Visiting Marco Zeno's Home and Studio

Buona sera! Good evening! (Or still buon giorno to all of you in the States.)

Okay, before I start I have to say that there's a little old Italian woman who helps run the hotel and she is the most adorable thing ever. She only talks to us in Italian but she is so cute (molto carina!) and one of the girls on our trip just brought her a bouquet of roses. That was great.

Today we visited an Italian contemporary sculptor named Marco Zeno (and I really hope I'm spelling his name right). He lives in Grotto, about half an hour outside of Massa Marittima at his home/studio literally on the side of a hill. He makes sculptures out of wood from the olive trees on his land, and he has a fascination with the contortion of the wood and the designs created within the wood once it is carved. His work is displayed all around his home, and it is spectacular.

Marco talking to us about his sculptures

He makes the most interesting heads!

Before we had lunch, we all went into Marco's studio and he gave us each a slab of clay. He taught us how to sculpt heads and faces out of the clay like he does, and we all tried our hardest to follow his lead. A lot of our heads ended up looking alien-like... but watching him create a face out of the clay was so mesmerizing. In the end, drawing on my memories from my 8th grade sculpture and ceramics class, I came up with a sort of self portrait that I think truly captures how tired I am and how knotted my hair was from the wind on the side of the hill. (See below.)

After we made our sculptures, we had a delicious lunch prepared by Marco's wife. There was pasta, bread, sliced meats, delicious cake, pastries, coffee and homemade sweet tea (yessss) and lemonade. After lunch Marco brought us on a tour of the land next to his house and showed us all of the olive trees from which he drew his inspiration. He told us that he often goes up the hill on his land and sketches the olive trees, and some are better to sketch than others.

We had a wonderful time visiting this very talented artist, and it was fun to see the contrast between Marco's art and the classic Renaissance art that we were exposed to in Florence. Marco was fabulous, as were his wife and his son Akhenaton (like the pharaoh), and I am so glad we were able to meet them today! Also, there were two dogs, a cat, goats, chickens and roosters on their land so I was able to get my animal fix for the day. :)

One of the dogs chilling on the property!

I'm super excited because tomorrow I'll be able to sleep in! We won't be leaving until 2 pm to go see another contemporary artist's sculpture gardens. I'm excited! More to come after that!

Arrivederci!
Dani

We're in Massa Marittima!

Salve!

We made it to Massa Marittima this afternoon! We had possibly the most terrifying bus ride ever getting here from Florence, between the traffic, our savage bus driver passing every vehicle on the highway, and the skinny winding uphill roads getting up to Massa. The ride was beautiful though once we got into the more remote areas, and we were able to see the sea from the highway.

The view of the sea from the bus window!

We're staying in a restored monastery called the Domus Bernardiniana, and it is so quiet and beautiful! We're on the side of a hill, and the view is incredible. It's definitely a stark contrast from the hustle and bustle of Florence and the constant noise, and that was the point of coming here. I actually like it a lot better. I find that I am more aware of sounds and our presence in the city, and I am trying hard to hide my American-ness. It's a quaint little town, almost like a village, and we get to stay here for five nights. The only issue is I hardly get any wifi or even cell signal in my room, so I either have to stand at the open window holding my phone up like Simba, or come down to the small lobby where there are a few couches, which is what I'm doing now along with about seven other people.

We arrived around 2:00, and we walked around a bit and got ourselves oriented, and now we are waiting until dinner at 8:00. Two important couples will be joining us for dinner at the hotel, I forget who they are... haha. Massa is so different from Florence, but both are fantastic in their own way. Tomorrow we are going to meet a contemporary artist for a workshop, and I am super excited. I'll take plenty of pictures, and I am excited to be in a new place. I'll probably feel the same way by the time it's time to travel to Rome.

Massa is still important enough to have its own cathedral...

However, none of this changes the fact that I really miss iced coffee, Firehouse subs, and driving my car. #fiveweeks #icedcoffeecountdown (I'm making that a thing.)

Ciao!
Dani

Last Day in Florence

Ciao! Hello!

Today is our last day in Firenze! We spent our morning at the Museo di San Marco (which reminded me of Jacksonville's San Marco :c) where we saw a bunch of paintings and frescoes, and then we toured the monastery where the monks stayed at the church. Then we went to the Florence Cathedral (the giant building we've been admiring the whole time we've been here) and saw the interior of the Duomo. After a break that was too short, we went to the Bargello museum and we saw some more of Michelangelo's sculptures. This has been the majority of our days here in Florence, museum after museum, church after church, fresco after fresco. Hours of standing and taking pictures and writing notes. But it has been fantastic.

After the Bargello, we were free to roam and do whatever for the rest of the day because the majority of our days here have been pretty full. Another girl and I were going to go to the Museo Galileo (the science museum), but Tuesdays are the only days that the museum closed at 1. So, deciding we were exhausted, we schlepped back to the hotel and I immediately fell asleep. I feel a little bit like I'm not taking advantage of the city around me, but honestly, we have seen so much over the past five days that just chilling and sleeping seemed like a great option. Right now I'm lying in my bed eating Pringles like they're going out of style, but maybe I'll get up and do some shopping in a bit.

I didn't post yesterday, but after a full day of museums I went to go see a chamber orchestra concert at the Orsanmichele last night! It was awesome. The concert featured two oboists that sounded great, and the acoustics were amazing. Check out my Facebook for pictures, because once again the pictures won't load. It was awesome hearing the small orchestra play, and I didn't even need to understand any Italian to appreciate the music. Because, you know, music does that. :)

Tomorrow at 9:30 am we will depart for Massa Marittima, and I am excited to finally be in a small hill town without all these tourists and annoying street vendors. We will take a bus there and it is about a two-and-a-half hour trip. You know what that means? SLEEP.

So far this trip has been amazing, and I still have 5 more weeks to go. (And 5 more weeks before I can get iced coffee again.) And I think I'm getting a single room when we get to Rome next week, so that's like a dream come true for me! I'll let you know how Massa is when we get there.

Adios! (Ha.)
Dani