01 January 2011

Days 14 & 15: L'Accademia e Firenze di sopra

Not much description today, as I am currently on a bench outside a cafe with WiFi, it is cold, and my battery is low. While there are internet points all over and I can check e-mail/comments easily enough, I need WiFi to actually upload photos from my laptop and I have had terrible luck finding any that works. Please forgive the irregular schedule lately.

On the 30th I went to the Museum of Archaeology, which included Etruscan burial hordes and pottery, and a whole bunch of Egyptian artifacts, mummies, and papyri; I also managed to reserve a ticket to the Accademia that afternoon, where I saw Michelangelo's Davide and a whole bunch of other sculptures.

On the 31st, I made the climb up to the Piazzale Michelangelo, where stands a bronze replica of Davide, and from which you can see all of Florence. It's magnificent.

Looking west, with Ponte Vecchio:

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Looking north:

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The hills south of Florence:

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Ponte Vecchio again (I just loved this angle):

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Church of Santa Croce on the right:

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Anyway, it is officially 2011. Where the heck did the time go? It was a beautifully clear, sunny morning, so I was going to climb the Duomo, but of course the cupola was closed. Instead, I went to the Medici chapel and will hopefully post those photos soon.

Buon'anno, tanti auguri, e ciaociao!

29 December 2010

Day 13: Toscana Mia Amore

No photos today. I have finally returned to Florence, which really is my favorite city out of all that I have seen (with a close second being the utterly charming Lucca). I am indescribably happy to be back, and have treated myself to a truly wonderful meal of green tortelloni with truffle, ricotta, sage, and butter, plus red wine (these Tuscan reds are so spicy and alive!), pannacotta, coffee, biscotti... truly a delight.

My current hotel does not have internet, so I am not sure when I will update next with photos, but I will be thinking fondly of all of you. <3 Thank you all so much for your kind comments. I can't describe how happy I am that you are enjoying this blog.

Before I log off from this internet café, I would like to announce that I will be offering prints of all of my photos when I return to the States. I print through Kinko's because their rates are reasonable and the print quality is very good. If any of my photos catch your eye, please feel free to contact me (comment, e-mail, LJ, or Facebook are all fine) and we can discuss price, size, method of delivery, or any other questions that you might have. If I owe you for Christmas/other holiday/birthday/gift of any kind, you may end up with some whether you ask or not!

Ciaociao! <3

28 December 2010

Day 12: Museo Sforzesco

Today was cold! So, so cold. I don't know what the temperature was precisely, just that after walking around for only a few minutes, I had a headache from the cold. This put something of a damper on my plans to see as many museums as possible, since I just didn't feel able to hike all over town to track them down, but I did see a number of the museums at Castello Sforzesco.

Adjacent to Piazza del Duomo, the closest metro stop to the castle from my hotel, is a glass-domed area called the Galleria. It's full of expensive brand-named shops, restaurants and eateries (including the bar where Campari, the famous bright-red Italian bitter, was introduced), and artwork--paintings on the ceiling, and tile mosaics on the ground.

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Celebrations of Italy's unification (or Risorgimento in the native tongue) can be seen all over Milan. The two most prominent mosaics in the Galleria are in honor of Italy's two historic capital cities since unification; an image of the wolf suckling Romulus and Remus for Rome, and an image of a bull for Turin (whose name in Italian, Torino, means "little bull"). Popular legend says that, for good luck, you plant your heel on the testicles of the bull and spin in place. There is always a crowd of people around the bull to watch the ritual and wait for their turn, and it is so popular that a hole several inches deep has been worn into the floor of the Galleria.

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From the Duomo, Castello Sforzesco is a few minutes' walk down Via Dante, an all-pedestrian street lined with merchant stalls, cafes, and, of course, designer fashion and luxury shops. The castle contains a generous number of museums from pre-Roman art to Renaissance furniture, from Neolithic Italian archaeology to Egyptian mummies (yes, they have actual mummies). These are all housed in various portions of the castle, so as you walk among Gothic pillars and Crusades-era sarcophagi, you simultaneously witness the castle's twisting hallways and frescoed ceilings. One of my favorite rooms was the Sala delle Asse, in which the wall supports and ceilings had been painted with trees and interlacing branches by Leonardo da Vinci himself.

