Firenze: A Visit to Aunt Flo
Yesterday, we bussed down to Florence with the group. We were all a little bit exhausted, as the night before we threw an Unbirthday Party, which went somewhat late and involved a white elephant gift exchange, a semi-homemade Nutella cake, and some excellent mixed drinks. Our mood did not improve on the sweltering hot bus, or when we realized there would be no lunch break until about 3 p.m. (we left at 7:30).
Our first stop was the Marino Marini museum, which is a very strange and interesting building designed to house Marini’s work. There are lots of little hallways and stairs that lead to nowhere, and each room allows in just enough light to spotlight the statue it holds. Marini (whose wife’s name was, fun fact, Marina), is known for his sculptures of men on horses, which are very minimal (…many people got very bored here). Lane and I discussed Marini’s merit as an artist—some of his work is interesting, sure, but it is only on display in its own museum because he had the money to finance the whole project. Taken out of the context of this building, the sculptures probably wouldn’t elicit any kind of emotional reaction from either of us… Sometimes we’re such art majors. Anyway, I very much enjoyed the exhibit which was temporarily in the basement of the museum, which was filled with hundreds of little colorful whales made of cloth, and images of men, fish, and grandmothers sewn into quilts. I bought a tshirt of two whales hugging.
We then went to the Uffizi Gallery, and although we were crushed to discover that both the Caravaggio and Rembrandt rooms were closed, we got to look at works by Boticelli, DaVinci, MIchelangelo, Ingres, Duhrer, etc., etc. which was pretty incredible. We then got to walk through the Vasari Corridor, which is apparently almost impossible and very expensive to book, so we were all excited… The corridor begins on the second floor of the Uffizi, crosses the Arno river, and ends up near the Pitti Palace. It was built in the 1560s by the Medici family, who used it to walk from building to building above the city. They could watch performances, and even attend mass without stepping onto the street with the common people. The corridor is lined with incredible art, with a focus on portraiture and self-portraiture. David Christiana, my illustration instructor, led us through while giggling like a little kid over the amazing collection… A very cool experience.
After exiting the corridor, we were given free time, and several of us followed David and his wife, who both spent a semester in Florence, to what is commonly understood as the best gelato shop in town. I tried dark chocolate and carmelized pear, which definitely lived up to our expectations. We checked out a few different churches, and bought a slice of pizza while running back to the bus around 4:15… This was probably the hungriest I’ve been while in Italy.
Tonight, a big group of us are headed to Rome to attend the Pub Crawl, which meets on the Spanish Steps and winds around the city, stopping at various bars for free drinks. We’re planning on hopping on the first train back to Orvieto (about 6 a.m.), and sleeping most of the day tomorrow before leaving for Naples and Pompei early Saturday morning. Have I mentioned we have “finals” next week? Sigh.
