contemporary art in an old palace

so one of the art history classes i'm taking is called art collecting & museology and for our last class we met at the palazzo vecchio for a tour of the former medici residence.  i expected our wonderful british italian professoressa would be leading the tour, but since part of the class is evaluating the ways museums educate the public, we had a museum tour guide who turned out to be an italian man dressed in renaissance garb who told us that when he put on his special necklace we would be transported back to the 16th century. after donning said necklace, he proceeded to introduce himself as giorgio vasari (16th century artist and art historian responsible for the 'modernization' of the palace).  upon learning that we were from "the new world," he called us indians and asked why we weren't wearing feathers (italians aren't big on political correctness, but i'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was adopting the attitudes of the time for authenticity).  i think if i had been on the tour with my family in vacation mode i would have appreciated the time-travel game more, but in with a university group it became rather tedious when he expressed his shock over women who went to school.

the palazzo itself is quite magnificent. i'm becoming a big fan of grotesque decorations on ceilings. the fantastical flora and fauna in rich hues on a yellowed white background are just kind of fabulous.

the other part of the visit which i really loved was the damien hirst exhibit that's currently at the palazzo vecchio. the exhibit is only one piece but i think it's a perfect example of how to combine old and new art.  the piece is called for the love of God and it's a platinum cast of an 18th century skull covered with 8,601 diamonds (in total over 1000 karats).  visually, it's absolutely stunning. even more so because it's displayed in a dark room and light seems to radiate from the sparkly diamonds.

it's actually quite fitting that this piece is on display in the palazzo vecchio because it's displayed in a room right next to francesco i's studiolo. A studiolo or wunderkammer "room of wonders" was a small room used to display objects of all sorts - art, nature, scientific devices, antiquities, and other curiosities.  i think damien hirst's skull would have been right at home in a renaissance studiolo because it's a combination of art and science - a natural object transformed into art.

ravenna

last weekend rebecca and i took a day trip to ravenna. a small town (we actually walked from one end to the other in about 15 min) on italy's eastern coast that was the seat of byzantine rule after it was captured by general belisarius in 540. so it has a few remarkable byzantine churches with lovely mosaics. ever since i studied the byzantine empire in high school, i've really wanted to see these churches in person. the first stop: san vitale.

the colors are even more stunning in person. above, justinian, one of the most important byzantine emperors, is depicted surrounded by generals, including general belisarius, and priests, symbolizing his military/political and religious power.  on the wall opposite is a scene showing justinian's wife theodora and her attendants. theodora is a rather colorful character; she was an actress and a prostitute before converting to christianity and becoming a wool spinner. justinian was not allowed to marry her because government officials were forbidden by law from marrying actresses (aka prostitutes...bad example, ya know), but apparently he was so in love with her that he had the law changed.

as empress she wielded a surprising amount of power for a woman of that time and did much to further women's rights in the byzantine empire.  as a side note, justinian and theodora are the ones who built hagia sophia. i'm just dying to go to istanbul to see it. someday...

ravenna is also home to dante's tomb. although dante is known as the greatest florentine poet, he was exiled from the city so he was not allowed to be buried here. now of course florentines love dante. my host mom was slightly horrified when i told her i'm reading him in english and not the original italian for my divine comedy class.

above, the ceiling of the battistero neoniano from 430. in the center is the baptism of christ by st. john the baptist and the surrounding figures are the apostles. below are photos from sant'apollinare nuovo.

one of the reasons i love byzantine art is i find it charming. the bright colors and rhythmic repetition of forms give the mosaics a playful energy. you can't help but smile :)

fiera di cioccolato

italy just wants to make me fat. not only does my host mom make us pasta for dinner every night, but there's a two-week CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL in santa croce (aka 10 minute walk from my apartment). reasons the chocolate festival is just the best: 

1. the first thing we see when we get there is italian children watching a puppet show. how adorable!!

2.  fondue with dark chocolate and strawberries: yum!

3. it's "freddo" (in the high 30s) here so obvi hot chocolate is necessary.

4.  chocolate is not only delish it's pretty.

