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Soo..it has finally happened. The semester is at it’s end,...

Thu, 10 May 2012 12:26:01 -0400

Soo..it has finally happened. The semester is at it’s end, I had my last final today and walked out of FUA practically crying. I sat on my sun-filled terrace one last time, said “Ciao” to my adorable record store owner, and strolled through Piazza Signoria to kiss Perseus farewell. It is all so sad, but I just know that I will be back and I have loved every moment. I know that I will miss the little things the most. Walking on my familiar paths through the streets, having the old Italian men nodding at me with a quiet “Ciao Bella”. Randomly hearing the Duomo bells throughout the day, ringing through our apartment. Even walking up to the garbage truck at 6:12 every morning. The smallest memories will mean the most to me, I know. I have learned so much not only about the beautiful art completely surrounding me, but about the simplicity of life that is always possible and less appreciated. I have had the most amazing experiences and made some great friends. I feel like I have become a stronger person, more relaxed and more appreciative of all the simple graces life has to offer.

We have all been very busy studying for finals, packing and enjoying all our own little favorites. My birthday was yesterday and it was a great one! We spent it on our last date to our favorite pizza place, Gusta. Then we finished it off by adding our lock to the bridge. Everything seems final and completed. Even though I could probably explore this city for the rest of my life, I have done so many things that I came here to do and I feel accomplished. I have fallen in love with it here and it has become another home on my list.

I just want to thank all of you for reading and enjoying my experience with me. I hope you loved everything as much as I have. Thank you all for supporting me whether it be financially or morally, I appreciate it all.

I will be seeing you all so soon!

Ciao Apresto!

xoxo

Ohhh, so I finally made it to Pisa for my last day trip. The...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:31:07 -0400

Ohhh, so I finally made it to Pisa for my last day trip. The next time I will leave Florence, I will be headed to Rome to get on a plane…esshh. Long time coming considering I only live an hour long train ride away. Kali, Myriah and I decided to finally make our way to see the infamous leaning tower. We started out with some delicious sushi on the train ride there and this Italian woman sitting beside me just couldn’t quite get over what I was eating, she was so intrigued she was practically breathing on my food. Seeing the leaning tower was pretty cool, I just couldn’t get over how much of a fun house it looked like all drooping over like that! Of course, I kinda thought the church next to it was more impressive, but there is something to be said about a leaning tower. There were soo many tourists there and it was rather comical watching everybody’s stances and scopes they were planning for their photos. I have never seen so many people pretending to hold something up…much like a crowd of mimes. Of course, we had to join in on the fun, my favorite was Kali’s with her hip bump.

All of my roommates are traveling to different places this weekend; Kal and Myriah to the Almafi Coast (my favorite of all time!) and Kels went to Greece yesterday (another great area). Seeing ass I have been to both places, I decided to sit this one out and enjoy a little alone time with Florence. Thank goodness the weather will be bright and sunny, so I am thinking the Arno and I have a couple of day dates consisting of reading and relaxation. Other than that, I have some final slides for art history to memorize and a fresco I am looking for. I hope you all have an amazing weekend! See you all soon….

Ciao Apresto!

xoxox

ps. here is the link to more photos :)

https://plus.google.com/photos/110379428940471290812/albums/5735448926736096113

Roma again! My friend Andrea and I headed back to Rome in search...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 09:24:58 -0400

Roma again! My friend Andrea and I headed back to Rome in search of my favorite Caravaggio painting sets and perhaps just some of my favorite paintings in general. After getting our bearings, Andrea and I headed in what direction we hoped was towards the Church of San Luigi dei Francasi. On the way, we stumbled into the Church of San Pietro and found Michelangelo’s infamous failed tomb of Pope Julius II. This tomb was never finished and considered one of his worsts because he spent his whole life putting it off, but of course it’s still a masterpiece! After seeing that, we made many circles around this one piazza, in the rain, looking for this church and believe me it was all worth it! The Vocation of Sant’ Mateo was amazing! The middle altarpiece is my favorite and it made such a difference to see Caravaggio in real life. The best part was you have to put in euro to make the altarpiece light up and when it was dark, you couldn’t see anything! His use of chiaroscuro is just unbelievable!

