Paradiso. Paradise.

Well I do believe that today will definitely make up for yesterday's lack of an exciting blog. There is a lot of text in the beginning but there are about 40 pictures so it's worth it!!
This morning I got up bright and early to head to my 9 am Art History class.
Today we met in class for lecture first before heading out to look at some art.
The topic of today's class (and about half of today's blog) was St. Francis of Assisi and Mendicant churches. (If this does not interest you feel free to skip down to the second half of today's blog. Although even if you are not Catholic it is pretty interesting.)

First things first. For those of you that travel, (especially within Italy) when you first arrive to a new city, the topography of the city will usually reflect who founded it. For example if the city is in a flat plain or valley, it was usually founded by the Romans. Why? Because the Romans pretty much controlled the entire area, and had a large army. Now, if the town is perched up on a hill, like Assisi, you can guess that the town is pre-Roman. It would be perched up on a hill for protection.
So, Assisi. Assisi is in the region of Umbria. Here is located the Basilica of San Francesco. The architect of the Basilica is unknown, just like the frescos inside have unknown authorship. (They claim that Giotto is the artist, but there is no official proof. As we saw the comparisons there is just something "missing" in the Assisi frescos. They don't have quite as much emotion and storytelling.)
The interesting thing about this Basilica, besides that St. Francis is buried there, is that the church has two architectural styles. Romanesque and Gothic. This is because there are actually two churches that were built on top of each other. The church's primary function is as a pilgrimage church. (The Catholic church would promise you forgiveness of your sins if you made a pilgrimage. Say you could not get to Rome, but went to another church (for example Basilica of St. Francis) when you go to purgatory half of your sins would be forgiven and you would then have less time in purgatory. If you could go to Rome, to see St. Peter, all of your sins would be forgiven. (I did not know this until today, but it looks like I'm in the clear seeing I saw St. Peter's bones last time I was in Italy!) Random fact: I'm not sure if I learned this earlier in my life and I forgot it or not, but I learned that the Pilgrims (as in Plymouth rock) are called Pilgrims because they were on a pilgrimage for religious freedom. And the definition of a pilgrimage is a journey with a religious purpose.

St. Francis is considered to be the 2nd most important revolutionary, after Christ. Of whom he bears many similarities. He died at 44,also a double number. (Christ died at 33.)
He is considered a penitent saint, which means he lived part of his life in sin, before having a conversion to a pious life. One of the things St. Francis is well known for is his stigmata. (These are the wounds that correspond to Christ's wounds from crucifixion.) Although many people throughout history have had, or claimed to have (depends on what you believe) stigmata, St. Francis was the first. Interesting fact is that St. Francis was canonized as a saint 2 years after he died, despite there being a 5 year minimum waiting time. That is how big of a deal he was during that time.

On to Santa Croce. (This is where we went with my class. I talked about it a little on Monday of this week.) The name of the church (Holy Cross) was so chosen because the Franciscans were the protectors of the last remains of the cross that Christ was crucified on. Three years before St. Francis died he rewrote the rule of order of the Franciscans. (Previously they were not allowed to build churches.) He said that if for some extraordinary reason that you should build a church, I strictly prohibit the use of three things: paintings, sculptures, and stained glass windows. This was because he felt that they were over the top lavish items that took away from the true purpose. (Franciscans take a vow of poverty. This vow makes them a Mendicant order. Mendicant comes from an Italian word for beggar.) Well, despite this being the largest Franciscan church, they did not follow his instructions very well. All three of these things can be found in great abundance within the church. This is because many rich banking families lived in the neighborhood. When they found out that a church was going to be built dedicated to the most popular saint of the time, they all wanted in on the action. They saw this as an investment. How did they invest? Buy purchasing chapels and tombs for burial. On Monday I told you that the chapels that were the most expensive, were the closest to the altar. (This being not only because it showed the family's status, but that also hoped some of that holiness from the relics would rub off on them in the afterlife and help them into heaven. It's all about proximity! The same idea is behind the pilgrimage.) Those that couldn't afford a chapel chose the burials in the floor of the church, as I showed you. What I didn't know on Monday was that there was an option for those that had even less money. If you wanted to be represented in the church, but didn't have enough money for burial, you could pay to have your family's coat of arms displayed in the church.

