother! One thing I bought for myself was a new hat. After that terrible accident with the old hat, I bought a yellow hat for 4 Euro. It was as steal! When we went to Santa Cruce for our sketching assignment, we had some free time to walk inside the church where we saw the tombs of many famous Italian artists. The two that I was drawn to were the tombs of Leonardo di Vinci and Dante. I was surprised at the amount of emotion I felt just standing in front of their tombs. Even now, I look back on it and I still get an overwhelming feeling of awe and respect. Years of studying one person’s work, and there you are standing in front of their tomb, it is a very strange position to be in.
I remember everyone stopped on this one street to pet the snout of a statue of a wild boar. I think it was for good luck and it meant you would come back to Florence someday. So I rubbed the boar. As I was walking away, Ryan told me that we had to come back and put a lock on the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. It is a tradition that you write each other’s initials on the lock and then lock it on to a rod iron fence around a statue on the Ponte Vecchio. It is a sweet idea -- kind of cheesy but sweet. The dinner: this was the best part. I ate steak and actually liked it. I ordered the Chateaubriand with Ryan and it was delicious. My Papa would have been proud of me!
ALLIE BEHNKE
Venice: I love Venice. I would go back to Venice in a heartbeat. I read a little bit about it before we got there. It said that it was built on over 100 islands. When I was reading it, it didn’t make any sense to me. Then when we were at Piazza San Marco and David explained how the canals were streets and the streets were sidewalks, it all made sense to me. I really liked the assignment where we had to get back to the hotel by ourselves. I think it is an interesting way to see a city. When I have some free time in Rome, I may do the same thing and just pick a theme like windows or doors to use as my landmarks.
It was a little disappointing that we didn’t get into the churches but it was amazing to be able to get into the Basilica of San Marco. It was great to have Stanley explain the interior and take pictures for us. It was one of the most beautiful churches that I have ever seen. I loved its amazing gold mosaic works and the façade that was so ornate with all the treasures from foreign lands. It was fun sketching in Piazza San Marco because we could watch all the people walking by -- something I love to do. There were a ton of pigeons and all the parents would buy birdseed and throw it at their kids. Then they would take pictures of the pigeons attacking their kids as their kids screened. Matt proceeded to do the same to us all -- throwing birdseed at all of us. Amanda got attacked by a bunch of pigeons as we were walking through the middle of the piazza. I think now she has a fear of pigeons.
For lunch we went on a kabob hunt that proved to be very difficult. We spent over an hour looking for a place to get kabobs. Four hours later, at 5:00, we finally found some kabobs. It was definitely worth the wait. In the afternoon, we tried to go to the Scarpa Museum with Dave who seems to have a knack for going to things that are closed. We could kind of see in the gate which was really impressive and well detailed. The museum is actually designed to flood at certain times when the canal floods. It was getting late so we started to head back to our hotel. We took a detour and to have a Dave fashion show. He wanted us to look at a raincoat that was on sale that he was thinking of buying. We vetoed it.
Vicenza: It was colder than expected especially in the morning at Palladio’s Basilica. It was interesting to spend a whole day looking at the works of one architect especially since we had studied a lot of Palladio’s buildings in Prof. Carter’s history class. I was half waiting for Prof. Carter to jump out from behind a corner since he teaches a class solely on Palladio. The Basilica by Palladio was interesting. It was fun because there was an outdoor market right there where we were sketching. People from the market kept coming over and wanting to see our drawings. One guy started talking to Jennie. He asked if we were architecture students. In our horrible Italian we told him that we were architectural students from America and not from Italy. We told him we were only visiting Italy.
The Teatro Olimpico by Palladio was really interesting especially with the forced perspective. I still don’t know how deep it actually goes. I think my favorite part was the La Villa Rotonda. When we got there, however, we all thought Dave’s wonderful knack of closed places was in full effect and we weren’t going to be able to get in. But the guy was only at lunch and we got in.
It was really nice to be able to sketch there in private. We were the only people there. So it was easy to leave our bags and walk around and not have to worry about anything be taken. By the time we got to La Rotonda, it was really warm so it was nice to sit outside and sketch in the sun. We were also able to take a lot of cool pictures of the building. Judy took a lot of group pictures of us standing on the deck. I think they are going to come out really well like the pictures we have taken of everybody in Southern Italy.
Florence: Florence was a lot of fun and I can’t wait for my parents to come over Easter so I can go back with them. Everybody was very nice and very accommodating. It was fun to see more churches and climb to the top of the Duomo and look out all over Florence. It was a little overwhelming on the second day when we went from site to site all day long and studied so many different buildings and piazzas. At the same time, it was interesting to see how people acted differently in front of the Duomo versus the Palazzio Vecchio where there is a replica of Michelangelo’s David or at the piazza in front of Santa Maria Novella -- the last piazza we were at. Each piazza attracted a different minded group of people who all use the piazzas very differently. It was really interesting to see the Ponte Vecchio and see all the jewelry shops that lined the street. At night when all the lights in the shop windows were on, the street seemed to glow. I really would like to go back to that area again and look at some of the work the artists were doing and the paintings they were doing on the side of the bridge. It was also interesting to see a city with so much superstition. There was the wild boar you rubbed for good luck and then the locks you use to pledge your love on the bridge, Ponte Vecchio. I haven’t seen anything like that in other parts of Italy before. As much as I loved Florence and its architecture, some of the best times were eating in the different restaurants. Eating lunch at the Trattoria Mario, a nonstop restaurant where the waitresses barely catch their breath, was an experience in itself. The food was amazing and pretty cheep. Our costmary happy hours seemed to grow nightly as the man from the front desk would join us drinking his own wine and eating his own cheese. He would just stand there listening to our laughter and telling of jokes.
JENNIE SANTORO
Venice: I don’t know where to begin with Venice. Piazza San Marco has always been something I have built up in my head as a place I have wanted to see. I have seen images of it and I couldn’t wait to see it. I thought I might be disappointed because of how much I had built it up in my mind but I wasn’t at all. I loved it the second I saw it and the more time I spent there, the more I loved it. As we wound our way back through the city, I couldn’t stop myself from taking a picture at every beautiful canal. Everything we saw was amazing but it was the Basilica of San Marco that put me in awe once again. It was a great treat to go inside the church. Stanley had gotten special permission to talk to us in the church and they turned the lights on just for us. My favorite part of the day was sketching inside the church.
