Time Flies When You're Looking at Apse Mosaics

This dragon is singing karaoke.

It's my last week in Tuscany, and I can't believe how the time has flown.  Now, as I wash my clothes, grab a bite to eat, or take a trip to the Conad, I think, "This may be my last time doing _____."  It's tragic, yet I am ready for American food, television, and my amazing family and friends!

Friday, the Gruppo Dante went to Assisi-- what an amazing city!  It sits atop a hill (and man, did we walk a lot of stairs and steep hillsides that day!), and many of the buildings seem barely perched there. The Basilica di San Francesco was our destination and we spent a few hours studying the incredible frescoes that depict Saint Francis's life.

Basilica di San Francesco

The stone color-- a light pink and cream-- is beautiful!

From Saint Francis, we were able to see another church that we would visit later in the day--Basilica di Sant Clare.

But before we toured Clare's, we were allowed three hours to grab lunch and roam the city.  After a panini of prosciutto e mozarella, I stopped in almost every tourist shop in the city!

I also visited Iglesia de Santa Maria sopra Minerva.  Currently a church, it was once an ancient Roman temple to Minerva.  The Roman facade is over 2000 years old!

Though the outside is still distinctly Roman, the inside is distinctly 17th century.  So modern!

The Madonna is encapsulated in the original stone work of the temple

Catherine taking a minute to enjoy the artwork...or maybe to rest. :)

My flatmates and I enjoyed gelato (twice) and a breezy rest in the park!  Cara loves having her photo taken!

Kerry, Terry, Jen, and Laura

Last night...my last Saturday night in Siena, I went to dinner with Cara, Catherine, Jen and Kerry.  We went to Papa's, where I've eaten three times this week.  It's very very good!

We used the down-time to take lots of pictures and to people watch...  for example, we saw a dwarf child wielding a sharp steak knife at her father and a French couple who smoked while they chewed their food.  Only in Italia!

The Chianti was fabulous!

Jen is always cold...it was 75 degrees outside last night.

Steak to die for!

After we finished dinner, Cara and I went and sat in the Campo.  The weather was perfect, the sky was starry, and I'll never forget that feeling of peace.

Is that a head in a box?

Ah, the joys of an afternoon with no class, no plans, and a city to explore!

Istrice's Mascot, the porcupine!  These adorn much of the metal work in the contrada.

I spent my time journeying off the beaten path-- the one I walk every day to and from class near the Piazza del Campo.  I walked to the Duomo, to end of the Istrice Contrada territory, and then down to San Domineco.  The city was mostly quiet and the tourists must've been hiding in their hotel rooms!

A sign in Istrice; I love how her gown fades into the stone.

After purchasing a few gifts for people back home (yep, that's some of you reading this blog!), I decided to walk to the Basilica Cateriniana di San Domenico. It was the perfect time of day to visit, as the church was nearly empty-- so quiet, in fact, that when someone dropped a coin, it sounded like a gunshot. 

San Domenico is the place where Catherine of Siena's head resides. Catherine was a philosopher in addition to being a theologian. She had her first vision of Christ when she was a small child, around 5 or 6 years old, and she continued to have visions through her adulthood. She took a vow of poverty and often gave away the family's goods (which caused some problems, as you can imagine), and she was also ill quite often, possibly because she starved herself on a regular basis.  She is usually depicted being "married" to Christ.

The interesting part of the story is actually the legend that surrounds her death and burial.  Supposedly, the people of Siena knew that they would be unable to transport her entire body back home from Rome where she died. Instead, they removed her head from her body, and on the way back to Siena were stopped by soldiers.  Knowing certain death would be their punishment, the Sienese prayed to Catherine to help them, and when the soldiers opened the bag with Catherine's head, it held only rose petals.  Once in Siena, the head was there in the bag again.  

Now, Catherine's head is entombed in the church.  Creepily, you can see it very clearly.

There are many paintings of Catherine throughout the church.  This one is beside her tomb and shows her receiving the stigmata.

There is also a fabulous Maesta by Guido of Siena.

John the Baptist and Christ are both carved from wood.

As I sat in the solitude of the church, it dawned on me that today is the first day of the last week here in Siena.  I've learned much about Dante-- a lot of which I've yet to process, seen works of art that art historians drool over, met wonderful people from here in Italy and from all over the US, learned some Italian (not nearly as much I wish I had), and found a little piece of myself that I didn't know existed.

I am determined to cram in as much as I can in the next week!!!

Freaky frescoes, food, and fellowship!

San Gimignano

About an hour outside of Siena lies the small beautiful (albeit touristy) San Gimignano.  A city of many towers (now, only around 7), it used to have more than 70!

It is also the host of two wonderfully ornate (on the inside) churches-- the Chiesa di Sant' Agostino (Saint Augustine) and the Collegiata.   Both holy places were covered in fresco paintings; Sant' Agostino in artwork depicting the life of Saint Augustine, and the Collegiata with various Biblical stories.  Neither of the churches allowed photographs unfortunately, but it is to my delight that each place had a bookstore with postcards-- so, I took pictures of those. :) Ha!    

