They Call this School?

So, we have been in class for a little less than a week now and I can say that this part of the trip is going to go by much faster than I had anticipated. In Denver, the semesters seem to fly by moving from first day to finals in what seems like a quick nap. Here, things are moving at an even faster pace. We only have three weeks for class, an entire “semesters” worth of work crammed into three weeks, in Italy.

The campus is in a perfect location in central Florence, about a five minute walk from the Duomo and just a couple more to the Ponte Vecchio. While it is a bit of a walk from our apartment (about 15 min) it is still shorter than our walk from apartment to campus at home.

So far, I have been quite impressed with Italy. I don’t know that it is enough to make me want to move here but, not bad. We have found ourselves shopping every day at the supermarket within a block and a half of our apartment and have found the grocery items to be exceptionally well priced. We have been able to, on average, buy ingredients for dinner and a bottle of wine and stay at or below the €15,00 mark. The produce is fresh and, it is very nice to be able to select from a large assortment of incredibly good and inexpensive wines at the grocery store. We’ve had some great wines (both red and white) and I wish I could bring them all home with me, but alas customs.

Today we went on a field trip to San Gimignano and Siena, two Etruscan villages that still have their Medieval buildings and streets. Both towns were amazing however, San Gimignano was by far my favorite. Situated atop a hill, it offers unobstructed views of the Tuscan countryside. It is known for its soaring towers that used to number in the dozens but only fourteen now survive. The city is still enclosed in its walls and while cars are present, they are largely limited to the outer bands leaving the city center mostly without cars, but still full of tourists.

We were left to our own devices to roam the city and take our time exploring. We ended up in this great Medieval “park” surrounded by walls and that part of the city felt largely unaltered from its origin. It was nice to get to be in an area where there was grass and trees. In central Florence, there is little grass and very few trees and the only real trees we have come across have been in or around a few city parks so it was nice to get to see some green. From the top of the lookout tower, you could see the valleys below and the view was amazing.

After a few hours in San Gimignano, we got back on our tourist movers and headed to Siena another city with Etruscan roots that flourished during the Medieval period. The bus drops us off just outside of the giant fortified walls of the city but unlike San Gimignano, the walls of Siena seemed to be mostly lost and what is left is open access to the city. This part of our journey was to be led by a tour guide, a local woman who has a love for her city of birth, and was a great guide. At first I was a little hesitant about taking a guided tour of the city but since we only had a couple of hours, I ended up appreciating having someone to guide me through. We were able to hit most of the important sites and even had time in the end for a nice gelato before getting back on the bus.

The highlights of Siena included more soaring towers, narrow streets and one very important religious artifact, if you can call it that. Saint Catherine was a native of Siena so when she died, her head and thumb were returned to the city and are there for the open viewing in a Basilica bearing her name. Unfortunately, but understandably, we were not able to take photos inside the Basilica, but I was able to get some pictures outside of it. We were also able to see her more private home and the subsequent convent that was built for her order. I don’t have any particular religious feelings for her but, she was an amazing woman who performed real world miracles. It was also interesting to learn that she was inflicted with the stigmata, an interesting addition to her life story.

Also in Siena, we got to visit the Piazza del Campo, which hosts a crazy horse race every year where the horses run around the edge of the Piazza that is filled with spectators who watch from inside the center. Siena also has a Duomo but it was covered in scaffolding and featured a gigantic digital image of the façade as the real one is being renovated. However, right in front of the Duomo is the hospital that up to the 1980s was actually used as a hospital, which is really difficult to believe. Inside to the right there is a chapel that would rival the interior of any major cathedral and the main room of the hospital’s ceiling is covered in Medieval frescos. I couldn’t imagine being treated for an illness in such a beautiful building. I looked at the building and thought back to Denver General and needless to say, no comparison.

Other than fun tours, the class has begun working on our actual processes. I learned now to use a 4X5 field camera with a Polaroid back that produces an instant print and a useable negative. I have always wanted to use a camera like this and it is quite an accomplishment for me to finally have done so. We have also begun our Anthotype photographs which allow us to make an image using only berries, paper and a transparent positive image. The exposure will take our entire time in Florence and in the end, we may not even have anything to show for our work.

We are also in the middle of preparing the Albumen solution, which involves egg whites and a few other chemicals that will coat the paper and produce an image. Fortunately, this process is well proven and is in use by many artists today.

I also learned the history of photography and realized how important it is to the history of motion picture. In our history class, we have been discussing the importance of photography and it changing the way people see, particularly the renaissance use of the camera obscura. It is truly fascinating to learn now being able to see perspective represented in a two dimensional surface changed the way that people saw the real world with their own eyes. It is almost impossible for us to think in the same way that the Medieval world did, not understanding how the human eye works and having only seen sculpture and painting as art forms. They would be blown away with the technologies and tools we have today with photography (digital especially) and motion picture.

So from here it is more school and more field trips, more excitement. Unfortunately we lost the wireless internet connection at home so we can’t update the website and our blogs from home and we will have to begin bringing our computers down to campus to do so. Since we aren’t always on the campus and it is kind of a pain to lug my laptop everywhere, I will probably only be updating a couple of times a week, hopefully more often but, maybe not. I’ll always post here when there is a new photo gallery or video like now!

Ciao,

Shaych