Day 10

Hi!

Today I woke up before my alarm and just took my time getting ready for the day. We met at Santa Croce at 10 to go back in (on the same ticket as before) to finish going through the whole thing. As we were walking in we passed a table where two tour guides were sitting and chatting, so Dr. Zaho decided to have one show us around because she always learns something new. So we got Stefano, a tall old man with white hair and shining eyes. He reminded me of my grandpa at home, so it made me feel all warm and happy inside. He only spoke Italian, so he would speak to Dr. Zaho and she would translate the key points to us. A few things she didn't know that he told us were that Santa Croce used to be kind of an island in a marshy area (then I guess the geography changed?), that Michelangelo's remains are not in his tomb (but in the floor near it), and that Giotto baptized Taddeo Gaddi. He was very nice and excited to be taking us around the church. He was technically supposed to leave us after he walked us around the church, but he wanted to show us around the whole grounds. After he ended the tour we just walked around for about 30 minutes before meeting up again and heading to Mario's.

This time we all sat at one long table, so it was nice to see everyone's beautiful faces while I ate the best food. I had ribollita again, plus fettucine with a tomato sauce. So good. But I ate so much. Like, oh my gosh. I didn't want to finish the pasta but no one wanted to share it and I didn't want to leave it on the plate to offend Fabio or his wife or anyone else in the kitchen. So I finished it. It wasn't really THAT much but it was more than I'm used to eating these days. I could feel it sitting in my stomach for the next few hours, but it was all delicious and I have no regrets.

After Mario's we walked over to Santa Maria Novella, the Dominican response to Santa Croce. Krista did her presentation there on the facade, the interior, and the Tornabuoni Chapel. The interior is much more plain than what we've been seeing lately, but it had some really cool frescoes. One of my favorites, The Trinity by Masaccio, is in there. It depicts a limp Jesus on the cross being held up by God the Father with the Holy Spirit (depicted by a white dove) in between them. They are flanked by the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist in an architectural space portrayed with accurate one point perspective. There is a coffered barrel vault and columns and it just looks like the space you're looking at it from has been recessed into the wall to fit this scene. In a space that is one step down and closer to you are the patrons of the painting (Domenico Lenzi and his wife), kneeling and praying to the Holy Trinity. In a space that appears to be beneath them in the wall is the best part of the fresco: a memento mori. AKA a reminder of death. It's a skeleton laying in full on top of a tomb with a phrase scrolled above it. The phrase was written in Italian so that it can be read by everyone, from the 1400s up to now. It says, "I was once what you are, and what I am, you also will be." I'll give you a minute to let that sink in. Just wow. It really makes you think, doesn't it?

After staring at that for a while and taking pictures in the reflected light of the colorful stained glass windows, we continued to look around the church. We saw the crucifix that Brunelleschi made in response to Donatello's crucifix that he said looked like a farmer. We also saw the Strozzi chapel with frescos depicting Heaven and Hell, as well as a big beautiful altarpiece covered in gold and saints and angels surrounding Jesus.

Then we moved onto the main altar, the Tornabuoni Chapel, decorated in 1485 with a stunning fresco cycle by Ghirlandaio. It depicts scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary on the left wall and scenes from the life of John the Baptist on the right. Each panel had to be close to 10' tall and maybe 15' wide. The colors were so vibrant and alive and the figures showed a range of emotions. The scenes placed in an interior space showed that of wealthy Florentines in the Renaissance, and the people were wearing Florentine fashions of the time. It was a beautiful space with a lot to look at.

After that we looked at a few more chapels and some tombs then left Santa Maria Novella. Dr. Zaho then led us down the street to experience our "19th Century Moment", though we didn't know what that meant at the time. She took us into this beautiful little shop, the Santa Maria Novella Farmicia. It's been there since the 1800s, selling perfumes, oils, cremes, and all sorts of things fragrance-related. Man, it smelled so good. And the interior was beautiful with gold and floral accents all over the place.

Once we were done in there we were done for the day, so Geoff, Katia, and I walked through the city down some streets we hadn't taken before. We discovered a few cool shops, one of which was a t-shirt print shop. The first thing you see when walking in is a TV set up to play Super Mario Bros on Super Nintendo, next to a bunch of hip local magazines. They had a lot of cool designs; think of a cult hit movie, and they probably have it in an 8-bit image. We're definitely going to go back soon and get the low down on live music in the area. I scoured the internet when we got home using the zines I got as an aid, but I didn't find much.

Once we got back I ate a small dinner and hung out with my roommates. Tomorrow we're going to who knows where outside the city to cook a meal in a woman's house. I'm pretty excited.

Ciao!