Volterra

March 21, 2010

Day Trip to Volterra

Victoria, Sera, Ali and I decided to put our massive amounts of work aside for the day and head to the hill-top town of Volterra for the day. After a short hour-ish train ride, one large bus to a deserted lot, and one tiny bus up to the town we finally made it. Like all Italian cities, every street was cobble stoned and uphill. I’m always amazed by the amount of uphill streets you can find in one Italian town. Unknown to us before out arrival Volterra is known for its alabaster and is therefore sold in about every other store. I do not think I have ever seen so many stone products in one place, but if you are in the market for a stone sweater I know the perfect place for you. Also unknown to us was that there was a truffle festival in the main Piazza- which the smell of them could knock you over they were so strong - and another food festival in another part of the town which had very delicious cheeses and olives. Needless to say it was a very good day to come.

In the town itself, there is a old roman theatre ruins, which are amazingly intact. This was the first one that I have seen with the columns still standing on top of one another which I thought was really incredible that after all this time they are still perfectly balanced on one another. It makes you think about how amazing they must have been when fully intact. The Duomo in Volterra is about .0009 times the size of here in Florence but still very pretty, and so different. One of my favorite things in the town however was that in about every windowsill there were flowers. Each sill squeezed in between the shutters were potted flowers of every kind and color.

Two of the best things of the day had to have been at the end. While we were exploring a park that we found, and naturally swinging on the dinosaur shaped playground equipment we started to hear drumming. Normally this would seem weird, but we were in Italy so it just kinda seemed routine. While trying to find the source of the intensive drumming, we also found the seemingly only downhill street in town. Here we encountered an Italian family of a mom, dad, aunt and uncle also trying to place the drumming. While skipping down the hill (how little kids always manage to run, jump, skip and hop down very steep things without tripping and breaking every bone in their body is still beyond me) the little boy ahead of us started picking flowers from in between the cobble stones. First he turns to his mom and gives here one, then continues to pick some more flowers. He then turns to me and hands me a tinnnny little daisy like flower and says “here, for you” (but in Italian) and continues to skip away. He returns one minute later to tell me to make sure not the throw it away, to which I assure him that I will not. It is still in my wallet.

 

Finally the Italian family, and the four of us find the source of the drumming, a renaissance parade, of course! It was complete with a full orchestra, matching outfits and flag throwers. They continued to put on a show in the main piazza with synchronized flag throwing, flag juggling, and music to match. It was the perfect ending to a pretty wonderful day. 

Carnivale

February 13, 2010

      Venice – Carnivale

Stepping off the train into Venice during Carnivale was like stepping into a different world. With the number of people that were in the city that day, it very well could have been its own world. For all I knew the train from Florence had in fact transported me to a dream town, were dressing in costumes, face paint, and glitter were normal. I was immediately enthralled by it all. Everywhere we turned there was someone in a ridiculous costume, in another direction people in the classic Venetian masks in gowns with long trains, all of who were spectacular. The entire day was a eyesight overload of color, fantasy and creativity. We wandered through the city, passing thousands of glittering masks only to turn a corner to find some more. The canals of the city glistened with their costumed inhabitants as if they too were dressed up for the occasion. Everyone seemed to be in the spirit – what ever it was – but it was a good one. The whole city seemed to buzz. For once it wasn’t weird to take pictures of people you didn’t know, in fact it was encouraged.
 It was particularly interesting because it was acqua alta – or the high water season – which meant that basically everywhere you went, was flooded. Normally I am not one for dodging puddles, and get sick of the rain about 8 minutes after it starts, but it added to the magic of the day. When we got to Piazza San Marco (after several misleading signs – literally one pointed left and right on the same sign) it was heavily flooded and closed for the first part of the morning. Finally after a while, the water returned to its proper place, and it became flooded with people instead. The basilica was hardly visible over the sea of heads, but I will take my art history professors and friends words of advice that it is beautiful.  It was as if the city, like most of the people there, could not contain its excitement. I am positive that not one person was in a bad mood. I don’t think you could be. We adventured through the city, moving with the rest of the seemingly millions of people soaking up every thing we could. Street performers lined the confetti covered cobblestone streets and in order to really fit in we felt that face painting was a must. Another must was buying a mask – glitter, feathers, the whole shaw-bang. Dazed, colored, and in awe we made it back to Florence, but Carnivale is something that I will never forget.