Duomo-Casa Buonarroti

September 25:

Today’s main event was my tour guide meeting at the Duomo. I was probably there for about an hour as our senior guide was filling us in on a multitude of facts from which to compile a 20 minute tour or so. My main interest is in the incredible dome of the church so I will probably talk about that and its engineer, Filippo Brunelleschi, the most. I have to admit that many of my guide’s facts about the dome and its construction conflicted with the art historical accounts I have read about it so I plan to do my own research for that part of the tour. I’ll start giving actual tours next Monday. Until then I plan to do my research and go back several times to practice main points and important dates. Before leaving, I snapped a few pictures which you can look at below.







On my way home I stopped to buy a few postcards in the Piazza della Signoria. I’ve been taking a somewhat different way back the past few days and I think it may be quicker in the mornings but not worth fighting the tourists in the afternoons.
Tomorrow my art history class is meeting outside Santa Croce and then walking over to Casa Buonarroti to see Michelangelo’s earliest works. Sounds a lot more exciting than a lecture!

September 27:

Well, the rainy fall weather is here! I don’t know how I didn’t learn my lesson the first time but I have been caught in the rain without any sort of protection 3 times! Oh well: the last time was in the name of gelato so it was all worth it.
Casa Buonarroti was really cool! It is a museum built in the house where Michelangelo lived with his father after he left the Medici school (ok well, Lorenzo died so he kind of had to leave). It has his two earliest extant works, Madonna of the Staircase and Battle of Lapiths and Centaurs. It was really awesome seeing both, but especially Battle since I have seen it in slides so many times. It’s an awesome change to get to see the actual works while studying them. There were also a number of sketches and maquettes by Michelangelo as well as the never-used model for the façade of San Lorenzo that he had built to his designs for the Medicis.
Also yesterday was my weaving class. We are planning on going to Prato next week to visit a textiles museum and then walk around the downtown with any extra time. We have been learning to do tapestries and will start weaving our own designs before we catch the bus.
Today I finished my first drawing on my first litho stone. Good times. Anyway, I also got it etched so it’ll be ready to print on Tuesday. I took some pictures of it after it had gum arabic smeared all over it. You should be able to see them below.







Some of my classmates working after class in the printmaking studio.



Our litho press, which is 200 years old!

Depending upon how things end up, I may go with the school field trip to Pisa and Lucca on Saturday. Two of my roommates are going to Pompeii this weekend but are just about spending a fortune to do it and my other roommate has a friend flying in to see her. So it sounds like I may have a quite weekend in which to use my Ars et Fides pass to check out all of the churches! I also need to practice my tour spiel.