florentine adventures, part two: the duomo.

we woke up at about 10 am saturday morning to hit the town. we first went to this street that i remembered had all these tiny vendors, and we were just looking around at touristy souvenir stuff. after we looked around that market, we went to the duomo and looked around inside and outside. the duomo is basically the coolest thing you'll ever see.

shalley, cindy, agus and i outside the duomo

the official name of the duomo is the basilica di santa maria del fiore. construction of the duomo began in 1296 and was completed in 1436. the dome was the last thing to be completed, and it is from this architectural feat that the basilica gets its nickname. the basilica is one of italy's largest churches, and, until modern times, the dome was the largest in the world. it's still the largest brick dome ever constructed.

the exterior of the basilica is green, pink, and white marble, designed in the 19th century in the gothic revival style.

the view from the other side of the baptistery

the entire complex of the cathedral, located in piazza del duomo, also includes the baptistery and giotto's campanile.

the duomo was built on the site of an earlier cathedral, dedicated to santa reparata, the remains of which are carefully being excavated from beneath the floor of the cathedral. visitors are allowed to visit this area, and it's incredible. the mosaic floors they've unearthed are unbelievable, and they're dated back to the fourth century! i strongly encourage you to click that link, which takes you to the wikipedia article about santa reparata. it's super interesting.

italian society has such a different feel for history and historical artifacts than in the states. besides the fact that the states lack any structures over 600 years old, i doubt that you'd be able to walk around anything mid excavation like you can do here. it's incredible. the environment is very sharing; the history of this church is open to be viewed by everyone.

but anyway. the cathedral of santa reparata had become too small to serve the growing population of florence, so arnolfo di cambio designed the new church. it's interesting to note that arnolfo was also architect of santa croce and the palazzo vecchio, two other hugely important florentine buildings.

like i said, the building began on september 9, 1296, and continued steadily until arnolfo's death in 1302, when work on the cathedral slowed for 30 years. luckily, in 1331, the arte della lana (guild of wool merchants) took over patronage for the cathedral's construction and appointed giotto di bondone to oversee the work. when giotto died in 1337, his assistant, andrea pisano, continued the work until construction was again halted due to the black plague outbreak of 1348.

luckily, just a year later, work resumed on the cathedral under a series of architects. the nave was completed in 1380, and, by 1418, only the dome remained incomplete.

in 1419, the arte della lana held a design competition for the dome. the two main competitors were lorenzo ghiberti (already well-known for his bronze relief work on the doors of the baptistery) and filippo brunelleschi, who ultimately won. ghiberti, however, was appointed co-architect, earning a salary equal to brunelleschi while spending most of his time on other projects. when brunelleschi fell ill, the project was briefly in the hands of ghiberti, who soon discovered that the whole thing was beyond him, and, by 1423, brunelleschi took over sole responsibility.

the dome was completed in 1436. it was the first 'octagonal' dome in history to be built without a wooden supporting frame (the roman pantheon, a circular dome, was built in 117 AD but with support structures). a huge statue of brunelleschi has been erected outside of the palazzo dei canonici in the piazza del duomo; the artist is depicted looking up at his greatest achievement, the largest masonry dome in the world.

the dome as seen from the bell tower

so, like i said, the building of the cathedral had started in 1296 with arnolfo's design and was completed in 1469 with the placing of a copper ball atop the cupola.

however, the decoration of the exterior (the coolest part of the cathedral, imho) began in the 14th century but wasn't completed until 1887. the original façade was designed by arnolfo, but the lowest portion was only ever finished, and it was dismantled in 1587 because the grand duke thought it was too tacky for renaissance times. the exterior of the basilica was then left bare until 1864, when a competition was held to design a new façade. emilio de fabris won the competition, and work was begun in 1876. in 1887 the neo-gothic façade was completed. the different colors of marble are all from different places in italy. these marble bands had to repeat the pattern already existing on the walls of the baptistery and the bell tower.