So this church is a Basilica. This is an honorary title given usually because there is something of interest and importance at the church. (Usually relics of a saint.) But being a Basilica also means that the church has a rectangular shape with a series of aisles. Despite Santa Croce being a Basilica it is not just in a rectangular shape. It is in a T shape. Churches are usually in a 'T' or 't' shape. When this cross aisle (the transept) appears in the design of churches, it is said to be symbolic of the cross of Christ. Coincidentally this addition coincides with when the restrictions on who could be buried in a church (previously only Kings and priests) were lifted , thus increases the space available for real estate! (More chapels!)

 

Interestingly, the church of Santa Croce is a Gothic style church. The noun being 'goth'. This derived from the northern Europeans such as the Visigoths. (Who just so happened to invade Florence.) Still having bad feelings about this, and associating the church with such Barbarians, the church was "renaissanced" in 1570. (The term "gothic" was coined in Florence.) "Renaissanced" means that the walls were white washed, removing all of the Gothic frescoes, side altars were added, and the rood wall was removed. (Renaissance spaces were to be unified spaces.) For those that don't know, a rood wall was a partition that separated the clergy from the lay people within a church. They did not interact.

The priest would give his homily from here. This was the only place the priest would interact with the congregation. (This was placed on the congregation side of the rood wall.)

Here's the door to get up into the pulpit area.

This is all that is left of the rood wall. (The bricks seen stacked next to the column.)

You may have noticed the date that the wall was taken down. 1570. The rest of the rood walls would not be taken down in Catholic churches until after Vatican Council II. (The Florentines did it 400 years earlier, for aesthetic reasons.)

 

These are pictures from a courtyard of Santa Croce.





 *********Ok. End of part 1.  Here's where you get overloaded with pictures!************

After my class I went to lunch with a few of my friends. I took them to PaniniK. (The place with the great view over the river.) They loved it, and we've decided we're going to be going back a lot!
It was even nicer today then it was the last time I was there. (It was 60 degrees and sunny today. I didn't wear my coat!)

Today I got the turkey and pesto panini. It was wonderful!

After lunch I decided that because it was so nice outside that I would head back to the Boboli Gardens. (We went there during one of my first days, but we didn't get to stay for very long.) So today since I had nothing to do the rest of the day it was a perfect time to explore!
Just to give you a frame of reference of how far I walked and how big the gardens are, I provide you with this map.

 I entered over by the letter X, then walked my way up the hill past letters F, H, and up to I. I then proceeded over to the left, to E, then C, then back up to E to go across the garden by letter D. I followed that over to letter J, going down the hill towards L and then N. I then proceeded back up towards where I came in, stopping over by P and R, then S and finally back to X.
There were many different types of paths, all over the place. At some points I just stood there staring at the 5 paths before me trying to decide which way to go. I felt like I was completely transported out of Florence into Paradise. It would be very easy to spend all day in there, wandering around. Luckily I get free admission with my Museum card, so I can go back as many times as I'd like! :) I definitely will be doing this when I just need a relaxing day away from the hustle of the city. (FYI: The pictures are not in the order that I walked.)

 

The main building you see is the Pitti Palace.

 

Standing at the top of this structure I had the city view in front of me, and the countryside behind me.

The city side view.

The countryside view.

There were many sculptures within the gardens. Some more traditional and some modern.

So happy on such a beautiful day!

 

By this time when I took this picture the paths seemed never ending and I had no idea how far I was from my exit. (There were multiple exits, but you can end up in very different places of the city depending on where you go in versus go out. So I had to get back to the one that I knew.)

Afte two hours of walking around I then returned home, completely exhausted, and took a nap. I spent the rest of the evening reading and relaxing. Dinner tonight was delicious. (Do I use that word too much? I can't help it, everything is delicious.) We had some tri-colored linguine in a red sauce, then a frittata, a quiche, and some fennel. That quiche was INCREDIBLE! I had 2 pieces. :)

CONGRATULATIONS! You've made it to the end of the longest blog yet! :)

 

 

 

Lavatrice

Well, first I would just like to say "grazie mille" (which literally means thanks a million, but it translates as thank you very much) to all of you who have been reading my blog! Your compliments and messages on how much you enjoy reading it everyday means a lot to me. It has only been two weeks and I already have over 1,000 page views. For those of you that have passed the link on to other people you know, whether I know them or not, that is awesome! (Feel free to keep doing so.) So, thanks again!

