Florence,
Tuscany,
Italy
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Day 19 (M) Forgot something from Sunday, I tried to buy a cool Rome jacket but I didn't couldn't zip there XXL over my chest. I didn't go to CAPA early today I needed the extra sleep after my weekend. Monday mornings are so much easier when you look forward to the class (art history) who would have ever thought I would get excited about going to an art class. We meet on the steps of the Duomo. We talked about the building of the dome. He showed us how the Duomo was originally suppose to be much small there are small pillars and the windows are very close during construction the Plague struck halting construction for 20 years. Afterwards they changed the plan to show Florentine triumph over the plague. They wanted to make the largest church that the world had ever seen. Brunelleschi the guy that had lost the competition for the baptistery doors, study in Rome for years and visited the churches in Bethlehem and Jerusalem returned to Florence to solve the problem of making a dome big enough to cover the hole in the ceiling of the Duomo. There had been a hole for a long time because no one could come up with a method of supporting the dome. The wool guild in charge of the finances for the Duomo laughed at him and to bring shame to him called for another competition this time for the dome. Everyone that came had ideas that were not possible. Then Brunelleschi got the last turn he pulled out an egg and said who ever can get this egg to stand on its vertical axis should win. No one could do it and then Brunelleschi took the egg crushed the bottom slightly. Everyone said well if we know that we could have done that then we could have won. Then Brunelleschi said well if you had done the same studying that I have done then you would know how to build the dome. Brunelleschi modeled the dome after an egg and a wine barrel. Two shells like an egg and ribs pulled together with a chain like a wine barrel. Also the dome has religious meaning, the dome has 8 sides. This represents Christ's rebirth also called the 8th day, and it is said that is the day that saved souls will live in for eternity. The other meanings come from ancient Rome. The dome is believed to be the shapes of the heavens because if you were to stand in an open field and turn around in a circle the sky would appear to make a dome around you. The other comes from domus dei- domicile- dome, basically meaning house of God. So when the time in mass came for communion, Christ would come to life on the high alter underneath the dome, his house on earth, ascending up into the heavens (the dome) and creating the 8th day (the 8 sides of the dome). I found this absolutely fascinating that you could tie so much meaning into architecture. Next we went to the Medici palace to see the private chapel/political room of Cosmos. The room came to be after Cosmos needed a place to put the alter that the Pope had given to Cosmos. The Medici were the personal bankers of the Pope. The Medici belonged to a secret fraternity of the Magi and they reenacted the story of the three magi going to see the Christ child every 5 years. The walls of the room were painted with frescos to show both this story, Medici power/ importance, and the festival they put on. The painting is on three walls and the three magi one on each wall shown as the three ages of man. On the first wall Cosmos was painted next to his son that was passing him on a horse showing the continuous power of the family saying his son will take over for him one day. Behind them is Fernando the third generation Medici showing the three ages of Medici and that there power will continue. They also had there friends painted into the fresco the Dukes of allied kingdoms including the Duke of Milan were behind the Medici showing that they backed the families control of the republic government. To show world importance a few years earlier Cosmos had funded a counsel to combine eastern orthodox with Catholicism. The second magi is the King of the Byzantine Empire and the third was the patriarch of the eastern orthodox religion. Also he depicted all the animals that he brought in for the festival from all over the world, all of them heading toward the high altar with Mary holding Christ. The painter was Benozzo Gozzoli, he painted him self in the third panel holding his hand out to say look at what I did. The paintings had jewels glued to them to make them look like tapestries the art of Kings. This represented that even though the Medici were not Kings they had the same power but just like a painting would last longer than a tapestry, Medici power would out last that of the Kings in other areas. Even the outside of the palace had symbolism. The bottom resembles the Palazzo Vecchio where the government was making people question where the true power was. The courtyard was semi-public and had the banking offices and in the middle of the courtyard stood Donatello's bronze David. It was a very full day in class, and very interesting. For lunch I went to a local food stand and got a braised beef panino it was very good. For dinner we went to the girls apt. and they cooked for us. The girls I'm referring to are Jennifer, Emily, Allison, and Brittney, you will see them when I get Ti and Dru's pictures.
Day 20 (T) Woke early and went to Demis and then searched for hostels in Naples and Amalfi for this weekend. We are headed to Capri, Pompeii, and the Amalfi coast. We had a quiz in life and culture I missed 1 ½ questions. I walked back to the apt. to do laundry. Then we meet Lorenzo with a bunch of other people in Fiesole for a hike and pizza. The hike was fun and it provided amazing views of the city and surrounding countryside but I forgot my camera so you will have to wait until I get my pictures from Ti. Near the top there was a very cool cave that we got to explore. He then walked us to the town and took us to his Uncle's pizzeria. There were 6 of us at the table and we got 5 pizzas to share. My to favorites were the pizza with a cream sauce with tomatoes and zucchini flowers and the other had a different cheese with procuitto and a bunch of spices very good. Then for dessert I had the best Tiramisu ever. Then we took the bud back to the apt. and I started a new load of laundry.
