Prato

My students write research papers on Renaissance artists, so I spend a good part of my year immersed in the world of da Vinci, Botticelli, and Titian. It's wonderful and has left me with a list of works to track down around Italy.  It inspired trips to some out of the way churches and museums, and even side trips.

Prato was one of those.  Filippo Lippi is one of my favorite artists from the time period.  He was Botticelli's teacher, and has this beautiful softness to his work.  I love how he used the faces of his family in his art and how he managed to show translucent veils with only egg and tint.

Some of his last works are in Prato, about 20 minutes by train from Florence.  I rode out mid-morning, definitely not on the tourist trail that day.  When I got there, it was easy to find the main cathedral with a little help from Google Maps and GPS.  God bless technology.

The square was simple but pretty, not too hot yet on a cloudy morning.  The church has an external pulpit by Donatello but it was under construction.  You couldn't take pictures inside.  It was a simple nave with a center aisle and one large chapel that held the Holy Girdle, the city's famed relic.  Relics sort of freak me out so I moved quickly to the front of the church where you could pay 3 Euro to see the frescoes behind the altar up close.  There was an older man selling the tickets and he quickly became my favorite person in all of Italy.

My Italian is limited, but I can manage to order tickets.  But when he offered pamphlets, I reluctantly asked for English.  He was shocked- an English speaker, here, in his tiny town?  I brokenly told him that I liked Lippi and wanted to see the art.  It was the magic phrase.  Suddenly he was out of his chair, turning on lights, talking and gesturing about the works- there were frescoes by Uccello too.  I only understood a fraction of what he was saying but I knew: we were kindred Renaissance junkies, in love with the ethereal images lovingly created by long dead masters. 

I thought about sneaking pictures as I wandered behind the altar.  No one could see me.  But I didn't- something told me this was a place that needed to be a memory, not a photo.  I had the brochure to remember it by.

I stayed longer than needed and fondly bid farewell to my Pratonian guide at the door.  The day was quiet so I began to wander.  Turns out that the town boasts a pretty castle and a lot of churches.  Pretty soon the smell of cookies baking lured me downtown to a cantucci bakery and some delicious almond flavored souvenirs.

I was back in Florence by lunch time having thoroughly enjoyed my trip to "real" Italy.  As I exited the train in Santa Maria Novella, into the throng of tourists and backpackers, I couldn't help but wonder if more time in Prato would have been worthwhile.

Fresco Cycle at Prato.  Web Gallery of Art.  25 Sep 2015.  http://www.wga.hu/art/l/lippi/filippo/1450pr/00view0.jpg

 Not my photo, obviously.  Below are mine though:

Exterior of the Cathedral

Piazza in front of the Cathedral

Prato Castle.  Love this picture

Another church in town

This kid was SO EXCITED his father let him play in the fountain! 

Padua (or Padova)

I had a long list of Renaissance art that I wanted to see on this trip.  I actually got to most of them.  One of the biggest stretches was the Scrovengi Chapel in Padua.  It was quite a ride, and really, I spent €70 to take the train up to spend 20 minutes inside.  It was a bit much. 

But oh, it was amazing.  

The frescoes start about two feet about my head and cover all four walls of the chapel, reaching high up to the heavens.  Most of them are in remarkable condition given that they're from the 1200s!  The colors were bold, the expressions were clear on all of the figures faces, and it was easy to see how Giotto was considered the Father of the Renaissance just from being in the room.

Since you can't take photos inside, here is their official image:
 

"The Scrovengi Chapel", Padova Terme Eugane Convention and Visitors Bureau, 2014. 

For scale, my head came half-way up the square panels at the bottom.  Everything on the walls is paint.

Padua itself was a lovely little city, nothing at all Shakespeare-esque but perfectly beautiful in its own right.  High end shopping streets gave way to pretty squares with trees and churches.  There were a lot of students but not a lot of tour groups.  That's the kinds of crowds I can handle.  I loved walking around, and loved even more sitting in the park next to the chapel.  Within sight were Roman ruins, big beautiful trees, and of course the medieval chapel.  There was shade, and a breeze, and green, things that I haven't seen much of in Florence this month.

The only downside of the day was the two hour delay on the train getting there.  Luckily I made my reservation and skipping lunch just meant I got gelato twice that day.  Who can complain, really?

Scrovengi Chapel

Roman Ruins, remains of the Arena

Caffe Pedrocchi, meeting point of great minds through history

In the Giardini dell'Arena

Looking up in Padova

Have you seen Life is Beautiful?  *tears*

Full of Bologna

From the Piazza Maggiore- love those parapets!

