It’s Sunday morning again, and you know what to expect by this point. We’re clearing the backlog of old posts and I’m happy to say that we’ve made it all the way up to April 2007. There’s a particularly meaningful set of posts for me because they’re the ones I wrote the last time I was in Italy. If I wasn’t born an American, I think I could have done ok as an Italian. Then again that may mostly be due to the ready access to good reds, so we may never know the actual truth. At any rate, this week’s Sunday archive posts come all the way to you not just from the past, but also from northern Italy. Oh, and since these are kind of in order, it might be helpful to scroll down and read up the page from the end. Just a thought. Enjoy.
Tag Archives: italy
Hippies, sickness, and grad school…
OK, so I’m not going to lie to you guys. I got a good laugh out of at least two of this morning’s archive posts. There’s something about hippies that always makes me want to bash heads together and grad school, well, that experience so very often has the same effect. Still, they make for good blogging so I should probably be thankful.
For those following along at home, over the last few Sunday mornings we have made the transition from my original MySpace blog to the far more “grown up” blog hosted for a while over at Blogger. That doesn’t really change much in terms of style or content, but it does help set the tone and atmosphere of where these old posts come from.
At any rate, go ahead and enjoy this morning’s update from the end of March 2007. Next week we’ll start into April and feature blogs from my last trip to Italy. I know you’re not going to want to miss that… because frankly there isn’t much that makes for better copy than an American in in a foreign country.
City on a Hill…
Note: This post is based on notes I made on Sunday, April 1, 2007 in Cortona and Assisi.
Sunday, Day 5. One thing I have found is that in traveling, often the side trips are just as good, if not better than the place you were actually planning to see. One of the distinguishing features of the Tuscan landscape is the hill towns that cropped up in the most defensive portions of the countryside. Cortona is actually the town you’ll see in the film Under the Tuscan Sun.” Hill towns are terribly pretty to look at, but they are all hell to walk through. When someone tells me a story about how hard it was to walk to school uphill both ways in the snow, I’ll just smile to myself and think, fuck that man… I’ve walked Cortona.
Assisi is another hill town, but obviously famous for a different reason. The Basically of St. Francis is one of those places you just sort of stand in front of in amazement. It wasn’t the biggest cathedral of the tour. It certainly wasn’t the most decorative or detailed, but there was a quiet majesty to the place. Something I can’t quite place. Construction was underway by the late 12th century and its frescos show some of the first use of perspective in large scale art in European history. St Francis, of course, was the original rebel of the church and paved the way for those who followed such as Dante and Luther. Other than being considered malcontents for much of their history, the Franciscans tenants are a little tough to live by…Poverty, chastity, and obedience… Not so much my strong suit.
My God… It’s full of stars…
Note: This post was lifted directly from my notes on Saturday, March 31st. It is complete and unabridged.
It’s Saturday afternoon now and I am taking lunch on the Piazza della Signoria. Michelangelo walked here in this square. So did Galileo. So did Machiavelli. The Medici rose to power on the business flowing through this square. The Renaissance was born and flourished in these walls. This is the cradle of what is good and right about Western civilization… Of art, of science, of understanding what it means to be men. Someone wiser than I once said “If I see further, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.” It is how I feel here in this place. My own learning, my curiosity, and the desire for improve constantly find their own root here. In coming Florence and seeing these things and walking in the steps of the ponderously brilliant minds who lived and worked here I have a deeper understanding of myself and a far more humble perspective of my own meager talents.
The Road to Pisa…
Note: This post is based on notes I made between March 30th and I reserve the right to edit this posting for content and clarity at a later date.
…Does not lead directly through Bologna. In fact, it’s more of a detour on the road to any of the major tourist towns. I’m glad we made the effort, though. It’s the seat of the oldest continuously operating university in Europe and with 100,000 students, it feels like a college town. The cafes are plentiful and the food is cheap… as long as you don’t order a Coke with lunch. Raining all morning, it was tough to get a real feel for the town, other than the overwhelming feeling of age. It’s hard to shake that feeling anywhere you go in Italy. The pictures I posted are from the Piazza Nettuno and San Petronio Cathedral.
Back on the road to Pisa, the rain finally gave way to a low overcast. First impressions are important and it’s hard to get past the idea of Pisa as a tourist trap. The vendors are thick along the walls and even inside the main gate, but once you’re past them, the things you see are simply amazing. Renaissance Pisa understood the concept of monumental architecture dead on. Coming through the city gate, you’re sort of surprised by the proportions of the religious center of the old city. Maybe it is a tourist trap, but it is one of those places that you just have to see to really appreciate.
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