San Miniato al Monte

Buongiorno!

I really enjoyed reading everyone's comments on my blog, thank you!!  And I will certainly talk more about the food (and later I'll do a post about music too, Melanie ;) ) but unfortunately I don't have a lot of food pictures, so I will have to see if I can get some from my friends.  In the meantime, I wanted to share some pictures from my art history field trip to San Miniato al Monte.

In my art history class we are learning about the different architectural styles of churches.  San Miniato al Monte is a great example of the Florentine Romanesque style.  The facade (Italian: la facciata) is made of white Carrara and green Prato marble and features a mosaic in the middle of Jesus, Mary, and Saint Miniato.

San Miniato al Monte

As you can see it is up on a hill ("al Monte" means on the hill) and so we had a spectacular view of the city.

I can't imagine I will ever tire of this view

Inside San Miniato

This is what it looked like inside.  As you can see, it is very ornate.  Our professor explained that it would have also been very dark as there are few windows and the only light would have been provided by candles.  We can see the details in this picture because they have since added lights to the church and they leave the doors open during the day.  The darkness and heaviness (or sturdiness) of San Miniato is typical of the Romanesque style, as are the round arches (Italian: arco a tutto sesto) and the columns.  Each column capital (the top part of the column) is unique.  Very often these capitals, as well as other parts of the church, are pieces taken from ancient roman buildings and then reused as building material.  This happened all the time in the ancient world as well, in fact, this summer at the excavations in Greece we found all sorts of interesting things in the walls of buildings!

Imagine how this gold mosaic would glow in a church lit only by candles!

Check out the detail on the floor...

...on the walls...

...and on the ceiling of this cappella (chapel)

There are also some frescoes on the walls of the church that were added sometime after it was built.  Here we can see where the artist made the outline for his work but never actually got around to painting over it:

Sketches that were never painted over.  You can see the finished frescoes on the right.

 Well, that's all for now!  I hope that you have enjoyed all the pictures.  I am always in awe of how much attention to detail and fine craftsmanship is present in these churches and it is really great to be learning about their architectural styles.  I'm excited to share with you my trip to Santa Croce next week because you'll really be able to see how much the style changed and how it is reflective of changing perspectives on Christianity (and also there are some really cool people buried there!).  If you have any questions about anything feel free to ask and also let me know if you'd like me to go into further detail about something. :)

Ciao a tutti,
Isabella

Ciao from Firenze!!

Ciao a tutti!
Hello all!

After three flights I made it safely to Italy and have survived my first week of orientation classes.  Before we officially begin the fall semester, we have three weeks of orientation classes: Language, Art History, History of Florence, and Italian Cooking.  But, before we get into that, let me tell you a bit about where I'm living.

After spending my first night at a hotel, I moved in with my host family.  I am living with two other Smith students and this lovely kitty named Bubu:

 I am living about 40 minutes walking distance from the center of town which is where the Smith center (where all my classes currently are) is located.  If we take the bus, it is about a 15 minute ride to Piazza San Marco and then we have about 10 minutes of walking to the Smith center.  On my walk to the Smith center I pass crowds of tourists admiring il duomo:

What I pass everyday on my way to class

Because we generally have a couple of hours between classes, I try to go out and explore the city during that time.  I've been to two different grocery stores, Conad (not Conrad as my friend thought) and Meta, as well as a small Korean market, a wonderful place called Panino Vegano where they serve all vegan and gluten-free food (which means I was able to have pizza!!), the library, Ponte Vecchio, and countless piazzas including Santa Croce.  The Smith center is actually located on Piazza della Signoria so we have a lovely view of il Palazzo Vecchio:

Piazza della Signoria after huge hail storm.  All that white stuff on the ground is hail.  And yes, this is very unusual weather for Florence!

Orientation classes are pretty fun so far.  We had an assignment for language in which we had to ride on a bus we hadn't been on before for the entire route and make observations about how it is different than the buses in the US.  We also had to interview a passenger and ask them their opinion of the buses in Italy.  One major difference is that if you have a bus ticket, you must validate it as soon as you enter the bus.  If you don't do so, you will be fined anywhere from 55 to 240 euros!  I actually saw this happen to some tourists today.  We now have bus passes which do not have to be validated but we must have it with us when we are on the bus.  When the officials come on the bus to check, passengers must show either their ticket or their pass as proof that they have paid their fare.

For our art history class we are learning about the different architectural styles of churches.  We took a trip to San Miniato on Thursday, which was lovely.  I'll tell you more about it in my next post. :)

In my history of Florence class, I learned that Florence was actually founded during Roman times, which makes this classical studies major very happy!  Although the ruins are no longer standing, our professor took us on a tour and showed us where certain buildings, including a Roman amphitheater used to be.  He also told us that parts of the old medieval walls and gates are still standing in parts of Florence.

And finally in our cooking class, we learned to make tiramisù, pollo in fricassea, pappa al pomodoro, and panzanella.  Pappa al pomodoro (soup made of tomatoes, bread, garlic, basil...) and panzanella (salad made with chunks of bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and herbs) are traditional Tuscan farmers dishes.  Our instructor bought me gluten-free bread so I could make my own gluten free version.  I don't have pictures (too busy cooking and eating) but I'll most certainly write a future post for you all about all the wonderful food I've been eating lately. ;)

This has been very long, but there is just so much to say!  Hope you are all doing fantastic!  I'll leave you with a few pictures of this beautiful city.

A presto! (lit. until soon!)
-Isabella

The Arno

Firenze

Yours truly

Blog Instructions

Hi!  Welcome to my blog!

As I prepare for my trip to Italy, I thought I'd give you some instructions on how to use this blog. 

1. First, you should bookmark my blog address so you can easily access it.  Make sure you have the correct spelling!  www.isabellasinitaly.blogspot.com
2. Commenting: The great thing about a blog is that we can all participate.  I'll post pictures and musings and if you have questions or just want to say hi, you can comment on my posts. To post a comment, follow these simple steps:
• At the bottom on the post there will be a link that says how many comments have been posted.  Click on this.
• Type your comment in the text box.
• You will see "comment as" and then a drop box of choices. You can select either "Name/URL" and type your first name (leave the URL blank) or select "anonymous" and then sign your name in the text box. Either way, make sure you have signed your name! All comments are moderated by me and if your name is not on them, I will think it is spam and delete it.
• Click publish and you're done! Your comment might not be immediately visible because I have to approve it, but fear not, it shall appear within a day or so.

Hope that was helpful!  Check back next week for my first post and pictures!  I don't want to make any promises until I see my schedule in Italy but my goal is to post at least once a week :)

Ciao,
Isabella