Pot pourri…

When we were in Italy last October I took one random segment of video. I have no clue as to why except that it was a beautiful clear day, I was overwhelmed by the environment, and I wanted to remember the music I was hearing. I have been carrying around this one and one half minutes ever since, not knowing quite what to do with it. Almost trashed it many times. Then, for the final project of the Xanthe Berkeley class I was taking we needed to combine video and work with “ducking” sound. I finally had a use for it and I made this memory of Italy from my iPhone photos. It was a fun project to try to find coordinating music for the rest of the movie.

Made a strawberry and ricotta tart after the Chandler strawberries came into the Farmer’s Market last Sunday.

Also came across rhubarb at Whole Food’s. Pulled out my favorite recipe from a book I got many years ago written by the proprietors from a Cafe in Paris. I am going to now have the opportunity to visit this cafe in person.

The black and white striped French fisherman’s shirt I ordered from LLBean has arrived in time for its trip to Paris.

The signatures for my travel journal are ready to be sewn into its cover.

It happened again: before we went to Italy I discovered a magazine I had kept for at least ten years. It was an issue devoted to Tuscany and one of its articles was a list of paper stores in Florence. I had a fabulous time searching for all the stores while I was there. A couple of weeks ago, I went to storage to get some furniture for my daughter who was moving apartments. There was a random box that was labeled papers so I brought it back home with the intention of sorting and recycling. The box was filled with old magazines that had belonged to my father. An example was Life magazine from 1943 talking about the war in the Pacific. (My father had been on a destroyer in the Navy.) There was also a copy of Holiday Magazine from 1948. (I was two!) The table of contents said the magazine had an article about the circus, but all the pages for that were neatly cut out. Most of the rest of the magazine was devoted to Paris! So now I have some wonderful graphics for my travel journal.

The most giggle inducing event is that a long-time friend (we met in fourth grade) and her husband are going to be in Paris at the same time. Happenstance is a powerful thing…if we had tried to actually plan this it never would have worked out. We are like school girls, school girls I tell you…

Still have to do the trial run with the suitcase and apply the Murphy rule. Pack it, then unpack and leave half of the contents at home. Counting down the days…

I no longer say ciao, I have switched to au revoir…

Gatto Italiano…

Just a few more pics…I realized I have this group of Italian cats…
Boboli gatto

Vineyard gatto

Cafe gatto

Pienza gatto

Fresco gatto

Kicked-back vineyard gatto

Orvieto gatto

Home gatto guarding the home fires until we got back. (Processed with the “Italiano” filter in the Camerabag app.)

Ciao, piccolo gatto

Orvieto…

Our last day trip was further away and actually in Umbria rather than Tuscany. The drive was about two hours and we also got to see a body of water (the only one on the trip). This is Lago di Bolsena.

Orvieto, as were all the hill towns, was magical.

When we first got there we got a little lost looking for the Duomo. An extra treat was coming upon wood sculpture on the walls of a hidden street. I think they are by The Micelangeli Workshop.

Great birds, of course…eventually we found the Duomo.

Inside this Duomo are frescoes by Luca Signorelli of Dante’s Inferno and Paradise. Done forty years before the Sistine Chapel frescoes, they are given credit for influencing the style used by Michelangelo to do the Chapel. They were fantastic (have I said that over and over about this place?). I wish I could show you some images, you will just have to go see for yourself. Across from the Duomo, is a wonderful Etruscan Museum. Of course, the streets are wonderful to stroll.

Then we came home. Processing these pictures and posting these entries has been fun and helped me make sense of the things I saw. The only drawback is the list, longer than my arm, of things we missed, things we should have looked longer at, things we want to do again…now I have to get back to my real world…and plan our next trip.
Ciao

Pienza and The English Patient…

Pienza…ahh, Pienza…you swept me away…the smallest of the towns we visited and maybe my favorite…because I could see myself there in a small artisan shop in an ancient building (inviting all my friends to come visit, of course…will you?)…working on art, chatting with customers. Long meals, lovely days…but first the lay of the land…

The most important order of business was the morning cappuccino, but when I saw this chocolate fountain I was quickly seduced in another direction…

Then to the church (which allowed pictures) and the town museum (which did not). This church has foundation problems, but being a true Californian I thought about earthquakes a lot while I was inside…and wouldn’t you know the day we got home two above 4.0 quakes happened on faults near our house…yikes…

The cracks…

The above is a glass insert put in to measure amount of movement.
Best of all were the alter boys getting ready for service…looked about sixth grade age

The stroll to find lunch in a cafe with three tables and many wine bottles and tasty sandwiches.