The following day, Myriah and Kels and I went back to Cinque Terra to hike the coastal paths.We thought it was supposed to rain the whole day and it was just so great because it turned out to be a beautiful day. We just wandered around and drank some wine on the beach, very productive day. My other favorite part was before we left, we went to the one town that was the most affected by the mudslides and it was just crazy how much damage it did. Most businesses were ruined and many houses were as well. It was inspiring to watch everyone working towards repair together and they really have achieved a lot, but there is still a ton of damage. We finished up our last weekend together with a little roomie night. It is coming down and we are all feeling very strange about leaving, but extremely excited at the exact same time! Hopefully the weather will hold up so I can see Florence in the sun again before I leave.

Buongiornata! xoxo

ps- Terribly sorry that the photos aren’t in chronological order, technology just tests my patience sometimes! Here is the link to the rest of the photos

https://plus.google.com/photos/110379428940471290812/albums/5734206531711219617

City of Fictional Love and the Big Pond

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:39:00 -0400

City of Fictional Love and the Big Pond:

This weekend I headed to Verona with my program. It’s famous for being the setting of Shakespeare’s tragic play, Romeo and Juliet. The city itself is absolutely adorable with it’s narrow streets and sweet little market places. The hills surrounding it were just covered in vineyards and I have never seen so many people making out within a one block radius. Safe to say, Verona is an extremely romantic city. We caught a wedding while looking around and since my program is 98% women, there was much gawking and the scenery was momentarily forgotten. I think it is interesting how this city has practically become famous because of this love story, besides its obvious cuteness factor, but it is a work of fiction. The people of Verona saw the great interest in tourists to see the setting of the play. Result: they picked a house for Romeo and they picked a house for Juliet. Juliet’s house did not have a balcony (for the famous scene) so of course, they built one. The consequence of this of course becomes that tourists flock to her courtyard in search of luck in love. The whole courtyard is just covered in graffiti and gum with stuff written on it (which I still don’t understand). There is of course the love lock gate, filled with locks and then there is the statue of Juliet where if you touch her right breast, you will have forever luck in love. It is cool how people get sooo into these ideas, however it seemed a little too touristy to me considering how much real history I have seen in the past three months.

The next day we went to Lake Garda, which is the largest lake in Italy. I really loved it here because it was so local and was very much like any beach town. It rained the entire time we were on our trip, but nothing could diminish my excitement for our boat ride around the town. With all of the mist and stillness of the lake, it was very Mists of Avalon esque, which was fairly epic. The lake contains hot springs underneath so the water is naturally very warm and because of this many resorts and rehabilitation centers are located here. The town was so cute and I could tell it would be amazing to be here in the summer! Everything else around here is getting pretty crazy and everyone is getting stressed out about leaving, so I am trying to make the best of my time left!

Stibbert Museum

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:25:40 -0400

Stibbert Museum:

And of course, I forgot about the Stibbert Museum too. Yesterday, Kal joined me in wandering off to find this apparently awesome museum owned by Frederick Stibbert. The museum is his old palace and is just filled to the brim with collectable everything! He was really into military pieces however. I don’t think that I have ever seen so much armor, swords, dagger, shields! You name it, this guy had it. The most amazing thing that I noticed was how small all of the armor was, they must have been so tiny! Speaking of tiny, my other favorite part was the exhibit of Napoleon Bonaparte’s clothes. I don’t even think I could have fit into that little vest! The best part was on his cloak, he had little N’s embroidered everywhere! It was quite ostentatious and I can just imagine this little sassy man in his cloak, wrecking havoc. All around definitely one of the hidden jewels of Florence for sure. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take pictures of the inside, but I took pictures of our little walking trip to get there, oh and of course my dream villa I am hoping to purchase in the next month, along with my little car out front.

