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I just wanted to update to tell everyone that the reason I have not been updating is that I am dying of Mono and Cytomegalovirus. Yes, it’s true. So maybe I’ll update with photos at some point when I have the energy. Sorry y’all.

Pisa

About a hundred years ago, I went to Pisa. It’s about 10 miles away from the sea, on the west coast of northern Italy, and is also on the banks of the Arno (like Florence). I had to wake up really early and take a 7am train from Florence, which took about an hour, but cost about €2. For this trip, I was with my professor’s California students, because I had a conflict when my class had its excursion. They were a friendly, California-y bunch, but otherwise unimpressive. One thing I’ve noticed in the month that I’ve been here is how much slower Italians walk than, say, Londoners or New Yorkers. Well, it seems that Californians walk even slower, causing frustrating delays in necessary group coordination processes such as entering museums and taking bathroom breaks, and they always need to sit down on a bench or block of stone when they get “tired.” Because of this “chill” attitude, we almost missed our first train while waiting for a particularly large girl, who presumably got on the fourth or fifth train after ours. Supremely appalled, I could barely disguise my contempt! But I carried on.

The city of Pisa is best known for its leaning tower. What people don’t know is that the tower is a campanile, a bell tower, part of a larger, very impressive cathedral complex. To get there, we had to first cross the Arno, meander through some pleasant Tuscan streets, and pass by an interesting square:

Above is the interesting square, Piazza dei Cavalieri, Pisa’s former civic center. According to Dante, in the 13th century a certain traitor named Ugolino della Gherardesca, his children and his grandchildren were imprisoned in the Gualandi Tower, located behind where I was standing. As the family began dying of starvation, Ugolino’s descendants begged him to eat their bodies. So he did. He still died though, and Dante put him in the second level of the lowest circle of Hell. I had a good opportunity to take a picture of the tower, but for some reason I didn’t quite feel like it.

Finally, we arrived! And I took a picture of the tower!

The first thing I did when we came upon it was laugh. There wasn’t an expected “magic moment,” really. No sense of awe at the architectural achievement or the weak soil layer underneath that causes it to lean. I just thought it looked goofy, like the magnificent failure that it is. So I laughed. And I planned to laugh more, until I was told it cost €15 to climb up it, and that shit ain’t funny.

It definitely is a beautiful structure. Worth a visit. I suggest you go. If you do, please make sure to watch other tourists’ reactions. I went in mid-January, so there wasn’t a huge number of people there. But there were a lot of Asian tourists (the best kind), taking dozens of pictures of their travel-mates leaning with the tower, pretending to hold it up with their arms or legs or backs, with completely straight faces. The hilarity!

Let’s not forget the Cathedral and the Baptistry, now. They’re pretty swell too:

Inside the cathedral:

Giovanni Pisano’s pulpit:

And that’s about all I saw. Here’s another view from the museum garden:

I hope Galileo is proud of this post.

Ravenna

My first trip out of Florence was to Ravenna, about 3 hours by bus to the other side of Italy. It is a very nice city, with a lot of great Early Christian/Byzantine art and architecture. About 100 years after Constantine declared the Roman Empire entirely Christian, Ravenna became capital of the Western Empire (about 410, when Rome was sacked). The empire changed a lot (badly, for the most part) from this point until its collapse, and Ravenna never again became as important as it was during its time as capital. As such, nobody totally blew it up (except the Allies in WWII) or changed it much, so its Early Christian/Byzantine flavor is still fairly intact. Here are some pictures:

I’m not a great shooter, so I couldn’t get the whole of the church of S. Giovanni Evangelista in, but here’s the belltower:

The nave:

It was beat up real bad in WWII, and the original mosaic floors from the 5th century can be seen in pieces on the walls. Some of them are really funny:

Here’s the interior to another church, S. Apollinare Nuovo. Also 5th/6th century, it has incredibly beautiful mosaics:

Here’s the Baroque altar:

A street in Ravenna:

A bit after this point, my camera died. So I stole some from the internet.

Here is the church of San Vitale, one of the most outstanding Byzantine churches in the world:

The inside:

Here are the famous mosaics. Justinian and his crew:

And Teodora and hers:

Outside the church is the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, with more famous mosaics.

Here is Christ as the Good Shepherd. The blue ceiling above the scene is very beautiful, and you can buy scarves with the pattern at the gift store! (I did not buy one):

One last thing. This is Dante Alighieri’s tomb. Although he was from Florence, they exiled him and he died in Ravenna. Florence has been trying forever to get his remains returned, but Ravenna won’t hand them over. My professor loves to say something like “serves them right! If they exiled him, they don’t deserve to get his body back!” True that.

He’s in here somewhere:

MY TRIP 2 FLORNECE

Finally.

Welcome to Florence:

Here is Santa Maria Novella, with a lovely Renaissance facade:

The used the square for chariot races during the Renaissance, with two obelisks on either end marking the starting and finish lines. They are supported by little turtles:

Some artsy shots of the Florence Cathedral, or Duomo, and its accessories (the baptistry and bell tower):

Oh bummer, the inside is lame:

Inside Brunelleschi’s famous dome (totesmyfavedome):

Inside the baptistry, Jesus is on the ceiling:

It’s one of the oldest standing buildings in Florence. The style is Romanesque, from around the 12th-13th century. The ceiling mosaic is astounding. Jesus is 24 feet high.

Hungry Satan:

The outside. It’s octagonal. The Romanesque architecture confused everyone in the Renaissance, and everyone thought it was a Roman temple (hence the “-esque”), because that’s what Dante said. He was later exiled. Romanesque tends to combine a lot of Roman and Byzantine styles, as well as local flavors. Sometimes there are some Islamic elements too:

Along the Arno (the river):

The Ponte Vecchio:

At the entrance of the bridge:

The river on a clear day:

This is the Palazzo Vecchio, the city hall. Outside there are copies of famous sculptures, such as Michelangelo’s David (look closely). The real one is inside the Academia gallery (side note: I have an amazing picture of it that I will post some other time):

Across the river is the Oltrarno, the less touristy area where the real Italians live. Here is an Oltrarno street:

Through the Renaissance-era city gate:

At the top of a long hill, I turned around:

That is all for right now. If I discover anything else in Florence I’ll let you know.

Hello again

Hi everyone. Sorry I haven’t updated in a while. This weekend I went to Ravenna, Pisa, and Lucca - all in northern Italy, and haven’t had time to go online. Ravenna and Lucca were especially beautiful. The leaning tower of Pisa is really silly (in a good way). I took a lot of pictures and will post them soon, hopefully tomorrow.

I just noticed that I have 5 official tumblr followers. Thanks! I’ll follow you too once I figure it out.

This site is funny. Not exactly a blog, but a collecting spot. I’m probably using it incorrectly. Whatever!

I have to go, they are kicking me out of the library…

I’m in Florence

Everything is very nice.  My roommates are quite kind and lots of fun.  It’s nice to be around mostly art and art history kids.

Here is my apartment’s living room:

The kitchen:

My (messy) bed:

And the view out the window:

That’s the Duomo’s bell tower.  We don’t have internet or TV, but we always know the time.

And further down, you can see Brunelleschi’s famous dome:

Ciao for now.