Touring Tuscany (+ Venice and Swordfighting)

Friday, February 22

It seems like early train rides will be a theme throughout my time abroad. Anna and I were up at 5am this morning to catch our train at 6. We took the slow, cheap trains so the ride was about 3.5 hours long, dropping us off in Venice at 10:30am. We're here! We walked outside the station to the beautiful Grand Canal and quite a bit of fog. Right off the bat we saw a violinist dressed up in 18th century garb serenading tourists. We crossed a bridge (the first of many) and made our way over to the main square. The streets were narrow and winding like a giant maze, intersected by many quiet canals. We often found ourselves turning the corner to run into a dead end or almost straight into the water. The fog added a sense of abandonment to the ancient, leaning buildings. Not the cliché romanticism of Venice one typically expects, but I quite liked it.

After quite the walk, we eventually reached Piazza San Marco, the main square of Venice, home to an overwhelming number of tourists and pigeons alike. Because it's free and the line moves fast, San Marco Basilica caught our eye. The inside was gorgeous and large, as expected of an Italian cathedral. Afterwards we decided to get lunch. Because of the fog, we couldn't even see the top of the campanile (tower) and even the other side of the piazza was hazy, so we decided to come back later and hope some of the fog had dissipated.

We each got a panino and then went in search of frittelle--Carnevale-time fried dough balls of heaven. I got mine with creme inside and boy was it delicious. Doesn't beat Florence's Carnevale dessert Schiacciatta alla Fiorentina (pictured below on the right) but still amazing. We passed many quaint piazzas and romantic bridges, getting lost in the best way possible.

The sun came out at about 1pm so we headed back over to Piazza San Marco via Ponte Rialto. It was great seeing everything backed by blue skies. We took a few photos under the Christmas lights lining the square and wandered over to the city's edge. Even though I knew we were at the edge of the island, because of the fog I couldn't make out anything even a few feet past the docks. We saw a few more people dressed in gorgeous costumes, and I longed to don a similar gown and mask. As we crossed another bridge, we looked to the left and were surprised to see the Bridge of Sighs connecting the palace to the prison. No wonder that bridge was so crowded. One couldn't help but release a clichéd sigh watching the gondolas pass underneath.

My one goal for this day trip (besides seeing some people in costume) was to visit the Libreria Acqua Alta. Upon approaching to find the residence of not one but multiple cats, I knew I was bound to love this place. Stacked high on every surface (including filling a bathtub and an actual full-sized gondola) were mountains of books, from new to old, pristine to waterlogged, in many different languages. The space was small and disorganized, but in a way that came across as intentional. Outside was no exception. Lines of books trailed up the brick walls of the courtyard like ivy. Another door led to a second courtyard, this one with a functional staircase made only of books. I tried not to think of the fact that I was walking on books as I got a photo atop the pile. The bookshop's back door opened up straight to a canal, and a cat lounged next to the cash register. As an excuse to pet the cat (and also just to get a book), I bought an old French book that I liked the look of.

On our way back to central Venice, we passed a sight that blew me away. It was nothing significant really, but there was something in the way that the hazy golden light filtered in from behind an old building and reflected off the water that gave me an intense sense of calmness. That felt more like Venice than any of the more touristy monuments did. It was getting to be around 5pm then, so Anna and I decided to take a break on some steps by the Grand Canal near Ponte Rialto. It was really nice (despite the cold) just relaxing, watching the water traffic pass by, just being present in the moment. At sunset, the haze along the water glowed orange, giving a much more romantic feel to the canal. We even braved the crowds to get a look from the top of Ponte Rialto. Afterwards we had pizza as an early dinner and headed back to the station for our 7:45pm train. We were wholly exhausted and each napped on the 3.5 hour ride back to Florence, arriving at midnight.

Thursday, February 28

LdM schedules activities each month as part of the program, so my roommates and I all signed up for a cooking class! For the main, we made Florentine-style crespelle. Crespelle are crêpes rolled burrito-style around a spinach and ricotta filling. They are topped with béchamel and tomato sauce and then baked. The recipe didn't seem that difficult but included a lot of multitasking. In the end, it was delicious! For dessert, we made torta sbrisolona. It's like a crumb cake without the cake, very crumbly and topped with almonds for a nice crunch. Apparently it's served room temp, but I liked it warm. It was yummy but very dry so having it with some gelato would've been ideal. Needless to say, I left that kitchen ready to fall into a food coma.

