Blog Updates + Lots of Photos

Ciao!

This is my second post this week because I wanted to share a few more things with you all:

1. I have now added labels to my blog.  On the right hand side there should be a list of all the topics I have covered.  If you want to see what I wrote about churches, click on the label "church" and you will get a list of all relevant posts.  This makes it easier if you are trying to search for a previous post.
2. Orientation finished about three weeks ago and I wanted to share some photos from my weekend trips with you all.  Enjoy!

I live far from il centro (the center of town) but close to a small town called Fiesole.  Fiesole was an Etruscan town originally and is full of Roman ruins....which are noticeably absent from Firenze and which this Classical Studies major really wanted to see.  It also has splendid views of Florence!  The first time I didn't get to go into the archaeological site but I recently went again last week during "culture week" so we got a reduced entrance fee which made us very happy.  It is a beautifully maintained site.

Fiesole: Street View

View towards Florence on a cloudy day

The Roman theater

Tuscan countryside view from the archaeological site (looking away from Florence)

 The next weekend my friend and I went to the Expo Rurale on the opposite side of town.  There was lots of food, plants, and animals to be petted and photographed. :)  It was a fun Saturday afternoon activity that also let us explore another side of town.

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selling salame

Having fun with Pinocchio

Another Friday after class we went to Settignano, which is another small town that is easily accessabile by bus.  There wasn't as much to do there as in Fiesole but we admired the view and enjoyed being away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  There seem to be good hiking trails here...when the weather cools down I need to convince my friends to go with me! ;)

A picture my friend took of me taking a picture :)

 The next weekend we took a trip to Viareggio beach, which was very relaxing.  To get there we had to take the train from centro at the Santa Maria Novella station.  It was the perfect time go to as it wasn't crowed with summer vacationers but it was still sunny and warm enjoy to enjoy the beach.

Santa Maria Novella train station (www.florence-on-line.com)

Viareggio beach with mountains in the background

Our final weekend was full of studying for our language and art history finals and spending quality time with Bubu:

Surprised Bubu

Lazy Bubu

Napping Bubu

So that's about it for orientation!  I am definitely more confident with navigating around the city and speaking Italian most of the time.  From now on we have class trips about twice a month and I will be posting about those.  Last week we went to Ravenna -- I'll tell you all about it in my next post!

Ciao!

Santa Croce

Ciao amici!

Our second art history field trip during orientation was to Santa Croce to study the Italian Gothic style.  Compared to Romanesque churches (like San Miniato), Gothic churches are taller and are less dark inside.  The height of the church is representative of the desire to be closer to God (ie the church is reaching up to heaven) and the relative abundance of light in Gothic churches is because God is light.  When we think of Gothic churches, we usually think of grand churches such as Notre-Dame de Chartres in France:

Notre-Dame de Chartres, France.  www.wikipedia.com

Italian Gothic churches however, look quite different.  The Gothic style originated in Northern Europe and due to a history of Northern invaders it had a slightly negative connotation, so they changed it up a bit to make it more Italian.  This is Santa Croce:

Santa Croce, Florence.  www.wikipedia.com

It looks nothing like Chartres.  You can see that the Italian Gothic retains the heaviness/solidness of the Romanesque churches and it is more horizontal than Chartres.  Before we go inside I will point out one more difference between the Romanesque and Gothic styles: the arches.  Romanesque churches have a round, roman-style arch which is called arco a tutto sesto in Italian.  Gothic churches (Italian or otherwise) have an arch which ends in a point and is called arco a sesto acuto in Italian.

www.laterzalibropiuinternet.it

Inside Santa Croce

See how much more light there is?  There are also stained glass windows which you won't find in a Romanesque church and instead of mosaics there are lots of frescoes.  To enter Santa Croce we had to pay a small fee and wait in line as it is very popular among tourists for several reasons.  The two main reasons are: a. many famous people are buried here and b. the paintings of Giotto.  Let's check out the tombs first!

