My last Italian adventure

Last weekend, Mariana, Sarah and I decided to take one last outing to two little towns in central Italy, Ferrara and Ravenna. We left Friday for Ferrara and checked into this adorable little hostel. The hostel was in this old building and our room actually had an original fresco on the ceiling! After settling in, we went to explore Ferrara! We walked around for a while getting a feel of the city and evetually decided it was time for lunch. We had quite a collection of red tickets (meal vouchers provided by Gtown) and do went searching for a place that accepted them. The only places we could find were non-Italian restaurants, so we chose Indian! It was actually a fantastic meal, very tasty, and almost free for us!Ferrara is famous for it's medieval castle that has a preserved moat. We didn't go into the castle, but instead, spent time acting out a little montage story about a Princess (me) and a dragon (Sarah). It was a funny way to spend part of the afternoon, childish, but hey, we were in a castle!
We enjoyed he sun and wandered out to a few churches and other sites with some famous frescoes. Nothing particularly exciting, but it was a nice leisurely walk. We even stumbled upon a fair with different rides etc. After killing some time, we went to a fantastic dinner in this little place that was packed! We all shared a lot of wine, and some pizza and just enjoyed the atmosphere and the weather! That night, we crashed early to get up in time for our morning train to Ravenna!

Ravenna is famous for having some of the best preserved early Christian mosaics, most famously in San Vitale. The weather could not have been more gorgeous and we ended up spending half of the day just sitting in piazza's and people watching/talking, etc. Anyway our first stop was of course, San Vitale, which was by far one of my favorite places in Italy! I was in awe by the stunning colors of the mosaics, some of the blues and greens look like they were created yesterday! The church is also a strange juxtapositions of early Christian and 18th/19th century decor. The mosaics lead right up to a dome that is decorated in a later fresco technique with more pastel colors and more realism. I spent most of my time just staring in awe at the mosaics that were at the high altar, some photos below.
We spent the rest of the day hopping from church to baptistery, all of which, appear to be humble brick buildings from the outside , but when you go in, the ceilings are covered with brilliant little stones that create this awesome picture. It was such a wonderful day just spent strolling, eating, watching the Italians and somehow always finding something to talk about.
Our train ride back was interesting as well. To go from Ravenna to Firenze, there is only one train and it is a slow train of only two carriages that goes through the mountains. The entire ride we had these amazing views and got to come into Firenze from a direction we'd never seen before. Overall, it was the perfect end to my adventures in Italy.

I enter my last two weeks in Firenze with a heavy load of work. Between papers, final exams, and oral presentations I won't have time to travel in Italy any more. It's so sad that it went by so quickly! Thankfully, my adventures in Europe are not over yet! Once I am done with finals (on the 25th) I am traveling to Greece for a week to visit my Gtown roomie! More stories then!

Gregorian Chanting and lots o' cheeeessseee!!! (continued)

For some reason the blog wouldn't let me post more photos... so here's part two...
Anyway, after the tour we got to eat the cheese! My favorite was the oldest one and we all had wine and bruschette and it was oh so yummy!!!! It was a long drive back, but worth the trip! It was a great finale for the villa trips... it's so sad that it's beginning of end!!!!

Gregorian Chanting and lots o' cheeeessseee!!!

