Arezzo on My Own

As part of my paper project I was charged with going to Vasari's hometown of Arezzo to see the frecoes of his house. I woke up early on Saturday and got all of the necessary supplies for a train trip then took off for Santa Maria Novella. I took the intercity train and within an hour I had arrived.

My professor had assured me that it was a small town and from the centrally located train station. I was able to see up to the center square and also Arrezo's Duomo at the top of the hill (which I discovered was located at the furthest side of the city).

It was also the best labeled city I have ever been to! I followed the signs to a tourist information shop (about a 15 minute walk) and picked up a map. When the shop worker handed it to me she pointed out my current location and I had already practically crossed town!




I really enjoyed walking the streets because there was no one around--no tourists... no townspeople. It was a little eerie but the peacefulness was welcome.


I'll also have to see the movie "Life is Beautiful" when I get back to the states, apparently it was filmed here!

On my way to Vasari's house I stopped by a small church and snapped a picture of a Crucifix done by Cimabue.



I made a few quick turns between streets and I was at the Casa di Vasari in short time.



When I arrived I was unsure of how to enter, so I waited a few moments to see what other visitors would do. Two other sets of tourists walked by, read the signs and took pictures but then walked away. I knew I was visiting within the right hours, but it took me a little while to translate the bottom line of the plaque--"For visiting play the bell."

Once inside I only had to pay 2 euro to walk around. I wasn't supposed to take pictures, but since I was doing important research I snuck some!






After I finished at the museum, I walked around the rest of Arezzo and finally started to see more groups of touristi and residents. Maybe they had been hiding from the rain. On the way to the main piazza and up to the Duomo I started to see preparation's for the town's joust! I almost wish that I could stay another week in Italy so I could attend all of the festivities that will be going on! The Paolo in Siena, the feast day of St. John the Baptist in Florence and the Saracen Joust in Arezzo!






Can you tell that Vasari designed the building in the above photo? It was planned out just like the Uffizi!



Behind the Duomo was a large park that (sadly) was littered worse than any I have seen in America, the view from the top was amazing though!





Last stop, the Duomo! When I visited the church was closed to the public, but when I walked by the main doors I heard a wedding march.





I then took the walk down the hill (once again not bad) down to the train station. I bought a ticket for the train to Firenze within a minute of it arriving and headed back home. I did take a charming little picture of this shop before I left though!

Siena

Friday we woke up early once again and met at the bus to take a short drive to Siena, another city in Tuscany where the Medici came to hold sway. On the way there I was sure to grab a lemon flavored Powerade for my throat! I listened to my iPod the whole short way there admiring the countryside. When we arrived in Sienna we had to walk around the city walls and were granted a short break. Our meeting place was on the stairs of a relatively small church. I was neither hungry nor longing for the bathroom so I visited the church.

The inside was an eclectic mix of Renaissance architecture with (seemingly) modern stained glass windows. I strolled by the side chapels and the high altar, looking for anything recognizable from anyone of my art historical texts. While I didn't find anything I recognized, I did find a head!

The head--that is--of St. Catherine of Siena. I don't know her story, but I do know the combination of the words. It was in an odd and elaborate reliquary that had its own room. I was surprised, but its fun having surprises on these journeys!

After the break we took a walk to Siena's cathedral and I shot pictures of the sites. Some of the streets looked more like a movie set than actual places.




After walking up a good bit of hill we made it to the cathedral and were able to go inside and see it's marvelous marble-work on the floor. We were not allowed to take photos inside but you can get an idea of the quality of work from what was visible at the front steps.






Afterwards we took a short walk to the main piazza (seen also in the first image) and were able to tour the main government building and peer at the famous fresco works there. Once again, I was unable to take photos, but I did get an interesting shot of the bell tower from the interior courtyard.




After our tour of the building we had a few minutes to sit out on the famous fan-shaped piazza and catch a little sun until the other part of our group arrived. Preparations had not yet began for the Paolo--an insane horse race that occurs around piazza in early July.



After our groups met up we went to lunch at a lovely little trattoria at the base of one of Siena's hills. The food was delicious! It rained a little toward the end of the meal, but finished before we headed to Siena's ospedale, located directly across from the cathedral. While we at we got to watch Paolo flag bearer's practice for the race--but I was unable to get good pictures of it.




After touring the ospedale, which had some creepy labyrinthine storage spaces three floors down (no pictures.... : ( ) we were released to do some tourist shopping. We wandered a few streets and grabbed some gelato before heading back to Florence. Overall it was a lovely little day trip and it was nice to be somewhere that was not overloaded with tourists!

Regarding Comments

It's a little bit late for me to be sharing this information, but if you are interested in leaving comments you do not need to have or sign in with a blogger account.

When you go to leave a comment you have the option to "Choose an identity." From there you can select the option for Name/URL and a "Name" section will appear where you can just type in your name. When you hit "publish your comment" your comment will appear with the name you type in.