Michelangelo's tomb

Galileo's tomb

Back in the day, it was possible to be buried in Santa Croce if you were of a certain status so yes, these are actual tombs.  There are several other famous Italians buried here, including Machiavelli, and many more funerary monuments to people they wished to honor but aren't actually buried here.  The most famous of these is Dante, author of the Divine Comedy.  Dante was exiled from Florence in 1302 and is buried in the city of Ravenna, where he died. Florence came to deeply regret having exiled him and since then they have tried to honor his memory in every way possible all over the city.  In Santa Croce, they built this funerary monument:

Dante's funerary monument

Giotto's Paintings

Giotto was very influential in the transition between Byzantine-style paintings and a more realistic, humanistic style.  Byzantine paintings are very flat and two-dimensional, with no sense of movement.  Giotto (1266 – 1337) created his art from observing real life so his paintings have a greater sense of depth and movement.  During the Renaissance, this style will be more fully developed but Giotto is generally regarded as the first to have explored the three-dimensionality of figures.

Only parts of the frescoes remain

another capella by Giotto

How many arches "a sesto acuto" can you find? ;)

Note the attention to depth and perspective...

That's it for now!  If you've made it this far, congratulations!  That was a lot of information but there was just so much to share about Santa Croce.  This will be the final post from my orientation art history class.  The last church we visited for this class was San Lorenzo which is a great example of Renaissance architecture but unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside.  It is a really neat church and probably one of my favorites so you should definitely click on the links and check it out. ;)

A dopo!

Lezioni di cucina (cooking lessons)

Buongiorno!

Today I thought I'd recap the dishes we learned to make during our first orientation cooking class.  I didn't take pictures of the actual food since I was busy cooking, so these are pictures I found online so you could see what the dishes look like.  I've given some explanation of the dishes but not specific recipes.  Also, you should know that food in Italy varies from region to region, and each region has their own special dishes.  Since Florence is in Tuscany, the majority of these things are typical to Tuscany, although there are some which are universally enjoyed throughout Italy.  Ok, let's get started!

Week One: Traditional Rustic Tuscan

Panzanella

Pappa al pomodoro

Pollo in fricassea

Tiramisù

Panzanella from www.fiorentininelmondo.it

Panzanella is a bread salad made with chunks of stale bread, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and basil.  It sounds a little strange but it is actually quite good and very easy to make.  Think of it as the Italian version of tabbouleh.  To make this gluten free, we simply used toasted gluten free bread.  Basically, you soak the crusty bread in a small amount of water and red wine vinegar until it is soft, then squeeze out the excess water and tear it into small cubes, add the chopped vegetables and a few basil leaves.  Then drizzle extra virgin olive oil over it, toss and serve.

Pappa al pomodoro from toscaneat.it

Like Panzanella, Pappa al pomodoro is made from crusty bread.  The slices are cut into small bits and cooked in a homemade tomato sauce made with garlic and basil.  It is similar to gnocchi (if you aren't familiar with that, don't worry, I will show you how to make it soon) but with a consistency more like soup.  Again, it sounds really strange but it is actually quite tasty.  And you can definitely see how both of these dishes would have been easy for farmers to make because the ingredients are simple and inexpensive.

Pollo in fricassea from www.incucinaconlilly.com

 We also made pollo in fricassea (chicken fricassee).  I'm vegetarian, so I can't share my opinion on how it tasted but my classmates certainly seemed to like it.  This is a medieval dish, and like the others, it is pretty simple to make.  First, we coated the small pieces of chicken in flour while we heated butter in a pan.  Then we add in the chicken and let it cook for a bit.  Next we added some broth to the chicken to create the creamy sauce.  Finally, we took it off the direct heat, added a beaten egg and some lemon juice.  We let it finish cooking in the heat that the pan retained and served it.

Tiramisù from wikipedia.it

For dessert we made Tiramisù (because of our time constraints we weren't able to make this one gluten free and diary free but I am sure there is a way).  Tiramisù is a dessert that is seen as very complicated and sophisticated in the United States, but really it is quite simple.  Our version included raw eggs but in the US it is better to avoid raw eggs and make an eggless Tiramisù.  