Last Friday, we took our last villa excursion!! *sniffle*Our two Italian professors took us to a region of souther Tuscany, called Val d'Orcia. It's basically the picturesque Tuscan landscape, rolling green hills with little villas perched on top... adorable!!! Unfortunately, it is also a valley that has a lot of wind, so we nearly were blown away all day!!
Anyway, the purpose of the trip was to see several monasteries and go to a cheese factory and do a cheese/wine/olive oil tasting!! Of course, the catch was all of the tours were in Italian!! Eek! We got up pretty early to pile onto a bus and took a 2 hour drive south. It was a long, gorgeous ride to our first stop, an abbey. The abbey is adorable and still active.. meaning there were actual monks living there. We only saw a few of them because they keep themselves hidden when there are people around, I can imagine a group of 20 girls is probably worth avoiding anyway! So we had an adorable old man give us a very lengthy tour of the abbey. We got to see the refectory where they eat and listen to him describe the history of the Dominican monks and the abbey itself.
I tried so hard at first to follow him and understood about half of what he said... but by the end... it was too tough to keep up and I found myself lagging behind, just admiring the famous frescoes everywhere! In addition to the frescoes, one of my favorite parts was the old library which has hundreds of old manuscripts that were actually copied by hand by the monks. Apparently it's a sacred tradition and the monks copy these books in a secluded room away from any other non-monks... so we couldn't see that, but the books were incredible!!!
After we finished with this monastery, we had a traditional Val D'Orcian lunch. Thick pasta called pici with tomato sauce and salad... just a lite lunch in anticipation for the cheese later! Then we drove to another abbey where we had an appointment to listen to the monks of the abbey do their chanting prayers. It was a little disappointing only because there were only 6 monks and I could barely hear them. Then again, I guess they don't perform these chants for tourists, it's prayer...After the chanting, we had another little old man give us a tour of the abbey. This tour was really fascinating because the entire abbey is made of alabaster stone, so as seen below... the stone glows when hit with light. Unfortunately it was cloudy when we were there, but the guide made sure we could see some of it. He then brought out an oboe and played some religious song for us before we were off again.Our last, and best stop was the fattoria di formaggii!!!!! YUM!! There's a small town called Pienza where a special kind of cheese, Pecorino, is made. It's only made in this region and it's only allowed to be produced here. Apparently it gets its distinctive taste from the grass that the sheep eat... who knew that mattered!? Anyway, we got a tour of the factory by the owner and saw the process of making cheese and how they preserve the four different kinds hey make. They vary in age from a few weeks to a few years...

Fascists, Fascists... Everywhere

Friday morning, the entire Villa went off to Rome for the weekend with our history Professor. The intent was to meet an Italian historian who specializes in urban development in Fascist history.. Yeah... not as exciting as it sounds. We went to out hotel first and got settled before heading out on a long... hot... bus ride 3 miles outside the city center to look at the EUR center forum where Mussolini sought to establish basically, a Fascist city center that reflected the modern ideology and the Roman roots of the fascist regime. All of the buildings are in white marble, very block like, orderly, systematic... boring... Especially because the entire complex is a business center now, so there isn't much exciting going on out there now anyway. We spent a while wandering around until it became clear that we weren't really listening anymore. So thankfully, unlike Linda (art history professor), we cut the afternoon short and were free to roam! Below is part of the Fascist complexIn our chunk of free time, Mar, Sarah and I went to a few churches that are 'must-sees' but I didn't have time to see last week. The picture below is Sant'Ignazio which has a funny story. The church commission wanted to build this new magnificent, opulent church in Rome. They built this gorgeous base with lots of gold and frescoes and sculpture... yet ironically, they ran out of money before they could finish the dome. So they hired a painter to paint an illusionist ceiling of a dome. Seen below. It's pretty good from one spot, but has gotten dirty and looks less and less like a dome and more like a painting.

Outside another church, Sant'Agnese, which is in front of the Fountain of the Four Rivers (well known Bernini sculptures mentioned in Angels and Demons) The church was beautiful but it was much more interesting outside because of the following story. Apparently, Bernini and the architect of the church, Borromini, were at artistic odds. Bernini thought the exterior of the church was hideous, so it is rumored that the figure behind me in the picture below was shielding his eyes from the ugly facade. I thought it was too funny, so I had to imitate that! (it really wasn't ugly...)
After a few churches, we had to stop at an internet cafe so Sarah could 'find' her parents later, while there I saw a nun on the net! It was just too funny, the juxtaposition of conservatism and technology!
That night, Sarah was supposed to meet her parents at the train station, but never found them (poverina!) so we all met up and went out to dinner and yum!!! My new favorite thing is artichokes... I've always loved them, but fried artichokes are famous in Rome, specifically in the Jewish Ghetto. I basically had artichokes at every meal in Rome... fabulous!!Then we got a couple of bottles of wine and settled down in our hotel room to watch a chick flick! What a night!

