Florence
Italy: A Semester Experience from Megan Fowle
My name is Megan Fowle. I am a junior at Gettysburg College, and I am a history major with a minor in education. Eventually, I hope to attend grad school to study library science. This semester, I am studying at the Syracuse University of Florence.
Photo Credit: Megan Fowle
1.Where have you been in Italy?
I am living in Florence, so I have been all around the city, but I have also traveled to Ravenna, Assisi, Sienna, San Gimignano, Pisa, Venice, Perugia, and Rome.
2.What’s it like?
Wow, I can barely begin to describe how awesome it is. At first, it was a little scary. I had taken Italian, but I would always be a little nervous when I had to use it in a real situation. I am living with a host mom, and that is one of the greatest experiences. It really gives me a chance to practice my Italian, and to get a better understanding of the culture, more so than if I was in an apartment. Now that I have been here for three months, the city is definitely beginning to feel like home. It was weird when I realized that, because I had been traveling over fall break for ten days, and I came back to Florence, and realized that I had really missed it, and that it felt like I was coming home.
3. Favorite place in Italy?
My favorite place in Italy is definitely Florence. That is the city that I have seen the most of, obviously, but I really love the feel of it.
Photo Credit: Megan Fowle
4. Least favorite?
My least favorite that I have seen was probably Venice. When we went, it was raining and the square was flooded (which was a little cool, but kind of a nuisance after a while.) Also, the only way to really get around is the vaporetto (watertaxi), and it is super crowded. Plus, a gondola ride is actually around 70 euro, so we did not get to do that. (Sorry that sounded like a rant, Venice is beautiful, just not everything I thought it was going to be. )
Photo Credit: Megan Fowle
5. What have you been doing over the semester in Italy?
I am taking classes at the Syracuse University of Florence. Aside from studying, I have been traveling a lot. Our school has free weekend trips to all of those towns that I mentioned earlier. If there is no weekend trip, I have been trying to see as much of Florence as possible. During the week, I have class, but the school offers a lot of other activities that I have been taking part in. There are cooking classes, and those are definitely my favorite extra activity that I have taken part in.
Photo Credit: Megan Fowle
6. Favorite thing that you’ve eaten?
My favorite thing that I have eaten is definitely gnocchi. It is potato pasta. I learned how to make it at one of the cooking classes, and it is relatively easy to make. I also have a great love for balsamic vinegar. Italians put that, and olive oil, on everything!
Photo Credit: Megan Fowle
7. Most amazing thing that you’ve seen?
Wow, there have been so many, it is going to be hard to choose one! I think that the most amazing thing I have seen was when I was in Rome, and I watched the sunset over the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. It was absolutely beautiful!
Italy: Firenze
Ever want to just go shopping for hours on the Ponte Vecchio? Have you ever dreamed of seeing the famous statue of David created by Michelangelo? Are you longing to see The Giotto’s Bell Tower? Or how about The Dome of Brunelleschi? If you answered YES to all these questions, then it’s time you go to Florence, Italy where all of your wishes and dreams can come true.
Ponte Vecchio, the oldest of Florence’s six bridges, is one of the city’s best known images. Probably going back to Roman times with its stone pillars and wooden planks; it was built in stone but then newly destroyed by a flood in 1333. And in case you were wondering, Ponte Vecchio means “Old Bridge.” The five arches became three and the main part was widened. The shops, housed under the porticos, first belonged to the Commune which then they were rented out. But later, towards the 15th century, they were sold to private owners; raised parts and external terraces, extending towards the river and altering the original architecture in an anarchical, suggestive way.
Giotto’s activity as an architect is documented not just in Lives by Vasari(where he is called a sculptor and architect) but especially for the assignment he was given in 1334 as magister and gubernator of the Florence Cathedral factory. This interest is also shown by the care and attention he always placed on defining architectural space in painting. Giotto is also attributed the construction of the Scrovegni Chapel, in Padua, where we can find many similarities in buildings painted by the artist. And still, perhaps, as magister, Giotto built the Bridge of the Carraia, opened in 1337 and which has now disappeared, appreciated for its structural simplicity and advanced technique.
The figure of Brunelleschi was in tune with this new world. He perfectly incarnated the figure of the Renaissance man, free, intelligent and trusting in the strength of his ideas. He was the son of a wealthy Florentine Notary and had been educated in a liberal manner; from boyhood on wards he’d shown interest in sculpture, mechanics and mathematics. To him we owe the study of the linear prospective which up until him, had already been used, but without precise rules of reference. The building of the dome on Florence cathedral, by Filippo Brunelleschi, can be considered one of the Renaissance’s main building enterprises. The highest expression of a new attitude, placing man and his abilities at the centre of the world and finding in classic antiquity the premises for cultural rebirth after the dark Middle Ages.
In Autumn 1504 the people of Florence witnessed an exceptional event: after four days travelling round the city, transported with the care and attention normally reserved for great events, inside a wooden cage running on greased beams,Michelangelo’s David finally reached its destination, the Piazza della Signoria– and was immediately celebrated as one of the greatest masterpieces of the Renaissance. When he created his David, Michelangelo was not even thirty, but had already produced works of great value such as the Tondo Doni which can be found in the Uffizi today. His David was so successful that he was called back to Rome by the Pope himself, Giulio II, for whom he would then paint the famous Sistine Chapel.
Of The Italian Life 