The Painting of the World

...Another "Light in the Piazza" lyric. It's hard to resist because when I first arrived in Florence on friday, I had the score stuck in my head while taking in the beauty of the city. I love the fact that Florence is such a small city, but is so jam packed with history and art you could wander around for hours and days and years and never be able to take it all in.

I traveled with two friends from Accademia and we stayed at a hostel in Piazza de Pitti, located just beyond the Ponte Vecchio. The first night we just strolled around and had a wonderful dinner. It was great to explore the city without a map and stumble upon beautiful piazzas and monuments at night. Saturday we went to the Duomo and saw Michelangelo's David. My parents would be excited to know that there was an incredible Mapplethorpe gallery at the museum that was placed carefully to echo the art that he was inspired by, such as the David.

More on the Mapplethorpe exhibit

Later that day I met up with Jessica from SLC and saw a few more people from home. It was great to see people that I've missed from SLC and to also meet new people who go to college in the states. We ate more good food and went to some pubs. We had an especially hilarious waiter who made fun of Jessica and gave us free limoncello :-)

The only downside of Florence was that it was flooded with tourists. Especially young American students studying abroad (guilty as charged). It was difficult to find authentic anything - all of the stores and restaurants were about making a buck off of us. Once you look beyond that though, you can see the architecture and atmosphere that makes the city more than worthwhile. Can't wait to go back.

Here are some photos!

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A building we thought was the Duomo... we were wrong. Still pretty!

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River

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At night

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Tristan and Josh

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Carousel in Piazza della Repubblica

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From Ponte Vecchio

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THE Duomo.

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Hillary inside the Duomo

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Back wall of the Duomo

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Candles

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Piazza della Santissima Annunziata

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Another view of the Duomo

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Ponte Vecchio at sunset

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Another

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Piazza near our hostel

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At night

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il mio latte

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Cute little girl eating a chocolate croissant

The Beauty is...

Our first week here has been a whirlwind. Though there are so many things I could write about my classes and I'll take the time to do that in another post. For now, I wanted to mention some of the wonderful things I've noticed about Arezzo.

For one thing, I was told that when I visited Italy I should beware of... how should I say it... my role as a tourist - a young American girl for that matter. Well, maybe this is the case in larger cities, but in Arezzo, you begin to realize that this is home to many people. It's got the very personal, quaint qualities of a small town like my own, but also the spirit of an urban city. The citizens of Arezzo seem to tolerate, and in many cases, are very outwardly friendly to us Americans.

But what is even more special about Arezzo is the culture of the city itself. Though Monica warned us that besides the Giostra del Saracino the city is pretty much a ghost town, there seems to be a lot going on - often when you don't look for it. For instance, a couple days ago a street festival was going on in town. It was the first time I took a good hour to wander around by myself before meeting up with others. There were tents full of food and sweets - including licorice rope, marzipan, gummies, sweet pralines, dates, olives, dried fruit, sausage, entire pig carcasses, endless cheese, bread, and pastries. There were booths selling belts, boots, sparkly tops, jackets, shoelaces, toys, glasses, jewelry, and cheap nail polish. There were also several demonstrations for a George Foreman type grill that seemed to attractive a large crowd. I bought a few things: some pumpkin seeds, nail polish and a nutella crepe.

It's worth noting that I attempted to buy olives by weight... I tried to copy the person in front of me, but it soon became apparent that I was an American and had no idea what I was doing. The guy selling olives was very excited to hear that I was from "New York City" and said something something "bella" and insisted that I take the olives for free, which was very nice. Interestingly, about 10 minutes prior to this experience, I was bombarded by two young girls asking me questions in Italian, to which I had to shrug and say "Uh... Sono Americana!", which made them giggle and say "scusi, scusi". It has been wonderful to be able to experience the city without having to announce that I'm a tourist. And by no means have I been treated like one.

Last night we went into the city for dinner. As soon as we entered the walls of the city, we encountered what looked like local teens playing with their garage band in the square outside the duomo. They were really good and attracted quite the crowd! A couple minutes later in a different part of town, we saw a makeshift stage that was constructed for a children's dance recital. After dinner, we stopped for a moment to enjoy this city that seems to thrive on young people presenting their work right in the middle of the city.

Tonight is a mass that we've been told attracts people from all corners of the Arezzo, so I'm sure it will be another great example of how this city is alive and well.

Villa Godiola

ADA is housed in Villa Godiola on a hill outside the city of Arezzo. It has been used time and time again as an educational center of the arts - our Tarantella teacher attended university here! Interestingly, the children of Cosimo de' Medici were tutored in this villa as well. It was built in 1391 (and I thought our colonial house in Connecticut was old!).

Read more about Villa Godiola here

Here are some photos I've taken around the Villa:

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The front of the Villa

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View from the top of the teatrino

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View from the hammock

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Hall inside

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Entrance room

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View from the teatrino at night

Pictures from Arezzo (Part 2)

Here are some more pictures of the city of Arezzo.

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Monument near the Duomo on the hill

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Hand carved wooden calender in the doorway of a church - one of the oldest treasures of Arezzo

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Pretty fountain

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View of one of the busy streets

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Inside the Duomo

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Inside the Duomo

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Inside the Duomo

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Inside the Duomo

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View from the hill, leaving the city

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Another view

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Graffiti on the aquaduct near the villa

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Some buildings

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More buildings

Giostra del Saracino - 6 Settembre 2009

There are so many things to talk about, but one of the most exciting events that has happened since my arrival in Arezzo was the Giostra del Saracino. Basically, it is the biggest event of the year in Arezzo. A joust is re-enacted at the beginning of each September in Arezzo. There are four teams, representing the four quarters of Arezzo. Since our Villa is located in one of these quarters, we were excited to see the festival and support our team, "Quartiere di Porta Crucifera".

Though the festival on Sunday included a parade of people dressed in Medieval costume, a group of flag throwers, and the joust itself, the event really started on Saturday night. We were told that we would never see Arezzo this lively on a weekend night, so we walked into the city to see what was going on. Sure enough there were hundreds of people crowding the streets so late as midnight!

The joust itself took place in Piazza Grande and there were huge crowds of people standing with their quarter. Everyone was wearing the colors of their team - it almost seemed like a Quidditch tournament from Harry Potter! It was loud, crowded, and tons of fun. I attached some pictures, and videos from the event can be seen on the side of the blog.

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Piazza Grande - before the Joust begins

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The crowd in the Piazza

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Teenagers cheering for their Quarter

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Escaping the crowd for a moment

Pictures from Arezzo (Part 1)

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Aquaduct on the street near the Villa

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View of the Villa from the other side of the valley

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First day in Arezzo

Well, after a grueling probably 17 hours of flights, delays, and bus rides, I finally arrived in Arezzo. I was exhausted last night and barely started unpacking, but today has turned out to be quite eventful. We had a wonderful breakfast, then some orientation meetings, lunch and now we're about to leave for a walk to the grocery store.

I will take some time later to write a more thorough entry, but the most amazing thing so far was to wake up this morning and see the landscape for the first time. I didn't arrive until 10pm last night, so the view from my window was a wonderful surprise. I will post pictures soon!