The Best of the Best

Twelve days since my last blog post... not because I have little to write on at all. It has been jammed packed with a lot of my favorite days of the trip. 

To begin with, the Vatican took my breath away all day. In a strictly art history sense, the art there is incredible. But, my favorite was the emotional relationships between the people in the artwork. Michelango's relationship between God and man in the Sistene Chapel and in the Pieta held true to what I know and experience. Raphael's Transfiguration of Christ picks you up and puts you into his scene of Jesus' power and our weakness. Its replica is one the many mosaics in the massive St. Peter's Cathedral. Another highlight of the day was eating wine and cheese and watching the bachelor with Claire and Coco. We then ate dinner in the Piazza Novella with Italian guitar players and Bernini's fountain. We also saw Bernini's St. Teressa, Apollo and Daphne, and the Rape of Proserpina. One girl in our group started crying when she saw Apollo and Daphne; it's incredible. We also chased Caravaggio around Rome. He is somewhat of the bad boy of art and his paintings show it. He has more passion and understanding of people and the Bible than any other artist I've seen.

The next morning, after much confusion of the meeting place and location of the car rental place, I met my parents in Rome and we were on the road. I got to show them my favorite Duomo so far, in Orvietto, then went to one of my favorite places I have ever stayed, a remodeled modern villa outside Orvietto. We had a three hour dinner on the terrace with a beautiful view and wonderful food. The next day we went back to Orvietto to my favorite pottery place, where Mom and Dad bought a backsplash. That night we met our spirited villa owner and had a wonderful dinner in a small town (I am in love with gnocchi). The next day, we went to a castle that's the Italian equivalent of Monticello. The second president of united Italy lived there and there are rooms dedicated to his science and armory. I stayed there and drew the castle and we reunited for a dinner in Siena. It was lovely at night. Most of the tourists left and we sat in the Piazza del Campo with gelato and talked and watched a parade practice for the Palio. 


The next day was my favorite. We drove around during the morning and ended up in the Brunello wine country and stopped in a town for lunch. We asked for directions from a lady, Giudy Parisi and she walked with us to her favorite restaurant. We asked her for a recommendation of a vineyard to see, and she told us that her family owned a small vineyard right outside the city and that she would take us over the right after lunch. It was just about the most Italian expierience I will ever be a part of. Her dad. Annibale Parisi welcomed us outside their house, “nostra vita,” which means “our life” and showed us his gardens of cherries, herbs, and of course grapes. They showed us their wine vats and explained everything about the art of making the wine. Italians prefer to know the land and work with it. They keep the best wine in seasoned barrels for three years before moving into metal vats for two years. My favorite part was seeing Annibale’s workshop. He makes  increcible furniture, with the natural shape of the tree. He bought the liscense to a book of local history and reprinted and bound copies of it. He has and seventy book collection of samples of seventy tuscan trees. His paintings are all over his workshop and he hand paints each label of his Brunello wine. They were hospitable in the most relaxed way and I enjoyed just being around them and seeing their life. Dad bought wine, but Annibale gave me a bottle as a gift and Mom an apron. That night was another authentic experience with dinner made by our villa hostess with other people staying there, including people from Utah, South Africa, Florida, and California. Mom and Dad dropped me off the next day in Castiglion. This may sound cheesy, but my parents and I's experiences and conversations together those days are some of the greatest gifts of this six weeks in Italy. I will have those memories forever.


Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I got to relax and draw in Castiglion. Then, we headed off to our last day in Florence. It included Santa Croce monastery and the Uffizi, where I loved Botticelli's paintings. Like the vatican, the Uffizi is masterpiece after masterpiece and it was really amazing to see it in chronological order and get a better understanding of the timeline of Italian art.


Cinque Terre might be my favorite place on earth. I got in late from Florence and met up with the A&M group that I stayed with. I wish I could describe well enough how kind they were to me. They welcomed me in as one of their own and put me at ease. They helped me and included me the whole time. Cinque Terre is a grouping of five small towns on the western coast of Italy, near Pisa. It has rock beaches with the most blue water I have ever seen and stucco, painted houses. My favorite part of the weekend was the hike from Vernazza to Monterosso. It took us about 2 hours but it was all gorgeous and fun. We then had lunch and rented kayaks and paddled over to a waterfall that you can only get to by boat. It has moss at its base that feels like green shaggy carpet. The weather was perfect so we sat in the sun there before we went back to the beach and sat in the sun some more. We went to a Jazz festival that night (last night) and walked around the La Spezia, where we stayed. Today we came back tired and a little sunburned. These twelve days have been days filled with relationships and getting to be with people, which has been my greatest joy so far.

Rome at Last

Rome is fantastic. At first glance, it's swarming with tourists and traffic, but underneath that, it has the character of thirty centuries. I gave my on-site presentation yesterday at the Temple of Saturn in the Forum. We also went to the Colosseum, arches, and the Pantheon. I have loved trying to picture the way Rome was before it was pillaged and repurposed. We are staying at a hotel near the Pantheon, so we're right in the middle of it all. Last night, most of us went out to dinner for Sarah H's birthday. It was a blast.
Today, we went to tons of incredible churches then had the second part of the day free. During the free part, I went with some girls to the Capitoline Museum, the first public museum. My favorite thing there was the original manuscript of Martin Luther's excommunication. I also got to see the original statue of Marcus Aurelius, the "she wolf" statue, and some Caravaggio paintings. Again, all the ages of art coming together in one space.

