David

So today began with a breakfast of eggs mixed with pancetta and tomatoes (delicious!) made by my super-sweet roomie! We then headed off to class and spoke alot about Michelangelo again and Leonardo da Vinci, basically going over why they are so important to the world of art and, in the case of da Vinci, scientific development. They truly deserved their multiple days of classroom attention, believe me.

Afterwards, our group went straight from class to the Bargello Museum. The museum actually is the oldest public building in Florence and originally was used as a barracks then later as a prison where the chief of police or bargello would be stationed and where executions were carried out. But now it houses lovely works of art!

Although no pictures were allowed inside (all those were taken in the outside courtyard), the museum had a really interesting and ecclectic collection of works - some of which were quite famous such as Donatello's two Davids. The first (clothed and made of marble) was created presumably for decorating the Duomo, but the second was the first large-scale male nude and he was made of costly bronze for the Medici family. 

....scandalous!

We also got to see the two bronze panels done for a competition held by the city of Florence - the winner of which could design and build the doors (remember those gilded doors??) of the Baptistery. Brunelleschi and Ghiberti were the two front-runners, but when Ghiberti won, Brunelleschi went off to visit Rome in a huff. And good thing he did or else he may never have studied Roman architecture and we thus may never have had the dome for the Duomo!

Ghiberti's is on the left...Brunelleschi on the right.

But besides these gems, there were many more things to see - more sculptures, old painted Tuscan pottery, carved ivory, jewelry from Byzantium to the Renaissance, collections of pieces from Egypt and Turkey - like rugs, armor, textiles, metalwork, etc., more altarpieces, and other household items like keys and dishes from the 16th century. It was a neat little museum and it was relatively un-crowded which was nice....because where we were going next was going to be CRAZY!

Yes, we finally were going to see not a copy, not a miniature souvenir, not a postcard replica, but the one, the only....the David.

And again, thank goodness for our Uffizi cards because we got to skip the insane line at the Accademia Museum and go right into the air-conditioned space. Then, we made our way around through the first part of the museum - which actually had a bunch of modern art including a work by Picasso, some Duchamp pieces, and a Warhol screenprint of the Last Supper (pretty cool!) - and finally moved into the long hall at the end of which held the colossal king of statues....

But being the good art history students we are, we first looked at the unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo that also lined the hall. These were to be part of a magnificent tomb for the pope, but unfortunately due to lack of funding had to be abandoned and truly broke Michelangelo's heart because he loved the project so much. Yet, after our turn around the four or five (I can't remember...my eyes kept straying away...) also very large figures, we FINALLY got to see the not-so-little shepherd boy.

He was amazing. Gorgeous work. Can't say enough. Perfect and so detailed and just a true testament to the ideals of the Renaissance and Michelangelo's own phenomenal skill.

And my classmate even managed to snap a pic...

...he was truly on a monumental scale! Like I would probably only hit the top of his knee-cap...maybe.

And really, besides David, there wasn't a whole lot else to see in the museum. They did have this rather interesting piece...

ugh.

Other than that, they had a collection of Russian icon paintings, more gilded altarpieces, and a room full of plaster casts featuring busts and sculptures of people or greco-roman mythology.

But David was awesome - the hype does actually have foundation - and that was enough for me! :)

So, after our museum visits, we then headed back home to study for our class midterm tomorrow - yikes! However, Sabrina and I took a break in between sleeping...*cough*....I mean studying, and we went to get pizza at the place around the corner from our apartment. It was called Pizza & Co. - original, I know - but they had slices for around 1 euro and the young girl behind the counter was pretty fun...she even turned up the radio when a Britney Spear's song came on....and Sabrina and I may or may not have broken out our awesome dance moves.

Anyways, after pizza, we strolled around looking for a good gelato place and finally found one that served a flavor called Fantasia...and it was exactly that. Just think if you threw one of those condiment bars at a frozen yogurt place into one vat of vanilla ice cream....that's what it was like. So of course Sabrina got some and mixed it with a scoop of rum gelato...of course. And I got tiramisu mixed with meringue....it was divine. But even better was getting to eat our treats in the piazza of Santa Croce, watching as the sun began to dip behind the buildings, and getting to see the swallows fill the air and the Florentines come out for a stroll (since all the tourists had cleared out). It was darn-near perfect.

