This weekend was the 3rd of 4 Study Tours trips with my school. We left on Friday and traveled by bus from Verona to Vicenza to Venice. In Verona we visited the Castelvecchio (old castle) Museum. Lord Cangrande della Scala had it built as a deterrent to his powerful neighbors in Venice. The museum was designed by Carlo Scarpa, a well known Italian architect.
The exterior of the castle.
Steph, one of the architecture students, and I in the walls that surround the castle.
We walked to the main piazza of the city, Piazza delle Erbe, for a lunch break.
This statue is of the "Madonna Verona" and is the personification of the city of Verona.
We had some free time after lunch so I went to see Juliet's balcony.
Not as exciting as I was expecting but I can check it off the to-do list.
While we were walking around we saw these girls teepee-ing vespas for April Fool's Day.
I wasn't sure if they celebrated the holiday (one of my favorites at that!) over here and I was happy to see that they did indeed!
A beautiful tree we ran across.
We hopped back on the bus and went to Vicenza where we saw Teatro Olimpico.
The entrance to the courtyard of the theater. It is the first enclosed theater in the world designed by Andrea Palladio.
The interior of the theater. It has an interesting layout - there is the main stage area and then there are streets that branch off so it seems as if you are looking down the streets of a city from classical antiquity.
The theater now has light shows with music to display the theater. Very cool! While in Vicenza we went to another one of Palladio's buildings and in the piazza in front of the building there was a food fair. There were all different stands: meats, cheeses, wines, baked goods, etc. but my favorite was a stand that had fresh pesto. It was the BEST pesto I've ever had! I wish there was a way I could have all you readers sample it because I can't describe in words how amazing it was.
We got back on the bus and traveled to our final destination: Venice!
I instantly fell in love with Venice. I love being surrounded by water and it was nice because there were no cars on the island, only boats.
The sun setting over one of the many canals.
We stayed at the Don Orione Artigianelli Cultural Center/Hotel. When I saw we were staying at a cultural center I wasn't sure what to expect but it was very nice!
This is the staircase that leads up to the rooms. The building was bought by Don Orione Artigianelli and was used as an orphanage. There were many workshops where the children would learn different skills so then they could go out and find a job and eventually have the ability to live on their own. The building was later turned into a cultural center/ hotel. The building reminded me of a place that I would have a church retreat especially since there were crosses and religious art all around.
Since we were by the sea I got some seafood for dinner - pasta with shrimp in a creamy tomato sauce.
After dinner we went on a walk and saw the city at night. Many of the workers in the city live on the mainland and almost all the tourists go to bed rather early so by 11:00 the city was absolutely dead. For such a crowded place during the day, the nights are oddly empty.
On Saturday we first went to Palazzo Grassi where there is a contemporary art exhibition. My favorite piece(s) was a display that said 101 ways to make your own art. Some of the 101 ways were displayed around the exhibition.
This was one of my favorites - put googly eyes on things. Haha! Not something you see everday on the sculptures around Italy.
In the afternoon we went to "The Adventure of Glass: A Millennium of Venetian Art" exhibition.
This was one of my favorite pieces.
Of course I had to get a picture of the Gondala drivers and their Gondalas. The Gondala rides are very pricey, 80-100 euro for an hour ride!
During the free time, I went to Doge's Palace.
I loved the Islamic influence in the architecture in this building and in many buildings around the city. The building was the residence of the Doge (similar to our President) and was the location of many different political and social institutions. There were courtrooms and even a prison.
Since Venice is made of only canals and sidewalks, the form of public transportation is by what other then a water bus!
The yellow structure is a dock for the water bus. I took the water bus to Murano, a nearby island and the home of Venice's glassmaking industry.
The city of Murano has glass shop after glass shop and in some of the shops you can see the artists working.
This man was melting glass sticks into little pigs (the pigs are in the bottom right corner of the picture).
Here is an example of one of the many glass stores. I especially love the glass chandeliers.
I also visited the Murano glass museum.
A chandelier in the museum. Although this wasn't my favorite, it is one of the largest Murano glass chandeliers that I have seen.
A full orchestra made of glass figurines! The figurines are a little larger than the size of a marble. Talk about attention to detail!
One of the canals in Murano.
Venice was everything and more than I expected. It is one of my favorite cities in Italy. It is really a unique experience to be in a city that is in the water. I'm sure it helped that we had amazing weather - low 70s and sunny every day! Sunday evening we had a 2 hour train ride back to Florence and another week of classes. I can't believe I only have 5 weeks left. Where is the time going?!
Arrivederci,
Hannah
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