One of the oddest parts of being here is looking at all the depictions of God and not knowing them at all. Some artists painted icons and others painted Christ in a believable way, but none are my Jesus. Seeing them is very different than looking at a picture of my best friend. Although man can paint an imagine, we cannot do Him justice. My eyes are not satisfied. I long even more for the day when I see His real face in glory, without the taint of human perception. In heaven, my belief and sight will become one. This side of eternity, I will never be able to aptly depict what I love the most.

Week of New Things

Confession: I like lists more than paragraphs. Plus, to be honest writing a blog with a chronological listing of every place I went, restaurant I ate at, and thing I bought is a bit daunting. So for the past week, here are the “musts” for any Italian travelling list

1. Eat foccacia bread. It’s similar to a thick crust of pizza, except it has butter and garlic on top. It is to die for. Ann brought some foccacia from the shop about a minute away to class for us to try and now I’m hooked.
2. Take a day away from the group and spend time walking around and only interacting with Italians. That has been one of my favorite parts about drawing in the city. Most of Learn Tuscany works on their art in the studio, so when I go on my excursions, I get to see Italy in the most Italian way I can.
3. Go to Lucca and ride bikes around the wall. It’s one of the only Etruscan cities that kept the entirety of their wall. On my time off last weekend, I spent two days in Lucca with Claire, Tara, and Coco. It is quiet because most people bike in the city and it’s extremely nice. We had an incredible dinner at Antica Osteria. My favorite thing we ordered was a prosciutto plate with fried dough.
4. Climb the Duomo in Florence. It is definitely worth it. I climbed it with some people from UT on our break yesterday. I am definitely sore today. First, getting to climb in between Brunelleschi’s design for the inner and outer layers was a really cool experience. Then we got to see the Dome frescos super close. Then, of course, the view was incredible.
5. Go to Orvietto. It is my favorite Duomo, with incredible frescos inside of the last judgment by Signorelli. I loved buying a pottery pitcher at L’Arpia from the sweetest couple. The husband makes the pottery and the wife paints it. They stopped working and talked to us for about 30 minutes. Orvietto is also famous for their wine and there are many stores on the main street that have wine tastings.
6. Go to a festival. The end of the Medieval Festival in Castiglion was this week. They had dancers, a sword eater, fire throwers, and ended with the most spectacular fireworks I have ever seen. The Italians get super into their celebrations.
7. Learn some Italian. Ok, admittedly I know very little but I have definitely seen that the more I say when I come into a store, the more they seem ok with helping me out with what I don’t know. Plus, I’ve gotten somewhat friendly with my regular spots.
8. Try different coffees and pizza. My favorite coffee at the moment is cafe shakerata where they shake up coffee, cream, and ice all together until the ice melts. As for pizza, I just had my first piece of nutella pizza and it is wonderful. It’s in the pizzeria that looks over all of Castiglion Fiorentino in what Americans call “the pirate bar.” I don’t know the real name.
9. I haven’t done this one and I’m not sure if I’ll get to this trip, but I’m dying to stay in a Convent. Yesterday, we saw Fra Angelico’s paintings in San Marco monastery in Florence, where the Medici family stayed and Savonarola lived. Ann then told us about when she stayed in a convent. On my life list.

I'm still loving it here and constantly seeing new things. It's crazy how much there is to experience. Also, I somehow cant find my last post. May have deleted it somehow? 

The Highlights

In this town, I feel the rhythm of the birds; People seem to glide. Even the noise is peaceful. My favorite part of the city is the arches. I sit there and draw or just think. It's through the arches that I get to watch the city up close, and away, away below me. I can smell the pastries from La Posta. It's the best view of the birds.

My favorite part of drawing is how it demands for me to see. My mind connects to the world. The art is my way to filter what's around me. It has a bit of both of us.

Now, as for my week, I don't want to spend too long on the details, so I will share some of the highlights.

1. Sienna is probably my favorite city. Most of the buildings are made out of gorgeous brick in different patterns with green shutters. The Duomo will take your breathe away. There are details everywhere. Even the floor amazed me.
2. I'm not the best with communicating with gypsies. They sense my weakness and attack. In Arezzo, a man asked me for a euro around 15 times. It was terrible.
3. If your waiter gives your table a desert drink in Italy, don't take it with you. Our thinking was that it was rude to leave their gift basically untouched. But, Ann (my Art History teacher) was appalled. Apparently it is "bruta figura" to leave with the bottle, which I now know they wash and reuse. Woops
4. In Italy, siesta hours last from around 1 to 3 and all the shops close down, even international chains. People here work close to 35 hour work weeks.
5. I am in the right major. We have looked at countless frescos, but I am always interested in the ancient typography underneath them. There are many different scripts, but many have high contrast and are extremely elegant (for example, in Duccio's Maesta).
6. Italian meals have the same sense of non-urgency that the rest of Italy carries. Here, it's rude for the waiter to give you the check before you ask for it. The table is yours for the night. Our dinners at Santa Chiara consist of bread, then pasta, then meat and vegetables, then sometimes dessert. We eat for an hour at least.
7. I have Kenzie to thank for this. I have been working on my Italian bucket list. It includes eating a whole pizza, renting bikes (I'm going to Lucca this weekend with friends),  climbing to the top of the Duomo in Florence, cooking, walking to the castle that we can see from Santa Chiara, and talking with an Italian for an hour.
Ok, I just saw my Italian teacher walk by and I'm about to be late for class. Ciao!