I hope this prevents any further confusion and also reduces inhibition to post comments! Thanks everyone and keep them coming!

Playing Catch Up!

Hi again everyone! I'm not dead yet!

I'm getting better, thanks to finding chicken noodle soup and investing in the restorative powers of Gatorade! I have half a voice, but pain finally left my throat today! Just like last week I will be updating with this weekends events within the next couple days (but I hope I will have everything up Monday morning!)

Just to give you all a heads up on what is in store, Friday we went to Sienna walked through museums and civic and religious structures, as well as laid out on the fan-shaped piazza. Saturday I took a train to Arezzo on my own and capped off the evening by going to Il Gatto e la Volpe for dinner (I got the Stracchiatelli Alfredo, which equals Fettuccini Alfredo!). Later that evening I discovered Devandra Barnhardt (and Karl you were right, I do like his music!).

And then today (Sunday) we spent the day on the other side of the Arno. I went to the galleries of the Palazzo Pitti (but will have to go back for the gardens), and then we ventured up to the Fort--which was closed! We followed the city walls back down the hill and then made the steep climb up to S. Miniato again to listen to more Gregorian chants and enjoy the marvelous view over Florence. On the way down we stopped by the Piazzale Michelangelo--which was not what I expected it to be, but still had a good view of the city. Finally we went all the way down and back over the river to go to the study center, so I could check e-mail and buy Calcio tickets (more info soon)!

Anyways, I'm ready to be done with being sick and get alot of work done on my paper while hitting all of the things that I still haven't got to see! Wish me luck!

Follow Up!

Hi again!

I'm still sick as a dog but I'm getting better. I'm trying to save up my energy because I have a busy weekend planned! On Friday we will be going to Sienna (with free food offered at lunch since only half the group is going--they saved $ by not having to hire another bus). Saturday I will be headed to Arrezzo to look at Vasari's house and the tomb that he designed for himself for field research. I plan on spending Saturday on the other side of the Arno, visiting the Pitti Palace, Boboli Gardens, Fort Belvedere, San Miniato and finishing up at the Piazzale Michelangelo to view the sunset!

I truly hope that I can get over this sickness before it ruins my plans! Good news is that I was able to buy chicken noodle soup today--and that is working miracles, I just wish I had had it sooner!

Thanks everyone for putting up with my slow posting as of late! I really wish I could keep up with the updating. Only 14 days left!

EDIT: And I've lost 26.5 pounds since arriving!

A Day in Pompeii

On Sunday we didn't check out until 11 am, so my bungalow mates and I packed and sat out on the porch and talked until our time to set out.

The drive to Pompeii took an hour and I listened to my iPod the whole time since they didn't put in a movie. Pompeii the modern city is very tiny and quaint, I would say it is the smallest Italian city I've seen--a one bancomat town!

Also, the vendors outside of Pompeii are the most insistent and aggressive of any I have ever met! If you like to haggle over prices than this would seem the paramount place to do it--especially since I think these were also the most expensive souvenir stands I've ever encountered. Luckily I found a nice young gentleman who really did let me go with some great deals and some free things (comparatively speaking).

After the touristy shopping we ventured down the hill to the original "port" entrance to Pompeii and entrance to the ruins.



We had a tour guide named "Antonio" who walked us through some of the major ruins. Without a guide, I'm sure we would have gotten lost, Pompeii was a very large city in its heyday, and archaeologists have only finished uncovering a little over half of it!



The above pictures show remains of the judicial seat of Pompeii. The city had a unique way of constructing strong columns from terracotta and plaster.


The above is a view of the main piazza which fronted the judicial building, multiple temples and the main marketplace. Some temples:



And the main marketplace building:


There were some remains of fresco but there were some other remains that people were more interested in seeing (warning... there are real bones from real bodies in the following pictures):







Nearby was a covered reservoir of many of the artifacts found by archaeologists that were not being kept in the museum.








Afterwards we entered the building that housed the Roman baths. Here we found more frescoes, interesting architecture and sculptures.






Afterwards we toured a few of the villas and saw mosaics, architecture and frescoes!









We toured more of the main roads and many small shops before we arrived at the most famous and most well preserved buildings in all of Pompeii, the brothel (note the larger amount of tourists here)!




We completed the trip and took more pictures down the main road. See how short Vesuvius appears? Before it blew its top it was white capped and 10,000 feet tall. When it erupted, it lost 7,000 feet of its height--burying the surrounding area and even filling in the sea port!



We had a short amount of time to walk back to the bus before it took off again, this time back to Florence. On the bus ride back we watched Talladega Nights, V for Vendetta and Wedding Crashers. We got back to Florence around 10:30 and walked back home to Mattonaia -- where we got marvelous sleep back in our own beds--not bungalows!