Weekend in Tuscany Part Two: Firenze

We arrived in Florence (Firenze in Italian) early in the evening, and after we checked into our hostel, we still had some time before the tourist attractions began to close. We decided that the best choice for that evening would be to go to the Accademia to see Michaelangelo's David. It's the off-season, and since it was late in the day, we didn't expect much of a line. There was no line, in fact. Once we passed through the security checkpoint, we just strolled up to the window and bought our tickets. They were more expensive than we expected, €10,00 instead of €6,50, because there was a special exhibition. That turned out to be mostly photos of naked people in weird poses. I continue to be unimpressed with modern art. The David was quite a bit more impressive; there's a reason he's the thing to see in Florence. The statue is huge and incredibly detailed. He has his sling over his shoulder, rock in hand, and a look of determination in his eyes, all carved in white marble. It's forbidden to take pictures in the Accademia, so I wasn't able to get a picture of the real David, but the following day we found two replicas elsewhere in the city.
The top one is in The David's original location in front of the Palazzo Vecchio. The second is in the Piazzale Michaelangelo.
The Accademia also has a large collection of plaster models and medieval art, among many other pieces. Also on display, temporarily, I believe, was what was once a private collection of Russian icon paintings. That's exactly the kind of thing Russians hate; those don't belong in Italy, especially considering that Italy has so much artwork of its own. Sadly, I think we're all starting to get tired of it.

After the Accademia and a bit of exploring, we returned to our hostel, Plus Florence, and headed downstairs to make use of the free drink coupons we had been given. I still don't care much for wine, but I suppose it's the thought that counts. Along with drinks, there was dancing, foosball, and pool. I was the only one of our group who played pool. A busload of Australians and New Zealanders were monopolizing the tables, but I managed to get in on a game. Since I had no partner, I got to play with one of the Australians, Damian. It was a good thing, too; I haven't played pool in ages, so I needed someone to help me out. We ended up winning, somehow. I think I held my own because I had quite a bit less to drink than the others. The frequent Star Wars themed pep talks and the excessive high fives Damian gave may have helped as well.
Since there were six of us and we're poor students, we booked a seven person room for about €15 a night, and we ended up with an Australian roommate, who was not with the bus group. Apparently, Australians are travel-crazy. We keep meeting them everywhere. Many American students dream of taking a year off after college to travel, but it seems like that's common practice, almost expected, for Australians. Anyway, our roommate, Ben, was pretty cool. He went to dinner with us Saturday night.
Saturday during the day, we did quite a bit more exploring. Florence is bigger and much more of a tourist city than Siena. We got an early start, so for awhile we had the sidewalks mostly to ourselves, but as the day went on the shops, sidewalks, and tourist attractions became more and more crowded. Still, I don't think Florence had the same feeling of being overrun as Venice does. Perhaps there the tourists just have more room to spread out. We were able to use our Italian a little more there than in Venice, but we didn't need it as much in Siena.
Mostly we just wandered. There were some big things we wanted to see and in between we just saw what we found. One of our first discoveries was the Florentine farmer's market, where we were able to sample fresh cheeses, wines, olive oil, biscotti, and other delicacies. The most popular stand was one selling various pasta sauces; I bought a few, but I think the flavors will be a surprise for the people who get to help eat them.
Here are some pictures of the duomo. This was free to enter, but after the grandeur of the outside, the rather plain interior was a bit of a disappointment. I think my favorite part was the floor.
Another one of the main attractions in Florence is the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge). It is one of the few remaining bridges with shops built on it (the Rialto in Venice is another). We just used the bridge to cross from one side of the Arno to the other; there were mostly jewelry shops, and there was nothing we could afford.
A better stop was the Piazzale Michaelangelo, which is high on a hill and offers a great view of the city below. Here is the duomo from afar.
Our last stop Saturday was the Piazza della Signoria, which is by the Palazzo Vecchio, where there are several sculptures on display. Aside from David, who is, of course, a Biblical figure, most of them were figures from Greek and Roman mythology. Here's someone fighting a centaur. (I wasn't able to find the name of this one.)
The Rape of the Sabine Women.Perseus with the Head of Medusa.And this is The Fountain of Neptune.