Unfortunately the worst part of the day was the weather. It was, however, a great exercise the first night when we got lost and had to make our own maps to get back to the hotel. It would have been more enjoyable in a little nicer weather.
Vicenza: A day full of Palladio made for the perfect birthday. I have always liked Palladio and seeing these buildings in real life brought back memories of Dr. Carter’s history class Freshman year. La Villa Rotonda was one of the highlights of the day. The best part of the day though was my birthday dinner with my friends both old and new back in Venice. I had pasta with calamari, a caprice salad, a glass of Chardonnay and a delicious chocolate flan with white chocolate sauce. The evening was full of smiles, laughter, pictures and a new pair of earrings from great friends. My 21st birthday was definitely memorable. I would say Venice has been my favorite city so far.
Florence: My favorite parts of Florence were first of all The Duomo. I was amazed by how big the building itself was. You just think of the dome as big, but the whole building is enormous and you don’t realize this until you start walking around it. The best part by far, though, was going up inside the dome. You go up all these stairs and then you get to look at the inside of the church and see all the beautiful paintings inside the dome. Then you climb and climb and climb in a circle that gets tighter and tighter until you finally reach the top. On your way up, there are little openings in the dome that give you peaks of the view you are about to experience. When you finally get to the top, you have an amazing view of all of Florence. Another favorite part of the trip was getting a cappuccino later that day while at the same time having an amazing view of the Duomo at sunset.
One of the highlights was an amazing Florentine steak dinner with the group. The food was amazing and some of the best food I have had since I have gotten to Italy. There were a lot of favorites so I am trying to keep it to just a few. Seeing the David was also amazing. It is something you have seen in pictures and reproductions so many times yet it had me in awe when I actually got to see it in person. I also enjoyed just walking around Florence. It was a lot different than anywhere else we have been. It had a different feel. It was cleaner than Rome and definitely cleaner than Naples but it still had a big city feel.
Guil ALMEIDA
Venice: What I liked about Venice. I liked that it wasn’t like the other places down South where it has been winter. Here you could see what life was like in the city. It was not that cold. Since I had seen so many pictures of Venice, I thought I would be really familiar with what I was going to see. I didn’t think it was going to be such a “wow” sort of an experience but it actually was! I was really amazed that there was no nightlife in the city at all. After 7:30 the shops close and people disappear. The floods of people that are on the streets, they just disappear.
It was nice that Stanley got the man to turn the lights on in the Basilica of San Marco’s. The church just glistened. It was really interesting to think how the church was built and how it was meant to be seen. I was waiting to see it with the lights off. All that gold mosaic, you can experience all the gold much better now. For hundreds of years, it was dark. When Stanley was explaining the way they angled the church, it sounded like it would be very light but when they turned the lights off, it was dark. With the lights on, there was an ethereal glow to the church.
Vicenza: I thought it was funny that when we got there and started to sketch there was a giant market in front of the building we were sketching. You couldn’t really grasp the proportions of the place and what was really going on. When we got to La Villa Rotonda, it was another experience and it was really beautiful. First we saw Palladio in the city and then we saw him in the country. To just experience Palladio alone with no market fair in front of the building to ruin it, was great. It was a shame we couldn’t go inside La Rotonda.
I liked going to Vicenza. It felt more like your typical Italian city than the other places we have visited. It was not really touristy. It was more real, more normal. It is not a town that a normal person, a tourist would go. You have to be interested in architecture. For us, it was like a giant theme park with all those great Palladio buildings we had been studying since we were freshman. It was great.
Florence: The weather was great. I really loved the change from all the small cities that we have been looking at. It was obvious a larger city but it had this tranquility to it. The architecture was completely different from anything else we had seen. The marble facades were all so intricately detailed and so different from the way the rest of the churches we had seen so far. Going into the Duomo, at first, you expect to see the interior as elaborately detailed as the outside but instead there was this huge barren space. Going up to the top of Duomo was an incredible experience especially since I am a little afraid of heights. It freaked me out at the base of the dome. You go inside the vault of the church and you can see these amazing frescoes painted inside the dome up-close but at the same time you are on this catwalk that is not more than two feet wide. People kept stopping to take pictures and I kept thinking: “Let’s keep going, it could collapse!” It was really exhausting going up and down the stairs but in the end it was incredibly beautiful.
I think the highlight for me, besides the architecture, was having a cappuccino on top of a department store that had a view of the Duomo and all the rooftops. There wasn’t anything that I didn’t like about Florence. I do have to comment, however, that even though everyone raves about how well proportioned the David is, his hands are far too big. They are bigger than his face.
AMANDA GANGINIS
Venice: I had already been to Venice once before. I was there in the summer and I really didn’t like it and I wasn’t crazy about going back. But this time I liked it a lot more. Our first assignment was in the evening and there weren’t that many people around. It was already a better experience because it wasn’t so crowded. In the summer, it was so crowded. I was miserable. Our assignment was to start at Piazza San Marco and then work our way back to the hotel. It was a really interesting assignment. I would have liked it a lot better if it had not been raining and dark. It kind of forced us to explore the smaller streets where there weren’t all the shops. These smaller streets were my favorite part. I liked the parts of Venice without all the stores. I felt as though the streets filled with stores was like being in a big outdoors mall. There were no cars and there were windows everywhere -- which is fun for a little while but not for an extended period of time. I really prefer the small side streets. In general, I like Venice now a lot more than I did this summer when I hated it. I would go back but only in the winter.
Vicenza: I didn’t really know what to expect in Vicenza. I only knew that Palladio was there. I liked the town. It was small and quaint. It was exciting to see all those Palladian buildings that we have been studying forever in school. My favorite part was seeing La Villa Rotonda and sketching it. It was nice to get away from the city for a little while. It was so quiet. All you could hear were the chirping of the birds. It was nice that you didn’t have to worry about your bags. It was so warm. I took off my jacket and just sat and savored it. It was so enjoyable.
Florence: I loved Florence. I had been there before so I knew I would love it even before going there. This time I experienced new things going with the architecture group as opposed to just my sisters. One of my favorite things was actually the eating experience. We had so many great ones. I loved eating at Trattoria Mario that first day we were there because you got to try different types of food. It was so crowded and so we had to sit with strangers. It was a total difference experience of eating and not just a utilitarian one.
