Well we are back from our trip up north and It was amazing, really cold, but oh so much fun. We started in Florence where we climbed the dome of the Duomo, went to the Uffici Museum, and walked up to Michelangelo's Piazza where you can see the entire city. It was a great opportunity to work on my sketching when I was up on the piazza. It was quiet and I could reallly focus on the city and all the pieces of it. We also got a chance to see the David statue, by Michelangelo. It really was a masterpiece; I didnt think that was possible from a block of marble. Florence was also great for shopping. Their claim to fame is their leather and there was tons of it. I didn't buy anything but I plan on going back when my family comes to visit :-).
Our next stop was Venice. It was much colder there which made sketching pretty difficult. We visited several churches and palazzi by Palladio and I now understand more why he can and is considered the person who revolutionized architecture. The amount of layers that he uses and with the skill at which he does was inspiring to analyze. We also went to see San Marco Basilica and Murono, the island where all the Venician glass is made; thats what they are famous for.
The next destination was Verona, where we saw a couple pieces of work by Carlo Scarpa. We were introduced to Scarpa in Venice, but these works were later in his career. The way in which he uses patterns and rythms then selects the perfect point at which to break that order was also extremely interesting. I started to see similarities when we were asked to sketch a facade and then analyze a remodel he did in a castle. The attention to connections and materials were so integrated and subtle that one may not notice them unless you were looking for them, or if Scarpa intended for that element to be a focal point.
We moved on to Vicenza next. This town was all about Palladio. We spent the entire day mozying around the city looking at and experiencing buildings that Palladio had designed. We say 3 to 4 examples of palazzi and the Teatro Olympico. That night we had our second group dinner, the first being in Florence where we had Florentine steak again a famous part of the city. It was great to sit down together and get to know people a little better. One interesting aspect was that Horse steaks were available, it was pretty good.
Finally from Vicenza we moved on to Milano. Milan had a different feeling from the previous cities. It first had a lot more modern architecture, and that was a real exciting part for me to experience. It also felt more like a western city. It had large department stores and tall skyscrapers. The first day, we climbed the Duomo. It is a very ornate late Italian gothic cathedral. The interior was the real heart stopper; It was so beautiful with the giant pilars and the elaborate stained glass. A really cool fact that Eric filled me in on was that there was a sundial of sorts in this church. Eventually we spotted it and tracked it across the wall. Apprently, during different dates the ray of light will hit key positions within the church. I thought that was interesting in that you have this really detailed cathedral then this tiny percise aspect to it; not that the entire structure wasn't percise lol.
On Friday we headed back to Rome, or rHome as we've come to refer to it. Our train ride was pretty interesting. It was only supposed to be a 3hr ride however we had some technical difficulties and it became a 7hr ride. It was fun though because we played cards, mostly Rummy, and we did a couple of architecture games; Parti games that is :-). It became an interesting exercise in working together and reacting to what others had done. Similar to our new studio project.
Well, It was a fun, enlightening, stimulating, and tiring week but now its back to the grind for another 3 wks until Istanbul, Turkey and then spring break with the family.
Arivederci
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