The Loss of the Cross

Santa Croce
Notice the Facade and Sides of the Church,,, Very Different.
(The facade is a newer addition to the building)

We went to the basilica of Santa Croce on Thursday and were able to see beautiful art pieces from times long gone, a memorial to Dante (who wrote The Divine Comedy—he is buried in Ravenna but was Florentine), and Michelangelo’s and Galileo’s tombs. (There were others.) The church is part of a Franciscan monastery still in use today. (Sadly, I did not see any friar on the grounds.) Cosimo de’ Medici added to the construction during his “reign” as pater patriae of Florence mid-1400s.

Inner Court

 

Dante Alleghieri

Outside of the church stands a statue of Dante, whose masterpiece was written in the early 1300s (help me Gian Mauro!), the first work of literature in Italian (as compared to works written in latin at the time). The piece is divided into three parts, each composed of 33 cantos, which contain a certain number of lines x 3. Numerology, at the time, was certainly something this poet took into consideration. 

I participated in a reading of a canto in French (last year on campus—an international reading with as many voices in so many languages as was possible to find at JMU) but I must admit not to have read the whole thing. (On the to-do list.)

Note: Florence has tried to repatriate Dante's body, but the city of Ravenna claims that his banishment out of Florence does not warrant their ownership of the same when he's been kicked out of the homeland.

Inside Santa Croce

Side View 

The art history teacher, Luca, took us on the tour of the church and gave wonderful details of the different pieces we examined; information filled with Jeopardy factoids.

Being Patient with Our Ignorance

For example, the cross (built for the church that bears that exact name “holy cross” is a piece dating 1272 by Cimabue (Tchee-mah-boo-ay. I just love that name!) 

While you can see a googled image of the cross on the left, the 1966 floods in Firenze led to the cross’s partial destruction (right). The water that covered the center of Florence (coming from the Arno river) was so high that it rose in certain places to more than 20 feet. The cross was carried away by the receding water and found again 20 kilometers away from its point of departure. It is a “miracle” of sorts that they were able to get it back at all. The restauration work has uncovered magnificent details of craftsmanship but the piece could not be brought back to its original splendor and parts are irrevocably damaged.

We also saw a fresco painted in the same church on the subject of Francis of Assisi (1182-1226) done by Giotto ( mentioned by Dante in the divine comedy.). Of interest in this painting is the perspective, which changes from flat subject to the observer’s ability to feel 3-d effects.

1325?

As usual, there were too many things to see. I took many pictures that will, undoubtedly, remain in my memory stick never to be seen again. The point is: you have to see it yourself. Otherwise, you might as well google the pictures (better quality than mine). But the feeling of being here, of seeing the tombs of people whose names often appear in the context of an art or a science lesson, is just not something that is easily described.  Florence has much to be proud of, for the great men it produced.

Niccolò Macchiavelli (1469-1527)

Michelangelo (1475-1564)

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

Next post will be less about the past and more about the present!

Higher and Higher, Baby!

We've officially started our third week, all is well, so I made a tiramisu for the students to celebrate this marker. Note that I do not have my appliances with me, and the hand-held mixer whipped more cream unto the kitchen splash board (it's earned its name!) than in the bowl. The dessert, nonetheless, was good. (So I am told; didn't have any. If the plate is to be split 28 ways, one more person makes the difference between a satisfying portion and a mere taste.)

Before the Disappearance

The next day, Urie and I decided it was high time to climb the cupola of the duomo (cathedral). So, to prep for our adventure, we watched a documentary about the building of this structure (the largest standing dome in the world to date) on Brunelleschi's insane/ingenious scheme to cover the hole left by a lack of architectural knowledge. (Anyone interested? Here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fL04WjCZMk. From that link, you can watch volumes 2-4 [badly filmed from a television, somewhere]).

If you don't want to watch but are still interested, here's the low down: The diameter of the cupola is half a football field; the cupola itself  is 108 feet high (but from ground floor to top, it's 278 feet high or 460 steps of convoluted hallways and staircases to climb); it contains more than 40,000 bricks, and was built in 16 years from 1420 to 1436.

The Dome in Question

But first, we had to go to the tower (another part of the cathedral), and warm up to the tune of 414 steps to reach la campanila di Giotto.

La campanila di Giotto (inside)

Testing His Courage.

Spiderman-like

Down, Down below. 200 Feet Above

Well Worth the View!

Then came the climb to the top of the duomo, which requires a walk through two walls that go around the periphery of the structures and moves us in circles until the top is reached.