Ciao apresto!

Easter Sunday

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:12:12 -0400

Easter Sunday:

My Goodness, I completely forgot to share by far the most memorable Easters I have ever had (no offense mama, you always make the best Easter baskets and Al is quite talented in egg decoration), but it was nothing I expected it to be at all! Myriah, Kali and I all got up on Sunday, got ready and walked down our street early to get a good spot for the annual celebration they hold out front of the Duomo. So I told you what I thought it would be like, huge mistranslation on my part! There was no fire, or wheeling that fire cart into the Duomo (that one always sounded off to me). We got good standing spots and wait for about an hour until things started really happening. There was a parade with drummers and flag throwers and finally they wheeled this huge hut looking thing into the piazza, placing it in between the Baptistry and Duomo. Throughout this process, a huge crowd forms and we become pretty smashed in there (Italians have no sense of personal space). Waiting for the celebration to start, it begins to rain. I am talking huge drops! Instantly soaking us, all we could do was laugh! People start bringing out their umbrellas and this tiny, ancient Italian woman lets us hunch over under hers all the while wiping our faces down with tissues. She says to us in Italian, “Today we are all brothers and sisters”. The best part is the archbishop faces the rain and attempts to bless the entire crowd with holy water….like we weren’t getting enough. After he blesses the cart the rain slowed down enough for everyone to put away their umbrellas. Suddenly, this rocket just shoots from the Duomo into this cart and apparently lights some kind of fuse, setting off a firework show. It was a good end to all that waiting and of course we had to finish it off with some Easter brunch, finally got some long awaited pancakes…

Luckily, I think you can see the entire transition in this pictures so enjoy!

Florence is experiencing a torrential downpour and the...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:36:47 -0400

Florence is experiencing a torrential downpour and the Florentines could not be more thrilled! I don’t know how it works in the rest of Italy or what, but the Florentines get their water supply from surface water and don’t have ground water wells. They rely so heavily on the rain because it happens so frequently here, but not recently. The city was thinking about turning off water rations at night to preserve because we were runnin’ out! Well, they got what they wanted. In my Italian class today, Leonardo was singing and dancing during the lightning storm. It’s safe to say they are stoked.

This picture is from last night. All the ladies and I went out for my friend Hailey’s 21st birthday party at Dante’s, a tratorria across the Arno River. For those of you who don’t know a tratorria is classic Florentine food and boy do they know how to make pasta here. The truffle sauces are my absolute addiction, I am honestly thinking of moving to France and cultivating them myself. They are so rare and expensive in other parts of the world, but here it is more just a regular sauce and let me tell you I will be getting as many truffles in me as possible in the next month. Everyone here is turning 21 and it is so interesting to watch people figure out what to do on their birthdays because the legal drinking age is 16 here so there is not too much excitement in going to bars for the first time.

Another crazy thing happened to me this week when I went on tours with my classes. Yesterday, I went back (for the fifth time) to see my main man David and my Renaissance Art teacher, who I was not totally fond of but is now growing on me, took us upstairs (which I didn’t even know existed). We went up there to find peace and quiet for presentations, but I also found an art conservation office! I originally wanted to go into art conservation, but upon learning how much schooling was entailed and the fact that one has to pass Chemistry with higher than a D+ (not my proudest moment), I removed that from my list of occupational interests. Anywayss, it almost made me want to try again! It looked incredible in there with all of the art under lights and tools everywhere. It actually looked like a complete mess and judging on how the Italians handle their art, I don’t know how impressed I would be with their skills.

