Rome and Florence: Gelato, Granitas, Holofernes and Hermits

16.02.08

I am eating some blueberry gelato that Kat and I got the other night at the gelateria here in Orvieto. We were craving something sweet, so we bundled up and headed down to Pasqueletti around 9:45 pm. It took a while to come to a consensus on what kind of gelato to try: Kat is allergic to chocolate, and we’d already tried the (good and tart!) lemon gelato. Kat thought the blueberry one looked good and really wanted to try it. So I went along with it. Well, after one bite, Kat’s smile turned upside down in a very sour face. I brought home the rest of the gelato and kept it in the freezer until now. I think it’s kind of weird, but I am craving something sweet right now.

It’s been a while since I have put into writing what we’ve been up to. We have been busy, it seems. Still continuing with Italian lessons—my teacher tells me I am improving, so I will take her word for it. (There are sparse moments where I ask Kat to just go ask about/for something in English. This may happen on a day like today in Florence; numerous times I asked for/about something in Italian and was answered in matter-of-fact English. So be it. I can take a hint).

The Italian history classes I have sat in on give a lot of context to our time here. Marco, the professor, makes it easy for me to piece together Mediterranean/Italian history--art, architecture, religion, culture and people. So far we’ve gotten a good dose of “globalization” from the early BC’s on. I know that in the past I learned about the Greek’s influence in Italy, the Etruscans, the subsequent Roman empire’s power, St. Benedict, St. Francis of Assisi, the Renaissance and on and on and on….. but I don’t think it all meant much to me since I wasn’t IN the country where all this stuff happened! It’s all (obviously) becoming much clearer now here in the actual setting with a guided history lesson. (Quite often I find myself learning about somebody or something monumental and my inevitable response is, “Yeah, that happened in Italy. Nice. Wait a minute, I am in Italy. Holy cow, that happened HERE! I am HERE IN ITALY!”)

Ok, enough of my bragging (because I AM IN ITALY!), now it’s time for a rundown of what we’ve been up to lately.

The fieldtrips thus far:
Friday, Jan. 25th: Rome (see previous post)
Friday, Feb. 1st: Rome again
Friday, Feb. 8th: Florence
Friday Feb. 15th: Florence

Feb. 1, 2008: Rome again
Marco led us on a walking tour where we passed the Colosseum, walked through the Roman Forum, Capitoline Hill, the Jewish Ghetto, and finished at the Pantheon. Thanks to Marco, I now know some obscure things about what we saw. Did you know:

• The Romans didn’t invent the arch—but they did invent the political meaning of the arch; emperor = god; arch = heaven; only a god could stand under an arch. (Victorious soldiers returning from war were allowed to walk through the arch, too).
• Starting in the 4th century AD, stones of the Colosseum were used by Romans to build new buildings. Colosseum stones were also sold to other countries, primarily Germany and England (many of which were used for Westminster Abbey).
• The Roman Forum was split in half by Mussolini in order to build Fori Imperiali (major thoroughfare). The most important Roman ruins were demolished in order to do this. Critics and archaeologists fought this; still to this day, people bring petitions to the govt. to try to get rid of the thoroughfare.
• 5 was the basic Roman number. (Palm of hand/5 fingers = V. Think of two palms/10 fingers = X).
  

The Roman Forum

After our walking tour, we grabbed a quick lunch and tried a granita at a café (espresso that’s sweetened, frozen and served with fresh whipped cream. OH MY!) Ray led us to some small churches in the Pantheon area with (here I go trying out my new Italian artist knowledge!) Lippi frescoes as Caravaggio paintings. I had heard of Caravaggio before the trip and knew he was famous. Upon seeing his paintings in San Agostino and Chiesa di San Luigi del Francesi, however, I really like this guy. According to Ray, Caravaggio he was quite the character in his time, always getting into trouble and he used prostitutes, beggars and peasants for models. We saw 3 paintings about St. Matthew and a fourth painting, the “Madonna of the Pilgrims.” The latter was initially rejected by the religious folks who had commissioned it because it was too realistic and showed dirty feet. Kat and I stared for a while at the paintings themselves, dark backgrounds with bold-colored clothing and expressive, realistic face.

After finding a new favorite, albeit dead, artist, Kat and I headed over to the other side of the Tiber to try to find the Museum of Souls in Purgatory. We were unable to obtain sufficient instructions on how to get to this place. Nor were we informed of what we would have done if we had made it there in the first place. We were in limbo.


Bridge on Which We Were in Limbo (near Vatican City)

So rather than hang out all day trying to figure it out, we headed back over the river to Museo Mario Praz. I learned about this little gem in my Let’s Go guidebook; the Museo is the last home of Praz (1892-1982), an English literature professor and collector of Napoleonic art. Kat and I arrived a little bit after the tour was to start, but the attendant told us to just head upstairs for a shortened tour. We rode up to the 4th floor in an elevator that, we realized later, used stones as a counterweight and was on the outside of the building. Upon entering the apartment, we were given our own private guided tour (in Italian). The entire flat is decked out in 1,200+ Napoleonic paintings, sculpture, wax reliefs, ceramics, embroidery, silver, crystal, pieces of furniture, and miniatures. Praz was meticulous, eccentric, and, I would venture, an obsessive perfectionist. (His former wife once worked on embroidering a divan; Praz didn’t like the way she was doing it, so he finished it himself). I found myself raising an eyebrow at this story; on reflection, however, I have definitely been guilty of embroidering a few things myself…

Feb. 8 & 15-16, 2008: Florence

In order to see it all, we did 2 fieldtrips to Florence on Feb. 8th & 15th. Kat and I stayed the night of the 15th (this past weekend) on our own and explored further on Sat. I’ll just group everything together to tell you all about it.

