Pisa

The city of Pisa, on the western coast of Italy right where it starts to curve towards France, was a naval power of great wealth and importance.....in the 1200's. Pisa won a naval battle off Sicily in 1062 and the spoils of that victory funded the Pisan building program. This is what is today's "Piazza dei Miracoli" However, in 1284 Pisa lost a major battle, had it's overseas outposts taken away, the port silted up and it became kind of a backwater. But what we have left is a set of buildings that have their own style known as "Pisan Romanesque." It's grand, but also light and airy feeling.

The Baptistry, the Duomo and Campanile, three of the four buildings that comprise the complex.

Here it is, the leaning tower, and it really is almost at a 15 degree angle. I refused, however, to pose for one of those pictures where it looks like I'm holding it up. Way too cliche.

The baptistry!!

This pulpit, by Nicola (the father of the father/son duo) Pisano is in the baptistry. Built in 1260, this hexagonal shaped pulpit is like the one in Siena, it's showing classical forms and emerging realism.

Here is the interior of the baptistry from above. Notice the pulpit and the baptistry itself. The small holes are for baptising of babies. Also, the baptistry has AMAZING acoustics. A sound can reverberate for over 20 seconds. One cool thing is that someone can sing one note, then a second and then a third and since the first two are still reverberating, it sounds like there are three voices making a chord even though the three were produced by one person.

Pisan Romanesque!

The apse of the duomo is still of the Byzantine style. When this was constructed, art was in the transition from Byzantine to the emergence of the Renaissance.

This pulpit in the duomo was created by the younger Pisano, Giovanni between 1301-1311.

Let's compare a panel by the father in the baptistry....

...to one by the son in the duomo. You can see that Giovanni clearly learned from his Dad, but took things to an even greater extreme. He carves a deeper relief, adds more movement, has many more figures and has a sense of perspective that isn't yet fully developed in the panel done by his father. It was AWESOME to see these pulpits (along with the one in Siena).

American Cemetery and Memorial in Florence, Italy

The American Cemetery and Memorial just south of Florence, Italy

Older Italians love and revere Americans because of the heroic actions the US Armed Forces that liberated the Italian Peninsula from the Axis back in World War II. Late into the war, the US Fifth Army and the British Army landed in Sicily and slowly moved their way up the Italian peninsula. They liberated Rome in June 1944. However, some of the most intense fighting happened in the foothills of the Apennines in the fall and winter of 1944. The opposition army surrendered their hold on Northern Italy shortly before May 1945 and the end of the European theater of World War II. Here is a link for more information.

There is a nice map and description of the progression of the movement of the Allies up the Italian Peninsula.

Mom, Dad and I visited on June 1st, the day after Memorial Day. We had the place all to ourselves, but the juxtaposition of the Italian and US flags was incredibly moving.

The crosses (and Star of David for the fallen Jewish soldiers) are set out in big arcs on a hillside. Stunning. The fallen, but missing, are commemorated on a wall on the main memorial structure itself.

I hope every soldier gets memorialized in such a beautiful and honorable way.

Siena

I've not been posting for about three weeks because my parents have been visiting me in Italy. They are usually bus tour type people, so to be able to travel independently is a new experience for them and I'm glad I could make it happen for them. It wasn't easy at times for various reasons. Now that they are gone, I can reflect on what the difficulties were. (There were lots of great moments, but I'm trying to learn from the challenges and times I lost my cool). First and foremost.....I am my father. Two of us together, both control freaks, is not always good. He is to be commended for letting me take the wheel (figuratively and literally), but I did have the slight language advantage. Second, and this is totally me being tough on myself, I expected myself to never make a mistake. I set up all the hotels and set the daily agenda and if something went wrong of I got lost, I ended up taking it out on Mom and Dad when I should I know that they understood that not everything was going to be perfect. Highs and lows come with travel and I thought they would judge badly when I made a bad call. Third, it was hard for me sometimes to deal with the fact that I've accepted that sometimes things are done "the Italian way" and I've adjusted to it, but Mom and Dad didn't always "play along". I need to give them credit for doing such a great job as they were dropped into it pretty much without preparation. Oh, and lastly, there is the issue of my Dad never saying what he really wants. This is something that I've learned (even though I have yet to learn how to deal with it patiently) is that he'll mention something and then say it's ok if it doesn't pan out, when her REALLY does want it to. Ok, I've processed. And for those of you who are Facebook friends, you've gotten the daily commentary and status updates about the incredibly humorous things Mom and Dad said throughout the trip.