I got to see some new things I didn’t get to do the first time I was there. My favorite thing was to see the Staircase at the San Lorenzo Library because I hadn’t expected to get to go there and see it. The stairs were a lot different than I had imagined. The actual space was surprising. It is always interesting to see something in real life after seeing it in a textbook. I am always surprised at how different it can be. I also really enjoyed the small Michelangelo chapel for the Medici family. I enjoyed being in that space and sketching it. I liked it better than the larger chapel -- the Cappella dei Principi. But I have to say my favorite part was the night we all went out to Trattoria Bordino, the steak restaurant. We all ordered whatever we wanted and it tasted so good after not having steak for so long. All the food was really good. Later that night a few of us went to a bar with Dave. There were some really interesting people there and we had a really good time laughing at them and ourselves. It made for some really interesting stories the next morning. For instance, there was a girl dancing around with a half shirt on over a large belly. We called her Buddha. There was a really old man with a younger Asian girl friend. There was another bleached blond American doing the “White Man’s Dance” -- pointing the fingers up and not dancing to the rhythm. It was really fun and funny. In general, Florence was great. It seemed much more relaxed. There were a lot less cars than in Rome and you could walk in the streets. I felt like the pedestrians took priority over the car. It was great the last day when we went to a Balsamic vinegar and olive oil tasting. We got to try an 80 Euro Balsamic Vinegar. It tasted fantastic! I use a lot of Balsamic vinegar in my cooking, the regular 6-year-old vinegar, and I could really tell the difference. It was one of those times I wished I had all the money in the world to spend on cooking. I did buy a jar of honey with white truffles and one bottle of white Balsamic vinegar made from white grapes. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I want to go back to get some more stuff to bring home for my family. I think it would make great gifts.
PAUL COLLINS
Venice: I was excited to go back. I was there nine and a half years ago with my Mom and my brother. We were only there for five hours but I never forgot it. It was nice to go back now after having studied architecture and also after having seen the passage of time in my own life to kind of reflect. I was just happy to go back. I just loved walking along the side of the canals. I liked the Jewish Ghetto. You could feel the history there. I actually took so many photographs in the Jewish Ghetto that the police stopped me and asked for my passport. I had to explain in Italian who I was and what I was doing there. I guess I explained myself well enough because they eventually left me alone.
I definitely liked taking the two boats rides -- one through the city and one around it. It was fun doing the group exercise where we had to find our path back to the hotel. I think Venice is a city to be enjoyed with other people. You can do it solitarily but it is better to visit it with other people. I remember walking back to the hotel by myself and it dawned on me that the only noise I could hear was the sound of my own footsteps. I was amazed that I could be in a fully built city and be able to hear absolute silence.
At the Basilica of San Marco, I just liked the glow on the inside of the church. It was neat to hear Stanley give an analysis of the building and just to sit and soak it up. The most relaxing part of the whole day was sitting inside that church.
Vicenza: It reminded me a lot of Germany and Austria -- a very peaceful town. Everywhere I went, the people were very nice. It was neat to see the Palladio buildings and to see the legacy that he left in that town. It gave me a little hope for my own career as an architect. The Teatro Olimpico was awesome. As I was drawing the continuity of line between stage and observer, I could see how he tied it all together. He grasped it all. The actor and the audience. He made a two-fold experience into a one fold experience.
La Villa Rotonda was awesome. To see it in its natural setting spoke to me more than reading about it or seeing it in any book. It calmed me as well. The building was the sun and we got to sun bathe in the genius of that building. You didn’t have to look at it to get a tan.
Florence: It was my favorite. It was just easy on the soul. It was a humbling city in the fact that there was so much in the genius of the art in the city. The city was humble. It had a quiet strength to it. It was an accepting city. My favorite part was hanging out with two artists who were studying there. They showed me their entire portfolios and explained how they were trained and steeped in art. There was so much that I realized that I did not know. It gave me a thirst to want to learn more. Because of those conversations, and seeing Michelangelo’s work, I want to learn and do more art myself -- be it drawing, painting or sculpting. I also thought a lot about Frank Lloyd Wright and the integral ornamentation in how art itself is so important to Italians and, unfortunately, not as important to Americans. In America, we are concerned with the bottom line, which is not the focus here. The one artist, Clemens, said that the artist in Florence designed as knowing that God exists where as that is not necessarily the case in other places. And that is why the beauty is there in Florence. This city got my brain really going. I just read a Norm Chomsky book, “Imperial Ambitions”, and I saw so many connections between that book and what Clemens said to me. It made me want to pursue how artisans can be more assertive in society in opposition to the corporate, government dominance in public affairs. I want to go back to Florence.
ZACH HOLLENBECK
Venice: I was amazed that there were absolutely no cars or trucks in Venice. It was nice to be in a place where the streets were so quiet and where you are basically just surrounded by people. I really liked the first assignment we had where we had to find our way back home. It was kind of interesting to throw everyone into a city that we had never been to before and then tell us to find our way home. I would have never found my way back if I hadn’t had the little map from the hotel. I was also amazed at how heavily the boat system is relied on in Venice. Even the trash boats that pick up the trash was amazing to see. It did seem so touristy. It was like it was built for tourists but at the same time, it was a beautiful place. Basilica of San Marco was incredible -- just all the details in the inside and the outside of the church. The mosaics inside the basilica were very intricate. The ceiling was like from another world. It had a glow to it.
Vicenza: I think I have had enough of Palladio for the trip. It was amazing to see all his works, to see how focused he was, how rigorous he was, how he maintained his proportions. I thought by far the best building we visited was La Villa Rotonda. The feeling I had there, out of all the projects that we have visited, was if you were living there you couldn’t break the rules. I was joking with Ann wondering if we were living there, what kind of furniture we would you put inside. My conclusion was, if we lived there, we would have to sleep in the center, on the center of the bed, flat on our backs. I had thought there would have been more gardens in the immediate vicinity of the villa. It was more desolate than I expected.