First, we made a mixture of hot water and instant coffee.  Into this, we dipped ladyfinger cookies and then laid them flat to line our pan.  Next we beat the egg yokes and sugar together, then added this to mascarpone cream.  Then we beat the egg whites with sugar until stiff peaks formed, as if we were making merengue.  We did all this by hand because due to miscommunication we didn't have an electric beater in the kitchen!  It's a great arm workout!  Then we added the egg whites to the mascarpone.  Next, cover the layer of cookies with the cream and dust with cocoa powder.  Place a new layer of cookies and then cover them with the cream and dust with cocoa powder.  Repeat until you have reached the top of the pan and make sure you end with a layer of cream, dusted with a liberal amount of cocoa.  Chill it in the fridge for a couple hours and enjoy!  We actually made this first so it would be ready when we finished dinner.

So those are the dishes we made our first week.  It's quite a rich meal! Of course, this is Italy so there was also bread, salad, and walnuts to eat as well.  I hope you enjoyed learning about these Tuscan dishes!  Remember, these are just explanations of the dishes, not actual recipes.  If you want to make some of them you should always have a recipe (just ask me) with measurements and cooking times to avoid a kitchen disaster. :)

Buon appetito!

Ice age: Florence Edition

Ciao a tutti!

This is a few weeks late, but remember that picture in my first post of Piazza della Signoria with all the hail?  That was apparently a very rare occurrence and thus a very big deal here in Florence, and I wanted to share some pictures with you all from that day.

L'era glaciale - "ice age" in Italian.  Photo from teladoiofirenze.it

Yes, all that white stuff on the ground is ICE!  Here's how it happened....

It was a beautiful sunny day in Florence and we had just gone back into class after our so-called pausa caffè (coffee break).  It was just us and our professor because the program directors had left to run an errand.  We opened the window because it was warm in the classroom and were just starting to take notes on some of the finer points of Italian grammar when suddenly, it became very dark.  We thought nothing of it and continued working because we had a lot of material to cover but within a few minutes we were interrupted by a gust of wind which came swirling through the classroom and the sound of pelting rain.  Chiudere le finestre! Close the windows!  But as we got up and closed all the Sede's windows it became clear that this was not just your typical rainstorm.  I'm from Florida so I know storms, but I have never seen anything like this before.  Within minutes, it was raining so much that you couldn't see a single thing and hail was beating against the window so hard we were afraid it might break the glass.  The wind was very strong and blowing from all directions and from the window I could just barely make out a pigeon trying to fly out of the storm.  Needless to say, all attempts at learning grammar ceased and we just stood at the window, watching the storm.  Even though we closed the windows in time, quite a bit of water managed to leak inside and we had to soak it up with towels.  The whole thing lasted only about 20 minutes and when we could finally see out again, we were surprised to see how much the piazza had changed.

This was a few minutes after the storm, when people caught outside ventured out into the piazza again, but immediately after the storm, the piazza was deserted.  All the umbrellas over the kiosks in the piazza were completely destroyed by the wind.

The hail that remained on the window sill

Confused tourists congregating outside of an overpriced gelato shop

We finished class and then I abandoned my plans of further exploring the town that afternoon and headed home.  Piazza della Signoria had very little ice and hail compared to what I saw on my way home, which was more like the picture at the beginning of the post.  Unfortunately though I do not have pictures because I was wearing sandals and a maxi skirt and was too busy trying to make sure I did not get completely soaked.  The temperature had also dropped significantly so I tried to hurry as fast as I could.  When I got to my bus stop in San Marco however, I had time to take a picture of the fallen trees and branches along with all the other tourists and locals.  If you want to see more pictures of le grandine (hail), there is a slide show here: Bomba d'acqua e grandinata (lit: water bomb and hail storm)  The website is in Italian but just scroll down to the slideshow :)

Fallen trees and branches in Piazza San Marco

This was a pretty amazing storm.  Water and ice found their way into almost every part of the city.  I have a friend who owns a store here in Florence and the door was pushed open by the hail and it covered almost the entire floor!  Even when I got home I found my host mom cleaning up the water that leaked in from the windows.  Thankfully though, we haven't had such weather since that day.  Sometimes it rains but for the most part it is sunny and a very pleasant 80 degrees Fahrenheit. :)

A typical day in Florence.  (And yes, that is someone rowing on the Arno!)