One of my quests in life is to see every Michelangelo work.  I know it's probably a long shot (thanks, Pauline Chapel) but I think I can get to ALMOST all of them in the next 50 years. This week's adventure was to Bologna, only about a half hour north of Florence by train.

On my own without any good reference material on the city, I followed this walking tour. It was great, can't recommend it enough.  If you're a fan of Rick Steve's, it's perfect for you.  Bologna was perfect for a day trip because most of the sites are free and within an easy walk.  The only downside was the fact that the churches closed midday, which left a few hours in the hot sun without a lot to do.  

I started the day with the walk from the train station to the Piazza Maggiore.  Every guidebook tells you about the covered walkways in Bologna and the shade was definitely appreciated.  I followed the tour through the sites on the square and then down to the to towers and the university section of the city.  Being on the site of such an old place of learning was pretty awesome, especially seeing the walls covered in plaques honoring teachers from hundreds of years ago.  I found a great pizza spot for lunch- everyone by the towers was sitting eating giant take-away slices so I followed their lead and had a huge piece for only €1.50. Best deal of the trip! It was the Pizzeria Due Torre, if you're in the area. 

Giambologna's Neptune. 

After lunch I hung out in the shade by the cathedral for a while reading, then had some gelato while wandering through the Quadrilatero, or old market area. Finally I headed down to the church of St. Dominic, where the tomb of the actual saint is located.  Michelangelo made a few of the figures on the top.  I also saw works by an artist new to me at the church of St Petronius, which were inspirational to Michelangelo's Sistene chapel.  I'll add those in here later, updating from the app just lacks features that a real computer provides ( links, captions, etc.). Ah, technology.

Edit: Jacopo della Quercia.   Too bad I didn't bring my copy of Lives with me!  I had to read about him at home.

Anyway, Bologna was a lot of walking and a lot of construction in the city.  It was dusty and everything in Italy is just so dead and dry because of the heat wave.  A day was enough this time, I think, but the city was a wonderful side trip.  

The Two Towers

Michelangelo's carvings on the Tomb of St. Dominic

Field trip!

Do you know what medieval history teachers do on hundred-degree days in Italy? Track down Byzantine mosaics, of course!!  I know, I know, I'm such a dork.  But I've wanted to see these mosaics of Justinian and Theodora since I started teaching about Byzantium and this was finally my chance.  

The train station ticket machines were irksome because they couldn't find a route to get me to Ravenna before late afternoon, which just didn't seem right based on the guidebooks.  So I bought a ticket to Bologna, the connection spot, hoping there would be a train from there.  There was! Not sure why it didn't show up in Florence but it all worked out.  

First stop was lunch, piadine, a folded flat red sandwich on the piazza del popolo in Ravenna.  The city was almost dead on a hot Sunday afternoon.  Then it was off to the big attraction- the church of San Vitale where the mosaics are.  You get really weird looks when you walk in and say things like "there you are!" to the dead guys depicted on the walls.  It was so cool to see them up close, and so much more vibrant that the images in my PowerPoint!  

The ticket included five other stops that featured Byzantine mosaics.  It's hard to believe that this was once the capital of the (failing) Roman Empire because there was just no one around and very little architecture from the time.  Once you went inside the buildings, though- wow, the art.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Home was pretty easy.  I had a long conversation with some older Italian ladies who assumed I spoke Italian.  It was mostly about weather,  I think.  I only got about every tenth word. :) 

An early Renaissance day

It's hot.  Like, really hot.  Like third-day-in-a-row 100 degrees hot (the iPad has no degrees symbol.  This annoys me.).  Because of that I'm trying to use the siesta model from Spain- go out early, then rest in the heat of the day, then venture out again at night. Worked well yesterday- I went to the Medici palace early, then came home and chilled in the AC until evening, when I went back out and read on the steps of the Duomo.   It as pretty awesome.  I bought a copy of Vasari's Lives of the Artists and have been reading it chapter by chapter while looking at the art by the artist being explained.  It's pretty awesome.

Last night was Ghiberti. I also learned that if you stand next to a piece of art with an art history book, people are going to ask you a lot of questions.  Good think I like teaching.  :)

Today I continued thought the early Renaissanr chapters with Paolo Uccello, Brunelleschi, and Luca Della Robbia.  First up was Uccello, at the Santa Maria Novella church.  His huge fresco cycle here was badly damaged in the flood of 1966 but one of the interesting features was that since the color was drained away you can see the original drawings underneath on the plaster.  I also saw two of his works in the duomo, the unique clock and his picture of a statue of John Hawking.  

