I made it to Dublin! Three of my roommates are here and then two of my other friends. I am staying with them until Monday. It is so weird to be somewhere that speaks the same language as I do. It also is freezing here! I got hot wings at dinner tonight! They were GREAT! I tried my first Irish coffee too. It was very different from an Italian cappuccino but still yummy. We went to a karaoke bar after dinner for a little while. Ireland is the opposite of Italy when it comes to drinks. Ireland has whiskey and beer which is very different from the Italian wine I have been spoiled with the past month. I am excited for the weekend here!
Friday afternoon we took the train to Cinque Terre! We were all in separate train cars, and a homeless man got on the train car I was on. He was drunk and speaking in Italian. I have no idea what he was saying, but the workers on the train came and kicked him off. They literally kicked him off. It was pretty sad. After the adventurous train ride, we went to get the key to our apartment. In the box at the booking agency were directions to our place for the weekend too. The directions consisted of a sheet of paper saying “at the end of the street turn left and then take your third left after that.” It was very simple step by step directions to around the corner. It was nice to be away from the busyness of Rome and their crazy streets. The town we stayed in is called Levanto. It is very small, so the directions worked great. The apartment had the cutest little balcony too.
The five small costal villages are Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso. We went to all five on Saturday. I hiked from Vernazza to Cornelia. There were a TON of steps up. It was a rough hike but so worth it! The view was incredible! My favorite islands were Monterosso and Manarola. Monterosso has a great beach and is very busy. There was a little bar right by the beach that had Auburn stickers in the window. The owner’s ex girlfriend lives in Auburn! It was very random but really cool to find an Italian Auburn fan all the way in Cinque Terre. Manarola had a great swimming spot and the buildings were very bright. The water was cold but felt great! I can officially say I have swam in the Mediterranean.
Sunday we woke up early, and we were planning on going to the beach but it was cloudy and rainy. We went and got coffee at down the street… and I got locked in the bathroom. The key was messed up, and they did not explain that before I locked the door. So basically there were Italians trying to get the door open for a good 5 minutes. They spoke no english, so the language barrier was a bit challenging. I have no idea what they were yelling or saying. I did get out, and when I did the entire coffee shop cheered. It was hilarious! After that fun event, a couple of us went to a restaurant in Monterosso on the beach. We sketched there for a little while. After we went to Riomaggiore to eat lunch and then decided to get an earlier train back to Rome.
Thursday we went to the Tivoli Gardens. The Lizzie McGuire movie was filmed there is the only thing I knew about it before we went. It was beautiful! I saw Fountain Di Diana Efesia, and so many other beautiful water fountains. There was a tree that had grown into the side of a wall that was interesting. The Tivoli Gardens are high up so the view is incredible.
We went to the Capital line on Friday morning. In the museum is where they relocated a statue that used to be on the streets of Rome. There is a group of statues that people would come up and write things on to express their feelings about things happening in Rome. The other statues are still out there but they are not allowed to be written on anymore. The idea was basically someone would write something and place it with one of the statues and then the other statues would “respond.” It was a way for people to communicate anonymously, but the city decided to basically jail this one statue because he was “too outspoken.”
I went to the Pantheon to sketch on Monday! I went before class, so it was not too crowded. That night we went to this awesome little bar that had a table filled with succulents. I am totally going to make a table with succulents for my house in Auburn!
Tuesday we went to the Villa Farnesina in Trastevere! In 1527 everyone fled Rome, and looters came in the old buildings while they were deserted. When this happened someone wrote my name (Virginia) on the wall of the Villa Farnesina! I thought it was cool to think someone wrote my name on a wall in 1527, and I found it! The ceilings of this place were beautiful too!
Wednesday we went to Borghese Gallery! This is the 15th c. home of the Borghese family. This family basically threw money at the sculptor Bernini. They have so many of his sculptures. My favorite is “Apollo and Daphne.” This is a sculpture of Daphne trying to escape Apollo. Daphne turns herself into a tree to get away from Apollo. The detail of the leaves and her slow transformation into a tree is incredible. On the ceiling above the sculpture is also a painting that correlates with the sculpture.
It’s been a good week!
Friday we went to Orvieto. We went in the Duomo, climbed a clock tower, and ventured through caves. Under the quaint town of Orvieto are hundreds of Etruscan caves and tunnels. The staircases in the caves and tunnels were extremely tight. I was not a fan of them. It was cool to see, but I learned I am not a cave girl. I like to be above ground. During the Etruscan times they used these caves to farm pigeons. There were all these places for pigeons to live in the walls. I cannot imagine eating a pigeon. I think I’ll stick to chicken personally. I found gummy bears in Orvieto. I ate the entire bag while I was looking at the view. I miss my normal American snacks. The church we went into had interesting paintings on the ceiling. There is a demon that is shooting red laser beams and there are rainbow people. It was not your typical church paintings.
Saturday we went to a vineyard for wine tasting! The drive to the hillside estates in the Frascati winemaking region was beautiful. It is just south of Rome. We tried wine and olive oil while we were there. Olive oil over here is so good!
After we got back we went down to the Tiber to look at all the shops and food. During the summer they set up all these tents with restaurants and shops along the river. There was on place that had two Nutella fountains!