The next morning, we met with our historian again who took us on our first stop, the Vittorio Emanuele II monument. This part of the tour was actually fascinating because we saw the balcony where Mussolin greeted the crowds the the piazza. As he was describing fascist propaganda, a neofascist parade began in front of us. A bunch of crazy men in bright blue outfits on cars drove by with flags and played loud nationalistic music. Talk about good timing!!
The historian also told us that when the monument was built, and when Mussolini decided to 'set up camp' in the building by the Colosseum, he basically ruined the ancient Roman Forum. 80% of the forum was destroyed or covered by the creation of the monument and by the creation of the imperial road that leads from Mussolini's building straight to the Colosseum. It's so sad that so much was lost... but it introduces a good point, regardless of fascism... how do we balance modernizing with preserving history? Food for thought...I have to note here that I am not wearing a jacket.... It may not be particularly interesting to anyone, but the fact that finally, the weather was nice enough where I didn't need one! WOOT!!!!

After wandering around the Roman Forum, we went a few miles north of the city this time to the sports complex that Mussolini created to foster the new strong Italian man. Unfortunately, everything was closed, but we got a quick glimpse at the Olympic Stadium. While waiting for the historian to get his thoughts together and try and talk his way into the stadium, Sarah and I had to indulge ourselves in another photo montage... here's one from he selection of many! For the afternoon, Mariana and I wandered Via del Corso, got lunch and went shopping! Then we walked to the Trevi Fountain to get gelato at a world famous site that was 'discovered' by the NY Times. It was fantastic and such a wonderful day! We met up with two others to take the train back Saturday night so I could spend all day Sunday writing a paper... for my fascism class.... somehow I managed to relate pseudo-Futurist/Cubist art to the fascist regime! yeah!
A dopo!

Church Hopping on Monday

Since everything was closed the few days before, Monday was our opportunity to finally go into all the churches we missed! First stop was to visit one of my favorite Bernini's sculptures... The Ecstasy of St Theresa. It's so well studied, and yet many people often neglect how gorgeous the actual church is and the opposing statue across the chapel from Ecstasy. We wandered around he church before running over to Santa Maria del Popolo to try and see Caravaggio again. We made it there just before it closed and I was so excited to finally see both paintings! It seems odd to me that the paintings are actually positioned across from each other in a side chapel, not on display to see from the front... it's interesting that two such famous paintings are tucked back in a corner with a less than prime viewing position... nevertheless... AMAZING!!!
Our last stop in Rome was then the Trevi Fountain. It was super crowded but the fountain is soo cool! It's tucked away between a bunch of buildings, not out in the open. I got out 3 coins to try and get a picture of me throwing the coin in over my shoulder... this one was one of many :) Of course, I knew well that I would be returning to Rome the next weekend with my history professor, so it must work! right!?
Hopefully I will get to go back and really enjoy the history and the food and the weather next time! Anyone want to go back with me!?

We were being punished for not going to church on Easter....

