Italy for art lovers in a pinch
My time in Italy was limited (for various reasons) to 11 days, which I carefully planned along the lines of a makeshift art history tour. It enabled me to see many of the artworks I studied in person, and I made a special trip to Bologna for a somewhat-unknown sculpture that had knocked my socks off in my university Renaissance course.
- Venice (2 days)
- Bologna (1 day)
- Rome (5 days)
- Florence (3 days)
Observations about Italy in general after a short time:
- Not the best bread in the world (I miss Switzerland!) - what I could see was always white, and unforgivably hard.
- Gelato every 5 feet. DELICIOUS vegan gelato flavours in pistachio, hazlenut, vanilla and chocolate.
- Not the most polite people I have met culturally… but then again I have met especially friendly Italians among the bunch.
- Very attractive men, and women (distinctively Roman noses, full lips, dark hair and complexion - who could go wrong?).
- Staring. Lots of staring. As one person I met put it, Italy has a culture of looking and being looked at. (unfortunately, being stared at happens to be a pet peeve of mine).
- INSANE driving. Way more scary than London ever could be. At one point I was nearly run into by a motorcyclist (who passed within an inch of me), while correctly crossing the road.
Venice: Until this point, I was used to travelling with a lot of space around me, with very manageable breathing room. Suddenly in Venice I was launched into the world of countless other tourists, who push and shove, butt in line, make loud noises and generally bustle. Don’t get me wrong, I am also a tourist… but I loathe equally: being crowded, and the rudeness of butting in line and pushing without apologizing afterwards. At any rate, Venice was also the hottest place I have been so far, and I was forced immediately to get used to the blazing sun of summer.
But let’s get to the positive bits. Venice is an interesting city, full of random and surprising details. No cars, but instead a myriad of boats with different functions. I saw police boats, taxi boats, gondolas, supply carrying boats, vapporettos (bus boats), and even personal boats. Getting lost in Venice is also inevitable…
a yummy falafel meal in the Jewish ghetto area:
a bird decides to join me!
people making a music video:
seriously, I ran into two friends from high school in the cabin room next to mine at my hostel!!
And I found myself drawn to the more subtle details. How, I asked, do people really live in Venice? I noticed the mail delivery man going from residence to residence, saw garbage bags outside ready for collection. The city has very little green spaces for obvious reasons, so I also wondered about children and how they found spaces for play and oasis in the hot and crowded city. I noticed that they often played in different piazzas, and saw lots of chalk drawings on the grey stones as I wove my way through to the various points of interest.
Feeding the pigeons:
A mass of pigeons! Kind of frightening:
I can’t really understand, on the other hand, why Venice is considered so romantic. With the practical realities of 75 euro an hour gondola rides, tourist crowds, and inevitability of getting lost… I think you have to be floating on a really high and blinding cloud to coast through the city without a little unromantic frustration.
Bologna: I made a beeline for Bologna on a sort of pilgramage to see a sculpture I had studied in my Renaissance art glass, relatively unknown but spectacular, it is called the Lamentation by Niccolo dell Arca. It was worth the effort, and I enjoyed Bologna’s beautiful porticoes and open feeling.
Highlight here was a delicious and healthy meal I had in a restaurant/yoga centre in the city:
Rome: I really loved Rome, in what little of it I could see in the 5 days I practically ran through the city. There is SO much to see around every corner, that I must come back in the future to see the rest. I especially loved the Collosseum and the Roman Forum. The feeling in the city of new and old, and ruins surrounding one in the bustle of the intense traffic, is unforgettable.
Highlights:
- Taking a bike ride on a very comfortable bike around the large Villa Borghese park.
- This museum (Galleria Nazionale d’arte moderna):
- My four (really five) course vegan meal at Il Margutta restaurant. Especially this pasta dish with capers and black olives:
Also, the dessert I had the first time I came for lunch there:
UM, and the BEST pizza I have ever had, bar none, done Naples-style at a restaurant outside Rome:
Climbing the duomo of St Peter’s Basilica, and getting this view:
Seeing artworks by Caravaggio, Bernini, and others. This kind of thing:
Oh, and that kind of thing:
The Roman Forum:
The Ara Pacis:
And its beautiful architectural housing, in a light rain:
- Spontaneous street performances by very talented people.
The Pantheon:
And SO much more!
Florence: What I remember of Florence will unfortunately always be - very narrow sidewalks, slow walking people, large tourist crowds, ridiculously long line-ups for galleries, and very expensive entrance fees…
BUT, Florence also had:
…Really lovely places along the water where the bridges were, case in point, a view of the Ponte Vecchio:
…I can’t forget the amazing art I saw there
(the David was well worth the hour and a half wait… unbelievable)
…and of course one of the best meals of my entire trip:
Tofu asparagus ravioli with a very fresh pesto (full of pieces of pine nuts and garlic):
Coffee/vanilla veg gelato with chocolate sauce:
So that, in ’short’, is my summary of Italy. And of course, many things remain unsaid, but I think this made for a more enjoyable visual spread of what I saw there.
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