the pattern on the façade

the size of this building is incredible. it's hard to grasp it when you're inside because it's nearly all one HUGE room. it's built in traditional basilica style, and the overall plan forms a cross, with the nave in the center and aisles on either side separated by gothic arches. the building is 153m long, and 90m at the cross. the height from the floor to the cupola at the peak of the dome is also 90m.

i've spent so much of this post describing the exterior, but that's because the exterior has the most goin' on. which is not to say that the interior isn't incredible, but it's just huge and gothic and vast and austere.

the interior of the cathedral

there are, however, some incredible works of art inside. since the construction of the cathedral was funded by the public, most of the art in the church honor men of civic importance during that time period. my favorite work in the exterior was the huge clock above the main entrance. it's a fresco done by paolo uccello, and it only has one hand, showing 24 hours in accordance with hora italica (italian time), a period of time ending with sunset at 24 hours.

the clock

the decoration of the dome itself is breathtaking, especially when you consider what a feat painting that surface, 3,6000 square meters, must have been. the dome was painted by a number of different people over the course of (i think) about 25 years.

the dome

after the duomo, we headed to the galleria dell'accademia, to see michaelangelo's david. but that is another story for another post.

TO BE CONTINUED. AGAIN.

*yeah, yeah, some of these photos are from wikipedia. they've got some good photographers. GET OVER IT.

florentine adventures, part one.

two weekends ago, the girls and i went to florence. we ran to the train station after class on friday because class gets out at 1 and there was a train leaving for florence at 1:35. but, when we got there, it was sold out. so we bought tickets for the next train, at 2:20.

when we got off the train at the station in florence, we were feeling a little lost because we didn't really know where we were going to sleep. but, luckily, one of the girls, agustina, had been talking to these 2 asian girls on the train and they said that we could probably stay at the hostel they were staying at. but that the woman didn't speak any english. only chinese.

so we were like, ok, whatever, and followed them. and it was… an adventure. the lady was maybe 4 ft tall and spoke in super angry sounding chinese the whole time. and the chinese girl was talking to the lady and then she just kept turning to us and saying, "OK-NO-PLOBLEM" and we had to take our shoes off and everything. and the "hostel" only had 6 beds. but it was super close to everything, and was pretty cheap, so we decided to stay there.

looking a little worried about our lodging...

so the lady left and we went out to eat. we walked toward the duomo because i thought that there'd probably be good restaurants over there, near the touristy area of town. we found this restaurant that was two courses plus coffee for 10 euros. which is a great deal. and it was good! i had rigatoni with pesto, and then pork and mixed veggies. i also had prosecco, which is a dry, sparkling white wine from veneto, the region of italy where venice is located and it was AWESOME, served in a champagne glass with a strawberry on the rim. CLASSY and soo good.

shalley and i at the restaurant

cindy and agus

but the service was horrible, probably because there were so many other people there who were italian and the guy just neglected us. so, when we FINALLY (after about 25 min of just sitting in front of our empty plates) got our bill and paid, he gave us the wrong change. it was a 46 euro bill, and we paid with a 50, and he gave us 14 back. and we just got up and scurried out of there. i wasn't gonna say anything after how poorly we were treated. plus, that's the second time that's happened to me! last time that happened, i got my tiramisu fo' free. and that was also awesome.

so then we took that bonus 10 euro and found a grocery store on the way home. we bought some limoncello and sprite to make drinks back at the hostel.

yum! cindy, agus, shalley and i with our "free" limoncello on the hostel patio

so we went on to the little patio thing at the hostel and we were making drinks and talking softly and whatever and the lady popped her head out of the window three stories up and said something to us in chinese. and we were like "ok, yeah!" because we don't speak chinese.

and then ten minutes or so passed and she did it again. and we were like, "ok?" because WE DON'T SPEAK CHINESE.

and then finally she came downstairs and was like "escusssme?" and mimed that we weren't allowed on the patio or something. which was odd because there were doors from one of the bedrooms out onto the patio. so it's not like we climbed out a window or anything.

so, we finished our drinks and decided to go to the club, space electronic, that i had gone to when i was in florence when i was 16. so we left and started walking in that general direction. i asked some italian girls how to get to space, and they told us but also said something like, "but space sucks, we're going to this university party and there's a electronica festival right next to it.."