That leads into my other story which happened today, in the Uffizi with my same teacher, who happens to also teach my Michelangelo, Caravaggio and Bernini class. This being my sixth time in the Uffizi, I am already aware of what a complete mess this place is. Unfortunately, gift shops and contemporary shoe displays take up the bottom floor so the beautiful masterpieces of Caravaggio, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and endless upon endless amounts of Madonna and Child’s are squeezed together on the uppermost floor. We near the end of our class and my teacher tells us that he is taking us to the new permanent installation. No one in their right mind, unless you were a local, would ever have been able to find this place! He took us to the snack bar, which is on the third floor, we went through this door to walk down three flights of stairs into what is practically the basement. There were no signs indicating where this place was or what was in it. I walk in the room to find Rubens, Rembrandt, Velasquez! I mean there were some major masterpieces in this place, I could not believe my eyes. Not only were these works of art stuffed in the Uffizi’s basement, but the walls were blue. Everybody essentially expects galleries and museum’s walls to be off-white so it’s not distracting and now I see why. This terrible bright (and I’m talking bright!) It looks like they allowed the curator’s three-year old pick out this color.

Figured you would enjoy some anecdotes from my week, I hope that you are all well!

Arrividerci! xoxo

Florence just keeps filling up! It’s Easter weekend here...

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 07:26:53 -0400

Florence just keeps filling up! It’s Easter weekend here and I have never seen religion taken so seriously. The Duomo is constantly filled to the brim and it should just be insane by Sunday. I am going to a midnight vigil in the Duomo tonight and then tomorrow morning is the burning of the Carta. I heard about this from my Italian teacher so I don’t know if I got the total translation, but it sounds as if this paper bird is lit on fire at the Baptistry and shot onto a cart, which goes up in flames and is wheeled into the Duomo. If anything goes wrong, they will have a bad year, but if everything is ok than it will be a good year. I am kinda hoping for the best and not willing to watch the Duomo go up in flames.

The other day, I went to this museum that held all these decorative pieces of inlaid stone, and they were amazing! I had never heard of this art and it seems to not be so popular nowadays, but it is very expensive and I could see why. All of the pieces were so delicate and it looks like total intensive labor. The little flowers were my fav. But as you all know from my younger rock collecting years, the geode display just about killed me! My eight year old self would have had a heart attack, these rocks were so beautiful. And they were from all around the world, which made them even more exotic and awesome. I will be sure to take as many photos as I can of the Easter festivities in the next two days! Hope you all have a great Easter weekend as well!

love you all

Ciao Apresto! xox

Cinque Terra….hhmm the most amazing beach, even after a...

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 12:21:04 -0400

Cinque Terra….hhmm the most amazing beach, even after a killer mudslide. So beautiful, it completely reminded me of Santorini in Greece, which has always been my favorite. It’s comin down to the end, so I have started a bucket list and am trying to do something everyday and plan my weekends up! Should be a great close to an amazing semester :)

Ciao Apresto Bellisimas xoxx

Boboli Gardens

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:47:54 -0400

Boboli Gardens:

My little friend Josiah came for his santa semana break from Madrid to come visit Florence for the weekend and it has been great. Today, we ventured over to the Boboli Gardens which has the most amazing views of Tuscany, but is all around just gorgeous. They are the gardens of Palazzo Pitti, perhaps the largest palace in Florence and one of my favs for sure. The gardens were great, kinda reminded me of The Shining, but then again all gardens with a design do!

In other news, it has been soo hot here, it got up to 80 degress this week and it has been lovely! I found my new little favorite terrace overlooking the Arno River, in the hopes of transforming my pale little legs into slightly browner versions of themselves. I have been running again, which is an activity in itself besides the exercise. It is surprising to the Italian people that women exercise, let alone wear shorts while doing it. Since I have to run past the hundreds of people walking by the Duomo and along the streets of the Ponte Vecchio, I quickly become quite a spectacle. Finally reaching the running park, the sun is so nice so it makes it all worth it.