Weekend in Tuscany Part One: Siena

Last weekend, six of us set out for an adventure in Tuscany. Siena is a wonderful medieval town about 60km south of Florence, and it is where our trip began. We arrived Thursday evening, had a late dinner, did a little walking, and then settled into our comfortable hotel, Albergo la Perla, for the night. The next day, we were able to see quite a bit before leaving for Florence in the afternoon. Although we had to do a lot of walking up and down hills, Siena is not an especially big place and everything was within easy walking distance of the hotel. Our first stop was the Piazza and Basilica of San Domenico.
It's somewhat amazing that entry was free, because the main attraction in this church is the incorruptible head of Saint Catharine of Siena. Saint Catherine is especially significant because she is one of the patron saints of Italy. She died and was buried in Rome, in the Basilica di Santa Maria sopra Minerva, but since Siena was her home, the people there wished to have her body. An attempt to steal the remains was partially successful; they made off with her head and a thumb. According to legend, when their bags were searched by Roman guards, they prayed to Saint Catharine for assistance. When the bag containing the remains was opened, the guards found only rose petals. Seeing the head was... very strange, to say the least. I can't say I understand the tradition of collecting relics. Remembering someone by holding on to something they owned is one thing, but encasing body parts in gold and glass is just strange.
After the church, we were able to visit the convent where Saint Catherine lived just as it was opening. Again, entry was free, but we weren't able to see much, just two small chapels. In the gift shop, there were rosaries blessed on Saint Catherine's head. As unique as that would be, I declined to purchase one and only bought a post card. Aside from Saint Catherine, one thing Siena is known for is a horse race, called Il Palio, which is held twice a year in the main Piazza, Piazza del Campo. There are colorful crests for each of the competitors, which represent different city wards. Flags bearing these crests were available in all the gift shops, but they were about seven euros each. My postcard, which has them all, was a bargain at sixty cents. The flags were also hung in the churches we visited. The odd mix of the secular and the religious reminded me of Venice. Otherwise, the two places had little in common.
Unlike Venice, Siena did not feel like a tourist city. In Venice, we have found it difficult to practice Italian, because even when we speak Italian people reply to us in English. (Although, strangely, most people on Burano seemed to think we were French.) In Siena, few people spoke English. It made things a little more difficult for us, but between the six of us we managed to ask the questions we needed and to get our point across. We were quite proud of ourselves. People in Siena also seemed friendlier, and I think that had to do with the greater amount of open space as with the smaller numbers of tourists. Finally, there was so much to do for free. Churches were just open; we didn't need tickets or a Siena card.
This is not to say there are no places specifically set aside as tourist attractions. The most important of these are in the Piazza del Campo- the Palazzo Publico and the Torre de Mangia. The torre especially was well worth the price paid and the time spent climbing stairs; the view from the top was spectacular.
In these pictures, it is easy to see another difference between Siena and Venice. Siena is a very medieval town. Venice started as a medieval city as well- the Byzantine and Gothic architecture are clear proof of that- but Venice changed from one style to the next over time. It is not just medieval, but it is Renaissance, baroque, rococo, and neo-classical.
One final observation in comparison with Venice is that while Venice fancied itself as the next Rome, often to the point of great arrogance, Siena seems to have been much more reverent. Depictions of Romulus and Remus appear throughout the town, and legend has it that Siena was founded by the son of Remus, named Senius.
Also in Siena, I'm pretty sure we discovered the best deal on pizza in all of Italy. For just €2,50 each, we got huge slices of pizza, which we enjoyed while sitting in the Piazza del Campo. (Which we later discovered was illegal, but no one really cared.) Later that afternoon, we boarded a bus bound for Florence.