With that being said, on to today!
Today I got up and got ready for my long day of classes. On Wednesdays (mercoledi) I have 5 straight hours of class, which makes planning your lunch/snacks for the day a bit difficult.
Being that I was in class all day, I do not have any pictures that are actually from today. Tomorrow there should be plenty of pictures again, as I have my Art History class.

Last night we had the two girls over for dinner, and despite there being 6 of us, there were still cookies left over! (Yay for me!) I will admit, that after I finished my cereal this morning, I put a few cookies in my leftover milk. I'm in Italy. There are no rules!

This is a picture of Arancia rossa. Which is what they call blood oranges. This is my orange juice that I drink in the morning. It's wonderful!

Today I slept in until 9 so I didn't have breakfast until 10 and my first class started at 1, so I wasn't hungry enough to get lunch around 12 before my classes. I did however bring a couple snacks. I brought a croissant that was filled with chocolate crème. (It literally was like rich chocolate pudding! Yum!) I had my croissant during my first class. I also brought a banana, which I had during my second class. Thus, no awesome picture of a yummy lunch.

Today in my cultural psychology class we were talking about development and differences between cultures and how those differences affect development and family roles. One thing we touched upon was divorce, and specifically divorce in Italy. I found this particularly interesting. For those of you that do not know, divorce was not legal in Italy until 1970. (Obviously, the head of the Roman Catholic Church is in Italy.) When divorce was instituted, it came with some pretty strict rules. In order to get divorced, you had to be separated from your spouse for a MINIMUM of 5 (FIVE) years. Yes, years. Continuously. If you spent even one night together under the same roof, you have to go back to day #1! This is a legal separation, one that you have to apply for with the government. (The separation can be mutually agreed on, or judicially sanctioned if one party asks for it, at which point fault must be determined.) Then, after your 5 years of legal separation are over, you may THEN apply for a divorce. You are not automatically divorced. You do not have to apply to get divorced after the separation, but if you want to get re-married you have to. The 5 year rule, has since been reduced to 3 years (as it is now), and our professor said that they are talking about reducing it to 2 years and then possibly 1 in the future.
Apparently some Catholics that no longer wish to be married obtain a legal separation, but do not apply to be divorced.  Just an FYI they divorce rate in Italy is about 30%.
I can tell this class will be interesting, to look at the differences between the U.S. and Italy.

Today I also learned how to use the washing machine! (Lavatrice) Our washing machine is on our balcony off of the kitchen. The washing machines in Italy are much smaller then the ones in the U.S. and they have different buttons and settings as well. (Not to mention that the temperature settings are in Celsius!) Most homes have a washing machine, but not many people have dryers. (Some people still use towel lines, others have drying racks. I'm happy my family uses a drying rack so my neighbors don't get to see all of my undergarments!) My host mother did mention to me that she really wants to buy a dryer, but the problem is she does not have space for it.

Tonight I had another wonderful dinner. We had a penne pasta with a little bit of Italian sausage in it. Then we had what was probably the best hamburger I've had in a long time! (You don't eat them with a bun. You just eat the meat.) The hamburgers were cooked in a red sauce, which was delicious, and then a slice of cheese was put on top. (This cheese called "original" is made my Kraft.) It was delicious! I couldn't get enough!! Also, I had a very large scoop of fennel! I couldn't believe it myself, either, but it was good! My host mother did tell me before hand that she makes good fennel, and it turned out to be true! Something that I find interesting is that usually during the school year I can't wait for the weekend. This semester, I can't wait for it to be the week, so I get my delicious dinners!! :)

Well that is all for today!
Here are a few pictures of Stella. She loves to come sit on my lap the minute I get home. She definitely has bonded with me already. Today she leaned up against my side vertically and wrapped her paw around my stomach. It was like she was giving me a hug! She's so cute. :) Sometimes I don't let her sit on me though, especially when she decides to push buttons on my keyboard. At those moments she resorts to these other options.

Here she is monopolizing my chair at the kitchen table.             



And here she has knocked over my backpack to use as her bed.

La Bella Vista

Ciao tutti!!!!

Well today was just a wonderful day!

I woke up this morning (very tired) and I got ready for school. (Those 3 spoonfulls of sugar really do help with the yogurt!)

