Ho perso il mio cuore a Venezia!
If you've been missing my blog posts recently, I apologize for my lack of updating this week. I think you might forgive me when I tell you I've been travelling Northern Italy and have finally come home after one of the most exciting weeks of my life.
Monday, we did a lot of driving, but we did have some time to stop in Parma to visit the museum for Parmigiano-Reggiano which you must not confuse with "parmasean". That's not cheese; it's Kraft's cheap supplement. We learned how much time, labor, and care goes into the preparation of one wheel of cheese, and how expensive it is! Well, at least when I buy the good stuff, I can say I saw where it comes from and know the difference. There was a tasting and discussion regarding the Slow Food Movement, and I highly encourage a look if you're not familiar.
Tuesday, we went to Ravenna to meet up with a group of students who toured us around their historical city. They took us to a crypt, a church, and even shopping! Most importantly, they took us to Dante's tomb and museum since the famous Dante Alighieri of the 14th century died in Ravenna. The town is very proud of it, and there is a library that boasts all of his works we got to see. It was so much fun hanging around these new Italian friends and they were spectacular tour guides. In the afternoon, we saw the most famous church of all in Ravenna. La Chiesa di San Vitale was unreal. Even though it isn't the only church we saw that day lined with gold mosaics, it sure was the biggest and most impressive. I was mesmerized the entire visit.
Wednesday was the climax of the trip; VENEZIA! Originally, everyone was saying it would be a rough day: rain with a flooded city, a myriad of tourists, and the experience would be not quite what it was cut out to be. That idea was crushed the minute we boarded the ferry. The sun was shining, the city was only sort of underwater (just enough to experience it but not get in our way), and there were just enough people to claim the city was inhabited. It was amazing. I saw La Chiesa e La Piazza di San Marco, got lost in the back streets only to find a costume shop for carnivale that let us watch them handsew wonderful masks, crossed Il Ponte di Rialto ed Academia, and got serenaded on a gondola! It was just perfect. Ho perso il mio cuore a Venezia...
Thursday we went to visit the death place of Petrarca, the famous Italian humanist. It was breathtakingly beautiful. It is definitely not a bad choice for a place for him to die! The city is called Arca Petrarca. It has a microclimate that mimics a Mediterranean climate, even though it is in Northern Italy. They also grow a fruit unique to the area called giuggiola. I personally despised the taste when we got a sample, but the trees of the giuggiola are beautiful! We walked around the city and got to see Petrarch's house. He had a very nice villa, which I discovered was only one of many that were vacation houses to the wealthy Venetians in his day. How nice! We spent the afternoon in downtown Padova which was fun. It's more modern than Viterbo so it was a change of pace for us. Don't let that deceive you though- there is lots of history there! Most notably, we went inside la Capella degli Scrovegni, a beautifully decorated chapel by Giotto. The sad thing is, it was abandoned for years and the many colorful frescoes that cover the walls were deteriorating. We got to see the chapel under renovations and asked a lot of questions about the measures they now take for preservation. For one, they made us sit in a temperature controlled room for twenty minutes before entering, and no more than twenty-five people are allowed in at a time. It was really interesting and I hope people 700 years from now can see the same bright and intricate artwork Giotto created I did!
Our final city was Bologna for a lunch, shopping, and culture before heading home on Friday. The city is really modern but you can still see the history. Bologna is home to the two tallest towers in all of Italy (sorry, Pisa!) that can be seen from the main shopping street. The sidewalks are covered in porticoes that make it easy to be busy rain or shine! It was a fun place to walk around. They Bolognese are also incredibly nice people.
Overall, this trip was amazing. I saw so many cities and experienced a whole different region of this beautiful country. Can't wait to go back!
Monday, we did a lot of driving, but we did have some time to stop in Parma to visit the museum for Parmigiano-Reggiano which you must not confuse with "parmasean". That's not cheese; it's Kraft's cheap supplement. We learned how much time, labor, and care goes into the preparation of one wheel of cheese, and how expensive it is! Well, at least when I buy the good stuff, I can say I saw where it comes from and know the difference. There was a tasting and discussion regarding the Slow Food Movement, and I highly encourage a look if you're not familiar.
Tuesday, we went to Ravenna to meet up with a group of students who toured us around their historical city. They took us to a crypt, a church, and even shopping! Most importantly, they took us to Dante's tomb and museum since the famous Dante Alighieri of the 14th century died in Ravenna. The town is very proud of it, and there is a library that boasts all of his works we got to see. It was so much fun hanging around these new Italian friends and they were spectacular tour guides. In the afternoon, we saw the most famous church of all in Ravenna. La Chiesa di San Vitale was unreal. Even though it isn't the only church we saw that day lined with gold mosaics, it sure was the biggest and most impressive. I was mesmerized the entire visit.
Wednesday was the climax of the trip; VENEZIA! Originally, everyone was saying it would be a rough day: rain with a flooded city, a myriad of tourists, and the experience would be not quite what it was cut out to be. That idea was crushed the minute we boarded the ferry. The sun was shining, the city was only sort of underwater (just enough to experience it but not get in our way), and there were just enough people to claim the city was inhabited. It was amazing. I saw La Chiesa e La Piazza di San Marco, got lost in the back streets only to find a costume shop for carnivale that let us watch them handsew wonderful masks, crossed Il Ponte di Rialto ed Academia, and got serenaded on a gondola! It was just perfect. Ho perso il mio cuore a Venezia...
Thursday we went to visit the death place of Petrarca, the famous Italian humanist. It was breathtakingly beautiful. It is definitely not a bad choice for a place for him to die! The city is called Arca Petrarca. It has a microclimate that mimics a Mediterranean climate, even though it is in Northern Italy. They also grow a fruit unique to the area called giuggiola. I personally despised the taste when we got a sample, but the trees of the giuggiola are beautiful! We walked around the city and got to see Petrarch's house. He had a very nice villa, which I discovered was only one of many that were vacation houses to the wealthy Venetians in his day. How nice! We spent the afternoon in downtown Padova which was fun. It's more modern than Viterbo so it was a change of pace for us. Don't let that deceive you though- there is lots of history there! Most notably, we went inside la Capella degli Scrovegni, a beautifully decorated chapel by Giotto. The sad thing is, it was abandoned for years and the many colorful frescoes that cover the walls were deteriorating. We got to see the chapel under renovations and asked a lot of questions about the measures they now take for preservation. For one, they made us sit in a temperature controlled room for twenty minutes before entering, and no more than twenty-five people are allowed in at a time. It was really interesting and I hope people 700 years from now can see the same bright and intricate artwork Giotto created I did!
Our final city was Bologna for a lunch, shopping, and culture before heading home on Friday. The city is really modern but you can still see the history. Bologna is home to the two tallest towers in all of Italy (sorry, Pisa!) that can be seen from the main shopping street. The sidewalks are covered in porticoes that make it easy to be busy rain or shine! It was a fun place to walk around. They Bolognese are also incredibly nice people.
Overall, this trip was amazing. I saw so many cities and experienced a whole different region of this beautiful country. Can't wait to go back!
Comments
Post a Comment