Un bello giorno! A beautiful day!

 

Buon Giorno tutti!!!! Oggi e` stato una bella giornata!

Today was a beautiful day! (But not just because of the weather.)

Today I had to get up quite early for my Art History class and I was very tired because I couldn't fall asleep last night. I ended up pulling out one of my journals and writing by hand for a little bit to get my thoughts out of my head so that I could fall asleep. It worked, but I still only got about 6 hours of sleep. (I really have no idea how so many people can function like that. I suppose if I liked coffee I might be able to.)

So I got to my Art History class, and today we spent the entire class in the classroom. This being because we were talking about the art and architecture of Siena, and while Siena is close, it's not right outside our classroom.

I was going to have a TON of cool information to share with you, but that was before the rest of my day happened. So, now I will try to keep the history part brief, so that I can tell you about what happened after class.

 

So, in 1267 Siena was trying to redefine itself and identify their origins. To do this, they came up with a myth stating that they could trace their founding back to Remus (of Romulus and Remus). They said that Remus had 2 sons before Remus killed him. One of the son's name was Senus; he fled Rome and went North, where he found an area that was made up of 3 hills. Here he decided to stay because it reminded him of the 7 hills that Rome was founded on. However, Senus was still young at this time, so the gods sent down white clouds in the day, and black clouds at night to protect him and keep him unseen from potential harm until he grew old enough to protect himself and build the city of Siena. It is from this story that the Sienna's colors are black and white, and that you can see images of the she wolf and Romulus and Remus all over the city.

The cathedral in Siena is dedicated to Saint Mary of the Assumption. The cathedral is well known for its excessive decoration inside, which stems from horror vacui (which is a fear of emptiness- therefore there is no empty wall or floor space that is undecorated).

The cathedral was paid for by the commune of Siena, of which a subcommittee was tasked with overseeing the project. The subcommittee was called the opera. Opus means work, and opera means works (the plural), The subcommittee was referred to as the Opera because they were in charge of all the works commissioned by the commune. Any time you see a P with a line through the middle it means that the letters ER are missing.

I recently found this picture from the last time I was in Italy. I believe it was from inside St. Peter's. It is usually seen in buildings or on paintings, showing who the patron was.

I don't think I really knew what I was taking pictures of back then, which is why I LOVE my art history class. I'm learning so much, not just about art and architecture, but also the history of Florence as well as Italy, and a lot about the Catholic church as well (that went into the art and architecture). I also enjoy when I know the answers to questions because I paid attention in Religion class! :)

 

We also learned that an Easted church is when the altar is on the east end of the church (this is where the sunrises). Most churches are easted churches. Notably, St. Peter's Basilica is a wested church.

 

Another very interesting thing we learned about was the great battle of Montaperti that took place in 1260. Florence and Arezzo marched on Siena and said give us your city and we won't tear it down. The people of Siena were held up inside their walls and were ready to give over the keys of the city. (The keys to the city were the literal keys to the city back then. Not a fake key on a plaque.) Just before they were about to give over the keys, Buonaguido Lucadi convinced the people to go down fighting and said that they should "put their fate into the hands of the queen and empress of eternal light." That person was the Virgin Mary. The people then literally brought the keys to the painting of the Virgin Mary, thus "marrying" the city to the virgin and asking for her protection. (Still today Siena is called the city of the Virgin.) After giving the keys to Mary, they opened the door and were ready to fight to their death. However, the Sienese were able to defeat the army! This is known as one of the greatest underdog war battles in history, and apparently Sienese people still talk about this battle as if it happened yesterday.  

 

I learned much, much more about the specific art and architecture of the church and the town hall, but the blog is already getting pretty lengthy!

So, on to the rest of my day!

 

My friend Sarah took another girl, Jessica, and myself to this little panino shop that she found. She told us that it was a secret and we shouldn't tell anyone. It was one of the best paninis that I have had yet, and it was only 3 euro!! You could put as many ingredients as you would like on it, and it would still only be 3 euro! Such a good deal! I got salame, tacchino, pecorino, maionese, and lattuga. (Salmi, turkey, pecorino cheese, mayo, and lettuce.)

 

 

My delicious panino!

 

 

The shop also had THE BIGGEST nutella container I have seen yet!! Obviously this is a good sign that this is the place to be! All over the city I have seen varying sizes of large nutella jars, but this was by far the biggest. It's crazy!

