Pisa and Climbing the Duomo

On Wednesday's I my first class wasn't until 3pm, so I usually spent my Wednesday's exploring Florence, sleeping in, going to the gym.  The Wednesday my parents were here we decided to visit the city of Pisa before my Italian class. We hopped on a morning train from Santa Maria Novella train station, Florence and arrived at Pisa Centrale an hour later. 

Pisa peaked in power in AD1200 it used to rival Venice and Genoa as a sea-trading power.  As a port near the mouth of the Arno River (the same river that flows through Florence) the city enjoyed easy access to the Mediterranean.  Pisa's three important sights - the Duomo, Baptistery and the Tower - can all be found on the Field of Miracles. The buildings are constructed from similar materials bright white marble and have comparable decoration. The style is dubbed as Pisan Romanesque. We walked from the train station to the Field of Miracles to see these beautiful sights. 

The Leaning Tower: a 15ft lean from the vertical makes the Tower one of Europe's most recognizable images.  You cannot imagine how much this gigantic tower is actually leaning until you see if for yourself. The Tower is nearly 200ft tall and 55ft wide, weighing 14,000 tons and is currently leaning at a 5 degree angle. The tower started to lean almost immediately after construction began There are eight stories to the Tower and it was built over two centuries by least three different architects. Each successive architect tried to correct the leaning problem.. and after completion several attempts were made to stop its slow-motion fall... 

Duomo (Cathedral)

Dad holding up the Tower

can't see it without doing the tourist pics

Baptistery 

Field of Miracles

Bordering the Field of Miracles is the Camposanto Cemetery, which has been there since ancient times and is said to have "Holy Land" dirt, which is said to reduce a body into a skeleton within a day - crazy. The building is also home to the 1,000 square foot 14th century fresco, The Triumph of David which captured Pisa's mood in the wake of the bubonic plague.

sarcophagus 

After we visited the important sites at the field of Miracles, it was time to head back to Florence so I could get to class. While I attended Italian and my literature class, my parents explored Florence on their own, got some afternoon cappuccinos and visited Santa Croce.  Santa Croce Church is a 14th century Franciscan church decorated with centuries of art, and holds the tombs of great Florentines. Although built in the 14th century, Santa Croce has a 19th century Victorian Gothic facade facing a huge square ringed with shops and littered with tourists. Inside the church there is the tomb of Galileo Galilei, and Michelangelo Buonarroti.

Santa Croce

restoration in process

Galileo's Tomb

Michelangelo's Tomb

Thursday I had class from 9am to 11:30  then again at 3pm. Mom and Dad took advantage of the time to climb the Duomo and visit the Academia to see the statue of David.  Climbing the Duomo gives a grand view into the cathedral from the base of the dome, a chance to see Brunelleschi's "dome-within-a-dome" (style in which Michelangelo used to construct the dome of St. Peter's) construction, glorious views of Florence from the top and the opportunity to use a Renaissance StairMaster, 463 step climb to the top! 

small windows on the way up

narrow stairs and hallways

made it to the top!

check out the view

didn't even break a sweat

463 up, another 463 down

looking up at the front of the Duomo

The Duomo – formally known as Cathedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore – is Florence’s Goethic Cathedral that has the third largest naïve in Christendom.  The façade from the 1870s is covered with pink, green and white Tuscan marble.  The claim to fame is Brunelleschi’s magnificent dome – the first Renaissance dome and the model for all domes to follow.  The cathedral was actually built with a giant hole, awaiting a roof – without any technology or plan on how to build one. The original architect, Arnolfo left a problem that was insolvable for more than 100 years. Fortunately Filippo Brunelleschi constructed an idea to build a dome-within-a-dome structure that could encompass the area and support itself.

The Accademia ( Galleria dell’Accedemia) is home to Michelangelo’s magnificent sculpture of David. If you’ve looked through my pictures, you can see that there is a David statue in Piazza Signora, where the original used to stand. They have since moved it in to the museum for protection.  Michelangelo was commissioned in 1501 at the age of 26 to carve a large scale work from a Bible story.  To quickly explain the significance, according to the story  - the Israelites were surrounded by barbarian warriors led by a giant named Goliath.  The Giant challenged the Israelites to send someone to fight him, a young shepherd boy named David defeats the giant.  The statue that Michelangelo commissioned stands 17ft tall and is a symbol of divine victory over evil.  It was originally supposed to stand on the roofline of the Duomo, then was placed more prominently at the entrance to Palazzo Vecchio - where the copy stands today.

touristy times around Firenze

I had saved many of the touristy things around Florence to do during the time my parents were here... now I'll go into some detail into the must see sights of Florence.  Monday was Halloween and Italians celebrate the holiday a little differently, it was the fist Halloween in years that I did not consume one piece of candy! or carve any pumpkins.. Halloween in America, especially on the college scene, "Halloween is the one night a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it," small reference to Mean Girls but its describes Halloween the best!  In Italy, if you do dress up for Halloween, you dress scary - blood, guts and gory costumes... Many of the bars were promoting a Halloween themed night, so all my friends and I decided we needed fast easy costumes!

black cats!

lame I know... but it was quick & easy!