Looking for artisans

We found a potter

A fabric artist

And a watercolorist…her bookmark/business card and some delightful watercolors I bought…they are 2″x2″ and now so many miles away, they make my heart skip when I look at them…

On our way back down the road from Pienza we opted to explore a dirt road that takes you to a monastery named Sant’ Anna In Camprena. It was the setting for the Italian part of the movie The English Patient and I figured that it was the closest I would ever get to Ralph Fiennes. (Since we have been home we rented the movie to watch again and were amazed at how young the actors looked. Luckily we were alone while we watched because we kept yelling out things like…I stood next to that cypress…we were right next to that wall…remember those crosses…)
This is where Juliette Binoche met Willem Defoe for the first time…

My driver noticing that we couldn’t go inside because it was 2:00 and it was closed from 12-3:00 in the fashion of the country. Love the colors of this facade…

You may note black dots in many of my pictures. These are Jackdaws similar to our crows and always flying around the towers we saw in Italy. (From Wikipedia)

Siena

You are probably thinking by now… when are these people ever going to get home…almost done now…only a few more hill towns…and today…

So is it raw sienna or burnt sienna (the paint color names come from the French language hence the double “n” but the color comes from the earth in Tuscany)?

Or is it gold? (a human statue)

The Duomo

Across from the Duomo is the Museo filled with amazing art (of course) and at the back of the second floor (at least I think we were on the second floor) there is a door down a hallway that leads you to a very narrow spiral staircase. Very close quarters but serves as both up and down. Only one person can move at a time but it is so worth getting to the top. It is called the Panorama and this is the view.

After the Museo, inside the Duomo.

Ceilings and floors, ceilings and floors.

After enjoying the Duomo we were off to the Palazzo Pubblico. (Think the James Bond movie with the horse race.)

This is the Mangia Tower built between 1338-1348.

The construction of The Palazzo began in 1288. The large medallion is the monogram of San Bernardino. Inside are the amazing frescoes of the Allegory of Good Government and the Allegory of Bad Government.

Then we enjoyed walking though the streets

Enjoying the patterns

and celebrations…a wedding!

Great lunch included rabbit stuffed with carrots and pine nuts wrapped with prosciutto.

Then dessert at Grom!

The very best flavor…salted caramel.

What a day, what a day…

Monte Oliveto Maggiore

Our Untours leader in Tuscany (Harriet Gussoni) had us meet her for an orientation and lunch at the abbey called Monte Oliveto Maggiore. We were then given a tour of the inside of the monastery and its incredible frescoes. The restaurant was entered through a drawbridge with a Della Robbia sculpture as a greeting.

Harriet giving us driving and hill town tips for the week.

This was the most interesting plant growing out of the brick wall started by a seed blown into a crack.

Creating this beautiful flower-the flower of the caper plant.

After a lunch that included pane dei Santi and vin santo, we walked down the hill to the monastery.

Constructed in the 15th century it includes this loggia.

Inside the arches are frescoes that depict the life and work of Bernard Tolomei who founded the order in 1319. The frescoes were created by Luca Signorelli and Sodoma.

Pictures were allowed and we were close to them but I am only going to share some charming snippets.

Benedict leaving home.

This is thought to be a self portrait of the artist, Sodoma.

We also saw the refectory.

The library.

And the church.

Which has a choir covered in wood inlaid stalls.

A mosaic done in 1980 of Benedict created by a member of the community.

A closer view of the modern statue in the courtyard.

And another Della Robbia as we passed out through the 16th century drawbridge.

Breathing Art…

Our apartment in Tuscany contained many books left behind, I assumed, by previous residents. Terry pointed out a chapter in Frances Mayes book, “Bella Tuscany, the Sweet Life in Italy” entitled Breathing Art. It is the perfect description. She talks about how a child in Italy might be found kicking a soccer ball against the 500 year old wall of a Basilica. Art is everywhere.
I found I was breathing art the entire time I was there.