So, the blog postings about the trip start now. After spending a few days around Viterbo and a day trip to Rome, first stop......Siena.

When Tuscany is mentioned, people swoon about how beautiful it is.

It really is. It's amazing how you just drive from Lazio into Tuscany, and the landscape is just THAT much prettier, idyllic and amazing. Pictures don't do it justice, you'll have to see it for yourself.

A view of the city hall tower in the Tuscan hill town of Siena.

The center of town, and hands down the best piazza in Italy, is the Campo of Siena. It's magical at night and it's great for people watching. It's surrounding by homes and restaurants that fan around the curved border.

Siena City Hall is what all the buildings face.

The campo (the bricks are what the color Burnt Sienna is named after) is divided into nine sections (representing the nine council members who ruled during medieval times) and slopes down to a point in front of city hall.

This 13th century duomo is amazing and it's piazza is the sight of a funny incident that Melody (from the Volterra trip) and I had on this very spot. There is amazing art inside the duomo as well.

One of the first panels on the floor you come to is this one with Siena (she-wolf) as the center of the Italian world with other cities (Rome, Florence, etc) revolving around Siena.

One of those towns "orbiting" around Siena is Viterbo. WOOHOO, Viterbo worthy of mentioned in Siena's put down!

This pulpit (1268), but Nicola Pisano, is one of the first Renaissance "sculptures". Notice the classical forms and the realism.....about 100 years before Leonardo and Michelangelo.

The pillars stand on the backs of lions. The lions symbolize Christianity and it (the lions) are devouring it's catch (the defeat of paganism).

Siena, actually was going to build an even BIGGER duomo. The current nave was going to be the trancept of the larger planned duomo. Here we are looking at the facade of the unfinished duomo.

Here we see the arches that were to form the nave. It's been filled in and the Duomo museum occupies the space. The piazza in front (what would have been the nave of the new duomo) is the location of the place to which Melody and I a few weeks previously had accidentally ended up when she was navigating us around Siena using the GPS on her iPhone. Siena is a pedestrian city and all this is where we ended up.

This is the pedestrian only street that the GPS let us down. We had to drive out on it as well.

Siena was the fourth day of Mom and Dad's trip. Mom saw this Chinese takeout place and insisted that we go.

Here they are eating in the stockroom of the takeout place. We ate Chinese at least 5 times on the trip. Each time, the Chinese natives would roll out the red carpet for us.

Viterbesi one of the Azzuri

Being in Italy for the start of the World Cup (Mondiali) is quite an experience. Being the defending champions brings great expectations and the whole country stops and watches the games. Here in Viterbo, there is an added bonus. Leonardo Bonnuci is from right here in Viterbo. He's actually from two neighborhoods over from where I live. So, they set up a screen in the piazza and projected it onto a wall. This happened all over town, and I bet around the country and probably the world.

"Go Leo!~ We are all with you."

The piazza of Bonnuci's neighborhood packed to the gills.

"Go Leo! You are our pride"

Here's the set up in Valle Faul, Viterbo's psuedo Central Park. I watched the second half of the game here. When de Rossi scored the goal the place went NUTS.

What a year it has been

If you are a dedicated reader of the blog, you know the meaning of this picture!

Tuesday morning at 230AM, the bus pulled into the "Questura" (police station) parking lot to load up the kids, their bags and lots of tears for the flight back to the United States. I had my moments of mourning their departure the Thursday before when we cleaned up the school and they left the building for the last time. School was, and still feels empty without the screeching and laughter of high school students. This year was an amazing experience. I left the job in Oakland because I was bored. I didn't have the feeling of excitement each and every day that I felt here. I recognize that it's always the first year that is always special. And there will never be a first time here in Italy like it was this year. What made it so memorable? Why was it that I couldn't sleep through the night because I was so ready to get the next day started? (Well, lots of great coffee didn't help matters). It was the fact that I was learning every day. I was teaching subjects I hadn't taught in years. I waded through and successfully taught BC Calculus. There were times when I was walking the tightrope of having to admit that I didn't know what I was teaching, but I made it through. Taking Art History was awesome and gave me context and excitement for everything I was seeing. Traveling each and every weekend was unbelievable and something I started to take for granted. But what this year gave me was the chance to learn how to live that keeps me engaged and excited, how to live a life that keeps me out of trouble or even thinking about trouble and how to take chances. I've still got lots to learn and places where I can be bold and not be tentative, but I have no fear of living in a place where I don't know the language or the culture.

