Day 7

Hello!

It's been a week since we got here and that's insane to me.

Today we were set to meet at Capa at 9am. As we were about to leave our apartment, Emily checked Facebook and saw that the Tintori girls were locked in their apartment and couldn't get in touch with Dr. Zaho on the phone. So we all booked it to Capa to let her know what was going on; when we got there Lorenzo was already on his way to the apartment because Zaho had also checked Facebook. They discovered they were locked in at about 8:30 and didn't get out until 10. So we sat in the front room of Capa for an hour then finally left for the Bargello at 10. Once we got to the Bargello, a wonderful statue museum, we found out it was closed, though we were fairly certain that it was supposed to be open today. So we waited for the rest of the group and made a new plan.

We ended up walking along the river to the Church of the Ognissanti to see Botticelli's tomb, the tomb of his lover, and a Last Supper by Ghirlandaio. We walked in through a door held open by a smiling nun and stopped inside to stare at everything surrounding us. The ceiling was entirely frescoed with a scene of St. Francis among architecture that seems to extend the space into the heavens. The walls were lined with tombs and marble and a few paintings. This all led up to the altar, which held a crucified Christ under another frescoed ceiling. There were three giant archways adjacent to each other with coats of arms at the top of each. Once you get the the altar you have the option to go left or right to look at a series of tombs. To the right is Botticelli's tomb, though it surprised me that it didn't stand out in any real way. He was buried in the Church of the Ognissanti because of his love for a woman that was married to another man; her name was Simonetta Vespucci and she was used as Botticelli's model in nearly all his paintings. (She's a relative of Amerigo Vespucci, the man that gave his name to America). We didn't know where to go to find her tomb, so Dr. Zaho asked a woman and she had no idea. So we walked out of the church into the next door on the street to see the Last Supper by Ghirlandaio.

We entered through a large courtyard surrounded by frescoed walls. The room that you walk into to see the fresco glows an eerie yellow hue that can't be escaped. On the walls leading to the Last Supper at the end of the room were the sinopia of the fresco; that is, the underdrawings of the piece. When an artist does a fresco, they draw the image on the wall first and apply a new layer of plaster to add the paint to. Somehow, restoration specialists have found a way to remove and separate the the sinopia from the painting itself. Both the sinopia and fresco were showing in the room. It was an amazing thing to see in contrast to each other. We sat in the room staring at the piece for a while, comparing it to the last one we saw amongst ourselves.

When we left the room with the Last Supper and the yellow glow, we literally ran back to the Church of the Ognissanti next door because Dr. Zaho had a new lead on where Simonetta Vespucci was buried. We walked in, look around, didn't find anything. So she asked another man for help and he said no one knows where she is, she's probably with the other Vespucci's next door. Then another woman told her she heard that we had to "find a vase with a face next to it, and she'll be there". What? It felt like a mystery that we were never going to solve. So we found a conch shell vase-type thing with a portrait of Jesus above it, so we assumed this was her secret tomb, though it didn't make much sense. A few minutes later we were kicked out because they were closing.

After the Church of the Ognissanti, we looked at a nearby art nouveau building from the street then we crossed the river. I was so so so excited! Because I love art nouveau and I had been antsy about crossing the river. When we got there we walked through the streets to the Church of Santa Spirita and a panino place right in front of it called Gusta Panino. I got mozarella, pesto, and tomato on wheat bread. I don't know what the bread was called but it was soooo good and it was toasted so it was a little crispy and everything was warm. Ugh. It was the best panino I've had so far. Then we walked around a little more and made our way to get gelato at La Carraia Gelateria. Best gelato. I got mint and cookie flavors in a cone. It was the absolute best. Geoff took a whole bunch of pictures of me with it so I'm excited to see those.

After that we walked over to the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge lined with jewelry shops. From a distance it looks incredible, just buildings floating over the Arno. When you're on it, though, it looks like just another street, only with a slight curve to it. The craziest part is that it's been around since medieval times! The storefronts haven't changed since then; they're wooden with small little doors and protruding windows to display to most merchandise possible. There's a structure that spans the length of the bridge above the shops that connects to the Uffizi at the end of it. This is known as the Vasari Corridor, a place created for the Medici family to travel from their palace on one side of the river to their offices and art collection at the other without having to mingle with common people. These days it's used as an exclusive art gallery that hardly anyone can get into. We won't be seeing it unfortunately.