Friday, March 1

Today I explored the Oltrarno (on the other side of the river) a bit. It was for an assignment, but I enjoyed seeing a part of the city that's usually written off. The San Niccolò neighborhood has a more local vibe, the tourists pass it up on the way to the top of the hill. Exploring the winding streets and peeking into artists' studios was really fun. Some of the most popular Florentine street artists have their shops in this area, like Clet (who graffitis the street signs around town) and Blub (who paints famous artworks wearing scuba goggles). The main attraction is Piazzale Michelangelo, a lookout point over all of Florence. Despite the gray skies, the view was still incredible. Even further up the hill is the church of San Miniato al Monte. With just as good views but far less tourists, I much prefer this spot. Pinks and purples started to appear besides the gray as the sun set. On the way back down, a guy playing a guitar in the style of a mandolin really complemented the Florentine skyline.

Saturday, March 2

Today is Arezzo day! Before coming to Italy, I was thinking about going to Arezzo, a small Tuscan town, but I sort of dismissed it once I got here. LdM helped me out yet again by scheduling a day trip to the Arezzo antique market! Our group took an hour train ride into the Tuscan countryside and arrived close to 11am. We stuck together until we got to the main square, Piazza Grande. All around were stalls after stalls of vendors displaying their antiques--jewelry, old grenades, ancient books, theater seats, anything you could possibly imagine. It instantly became my happy place. Annnnd also a very dangerous place (I knew I shouldn't have gone to the ATM this morning).

I wandered the narrow streets with two other girls, browsing the seemingly infinite stalls. I knew for sure that I'd be leaving with at least a book, but almost everything else caught my eye too. Though I admit it would be quite difficult to fit two giant ionic columns into my carry on... I held off on buying anything until I'd surveyed a fair amount, just to be sure. The first thing I bought was in fact a book: a tiny blue book from 1855, the cover embossed with a cross, including an old tiny photograph of a lady lodged between the pages. At about 1pm, we sat down for lunch across from the Basilica of San Francesco. I had lovely cheesy gnocchi. On the wall next to the restaurant was a sign displaying stills from the movie La Vita è Bella (or Life is Beautiful), a terribly sad comedy set during the Holocaust. I had first seen the movie in high school and it was pretty cool seeing some of the locations were it was filmed.

It was very difficult restraining myself from buying tons of other things (vintage typewriters, old war medals, rotary phones, the list goes on). One thing I did cave and buy was an old spyglass which I will definitely be taking to a future RenFest. I also bought an old skeleton key and a few vintage postcards (one for Arezzo, Florence, and Venice) all from the 1950s. Each corner we turned contained more rows of vendors and I couldn't imagine it getting any bigger on Sunday. We found this pretty big church with a park beside it. Florence doesn't have too many green spaces so strolling to the other side of the park was nice, plus we were rewarded with a nice view of the surrounding areas. As we made our way back to the train station, we kept looking for any little things we might've missed. I ended up getting another book (no, not the small, actually ancient €150 book I accidentally asked the price for). The one I got was normal book size, thin, and a nice burgundy color from 1820. I could've wandered those streets forever, even those outside the market, but alas I had to speed walk to the train station. What a fun day getting to do something I wanted to do but didn't think I'd be able!

Sunday, March 3

Okay so this post is getting kinda long and although some of you (Mom) actually like hearing every detail, I'll try to be succinct with these next few days. Today my roommates and I went to the Pitti Palace and the connecting Boboli Gardens for free museum Sunday! The Pitti Palace was designed in 1440 by Brunelleschi. A hundred years later it was bought by Eleanor of Toledo which was a very bold move and angered all of the land-owning males in the area. You go girl. A few years later Vasari built a corridor connecting the Uffizi Gallery to the palace via a second story passageway over Ponte Vecchio. Nowadays the palace is filled with tons and tons of art. There are literally five different museums inside. We strolled through the halls of the Palatine Gallery and the royal apartments then went to the museum of costume and fashion (which had an exhibit on fashion inspired by animals) because both of my roommates are fashion majors. It was pretty interesting and definitely enjoyable. Afterwards we exited into the Boboli Gardens which were actually huge. We wandered up the incline towards the top of the hill passing an amphitheater of sorts, statues, and a fountain. On a whim with the hopes of exploring a bit, we turned a corner and came to another staircase. At the top was a geometrical garden overlooking the back hills of Florence. It was really beautiful and captured the sought-after Tuscan feel with the sprawling hills and cypress trees. We wanted to explore some more of the expansive gardens, but we were all starving for lunch. As we excited the palace, we were really glad we came early because both the ticket line and the entry line contained what looked like hundreds of people.

