So today started out with skillet-made toast and some hard-boiled eggs (thanks to Sabrina) for breakfast before heading out to our class. Our teacher lectured on numerous topics all relating to the Renaissance and the key artists as well as patrons who were influential during the time period. She specifically mentioned Brunelleschi and Donatello - two artists whose work we had the opportunity to actually go and look at after class! I still can't get over how absolutely cool that is....wish I could do it with every art history class I take!
But before we went, we had a break for lunch so my roomie and I ran home to make turkey and salami sandwiches. Also, I tried my hand at hanging my laundry out to dry on the clothesline outside our window...hoping desperately my undies would not fall on the ladies talking below...which thank goodness they didn't!
Anyways....
After lunch, the first place we visited was the Basilica di San Lorenzo which was commissioned by the Medici family in 1421.
Brunelleschi designed the church based on what he had studied in Rome - classical architecture that was ordered, clean, and simple - which was quite opposite the predominant Gothic architecture (think Notre Dame) used throughout the rest of Europe. And the place certainly fit Brunelleschi's ideal - it was huge but very modular and pulled you forward towards the high altar. Also, there were some relief sculptures done by Donatello that similarly incorporated classical ideals and showed an amazing sense of perspective - something that hadn't really been achieved yet. Well, I know this is a little much on the nerd scale, but it was so awesome to see these works and techniques in person and I pretty much had a little art-history-freak-out moment in the church. It was great. Except, we couldn't take pictures inside, so here's what it looked like (from Google images...lol).
Afterwards, we headed over to look at the outside of the Medici palace - the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi (the latter was a family that bought the place later on). We didn't go inside at first though Sabrina and I came back later and did walk around...I'll talk about that in a bit...but we looked at the architecture and spoke of how Donatello's David and the statue of Judith Slaying Holofernes were both placed here - as a reminder that though the Medici had all the money and power, they wanted to present themselves as proponents of the Republic of Florence and 'slayers of tyranny'.
After that, our group headed over to the Ospedale degli Innocenti or the Hospital of the Innocents. It was also designed by Brunelleschi and is considered to ber the first Renaissance building. It, like San Lorenzo, features the classical influence of ancient Roman architecture - measured spacing, a perfect half-hemisphere motif, muted color palette, etc. This was also the very first building commissioned by the government of Florence, for the specific purpose of taking care of all the orphans in the city. And as you can see, it still takes care of the little bambini today! Though it's really more of a community center than an orphanage anymore.
But the building housed a lot of beautiful artwork - much of it was commissioned directly for the orphanage itself. And the little museum inside included some old documents, photos, and stories of the children who passed through. It was some really neat history.
...these statues of Mary and Joseph were found missing the baby Jesus and it is believed the children being brought into the orphanage were to stand in His place; welcomed by these, the most loving of parents.
These were medallions, pins, jewelry and other personal identifiers that were usually left with the child when they were dropped off or given up. They were kept hidden away most of the time in order to make sure whoever might claim a child actually was telling the truth - like in Annie! ...though these are much, much older...lol.
So, as I said before, Sabrina and I went back to the Medici Palace to visit inside. It was overall a bit of a let-down - we didn't know it was still being actively used by the government - so there were meetings, press conferences, and many areas kept separate from the public. But we did get to see some cool artwork (such as the gorgeous Magi Chapel - sorry, no pics allowed - but it really was fabulous), the lovely gardens, and some furniture left by the previous inhabitants.
There was also a wing of the palace that had a sort of contemporary art display with really weird mixed media pieces on the walls (I'm talkin' like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis portraits surrounded by lumpy clay button frames and 3D forest scenes made out of what looked like play-doh)...but in the centers of the rooms were these beautiful manuscripts and books (which were WAY more interesting to look at).
...see what I mean? ...weird.
...we just had to. ;P
Anyways, after our exciting trip through the Medici homestead, we wandered back towards our apartment - first stopping in our local grocery store called Billa to grab some stuff for dinner - and then we made a dish of rice, chicken, and veggies that was quite delicious and super fresh.
And now I will get the apartment basically to myself for the weekend because Sabrina will be joining some of the other girls for a couple day trips to Venice and Pisa. But I have my beautiful red-head buddy to go with, so I'm gonna chill, eat leftovers, and people-watch like a local in the piazzas instead. Which, to be honest, sounds pretty darn good to me!
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