Although Italians don't really celebrate Halloween, they do celebrate All Saints Day - which meant no class on Tuesday and a full day of touring Florence with Mom and Dad. We attempted to go to Sienna in the morning and had some difficulties with the train, so we walked throughout Florence, crossed the Arno and checked out Palazzo Pitti (Pitti Palace) and the Boboli Gardens.  Pitti Palace is a renaissance palace located on the south side of the Arno, is currently home to the Palatine Gallery, Modern Art Gallery, Royal Apartments, Costume Gallery.  The Palace dates back from 1458 and was originally the residence of Luca Pitti and a Florentine banker.  The Boboli Gardens are located behind Pitti Palace and are laid out as in mid 16th century garden style - present day the gardens cover over 11 acres and have come to form an outdoor museum of garden sculptures.

in front of Pitti Palace

Boboli Gardens

Boboli Gardens & Pitti Palace

the Grotto

After walking around the Palace and Gardens we had worked up quite an appetite.... considering we were on the South Side of the River, there was no question as to where we were going to lunch.. GUSTAPIZZA. Sorry Charrdonnay's you've got nothing on this pizza. Pizzas made to order, to ensure the freshest ingredients there are only 9 pizzas on the menu and a daily special.  If you are in Florence for anytime at all, you must make a stop at Gusta, I know people that have ate there at least once a week this semester!

GUSTAPIZZA - Margarita Pizza - delicious!

Continuing our tour of the south side of the Arno River, I brought my parents to one of my favorite places in Florence. Although its a slight hike to get to Piazza Michelangelo has some of the most incredible views of the city.  

the trek up...

so worth that view!

precious :)

as much as I would love to continue to write in my blog, rather than my literature paper.. I should probably get to work on that. When I hit a road block, I'll be back to update some more! Ciao tutti!

back to Firenze!

Monday morning mom dad and I were up early, went back to our outdoor cafe for some breakfast before our train to Florence! I had been away from "home" for the past 14days and was looking forward to some time in a city I am comfortable calling home. Our train ride gave mom and dad some views of the Italian country side, very different from the city sights of Rome. Once we arrived to Florence, I quickly dropped my bag at home while they brought their bags to the hotel. The days in Florence with my parents was split between friends, classes and playing the role of tour guide :)

Rome train station

country side

Duomo

hotel & Piazza S.S. Annunziata

View from their hotel room

One of the places you can't miss for lunch in Florence is the Oil Shoppe. With a vast array of gourmet hot and cold sandwiches all'Italiana with creative ingredients the Oil Shoppe is the place to eat.  Opening at 10:30 in the morning, you must get there early or by 2pm the latest for the risk you run is the shop being closed due to the fact that they run out of bread! ya they're that good. After lunch I had to attend class, allowing mom and dad to explore Florence on their own. 

using my tour guide skills to show off Strozi Palace

one of my classrooms

Walking through the streets of Florence is one of my favorite things to do - there is so much to see. I am still noticing new things on streets i walk every day! The trouble with showing my parents around Florence.... I wanted them to see everything that I love about the city - very difficult to do in such a short period of time! I thought that the best thing to do would be to make a giant circle of Florence, see some of the major sights and then bring them back to them throughout the few days in the city.  First we decided to walk and window shop doing Via de' Tornabuoni located in the center of Florence, starting at piazza Antinori we strolled down Tornabuoni to the  ponte Santa Trinita and enjoyed sun set along the Arno River.

Ancient Rome

We decided to dodge the religious crowds surrounding Vatican City and churches throughout Rome and ventured to the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. With all the monuments I have seen in Italy and over the course of the semester, I found the Colosseum to be one of the most incredible.  A 2,000 year old building that is a classic example of Roman engineering.  A combination of concrete and the rounded arch enabled them to build on such a tremendous scale. Built when the Roman Empire was at its peak in 80A.D. the Colosseum represents Rome at its grandest.  The Colosseum, formally known as the Flavian Amphitheater, was an arena for gladiator contests and public spectacles. 

The Romans wanted to share the killings and spectacles with as many individuals as possible.  The Colosseum was built by putting to semicircular theaters placed together to form a stadium that could accommodate over 50,000 thousand fans.  The portion of re-constructed floor seen in the picture above is to give an accurate sense of the original floor and the subterranean area where animals were kept and then lifted up in elevators.  Released at floor level, animals would pop out from behind curtains - the gladiators didn't know where from- into the arena.

Arch of Constatine - marks one of the great turning points in history - military coup that made Christianity main stream.  In 312AD Emperor Constatine defeated his rival Maxentius in the crucial Battle of the Milvian.

The Roman Forum is known as ancient Rome's birthplace, civic center and common ground between Rome's famous seven hills.  The Forum is arguably the most important piece of real estate in Western civilization.  The Palentine Hill overlooks the Forum, and is home to the huge Imperial Palace, and a view of Circus Maximus - where chariot racing was done.  

Vatican City

Saturday afternoon was set for a tour of Vatican City, a landlocked sovereign citystate whose territory consists of a walled city within the city of Rome.  Making Vatican City the smallest independent state in the world and also the least populated.  The territory includes St. Peter's Square, St. Peter's Basilica, the Gardens of Vatican City, the Apostolic Palace and the Sistine Chapel. Without overwhelming you with the history of Vatican City, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica.. check out some of the pictures from our tour

St. Peter's Square

entrance to Vatican City

Vatican Gardens

pictures of the Sistine Chapel

door of St. Peter's Basilica

Michelangelo's pieta

family in St. Peter's Square

Pope's Window, second from the right

After spending the afternoon in Vatican City, I called my friend Cody who had been in studying in Rome for the past month. He took a break from writing a final paper to take mom, dad and I to Castel Sant'Angelo which boasts some incredible views of Rome. The Castle was originally a tomb turned castle, prison, papal refuge and is currently a museum. 

Cody and I

Roman skyline

St. Peter's Basilica at sunset