Why Florence? Tuesday, Nov 24 2009

Florence (Firenze):

is a compact, metropolitan city of 500,000 people

is the birthplace of the Renaissance

is one of the most walkable cities in Italy (most important sites are within 1/2-hour walking distance of the Duomo)

draws visitors from all over the world

has a history rich with intrigue, adventure, and centuries of incredible patronage of the arts (can we say “Medici”?)

has an equally rich “present,” — with cafes, clubs, shops and cinemas

 is centrally located for day trips to other Tuscan hill towns and city centers

is home to Michelangelo’s David, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, Leonardo’s Adoration of the Magi as well as works by Caravaggio, Giotto, Rembrandt and Raphael

has a cuisine characterized by simple preparations of abundant produce, mellow cheeses, grilled meats and a fascination for beans

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The Boboli Gardens Friday, Sep 11 2009

After two individual conferences first things this morning, we headed over to the PItti Palace and a visit to the Boboli Gardens, a multi-acre “park” that includes fountains, grottos, and fabulous grotesques. The weather was comfortable enough to make the visit entirely enjoyable.

The students were tasked with creating two separate works in the gardens: one utilizing color and the other, linear perspective. Colors in September are relegated to varying shades of green, but there were a few blooms to be found if you looked carefully.

As for perspective, the arbor-lined walks and architectural features of the garden provided numerous vistas.

More student conferences in the afternoon. The majority of the students are planning a day trip to the Cinqueterra tomorrow. The weekend begins!

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Uffizi, panoramic charcoals and artisan workshops. Thursday, Sep 3 2009

We booked out of the hostel early today to be nearly first in line at the Uffizi this morning. To make a reservation costs another 50% above the regular ticket price, so we took a chance and got there at 8:00. By 8:25 we were in the museum with hardly anyone else for the first 90 minutes. It is a luxury to be in a room of Botticelli with only a handful of your new friends.

Many hours later, we were back at the hostel. We gathered up the charcoal drawings made yesterday in the Campo of Siena. Each student identified a building on the campo to draw — we placed them in a circle on the floor of our studio and reproduced the 360-degree view that one would have if standing in the middle of the campo. The use of charcoal provided continuity between the different interpretations of the architecture and, although messy to use, everyone found the results to be satisfying.

Marzio and Caterina, both staff at our hostel, took us for a walk around our neighborhood, San Frediano. Marzio has lived here all of his life and is a walking history of the area. San Frediano is the locus for artisan workshops, some of which have been in continual use for generations if not centuries. We visited two: the furniture restorers (Fabio and Luca — third generations craftsmen) and the workshop of another restorer of wooden decorative objects.

We also learned that every stone that makes up the pavement of the streets and piazzas in Florence are numbered because they are of irregular pattern. When workmen come to take up the stones to dig under the streets, they can look underneath each of them to understand how to replace them correctly!

Back to the hostel for dinner. We ordered pizzas from our local rosticceria (pizza margarita, margarita with salsicce/sausage, and quattro stagione or “four seasons” with olives, mushrooms, ham and artichoke.) On our way back from picking them up, a few drops of rain fell, providing a slight sense of hope that the temperatures might drop a bit. The pizza was fantastic and a great ending to a busy day.

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San Miniato al Monte Tuesday, Sep 1 2009

The morning beckoned with cooler temperatures — a good day to make the hike up to San Miniato al Monte, a gem of a church on a spectacular site that provides an incredible skyline view of Florence.

After a visit to the church, we set up outside to begin drawing. Students picked out individual sites and views. We then brought the drawings together to discuss difference qualities of each.

We dispersed for lunch and then met up again at the hostel for open studio time so everyone could continue working on making books and sketching.

Tomorrow, Siena!