Today I had my consumerism class and my Italian class. For my consumerism class we were talking about fashion and how patterns of consumerism have changed, in respect to clothing, over the years and what that communicated about the time. (Moral values, economic situation, etc.)

After the first half of the class was over (that was the lecture portion) we left school and walked down the block to Palazzo Pitti. (This was the large palace that the Pitti family built, but the Medici bought.) Well they have many museums within the palace (because its very large!). One of the museums is the musei di costume. (Costume gallery) Every two years they have a new theme that they show with the dresses that they put out. (most of the clothes that survived and were preserved are women's clothing) They have many many things, so they have to rotate them.

The theme for this cycle (which is coming to an end this spring) is showing themes/styles/values in clothing and how they were were recycled. (How trends became popular again.)

We saw dresses from the 19th century as well as the 20th century and they had dresses from these different times presented next to each other, showing the similar styles and patterns. As we progressed throughout the museum our professor would explain what the material, patterns, style said about the person who wore it as well as society as a whole. It was very interesting, particularly seeing how the different shapes of women (fuller dresses versus slim, straight dresses) fluctuated, and what was happening at that time in history. For example when women stopped using corsets and how the current events at the time caused this change. Unforunately, you could not take pictures, (recently the collection went private) so I don't have any to show you, but the clothes were (mostly) beautiful.

 

After my consumerism class I headed out to grab lunch before Italian later in the afternoon.

I pass a panini  place everyday on my way to school that looks good, so today I decided to try it out.

I walked in and was able to order and converse with the worker completely in Italian! She asked me what I wanted on my panini, which bread, if I wanted anything to drink, etc, etc. Then, she asked if I would like to take the panini to go. While I was trying to decide, she pointed to the back of the store and asked if I'd like to eat it outside. (The shop has a balcony spot.) Today was absolutely sunny and beautiful, so I instantly said si!!! She told me to go outside and she would bring me my sandwich. It was beautiful. End of story! The shop is just around the corner from the Ponte Vecchio, so the balcony directly sits over the Arno River and has a great view of the bridge!

 

My salame and asiago panini. The Panini wasn't very expensive, so I decided to buy a coke as well. (This can was in Italian!)

 

Are you ready for la bella vista? (The beautiful view)

 

 

 

Are you sure???

 

 

Ok, here you go!

 

 

This was my view of the Ponte Vecchio.

 

This was my view just to the left of the Ponte Vecchio.

 

And THIS. This was the most beautiful view. Clear skies, a light breeze, the river, and the sun. La bella vista, e la bella vita. (The beautiful view and the beautiful life.)

I figured some people might not believe that the last picture was mine, because it was so beautiful. So I took a picture of myself in front of the view for proof! :)

 

I took this picture from the middle of the Ponte Vecchio so you could see where I was sitting for lunch. If you look in the water you see a green boat in the water along the wall in the middle. Follow the right end of the boat straight up to where the open porch/balcony is, and that is where I was sitting! I got a delicious panini, a coke, and great view for only 5 euro! I definitely will be going back there!

 

After lunch I went back to the school to work on homework. I ended up helping some of my classmates with their Italian, rather then getting much of mine done, but that's ok. After Italian class it was time to head home!

Tonight we had our first homestay dinner. In order for everyone to be able to get to see what an Italian family is like, and what a typical Italian home and dinner is, everyone in the program that is living in an apartment gets to go to one dinner with a homestay family. There is one each month (Jan-Apr) at each of the homestays. There are 5 of us doing a homestay. Tonight I had Amy and Jessica come over for their dinner. They absolutely loved it. I think they were a bit nervous at first, but my family is very funny and outgoing that soon we were all laughing and having fun. They could not believe how good the food was and left with full stomachs. Seeing as we finally had another person present, we were able to take a family photo!

So here I present you with the long awaited photo!

La Mia Famiglia!!!!

 Andrea, Barbara, with Megan, me, and Tommaso.

Do I blend in??

Tommaso was demonstrating his motocycle skills on Megan. (Her ears were the handlebars!)

These are chocolate chip cookies, Italian style!!

(Mom, you may have some competition!!!)

 

Well, I am very tired, again, from another exciting and fun filled day. I am off to bed so I can get rested up. Tomorrow will be another busy day!

 

A domani!