Monday, February 15, 2010
Northern Italy
We toured Nothern Italy last week and it was amazing! We started out in Florence and i think that was my favorite city, it is so beautiful. We arrived in the morning and immediately went to the Laurentian Library by Michelangelo, which was unbelievable. Its an old library built for the Midici family i believe. My favorite part is the grand staircase at the beginning of it. It was built for the royalty to walk through and everyone else would have to enter the library from the back. I also love how there are no bookshelves like a typical library, instead the books are stored in the seats with the call numbers listed on the sides of the isles. After that we went to the Church of San Lorenzo by Brunelleschi which I would definitely recommend going to. The design is very simple but very beautiful. There is an old sacristy designed by Brunelleschi on one side and then Michelangelo designed what is known as the new sacristy but followed a similar design concept because according to him Brunelleschi had pretty much nailed it. We did a sketching exercise there and then had lunch in front of the duomo at Santa Maria del Fiore. The duomo was really pretty. We climbed to the top of it on second day and the weather was perfect so we could see the majority of the city. On the second day we went to the Uffici Gallery and saw some amazing renaissance art including Michelangelo and Botticelli. From there we went to Ponte Vecchio which was my favorite bridge. Its lined with jewelry stores on both sides and theres a little lovers monument in the center of the bridge where couples lock a lock to the gate with their initials on it, so cute. That night we had a group dinner and i had the best steak I've ever had, it was great.
On Monday we moved on to Bologna for half the day. It was snowing all day so we didnt really want to explore that much in the cold. We did however see some of the main squares and walked down some of the arcaded streets. The arcades are really pretty and definitely makes the city different from any other place. Later on that day we moved on to Venice where we spent the next 2 days.
Venice was gorgeous. The colors of the buildings and houses against the water was just so pretty. We took the public water transportation everywhere which was pretty cool. There are no cars anywhere, everyone either takes the water busses or has their own boat. The weather was great again so we had an amazing view from the tower we climbed up in Piazza San Marco. While we were down near the Piazza San Marco we went accross the water to see the Basilica di San Marco which was very pretty.
The next place we stayed at was Vicenza. Here we went to see the Villa Rotunda. Unfortunately we didnt get to take pictures of the inside which had incredible frescos on the walls and ceilings but we did get to take a few pics of the outside. After the Villa Rotunda we went to see the Teatro Olimpico which was really cool. The stage is standard size but then the back drop extends back 45ft where actors/actresses could actually access.
Verona was a quick stop, we just spent the day before heading off to Milan. Here we saw two buildings by Carlo Scarpa, Banco Populare and the Castelvecchio Museum. I really like Scarpa for his interior design. The bank was more of a contemporary design to start with but with the museum he converts a medival building in to a contemporary show room. Milan was a bit disappointing to me, I wasnt expecting it to have such an industrial feel to it. We saw a few buildings including the duomo and the mall next to it which really inspired the first shopping mall. We also had a chance to see a building by Renzo Piano, il sole 24 ore headquarters. Hes another one of my favorite architects so it was cool to have a chance to get a tour through the building. One of highlight of this part of the trip was seeing The Last Supper at Cenacolo Lorenziano, definitely way larger than i expected it to be.
So thats about it for northern Italy. It was an amazing trip and we did so much over the course of 8 days.
On Monday we moved on to Bologna for half the day. It was snowing all day so we didnt really want to explore that much in the cold. We did however see some of the main squares and walked down some of the arcaded streets. The arcades are really pretty and definitely makes the city different from any other place. Later on that day we moved on to Venice where we spent the next 2 days.
Venice was gorgeous. The colors of the buildings and houses against the water was just so pretty. We took the public water transportation everywhere which was pretty cool. There are no cars anywhere, everyone either takes the water busses or has their own boat. The weather was great again so we had an amazing view from the tower we climbed up in Piazza San Marco. While we were down near the Piazza San Marco we went accross the water to see the Basilica di San Marco which was very pretty.
The next place we stayed at was Vicenza. Here we went to see the Villa Rotunda. Unfortunately we didnt get to take pictures of the inside which had incredible frescos on the walls and ceilings but we did get to take a few pics of the outside. After the Villa Rotunda we went to see the Teatro Olimpico which was really cool. The stage is standard size but then the back drop extends back 45ft where actors/actresses could actually access.
Verona was a quick stop, we just spent the day before heading off to Milan. Here we saw two buildings by Carlo Scarpa, Banco Populare and the Castelvecchio Museum. I really like Scarpa for his interior design. The bank was more of a contemporary design to start with but with the museum he converts a medival building in to a contemporary show room. Milan was a bit disappointing to me, I wasnt expecting it to have such an industrial feel to it. We saw a few buildings including the duomo and the mall next to it which really inspired the first shopping mall. We also had a chance to see a building by Renzo Piano, il sole 24 ore headquarters. Hes another one of my favorite architects so it was cool to have a chance to get a tour through the building. One of highlight of this part of the trip was seeing The Last Supper at Cenacolo Lorenziano, definitely way larger than i expected it to be.
So thats about it for northern Italy. It was an amazing trip and we did so much over the course of 8 days.
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