So, what's up this summer? First, Mom and Dad are here visiting for the the first weeks of June. I return to the US for a month. One week in San Francisco, 10 days in Seattle, a week in Upstate NY working with Lucky Dog farms and then a few days in Manhattan. I return to Italy in late July, my friend Vern visits and then we travel to Cologne for the Gay Games. I'll spend a weekend down in Bavaria with my German host brothers from 1986. Amsterdam with my friend Jim J. and finishing up in August hiking in the mountains and fjords of Norway. How's that?

The Vatican

Classes finished this past Thursday. The Italian teachers called me "cattivo" for scheduling an exam on the last day of classes. I thought nothing of it and the kids didn't complain one bit. However, the final academic requirement of the year for the students was a last trip to Rome this past Friday. The trip I had yet to go on was a tour of the Vatican. I had been there back in 2007 when I was here for a wedding, but this time, it became a game of "oh, we studied that piece in Art History" almost everywhere I turned. So, here we go, it's kind of a hodge podge of a bunch of pieces from the entire year in Art History.

The cupola of St. Peter's Basilica.

First piece, the base of the column of Antonius Pius. On the right side, the apotheosis of Antonius and his wife Faustina, which is firmly in the classical tradition. On the left, is the decursio, or ritual circling of the funerary pyre. Note the break with classical traditions. Artists had become bored with classical art and were breaking with it. The decursio adopts non-classical traditions and brings in art of the lower classes.

Apoxyomenos, aka The Scraper, by Lysippos. This marble copy of the 330BC bronze stands in a large niche just before entering the octagonal courtyard. The young man is scraping the oil off his body after exercising.

Lysippos introduces a new canon where the head is one-eighth of the body, instead of one-seventh. The viewer is encouraged to view the statue from all angles instead of just frontally.

The Greeks LOVED order and balance. Here Praxiteles has created the "Apollo Belvedere." Although this is an action shot, Apollos is totally in control and serene. He's the mix of real person and god. Totally Greek!

The Aphrodite of Knidos, by Praxiteles, was major because it showed female nudity. And not just any woman, a goddess. Aphrodite isn't openly erotic, but she is sensuous and inviting.

This is Mithras (the symbol of order and salvation) taming the bull (representing chaos and unrest).

Ahh, yes, this brings back memories of a joke we had in class. This is a detail of the statue shown above where the bull is biting the balls of the bull thereby giving sending the bull into spasms and metaphorically giving chaos one more chance.

Raphael's "Transfiguration". The face of Christ might be the last thing Raphael ever painted as the rest of the painting was completed by his students.

This unfinished work (apparently Leonardo had artistic ADD and moved from piece to piece having a hard time finishing them) shows his ability to show psychological emotion and power. It's anguish of the body but ecstasy of the spirit through the eyes.

My favorite room in the Vatican museums is the long corridor called the map room. I could stand for hours looking at the huge maps of Italy that break up the country into chunks that show in great detail what was present on the peninsula during the time the maps were painted.

This is the map of the area called Tuscia, which is southern Tuscany and northern Lazio. Viterbo is located between the small lake (Lago di Vico) in the center and the big lake in the upper left (Lago di Bolena).

The facade of St. Peters was designed by Carlo Maderno between 1606 and 1612.

The size of St. Peters is enormous. This is the "balcacchino" (silk from Baghdad in Italian) that Bernini created in 1624-1633. It marks the high altar and St. Peters tomb. It's scale is perfect in bridging the human to the lofty vaults of the huge church. Interestingly, Pope Urban VIII ordered bronze taken from the Pantheon to be used for this structure. It's symbolic in taking from paganism it summarily rejects it.

St. Peter's Square is actually an ellipse. If you stand at one of the foci.....

.....the three deep rows of columns line up and appear as one. Math and architecture as art. AWESOME!

So, I have to admit that I missed some of the famous pieces that I wanted to see. Specifically, "The School of Athens" by Raphael. I did so with the knowledge that next year, I will be able to get into the Vatican with the school at least three times. I'm spoiled and lucky, I know.