 

So, after we finished our paninis we were walking around and wanted to a gift for Jessica's friend. We ended up walking into a paper shop, Il Papiro. (You may have heard of it, as there is a shop in New York as well as Miami, but the original is here in Florence. There are actually 5 or 6 shops in Florence and many in other cities in Italy as well as Australia.)

So in we walk, and a worker greets us and says hello, and starts talking to us. (Not only is he a worker, but he's the owner of the company.) He asks us if we would like him to talk to us in English or Italian. We said Italian (but his English was very, very good, and we ended up switching back and forth. We later learned that he lived in New York for a while.) Gianni then asked us if we had ever been there before. Sarah had been to one of the other stores in Florence, but Jessica and I hadn't been to any of them. So he said, oh, well then you have to come with me. So he brings us to the back of the shop, and tells us that since we're students he is going to teach us how they make the paper! Il Papiro is known for their marble painting of paper, which is a 17th century technique.

Gianni was very interested in what we were studying, where we were from, and how we liked Florence so far. He had asked us our names when we went into the back area, and at first I started to say Erin, but I stopped midway and said Giulia. At which point he asked why the confusion, and I explained that my first name is Erin but its hard to say, so I go by Giulia. He then asked me if Giulia was a translation for Julie. I said no, and he asked if I had Italian blood, and I said yes! He seemed very happy to hear that, and then asked me where my family was from. I informed him that I had half from Piemonte and half from Calabria. To that statement he said "You know those are the North and South." I said yes, I know, and it's not very common, but everyone gets along. Even today, it's not a common thing for people from the North and South to intermarry.

 

So after getting to know us a little bit and chatting, he showed us I was going to do. 

 

First you take the paint (acrylic) and you tap some off of the brush into the bin (which had water and an acrylic base.)

 

Then once you get all of your colors, you take a tool (which is basically just a wooden stick) and drag it through the bin making vertical lines all the way through. You start on one end and go up and down and work your way across to the other end.

Hard at work! Gianni said I can stay and work for him this summer!

 

I'm almost to the end in this one.

 

 

Then you get to choose between 3 different size brushes (they're metal prongs) and your slowly run that from one end through to the other end. This makes the arches.

After you do that, you take the wooden stick again and you make an additional design. There are several different ones you can do. I made hills and valleys horizontally and did a few rows on top of each other so that the hills of one line hit the valley of the previous line. 

 

Then you carefully lay down the paper. Gianni did this because it is very hard. You don't want to move the paper and mess up the paint and you don't want to get any air bubbles.

 

Then you pull it out and you have your marbled paper!!!

 

This is a close-up. I MADE THAT!! HOW COOL!

We then laid it over a rod so it could dry. Gianni then informed us that I could take that when it was dry! He then asked if Jessica and Sarah wanted to try it too! So we each got to make a paper. We each had different colors and he did different brushes and designs.

Not only did we get to make that, for free, (they have a class that you can pay for at their workshop in another part of the city) but he rolled it up in tissue paper, and sealed it like a nice package. He also gave us their courtesy card which gives us 10% off anytime we shop in any of their stores, anywhere in the world. He was also very helpful and showed us all of the different products they have. We each bought various items. They use the paper for cards, for wrapping books, for wrapping pens, pencils, boxes, book ends. All sorts of things! Not only can you buy the covered items, but you can also buy just a single piece of paper that has colors or designs that you like. We were there for a good hour, looking around and talking with him. He told us to come back often, and if we ever just have a question about life or Florence that we should come and ask him. He told us to find him on Facebook and he wrote down our email addresses.  

We also learned that he has had many famous people come into his store! He's had one of the members of the Rolling Stones come in (I forgot which one) as well as Ken Follet! He even showed us the pictures to prove it.

 

 

Gianni was awesome and completely made my day! I had to take a picture with him.

When I returned home this evening I was very excited about my afternoon and told my host mother, only to find out that Gianni is the father of one of my brother's friends and that my mother knows him very well!! How funny!  

 

I had a wonderful dinner again tonight with my family. I was very proud of some of the sentences I put together! We had some penne pasta with a red sauce and some hamburger meat, then we had polpettone, which basically is a meatloaf that is filled with ham and cheese, followed by some pane toscano, and some peppers! (Yes, I ate a big spoonful of red, green, and yellow peppers!)

As if you thought it couldn't get any better, we then had a crostata di marmelatta! This is a cherry crostata that my mother made!  It was wonderful, and looked so pretty! I had to stop her from cutting it so I could take a picture first. :)

 

 

Well that is all for today! Now time to rest up for what I hope will be another exciting weekend!