...how will I ever leave...

Yes, I will have the Michelangelo with tortellini and a large helping of Paolo, please...

I kind of am beginning to love this time at night when I get a snack or a cup of tea and write down what happened during the day...just thought I'd throw that out there. ;)

So anyways, this morning began with some yummy french toast - I think I've created a monster out of Sabrina, she loves it now as much as I do....

But then we had lecture in the morning and learned alot about Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, a bit about Michelangelo, and we touched on Raphael as well - basically the High Renaissance artists.

Afterwards we got a break for lunch, but then met back up shortly after to go visit the Uffizi Gallery - basically one of the most amazing museums in the world!!

Although we moved through pretty quick and no pictures were allowed, we saw such famous works like Cimabue's Madonna and Child Enthroned, Giotto's Ognissanti Madonna, Simone Martini's Annunciation, numerous portraits including Raphael's self portrait, Martin Luther's portrait along with his wife, Eleanora & Cosimo de'Medici, etc. And we also saw works by Botticelli like his stunning Birth of Venus and Primavera. We also saw Leonardo da Vinci's version of the annunciation, Titian's Venus of Urbino, Carravagio's Medusa and Bacco (Bacchus), Artemesia Gentileschi's Judith Slaying Holofernes, and oh the list goes on and on and on....

Here are some Google images of my faves:

Giotto's madonna

Botticelli's Birth of Venus

Eleanora de'Medici...her dress was sooooooooo detailed!

Caravaggio's Medusa on an actual shield

Leonardo's Annunciation

So it's obvious how overwhelmingly enthralled I was and I am so glad we received an Uffizi card that will let us into the museum for free because I will definitely be coming back at some point! There's just so much to see - it was impossible in the few hours we had.

But it was a nice taste of High Renaissance art especially and to round out the theme of the day, we then went to Casa Buonarroti - the familial home of Michelangelo! 

Although the artist himself never really lived here, many of his sketches and studies, as well as two of his earliest works are kept here in the museum the house was turned into.

....and turns out that this place was just a few streets over from our apartment! Who knew!

...and again, Google is my friend:

One of his earliest pieces - Madonna of the Stairs - perhaps not the most creative title, but the guy did this when he was 13!!!! ...it's a real self-confidence-builder, isn't it?

So, after feeling like I've done nothing with my life we went back to our apartment and chilled until it hit around 7. At that time, we met up with some of the other gals and, like I mentioned in my previous post, we all hiked back up that delicious hill in order to see the Florentine sunset in Piazzale Michelangelo....go figure.

...copy of his David in the Piazzale

But it was so lovely...we all got many more pics of the city and chatted over a light dinner at a restaurant with a great view and fabulous music to set the mood.

The sunset was just as wonderful as we had imagined too...such rich hues of orange and pink and the way it settled over the city and hillsides just stole the words right out of your mouth. 

Later, as we were climbing down the hill, we all got a little crazy and Disney song renditions may have been involved...but eventually we made it to a local bar - again right around the corner from our house! - where some of the other girls had said there were hot twin bartenders. Unfortunately, only one was there tonight - his name was Paolo (but he told us to call him Sly cuz his middle name was Silvestri - hilarious!) - but I will attest to his good looks....and to think there's another one...

Oh you Florentine men....how I will miss your daily provisions of eye-candy....

And I knew ya'll would want a pic so here's one this girls took the other night of the other twin - Marco:

yum.

Monks and Mexican Food...

*So I was really tired last night and didn't post so....let's just all pretend that date says May 29....*

Today was a day in which I found myself very thankful I was not a monk. Not that I could've been anyways...but still.

After our morning lecture, we all headed out to visit the Museum and Friary of San Marco, both of which house beautiful works of art done mainly by the monk, Fra Angelico.

Here's one of his unfinished works (it was huge!) that I again snatched before the guard caught me.

....I'm getting a little sick of that really. 

