Thanksgiving!

November 24, 2011

We had the largest Thanksgiving meal I have ever had/probably will ever have in my entire life. Everyone was in charge of making one dish, so we all gave our ingredients to Sylvia (Villa coordinator) and she ordered them all to the villa. It was funny because they do not have the same type of ingredients/food in Italy that we have in the states. Marshmellows are not like marshmellows we have.. they were special marshmellows in fruit shapes. Sweet potatoes are not orange... they are white, so our sweet potato caserole was white potatoes with pink and greek and blue marshmellows on top.. it looked a little odd, but it sure did taste good! They dont have graham crackers to make cheesecake crusts, so I used coookies. The peanut butter comes in a tiny jar, so when they only had one jar at one store, they had to go to another store to find more. Cream of mushroom soup is a rarity, so we were a little short in that department for the greenbean caserole. Our turkeys were the size of a small elephant.. we had two. For the rest of our menu, we had stuffing(oh they dont have stuffing here, so we cut up all the ingredients ourselves), twice baked poatatoes(but they dont have baking potatoes, or cheddar cheese), brocolli, asparagus, sweet bread, corn pudding(corn does not come in cans either), chicken wings and soup, cranberry sauce, sangria, wine, cheesecake, pumpkin pie(they could only find two cans, so they suggested we cut up our own pumpkin to make this), apple pie, buckeyes, chocolate/coconut pie.. and that is all I can remember. Basically, everyone made one of their favorite dishes, and the entire thing was very impressive, amazing really, given our cooking circumstances.. and the oven that has no temperature settings. It was fun to share our Thanksgiving with the Italians who work at the villa and their families!

Milan.... again

Milan Day Trip: November, 22, 2011

On our last day trip we went to Milan again. While we went to see older architecture in the first trip, this trip was solely new, contemporary architecture. We went to two different fair grounds in Milan, both of which have modern structures, and we went to two very cool museums. One was a design museum in the Palazzo del'Arte, and it was a design museum full of different kinds of chairs. There was so many different chair designs, and the fun part was that you could test most of them out. They had a bunch of other furniture, light fixtures, and ceramic desings around the gallery as well. One of the "chairs" looked like a bunch of green foam sticks sticking up from the ground in a big room that had windows opening up to the sky. We finally figured out that it was supposed to be like giant grass, and you could lay on them. It was supposed to mimic laying in the grass and looking at the clouds. I felt like an ant in the giant grass! The other museum was the Novecento museum which was located right next to the duomo. This was full of famous art my nineteenth century artists... another cool museum to see. I am sad that day trips are over! I really enjoyed traveling to all of the small/large towns around Genoa... a very neat part of this program!

Como

Como Day Trip: November 15,2011

Our day trip last week was to Como, Italy. Most people know this town for its beautiful lake sandwiched between Italy and the Swiss Alps. Architects(mainly those in Italy) know this town for its rationalist architecture(basically fascist architecture). We did a roundabout tour of the architecture in this town mainly all created by Guissepe Terragni. Personally, I was more impressed by the lake more than anything, and this cool tree we found in the middle of a main square- the rationalist/fascist architecture does not really hold my attention very long. I would like to come back here someday to enjoy the lake more(preferably in the summertime... it was very cold!) Only one more day trip left!

Caserta

Caserta, November 13th, 2011

Our final day was a half day visit to Caserta, which the best way to describe this is the Versailles of Italy. Apparently they used this castle to film Star Wars: Phantom Menace- however this didn’t really mean anything to me. The gardens of Caserta were huge, but not as huge and magnificent as those at Versailles. On the flip side, I was more impressed with the interior of Caserta than I was of Versailles. Maybe this was because it was more clear what rooms served what purpose. It might also have been because we had a guide, and it was not nearly as crowded as Versailles was. After taking a tour of the castle, of which we maybe saw one eighth of, we went into the gardens for a few hours. One part of the gardens that I was extremely impressed with was what they call the “English garden”. This garden was less uniform and had a more romantic feel. It was full of exotic plants and ponds, and everything grew naturally, it was not as pristine as the main part of the garden. At three, we finally left for our seven hour journey home. Even though the beds at the hotel the night before were heavenly, I was glad to get back to the villa and settle in once again.

Pompei

Pompei, November 12th, 2011

With two days left in our final week long trip, we went further south to visit Pompei. Once again, Pompei was something I had studied throughout school, so I was excited to see it in person. Pompei was a city that was destroyed by the volcano Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD and was preserved by the volcanic rock throughout the centuries. Pompei was different than other ruins I have seen because it is more intact and you can really see how these people lived in their everyday lives. It was a lot easier to imagine people living in this place than it was in Rome and in Athens when visiting those ruins. There were many homes preserved, full of mosaics and frescos on the walls which would not have been preserved without the volcanic rocks. It was really neat to see a clear network of streets in this city with functional buildings surrounding them, such as thermal baths, homes, markets, churches, kitchens, bathrooms etc. I have to say, although these ruins do not have as much meaning and significance as those in Rome and Greece, they were the most interesting to me just for the fact that you can see functional spaces of a city existing so long ago. That night we stayed in Naples, which I have to say, I wouldn’t want to explore much other than my hotel room. Driving through the city, it just seemed extremely dirty with trash flying everywhere and stores closed. Our hotel room was amazing though- the best hotel room of any I stayed in throughout Europe.

