Study Abroad: Florence: Verona, Vicenza, Venezia

Last weekend we journeyed back north to hit the three Italian cities of Verona, Vicenza and Venezia. We left friday morning and took the Frecciagente train to the first stop in Verona. The reason for our visit was the Castelvecchio Museum, the old city castle which was renovated by Carlo Scarpa into a museum of art, sculpture and other artifacts. The building itself is full of Scarpa's many signature architectural elements such as the artistic stairs and use of uncommon materials. The interaction between the old and new is exaggerated by details such as the sculptures being placed on geometric platforms which seem to float above the floor. From the top you are able to walk along the walls of the castle which border the river to get a view of the city of Verona. We found lunch in the crowded marketplace where shops were set up selling everything from sunglasses to calzones. Verona is most known for being the location of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and because of that we went after lunch to visit "Juliet's Balcony" where a (mainly nude) statue of Juliet stands in the courtyard. I'm glad I was informed beforehand, as it is customary for visitors to take a picture with Juliet with their hand on the her right breast for good luck. To answer your obvious question: no, I did not touch the statues breast, worn by the millions of hands into a completely different color than the rest of her body. I instead spent the time wondering to myself who had been the first to come up with this good luck charm. Despite skipping out on the fun, we had plenty of luck for the remainder of the weekend.

The next stop was Vicenza. To be completely honest, it's a pretty standard Italian town, however, our purpose was the Teatro Olimpico, a theater designed by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. Like with art and sculpture, Renaissance architecture is about the revival of Greco-Roman building principals, details, proportions and materials, mixed with the modern technology of the time. As such, Palladio's Teatro Olimpico takes from the classic Greek semi-circular theater and combines it with the arches, columns, and symmetry of the Greeks and Romans. What makes this theater unique though, is the use of "streets" which protrude from behind the stage and become the backdrop for the performance. These streets are lined with houses and situated such that regardless of where you are sitting in the audience, you are able to see down a street. To force perspective, the size of the houses grow shorter as the streets go back, and the street itself is actually a ramp going upwards to converge with the down-sloping roof. To maintain the effect, performances use small kids to act further down the streets and grown actors to populate the front.

After our tour of the theater, we quickly left for Venice, our final destination of the day. Arriving just as the sun was setting, we took the water bus towards our hotel. We had the night off to explore the city on our own and we set out for the north of Venice, past the tourist areas, to find a place for dinner. The uniqueness of Venice was immediately apparent with the small bars which opened out into piazzas, a diverse selection of restaurants and a lack of any sort of grid when it came to streets. It was relaxing to be in a city which is walking only where you don't have to dodge cars. We eventually made it to the north where we were ushered into a restaurant which had a 3 course fixed price menu. There we were poured champaign, given bread and a bowl of soup with shrimp and a dark broth. From there I ordered gnocchi with a salmon cream sauce, and then a fish fillet with fresh vegetables. A few of the others got the tiramisu for dessert. It was by far one of the best meals I have had in Italy. For anyone who may be going to Venice someday, the name of the restaurant was Trattoria Misericordia and I highly recommend it. You can't possibly go to Venice and not order fresh seafood. Our hour long walk back from dinner taught us just how lost you can get in Venice, with many of the streets about the width of two people side by side, many roads that lead to dead ends, and no street signs. However, as our tour guide told us the next day, the best thing you can do in Venice is to get lost and just explore. Don't be surprised if the streets are empty after 11 pm, it makes for a very quiet stroll. The city is extremely safe and as we found over the course of the weekend, you always either get to your destination, or find a better one on the way.

On saturday we were given a tour of the city, visiting the Jewish Ghetto, Piazza San Marco, the Olivetti Store by Scarpa, and a church done by Palladio. The Olivetti Store was something that we had learned about in architecture history class and for anyone who appreciates modern architecture, is very cool to see. Situated off of Piazza San Marco, it served as a typewriter store for the Olivetti company. Scarpa's use of materials and attention to every single connection is very reminiscent of the United States' Frank Lloyd Wright. Scarpa's Querini Stampalia museum continues this style, this time using water as an actual building material such that when the channels overflow, water purposely comes into the building in designated areas. We ended our tour with a gondola ride to the fish market where we were left to find lunch. We decided to do as the locals do for lunch, finding a spot which filled your plate with assorted fried fish, complete with a glass of wine, and then going and sitting on a dock to enjoy the meal. We had the rest of the day to walk along to water and wander through the shops selling Venetian carnival masks and other souvenirs. We also made our way back to Piazza San Marco to go inside of St. Mark's Basilica. Keeping with Venice's multi-cultural mindset, the church is not like anything else you will find in Italy. Instead, it takes precedence from the churches of Eastern Europe such as Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, utilizing domes on pendentives and gold mosaics for decoration. It is, however, still very much a Catholic church. Unfortunately, photos of the interior were not allowed. You'll just have to go see it for yourself...or google it.

Sunday we visited Tado Ando's contemporary art museum and then were free to wander the city until our train back home. We spent much of the day around Rialto bridge sitting by the water and looking in the shops. I purchased a couple carnival masks and a wooden gondola. We got lunch and then made our way back towards the hotel to take in the sunny weather and the waterside for a little longer. After getting gelato and watching the boats and taxis sail through the channel, we reluctantly took the water bus back to the train station and left for Florence.

This weekend we are actually staying in here, getting our projects ready for midterm juries next week. After juries we'll be leaving for a weekend in Barcelona, getting back in time for my parents to visit Florence themselves! I'll post pictures of my studio project once I actually have something to show. Until then, Ciao!