Buonasera!
Welcome back to the amazing adventures of my trip to Italy. I want to start this blog out by wishing my very best friend a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY (this means you Claire Cooney)! I hope you have an absolutely amazing rest of your day and enjoy every minute of it!
Today was a day full of many fun activities. We went on our tours of Florence. We visited Piazza San Marco where the cells of both Savonarola and Cosimo the Elder are located. It was pretty cool to be in these places where these ancient, famous people in history once stood. When we entered the museum of San Marco we got to see different paintings that were there. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures, but there were paintings by Angelico and we got to compare his beginning artwork to his later artwork. It was surprising how much has improved throughout all his art. We then headed upstairs where we actually got to enter the cells of both Savonarola and Cosimo the Elder. We learned that the second floor of what is now the museum was originally only for religious to people, but Cosimo the Elder was the only non-religious person that had a place at San Marco.
After we went to Piazza San Marco we walked about 15 minutes to Piazza Santa Maria Novella (where the picture from yesterdays blog post was taken). This was the Dominican church that was in Florence. When we entered we got to see three different perspectives of crucifixes. One was a painting by Giotto, one was by Masaccio, and one was by Brunelleschi. If you stand at a certain place in the church, you can see all three of the crucifixes. You will notice that the later they were created, the more detailed they became.
At the end of our visit we went to our last place of the day, before heading back to school. This was one place that I enjoyed more than anything I have seen before. We went to a school, where ONLY 20 students are accepted out of hundreds that apply. This school is a school for the restoration of art, where the students who are accepted get university credit and graduate from. They work on restoring art for very long periods of time. In fact, when we asked how long it takes to restore some of the artwork he said it takes on average about 2 years. We got to see a bunch of artwork that has been taken out of different museums, churches, etc. around all of Italy and we got to see the students working on restoring the artwork. We saw different paintings, sculptures, and tapestries. One of the coolest things that most people have NEVER and will NEVER see was an ORIGINAL painting by Leonardo Da Vinci that was never finished because he moved to Milan before he could finish it. He was paid in florins & wagons full of wood for this masterpiece that many people have never seen! Ending our tour at the school, we got to see the largest crucifixion piece in all of Florence. It is in restoration and made of ALL gold!
I would say that today has been quite the day for touring Florence, and this weekend will bring more experiences to share. I have learned so much and continue to be blessed for this amazing opportunity. Each day I think about all of you and how you're all doing so feel free to shoot me an email or Facebook me when you have a chance! I hope you're having just as great of a time following my journey as I am!
I wish safe travels to Aunt Maryanne and Mary Folino on their way to Rome on Saturday, and Nick and Taylor safe travels on their way to Chicago!
Baci e saluti!
Mary
Welcome back to the amazing adventures of my trip to Italy. I want to start this blog out by wishing my very best friend a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY (this means you Claire Cooney)! I hope you have an absolutely amazing rest of your day and enjoy every minute of it!
Today was a day full of many fun activities. We went on our tours of Florence. We visited Piazza San Marco where the cells of both Savonarola and Cosimo the Elder are located. It was pretty cool to be in these places where these ancient, famous people in history once stood. When we entered the museum of San Marco we got to see different paintings that were there. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures, but there were paintings by Angelico and we got to compare his beginning artwork to his later artwork. It was surprising how much has improved throughout all his art. We then headed upstairs where we actually got to enter the cells of both Savonarola and Cosimo the Elder. We learned that the second floor of what is now the museum was originally only for religious to people, but Cosimo the Elder was the only non-religious person that had a place at San Marco.
After we went to Piazza San Marco we walked about 15 minutes to Piazza Santa Maria Novella (where the picture from yesterdays blog post was taken). This was the Dominican church that was in Florence. When we entered we got to see three different perspectives of crucifixes. One was a painting by Giotto, one was by Masaccio, and one was by Brunelleschi. If you stand at a certain place in the church, you can see all three of the crucifixes. You will notice that the later they were created, the more detailed they became.
At the end of our visit we went to our last place of the day, before heading back to school. This was one place that I enjoyed more than anything I have seen before. We went to a school, where ONLY 20 students are accepted out of hundreds that apply. This school is a school for the restoration of art, where the students who are accepted get university credit and graduate from. They work on restoring art for very long periods of time. In fact, when we asked how long it takes to restore some of the artwork he said it takes on average about 2 years. We got to see a bunch of artwork that has been taken out of different museums, churches, etc. around all of Italy and we got to see the students working on restoring the artwork. We saw different paintings, sculptures, and tapestries. One of the coolest things that most people have NEVER and will NEVER see was an ORIGINAL painting by Leonardo Da Vinci that was never finished because he moved to Milan before he could finish it. He was paid in florins & wagons full of wood for this masterpiece that many people have never seen! Ending our tour at the school, we got to see the largest crucifixion piece in all of Florence. It is in restoration and made of ALL gold!
I would say that today has been quite the day for touring Florence, and this weekend will bring more experiences to share. I have learned so much and continue to be blessed for this amazing opportunity. Each day I think about all of you and how you're all doing so feel free to shoot me an email or Facebook me when you have a chance! I hope you're having just as great of a time following my journey as I am!
I wish safe travels to Aunt Maryanne and Mary Folino on their way to Rome on Saturday, and Nick and Taylor safe travels on their way to Chicago!
Baci e saluti!
Mary
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