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Paper, book art and the Museo del Duomo Monday, Aug 31 2009

After breakfast, we made use of the beautiful Sala del Tacca, our classroom in the hostel that will be our home base for our group gatherings in Florence. The Sala was the former refectory of the convent that used to occupy this building and has enormous ceilings with intricate wood carvings as well as four gigantic windows that provide natural light with views out on to the teracotta rooftops of the surrounding buildings.

Curt gave the students a brief history of paper, then demonstrated numerous book-binding techniques with the goal of having each student conceive, design and create an individual book to be used for whatever purposes they decide: journal, sketch book, scrap book, etc. Most of them got a good start before we broke for lunch.

At 2:30, we all met at the Museo del Duomo, the repository for many works taken from both the exterior and the interior of Santa Maria delle Fiore (the cathedral, the baptistery and the campanile), the majority of them replaced by replicas. After the Bargello, this museum houses the most important sculpture collection in Florence.

The students now have the weekend off and will most likely be exploring their new home town.

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Day One: View from the Cupola Friday, Aug 28 2009

Our group is complete: 19 students, all present and accounted for in Florence! After a quick breakfast of pastries and fruit, we exited our ostello and walked directly to the historic center of Florence and the Duomo of Santa Maria delle Fiore. We’re not going to lie, it is pretty warm in Florence right now, but despite the heat, we began the 487 step climb to the top of the cupola and an amazing view of the city that is to be our home for the next three+ weeks.

Down the steps and time for lunch. We walked through the Mercato San Lorenzo (street market outside the church) to the Mercato Centrale (for those of you familiar with Seattle’s Pike Place Market, it is very similar, minus the flying fish.) We found various lunch “a portare” (take out) options and satisfied our hunger with panini, fruit and pasta.

A few housekeeping items next: the cell phone store for rentals and the store where you can buy an Italian Sim card. Then, everyone was on their own until our 4:00 orientation meeting at the Ospitale.

At orientation, we discussed a wide range of topics from health and safety to tipping.

Speaking of tipping, we launched our program with our first group dinner at Trattoria Cancelli where Mario, the host, provides a wonderful assortment of primi and secondi. Our walk back home would not be complete without a stop at Gelateria Carraia, home of the one euro “piccolo cono.”

A great start to what will be a great time in Tuscany.

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Arrivederci to Firenze and Hello Perugia! Wednesday, Sep 17 2008

Everyone turned out on time, packed and ready to walk the few blocks to our charter bus. We said goodbye to the staff at our hostel — a fabulous group of people who made our stay a memorable experience. Many thanks to Caterina, Mara, Massimo, Tomaso, Franceso, Lorenzo, Marzio and Luca. We will miss all of you!

The drive to Perugia took about two hours, giving just about everyone a chance to nap. Our first stop was at the Perugina Chocolate Museum — home of the Baci and other famous sweets. We took a tour of the factory and got our fill of free samples.

Then, it was off to Assisi. The day couldn’t have been more perfect — sunny, clear and just the right temperature. Assisi is THE pilgrimmage site of Italy and receives millions of visitors every year. Saint Francis is the patron saint of Italy. The town itself is quite small and contains numerous churches beyond the upper and lower basilica of the cathedral. We grabbed panini and pizza slices to go to take the edge off the chocolate high we were experiencing.

We boarded the bus in the late afternoon and journeyed another 45 minutes to the villa near Corciano that would be our home for the last two nights of the program. Deep in the countryside, the villa is run by the Vasta family as an international school. There was also a group of photography students from Montana who are spending an entire term here.

The accommodations were very nice with some of the rooms being refurbished right before our arrival. The villa is situated near a park and many students went off to explore.

Dinner was served outside (a bit chilly), but still lovely. Our plan is to go into Perugia tomorrow to spend the day. Diana, one of the staff at the villa, has offered to accompany us since we will be using public transportation. Several students went with Diana after dinner to Corciano, about a 20-minute walk, for gelato.

Assisi and other pilgrims

Assisi street scene

Lower Basilica

The upper church

Arriving at the villa

The villa

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