Florence: My first impression, as soon as we arrived there, was how clean the city was. Of all the cities we have been to, it seemed the cleanest, so very well maintained. I also liked walking through the Leather Market. It was the first thing we did since it was right outside our hotel. Just getting a taste of that culture right off was amazing. I couldn’t believe on our first walk over to the Duomo, seeing the scale of it, the colors of the marble, it was a lot richer than I had imagined it would be. I wrote a paper on the Baptistry for a history class my Freshman year. It was interesting to see something first hand that I had already written a paper on. The trip up to the top of the Dome by Brunelleschi was amazing. Just seeing the views from up there and being able to understand how Brunelleschi conceived this incredible structure first hand was really worthwhile for me. I must say that I was disappointed with the inside of the church. It seemed that they spent all their money on the outside and little on the inside. And it was really cold in there. It was a freaky experience to go into a church that was that cold.
The steak a la Florentina I had two nights in a row was a nice treat from our general meals of pasta and pizza. I really enjoyed the visit to the shirt store that David had been raving about. However, I now have to refinance my house to pay for my purchases. I bought beautiful shirts. Today I just sat out in front of the Duomo for about 45 minutes and watched the people go by. I was amazed how many Japanese tourists there were. Why are there so many Japanese tourists here in Florence? What is the attraction? It is curious.
The shear size of David and the detail and the way you could see the veins in his hands, every detail, was incredible, unlike anything I had expected. David was so life-like. It was like the perfect sculpture. I really believe that it was the perfect sculpture. I was disappointed that we couldn’t get in for free since we didn’t have the proper documentation.
Katherine BURAS
Venice: I think Venice was different than I had expected but not necessarily in a bad way. It was very expensive and touristy. I think it was really neat to see things that you have seen only in pictures and books. I guess we have been doing this the whole trip but it seemed more real in Venice because I never really thought I would ever get to go there. Of course, I liked the water and the idea of the canals as streets. The one thing I wish I had done was to take a ride on a gondola. I guess we ran out of time for that. I was very happy that we got to go on the bus boat ride down the Canal Grande. It was interesting to see the city from that perspective.
I really enjoyed the assignment Dave gave us. I just wished that we didn’t have to sketch so much. If I could do it over, I would chose a few piazzas and spend more time on those than on every little turn we took. I really enjoyed the Ricotta and Spinach Pizza at the one pizza place we kept going back to. Actually I had the same pizza three nights in a row. I definitely think the last night we were there was the best night. I don’t know why. One thing I missed was the nightlife and maybe cheaper places to just go and get a cup of coffee or a beer.
Vicenza: Vicenza is the second most favorite place that we visited these last two weeks. I liked the atmosphere and the people were nice. I enjoyed studying Palladio. I felt the pace of the town was a little more relaxed. The Rotonda is another place that I never thought I would see in person. I also thought about how one day I might be studying it again or presenting it to someone else or even learning about it some more and I could actually use my own pictures.
Florence: Florence was my favorite city so far that we have visited. I would go back there. If I were to choose one place to go back to, Florence would be the place. The people were friendly and there were lots of places to shop. It was not too big, nor was it not too small. I enjoyed going up in the dome. The heights didn’t scare me as much as I thought they would. I enjoyed the free time that we had. It seemed a little more relaxed. I just enjoyed the more relaxed environment. Architecturally my favorite thing was probably the dome --just being up inside the dome. Secondly, my favorite thing would be the cloister -courtyard where Michelangelo was buried. I would have to say that I was exhausted by the end of the two-week tour and I was ready to return to Roman adventures.
SCOTT KARSNER
Venice: On Sunday night when we got there, I liked the scavenger hunt that we took where we had to draw our way back to the hotel. The next day we ended up getting picked as the team to lead everyone back to San Marco’s. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite come to fruition. We were sidetracked and we didn’t really go back that way. The inside of The Basilica of San Marco was spectacular. The mosaics inside the church were mind blowing. They just sparkled. With the light shining on them, they just shimmered. It made me wonder if that is how they were supposed to be viewed without electricity.
We all had our experiences with the pigeons. It is one of those experiences that you don’t always have. Pigeons on your head, eating off your arm. I got a funny picture of Matt with a pigeon on his head as he was precariously looking up at it.
It seems everywhere we go, we see churches. We seem to go church hopping so to speak. The pizza place where we had dinner was excellent. It was ten kilometers away from our hotel but well worth the hike. I had Pizza Crudo which is pizza with cured ham.
Vicenza: Palladio, what are you going to say about Palladio? So many squares and proportions, it could drive you crazy, but it was worth studying for a day. The Villa Rotonda was nice to see after having studied it in history class. It does make me wonder about the practicalities about living in such a place -- whether it would be comfortable or not. It didn’t seem homey.
Florence: Florence was by far my favorite city we have been to. Going up in the dome was an incredible experience. I am glad we did it first. It was like putting a map in your head of where you were -- like an aerial perspective. Our hotel was in an excellent location. It was near everything. It was in the heart of the Leather Market and you could easily get to the Duomo, San Lorenzo and the Academia. They were all very close. I appreciated the characters that we met in the Leather Market. They were funny and they added an extra spice to it that made it unique. The steak restaurant, Trattoria Bordino, was the best steak that I have had since I left the US.
Seeing Michelangelo’s David this morning was an experience. Looking at the replica in front of the Palazzo Vecchio was not as exciting as seeing the original. The way it was placed in the room and the lighting they had on it, it really showed off the detail and craft and the consideration Michelangelo took when he was sculpting it over 500 years ago. I was amazed at how well preserved it was.
I never thought Balsamic Vinegar would taste so good. You wouldn’t know what it was like unless you tasted it. We went into the indoor market -- The Conti. The shop was a family business. The woman selling the olive oil and vinegar told us how the owner freshly presses the olives every night and then puts it in a bottle after twelve hours. They had twelve, fifteen, thirty year old aged olive oils. They keep them in wooden barrels. My favorite was a twenty-year-old one that had been aged in cherry wood. Paula was the lady who was helping us. She was very sweet and I told her that Jennifer and I would be coming back in the Spring. She said to be sure and send her an e-mail so she could have a special tasting for us. I bought a 14 Euro white wine vinegar. Excellent! Overall my impressions of Florence were that the people were all very nice and they all tried to accommodate us. It was cleaner, less polluted and I think even had less traffic than Rome. I will be going back again.
Matthew STARR
Venice: The smells. I hadn’t anticipated such strong, overpowering smells of such things that are generally distasteful or disgusting to us. The smells of sewer -- of stagnant water. I didn’t really experience any overpowering smells of food -- nor any pleasing smells. I think it added character to the city because everyone who had been there before had said: “Well, welcome to Venice, this is how it smells.” So it isn’t a bad thing. The Piazza San Marco was a very engaging experience because of the pigeons. It was a pleasure getting into the church and really seeing it with others who enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed it. Since we are all interested in the similar things, it is thrilling to enjoy the same things together. The piazza with the pigeons, I still can’t get over that. If you were frightened when you saw the movie, “Birds”, don’t go to Piazza San Marco.