First fieldtrip we took a walking tour of Florence with Marco. We went into the Duomo (a.k.a. Santa Maria del Fiore) which has the 3rd longest nave in the world, complete with Brunelleschi’s dome, the largest masonry dome in the world. The cathedral took from 1200-1900 to finish up. All in all, it’s an impressive work. A guild of 8 stone workers is still in existence to “doctor” the building when there are problems. (This is one of the last of these in existence since there’s a shortage of stone masons in Italy nowadays; most items are sent overseas for cheap repairs).


Florence Cathedral (Duomo)

Kat and I climbed to the top of the dome after the fieldtrip this past weekend; we were out of breath from the 463 steps as well as from the external gallery view. You can see all of Florence from here; that is, until the other 103 tourists up there step in front of your perfectly framed panoramic shot. Back inside the dome, you get a close up view of the apocalypse frescoes—three-headed monsters, pitchforks, lots of naked people dying fire-y deaths. Don’t look up: hell is not pretty. And don’t look below; vertigo soon ensues from way up where we were. It was heavenly to get back on solid ground.



View from the Top of the Duomo

Our walking tour on the 8th took us by Dante’s house and a few tripe sandwich stands (hey, they actually smelled good; no, I didn’t try one). Our last stop on our historic walking tour was Chiesa Santa Croce, a church financed by the rich Peruzzi family in the 1200’s (Peruzzi = “little pear”, awwww!). This church is notable because for the first time in history, a family was allowed a permanent tomb and chapel IN the church, in exchange for funding the building. Notables buried here include Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, and Rossini.

Piazza Signoria, hosting Palazzo Vecchio and big marble statues of naked Roman gods, greeted us, as well as all the other tourists in town that day. (There’s a statue of the David here but, shhhhhh….don’t tell any of the other clueless people that it’s a copy!). Kat and I went to see the real David at the Accademia first thing Saturday morning. I had thought, “Ok, I’m in Florence, I have to see the David, but do I really have to pay $10 to see him?” Well, thank goodness Kat didn’t let me think twice. I had no idea how tall and handsome he would be. And so strong! I think I have found my ideal Italian man. But true love waits. Kat had to rip me away from my new love in order to see the other beauties at the Accademia. I was struck by a panel with scenes from Mary Magdalen’s life in which she appears clothed in her own floor-length hair. Michelangelo’s Slaves were also impressive; unfinished sculptures, raw figures emerging from their stone sheaths.


David II in Piazza Signoria (and happy little traveller!)

We also happened upon a special exhibition at Villa Bardini (up a steep hill, another welcomed workout after too much espresso and cheese) by Roberto Capucci. He’s an Italian clothing designer who from the 80’s til now created some dresses that are like fabric sculptures—architectural works, according to Kat. My inner diva jumped for joy! (Kat and I were ready for a change of pace—we had seen quite a few “Madonna and Child” at this point). This exhibit propelled us to the Pitti Palace where the “Simonetta” exhibit was taking place. Simonetta Colonna di Cesaro, a cohort of Capucci, was the “Prima Donna” of Italian Fashion in the 50’s & 60’s. I fell in love with her dresses (not that any of them would have fit me) and her materials. The style was simple yet elegant; the materials distinct and the colors, classic. After years as a fashion and society goddess, in 1968 Simonetta met a guru, moved to India and worked in a leper colony until the mid-80’s. She created a cookbook that I want to get my hands on.

Our fieldtrip on the 15th was for the sole purpose of visiting the Uffizi. This huge, very important, perhaps monumental, worldly gallery sparked over and over again a sort of shocked reaction to what I was looking at: “Oh my, that’s THAT famous painting.” Only 1/3 of the total collection is on display, and it’s still too much. Thank goodness there’s an overpriced snack bar with good espresso for a pick me up mid-art gazing. Some old and new favorites and thoughts:

• “Scenes from the Lives of Hermits in Thiebes” (Fra Angelico)
  There were lots of long-bearded, brown-robed men, some looking very crochety indeed! (Some figures reminded me of gnomes)
• “Santa Monaca in Prayer” (Paulo Uccello)
  This little painting really caught my attention. Santa Monica is in a black habit, the bulk of the painting, with a bright gold halo around her head. Two small children, also in prayer, are somewhat hidden by her frock.
• “Federico da Montefeltro and Battista Sforza” paired portraits (Piero della Francesca)
  You know these from art class. The profiles, the pale woman on the left and the man in a bright red cape and hat on the right. The man has a strangely hooked nose. Why? Well, someone told me it’s because his right eye was gouged out (hence his choice of a profile) and he had part of his nose cut off so he could see better.
• “Incarnation of Christ in Presence of SS Catherine of Alexandria…and Margaret” (Signorelli)
  I was struck by the female figure in the center, one of the two women in the title, looking up at the dove. Her eyes are glowing and she looks like an angel herself.
  I rounded the corner and there it was. An El Greco. Don’t remember the title, but I’ve seen the painting before. The graceful, elongated, ghostly figures. Just beautiful. I love El Greco, hence I love this painting.
  

And finally, I leave you with this last and most memorable painting:

• “Judith Beheading Holofernes” (Artemisia Gentileschi)
  Artemisia is a heroine of mine. Read about her. It took a while to find this painting. (It’s relegated to the “feminist art” corner in the basement of the museum. Inside joke). Judith and her maidservant are holding Holofernes down firmly. His hair is gripped painfully in Judith’s hand and her sword has already cut through his neck. Blood is spurting in a high arc; there’s a drop on Judith’s cleavage. Holofernes is looking at the viewer with wild, writhing eyes. Haunting and passionate and espressive—well done, like Florence.
  
  More Photos (that most likely Kat took) at: http://picasaweb.google.com/summerbclewis