Month: December 2017

Italy Part 5 – Highlights of Venice

On December 31, 2017

After the crazy traffic in Rome and the hustle and bustle of Florence, the charm of the canals and the lack of vehicular traffic in Venice was a welcome change. We stayed at the Hotel Giorgione near the Ca’d’Oro vaporetto stop and easy walking distance to Realto and other areas.

The churches and the art were very different from what we had seen in Rome and Florence. From my novice art perspective, I thought much of it was dark and heavy. A good example is the Scuola Grande di San Rocco, which is a lay confraternity, that highlights the works of Tintoretto, among others.

Scuola Grande di San Rocco

Interior of Scuola Grande di San Rocco

Ceiling

Lights and Chairs – Main Floor

Another church we visited was the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, which is a Franciscan cathedral. The exterior is plain, but the interior has artworks from a number of different artists, as well as various tombs. The highlight for me was the painting above the altar called the Assumption of the Virgin by Titian.

Frari Cathedral interior – see the painting peeking through the altar partition.

The Assumption of the Virgin by Titian (1518)

You can’t go to Venice without taking a gondola ride. Traveling down the small canals and then into the Grand Canal in a gondola gives you a whole different perspective of the city. The weather was quite cloudy, but still pleasant on the water.

Under a bridge

Entry door on the canal

Entering the Grand Canal

In the Grand Canal

In the Grand Canal

One of the most crowded areas was Piazza San Marco. Take the time to go into the Basilica di San Marco. No pictures are allowed, but note the altar piece. The front is quite plain, but the back side, which can be rotated to face out, is a magnificent jeweled and gold piece. There’s a story behind it, but I won’t ruin the surprise for you.

Basilica di San Marco

The Dock at San Marco

The Doge’s Palace is interesting. It is the residence of the Doge, but also includes various institutional chambers, prison cells, and a wonderful balcony that overlooks the piazza and gives a great view of the St. Mark’s Clock Tower. It’s quite a show then the clock rings, so don’t miss it.

The Square from the balcony of the Doge’s Palace

The Clock Tower from the balcony of the Doge’s Palace

One of the lesser known museums we visited was the Guggeneheim Collection. This is the collection of Peggy Guggeneheim that resides in what was her home in Venice. In addition, the exhibits include several other acquisitions. It features artists in Cubism, Futurism, Metaphysical Painting, and American Abstract Expressionism, among others.

Let’s take a pictorial walk around Venice.

First glimpse of Venice from the train station

One of the many bridges

Masks

More Masks

Even more masks

Canal

Fire Department

Realto Market

Realto Market

Beautiful Glass

Everything comes in by boat

Wooden Bridge

One of the highlights of my trip was the afternoon I spent in Burano with two friends. Far removed from the crowds of Venice, this laid back island was not only beautiful with all its brilliant colors, but a great place to recharge.

Bicycle in Burano

Burano

Colorful houses – Burano

Burano – Near the ice cream shop

Burano

Water Taxi to the airport and back to reality!

Water taxi back to the airport (early morning)

Part 4 – Florence – Uffizi, Basilica di San Lorenzo, San Lorenzo Market, Galileo Museum and the View from St. Michaels

By Pam Q.

On December 28, 2017

In Destinations

This fall I took a great trip to Rome, Florence, and Venice. This is part 4 covering Florence. Part 5 will show the highlights of Venice.

The Uffizi Gallery has so many wonderful pieces, we needed a comprehensive lecture on Renaissance art to help us understand what we were going to see. This is one place to brave the long lines and exhausting overload of art. It is definitely worth it. I’ll confess that I’ve never studied art history, but armed with our knowledge from the lecture and accompanied by two others on our tour who knew a lot more than I did, I was excited that even I could see some of the key points.

The religious works start out very one dimensional with stern faces and unnatural features. Many times, each aspect of the work is in it’s own ornate fame. Over time, the pictures add dimension and proportion, and become much more life-like. You begin to see emotion.

The Ognissanti Madona by Giotto (1310)

Annunciation by Simone Martini and Lippo Memmi (1303)

La Primavera by Botticelli (1477)

The Birth of Venus by Botticelli (1482)

One of my favorite pictures is this one by Michelangelo. This is the only Michelangelo painting in Florence. Unlike so many of the paintings, this work appears to have the holy family is in a casual public setting – except perhaps for the nude males in the background.

