Easter, Lucca, and Cinque Terre

Katie and I in Vernazza (Cinque Terre) where we had dinner.
Via dell'Amore. This hike, "The street of Love" links all the little towns together...we walked to three of the five towns. It was so beautiful and so fun to be near the water.
Riomaggiore
Vernazza--mom and dad...remember this?? Our restaurant where we had dinner was right where those umbrellas are behind me! We almost ate there, but instead ate right on the water at a little pizzaria.
Monterosso--I found the street where our hotel was when we stayed there 4 years ago! So cute!
Monterosso
yummy pizza in monterosso :)
Lucca
Piazza Amphiteatro in Lucca
Lucca
so Italy :)
Lucca
Lucca
This is at the little place that Alexine and I found in our weekend in Florence. We went there ever day--4 times! Each time, we got a glass of wine and a sandwich--schiacciata bread, stacchino cheese, balsamic vinegar, sundried tomatoes, and argula...so yummy!!! The guy in there is so nice and he remembered us each time. Such a fun memory....
Lucca
Alexine and I at the top of Fiesole
Fiesole on Easter Monday :)
Scopiero del Caro--SO many fireworks! I couldn't believe that they did this so close to the Duomo! It was so fun to be there...we got there at 9:30 and it didn't start until a little after 11...but there were so many people there we were glad we got there early. The display went on for about 30 minutes....so crazy!
Alexine and I on our last day! :)
The adoreable little wine shop we found across from Ponte Vecchio! We just sat and had a glass of Vernaccia wine from San Gimignano. It is so fun because this shop had all Tuscan wines...and becasue of my internship, I know about a bunch of them! I knew that the Vernaccia would be good...its a dry wine, not fruity--just perfect for an afternoon glass :) But I just am drawn to places lik this because I know I will know about most of the wines!

Lucca and Cinque Terre!!!

This weekend I went to Lucca and to Cinque Terre! Two of the most beautiful cities! Pictures to come tomorrow....Even though I had been to both of these places before, it really didn't matter. I went to all 5 of the towns in Cinque Terre and hiked to a couple of them on the "Villa d'Amore" (Walk of Love :) and then took the train to a few...it was so nice to be near the water...I miss it so much!
....and also last weekend I stayed in Florence when Alexine visited! One of the best weekends of the semester! It was so fun because I actually got to be a tourist in Florence...something I haven't really done since the first weekend. We discovered two amazing places...one is right by Dante's house and next to the church where Dante's wife is buried. We got these amazing schiaccata sandwiches with this cheese called stacchino, drizzeled with balsamic vinegar, some argula and sun dried tomatoes, and a class of the house wine and some pecorino cheese--all for like 5 Euro! Such a fun little find! We hiked up to Fiesole and found a little market there which was so fun...sampled some honey from local areas which was so fun. We went to my favoriet restaurant so far called Coquinarious--I am taking my parents there when they come! It is soo yummy (i went last night again with a friend who is in town!).
pictures to comeee!!! Love and miss you!!

dinner tonight!!!

ok so i have to work on a little presentation...but before i do that and before i tell you ALL about Easter weekend in Florence with ALEXINE (which was amazing!!!) I have to tell you about dinner tonight....so we had a very long dinner tonight and it was just so fun..nonna showed us pictures from her wedding in 1949! she was (and is) such a beautiful little woman :) she showed us three pictures...one duringhte ceremony and two outside of the church. she got married in a church near the Piazza del Duomo, right in the center of Florence. she was 25 years old when she and nonno were married. and on May 4 they will have been married for 60 years! it was just so cute the way she was describing it...she is so happy. and she totally came out of her little shell tonight ... we were talking about the differnet churches in Florence, their different styles..she has these books which are essentially like the Encyclopedia about all of Florence art. and we couldn't remember the style of one of the churches, so she whipped one of those out and started reading out of the book. i really wanted to take a picture...she is so little, she has a little bit of a hard time leaning over the table to read the book that is way too big for her, and she had on these cute little reading glasses on, and she was mumbling to herself in Italian--she was determined to find out what style Santa Maria Novella was built in! She is jsut so cute and sharp as a tack....later she also told us that she is 85 and her birthday is coming up... "fra poco"...but she did not tell us when it is! she said it would be a surprise and there will be a "festa"! she is so cute...
anyway...dinner tonight was just so fun and memorable and i could have talked with her for hours. i cannot believe i am leaving so soon...i dont want to think about it. i am gonna miss nonna!!!! ( and her cooking ... :)

Earthquake

At this point I know most have you have heard about the earthquake in central Italy, in a town called L'Aquila. Florence is ok...we are all ok. We thank God for that. A couple of my friends woke up in the middle of the night to a little bit of shaking, but nothing huge.But as of now, about 100 people have lost their lives. This is so sad that this devastation occurred to a place so close to where we are.
I just wanted to let you all know that we are all safe, but are praying for the people who lost their lives early this morning.
I love you all so much and I am so thankful for each and every one of you :)