Madrid, Prado and Reino Sofia

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 16:06:03 -0400

Madrid, Prado and Reino Sofia:

Car and I took a bus after the Allambra to meet up with our friend Josiah in Madrid. The next day we made it to the Prato and the Reina Sofia, which is the contemporary museum in Madrid. The Prato was extremely overwhelming with it’s four floors and endless hallways, it is very easy for one to get lost. This place is obviously filled with masterpieces including works by Caravaggio, Rubens, Rembrandt, Goya and Velasquez. The biggest one we saw was Velasquez’s Las Meninas, which was amazing, but I also really liked the Goya display and some of the other Spanish Renaissance pieces. We also went to La Riena Sofia to mainly see Picasso’s Guernica! The museum had a lot of other great works and especially Picasso, but once again extremely overwhelming and it would for sure have taken me a few days to get through everything in both places. Carly and I wore Josi out for sure.

To explain this coffee display to you, the Italians enjoy pronouncing my name like cheese, so obviously the Spaniards really enjoyed calling me queso! But this Starbuck’s cup beat them all out, spelling my name like Jous and naming Carly, Carolina. I love watching them struggle with this, you should hear them say my last name!

All in all, this entire break was amazing! I was able to see some of my best friends and enjoy what they get to live in everyday. I loved being able to compare and see a different culture in Spain and I really love the people there, but also the food! I was however happy to walk down my little narrow street back to my creaky, front door. I am still very much in loveee with Florence!

Ciao Apresto! Besos xoxo

Granada and Allambra

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:34:45 -0400

Granada and Allambra:

Okkk soo after a seven hour long bus ride to Granada, I finally got to see Car! I loveddd Granada, that was my favorite city in Spain that I visited. It was small, but had a very city feel. It was just bustling with happy people and great food and tapas. The first day, we just walked around, ate, shopped, ate some more. The next day, we went to the Allambra, which is one of the most beautiful castles I have ever been too! It is famous for it’s Spanish Renaissance style and also it’s occupants. Isabelle and Ferdiand, who built the first palace on the hill top and it is enormous! Isabelle is famous for supplying Columbus with the funds in order for him to travel to the Americas and there is a sculpture in the city depicting this event. My other favorite part was Charles V’s palace, which had the best exterior. The floor plan of the palace is interesting because it is a square, but it has a circular structure inside of it that looks quite similar to a miniature Colosseum. The gardens around this area were amazing, even though they had not bloomed, you could tell they take a lot of pride in their landscaping and the flowers are supposed to be amazing in May. I am sorry I don’t have as many pictures, of course the camera died half way in! I took some with Carly’s so when I get them I will put them up for you all.

Alicante and Las Fallas

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 15:14:43 -0400

Alicante and Las Fallas:

First stop was Alicante to see Madd. It was this cute beach city and the first day I was there we went to San Juan Beach, which was beautiful! Madd lives really centrally, so it was really easy getting around. The big day we had was going to Valencia was for the Las Fallas. Every year, the people hold a competition in which they make huge sculptures that represent different subject matter. Most are very sarcastic and the aim is to make fun of specific people or concepts. The sculptures are set up for a few days with food, music and stands and then on the last day, they light all of the structures on fire. It was so exciting to watch them all go up in flames, but also kind of sad because they are all so beautiful and intricate! My favorite was the prince and princess one, which was the biggest as well, but it was just so beautifully constructed. When they lit the sculptures are fire, they burn so fast and everyone gets so excited when flaming pieces fall off onto the ground. The streets were just filled with drinking and dancing and when they lit the sculptures, they set off fireworks as well! It was so cool to be in a Spanish party setting like that and I also had the best kebab ever, always a plus!

Espana!!! My spring break was amazing, for those of you who...

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 14:33:55 -0400

Espana!!! My spring break was amazing, for those of you who don’t know my itinerary was as follows: Madrid, Alicante, Valencia, Granada and finally Madrid again! The people were so friendly and the culture was very different from that of Italy (I’m thinking mainly just northern Italy, southern Italians are super friendly). I saw soo much and unfortunately did not capture all of it because my camera died a couple of times, but all in all it was an adventure that I will always cherish. It was great doing most of the traveling by myself as well because I learned so much about how transportation works, slowly working on my directional skills as well. Lots of buses, some rain, art (of course) y mucho tiempo con amigos made for the best spring break ever.