A wall in San Gimignano had niches of art (with explanations about their symbolism).

In the Piazzo del Popolo in Montalcino, a wall had tiles that looked like they were commissioned each year to celebrate the local wine which is the backbone of their economy.

In Buonconvento a gallery was marked by this sculpture.

Art, art, art, I just love you…even on my cappuccino in Montalcino.

Hill Towns…

We left Florence having made our best attempt to see everything we could, but still missing so much that we vowed that we must return. We picked up our little Audi at the Florence airport and headed south, Terry driving and Lois navigating. Terry did well at the driving,
Lois not so much…I am not going to mention my difficulty distinguishing between the “no parking” signs and the “no entry” signs and I am really not going to tell about the experience of curling down the five story exit ramp of a parking structure. Fortunately for us it was so early in the day that no one was exiting, yet, and when we got to the bottom that cute little Audi actually was so little that Terry could make a twenty point “Y” turn so that he did not have to back up the five story spiral to get out of there so we could find the real entrance. Other than that we enjoyed driving in Tuscany. The towns have parking structures and lots on the outskirts so you park and walk. As Terry kept saying, “The hill towns really are hilly.” We stopped for lunch in San Gimignano. It is known for its towers (fourteen still exist.) This town was the setting for the movie “Tea with Mussolini” where a group of British ex-pats save the towers and frescoes from the retreating Germans who wanted to blow them up at the end of the war. In the early ’20′s MC Escher made a woodblock print of the town’s towers that you can see if you scroll down here. Keep scrolling and you will see his drawing of Orvieto, a town we saw later in the week.

We settled into our apartment that was in a vineyard, half way between Montalcino and Buonconvento.

My favorite color scheme on a building.

We got to the top of this wall and thought we might get blown off but got a really good view.

Nice house, hey?

Charmed, I am sure…

Our last day in Florence was filled with a visit to Museo di San Marco to see Fra Angelico’s frescoes. Couldn’t take photos inside (a series of small cells for monks, each with its own fresco), but it was a beautiful experience. The outdoor courtyard was a beautiful place, too.

In process restoration of a fresco.

We visited a cafe afterward to await the time of our reservation at the Academia (tour books recommend making the reservations here and at the Uffizi before leaving home). Love the way they do shutters here.

And as we waited in line we enjoyed the roof lines…

First we saw an exhibit of sculptures by Lorenzo Bartolini. Some were marble and some were gesso which gave me a new appreciation for that material.
Like so much during our week in Florence, the Academia was overwhelming. As we walked into the entry corridor to the area where David stands, the corridor created a sight line to the tall statute under a domed skylight and my breath was taken away.
Pages from my travel journal since I couldn’t get shots inside.

I was thinking about David and my reaction to seeing it for the first time. At first I assumed it was so special because it is an iconic image in every history book. Then one night last week I woke up in the middle of the night and remembered that there was something else. I dug down in my jewelry box and found that I still had the bracelet I had gotten in high school when my great aunt took a European vacation and brought me a silver charm from each place she visited. There was the half inch tall David. Back in the day, I am sure I wondered if I would ever see it in person. I’m thinking I should use the bracelet as a guide. Oh, look there is the Eiffel Tower…a Spanish flamenco player…a Venice gondola…a Dutch windmill…a Greek shoe…and my new Euro bracelet stamped with the Florentine lily. I move my arm and it makes music.

Pitti Palace…

A very short history of Florence: Cosimo I wanted to live here:

(Palazzo Vecchio)
His wife, Eleonora di Toledo did not like it much so she bought this:

Pitti Palace
This:

became the seat of government and is still called the old (vecchio) palace.
This:

became the Medici residence but Eleonora never got to live in it because she died of malaria shortly after the work was begun.
This

became the symbol for the il Marzocco espresso machine headquartered in Florence. Notice the heraldic lion that symbolizes Florence and the Florentine fleur de lis synonymous with victory and conquest.
Now, this Pitti Palace houses art, but you cannot use cameras inside so my images are out the windows of the view and of the building itself. The Boboli Gardens are also part of the Palace.

Good read: a series of mysteries by Magdalen Nabb featuring Marshal Guarnaccia of the Italian Carabinieri. My favorite so far is “Marshal and the Madwoman” set in and around the Pitti Palace and its neighborhood.