Padova

Last Wednesday we took a day trip to Padova (or Padua) which is about 40 km west of Venice. Putting aside the fact that Padova is a city in Italy, and, more specifically, the Veneto, it is much more like what we would consider a "normal" city than Venice. There were more modern buildings, more stores, and it was much less touristy. Additionally, there were roads and transportation, and encountering cars again in Padova was even more alarming than on the Lido. On the Lido, we had two roads to cross to get to the beach, and they weren't very busy. In Padova, there was so much going on that we almost didn't know how to react; we've gotten so used to just walking wherever there is space to do so in Venice. Here, one might bump into other people (in fact, it's pretty much unavoidable) but one can't be hit by a bus. Thankfully, we quickly moved on to what has now become very familiar territory: museums, churches, and the like.
Our first stop, after making reservations for our later visit to the Scrovegni Chapel, was the Scuola di San Antonio and Oratorio di San Giorgio, where we noticed another difference between Venice and Padova: people were friendly. Inside the Oratorio, there was a statue that I, as a fan of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, really wanted a picture of.
Since it wasn't a painting, and if I turned off my camera's flash, I thought the guard might allow me to take one. He did better than that. Because we are students, he allowed us to linger after visiting hours and everyone else had gone and take as many pictures as we liked.
Despite having plenty of churches, monuments, museums, and other attractions, Padova just isn't a tourist city like Venice. True, people live and work in Venice, and not everyone employed here is part of the tourism industry, but tourism is as much a part of the idea of Venice as it is of the Venetian economy. Tourists in Venice are often compared to the pidgeons; they're everywhere, and they can't be driven away. Even the "real" Venice offers no reprieve. I'm sure it's much less common to take pictures of people's laundry in Padova.
After the Oratorio, we visited the Basilica di Sant' Antonio da Padova. That's a tiny corner of it on the left of the photo above. The basilica is massive, possibly the largest church I've ever visited. Within are housed the incorruptable relics of Saint Anthony, his tongue and jawbone, but we were not able to see them. We were, however, able to step up and lay a hand on his tomb, as locals and pilgrims do when they pray to him. We refrained from purchasing a €40 candle to leave as an offering. Sadly, we were not allowed to take pictures inside the basilica. There were many interesting works of art inside. For example, on a tomb, there was a figure of Death (a skeleton) with a trumpet, and on one of the columns I noticed some bas reliefs of ships; I think they depicted naval battles in which someone in one of the other tombs fought.Outside the basilica was a work of art we were able to photograph, an equestrian statue by Donatello. This was the first equstrian statue since the fall of the Roman empire, and it was sculpted at a time when the use of bronze was still a learning process. You can see here that the horse's foot is supported; it was not yet known how to raise one and still have a balanced statue.
After lunch, we visited the Scrovegni Chapel, which was something of an ordeal. The chapel was built by Enrico Scrovegni, possibly in an attempt to expunge his father's sins as well as his own. Both men were usurers, money lenders. The father, Reginaldo, appears in Dante's Inferno, and Enrico is shown in one of the paintings inside presenting the church to the Virgin Mary. The frescos in the church are by Giotto, and the cycle is considered, to quote the Wikipedia article, "one of the most important masterpieces of Western art." Unfortunately, some of the frescos have been damaged, but much work is being done to preserve them. We were definitely not allowed to take pictures inside; we weren't even allowed to carry our bags with us. Visits to the chapel have to be booked in advance, and each group is allowed only fifteen minutes. Before entering, there was an instructional video, thankfully with English subtitles, and then we proceeded through a sort of airlock of glass doors to see the chapel in person. A guard with a timer kept an eye on things and told us when we had to leave. As impressive as the art was, it seemed like a lot of trouble for such a small church.