From an urban view, it is neat how the streets are paved of water. It is neat that the canals are their streets and that our take on the street -- of being a paved environment -- is 100% pedestrian. I wouldn’t go back for a large period of time -- maybe a couple of days. They say Venice is for lovers but I couldn’t get over the smell. I ate the same pizza three nights in a row: Mozzarella, Pomodora and Fungi. (Translation: Mozzarella Cheese, Fresh Tomatoes and Mushrooms)
Vicenza: When we arrived in Vicenza, I realized that I enjoyed the Northern Italy a lot more than Southern Italy. The cool air and the close proximity to the mountains was delightful. The town was very quiet, very nice. I liked just hanging out there. There was something relaxing about walking around the town. To me, it was a more busy
Florence: Florence is my favorite city. Although we were just in the city center, I really felt like I got a feel for the city very quickly. The places we ate at were just amazing. My parents are going to kill me for the amount of money we spent there but when I get them one of those steaks in three months they will completely understand. Paul Collins said it well “You take on the city’s aura.” In Naples you move fast. In Capri you are a tourist. In Rome you feel like you are just in the mix. In Florence you walk around without a care on your shoulder because it is just that easy going. It’s a big city with a small town flavor. I truly enjoyed that feel. It reminded me a lot of our smaller “big cities” like Philadelphia, Boston, Washington D.C. or San Antonio. It reminded me a lot of San Antonio without the temperature. There isn’t much more that I can say about my time there because my experience was just pleasurable -- 100% enjoyable. The original David by Michelangelo is much more powerful than the fake one. I almost felt as I was staring up at him that he was going to turn around and say: “Hay, what is going on?”
SETH ANDERS
Venice: Venice was interesting personally for me because I was there in the summer with my girlfriend. To be in a place so touristy in the summer and then to have it almost to yourself in the winter was an experience. The best thing about Venice is the “in your face” displays on the shops windows. The colors and the Venetian glass make window shopping almost as enjoyable as purchasing. We went to the same pizza place three nights in a row. Two of the nights, I had the same pizza, my favorite, sausage and peppers. The second to the last night, I broke off from the group and retraced the path we took in the summer to get from the train station to San Marco’s. It was great to reminisce on the wandering path that Kate and I had taken this summer. I couldn’t believe I found the hostel that we stayed in. I found it by sight. Venice was one of the more enjoyable places for me to sketch. It was a break through point for me.
Vicenza: Palladio was good for me because I appreciate organization. I liked figuring out how Palladio went about designing the places we saw. I really felt like I was in a town of Italy that wasn’t catered to tourists. Sketching the La Rotonda with my head phones on was very peaceful. I was listening to “Coldplay” and “Alexi Murdoch”. The group shot on the steps was one to remember.
GEROGE LOGUSCH
Venice: I liked it a lot more this time. I was in Venice two summers ago and I couldn’t get past the smell. I was there in July and it was overwhelming. This time I really liked the city and I think my favorite part was walking around the first night as we wondered back because our group found ourselves in a real local place. It was just fun with the rain. Everything was set against us with the rain, the cold, the night and the darkness but it nevertheless was so much fun drawing our way back to the hotel.
Seeing the interior of the Basilica di San Marco with the lights on was gorgeous. It is the kind of church I am used to seeing in Kiev, Ukraine. In fact, that is the average church there.
Vicenza: I like this little city. Some of my favorite parts of the trip have been going to the small cities, where you get a taste of the local life. They are off the beaten path and are on a much smaller scale than the city of Rome. As always, it could have been warmer but I think that was one of my most enjoyable days of drawing -- that and drawing in San Marcos. I was astonished to see the Villa Rotonda. I thought that would be one building I would never see. I think one of the surprising things about it was while it did sit on a little knoll, there were retaining walls kind of cornering it off. It just wasn’t the way it was presented to me in history classes or how I saw it in pictures. As for Palladio’s work, Working myself in architecture, I love to see geometry. It was nice to see how the proportions in the geometry fit nicely together and like it belonged there.
Florence: Florence is one of my all time favorite cities. Fantastic steak. I always enjoy going to see the Duomo but this time I enjoyed more seeing the other churches, the other basilicas. Being inside them, spending some quiet time in them and saying some prayers for some friends was wonderful. When I say prayers, I sometimes chant a “Salve Regina” and when I light a candle it is usually in front of a Madonna. Most of the time, I go into the church to be thankful.
I really enjoyed the sketching in Florence. I love to be in the city walking around, doing nothing, just soaking up the city. Lots of times, I wonder into a smaller book store just to see what is there. I think I went to four books stores while I was there -- looking at mostly architectural and archeological books. I picked up the Pope’s new encyclical to read. I saw a couple of books that cost 85 Euros each documenting all the facades of Florence. There were not enough pictures to justify buying an Italian language book for 85 Euros.
KELLY DANZ
Venice: I thought Venice was very beautiful but it smelled bad. I loved Piazza San Marco and I was really excited to go inside the church because the last time I was there I wasn’t able to go inside. I thought the inside was absolutely gorgeous. I also really liked the assignment about how we had to sketch our way back to our hotel. We got a little lost but it was fun. I felt like I walked the entire city. We walked so much.
Vicenza: I liked Vicenza. I thought it a cute town. I really liked seeing all the buildings by Palladio especially La Rotonda. We had learned about it in our history class but I never thought I would ever get to visit it. It was amazing. I really liked the view from the villa. I didn’t expect that.
Florence: Florence was my favorite place we visited so far. The weather was amazing. I thought the Duomo even more beautiful than I remembered. It was so incredible that we could climb to the top of the dome. I was a little scared of heights at first but once we got up to the top, the view was so spectacular, that it didn’t really bother me anymore. I did a lot of shopping in Florence in The Leather Market and I bought presents for my family. I thought the Ponte Vecchio was also very impressive and a lot of the other churches we visited were also very beautiful. Both nights we were there, I had Florentine steak and it was the best steak I have ever had. In fact, I had a one kilogram steak! The waiter who looked at me couldn’t believe I wanted such a big steak and he asked: “What, only for you?” And I said: “Si.” It was delicious.
