Art. Lots and Lots of Art. Famous Art. Florentine Art.

This is about to be a pretty epic post, just 'cause I haven't written anything since before the weekend. Allora. Thursday and Friday were normal school days (although our last day of intensive Italian is Tuesday yay! It's been really helpful but we're all rather Italian-ed out), except at the end of the day Friday they took us to Siena's Palazza Pubblico, which was the old government builing, and is filled with art. For example, Ambrogio Lorenzetti's Allegory of Good and Bad Government. Bad. Ass. I liked being in this museum a lot because it was fun to see more of the political art rather than just the religious stuff.  I love that these old important buildings are made so lovely and intricate If I were one of Siena's council of nine, meeting in the good/bad government room would definitely remind me to think very carefully about important decisions. I think I was the last student from our program in the museum because I wanted to take some time to be on my own and get a chance to appreciate and think about everything. It was also nice because I haven't had a huge amount of alone time, so it was fun to be on my own for a while. The balcony on the backside of the Palazza overlooks a part of Siena outside the city walls, and I wandered out there right during magic hour. I had the whole grand balcony and view to myself.

View from Palazza Pubblico

Later on Friday afternoon I went for some wine with Rachel and Kate at Zest bar, which we've become regulars at because it's always calm and pleasant and has free internet, and the guy who owns it knows us now. This is always fun, although I think that my host family could probably tell I was a little buzzed when I returned home for dinner since I spoke rather emphatic Italian. I wasn't drunk or anything but it does tend to be a little easier to speak less self consciously after a glass of wine because it's relaxing. Friday night dinner was also fun because Julia had left for Florence earlier in the day, so I had the family to myself. It's great having Julia there but this was the first time I'd had dinner with them on my  own and it was a nice little change of routine.
After dinner, I went out with Madisen, Megan, and Maya, to a bar near where Madisen lives, in a neighborhood called Vico Alto. Usually when we go out at night we go to the center of Siena, around the Campo, because that tends to be where the night life is, and we know which bars we like and they're all pretty close togeather, but Mike, one of the program directors, had told Madisen that this one near her house was cool. I liked the bar itself, although we ended up just hanging out for a while until Madisen (who is rather outgoing) made friends with some Italian guys that we ended up hanging out with for a bit, and I spoke to them in Italian the whole time! There were no deep conversation topics, of course, but we talked about school and being in Siena and things like that. It was a very successful Italian language adventure. At the end of the night, we had to get a taxi but the phone numbers we had and that we got from the bar tender weren't working, so they even ended up giving us a ride back to our neighborhood, Acqua Calda. We were all a bit skeptical and made sure not to leave any one of us alone in the car with them (I walked Megan home), but I don't think that was even necessary because they were perfectly nice and gentlemanly. Everyone warns us about Italian men hitting on us (which is why we're always careful to stay in groups and keep an eye on one another) but they were never hitting on us or anything, we were the ones who talked to them because we wanted to practice our Italian. It worked out well, though, but of course we're definitely going to continue being careful and sticking together when we go out.

Our Hostel Room

The next day we had to wake up fairly early to catch the bus to Florence, where decided to spend one of few free weekends. A few  of us (who tend to be more enthusiastic about art and history) were eager to get the Uffizi, even though they're taking us as a group later in the semester. When we got off the bus in Florence we first headed to the hostel we had booked, which was a bit of an adventure in itself considering how difficult Italian streets and numbers can be. We finally found it though and got all checked in. The hostel was only 12 euros each for the night, and the room we were in was huge, with 3 large beds and one twin. It was nothing fancy, of course, but very clean and warm and served our purposes perfectly.

PIZZA

After we dropped off our stuff there we went out to wander I bit and a got a slice of pizza that was delicious, and closer to American pizza than the pizza I'd had previously. After that, we finally headed over to the Uffizi! We didn't need a reservation because it's the off season and wasn't super crowded, and it was only 6,50 which is much cheaper than I expected. Honestly, I would pay a lot more money to see that art. It was really nice also to know that we'd be coming back, so we didn't feel rushed to see everything.

