The Davids

Today has brought some of the best art moments of the trip thus far.  First, we stopped by the Accademia to see Michelangelo's "David" and his "Captives" that line the hallway leading up to the massive statue.  I wish I could show you pictures but they have a lockdown on photography in the State museums (as our art history professor told us, it is a "carry over from Mussolini and fascism that simply won't go away." As a result, you hear "NO FOTO!" being yelled nearly as much as the gasps and "oohs" and "ahhs" of seeing David).

What is most striking is the immensity of Michelangelo's "David."  I think it is difficult to gain a sense of scope and scale from a picture so it.  Speaking of a picture of it, in case you need some reminding what Michelangelo made, here is a great picture that I found online.

It is truly a remarkable work of art, full of the idealism of man.  His hands and feet are ridiculously large in comparison to the rest of his body and generally speaking, everything is meticulously done.  Some interesting facts that I did not know about the statue:

-Someone attacked it during the 1500s when it was realized that it was anti-Medici and threw a bench at it breaking its left arm (one with the sling).  Again, in the 1990s, a man ran up to it with a hammer and starting destroying the left foot.  Crazy to think you would want to destroy this wonderful statue.
-He's one of the few David's without him standing on a Goliath head and he's shown to be much older than what most David figures are from the story in the Bible.  Instead of pre-pubescent boy, he's shown as a 20-something muscular and ideal vision of man.
-The gaze gives you a sense that he's about to take down Goliath instead of simply being a blank stare into empty space.  A sense of movement is caused by his slight lean to one side as well and helps break up an otherwise rigid figure.
-He used to be in the Piazza della Repubblica (in case you didn't know) and here is a picture I took of the remake of the statue that now stands there.  The display of the Accademia David helps pronounce how enormous it really is.  The one in the Piazza is just....okay.  In a display like they have at the Accademia, it's perfect:

This is usually considered the "last" David statue since there were three other major David statues that came before it.  Two are by Donatello and the other by Verrocchio, all of which are normally in Florence but the Verrocchio is currently on loan to a museum in Milan.  Here is Verrocchio's:

 David has taken on a sort of civic meaning in Florence during the times when they were under heavy attack by their neighbors.  In several cases, leaders died before attacking Florence, which of course was seen as a sign from God of Florence's power and grew the use of David as a symbol of the city.

The other two Davids that we had the pleasure of seeing today were both by Donatello.  The first and the earliest sculptured one is shown here (once again, I couldn't take pictures...):

And here is the one I really want to talk about...the bronze David by Donatello:

Now, don't get me wrong: I really think both are fantastic, but the bronze David is just brilliant.  In person, the details really pop out of the bronze and the level of craftsmanship is stunning.  There is intricate detailing on the feather that goes up David's leg (in what was called a "homoerotic way" by the art history professor) and the features are much more realistic and less vacant than the marble version.  Since bronze was used, a different body positioning could be used, which leads to a different pose than the other few Davids mentioned.  

As mentioned briefly, this David has more "homoerotic" vibes than the other ones.  We are shown a figure that is more androgynous and could be perceived as a female if viewed from certain angles that obscure the genitalia.  While this may seem odd, this was much more prominent in person than I thought it would come across.  In person, these homoerotic ideas seem to pop out of the sculpture.  As was pointed out by our art history professor, David's toes are intertwined with the beard of Goliath suggestively and a large feather climbs up his leg going towards his rear.  It's really quite odd.  

Perhaps Donatello was homosexual, but to be honest it doesn't matter in the grand scale of this work.  It is utterly brilliant and was nearly as impressive as Michelangelo's David.

Overall, this was a brilliant day for art where I saw two of the most incredible works of the Renaissance.

On a practical matter, I'm making this for dinner tonight: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Tagliatelle-with-Prosciutto-and-Orange-365161

And I will drink some wine tonight...again.

Ciao!

Another Few Days Pass

I apologize for the long wait between blog posts but I really got caught up with living here.  It's amazing how quickly you can start living in a new area and begin to get annoyed with tourists.  The irony here is that I still pull tourist moves in the meantime.  Here are a few examples:

-I still walk around with a big ass camera strapped around my neck for my tours with my art history teacher...which leads me to...

-I take three tours a week with my art history teacher that requires a walky-talky type of device that hangs around my neck and has an earpiece so we can hear what she says.

-My Italian is awful.  Every now and then, I attempt to say something in Italian only to stumble on easy works like, "caffe" or "ciao."  I'm a language idiot sometimes.  Most of the time, this isn't a big deal but I can tell I annoy some of the locals here.

-I did the stupid holding up the Tower of Pisa photo op in Pisa.  Sorry.

-Every now and then I get hopelessly lost but manage to find a horrible route back to my apartment sometimes.  This isn't really a bad thing sometimes (I like getting lost sometimes) since I discover non-touristy events/areas.

I suppose I get most annoyed by rude tourists, mostly American I must say, and some American students around town.  I feel like I shouldn't mention this again but I saw the Jersey Shore cast at the local Conad grocery store about a block from my place.  I guess they like to shop there which also implies that they live nearby.  Great.

For a better collection of photographs, I recommend my Facebook page since it is much faster to upload photos there.  This doesn't mean I will stop uploading here, it just is difficult and can take about 30 minutes for about 15 pictures.

Ciao!