In between the Walls of the Cupola

The Herrringbone Pattern: Part of the Secrets of the Cupola

Reaching the top (for the second time--considering we'd been on the tower top first), we were getting a little "winded" (and it was very windy!):

Urie Emerges

So Tired!!!

          

Walking the Periphery

Of course, having inspected all we could at the top, we then went down  (faster than the ascension!) and visited the inside of the duomo, the basement of which contains the tomb of Giovanni de' Medici (the one who started the dynasty, though he, obviously, had predecessors); Roman ruins and artifacts; and templar grave markers. 

Inside the Cathedral

Ceiling of the Cupola

Giovanni De'Medici

Roman Ruins

as well as the baptistry, which houses an array of interesting mosaic works and three more Donatello sculptures.  (Donatello's main patron was Cosimo de' Medici.)

Ceiling of the Baptistry

Wall of the Baptistry. Amazing Details.

Donatello's Work

Guess Who?

How about This Guy?

After such grand efforts and more than 1,000 steps conquered (including ours at home!) is it any wonder that we decided to skip swimming? Instead, we stayed home and watch the first part of a magnificent documentary on the Medici family. The first part reconstructs the story of Cosimo Medici (son of Giovanni) who was a patron the arts and sciences, and sponsored Brunelleschi, Donatello, and others, and whose nephew and progeny did the same for Da Vinci (for a brief period), Michelangelo, and many others. The link to this one is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FFDJK8jmms&list=PL554l0EbSianiKr94zlblTjluyhnGlZss

All in all, we are in constant learning mode. Tomorrow, we get to visit the basicila  della Santa Croce where one finds the sepulchers of Galileo (minus his head, middle finger and thumb), Michelangelo, Macchiavelli, Rossini, and other illustrious artists and scientists of Italian renown.

Italy is a country so filled with art, architectural design and beauty that it's amazing its inhabitants find the time to work at all and go about everyday tasks.  I would spend mine in the museums!

Siena; A Medieval Dystopian Society

Yesterday: First group trip! We went to Siena under very wet circumstances. We had to walk from Palazzo Capponi to the Porta Romana (perhaps 1 km) in quasi torrential rains to meet our bus. (The roads are too narrow for a coach.) Of course, I brought no umbrella to Florence, so I was soaked by the time we made it to the meeting point. Urie was equally drenched as were half of the students. (Should have listened to my own advice given by email to the group the night before: "You should bring an umbrella, rain expected in the central region of Italy."

Soaked, Hair Matted, but Still Smiling

Walking to Our First Point

Waiting for the Tour Guide

  

Siena, a beautiful city built on top of a hill, has kept a lot of its medieval charm. Older buildings and, according to Alessandro (JMU's program director here), older mentality. Both Urie and I found it oddly refreshing. 

Vista of Siena from Santo Domenico

We visited la Chiesa di Santo Domenico (a church dedicated to a young mystic woman, Caterina, who died in 1380 at the age of 33 after a long fast--her severed head is one of the relics in the church!), the medieval city hall, and the duomo (one of Italy's better known cathedrals).

There would be TOO MANY pictures on this blog if I were to include them all. We were, literally, bombarded by a thousand things to see. It's hard to focus when everything is of interest. Where to look? What to retain? So I am including just a few as to not bore you.

Allora, let's start with the dystopian situation. Siena, for a better frame of refence, has about 58,000 inhabitants with a 20,000-student population at its famous university. Think Harrisonburg, clumped into a one-mile radius on top of Reddish Knob 700 years ago. Okay; that's not really helping. At any rate, about 400 years ago, a horse race became the premise for the division of families into 17 districts (I kid you not). These districts fight each other yearly in games that result in one winner bringing fame to his district. The horse race was originally a commemoration of medieval battles against Florence and other enemies. The people of Siena had formed different troops to defend their city at the time, and the troops' proginy kept an affiliation with that part of their past.

The districts (or contrade) take on the names of creatures or objects part of the city's medieval lore: caterpillar,dragon, goose, eagle, unicorn, panther, giraffe, porcupine, owl, seashell,etc. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrade_of_Siena). Street corners bear the mark of its own contrada.City residents introduce themselves by their clan name before giving their Christian names to others.

   

The Eagles and the Caterpillars

One can marry someone from another district, but two weeks prior to the battle s/he will separate from his or her spouse and regain the family clan until the ceremonies are over. Basically, if you were to marry someone from another contrada, you get a two-week mini vacay from your spouse during battle time, which could do a lot to revive the fires of passion! Children born into such unions must be declared members of one or the other contrada, or can be assigned a third if the parents cannot agree on the nomenclature. 