and we were like WHAT YES PLZ.

they told me how to get there on the bus and i told the girls and we took the bus and got off when a bunch of other kids our age got off.

and i met this other italian girl who had studied at berkley, and she and her friends were like, "come with us, we'll show you how to get there." but they said that first they were going to the university party because the beers there were cheaper. so we went with them there, and it was fun, with a dj outside and tons of people and everything.

after we were there for 30 or 45 minutes we decided to walk over to the concert.

and IT WAS SICK.

it was this huge stage in, like, this in-ground arena, and there was amazing music playing and everyone was dancing AND IT WAS THE COOLEST THING EVER.

and we were dancing wayyy close to the front and it was amazing and i don't know what else to say.

and when that was over i SOMEHOW found our way by foot back to the hostel. seriously, my directional skills are A++ now. we got back, and opened the front door, and the chinese lady was sleeping on a cot by the door.

AND THAT WAS THE WEIRDEST THING EVER.

we were all pretty freaked out by that. unnecessary, right? so we all just went into the room and got into our beds and didn't make a noise. none of us even changed our clothes.

weird.

TO BE CONTINUED…

p.s. i've found by doing a little online scouting that the festival was called "elettrowave challenge 2010." of course, all of these websites are in italian, but if you're interested in looking at the lineup, you should be able to figure it out. or just pop the urls into google translate. another hint: italian time is military time, so that's why things happen at 21.00.

p.p.s. i know this post is severly lacking in photographic evidence (especially of all asians involved) but, as soon as the other girls post pictures on facebook, i'll steal 'em and update this.

gelato flavors i have tried.

ciao belli. sorry it's been so long since an update from little old me. but here comes (probably) the most important post you've seen so far.

an all-inclusive list of the gelati i've tried.
expect this to be updated VERY frequently.

• nutella
• cioccolato (chocolate)
  
• amarena (black cherry)
• pesca (peach)
• tiramisu
• menta (mint chocolate chip)
• creme caramel (this tasted JUST like werthers' hard candy)
• frutti di bosco (literally, "soft fruit," actually berries)

up next: there is a blue-flavor in a gelateria i walk past every time i go to the beach. i'm dying to try it; i have no hints at all about what flavor it is. it's called "dolce stelle," literallly "sweet stars." soooooo, who knows. i'll find out, and report back.

the guggenheim.

last saturday (the 30th), the other girls and i went to the guggenheim. there are four "guggenheim" museums, all operating as a part of the solomon r. guggenheim foundation. this one is the private collection of peggy guggenheim, wife of artist max ernst and niece of solomon, the orig guggenheim. this little museum is located in peggy's home on the grand canal, the palazzo venier dei leoni. this 18th century palazzo was never finished: only the ground floor was ever built, and peggy lived there until her death in 1979. after her death, the collection (which she had collected through her life and donated to her uncle's foundation) was opened to the public.

this museum has an amazing collection of modern art, especially when you consider that most of the pieces within are from peggy's private collection. there are works by picasso, dalí, magritte, kandinsky, and pollock. the courtyard of the museum also has a scupture collection, and there is another building behind the main house that holds special exhibits. the exhibit there now is called "utopia matters: from brotherhoods to bauhaus," and it examines the influence of utopian-esque environments on modern western art, moving from the french primitifs through the german bauhaus and russian constructivism.

