History of Florence with Lorenzo this morning was fantastic. It was a walking tour day. We started out visiting the church of San Lorenzo. We've walked by it a million times before, but with a history teacher from Italy...it's a completely new experience. He told us the story of San Zanobi's Miracle, and how it took place right here in Florence. The story goes that after this saint died, he was buried in the church of San Lorenzo. But years later, his body was moved to Santa Maria del Fiore - the cathedral where the dome is located. As his procession passed through the square in the dead of winter, the carriage carrying his body touched an olive tree. The tree immediately bloomed as if it were spring. Today in the square outside the cathedral there is a large stone column with a cross at its top sitting exactly where the olive tree stood, commemorating San Zanobi's miracle.
Just next to the column is the Baptistry (you know the one I showed you with Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise?) which was actually built in the same place as the ancient Romans' temple dedicated to Mars. That temple marked the early early years of Florence. "Come come," Lorenzo said to us. "I show you something no one sees. You don't see any tourists looking here, they are all about the shops and the bullshits. You come see this." He took us around the back corner of the Baptistry to show us a single stone on its side. He was right - no one was looking at it or noticing it. But this stone was an original from the early ancient times when the temple had first been built.
Pretty amazing, right? He went on to show us more things hidden in the city that no one usually takes notice of. He also made sure to warn us about some tourist traps. (There's a house that tour guides have dubbed "Dante's house." Don't fall for it. Not true.) He showed us the BEST place to get a panino and right beside it was a tiny, tiny church.
"This church, no one notices. But you touch it, and you are touching stones over 1000 years old. This church is also where the great Dante met Beatrice - his muse - when they were just nine years old." We went inside to find the church completely intact in its original form, and also to find the tomb of Beatrice herself. There were baskets filled with tiny papers all around her grave - each one a wish or a prayer. In Dante's Divine Comedy, he walks through inferno, purgatorio, and paradiso. Beatrice is the one who guides him to paradise. Beautiful.
We stopped in a few more little places and devoured the best panino I have EVER had before heading back for the rest of a days worth of classes. As promised, I took pictures of what I'm currently working on. The project was to print up 5 folios (a two page spread) to exchange with our classmates. By the end, everyone will have their folio, plus one of everyone else's to bind in a book. The theme was Florence. On one side of the folio, the requirement was to write a haiku involving anything we saw or felt towards this beautiful city. On the other side we had to create an image to accompany it. I used letterpress for the haiku, then designed an image using ink and pencil blended with acetone before xerox transferring it to the pages.
And here are a few other baby projects I put together in my free time... We've been messing with accordion books lately.
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Tomorrow I start carving some linoleum for a 5 print series project. The theme can be whatever we'd like as long as we have five prints and the idea is cohesive. It took me a while to come up with my theme but I think I've got it down. I won't tell you too much until its finished, but my title is, "Whimsical and Improbable Displacement."
Ohhhh the possibilities. :)
Field trip this weekend to Arezzo and Cortona. Not sure what is on the agenda, but I DO know I get to ride a train and trains make me happy. It really doesn't take much these days hahaha....
Hope you can feel how much I love you from this far away.
Love, Hayden Elizabeth
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