This was my last weekend in Rome. I go to Cinque Terre next weekend, and the following I’ll be in Dublin! I cannot believe how fast this trip is going. I am so excited to enjoy these last two weeks with these other six girls!
Today was short but sweet! It rained most of the morning. Emilio took us to this coffee bar by the church to get some warm tea or a cappuccino! A couple of us went shopping after class near the Spanish Steps. On our way home we found the cutest pink Vespa! If I were ever to own a Vespa it would definitely look like this one! I may just look into getting one when I get back to Auburn.
The other night I found a sweet kitty that looks just like Tibbie. He let me pick him up.. but then when the camera flash went off he was not so happy. He was super soft and fat too.
We started off Tuesday at an Art Museum to see Caravaggio paintings. I got creme brûlée with berries to go at a cafe and ate it on the walk to the bus! It was very delic
ious.
Later we got to walk around these two little neighborhoods, Testaccio and Ostiense. These are lower middle class neighborhoods. We started by looking at public art (graffiti) on the streets. It is weird because graffiti is encouraged in Italy. Which is totally different from America. I am used to graffiti being seen as vandalism, but here it is a way for people to communicate. I took pictures of the really pretty graffiti, but there is also a lot of just words and normal stereotypical graffiti. We saw this one huge building that used to be a factory. When the factory closed squatters took it over. Squatting is a pretty common thing in Italy. Well at least alot more common than in America. Blu is the graffiti artist that painted this old factory building. He keeps his actual name and face as secret as possible. The painting on the old factory building is the history of immigrants that have come to Italy, and what they brought with them. There was a “Wall of Fame” also that had famous people on it. A lot of the people were from American too. Under a bridge I found a cute owl someone had painted, so I had to take a picture of that cute little guy!
The day only got better from there! We were walking around an old area that used to have a terra-cotta factory from the Antiquity time, so around 2000 years ago. The workers would throw out these old pieces of terra-cotta, and the scraps formed a huge hill overtime! The factory is obviously closed now, and squatters have taken it over. We happened upon this one man that spoke zero english but was super nice! Our contemporary Art Historian speaks fluent Italian, so she translated for us. He is a wood sculptor and lives out of this bus/house that sits in front of a cave. The cave is made into this mountain made from the old terra-cotta scraps. We ended up going into the cave! He gave us the grand tour and history of it. This cave in particular used to be where the community could come make their own wine. There were wine containers that were taller than me still inside. It was so freaking cool! When we were leaving he gave us each a piece of terra-cotta. It was kind of funny. He was super excited to give us them, so we took them and smiled! I have no idea what this mans name is, but I did get a picture with him and my piece of terra-cotta!
(side note- We were with three adults, and one stood outside whike the others came in with us! We were being safe!)
After that we went on to do even more exploring! There is an old slaughter house right near the terra-cotta hill. It closed down in the 1950s. The University of Rome Art and Architecture schools have been given a couple of the old buildings. They have turned them into studios for the students and classrooms. There are also two other buildings that have been turned into galleries by the Rome Macro Museum of Contemporary Art. And the others are either empty or taken over by squatters. There was construction being done to build a restaurant too while we were there. They have basically transformed this old slaughter house into useful spaces while keeping the history of it all still present. It was a very long day but definitely one of my absolute favorites since I’ve been here!
We took a speed train to Florence Friday! I felt like I was in a Volvo station wagon facing backwards. I went to sleep to avoid getting sick. We were there for just two days, but we saw so much! It rained off and on most of the time we were there. Fortunately I had a handy dandy orange poncho from Auburn. I looked like an extreme tourist, but it kept me dry!
Friday we went to The Cenacogo of Saint Apollonia, Museum of Mineralogy, Museo Di S. Marco, and Il Grande Museo Del Duomo. Lots and lots to see! They renovated Il Grande Museo Del Duomo not too long ago, so it is very nice inside. Ghiberti’s “Door of Paradise” and “Door of the Baptistery” are in this museum, and Michelangelo’s “Pieta.” Ghiberti’s doors were on the Baptistery in front of the Duomo. They have copies on the Baptistery now and keep the originals in this Museum. The Duomo itself is incredible! It is my favorite church in Rome for sure from the outside. It is massive and has so much design on it! For dinner we went and got steak with Emilio! Emilio is our Art Historian and is hilarious!
Saturday we went to Santa Maria Novela and Galleria Delgi Uffizi. Santa Maria Novela has a hanging crucifixion in the middle that is beautiful and huge! There is a sundial on the floor and holes in the ceiling of the church to tell the time of year and day. Galleria Delgi Uffizi is a massive museum. It has Caravaggio’s “Medusa” on a shield. There is an entire room dedicated to Lenardo da Vinci where his “Baptism of Christ and the Annunciation” is. My favorite thing I saw was Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” and “Primavera!” They were so much prettier in person, and they were huge! Both of these paintings were commissioned by the Medici family. They were inspired by pagan Renaissance and express the Florentine humanistic culture. This museum also has Giotto’s “Majesty.” This is a tempura painting on wood with gold leaf as the background. It depicts enthroned Madonna with child, and they are surround by angels and saints. It was gorgeous!
It was a very quick trip, but it was lots of fun! We shopped, ate, and explored all we could!
~Caio!
Virginia Barton Sprinkle Art 