To The Top of the Dome

Sorry about not getting around to posting a blog up yesterday everyone, but I was starting to feel a bit under the weather and never really got around to doing a blog.  Actually, I am kind of sick at the moment and hopefully it will go away pretty soon.  As a result, today has not been the most productive or adventurous on my part.  On the bright side, the extremely high temperatures have cooled off into the 70s (degrees F, of course) down from the 90s.  Since I didn't take any pictures today, I can post up some of the wonderful views I got from yesterday.  I hope you enjoy them!

I made this photo bigger since you can actually see our place in this photo.  Literally dead center of this picture, you will see a little terrace on top of a building that is white.  That is where I live.  Feel free to click on it to get a better idea.

Michelangelo's "Pieta" at the Duomo Museum.  Stunning work of art.  Michelangelo is the figure above Christ as a self-portrait.

Absolutely stunning wooden statue made by Donatello of Mary Magdalene.  It's hard to believe that during the bad flood in the 1960s, this was picked up by the water and just floating around.  So thankful it survived.

Tomorrow, we go to Pisa and Lucca for the entire day starting at 7.00 am until 8.00 pm or so.  It will be a really long day.  As a result, I need sleep.

Ciao!

Inside the Duomo and Some Random Organ Music

Yesterday, we went inside the Duomo for the first time as a class and saw the beautiful, harsh, and enormous interior of the cathedral.  It was quite spectacular and not nearly as crowded as the outside of the building would have suggested, since nearly all of the Piazza was full of tourists.  The murals in the Dome itself were amazing (see some of the pictures below and make sure to click on pictures to get a better overall detail) and the amount of art and work that went into the cathedral was stunning.  Basically, take a look at some of the pics I took.  I would have uploaded more had it not taken almost 10 minutes to upload 14 pictures just now...ugh.

Inside the Dome of the Duomo

A famous painting of Dante in the Duomo

The view from underneath the Dome and looking back into the Duomo

Some detail of the Hell scenes on the Dome

Alter at the Duomo

Another wideshot of the Dome

 Also, today I was walking back from class and lunch at the other student apartment and walked past some intense organ music coming from a church.  Curious, I stepped in and sat down and was immediately hit by one of the loudest, most impressive organs I have personally experienced.  A JS Bach work (which I could not identify...) was being performed by a lavish organ, with pipes spread throughout the church.  You can see some of them in the pictures I took below.  The piece behind the alter also had pipes sticking out of it in different directions and the "surround sound" effect that was intended was effective.  For something I randomly stumbled on, this was one of the more impressive musical experiences of my life.  It is easy to tell how people were drawn to the Church with its ability to awestruck people with music.

Another tip: if you are curious about it, go to it.  Simple as that.

Santa Maria de' Ricci - where there is random amazing organ music in the afternoon and nights

For a small church, there is some great art

The wonderful organ...at least part of it

This is the church with the organ music for future reference

Also, here are some pictures I took on the walk back to the apartment.  They looked nice, so there you go.  I really like the "Musica" sign down below that looks like a truck may have hit recently.  The Florence Gelato Festival starts today which could be extremely dangerous to my overall weight.

Piazza della Repubblica

Add caption

Some more Duomo

Neat sign for a music shop in Florence

Umm...

No real update for today, other than I am quite tired and about to sleep.  I have some great new pics of the Duomo from the inside today but uploading pics here in Italy takes much longer than it does in the States.  I'll do my best to upload some up tomorrow, so perhaps when you wake up in the morning in America, there will be some more pictures.  In the meantime, I miss all of my friends and family back home and hope everything is going well.

Ciao!

First Day of Class

I was going to spend some time speaking about our first day of class but I think it would be better to point out some quick observations on Florentine life.

1. People here are generally friendly and willing to speak English with you if you attempt at any Italian.
2. There are a lot of tourists here, many of whom are American, but they are superseded by the local people.
3. There is art and history everywhere.  Everything has some sort of background to it which adds intrigue to the entire "downtown" portion of Florence.
4. Prices in Florence are generally pretty good, especially for a city of this size.  If you travel here, don't plan on pricey living (though I imagine that housing could be expensive).
5. I either look like a bad pick-pocketing target or I just simply have no seen any pick-pocketers.  I have heard this is a big problem here in Florence, and I don't doubt it, but none of the people on this trip have had issues with getting mugged.
6. Drinking is socially acceptable at any meal and as a result, has much less of a stigma than in the United States.
7. The weather has been extremely gorgeous the entire time I have been here, which may be more luck than anything to be honest.
8. It's amazing how much there is within a one to two mile radius.

Those are just a few observations thus far.  I am sure that I will find more in this beautiful area over the next few weeks.  For now, enjoy some pictures from dinner on Sunday night made in the apartment and some random wanderings out near the mercado centrale. 

 

Sorry for this one being dark...I didn't have the time to lighten it up quite yet.

Ciao!!

Trip to Fiesole

Yesterday, we went to Fiesole, a hill town that is right outside of Florence.  At one point in the history of Fiesole, it was a more prosperous city than Florence before eventually being taking over by the Florentines.  If you plan on being in Florence at some point, plan a visit to Fiesole for a few different things: the views, the history, and a wonderful gelato store called Il Tucano.  Here are a few of the photos from this trip:

[FYI: Any photo can be enlarged by clicking on them.]

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them about some of the pictures.  It's really tough to go through and specifically write about each picture.  I may go back sometime this week and write a bit of a caption for some of them to try to make it more comprehensible.


My next goal is to include more people in my pictures.  Pictures of locations are nice but really stand out when you have a human subject.  Anyone out there have any suggestions that I might not be aware of here in Florence or the surrounding area?

Ciao!