Doni Tondo by Michelangelo (1506)

Basilica di San Lorenzo was a surprise for me. The exterior of this church is very plain, but the inside is beautiful and much simpler than many of the churches we saw. The Basilica, partially built under the direction of Filippo Brunelleschi is the burial place of the principal members of the Medici family. Attached is a little museum with some interesting artifacts.

Basilica di San Lorenzo exterior

Basilica di San Lorenzo interior

A couple of blocks away is the San Lorenzo Market which is an indoor market, similar to the indoor markets in many major U.S. cities. On the upper floor are restaurants where you can get a meal or a snack. The area surrounding the market is also home to a large street market with many leather and other vendors.

San Lorenzo Market

If you like science and instruments, the Galileo Museum (located near the Arno River) is a nice way to spend a couple of hours. The museum contains one of the major collections of scientific instruments primarily from the two dynasties that ruled Florence – the Medici and the House of Lorraine. The exhibits cover astonomy, navigation, globes and maps, warfare, medicine, mechanics, among others. A highlight of the museum is the exhibit of the instruments built by Galileo.

If you cross the Arno River and go to the other side, you can climb the many steps up to the Piazzale Michelangelo (St. Michaels) for a stunning view of the city. On the way to get to the starting point of the hike up the hill, you have to pass through an opening in the ancient wall of the City of Florence. From the top you can trace a large part of the wall as it snakes across the landscape. Of course, you will have no trouble finding the Duomo from your perch.

Opening in the wall for cars and people

The wall from Piazzale Michelangelo

The view from Piazzale Michelangelo

Another view from the Piazzale Michelangelo

Next stop – Venice (Part 5 of my trip to Italy).

Part 3 – Florence – Winery, Accademia, Duomo, Food, Gelato, and Leather

By Pam Q.

On December 11, 2017

In Destinations

This fall I took a great trip to Rome, Florence, and Venice. This is part 3 covering Florence. Future posts include more highlights of Florence and Venice.

On the way to Florence, we stopped for lunch at the Castel Vicchiomaggio winery in the Chianti region of Tuscany. High on the top of a hill, the views were amazing, and the wine was to die for! Eventually, we all made it back onto the bus and continued on to Florence. We stayed at the Hotel Cavour, which was a modern hotel within easy walking distance of all the attractions.

The view from the winery

The view from the winery

Our first tour in Florence was the Accademia, home to Michelangelo’s sculpture, The Statue of the David (1504). The Accademia has a lot of historical pieces and is a bit low key, until you turn the corner and at the far end of the room, with dramatic lighting and a raised ceiling, is the Statue of the David.

The Statue of the David

The Statue of the David

The Statue of the David

The word magnificent doesn’t do it justice. Carved from one piece of white marble, Michelangelo was the third sculptor to work on the piece. It was originally commissioned by the Opera del Duomo for the Cathedral of Florence (the Duomo) to be part of a group of sculptures that was to decorate the building 40 feet in the air. This explains why the statue is 14 feet tall and certain features are outsized to support the structure and be seen from a distance.

Declaring the work too perfect to be high up on the Cathedral, it was on display outdoors in the Piazza della Signora until 1873, when it was moved to the Accademia. The exhibit also has some interesting unfinished pieces by Michelangelo, which give a perspective on how the artist approached his work.

The next day we toured the Baptistery, Duomo Cathedral, Duomo Museum, and the Workshop. The Duomo (also known as the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore) was built in the 13th and 14th century adjacent to the smaller church called the Baptistery. The famous dome, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi was added in the 15th century. The interior, especially the artwork in the dome is beautiful. It seemed wherever you went in Florence, you had a glimpse of the Duomo.

The Baptistry

Ceiling in the Baptistry

The Duomo

Ceiling in the Duomo Dome

Ceiling in the Duomo Dome

Glimpses of the Duomo are everywhere.