            

This fresco was my favorite of the day.  This is a picture of Saint Sebastian (at the bottom with praying hands) holding out his cloak to protect the people of San Gimignano from God and his angels who are hurling arrows at them.  Below God, you can see Christ and Mary attempting to gain mercy from God on behalf of those below (Christ shows his side wound and Mary bares her breasts- to show her nurturing side).  This fresco was painted mid-1300s during one of the outbreaks of the plague. The arrows that God hurls represent the plague itself, and Saint Sebastian is there as a symbol to pray to for protection from the disease.  I love how different this God is from most depictions.

The Collegiata

Kerry is finally taking pictures!

Anna and Catherine-- Bill is rushing behind them

We also visited the Palazzo Commune (like Siena's Palazzo Pubblico).

Palazzo Commune

The palazzo contained the sleeping quarters for the governor.  His bedroom was host to many frescos, though most were "questionable" in subject matter (a couple taking a bath,  As you can see below, most dealt with sex and lust of some sort.  And while many scholars attempt to make the argument that they are depicting the wild times of the Prodigal Son, I have my doubts.  It seemed much more like R-rated pics from a Medieval Playboy.

As with most days of travel in Italy, the most important thing is finding a delicious ristorante! One of our seminarians was told by her Italian friends of an incredible ristorante in S.G.  So, five of us-- Catherine, Cara, Kerry, Jen, and me-- made our way to Bel Sorggiorno!

The entire backside of the restaurant was glass.  Beside our table was a gigantic-sized window which was opened to the cool breeze blowing across the city.

The view from my chair!

A house I want to own

Our first order of business for our Girl's Luncheon was to order the Vino Rosso della Casa (house red wine) and the primi (first course or appetizer).  We had a basket full of fresh breads with olive oil and red wine vinaigrette dipping sauce and a cheese plate with various cheeses and mustard sauces.
I ordered Lasagne (called something much longer, but I forget the rest), and what was delivered was a deconstructed pesto lasagna.  The bowl was the pasta and the inside was what would've been layered between the pasta pieces.  It was, by far, the best thing that I've eaten in Italy (perhaps ever!).  Yum!

Jen

Me and Catherine

Harry Potter and The Joshua Tree

I did it! I saw Harry Potter (in English) here in Italy!

Since I first learned that I would be spending my summer here in Tuscany, I've dreaded the HP release and knew that I wouldn't want to see it first in Italian...but lucky me, a theater in Florence plays it three times a day in its original English. Yay!

Kerry at Hard Rock in a Giant Chair

A classmate, Kerry, and I took the bus into Florence-- the correct bus-- and spent a few hours shopping and lazing about.  I mentioned how much I love Italian food, but was seriously missing my American burger and fries, and she suggested hitting the Hard Rock Cafe.  Yes, I know that the food there is terrible.  Yes, I understand that I am wasting a meal on a burger and fries when I could be eating fresh pasta.  Whatever! My burger and fries were delicious!

At once, I declared the day to be America day in Italy.

This Hard Rock had bas reliefs and statues mixed in with the a guitar from Disturbed and Stevie Nicks's dress...really?

We met another classmate, Adam, while in Florence and he joined us for the film.  We were all very happy to see that the theater was nothing like American theaters! We had yellow velvet plush chairs (with double armrests), statues of the muses above the screen, and some snacks.  Kerry was disappointed with the lack of fresh popcorn; they only carried the pre-made in a bag kind. I, however, was quite excited by my pack of peanut M&Ms.

You're not in the Altamonte Springs theater anymore.

The movie was fantastic...some things I might've been a little disappointed about, but still a great piece of cinema. I just can't believe it's over.  So much of the last eleven/twelve years has been teaching, reading, and discussing these phenomenal pieces of YA lit...and now, sadly, it feels over.

I guess I'll have to start rereading from the beginning when I get back home! :)

Kerry, Adam, and I had an hour to kill before the bus back to Siena, so we stopped into a little dive bar called The Joshua Tree. My rum and coke was more rum than coke, but Kerry was able to get a Murphys that was "poured correctly."

With five minutes left before we needed to board the bus, Adam managed to finish all of our unfinished drinks! :)

What happens when a two hour bus ride turns into a four hour ride? You watch a lot of movies! :)

Yesterday, the Gruppo Dante traveled to Ravenna, on the coast of the Adriatic.  There, we visited three churches. The mosaic work was incredible. 

The gold tiles are placed at odd angles to help reflect the light.

Most of our time in the churches is spent listening to our group leaders discuss the artwork and its connection to Dante.

The Basilica di San Vitale and the Mauseleo di Galla Placidia

the basilica is octagonal

the fresco from the fourteenth century looks like 3D it is so well-done

The Mausoleum's mosaics were amazing!

St. Lawrence was martyred on a grill and is usually depicted with one

As you can see in this picture, the group was very excited for one of our destinations! Here they are running and snapping pictures-- Dante's Tomb!

Couldn't resist having my photo taken beside Dante's remains-- kind of gross when you think about it!

The Gruppo Dante at his resting place