Tuesday, March 5

We had a field trip today for my Shakespeare's Italy class. The class focuses on certain Shakespeare plays that are set in Italy. For this field trip we all took a bus up to the hilltop town of Fiesole, just outside of Florence. The town itself was small and quiet but had beautiful views overlooking the valley below. We were going to the Roman ruins here. We entered at the top of the Roman amphitheater, still very much intact and even used today for concerts and events. We had originally planned on coming here to read aloud some of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, but had to reschedule and instead were long finished with that play. So instead my professor told us a lot about the different types of theater and what certain areas were used for, etc. There were also ruins of an Etruscan temple onsite, and nearby were ruins of Roman baths. It was interesting how large the baths were in comparison to the temple. The Romans would start out in a hot tub of sorts, then move to a bath with tepid water, and finally jump in a cold bath. Romans were huge bathers. It was really cool seeing structures that were built thousands of years prior and are still being used today.

Wednesday, March 6

I had another field trip today, this one more local: Santa Croce church. I met my Italian Grand Tour class outside the church under the giant statue of Dante. The class is all about the writers that came to Italy during the Grand Tour and how they viewed the country. We had recently read an excerpt that took place within this church. We stepped inside of the massive church to rows of pews and an exposed wood beam ceiling. Lining the walls were frescoes and tombs. Just to the right was the most widely visited tomb of them all, housing none other than Michelangelo himself. When he died in Rome, Michelangelo's body was sneaked out of the city in a cart full of hay because the Florentines wanted him to rest in his home city. Next to his is a faux grave/memorial for Dante, since Florence was his hometown but he was exiled and buried in Ravenna. Furthest down that side lies Machiavelli, and across on the other side lies Galileo, all except one of his fingers which is preserved in the Galileo Science Museum. This church is often called "the temple of the Italian glories." To the left of the main altar, we entered a room roped off only for praying, the Niccolini chapel.

The French writer Stendhal wrote about his epiphanic experience within the chapel, saying that as he exited the basilica he "walked with constant fear of falling to the ground." Known as "Stendhal syndrome," this feeling came to represent the sense of awe one feels when walking through Florence. The extreme form of this "syndrome" calls for fainting in front of the Duomo. I must say I can see where he's coming from.

Friday, March 8

A few days ago I got tickets to climb the Duomo. It was an early morning, my scheduled time was 8:30am. We briefly entered the cathedral itself and got a glimpse of the altar and dome. It's massive but rather unadorned compared to a lot of cathedrals in Italy. I got to the first set of stairs and prepared for some exercise. Soon we reached the dome! Fun fact: duomo means cathedral in Italian, not dome. In Italian, dome is cupola. This particular cupola was designed by Brunelleschi. Anyway, we exited to a catwalk circling the base of the cupola for an incredible vantage point of the frescoes covering it. Giorgio Vasari's The Last Judgement was huge and the perspective was very interesting. It was definitely not my favorite thing in the world being up there so I stayed away from the edge.

The rest of the stairs were narrow and seemed sort of random. There were 463 stairs in all. On last set of really steep steps and then it opened up onto the beautiful city of Florence. It was a perfect morning, sunny and not too cold! I walked around the circle a few times, taking pictures and just generally enjoying the views. You could really see everything from up here.

On the way back down, we passed by the inside of the dome again, this time higher up and closer to it. How incredible! Upon reaching the ground, I walked a few feet over to the campanile, or bell tower of Florence, designed by Giotto. This one was 414 steps and let's just say I was seriously regretting doing these two in only one day. The view from each of the landings and from the top were so worth it though. Panoramic views of Florence, this time with the Duomo included.

I descended and went back home to recharge a bit before my two and a half hour hike through the Florentine hills! Yeah, I didn't really think this day through... I met the LdM group, a few friends included, and we set off across the river going west. It was a beautiful hike past Tuscan villas, up a lot of hills, through small towns, and with a lot of greenery. Despite being very tired, it was kind of relaxing. Also, happy international women's day! It's tradition for men to give women mimosa flowers on this day.

Saturday, March 9

This morning I caught a 9:30am train to Pisa! On the way to the leaning tower I came across a really tiny yet ornate church on the Arno River.