Me at the Top of the Uffizi with a Dome for a Hat. WHAT UP.

The art in there was, of course, amazing. I loved the Adoration of the Magi by Gentile da Fabriano, the detail on that is incredible. Kate, who's an art history major, says that Gentile gets forgotten more than he should, since he was a contemporary of Simone Martini, who tends to overshadow him. It's too bad, I really loved seeing that. We saw so much in the Uffizi it's hard to remember it all, but of course we saw Boticelli's Birth of Venus and La Primavera, which were, of course, incredible.
I can't imagine being the commissioner of those paintings and just having them hanging in my house. I would invite people over all the time just to make them sit and stare at then. Which we did, for quite a while. I also found a few different Leda and Swan paintings, which I always think are lovely. My favorite Leda and the Swan I saw in Philadelphia, at the Barnes Museum. That one is by Cezanne, and I think it's one of my favorite paintings overall, because the form and brush strokes I find very captivating. The last super memorable painting I saw was in the baroque area downstairs: Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artesemia Gentileschi. It's a tad violent  but the light and drama of it is stunning. And I can't help liking that it was done by a woman.  We saw lots of other art of course, and I'm looking forward to going back again and hopefully being able to record my thoughts on more of them.

Me and the David Replica

After our couple hours in the Uffizi we got some gelato and meandered over the the Academia to see Michalangelo's David. This was definitely a highlight of the weekend. I didn't think that I would be so impressed with it, since I've seen pictures a billion times and we had seen the replica outside of Piazza Vecchio by the Uffizi, but boy was I wrong. There is absolutely no comparison to the real thing. Something about the marble and detail and form, it really looks like he's about to up and do something. I was very happy we went. The other thing in the Academia that I like seeing was Michealangelo's unfinished statues. The way the forms we're emerging from the unpolished marble looked almost surreal. It gave me more of an idea of exactly how those sculptures are sculpted. And it reminded me, of course, of Michealangelo's quote about chipping away at everything that wasn't David. A very obvious connection, of course,  but I think I got a better idea of how that was accomplished.

The Florentine Duomo

Later we headed out for dinner, and I had ravioli with butter and sage that was delicious. After that we headed out to look for a bar or something, and ended up wandering around the city until some Italian men, who I was really not very fond of, showed us an area that had more going on. We got rid of them pretty quickly, luckily, and eventually met up with some friends at a bar near the Duomo. Soon Krissy came by with one of her friends who was studying in Florence and some of her friends who were visiting, and we all went out to dance club discotech sort of thing. Krissy's friends were nice and the guys that were visiting were from Holland and they were fun to talk to.  That was funny, certainly the most euro-trashy thing we've seen yet. We met a few people inside who were fun to talk to, including a french guy who named all the songs  off of my favorite Velvet Underground album, and we talked about our favorite Bob Dylan song, Tangled up in Blue (he told me "a flash was going though his heart." It was quite funny). They were fun to talk to for a while, but eventually headed back to the hostel and finally got some sleep.

Me at Dante's Door Step

Today we had to check out of the hostel by 10, and we were planning on checking out a couple more things, but since we were pretty worn out and a lot of things were closed on sunday we just made our way back to the train station and went back to Siena. We did stop at Dante's house though, and even though we could only look at the door from the outside we were happy to find it. If I were Dante I would have been dramatic and above the door I would put an "abandon all hope all ye who enter sign" just for funsies. Probably would get many visitors though.
Traveling around Italy is fun, but it really makes me  appreciate that we get to live in Siena. It's prettier and the people seem to be nicer, and its also a better place to learn Italian. Florence had some cool stuff to see but everyone speaks English, so I'm not sure I would actually be able to learn the language there. Also, the big city thing isn't as much my style, Siena suits me better. I think that we're all starting to feel very at home here, and we're always happy to return.