When in Rome...

Trip Three: Rome November 8th-11th, 2011

After a morning of train rides, we finally arrived in Rome around lunchtime. After arriving in our hotel (on the same block as the Pantheon), we had to grab a quick lunch in order to make it to the Coliseum and the Roman Forum before they closed their doors at 3:30. On our walk to the Coliseum, it started raining a little, but not too hard. I was thinking I should buy an umbrella from one of the street vendors, but I thought for sure that it would stop raining if I bought one. Once it started raining little harder, I quickly bargained for an umbrella, and it ended up being the best three euros I have spent in a long time. Right after we entered the Coliseum, it started down pouring and it didn’t stop until six that night. The Coliseum was pretty much how I expected to be- big and impressive. It was really cool to see but it was a bit hard for me to imagine what it was like in its hay day. We walked around the Coliseum for a while before heading out to visit the Roman Forum… once again in the rain. The Roman Forum is something you should visit when it is nice outside. I was too busy watching where I was stepping to really take in the sites as well as I should. Once again, I had a hard time visualizing how the site would be fully constructed, as most of the ruins are very eroded, but it was really cool to think that the ancient Romans walked in the same spot surrounded by the same buildings that I was walking in at the time. After visiting these two sites, we walked back to the hotel to get dry clothes on and to rest for a little before dinner.

infront of the forum

Our second day in Rome started with the Pantheon quickly followed by the Piazza Navona. The Pantheon was really neat to see after studying it in many classes, and I though the inside of the Pantheon was beautiful- it amazing they could build something like this so long ago. After the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona, we went to roughly ten churches around the city designed mainly by Borromini and Bernini, some of which included the Chiesa di Sant’Andrea Del Quirinale, the Chiesa di San Carolino Alle Quattro Fontane, and the Chiesa di Sant Maria della Vittoria. I couldn’t tell you which one was which, as they all had similar characteristics, but each one was beautiful! We also passed by the Trevi fountain and the Spanish steps which were less impressive then I thought they would be, and swarming with tourists. After a day of walking ALL over the city, I was glad to be back at the hotel and able to kick off my shoes!

sketching at the Parthenon

the group on the Spanish Steps

Our third of four days in Rome started out bright and early with the Vatican museum. I was eager to see this museum after hearing so much about it and studying it throughout school. My favorite parts of the museum were seeing Raphael’s work, and of course the Sistine Chapel. I have to say, they were nothing as I imagined them to be. While I did enjoy them, for some reason I imagined Raphael’s works, such as The School of Athens, to be in a much bigger room than it was in, along with his other works. I also imagined them to be a lot bigger, even though they were pretty big. The Sistine chapel was also really neat to see, however I thought it would too be a lot bigger than it was. I thought the room itself would be double the length and width and the ceiling would be a little higher. Although the size of the room was a little disappointing, the Michelangelo’s paintings did not disappoint me. They were as grandiose and magnificent as I was told they would be, and the amount of paintings covering the walls and ceilings of this chapel, along with the rest of the Vatican museum, was amazing. I have never seen such a ornamented place, ever. After the Vatican museum, we headed to St. Peters Basilica which I honestly did not know a whole lot about. I remember studying it in my art history classes, but it kind of blended with some of the other buildings I had studied. Once we arrived, I immediately remembered the square in front of the basilica (with all of the pillars), but I still did not remember the building itself. Upon entering however, I was blown away. Maybe I was so blown away because I didn’t really know what to expect, but I have to say, this is definitely tied for first (with the Sagrada Familia) as one of my favorite churches. I don’t think you can explain this place to anyone; they really have to see it in person to understand the enormity and opulence of it. The size, ornamentation, paintings, sculptures… everything… was over the top and amazing. After the basilica, we got lunch and made our way to the EUR which is home to many of the Fascist architecture buildings we studied in our Italian Rationalism class. These buildings were the opposite of what we had seen earlier this day. While they were interesting to see, they did not blow me away like St. Peter’s. The coolest Rationalist building we saw was probably the Palazzo della Civilta Italiana which is the building I picked for a paper and project for this class. So while we were visiting it, I was able to take many pictures of the now vacant building (but I could not go inside).