OH. MY. GOD. it was soooo incredible. i never thought i'd see a dalí painting in real life, let alone works by ernst and magritte as well. here are some of my favorites:

the sun in its jewel case by yves tanguy
(this wins the prize for absolute favorite)

pi by john tunnard

at the cycle-race track by jean metzinger

the red tower by giorgio de chirico

little machine constructed by minimax dadamax in person
by max ernst

the postman cheval by max ernst

chapala 3 by charles pollock

the birth of liquid desires by salvador dalí

the voice of space by rené magritte

the empire of light by rené magritte

setting for a fairy tale by joseph cornell
(this was awesome; it was a shadowbox).

defeat by stanley william hayter

upward by wassily kandinsky

and these next three were from the special exhibit:


a baron numbering his vassals by sir john everett millais

in the current six thresholds by paul klee

blue painting by wassily kandinsky

all in all, one of the absolute coolest art museums i have ever been to. the location was amazing, too; the terrace of her house opened onto the grand canal. i'll upload a pic or two of that later, but right now my camera is super dead. night, y'all.

murano.

on friday i went with the kids from the other american university (drew, in new jersey) to visit murano. murano is a tiny island about 15 minutes north of venice by vaporetto (waterbus). it's famous for glassmaking, specifically lampworking, which basically uses a blowtorch to melt and then manipulate thin rods of glass.

murano's glassmakers were the first in all of europe to figure out how to make mirrors, and they held this monopoly by forbidding artisans to leave the venetian republic. hired assassins were even used to make sure the secrets wouldn't spread outside of this tiny island.

since i was lucky enough to tag along with drew's students, we got to see some behind-the-scenes stuff i'm sure i wouldn't have gotten to see otherwise. we went to the glassmaking school, abate zanetti, and saw a master blow glass and a woman do lampwork.

it was incredible! here are some of the photos i took:

this guy has been working with glass for forty years, and he's still an apprentice.
the process of becoming a master glassmaker is INSANE.

this is the master. he just took that glob of glass out of the furnace
(where it was chilling at 2900 degrees farhenheit)
and is rolling it on that marble slab to shape it a little.

now he's rolling it in yellow glass powder to color it.
the base color is clear; it's just orange-ish because it's super hot.

he kept blowtorching it while he was working so it would stay malleable.
these guys used this torch without any eye protection or gloves or anything.
because they're italian. and badass.

makin' it into a vase. he put the black stripe on by pouring molten black glass
onto the vase while the apprentice fried the shit out of everything with the torch.

then he put it into this furnace, which is comparably nippy
at only 1200 degrees fahrenheit, to slowly bring it down to room temperature.
it stayed in here for two full days.

next we saw this woman do some lampworking.
here she's softening some glass rods in front of a blowtorch that's
mounted on her desk. look at how close she is to that thing!

she shaped the stuff she was making by using the solid ends of the rods,
some giant tweezer things, and a couple long needley things.
it was so amazing to watch.

here she is putting the finishing touches on a candy she made
by blowing a tiny clear glass ball, like a bubble, and affixing green
glass to the sides. the thing in her left hand is what she used to hold the glass
while shaping it, and the thing in her right hand is a pair of tweezers.

this is one of the things she made. it took, seriously, less than twenty minutes.
apparently dolphins are a signature murano figurine.
this was so little; it fit in the palm of my hand.

this little genie is a pendant. there's a hook in the top of his
turban to hang him on a necklace. i love his tiny earrings!


and, finally, this is the bear she made for the kids from drew.
see his tiny "D' t-shirt?
this guy was the smallest, probably about 2.5 inches tall.

it was so incredible to watch these people at work. their jobs are UNBELIEVABLE!

CIAO VENEZIA.

updating this is going to be a little harder than i originally expected since my computer is not working. :( but we will find a way. mostly by using this confusing computer at school.

venice is amazing so far! i haven't done any official sightseeing yet, but we've been walking around for hours every day. all of venice is so beautiful; the buildings are such pretty colors and there are flowers in every windowsill.

my apartment is TINY. my bedroom is maybe half the size of a dorm room. but the view out the window is gorgeous. and i can leave my window open all the time because the weather has been absolutely perfect so far.

i really hope i can resolve this issue with my computer soon. it's super frustrating to not have one (or access to one) at night. but we'll see! i've got to get back to round two of my two hours of classes today. will write more later.

hi team.

urgh. finally finished packing and now i'm tying the knots on all four hundred things i have to finish before i leave. super nervous about this trip, but i'm also rull excited. just thought i should make this so i have something for all my beautiful friends to look at.

more tomorrow. or sunday.

love you all.