I also really liked seeing the Michelangelo Stairs. They were a lot smaller than I thought they would be but they were still pretty amazing. I had a lot of fun in Florence.
PAT McCARTHY
Venice: Venice was very nice. It wasn’t at all what I had expected. I don’t know why. It was a different experience all together than what I had expected. It was kind of cold and damp. We only had sun for about an hour the last day. It was nice taking the bus-boat down the Grand Canal. I was a little surprised that there was nothing to do at night. There was no one there at night. The pizza place we went to was excellent. The Basilica of San Marco was absolutely incredible --just the detail alone in there was incredible. You really have to experience this place by yourself. I also liked when we had to find our way back to the hotel even though it was raining at the time. It was great going through all the back alleys, seeing the shops and especially the streets that were all lit up with Christmas lights. Eating kabobs was also fantastic.
Vicenza: I liked Vicenza a lot. I enjoyed going to see all of Palladio’s architecture. I actually really enjoyed sketching and figuring out the proportions. They were so ordered. I thought the Olympic Theater was fantastic especially they did the stage how it alludes to the false perspective. And the bathroom was actually modern. They had a glass wall with the water running down. It was clean. Villa Rotonda I enjoyed myself there. The worse part of it was that my camera broke there. My battery died. It is a brand new camera and what happened when the battery died, my lens was out. So everything is out of focus.
Florence: I loved Florence. Perhaps it was because the weather was beautiful the minute we stepped off the train. The leather market outside our hotel was nice. I liked walking up and down the street and seeing everything they had in their shops. I didn’t buy anything because I was skeptical whether it was really real leather. It didn’t seem right. Climbing the Duomo and seeing the view from up there was possibly my favorite thing. I also liked the church, Santa Croce, where Michelangelo and Galileo were buried. It was great sitting in the sun and drawing out in the cloister area. The steak we had at The Trattoria Bordino was phenomenal.
ANNA McKERNAN
Venice: I thought that Venice had a very romantic aura to it. It was nice not to see cars for a few days but instead only boats and gondolas. I really enjoyed window shopping and seeing all the pretty colorful glass and the other items the stores had for sale. San Marco was beautiful. I will always remember the square filled with pigeons and people and the magnificent façade of the church. What I didn’t like about Venice was the fact that I was sick. I had to cut one of the days short and go back to the hotel and take a nap. We were on the go the whole time but I was tired to keep up with everyone.
Vicenza: I really enjoyed Palladio’s architecture and began to understand what the word “proportion” means within architecture. I could see how Palladio was the master of proportion and found it so easy to sketch his buildings. My favorite building of all was the Villa Rotonda where I decided to do a perspective sketch. I really got a sense of how Palladio used symmetry and proportion. I wished we could have stayed there a little longer. By just doing a day trip, it was hard to get a sense of the city.
Florence: Florence was my favorite city of all that we have visited. I was absolutely stunned when I saw The Duomo. I was crossing the street and I almost got run over by a bus because I was so distracted looking at The Duomo. Climbing to the top of The Duomo was exhausting but it was well worth it to have the view of the whole city. I also really enjoyed seeing the statue of David by Michelangelo. Michelangelo really impresses me because he has mastered the sense of scale within architecture and within the human body. All the art in Florence was great. Florence also has good food as well. I hope to go back there before I leave Europe. The only bad thing was that I didn’t have enough time to shop but I am sure I will catch up when I go back.
SARA SEPANSKI
Venice: Venice for me was all about exploring and because the city didn’t have any cars it was so easy to do. For our first assignment, Dave dropped us off at Piazza San Marco and made us find our way back to our hotel on our own. We were in groups and we split the assignment of sketching landmarks on our way back. Some of us were a little unnerved by the whole situation, but for me, it was exciting. The dampness and mist added to the excitement and mystery of the city. It really felt great and we felt so proud of ourselves to find these beautiful spaces all on our own and we knew that we were the only ones in the group that were seeing these special places. Those moments just spurred us on because we were getting pretty damp out there. I was also amazed how you could just take a look at the map and get your bearings and head off in a general direction and wind up at your destination with hardly a problem. It was mind boggling that the city of Venice is made up of 117 islands. The fact that there are so many bridges actually makes it easier and faster to get from one place to another rather than the traditional orderly laid out streets.
Vicenza: I have heard of Vicenza but I had no idea what to expect. I definitely didn’t expect to see snow! It turned out to be a very quiet, nice little town and I enjoyed spending the day there with Palladio. Probably the most interesting thing that day for me was seeing the Teatro Olimpico in person. I had seen slides of it in history class of the amazing false perspectives that were painted and built on the stage. Then to be there inside the theater and sit down on the actual seats and look down these streets, it was really amazing. I was glad I was able to have that experience.
The Villa Rotonda was by far the place I was most excited to see in Vicenza. It also was something I had only seen in slides in history class. From the slides, it looked like it was just built by itself off somewhere. I had no idea of what the surrounding context was like. Dave finally let us in on the fact that it was outside the city which was why we were walking so far. The walk was nothing compared to the previous day in Venice. It was a surprise for me when my first glimpse of the Rotonda was from behind the rooftops of the buildings in front of me. I also felt it was good that I went there because one of the things that you don’t learn from slides or even drawings of a building is the perspective that it has when you see it in person with your two feet on the ground, standing in front of it. For me, it was a lot larger than I had imagined it. You could sense the proportions of the building which I was able to translate into my sketch book as I was comfortably seated on the grass, leaning against one of the stone walls.