For Brunelleschi, I have already climbed the dome so I mostly just sat under it and read his chapter.  I did visit his grave in the basement though.  The poor man, buried in the gift shop.

Luca Della Robbia is a little harder to track down since most of his work is in museums but I know there are some tondos in the Piazza del'Annunziata so I got some gelato and wandered that way.  It was hot sitting there.  Even in the shade the stones were like frying pans.  I didn't stay long, since thankfully his chapter was short.  

Lucca and Pisa

Today was such a joy.  We planned to go to Lucca, a small town that has been recommended to me over and over again.  So we bought our train tickets last night and then boarded a train about nine this morning. The regional trains are such a slow trip after only using the high speed ones until now.

We got into Lucca about ten thirty and rented bikes from a shop inside the walls.  They were great bikes, and we rode then up onto the walls and around the entire city. We did the loop twice, once to learn it and once again to take pictures. It was awesome to be moving and have a breeze! Biking was also a great change from walking. The loop is about 2.5 miles, so after two rounds we ventured down into the city and saw a few of the sites. There wasn't a lot, just a few piazas and churches.

We had lunch (pasta with pesto for me, ravioli for Kim) at a place near the bike shop and then the day took a turn for the adventurous.

Lucca was cute but we've had our share for walking around. Why not be bold and take the train a little further to Pisa? Kim wanted to see the leaning tower, so we bought tickets and headed out. It was hot once we arrived so we made it a shott visit-  see the tower, take pictures, and go. It was also super crowded, something I hadn't missed during our half day in Lucca!

I love days when the unexpected happens. Pisa was a great detour for the afternoon and a memorable site for both of us.

Buona Sera

Florence is a walking city, evidenced by the 20,000+ steps I'm logging on my phone's pedometer every day.  It seems there is nothing so much to do as to walk around and look at stuff, whether it's people or art or a little of both.

Yesterday after dinner we caught the sunset over the Arno and it was just beautiful.  There were musicians on the bridge playing Coldplay's Fix You as the sun went down. The line "lights will guide you home" really made me a little teary! I'm not sure if I took it as lights guided me here, in this beautiful moment or if I took it as the setting sun in the west would guide me to home later on, but it was moving in that unexpected way that always makes you stop and think.  

Galleria Borghese

Last time I came to Italy I stopped blogging in Florence. I just couldn't find the words for it.  This time I never really got started, so I'm hoping to make up for lost time.

I said goodbye to Jenna and Randi this morning. They took the train to Venice, while I headed down to Rome once again. There were a lot of young backpackers on the train which made things... Interesting. And loud. But I put in headphones read a book, slept a little, and it was okay.

After our pickpocketing adventures on the Metro I decided to splurge on a cab to the Galleria Borghese, an Art Museum I've never been able to visit before. I arrived a little before my 1 o'clock reservation so I had time to eat a snack in the gorgeous park and people watch a little. Here too they've begun allowing cameras, which I have mixed feelings about. I like being able to take pictures I can use in my classroom but I feel like I look at the art better when I'm not worried about a camera.

The Bernini statues were amazing. I'm slowly becoming a fan even though he's not my preferred Renaissance time. The rooms were beautiful and they were setting up for some sort of fashion show so there were all these beautiful dresses mixed into the statues and paintings. My phone decided two steps in the door was a good time to update so I wandered while freaking out that it was downloading something on my limited international data plan but once it was fixed I could focus on the art.

Why are so many amazing statues about rape? I mean really, is this the most evocative subject the artist who come up with? It's hard to appreciate the beauty when there's such violence hidden beneath it. The best part of the museum? Air conditioning.

I'm at the Westin now, waiting for Kim to arrive.  Then more fun begins!

Ready to go

Sitting at Logan airport enjoying my last glimpse of Massachusetts for a while. My flight boards in 45 minutes and it's off to Italy for four weeks then Paris for five days on the way home.

Last year we had a month to replan a trip when Thailand had a coup. This year I hit a bump four days  before leaving: mom had a freak accident and won't able to come over at the end of the trip as expected. It means a lot more alone timw than expected, which is a little scary, especially combined with concern for her recouperating at home. She was adament that I not change my plans though, so with a hug and best wishes I left her this morning and took the first steps of this journey.

Foo Fighters' Here I Go was on the radio as I drove away  from home. I'm taking that as a good omen.