Lil' afternoon of culture

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 06:19:48 -0400

Lil' afternoon of culture:

Myriah and I went to Palazzo Stozzi yesterday to a contemporary exhibit called American Dreamers with eleven different artists. Most were installations and I have to say I have never been that wild about modern art, but this was awesome! My favorites were these little peephole exhibits were there were just four peepholes in the wall and when you looked in, there was a scene, but these things are soo small and very intricate, making them pretty incredible. One of my other favorites were the water colors because they were so delicate and she was masterful with the small details she painted. The last one that I loved were the little houses in the bubbles. They reminded me of Beetlejuice. It seems I was into all the small, time consuming arts, probably because I just have more respect for the amount of time put into these pieces.

The other amazing thing was when we were walking home, Myriah and I passed by this duet of a husband playing the accordion and the woman singing, but she had the most beautiful singing voice I have ever heard! I don’t think I have ever seen someone so close to me sing like that, it was unbelievable! Sorry, that I have been skimpy with the updates, it’s midterm week here and then I am off to Espana on Friday! I will have lots to share after that.

Ciao Apresto! xoxoxo

Art Bar! This little old Italian man runs this inky dinky bar...

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 08:46:08 -0500

Art Bar! This little old Italian man runs this inky dinky bar where all the drinks are included with a fruit salad on top, making the drink more of a meal really! I got the berry mojito and he literally ground an entire lime and smashed as much fresh mint as he could into this thing with some fresh berries, it was incredible! The other ladies’ drinks were just as good and I am sure we will be headed back there for happy hour soon!

Arriverdeci mi amores!

Siena and San Gimgnano

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:01:49 -0500

Siena and San Gimgnano:

On Saturday, we went to Siena and then San Gimgnano, which are both cities in the heart of the Tuscany area. Siena and Florence are arch rivals and the big story is the one of the competitions between the Duomos. They battled it out, each making theirs a little bit larger and more grand, but Florence won in the end. However, I thought the Sienese one was amazing! The facade was so ornate and intricate it was just masterful and the interior was of Islamic decoration, which I haven’t been able to see yet and it was soo great! The other cool thing about Siena is their horse race competitions in which a horse race happens in that huge Piazza (totally forgot the name) twice a year. Siena is made up of different districts and the people take it very seriously when the horse races happen, even married couples from different districts split from each other for the event. The event is supposed to be amazing because the riders are bareback and you should see how loopy this piazza is, not the most stable of tracks.

San Gimgnano is also a medieval town like Assisi and used to house the Etruscans. They built their small fortress on a hilltop to protect themselves from Roman invasion, however they were eventually occupied by the Romans. But the remaining ruins are still there and as you can see, they live on a pretty glorious mountain top. The town was tiny with not too much to see except for the amazing views, but also the most incredible gelato ever!! I got chocolate fondente and lampone (chocolate and raspberry) and it was pure heaven in my mouth. So many people go to this place, I think it supports the entire towns economy.

Ciao Apresto! xoxo

Assisi

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:40:49 -0500

Assisi:

Went to the little hill town of Assisi. It is a old medieval town that is located on top of a hill with not a large population at all! I loved it here because there were no tourists and the Italians were all very welcoming and obviously so proud of their town. The town is very famous for Saint Francis and his female counterpart Saint Clare, who both spread Humanist ideals and promoted peace in a warring time. Both of their churches were amazing, but Saint Francis’s was my favorite. It is very famous mostly because it has upper and lower cloisters, but also Giotto’s famous frescoes.

Assisi was so small, it made Florence look like Rome! But the other great part was all of the buildings were made out of pink and white stone so the entire town had this uniform cuteness factor. All in all, it was awesome to go to a city that felt a little more Italian rather than just a touristy area, but it did also make me appreciate all that Florence has to offer as well.