The Duomo Museum has a wonderful collection of art including works of Michelangelo, Luca della Robbia, and Donatello. It is definitely worth a visit. My favorite part of the museum was the workshop where the beautiful marble columns and other marble components of the Duomo are repaired. A man whose father and grandfather worked in the workshop before him showed us the tools and the process of repairing a marble column. They still use the same tools their forefathers used (with the addition of a couple of modern power tools), but also the same tools the sculptors used when creating their masterpieces.

Florence is not just about art. The food is incredible. For me the most exciting food discoveries were the GROM gelato place and the Starbene Gold Bakery. Both were 100% gluten free, which is magic to the ears of someone with celiac disease, who can’t have a speck of gluten or risk sickness. Let’s just say the woman who ran the bakery and I become fast friends.

Starbene Gold

Florence is known for its leather shops and they are everywhere, both in shops and street vendors. Some are good quality and others are not as good. Our tour guide told us about the leather school (Scuola del Cuoio) that is located on the grounds of the Franciscan Monastery of Santa Croce. After World War II, one of the friars decided to start the school to pass on leather skills to orphaned children so they would have a way to support themselves. Today the students are underprivileged residents of Florence. If you are looking for leather goods, this is the place to go. Not only can you watch the goods being made, but the craftsmanship is beautiful. Here are some pictures from the cases along with a picture of the small wallet I purchased.

See Part 4 for more on Florence and Part 5 for Venice.

Italy – Part 2 – The Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, and Local Sites

By Pam Q.

On December 4, 2017

In Destinations

This fall I took a great trip to Rome, Florence, and Venice. This is Part 2 covering more sites in Rome. Future posts include Florence and Venice.

One of the highlights of my time in Rome was the visit to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. Our group had a private tour after hours and it was amazing! There were just 24 of us, including our terrific guide. The museum was deserted except for a handful of security guards, and eerily quiet. We took a leisurely tour of the museum as our guide discussed the history and pointed out interesting aspects of the artworks. Here are some scenes.

Fresco at the Vatican Museum

Ceiling at the Vatican Museum Gallery of Maps

Vatican Museum

Gallery of Maps Vatican Museum – Paintings of topographical maps based on drawings by Ignazio Danti

The highlight of the tour was the 45 minutes we spent in the Sistine Chapel. It was dark outside and we had the Chapel to ourselves. The guard unexpectedly allowed us to take pictures without flash. I just had my iphone, but was able to get some reasonably good shots despite the low lighting. Michelangelo worked on the ceiling from 1508-12.

Creation of Adam – Sistine Chapel

Downfall of Adam and Eve and Expulsion from the Garden – Sistine Chapel

The Prophet Isaiah – Sistine Chapel

This is the view from the Pope’s entrance. The paintings on the ceiling get progressively larger as they move further from the entrance. Some say the effect was deliberate so that all the pictures would look the same size to the Pope, but others say that Michelangelo was being pressured to finish and the last pictures were larger and with less detail in response to this demand. Your guess is as good as mine, but I’m inclined to go with the second explanation after looking at the incredible detail in the early pictures, and the obvious lack of detail in some of the later ones.

Sistine Chapel Ceiling from Pope’s Entrance

Painted on the altar end of the chapel is Michelangelo’s fresco called The Last Judgment (1534-1541).

The Last Judgment – Sistine Chapel

Detail – The Last Judgment – Sistine Chapel

The next day I visited St. Peter’s Basilica with some friends from the group. Right inside St. Peter’s is Michelangelo’s Pietà (1498-99). It’s hard to get a good picture because of the protective glass. It’s a beautiful sculpture. Although quite crowded, we were able to see many parts of the basilica. Despite the basilica’s grandeur, I found it to be wonderfully serene.

Pieta – Michelangelo – St. Peter’s

St. Peter’s Basilica

Altar – St. Peter’s

Altar of Transfiguration – Raphael (1520) – St. Peter’s

St. Peter’s Basilica

St. Peter’s Basilica

On the walk back from St. Peter’s to our hotel, we stopped at the Local Outdoor Market. The market contained a bounty of fresh produce and fruits, meats, cheeses, liquors, spices, clothing, crafts, flowers, and much more.

Local Market – Rome

Local Market – Rome

Off to Florence and Venice!