The city itself wasn't bad, but I didn't like it was much as Florence for instance. It was about a 25 minute walk to the tower and, being about 11am, was very crowded when I got there. I feel like this is just a place that's always crowded no matter when you come though. It was really cool though! I think the fact that everyone knows about the leaning tower of Pisa made me think that it was going to be overhyped and not as cool in real life. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how cool not only the tower was but also the cathedral and baptistry, despite everyone practically lines up to get their typical leaning tower photos. As I waited for my time to go up the tower, 12:30pm, I took some photos and went inside the cathedral (Pisa's Duomo) which was beautiful inside. I was a little creeped out by the glass windows in the coffins in the wings of the church.

Then I climbed up the tower. It was actually pretty weird to go up because you could feel the lean. At the top there were beautiful views of Pisa and the cathedral down below. I though it was actually kind of scary because the tower was made without any railing on the top (it was not originally meant to be walked on) so the safety grate thing went down to the floor and didn't look as secure as, say, marble would've been. As you walked around the top you had to lean with the tower, so walking along the higher part was fine but walking along the lower part meant it felt like you were going to slip off. I ended up leaving right after checking out the bells.

I walked back to the train station and got the 1:45 train to Lucca, a smaller town near Pisa. I got in at 2 and immediately loved the town. The walk to the city center led me through a grassy area and through the old city walls. For some reason, it made me fell like I was in the English or Scottish countryside or something. I guess it was the overcast sky, grassy area, and tiny stream. Anyway, I walked past a cathedral and wandered tiny streets to encounter very minimal people. It was such a shock coming from Pisa, but it was incredible feeling like one of the only ones there. I headed for Trattoria Gigi for lunch and just made it before they closed for siesta. My whole lunch experience was in Italian which was nice, but I did get a few weird looks for eating alone (eating in Italy is as much a social activity as it is about food). I didn't really care, especially when my tortelli Lucchese came. It's an egg-based ravioli filled with beef and pork with a meat ragù. It was really good! Then they brought out a homemade biscotto for me to try. Afterward I just wandered around, going down streets that looked interesting. I found a lot of churches (this is Italy after all). There was a tower with a garden growing on top of it, lots of really pretty streets and piazzas, and the circular Piazza Anfiteatro which is enclosed on all sides except for tunnels leading in and out. By this point my phone had probably 3% battery left. I considered staying regardless, but decided to just go back to Florence early since I was pretty tired. I caught the 4:30 train back to Florence and arrived at 5:50.

Tuesday, March 12

Another LdM-sponsored activity I went to was a pasta making demonstration. We went to a small shop off the main drag with products to buy in front and pasta making machines in the back. The machines were really cool looking and very old. The guy explained about the farm and how they make their own wine, olive oil, and pasta. He then showed us the process, which is best shown through the very brief videos I included at the bottom of the page. We got a portion of fresh soft pasta to take home (which was really yummy) and sampled some olive oil and wine. The olive oil was bright green, the color of true Tuscan olive oil. It had a bit of a bit to it but was really good. I didn't try the wine of course but they had big barrels there where if you brought your own bottle they could fill it for about a euro.

Saturday, March 16

Yesterday I was walking along and was randomly confronted with people in costumes. Intrigued, I followed them to the piazza in front of Santa Maria Novella. There there was a big parade for what I found out was the Fantasy Festival. Today I went to it at the old fort here in Florence. If you know me at all you'll know that I won't pass up an opportunity to be nerdy. The closer I got to the fort, the more people I saw dressed up, the more I knew I was going to have a good time. From medieval to pop culture, there were costumes of all kinds, I even saw the queen and her guard there! I was jealous and so badly wanted to dress up. I brought my camera though and had fun taking pictures of people, but I was pretty nervous about approaching people and asking for permission in Italian. But another photographer saw me struggling and tried to boost my confidence. They had costume parades, vendors, medieval music, and sword fighting shows. It was really fun but got warm during the day. The final parade included a flag throwing show which was really cool! Even an actor from a show i like was there and said a few words to the crowd. In America at these types of things they usually sell Japanese snacks as specialty items, but here they also had American snacks! Oreos and Pringles galore. It's strange to take for granted the abundance of snack varieties in the U.S.

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As always, here's the video:

If you want to see more photos, check out my facebook and instagram pages or the gallery on this website! They are linked at the top and bottom of the page. Thanks for reading!