Field Trip #3

Have you heard of any of these places: Urbino? Assisi? Ravenna?
Have you heard of any of these people: Piero della Francesca? San Francesco? Giotto?
I've only heard of a couple, and that's only because I've taken art history. Twice. So the field trip this weekend was probably intended more for the art history students than for everyone else. As for me, (a studio art student who has never been able to get into medieval art) it was definitely difficult to get through the long explanations and descriptions of historical debates surrounding the churches and artwork.
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We left early on Friday morning, and stopped in Monterchi to see the "Madonna del Parto" - I'd never heard of this work or the guy who painted it (Piero della Francesca) but supposedly della Francesca was rediscovered by contemporary artists and this is one of his most beloved paintings. We also made a stop in San Sepulcro to see the Museo di Civico and more Piero della Francesca paintings (the Resurrection of Christ is famous), and finally made it to Urbino to stay at the Piero della Francesca Hotel. I couldn't believe they named the hotel after him. Dinner was pretty good - we went to a restaurant called Da Ciacci. They had about 9 courses. But it was fun because you just took a serving spoonful of each dish, so even though I was unbelievably full, I also got to try a lot of different things.
The next day we spent in Assisi. If the name sounds familiar, it's probably because of Saint Francis of Assisi's fame. And the San Francesco Basilica was probably the highlight of the trip, for me. There was the upper church, lower church, and the crypt below where the body of St. Francis is kept. We got a preview and intro to the church and St. Francis by a Franciscan monk from America, and I learned that St. Francis was actually a really cool guy. He was a rich kid who was later thrown out by his father. He was simply into spreading love and care, and being completely humble about it. There was also the Church of Santa Chiara (St. Claire) which we were only able to walk through briefly because we were behind schedule by like 2 hours.
On Sunday we checked out of the hotel and went to Ravenna, and these are the things we saw: the Mausoleum of Teodorico, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, the Tomb of Dante, Arian Baptistry, the Museo Arcivescovile, San Vitale, Galla Placidia, San Francesco, and San Giovanni Evangelista. I'm sorry you had to struggle to read through all those names - just imagine having to walk around to ALL of them. I have to be honest: the churches and mosaics all kind of blend together into one LONG day. I'll let you look at the photos...I do clearly remember a crypt that was actually underwater, with goldfish swimming in it. I think that might have been at Galla Placidia. One of the highlights was getting to drink a cioccolata calda that was super thick, a characteristic of the hot chocolate in Ravenna.
Every time we got on the bus, we were all so grateful for the heat, because Assisi, Urbino, and Ravenna were way colder than Florence. Now that I'm back in Florence, I know I can't complain. Hopefully I'll be ready for the freezing weather in Austria and Germany.

FACEBOOK PHOTOS!
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In other news:
- I have MIDTERMS next week for my Italian classes. I've been too preoccupied with my Accademia classes to really think about Italian so I'll be studying this weekend!
- There is a German festival in anticipation of Christmas in Santa Croce. I've never had HOT SPICED WINE or APPLE CIDER WITH RUM before. They're delicious! And also white sausage with sauerkraut and mustard? I hope I can have the real thing in Germany.
- We have a HOLIDAY BANQUET tonight at the CSU center! Free food!