outside St. Peters

inside St. Peters

EUR building

Our last day in Rome (11-11-11… yes I made a wish at 11:11am) was dedicated to contemporary buildings. We started by seeing the Palazzetto dello sport, which was an Olympic stadium used in Rome’s 1960 something Olympics. While the building itself was not that impressive, I was impressed that it was built so long ago, and the design is still contemporary and interesting. After that, we headed to the Maxxi museum, which was designed by Zaha Hadid. This museum housed art all from the 21st century, so some of the art was really odd, and made me wonder why it was art. While the art was not too impressive to me, I thought the design of the building was interesting and it was fun to be in that interesting of a space. I need to take a look at Zaha Hadid’s contemporary art museum in Cincinnati now and compare them. After the Maxxi, we went to the Auditorium Parco della musica by Renzo Piano. This is a complex of three auditoriums housed in individual blobs (the best description I can think of). Although I call it a blob, they were beautiful blobs, especially the interior of them, and more specifically the largest auditorium. They were all engineered to have the best acoustics possible for the space, therefore it was amazing that such an interesting space could be made to have such good acoustics! Towards the end of the day, we visited the Ara Pacis museum by Richard Meier, and then we headed to see the Campidoglio by Michelangelo.

inside the Maxxi museum

inside concert hall

Siena

Trip 3: Siena November 7th,2011

Upon arrival in Siena, we quickly dropped our bag at the hotel, which was a little more medieval than our previous hotel, and headed to the Piazza del Campo to grab a quick lunch. The Piazza del Campo is famous for its horse races which are held twice a year on July 2nd and August 16th, and it also houses the Palazzo Comunale which has the largest tower in the city. Of course, we climbed the tower- our second big trek upward of the day (after the Duomo that morning). The view from the top was amazing! You could see the extents of the small winding city with the hills and olive groves in the background. Now I know why people think Tuscany is so beautiful! After climbing the tower we headed to the Piazza del Duomo to see the Santa Caterina Cathedral and its Baptistery. Once again, this huge church was very similar to many other churches we have seen, however I have to say for some reason it sticks out to me. It must be the layers of different color marble inside (similar to Genovese style of architecture) with the dome which appeared lopsided when you looked up (maybe it was?). Anyway, it was impressive like the rest of them. After visiting the church, we headed back to the Palazzo Comunale to sketch. Before we sketched, two of my classmates, Greg and Josh, were challenged to a race around the Piazza there to imitate the horse races they have twice a year. I have to say this was hilarious. Everyone in the Piazza stopped to watch these two sprint around the roughly quarter mile long piazza. Some American ladies watching said it was the most entertainment they have had all day and they gave Greg (who won) two euros as a reward. After the race, we sketched for a few minutes before we became too cold so we decided to get hot chocolate. Later that night, we strolled through the city to see what it had to offer. We went to bed early that night in order to wake up early to head to Rome!

Back to Florence!

Trip 3: Florence

Our trip got to a slow start. Due to the terrible floods in Genoa, our train was cancelled, so we had to call a bus company to come pick our group up to go to Florence. So after trekking down to the train station, we headed back up the mountain to the villa to wait for the bus. We ended up arriving in Florence a little later than we were supposed to but it did not affect our plans. Florence was just the same as I remembered it being from three months ago with one exception… everyone was wearing coats and carrying umbrellas. Our first day in Florence, we visited the Uffizzi and L’Accademia museums- which house The Birth of Venus and David (respectively). I had already been to the Uffizi, but I did not go to see David the first time. It was cool to see, but there was not a whole lot else to see in the museum. After these two museums, we grabbed dinner and walked around a little. The next day, we visited more churches than I have even been to in one day. Some of the names I remember were the Chiesa di Santo Spirito, the Chiesa di San Lorenzo, and the Santa Croce. As cool as each of these churches are, they are all starting to blend together! We also trekked up to the top of this hill which gave us a great view of the city- something we didn’t do the first time in Florence, and saw many different Palazzos of different families.

On the way back to one square, somehow everyone got split up, so me and Carrie decided to go to dinner ourselves and we got a sketch in that night. The next morning, we woke up early to go to the Duomo in Florence. We didn’t really see the inside much, but we climbed to the top of the Duomo (all 463 steps) to get a good aerial perspective of the city. It was even more beautiful from up there! After climbing back down, we headed to the Laurentian Library, where Lucca (one our professors) gave us a quick talk and tour of the place. As impressive of a space as this was, it once again is starting to blend in with everything else I have seen. Around 11:30, we headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and went to the train station to catch our ride to Siena.

Torino

Day Trip: Torino November 3rd, 2011

Although it was a rainy, gross, and cold day, Torino was a really nice city. When we got off the train, it instantly felt like we had left Italy and gone to France. The style of architecture in Torino is heavily influenced by French architecture, reminding me a lot of Nice. Normally, you would be able to see the mountains and surrounding hills of the city, but it was so foggy and gray out you could barely see a mile away. We did our general tour of the city, visiting churches and palaces and ending with the Fiat (car) factory building.