Florence: The day in Florence was kind of miracle day for me. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better, they did. It was really the highlight of the trip for me. It was a very uplifting experience. First of all, the sun was out in full force which was such a dramatic switch from every other city that we have been to so that put everyone in a great mood. Some of us went to Trattoria Mario, a local home-style Italian kitchen kind of feeling restaurant which was recommended to us for its great roasted chicken. Some friends and I ordered roasted chicken and then split a plate of their ravioli. The restaurant was so crowed that to seat people they just threw you in with what ever table had an opening. So my friends and I had heard from the group of four at our table how the great the ravioli was. Since we couldn’t decide between the two dishes, we just went for both. It worked out since in addition to the place having great food, it also had great prices. On top of that, the cooks and the waiters were so nice to you, so welcoming, it made you feel like you were family. Stepping outside after lunch, we were again struck with what a beautiful day it was and all having a sweet tooth, we immediately thought of getting a “gelato” to eat in the sunshine for the first time ever. So David knew of this great gelato place, and we immediately started trying flavors. It didn’t take us long to decide. We all pointed to a waffle cone and told the woman our two flavors and then were shocked by the amount of gelato she put on our cones. It was at least three times the size of the amount of gelato that we had gotten on a cone anywhere else. We just laughed and figured that was the way they did it in Florence. When it came time to pay, however, we realized what we had gotten ourselves into. The cones were 8 Euro a piece -- more than we each paid for lunch! As Dave said, we were eating our body weight in gelato. I enjoyed every minute of it. It was just so awesome getting to bask in the warmth of the sun and enjoy gelato without being cold.
It was also a fun experience climbing to the top of The Duomo and to seeing the entire city from such a height. It felt good getting the exercise on the way up and down. It took muscle control to keep me from plummeting down those steep flights of stairs. Last but not least, I really enjoyed the restaurant Trattoria Bordino which featured Florentine steaks that Dave introduced us to. I have never had meat that was so pink and yet so good. Not to take away from the skill of the chefs but it just tasted so good to have real meat again. Just being all together as a group and enjoying good food, stories and wine is something that I really treasure and will take with me on this trip. If anyone has any questions how someone can sketch as well as eat their way through Florence, they can ask any of us.
Paul FRITZ
Venice: I would have to say I was excited about seeing it since I had seen it depicted in photographs as well as in the movies. I didn’t really know what to expect. When we got there, I was surprised at the way they used the canals as streets. I thought it was a really interesting way to move things around the city. At first I really liked
Vicenza: By the end of the day, I was definitely sick of Palladio. I was surprised at how everybody seemed to enjoy Vicenza so much and thought it was a great place. I didn’t quite capture that greatness. It just seemed like another small, quiet town. I did have a very good lunch there. We spent about 40 minutes trying to find lunch. We found to a merchant on the street with a big truck and he had whole chickens for sale, rotisserie style. We grabbed two chickens and the guy cut them in half for us. We got a couple of side dishes and then ate everything with our fingers next to Palladio’s Basilica. It was a lot of fun.
Florence: Florence, I absolutely loved. I had read “Brunelleschi’s Dome” and I had wanted to visit The Duomo ever since reading the book. I was very impressed and I wasn’t disappointed. I was amazed that in the inside everything had been painted on the dome rather than using mosaics like we had seen so far. I also liked the fact that it depicted Dante’s “Inferno”. That just happens to be one of my favorite books. He has a way of describing hell in a way no one else has ever thought of it. Once we got up to the top of the Copula, the view was amazing and it was really nice to have the sun finally shining down upon us. When we did our tours around the city, I really liked the part of town that was next to the river. It reminded me of a small medieval town in Germany where I studied one summer. It brought back a lot of good memories. Florence was just a lot of fun. It was nice to be in a slower paced city and be where you could feel comfortable walking around, getting lost and not having to worry about anything.
ALI MENKE
Venice: It was my second time there. I definitely liked it better this time. I was more educated and I could enjoy it more. I thought it was really special that Stanley got us in San Marco’s and we could sketch in there. Last time I was there the whole façade was covered with scaffolding. They were refurbishing all the domes.
Vicenza: Vicenza was cute. I hadn’t been there before. I really liked the Teatro Olimpico. It was more interesting seeing it in person than any pictures I had ever seen of it. The Villa Rotonda was very interesting because of the setting. A lot of times in the history class we don’t see the site maps where a building is located. It was neat to be able to see the site location in relation to the town and to look down on the town. The views of the mountains from there were also beautiful.
Florence: Florence was my favorite out of the three cities we visited this trip. The weather was amazing. It was the warmest it had been so far. The shopping was great. I felt I was able to find something there that reminded me of everyone in my life. It is a good reason to go back. Climbing the steps of the Duomo was fun. There was a little competition going on of who could climb to the top the fastest. Dave and I started off in front. There was a group of kids -- Americans -- who kind of slowed us up but gave us a chance to catch our breath. We were at the interior ledge of the dome. From there, Dave and I continued up -- another 200 steps to the top. Dave and I reached the top first -- although Dave beat me out. Kind of disheartening that a 33 year old man beat out my fresh 22 year old legs.
My favorite thing was our dinner with the group at Dave’s favorite restaurant in the world, Trattoria Bordino. The food was great but it was more the atmosphere and the fact that everyone went. It was a good way to spend the last two nights of our trip.
One last thing -- on the Ponte Vecchio, where all the jewelry stores are, I saw my future wedding band. I even took pictures of it.
ANN BROZEK
Venice: I enjoyed Venice very much. It had definitely the picturesque quality I expected just from the pictures and post cards that I had seen before. It was really cute. It was a little smelly. The Basilica di San Marco’s was really enjoyable. I loved the time we spent there. And the shopping was good too.
Vicenza: I was almost overwhelmed in the Teatro Olimpico because there was so much detail. I literally sat there for about fifteen minutes taking it all in before I could put my pencil on the paper. I was so overwhelmed by the ornamentation everywhere. It was beautiful. I enjoyed the Villa Rotonda although it was a long walk to get there on the outskirts of the town. It was one of the most enjoyable moments of the entire trip. It was extremely peaceful and quiet. I was so happy that we were the only people there. I could have spent the entire day there. Seeing Pat pose next to the statue of the woman was pretty memorable too.
Florence: Florence I think everyone loves. I am OK that we gave up our day in Sienna to spend an extra day there. The Duomo was breathtaking. I was the last one down. I stayed up there for a while. Those stairs took a lot of effort. One thing that really struck me was the graphic depiction of hell in the frescoes inside the dome. It was probably the worse image I have ever seen -- gruesome and fear inspiring. It was a big shock to me to see such horrible demons, so big with people being eaten by them and others prodding people with burning sticks. It was awful. I did not expect that. I think Seth make the comment that “Wow! How did they paint these frescoes?” They had to hang a whole scaffolding. It was so high and so scary. When we were up there at that time looking down, we were thinking: “Wow! We are so small.” Other than The Duomo, The Leather Market was also great. I believe we all did a lot of “damage” shopping. I liked the indoor market too. Some people said it reminded them of Philadelphia and home. I was really excited to catch up with my friend who is living there. I can’t wait to go back and see her and Florence again. Last, but not least, it was awesome to see Michelangelo’s David. I have always wanted to see that too.