 Yet, while the first is indeed a museum, the second place we visited is an actual friary with the tiny cells still intact and within them, Angelico's otherworldly frescoes meant to inspire the brothers. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed within the friary, but it was really cool to see where these men lived out their days. The cells were very, very small with just one window (that at least often looked out to their enclosed garden), the painting, and a small door. One of the cells even belonged to Savonarola who was known for his fire-and-brimstone speeches and his eventually burning in the Piazza della Signoria...but it had a few of his monastic garments, his desk, and some other artifacts from the time that were cool to look at! The friary also had a huge library that would've once been filled with many great Greek and Latin texts, but now only has a few manuscripts on display. However, they had a few glass cases filled with not just books, but tools of writing and little descriptions on how pigments and paper were created...and let me tell you, it was not easy. Fish glue and pumice-scraped lamb's skin says it all...

Here's a Google image of one of the cells:

...the fresco in this cell - of the Annunciation (Gabriel telling Mary she's gonna have a baby!) - is by far the most beautiful. Many of them have images of Christ on the cross with much blood and self-flagellating monks. I don't know if I could look at that every day...

After our walk through San Marco, we took a break for lunch. Sabrina and I picked up some delicious sandwiches from a tiny cafe and then finished off with some gelato. It was fun too, as we were waiting in line I realized the people in front of me were from Australia and turns out one of them lived close to our neighborhood! Small world...

Anyways, we still had ample time before we had to meet up - we were meeting at our next location, the Basilica of Santa Croce (it means Holy Cross), which is literally across the street from our apartment - so we just wandered around for a bit making stupid jokes to keep ourselves entertained until the rest of the group arrived!

But I have to say that it was amazing how a church we had walked past almost everyday had so much to offer INSIDE!

There were tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, and several other Italian notorieties, there were numerous frescoes - many of which were by Giotto, and then there was the gothic architecture of the church itself to admire. However, it was a little weird to walk around because, though the big-shots had elevated tombs, there were many more right below our feet in the floor...you couldn't help but step on them...and many showed the wear and tear of many years of foot traffic. Poor guys...

Michelangelo's tomb

...a sculpture by Donatello

...some of the floor tombs...

:(

Giotto's frescoes...

...detail of the amazing ceiling decoration!

big, cool-looking organ from around the 17th century

Galileo's tomb

After we were finished walking through the inside of the church, we went into the adjacent 'first cloister' and visited the Pazzi Chapel. The design of the chapel is attributed to Brunelleschi, but it also is somewhat famous for its association with the family (the Pazzi's) who tried to oust the Medici from power by assassinating the two ruling brothers. Unfortunately, they only succeeded in killing one of the brothers and a blood bath of revenge followed, wiping out all traces of the Pazzi. So this chapel is really all that remains of their once powerful and wealthy existence...

...the chapel is that square, dome-topped building...

...covered porch outside the chapel

So, after being thoroughly creeped-out by the bloody legend, we moved on to the next cloister and the small museum within it. There were works by Giotto's master - Cimabue - as well as more religious art including a 'family tree' of sorts for the Fransican order.

...this was cool too - it was a huge sculpture currently being restored in the museum - right before our eyes!

But our cloister excursions were not finished yet.

After Santa Croce, a smaller group of us took the optional hike up to the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte......and did I mention this church is located on the highest point of the city?

Needless to say, if my legs could talk, they would say horrible things of me. But we finally made it and really it was so beautiful that many of us agreed to do it again tomorrow and this time watch the sun set over the city. But besides the view, we also got to go inside the church and listen to a few of the monks there perform their evening vespers in Gregorian chant. It was so beautiful, ethereal, and moving. And being inside a centuries-old church hearing centuries-old verses....well, I felt like I had stepped back in time.

...the cemetary below the summit of the church

So after soaking up the sight and, like I said before, promising to come back tomorrow, we headed back home. And for some unknown reason, Sabrina and I were really craving Mexican food....I know, don't judge.....so we decided to give it a go at our Italian grocery store.

We couldn't find real tacos, salsa, any Mexican spice, or cheddar cheese but we did find ground beef, pinto beans, corn, pita bread (that we fried up into tortilla-esque chips), tomatoes that we attempted to mix into a salsa, and even sour cream! (it's called panna acido, btw)....

So it really tasted more Mediterranean than Mexican, but it was delicious anyways and we were quite pleased with the fruits of our adventure!

So until tomorrow....buonanotte!