The epic battle is the same horse race as before; jockeys train for months at a time (though the horse is assigned only a couple of days prior to the events taking place in July and August.). The races are tiered and ranked until the winner emerges. The goose are the kick-assers of the city and the eagle have done very poorly in the past 400 years (they have only won 24 games.) I wonder if Suzanne Collins spent time in Siena before writing The Hunger Games.

Aside from this interesting organization of civil life, the Sienese are proud of their buildings and churches. (One student was threatened by a furious citizen holding a pickax for stepping on her land to take a picture.) The old city hall has some of the oldest frescoes found in Italy. (See below)

Above are two examples of murals in city hall. One represents city life in Siena in the 1300s, while the other represents one of the virtues people should strive to attain: Fortitude. The one to the lower right is part of a much bigger painting, but I liked that face in particular.

Finally, of note, was the art work in the duomo which contains interesting pieces from a Gothic, Renaisscance and Baroque art point-of-view. The building was started in 1229 but chapels and artifacts were added ad infinitum and continue to be piece-mealed together even today (though on a very minute scale--addition of a pope's faccia , for example.). So, let's start with the pulpit created between 1265 and 1268 by Gothic artist Nicola Pisano:

Renaissance Donatello created a bronze statue of John the Baptist in 1457  (1), Michealangelo sculpted  St Peter as a self-portrait in 1504 (2), and baroque artist Bernini* contributed two sculptures to the inside of capella della madonna, finished in 1659, one of which I include here (3).

1

2

3

Lastly, the Piccolomini library is not your typical library. First, it's located in a church. Second, no Nicholas Sparks here! Ha! Ha! (I really dislike N.S.) Only about ten "books" are included--remember that these predates Gutenberg and the printing press, and are works of art because they contain "illuminations" and are so rare. Mostly, they are works of liturgical songs. The library's walls were painted by Pinturecchio and Raffaelo who included themselves in the images. (Raffaelo on the left and Pinturecchio with the pink and green pants.)

Siena was beautiful, and Gian Mauro (my Italian civilization professor at JMU) would have truly loved it (and probably appreciated it more than any of us could.) Wish he'd been here to give us all of the details he knows about each piece. It would have brought the past to life.

* Bernini was an incredible sculptor whose work surpasses Michelangelo's for its vividness. However, like many artists, he was passionate and mercurial, and once slashed his lover's face with a knife because he thought she was having an affair with his own brother. (Medieval Soap Opera if I've ever heard of one.)

  

Like a Fish out of Water...

Reporting to you, directly from Piscina Bellariva: This special communiqué will narrate briefly what three days of swimming have done for our morale. Urie, who is by American standards a good swimmer, has met his Waterloo (Get it? Water + Loo!) in Florence. The swimmers here are trained to become Olympic champs, so Urie has had a bit of an adjustment.

Not only do we walk close to one hour to get to the pool and then back (including all the stop lights), but he then faces two hours of arduous competition. My mother’s heart breaks a little when I see that few of the other swimmers talk to him. He’s the strange kid to the others.

Urie, in the Juice, with Italian Coaches (white cap)

Once in a while, one of the boys will venture to tell Urie a certain "number" in broken English  (9 x 100 m) because the coach tells him to, and the swimmer will add a hand movement to indicate which stroke is about to be performed. This works as well as can be expected, except that we have no equipment, and I’m not about to spend 300 euros for fins and paddles we have in Virginia. So at times Urie is hurting even more than he would were he fully equipped like the others are. I see him from afar biting his nails in between sets, and I find him mighty brave to even be there at all.

On progress: After day 1, Urie has dropped the jammers to wear a more contemporary (read European) Speedo (though his is far more modest than what we have had the pleasure to see).  He also has a Firenze swim cap which he really likes. It feels very natural, so he says, and he has to wear one, so why not make it comfortable? He requested I buy him another one before we come back to the USA to use in swim meets if allowed.

What I enjoy, even more than watching him swim, are the conversations we have on our way to and from the pool. Every topic is permissible, all thoughts acceptable.

Our conversation last night, as we were going to bed, reflects our fatigue:

Me:  So… are you making friends with the swimmers?

U:    Not really. But I know a few of their names.

Me:  Did you introduce yourself? (He’s learned that much in Italiano.)

U:    One of them told me his name was Emanuele.

Me:  Oh. Who else do you know?

U:    One swimmer talked to me and said, “mi chiamo Francesca.”