Sunday was by far the most miserable weather when we were in Rome. It was raining from the beginning... of course... since we had planned on doing all our outdoor activities in Ancient Rome. Our first stop was the Colosseum. The line (despite the weather) was sooo long and wrapped around the Colosseum. We stood in line for almost 2 hours, soaking wet, trying to stay excited about seeing the inside! It was an uncomfortable experience, but made it in, just as the rain lightened up! The picture below is Therese and I once we were finally inside! In an attempt to keep my camera dry I cut out the actual Colosseum!It is such a neat environment and it would have been fascinating to get a more detailed history, or even a tour of the place. An unlike the Arena in Verona.. we didn't have the opportunity to do a photo montage of a Gladiator fight....
After wandering for a while and looking at the different exhibits in the Colosseum, we decided to get a quick lunch and take a quick, practically running tour of the Roman Forum. The sun finally came out and we got to see a little bit of it before we had to run up to the Villa Borghese for our appointment to see the Museum. We made our way and got to the Museum in just enough time to discover that the reservation never went through and the museum was booked for the afternoon... ugh! So instead, we wandered around the gardens and decided to go to Piazza del Popolo before the weather turned for the worse again. Santa Maria del Popolo is a famous church there with two of the most famous Caravaggio paintings, The Conversion of St Paul and the Crucifixion of St Peter. I was so excited to see them, but.... the church was closed! Surprise!!
At that point, we decided to give up and head back to our hotel to dry off and sleep the day off. Thankfully, there was a great pizzeria open in our neighborhood. We had a bottle of wine and some food, before watching Georgetown lose the basketball game... sniffle... a sad day...

Porn in Pompeii.... Day Two

Yeah, so the next day, we woke up uber early to take a train to Napoli, then another train to Pompeii. It was not the easiest process to get there, but well worth the long journey! (I never really realized how far Pompeii is from Rome!) Anyway, as mentioned before, the weather sucked and was raining pretty much the entire time, but the ruins were incredible! Pompeii is soooo huge and its like a maze... which made navigating interesting since our map was soaked and ripped about 10 minutes into our self guided tour!

This is me trying to be an ancient statue in the rain.... I think I survived better than the rest did!
Since we spent the whole day wandering through ruins, it's not necessary to recap everything, but the highlights included the Villa of Mysteries and of course, the ancient whore house with pornographic frescoes.
** Sorry for the graphic photos.... but I couldn't believe that they took the time to make pornographic frescoes! Those silly people from Pompeii, they must have been a riot... well until they all were covered in ash... hmm
That was all we did Friday since it takes so long to get there. Friday night we had to change hotels but we so excited to have comfortable warm beds and some English tv channels! Even if it meant I had to deal with the *way too flirtatious* hotel manager.

Let the stormy clouds chase everyone from the place....Day One

So this last weekend was Easter Break for Georgetown students. Like many Italians, I decided to make a pilgrimage to Rome for the holiday. Thursday night I took a train down to Rome and met my best friend from Georgetown, Therese, who is studying in Athens. I arrived and made my way through the graffiti filled streets around Roma Termini to the hotel. I got there early, and even though it was my 'break' from speaking Italian, I could not resist watching the soap opera we watch at Flavia's house each night! The rest of the night was uneventful considering we needed to rest before our epic 3 day tour of Rome.
The next morning, we found a small open air market for breakfast then headed over to Vatican City!!

*Small side note* This is so I don't have to include it throughout the blog, but the weather was miserable in Rome, we were really only dry when we were asleep in our beds at night... hence the title of the blog (from Singing in the Rain) It rained everywhere we went except for a few moments of sunshine... stupid stupid rain...
This is me as a not so Pius pope... :)
So anyway, the line at the Vatican was already wrapping around the neighborhood, so we waited for a little more than an hour to go into the Museums! It thankfully wasn't as crowded as I expected it to be but still not any where close to being empty! Once inside, we made our way through the various exhibits, seeing all the gorgeous statues (without their penises of course... silly Pope...) Finally, after hours of wandering, we got to the Raphael rooms and I got to see the School of Athens!!!!!!!!! Oh man... it's so neat to finally see something you've studying for years and truly appreciate everything about it.
After the Raphael rooms, we climbed up some stairs and get to enter the Sistine Chapel!!! I must say, the room is pretty overwhelming, almost too overwhelming to absorb it all! I really wish I could see it by myself and have a chance to lie down on the floor and just look at every detail! Almost makes me jealous of the Cardinals and Pope who get the opportunity to see the room without hundreds of other Tourists!! After the exhausting run through of the museums, we braved the weather to go see St Peters Square!
There was a line to get into the basilica wrapping all the way around the piazza, but we got in it anyway. We were a little more than half way through the line when we realized that the line was only for people who had tickets to see Good Friday mass! We got kicked out of line and decided to drown our sorrows (and dry off) in a coffee shop with some hot chocolate. By the time we finished and went back to the piazza, the line was gone and they were letting in the general public to see part of the basilica that wasn't blocked off for mass! So despite the seemingly bad luck, we still made it in! Unfortunately, we couldn't see a lot because of all the people watching mass (the Pieta was also blocked off), but I got to listen to part of Good Friday mass and even get a glimpse of the Pope!
After our adventure in the Vatican, we walked over to the Castel Sant'Angelo. It was like my own little Angels and Demons mini tour! Then off to Piazza Navona to see the Fountain of the Four Rivers. The main fountain was unfortunately covered with scaffolding, but eh... what can you do!Then we went to the Pantheon where we were lucky enough to make it in before they closed! It was raining pretty hard at this point, but it was kind of neat to see the rain come down through the oculus of the dome! We only got a few minutes before they actually began turning the lights out on us! So we headed over to a small restaurant across from the Pantheon for dinner! We even got some free limoncello for dessert! (yeah for being girls in a restaurant full of male waiters :)