5. novelty chocolate items: everything from chocolate saw blades and wrenches to chocolate stilettos. also free chocolate rum shots (not recommended. actually tastes like chocolate syrup mixed with rum.)

needless to say i've eaten way too much chocolate in the last few days. but how could i resist?

this is where i go to school

complete with olive orchard

and 15th century villa where my art history classes will be held

and extensive gardens with statuary.

it's kind of unreal

and it's almost comical how different it is from nyu in new york.

the villa was donated to nyu in 1995 by harold actin, a british man whose family had owned the villa since 1904. the family home is now a museum and is decorated in the same manner as when the family lived there. students can tour the museum by appointment only but we're allowed to visit the gardens whenever we want so i spent the better part of an hour exploring this morning. i was the only one there so i felt like i was in my own secret garden :)

my first italian lesson from my host mother

sono piena = i'm full.

la povera

i made it to florence, but just barely.  getting here was possibly definitely the most horrendous travel experience of my life:

my flight from st. louis to philadelphia is so delayed that i am going to miss my connection to frankfurt so a nice u.s. airways man put me on a flight from st. louis to charlotte and then charlotte to philadelphia so i can make my connection.  but of course my flight to charlotte was in one of those tiny regional jets that is probably smaller than what the wright brothers flew so i can't bring my large carry-on aboard.  the attendant gate checks it and assures me that it will be checked through to my final destination.  excellent. it's not like i can lift it into the overhead compartment anyway - it's like 40 lbs.  but of course on the way to charlotte, i start freaking out: that bag has my laptop and my camera AND my toothbrush. it cannot be lost. when i arrive in charlotte, i ask one of the attendants at gate to make sure the bag is going through to florence and she insists that i will be able to pick it up there at baggage claim. 

so i get to philadelphia and make it onto to my connection to frankfurt.  about an hour into the flight, a flight attendant asks over the loudspeaker if there is a doctor or anyone with medical experience on board. oh dear.  shortly after that the pilot announces that, due to a medical emergency, we will be landing at gander airport.  before i can figure out where gander is, we are on the ground.  gander, as i learn from the u.s. airways magazine in the seat-back pocket, is in newfoundland, canada where it is currently -20 degrees fahrenheit.  emergency vehicles arrive to care for the man who needs attention, but we are stuck on the plane in this artic wasteland for 3 hours as we wait for the fuel trucks to defrost and refuel the plane and for all our luggage to be unloaded, re-scanned, and re-loaded. 

when we finally arrive in frankfurt, my connection to florence is long gone, but it's ok because there's another flight in a few hours.  when i arrive in florence 5 hours later than i was supposed to, it's raining and then all my worst travel fears are realized: i arrived in florence but none of my bags had. that is 0 out of 3. meaning i arrived in italy with only jetlag and a handbag. 

needless to say i'm practically in hysterics when i get to the lost & found counter. fortunately nyu has someone there to assist me and the lovely italian woman is very comforting. she locates all my bags and assures me they will be delivered to nyu florence by tomorrow morning at the latest.  ok. i check in at nyu and meet up with rebecca, my lovely roommate who is expecially glad to see me since she's been waiting for me for 5 hours (sorry, medical emergency landing in canada, you know how it is) so we can get a cab to our homestay together. it can only get better from here - that's what i keep telling myself.  and it did indeed get much better.

my homestay is on a charming little street not far from the duomo and i love my family. they speak very little english.  i can understand her much of the time but sometimes i get completely lost and rebecca has to translate for me. she serves us carbonara with ham, grilled chicken, and salad for dinner. it is delicious, but i make a complete fool of myself as i try to twirl the long spaghetti noodles into some shape that would fit into my mouth without me having to slurp any noodles.  it is a total fail.  my host mom laughs at me, offers me a spoon and teaches me how the proper twirling technique (apparently the secret is to hold the fork completely vertically). eventually we (rebecca translating) tell the story of how i lost all my luggage. mia mamma italiana shakes her head at me and sighs: la povera. 

i think i'm going to love italy :)

ps. my italian family has a cat! her name is luna and she's adoooorable.

paris v. rome: arches

arc de triomphe de carrousel, arc de triomphe de l'étoile

arch of constantine

paris v. rome: equestrian statues

louis xiv

marcus aurelius

paris v. rome: the kiss

musée rodin

musei capitolini

in lieu of posting all the rest of my pictures from paris and all the ones from rome, i thought i'd do a comparison between the two cities inspired by one of my favorite blogs :]

paris v. rome: les arbres

yves klein

palatine