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Well, it was another spectacular day of educational adventuring here in Firenze.  I am involved in a ridiculous love affair with school.   Yep.  Every homework assignment, every quiz, every project.  Teachmeteachmeteachme.  Movememovememoveme.  Showmeshowmeshowme.

I had a history of Florence class first this morning where my professor, Lorenzo held my attention the entire time with his thick, animated italian accent and his brain full of amazing knowledge.  I ate it up.  Hopefully, he'll be taking us on a trip to Rome where he plans on showing us more than amazing things.  He said, "I will take you to the marble floors where Julius Caesar was murdered.  I will show you Roma.  We go together.  And we eat together.  We MUST eat together, no?"  He's a dream boat.

Following his class I went to Figure Drawing where we marched past the Duomo to a small museum called the Bargello.  It would be easy to pass by if you weren't looking for it.  The first floor was an open courtyard filled with marble sculpture and a ceiling covered in painted crests.  We sat and sketched for almost the entire 3 hour studio.  When I wasn't sketching, I was pulling my jaw off the ground as I looked at Donatello's David.  

I had to work extra hard to do it again when I saw Ghiberti's and Brunelleschi's original competition plates.

I know some of you readers probably know the story behind these, but if you don't, it really is an amazing one.  These plates were kind of like auditions for the two artists.  They were competing for the commission to create the bronze plates on The Gates of Paradise.  The Gates of Paradise are a part of the baptistry that sits just across from the Duomo.  They look like this:

Well, to summarize, Ghiberti won the competition.  The loss was pretty devastating to Brunelleschi's reputation.  He swore he would never sculpt again and he left Florence and went to Rome.  It's sad because his work was just as beautiful as Ghiberti's....honestly, I don't know how they chose between the two.  (Many believe politics sided with Ghiberti and because of that, he came out on top.)  

But I didn't get too sad for the guy....because years of architecture study later, he came back to Florence to finish the dome.  

Yes.  That dome.

It's inspiring to think that one failure can be the door way to a whole new challenge and a whole new victory.  It makes me believe more and more in the art of letting go.  Anger and defeat are the hardest burdens to drop...but you can't carry them and succeed either.  Hats off to you, Brunelleschi.

After some amazing moments at the Bargello, I came back to Santa Reparata for the rest of the school day.  In Italian we watched a gorgeous italian film called Io Non Ho Paura, which means, I am not scared.  Breathtaking.  Break-your-heart-beautiful.

When that ended we all went to our very first Art and Culture Seminar.  It's only an hour long and its basically a class that we create.  We get to choose the topics we want to learn about.  Food, wine, music, films, opera, the mafia.  Which apparently is still an extremely present network here.  I didn't realize that.  But no worries Mom, they are rarely a violent organization anymore.  Lorenzo actually says that if a mafia power kills, it is a sign to the others that there is internal conflict and they are weak.  Today, mafia members are not all criminals.  They are business men with PHDs.  And, their favorite people are tourists, because tourists = money.  

"So," Lorenzo says.  "You are actually very, very safe here. If you see a pair of eyes watching you from the shutters, don't be afraid.  They watch you to protect you."  You are the money, so you are their guests.  Good to know.  (Not that I want creepers watching me from their windows.)

It was a good night filled with conversation about true, italian culture...the stories behind wine, the mafia, weird jazz traveling bands and the idea that good espresso is essential to a good day.  I'm soaking this up like a ShamWow.  :)

I don't miss the states, but I do miss you.  

Love you,

Hayden