Intimisimi's in Orvieto

This past Friday, Mar, Sarah and I traveled two hours out to Orvieto, a small town south of Florence. I would never have thought to go there if it wasn't for Miss Button, who studied there last semester with the UofA. All I have to say, is thank goodness she told me to go there! It probably is my favorite place I've traveled to this semester! Thankfully, unlike the rest of the week, the weather was so gorgeous! 70 degrees, sunny, perfetto! Oriveto is the typical, adorable, Italian town on a hill, surrounded by rolling vineyards and villas!
We took some pictures then decided just to spend the rest of the morning wandering around and exploring all the little wine/oil/clothes shops. Despite the fact that the town is small, they have a surprising number of commercial stores, like the Intimisimi. In Italy, there are underwear stores about as often as there are Starbucks in the States. We decided it was about time that we actually entered one... it was actually pretty funny because Italians have very different tastes than Americans do. We wandered out to the edge of the town to see the valley and I could not take enough pictures! It was too beautiful!
We then found a fantastic place for lunch and ordered bruschette, zuppa, and of course.... VINO! The three of us get along so well and had such a blast with a little bit of wine added! After il pranzo, we decided it was time to head over to the Duomo! Orvieto's Duomo is incredibly famous for its facade and definitely lived up to the hype!To make it even better, I saw a group of UofA students playing soccer next to the Duomo... I recognized the basketball shorts and nearly squealed! Anyway, after I got over the excitement of seeing people somehow connected to me in a foreign country, we went into the duomo and spent almost an hour in front of the famous frescoes, absorbing all we could from them as Mar read from her guide book about them. We then got some gelato and made our way back to the train ride... a nice leisurely ride.. until two american girls decided to sit next to us and talk really loudly! Who knew, I can spot Americans everywhere I go and they almost annoy me now.. just because so many of the American girls here don't make any effort to blend in and carry on having loud, personal conversations in public places... anyway...
It was a wonderfully relaxing day for once! Before I head off to Rome for Easter!

Au Revoir Paris!

On our last day in Paris, we basically touched on all the leftover sights of Paris. In the morning we went to the Musee Arme and say Napoleon's tomb. It was strange to see such a huge tomb for such a little man... and a disappointment because most of the museum was closed off. Because it was closed off, we didn't get to see a lot of Napoleon's personal things, or his horse, which is actually preserved and stuffed! I must admit I wanted to see it just because it's such a strange idea! After a leisurely lunch in a little park, we headed toward San Chapelle, which is basically a cathedral associated with the Justice building that is made mostly of stained glass.
After wandering around for a while, we decided to take a metro trip up to the 19th arrondissement (or region) where a famous church Sacre Couer is located on the top of a hill. The region is also known for being the home to the Moulin Rouge and the infamous sex shops of Paris. The church was fantastic! The most beautiful view of the city with soaring mosaics and funny street performers.
The actual streets leading to the Moulin Rouge were not as fantastic. Every other shop was either a sex shop or a live show location, all of which include crude pictures or creepy men who stand out front and try to get people to come inside for a show. The images were certainly enough and when one man baa'ed like a sheep at us and made a rude gesture with his hands at us... we picked up our pace! Finally we arrived at the destination and it honestly was not as fabulous as in the movie... yet we took our pictures nevertheless!!
After an exhausting vacation (can I even call it that?) Sarah and I made our plans to return to the villa on Sunday! Overall it was an incredible break, expensive, but worth every moment! I was pretty excited by the end to have my own clean bed and to eat some of Flavia's home cooked meals!
Until next time... ciao ragazzi!