After wandering the street and taking pictures for a little bit, we began our hike up to Basilica di San Miniato al Monte. It really wasn't bad. We walked up the river then through some beautiful paths made of stone and draped by green trees. Our first stop was at Piazza Michelangelo, a place that serves as a lookout for a great view, a parking lot, and apparently a makeout spot for teens (though we didn't see any of that). We all took a few pictures of the great view then continued up the hill to get to the highest and most beautiful point, Basilica di San Miniato al Monte.

Once you make it to the gates of San Miniato, you still have about 60 steps to climb to reach the palazoo in front of it. And before you even reach that, you'll find yourself in a hauntingly beautiful cemetery. There are mausoleums carved into the wall of the palazzo above it with a sheath of roses hanging down over it. We looked around a little bit but quickly went up to the Palazzo so Brittany could begin her presentation on the church. She spoke some, then we went behind the church to look at an expansive, seemingly endless graveyard. The tombstones all had pictures framed above the name and dates of the person buried. A lot of them were more than headstones, though. Most were sculptures of various things; we saw some little girls, some bust portraits, one man laying nude and face down, and one life-sized sculpture of a couple holding hands (the woman in her wedding gown, the man in his army uniform; they died one year apart). The mausoleums around us were numerous and looked like miniature churches. It was incredible. Some had frescoes in the front, some had stained glass windows, and a few even had big architectural peaks on them. The sun was getting really hot at that point so we went back to front of the church and entered it.

The interior of San Miniato has frescos on the walls and painted wood beams on the massive ceiling. In the aisle between the benches facing the altar is a frescoed floor featuring astrology signs, very similar to the one we saw in the Baptistery. From there you have to go down a small set of stairs in the crypt to see mass, or up some stairs to get to a space to see their half dome more clearly and to get to a fully frescoed room. We went into the room that was frescoed with the four gospel writers and their symbols on the ceiling and scenes from the life of St. Benedict. It was all in near perfect condition because it hasn't been opened to the public for long, there is only one window to let sunlight in, and monks are the only people to have seen it for centuries. We moved out of this room to see the half dome, another thing in the church that looked very similar to the Baptistery. It was mosaic-ed with shimmering gold tiles and featured a large image of Christ. We spoke about these things for a short while before going downstairs to a chapel to the left side of the nave where Brittany gave the last bit of her presentation. Honestly, I barely looked at anything in that chapel but the ceiling.

This ceiling was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen because it was so unexpected. I don't even know where to start with my description. The basic layout is this: one central circle within four circles with the same design layout. Each circle has a white terra cotta figure in the middle with two  white terra cotta frames that are separated by blue scale-like shapes that fade from light to deep dark blue. The central circle has the Holy Spirit (a single white dove) in the middle with beams of golden light coming from behind it and what looked like gold chalices surrounding it parallel to the rays. The surrounding four circles bear the images of the four cardinal virtues: prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice. In the space between the circles is a design that stunned me and continues to make little sense, which is why I love it. This church was founded in 1018 and the chapel in question was decorated in the 1400s. The design between the circles on the ceiling looks like it was taken straight out of the 1980s. It's a cube-like pattern with black, yellow, and a lime green. Man, I wish I could upload a picture. I just tried but it'll take too long and it's getting late. But anyway, this ceiling is amazing and if you google images of the Chapel of the Cardinal or Portugal in San Miniato al Monte, you should find it.

After looking at the chapel we went outside because there was a mass going on. We sat outside for an hour taking pictures before returning to the interior to watch and experience a vesper, in which five monks sank low, relaxing songs in what I'm assuming was latin. It was incredible and spiritual and it made us all fall asleep. Not that that's a bad thing. We all felt kind of disrespectful but it happened to all of us after a long day of walking in the sun. Once that was over we made our way back down to Palazzo Michelangelo, took a few more pictures, then came home and made dinner.

I ate a lot for dinner. I had some spinach tortellini with red sauce, a salad with strawberries and balsamic, more strawberries, a roll, and half an avocado. It was all tasty and fresh and homemade. After I ate I started writing this blog post and now that I'm finishing it I'll take a shower and go to bed soon!

Good night!