Outside, there was a park, which was somewhat more enjoyable, although we didn't have much time to appreciate it. The locals were certainly taking advantage of the nice weather, though. Many were napping on the grass. The abundance of green space is another difference between Venice and Padova. Venice doesn't have the space for much green space, and is pretty much limited to the Giardini imposed by Napoleon. The public spaces are the campi, and I think they're used and enjoyed in a much different way than public spaces in Padova.
It may be also that there is simply another class of people in Padova. The city is home to the University of Padova, and it definitely had a college town feel. There were students on the streets, in the piazze, in the parks, in the cafes... just hanging out. There are students in Venice too, of course, but one doesn't see much of them. Our group encounters them only if they happen to eat in the San Servolo mensa or if we find time to go to the Campo Santa Margarita to enjoy the "nightlife." We've also been lucky enough to encounter some graduates in both cities. There were several around the university in Padova. The graduates didn't stand out because they were wearing caps and gowns, however. Italians have a strange tradition, sort of the reverse of hazing, in which a lucky graduate is dressed up, paraded through town, and generally humiliated by his or her friends and family. This might involve drinking an entire bottle of wine, carrying a sign upon which are written all sorts of embarassing things, being sprayed with silly string... The only limit appears to be the tormentors' imaginations.
In all cases, there is a song that goes along with the festivities. Video
The University of Padova is famous for many reasons. We were able to see the anatomy theater, and the doorway of the room where Galileo taught.
Link
One popular part of the tour was the statue of Elena Cornaro Piscopia, the first woman to graduate from the university of Padova, or, for that matter, any university.
All in all, it was a really cool day, and I think you can see why it took me awhile to write about it. I'd like to go back, if I get the chance, if only for a change of atmosphere and to do some shopping.

Teaser

Bus from Florence to Pisa: €6,10, 3 hours

Cab to bus station: €15,00, 10 minutes

Bus from Pisa to Lucca: €2,80, 1 hour

Bus from Lucca to Florence: €5,30, 2 hours

Train from Florence to Venice: €37,00, 3.5 hours

Visit to the Leaning Tower of Pisa: €15,00, 15 minutes

Climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa in driving rain and gale-force winds, getting from Florence to Pisa and Pisa to Venice despite a train strike, and still making it back before the last vaporetto to San Servolo: Priceless

Halloween on the "Abandoned" Islands

On Halloween, those of us not traveling to London rose early (for a Saturday) and headed off to the Laguna Nord (North Lagoon) to visit some of the more remote Venetian islands. Murano is fairly well known, thanks to its glass factories, but less well known are the islands beyond, Burano, Mazzorbo, and Torcello.

(Google Maps)

Burano is home to several tourist shops, mixing lace- the local speciality- with the usual glass, opera masks, and assorted trinkets, but overall the streets are residential and quiet. Burano is less crowded and generally feels more open than the main island. The colorful buildings make it seem almost tropical, fanciful and very welcoming. Mazzorbo is much the same. It's connected to Burano by a bridge, but in the interest of time we limited ourselves to taking pictures from the vaporetto.
As much as Burano felt was different from the main island, Torcello was like another place altogether. We arrived by vaporetto with a rush of other tourists, and headed along a red brick path to the one real attraction on the island - La Chiesa de Santa Maria Assunta. It felt like a pilgramage, walking through a swamp to reach the cathedral. On the way, we passed a small hotel, two restaurants, and two souvenir kiosks. In all, I counted only four non-tourists on the island. According to link although Torcello was once a thriving port, with a population of 50,000 at its height, but today it's mostly marshland and only twenty-two people live there. Aside from the church and museum, the only attractions were the Ponte del Diavolo (devil's bridge), some ruins and a big marble chair, and several cats.
On the way to Burano, we passed some deserted islands, home only to ruins.
Considering how crowded and busy other parts of Venice are, that seemed very strange to me, so I decided to consult the internet and see what I could learn about them. Instead, my search for "abandoned islands Venice" yielded information about Burano, Mazzorbo, Torcello, San Francesco del Deserto, Lazzaretto Nuovo, Le Vignole, San Lazzaro, and San Michele. Aside from San Michele, the cemetery island, all of these islands are inhabited, and San Michele is hardly abandoned; when we visited, there was a guard on duty and all of the graves were decorated with fresh flowers. San Francesco del Deserto is so named because it was once deserted, but it is no longer. I don't think the websites I found were trying to be deliberately misleading; they were just for people searching for something else. Instead of ruins, they are trying to offer an "authentic" Venice, a getaway from the bustle of the highly touristic areas. If Venice is like Disneyland, the outlying islands are like the resorts nearby.