Tombs, Gargoyles, Relics, oh my!

The next day in Paris was a blur of churches and monuments and then lastly the Louvre! First we went to the Luxumbourg Gardens to have a little snack by the water and watch all the people! There was an adorable Parisian girl in her little red raincoat that was running after the ducks... it was the quintessential French scene! We then realized that San Suplice was just around the corner, so we figured since it was in the Da Vinci Code, we should go see it! We went in during mass, so it was an eery setting, and basically went straight to the obelisk that Silas goes to in the book when he reaches the end of the false lead given to him.
After San Suplice, we went to the Pantheon, which was truly a hidden treasure in Paris. It wasn't something we had heard of before, but just happened upon it. Inside the pantheon there is a Foucault Pendulum which was really neat to see. In addition, many famous Frenchmen are buried there, Rousseau, Voltaire, Marie Curie, Alexander Dumas, etc.
After the Pantheon, we made our way to Notre Dame!! It was so awesome to cross the Siene and approach the facade, especially knowing that I have studied it for 5 years and finally get to see it in person! We rested outside with some hot chocolate, only to be approached by very persistent gypsies... they kept asking us if we spoke english, so Sarah and I spoke in italian for the rest of our time outside the church in the hope that the gypsies would leave us alone...
The inside of Notre Dame is one of the most incredible sights I've seen while abroad. The lighting in the cathedral is dark, and there's a specific smell, musty, incense-like... and of course, the windows are magnificent! We were lucky enough to get to Notre Dame as mass was about to start and we had a front row vantage point for the procession. Having never been to a Catholic mass before, it was an alien sight for me, this long line of old men, and a few women dressed in black lace. The first man with the orb and incense, swinging back and forth like some eery pendulum. After a while, three men came out holding glass cases, two of which I couldn't distinguish, but the middle one was obviously a wreath of thorns enclosed in glass... which I am assuming is claimed to be the crown of thorns. Just as they passed by us, a woman began singing a choir song for the mass and the whole experience was fairly moving, even for someone like me. Just the thought that we were in this famous cathedral where so many people have come to pay respects and the sheer size and beauty of the actual location was just overwhelming. It was really neat!
If the mass wasn't the highlight of the adventure in Notre Dame, climbing the towers def was! It felt like we were climbing forever, so many steps in Paris!!! But once we got to the top, the view is so awesome. Sarah and I had a lot of fun with the gargoyles, mimicking their poses. I think I won out with my serious stone-like face as a gargoyle... but it was another fun montage!
We then rushed over to the Louvre to get in at 6 PM for free!!!! On Friday nights, it stays open until 10 PM so that anyone under the age of 26 can come in a view everything for free!!! So we prepared ourselves for 4 hours in this huge museum! We first planned out how much time we were going to spend on each floor, but by the time we started actually going through, we realized there truly is too much to see!!!! After an hour and a half we decided to just make a bee-line for the famous stuff because we were so tired from walking everywhere and although the works of art are fascinating and some things I've dreamed of seeing, its exhausting to wander through a building for hours on end! We went straight for the Venus di Milo, Mona Lisa, Athena Nike, Madonna of the Rocks... etc and after 3 hours, we were too tired to continue and ventured back to the hostel to pass out on our beds!