Two weeks later....

Oh my goodness gracious its been quite a long time since I’ve updated. It turns out I’m going to end up having a lot less time on the computer then I would have expected. Now its looking like the only times I’ll have access is after 4:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So any emails or Facebook anything I’m being sent is delightful, but expect a bit on response time.
So ok! A lot has happened since last time I blogged. The biggest thing I feel that needs mentioning are the various trips I’ve taken. Lets start with Pietra Santa and Carrara. Pietra Santa is a beautiful town about an hour outside of Florence. The interesting thing about it is that it is predominately known as a sculpture town. (Yes, I do have plans with Lea and Kelly to move there forever). They have a bronze-pouring workshop where artists come to have their pieces made into metal. They also have a marble-carving workshop in which the people have literally been carving marble since childhood and artists who want work done in marble come with plaster models to be made into marble. There was also a mosaic workshop. I should say THE mosaic workshop. Any big modern mosaic you’ve seen is probably made there. Hollywood cemetery? Those guys. It was crazy.
After leaving Pietra Santa we headed for Carrara. It was one of the most stunning sights I’ve ever seen. You spend the entire bus ride paralyzed with fear as the bus takes turns up a mountain that probably shouldn’t be physically possible. But around the bends near the top you start to see sheer white cliffs of marble. You really can’t imagine it. It was sublime. We went in to two queries, one where we actually entered the query, and one where we walked around outside. We sculpture people were told we could take what we could carry for carving. Now, there are many people in the sculpture class that are not sculpture people in their blood. They got fist-sized rocks. Kelly Lea and I were literally the last people on the bus and were toting pieces of marble that caused us back pain for three days afterwards. Important note, the query we got our marble from is the one where Michelangelo selected the marble for his David.
I also finally met up with Benjamin after two weeks of simultaneous Italy living. There was much catching up and eating and city wandering that occurred. Its interesting to go from telling each other about camp and babysitting to telling each other about farming and marble lugging. This coming weekend I’m going to Castel Franco, the town he lives in to spend a little more time with him (he was only in the city for part of the day), and to meet his “host family”.
This passed weekend I went to Assissi and Ravenna. Assissi was absolutely breath taking. We went to the tomb of Saint Francis and saw SO MUCH ART. There were Giotto’s there that I’ve been looking at since I was tiny in Madeline L’Engle’s The Glorious Impossible. Giotto might be moving up in my books because of this trip and things I’m hearing about him in my art history. We were able to go into the crypt and touch the tomb of Saint Francis, which I found to be a much more moving experience then I expected. When I got close to it I saw a woman next to me who looked like she had maybe just undergone a round of chemotherapy. She was clearly deep in prayer as she cried with her hand on the tomb. She wasn’t the only person in this state. The thought of pilgrimage has never been particularly moving to me, but seeing people from all over the world who all felt a sense of presence and importance about such a small relic was fascinating and moving to me. The other delightful thing about Assissi was the ballin’ castle. So wait. Assissi is built all into the mountainside. There was a watchtower built at the highest point of the city which you can climb up to and enter for a small fee. WORTH IT. First of all the castle itself was incredible. There were spiral staircases and tiny arched hallways and confusingly laid out rooms. But \ the view at the top is what was truly breathtaking. You could literally see for miles.
Ravenna was also lovely. The city itself wasn’t as magnificent, but Ravenna is known for its mosaics...which were fully worth the trip. If the words “Justinian Mosaics” mean anything to you, I will have said enough. If not...I can’t take that long to explain because I need to sleep soon. But we went to four different churches with mind blowing mosaics. We also saw Dante’s tomb.
Other things worth mentioning: two favorite quotes as of recently: Lea:”you know, the sculpture town, where they worship sculptors.” (in reference to Pietra Santa.) Monica: “why you don’t eat bread with your food?” (in reference to Rachel and I trying not to die from too much food by adding more bread to the mix).
I have the famous cold that every newcomer to Florence is supposed to get. But I’m downing water and feeling pretty good. But now! To bed with me.