One of the cutest things that happened on the trip was with a school trip of pre-school children visiting The Accademia where the David is. There was a docent, very animated, explaining things about the sculpture. I thought: “Oh, great. I can listen in because this will be my level of Italian.” Well, the Pre-school kids knew more than I did. Since they were so short, such little kids, they all had little binoculars to look at the details on the sculpture. I thought that was so adorable and smart of the museum people too to give them all binoculars.
DAVID SHOVE-BROWN
Venice: This was actually the first time I liked Venice. I think it was because it wasn’t the summer and it wasn’t grossly overpopulated with tourists. We had a freedom to move around the more populated places without being bombarded with individuals, allowing complete flexibility. I think the introduction project we gave the students was extremely successful in finding their way around the city and finding new things. What throws people off at first and gets them flustered is the fact that there are no roads in Venice. Once they get their minds set that the canals are used as roads and the walking surfaces used as sidewalks, they can more easily understand the city and how it functions. Giving the students the freedom of schedule to get lost tends to be nerve wracking initially but in the long term works well in the understanding of the city.
What I didn’t like about Venice was the result of the week before since we didn’t have a lot of down time between trips. I arrived tired and it was tough to start that way. This group has been phenomenal at supporting each other and being tired is not tremendously draining in the fact that the students work with you and are so accommodating that it is easy to rebound.
The one thing that I normally dislike about Venice is the parade of people processing through San Marco’s. With the limited crowds and the fact that we actually got to spend some time there, that displeasure was completely eliminated and I was completed fascinated by it. The last time I was in San Marco’s was years and years ago. Since that time, I have been able to visit Hagia Sofia and The Blue Mosque and seeing the comparisons between those buildings and San Marco’s was amazing.
Vicenza: I loved Vicenza. I think as a small scale Italian town it is very rich. It has this wonderful collection of buildings and spaces that give it a whole new perspective on the urban condition. Teatro Olimpico is one of the most brilliant spaces I have ever been in. The understanding of scale, proportion and perspective is so incredible that just sitting there you can really soak it in and really feel part of the space. I enjoyed going to Villa Rotonda as well. It is another one those places you see in all your history books but as you process up the drive way, you have an infinitely greater understanding of the real thing. The location on the hill and the views are so outstanding that you can just sit there and sketch the building for hours -- truly understanding the quality of proportion.
Florence: Florence is amazing to me. After two weeks of traveling, my body was just aching. As soon as I got off the train, I was totally rejuvenated. The city is just spectacular that way. The people are so kind. Everything in the city from the architecture to the art is amazing. You can’t help but be excited.
I loved going up in the Duomo. From the architectural standpoint, it was incredible. The engineering was earth-shattering but the views were amazing. It was glorious seeing Florence drift into the Tuscan hillsides as well as imagining farms and vineyards just beyond the horizon. I must have walked a dozen times around the top of the dome just taking in every view. The sun was beating down. It was warm. It was totally incredible. There is something so unrealistic about the place. It seems almost like a fantasy that you are living in and when you are looking over this countryside with its spectacular views, it is just phenomenal. Sitting on the ground is like that too. You walk along the river or along the side streets and everything is just gorgeous. There is such a positive energy in this city that it is impossible not to be excited by it. Walking through the arcade at the Uffizi as you approach the Arno, this meandering river that cuts through the countryside, this is what you picture in good novels. It is a dream.
It’s nice for me to go and stay at the same hotel and see my friends there. It was wonderful taking the students to the dinner at La Trattoria Bordino. I think they all got something out of the experience. Again, I was amazed with the group and the dynamic of the group. After two weeks of intensive travel, they still wanted to be together and they still enjoyed being together. They soaked in every experience they possibly could while they were there. Our last morning was spent tasting local olive oils and Balsamics that were ambrosia. Florence was a perfect end to two weeks of travel.
STANLEY HALLET
Finally, at the end of the day, the sun finally broke through the clouds. Immediately, a group of us jumped into a boat-taxi and passed the scintillating facades of the palazzos that line the Grand Canal. This second course that was as delicious as the first.
Vicenza: Vicenza was a different story. For me, the most exciting moment was provided by the extraordinary Palladio theater, Teatro Olimpico, in which the cinematographic space becomes the very background for the theater. Here Palladio provides the theater as well as the set. All the actors need to do is recite their lines. The magical forced perspectives constructed by Palladio do the rest. Even the sculptures that are splashed across the set seem to replace the actors. I was quite delighted to just sit there and watch Palladio’s play unfold.
In hindsight, while fully appreciating the rules of harmonic proportions that Palladio postulates in theory as well as in practice, I found myself less interested in his conclusions when faced with his buildings. While the great Villa Rotonda, a paradigm of all architectural history books, makes its singular statement of symmetrical beauty and harmony, for some reason, I was less moved. In fact, I found some of the component masses awkward, lacking grace or interest. Clearly his compositions no longer challenge me and I seek harmonic proportions elsewhere in this chaotic world.
Florence: With each new visit to Florence, I come away with more respect for the rich and varied experiences this city holds for every visitor. From the wonderful lunches in a crowded and rambunctious Trattoria Mario full of workers and tourists, to the extraordinary dinners in the comfortable but elegant La Trattoria Bordino, the tastes still linger. My compliments to the chefs in both establishments were greeted with unabashed thanks. Consequently, several great meals were devoured at a long table of most appreciative students. We had the best beef ever in Europe.
Once again, I was enthralled by the doors of the Baptistry by Ghilberti and the extraordinary façade of the Duomo. Never satiated, my camera found even more opportunities and scenes to capture in either carved out marble or poured in bronze. I was again delighted by the sculptures dancing in front of the Palazzio Vecchio. They became alive as I tried to frame and photograph every gesture they made. Finally our tour in the Uffizi rounded out our cultural stay with the extraordinary early works of Giotto and Lippi.
Finally, I was again most impressed with our students who were either drawing or photographing their way through Florence, Vicenza and Venice. They continue to be both an energetic and inspiring group of students. By the end of the journey, I only wished I had a little more of the energy that they brought to our travels.
posted by dsb @ 3:06 PM
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