Castello Sforzesco houses Michelangelo's last sculpture, the incomplete Rondanini Pietà.

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All in all, I saw three exhibits: ancient art (which included the Pietà as well as a variety of sculpture and glass from the 9th through 16th centuries), archaeology (Italian archaeological findings from the Neolithic period to the Iron Age), and Egypt (coffins, mummies, artifacts, and papyri from 3000 BCE to Ptolemaic Egypt).

Tomorrow, I will return to Florence.

27 December 2010

Day 11: Milano Sfaccettata

Well, I had a small adventure with regard to my hotel. It was a listing in one of Rick Steve's guidebooks from 2008. I called in the morning to reserve a room, being sure to ask, "is this Hotel XYZ?" and the man on the phone said that yes, it was, so I made my reservation. When I arrived at the address, the hotel had a completely different name, different management, different prices (though, fortunately, not outrageously so), and fewer of the amenities listed in the book. I'm slightly bitter, but I suppose that that is my karmic retribution for accessing the book via Google Books instead of ponying up for a legal and up-to-date copy.

Also part of my karmic retribution is that the Museo del Duomo was, in fact, closed; the Duomo itself, however, was open as promised, and it was spectacular.

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Unlike many other cathedrals in Italy, il Duomo di Milano is built in the Gothic style. It lacks the smooth cupolas and frescoes characteristic of Renaissance architecture, instead opting for jagged spires and angular shapes on the exterior, and an interior that contrasts simple stonework and vividly stained glass.

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Construction began in the late 1300s; heavy French influence in the early years is likely the reason for its Gothic design. Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the completion of the façade in 1805, and it was not until 1965 that the last elements of the building were officially completed. Thus, the Milanese dialect has the expression fabrica del dom, "building the cathedral," which figuratively refers to a task that is egregiously long or difficult.

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Opinions on the cathedral vary widely, from the eloquent praises of Mark Twain to the damnations of Oscar Wilde.

The interior architecture itself features large but fairly boring columns, some instances of detailed carving over the chapels and niches, and vaulting ceilings without much to offer per se. The stained glass, however, is another story.

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The windows depict people and scenes relevant to the Christian faith in shocking color, and when the angle of the sun is right, gray stone is transformed into glowing frescoes.

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During November and December, paintings of St. Charles Borromeo by a variety of Renaissance painters are hung along the walkways. The Duomo also houses the largest pipe organ in Italy, a small part of which is visible here on the left.

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For a fee, you can climb a staircase to the roof of the cathedral and walk along the north-facing side. (For a slightly larger fee, you can take an elevator.) I recommend it, because otherwise it's essentially impossible to see much of the roof's architecture, including dozens of statues and the Madonnina that sits on the main spire, over 350 feet above ground level.

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At the end of the day, I have to side with Mark Twain; I find the array of contrasts in the Duomo's architecture beautiful in spite of its discord. It is a perplexing juxtaposition of solidity and ethereality. Now that I've met my sesquipedalian quota for the week, here's another photo of the façade.

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I took a walk around the Duomo district and ended up in Parco Sempione by Castello Sforzesco, a 14th century castle that was once home to the Duchy of Milan, as well as Spanish and Austrian forces in later years. It's full of museums, but--as we've all come to expect on a Monday--they were closed.

Given that tomorrow is not a Monday, it will be a museum day.

26 December 2010

Day 10: In Treno II

Once again, no photos today. I took the long train ride from Rome to Milano Centrale, rather worried that I might have to stand for the entire six-hours-and-some trip because I had not reserved a seat in advance; fortunately, I only had to stand for a little while here and there. People getting on and off throughout the trip occasionally left seats open, and I was able to sit for the majority of the journey. I do wish that more of the trip had been in daylight, because what little of the terrain I could see before sunset was remarkably beautiful. Deep-green hills, forests, and muddy rivers all covered in gentle mist.

It seems to be true almost everywhere that the best museums are closed on Mondays, but I believe that Milan's Duomo and its associated museum is open, so that is my plan for tomorrow.