Running, Orvieto, and Todi

this is one of the many gorgeous villas that i often pass by on my runs. real Italian villas! ha
This is the beginning of the road that I often take when I run...isn't it beautiful? I seriously cannot believe the scenery every time I go on a run. I always take new paths so it is never the same route. I found a church the other day! It was fun....today was fun because I took these pictures while I walked my usual running route. It was fun because I got to spend even more time looking around....and today is Palm Sunday. so I noticed a lot of families in cars together, coming home from church...I loved it.
This is when I was approaching the little town of San Domenico. I pass through this town every time I run. Toward the end of the town, there are two roads up to Fiesole, which is the small Etruscan town above Florence. It is so beautiful up there. All that is in this town is a little cafe/bar, Edicola (which is a newspaper stand), a church, and there is also a road that leads to the European University.
More of the roads I run on...
That little stop light is for that little, itty bitty road to the left. Only one car's width can go through at a time...it is so fun. The walls are lined with vines and moss and there are a couple doors to a couple of homes.
The view of the town of Todi that we went to on Saturday. We went to Todi to see specifically the centralized church that is there, supposedly designed by Leonardo da Vinci, but they are not sure. Other than that, this town was just really cute.
Todi
The centralized church in Todi. It was very rare to have a centralized church like this, because normally it was a Pagan shape of building. It was beautiful inside also, mainly because of the placement of the windows so high up on the building.
The AMAZING cathedral in Orvieto. I have never seen anything like it. It is one of the best examples of GOthic architecture, only second to Chartes Cathedral in France. the mosaics on the fiscade were not placed there until later (i think the 18th century) but the rest of it was built in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Katie and I in Orvieto.
Little street in Orvieto with a cute old man who had just walked out of his door with his cane. perfect.
This well is in Orvieto...I believe it was built for a Pope. It is soo deep!

Chianti region and Pisa!

Katie, Michelle and I in Pisa! The tower is much smaller than I thought in real life! It is so crazy...it leans SO much and I think it has always been like that. The city of Pisa itself is not that special...we got on a train at 10:30 and got there an hour later and left at about 2:00. thats all the time we needed though. I was so glad we went!
gotta take one of these pictures!
Everyone pays attention to the tower but the Cathedral and the Baptistery are really beautiful> We didn't go inside, but there is a beautiful pulpit in the Baptistery designed by Pisano. He is the same sculptor who designed the one in the Cathedral in Siena.
Last Friday, we did a bike tour of the Chianti region! It was SOOO beautiful! This picture is at the 12th century castle where we got a tour of the wine cellars and got to see how they bottle and wines, how they store them in the barrels, and how they also produce their award-winning olive oil. I bought some! I am so excited to try it when i get home. Actually we did get to try it during a little wine tasting we had of the wine and olive oil at the Castle. This day was complete with a tour of this castle, a 13 mile bike ride, lunch at a little restaurant in the Chianti region and amazing views. It was the PERFECT way to do Chianti!
The tower you see in the distance was the castle we got to tour. There is still a couple who lives there who are descendents from the original people who lived there in the 12th century. pretty cool!
beautiful Chianti
the five of us who went. four of us go to USC and one goes to Syracuse. SO fun!
On our way up to the top of a tower in the castle, we got to see these barrels which store their Vin Santo, which is a dessert wine. It is only produced in this region, and it is stored for a couple years (i think) in these barrels.
view from the castle
our little wine and olive oil tasting :)

5 cities in 2 days. you can do that in Italy :)

Urbino: cute little street in one of my favorite little towns in Italy so far.
walking in Urbino
We were able to climb up to a fortress to see a view of Urbino...we tried to time it right with the cartwheels...didn't quite work out. ha but it was fun!
Mackensey, Kelly and I in Urbino.
It snowed in Arezzo!
Arezzo
our view from our hotel room in Urbino!
snowing in Arezzo!
Aaron and I in Arrezo
Kelly, Mackensey and I in Arezzo about to go into the church of San Francesco with GORGEOUS frescoes by Piero della Francesca. This trip to 5 Italian towns--Arezzo, Monterchi, San Sepulcro, Urbino, and Rimini was essentially a tour of works by Piero della Francesca. He has a chapel in this church in Arezzo, the Madonna del Parto in Monterchi (which is a fresco that expectant mothers visit and pray for their child--beautiful fresco), and one of his later works in a church in Rimini, which is actually called a temple now and was bombed in WWII accidentally by the U.S. (but was restored soon after). Basically the trip was AMAZING!!!

I just realized that I probably have not written about this art history class that I am taking! it is called Masterpieces of Art and basically it is set up so well and is my favorite class. Every monday we have a lecture in the classroom where we look at slides and listen to our professor who is edcated at Harvard and was offered plenty of teaching positions all over the US but turned them all doen to teach at Syracuse University in Florence (basically this guy is huge--all the art history students at Syracuse have either read stuff from him or from this other professor that some of my friends have--my professor and this other guy are HUGE in their field and it is so cool to have him as a teacher--brilliant guy) anyways.... then on tuesdays I have a "site visit" where the TA's lecture -- these TAs are incredible and are so fun and young named Kellin and Sarah -- our site visits have included Santa Croce, Piazza S.S. Annunciata, San Marco, Il Museo del Opera del Duomo--basically ALL of the MOST important areas of artwork in Florence. And we get free admission to all the museums we go to on these site visits! It is so cool because I really feel that I am getting such a great feel for the city and the significance of the city in the Renaissance....I am seriously in the heart of it and I am appreciating every moment of it. Also our "homework assignment" every week is a "looking assignment" where we are assigned to visit some place in the city to write about it--Example this week I went to the Boticelli room at the Uffizi!! others: Giotto pieces in the Uffizi, Santo Spirito, Chapels within Santa Croce, Santa Trinita...seriously so many places! I am learning SO much and would never have taken a class like this had I not come to Florence! Now I actualy am also understanding the true significance of this city in pre-Renaissance and Renaissance art....i love it!
anyway...i could talk about it a lot more...but i will spare you! Nonna is making dinner now and it smells sooooo yummy!!! :)