Me:  Is she nice? Cute?

U (confused):     It’s a guy.

Me:   You mean Francesco, then?

U:     No, he told me his name was Francesca.

Me:  You must have misunderstood. Francesco is a boy’s name, not Francesca... unless she had a sex change…

U:     Don't think so. And this other guy told me that his name was Yahoohoo!

Me:   ….. (Laughing hysterically for five minutes. Urie laughs with me but doesn’t know why, until I point out that there is no such a name in Italian for anybody, male or female, nessuno! It appears the Italian squadra is pulling Urie’s leg as he kicks his merry way from one side of the pool to the other.)

U:     Looks like I’m dealing with a bunch of joksters. Emanuele may be the only normal one. (I think he included me with the others.)

This morning, as I was drinking a cup of Orzo*  Urie came into the living/kitchen area and announced that he was going to name his firstborn Yahoohoo. I laughed so hard my drink exploded from my mouth all over my shirt, and I had to change it before class. 1-0, for Urie. (We play this stupid game where we try to make a family member lose it while drinking any beverage. Usually, it's milk, but we get extra points for hot cocoa. But then I won a bet regarding the word "adjacent." Urie owes me a gelato!) I love this boy, he keeps me laughing.

Warm Ups

*Chicory/Barley brew made of cereals; a coffee substitute.

La vita è bella!

We have been in Florence officially for, well, close to ten days. It's incredible how quickly it all goes. We are still in orientation mode at Palazzo Capponi, but I believe we have hit our stride and are good to go between now and the end of the semester.

Parte della città: The arrow indicates our terraza

I have one class to teach, and I won't tell you how many students are in it because I do not know yet. Students are permitted to try them all, shopping style; that is, students are investigating which courses they want to take by attending any number of them. My course competes with Italian Gastronomy and Italian Wines (which are both probably very full), so I have a feeling the numbers will remain "decent." I have no guilt about it; I have been teaching in overload for a while so this comes as a breath of fresh air. (Renaissance Art and Dante also call the more artistic side of everyone.) Wish I could take the classes but it's against the rules.

Picture Credit: Vanessa Love/Lindsay Payne

Speaking of fresh air: one way to recognize Americans in the streets aside from clothing and shoes, is their nose burying when they see smokers pass them by. The wave-the-smoke away and that stating albeit discreetly of "yuck" are fairly sure indicators that we have imports from America.(Urie is one of them. His hoodie-cum-gas mask serves him well.)

Ponte Vecchio (Again)

I have a fantastic group of students. Of course, I'm not privy to their personal affairs but they all seem to get along well and have a great attitude for studying abroad. I love to watch them cook upstairs in the common kitchen, where they share three stoves and sometimes their meals with each other. One student was sick but is on the mend, and one professor has also been sick but we hope to see him soon.

There's a concert of car horns going on right now outside my window. Wish you could hear it. Who knew you could honk for more than a minute without stopping? And that's not the time limit on the strident noise. It makes me smile; not so much when it's at 3:00 a.m. Last night the dogs in the neighborhood were barking incessantly. I thought about my neighbor in Harrisonburg who'd be calling the carabinieri if he were here,)

I dragged Urie to the art gallery (Palazzo Pitti, which is basically in our back yard). The palazzo was the former residence of the Duke of Tuscany and is beautifully arranged. The art collection comprises sculptures and paintings, mostly from unknown Italians--at least not well known outside of the country, and a display of costumes I have yet to see. (They closed before we could make it back to that hallway, Good news: I have a free-access card to several museums which lasts a year. I am good to go until 2016. Urie may not like it but he will see his fair share of art in the next three months. Actually, he always finds a piece of interest to comment and talk about with me later on.)

Urie in an Area of the Garden at Palazzo Pitti

He, in the meantime, is taking Italian with the students. I am in the process of registering him through JMU, Knock on wood that they will let him. He is doing well (hello French!), and as of today as joined the FiorentinaNuoto Squadra, thanks to a kind staff member who found the pool for us.  He will swim two hours a day, M-F. The kids are both intrigued by his jammers--he was the only one rocking them but may be using his speedo tomorrow to blend in. That's a half hour jog to the pool or a 50-minute walk, two hours of swimming, half hour jog back to our place. If he keeps it up he will be in optimal shape for summer league, and so will I.

We are going to Siena on Saturday. I am looking forward to it. (Toni, remember that series of books you got me hooked on about the medieval doctor? Didn't it start in Siena? Too bad the author died. I really liked it,) More pics to come!