Buon Giorno my loves! Sorry I haven’t updated in a while....

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:18:29 -0500

Buon Giorno my loves! Sorry I haven’t updated in a while. It was such a busy weekend with my little visitors and then I had a presentation and paper due this week as well! This past weekend was so much fun and the girls were able to see it all so that was fantastic. On the last day they were here, we were able to go find my subject for my presentation and paper, Masaccio’s Tribute Money. The fresco is in the Santa Maria del Carmine in the Branccahi Chapel. This town has so many places to see sometimes I forget how many I have to find, so it was great going on this little adventure with them. The first two pictures are of the chapel and the fresco, which was amazing in person (as all these things are). Masaccio was truly incredible and he died at such a young age, I wonder what he could have done during his lifetime!

This week, I went to basically the square of the Medicis’, which includes Palazzo de Medici and Church of San Lorenzo. The buildings are kitty corner to one another, not to mention two blocks from my apartment. They are also on my favorite street, Via San Galo, which holds the most amazing ANYTHING! I am beginning to understand that the Medici family owned this town, literally. One of my Medici class’s homework assignment was to search for their coat of arms and let me tell you, not the hardest assignment I have ever had. I found one of the facade of this fortress that is still a government building today. So it is safe to say that they paid for much of what is Florence today and believe me, they like to tell you by plastering their seal on everything they paid for.

I went to both of these places twice, with two separate classes, my Medici and Renaissance Architecture, which was nice because I always get different perspectives. The Palazzo de Medici is the courtyard picture and the room with the chandelier in it, but the coolest room (that of course I could not take pictures of), was their private chapel. This place was amazing! Very small, but jam packed with a continuous narrative fresco, inlaid wooden benches and precious marble floors and ceilings. Add a little gilding and you got yourself the most epic of private religious rooms in history. To help accentuate the luster of their chapel, the Medici created a repeating motif of their coat of arms to border the room, placing themselves alongside God. You have to hand it to this family.

Private chapel of glory not enough? That’s why they needed their own church. The Church of San Lorenzo was the first cathedral in Florence, which is pretty symbolic of why the Medicis’ wanted it. They hired Brunelleschi to reconstruct it and created one of the most beautiful churches in Florence. I also wish I could have taken pictures inside of for you, but I will tell you it is incredible. Travertine stone, the stone of Florence, columns shoot up into gilded, coffered ceilings. Can you guess what’s also printed within that ceiling? You got it, Medici coat of arms! I’m telling you, they could not get enough. Right in front of the altar of the church is the tomb of one of the first Medicis and definitely the most famous, Cosimo the Elder. Within the Old Sacristy, Cosimo’s son Piero and his father Giovanni are also buried in tombs. Another awesome part of the visit was that they took us into the treasury and tombs under the church. This is where Cosimo is actually buried because it is right underneath the altar, with Donatello’s tomb very close to his because they were best buddies. But the treasury was incredible! They had this embroidered tapestry that was stitched from gold and silver thread by nuns. I have never seen anything so intricate and delicate. I still haven’t gotten the full view of this church, there are Michelangelo’s stairs and New Sacristy and the Laventine Library, so I will hopefully returning.

Myriah and I are going to go look for some tennis courts, but until next time…

Ciao!! xoxo

Reunited!! Carly got here last night with her other two friends...

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 16:09:38 -0500

Reunited!! Carly got here last night with her other two friends from Spain. I got to show them around Florence today, and I must say they loved it! It was great having a friend/family member come visit me and being able to show her around. We went to all of the main piazzas, with their amazing statues, and I even was able to show her my little record store and go to the Uffizi, so she could share in my love for Renaissance painting :) They will only be here for one more day, but I am so happy they made it here to see me! Car is already planning for my adventures in Spain, so I am really looking forward to traveling and seeing her life now.