Our week in Rome was over all too soon… Sing with us a la Mario Lanza, dear friends: Arrivederci, Roma…
Oh, but you can’t really be that sad when your next destination is Florence. Also, the boys were about to take a real train for the first time.
Martin and I love traveling by train; we both have fond memories of multi day trips without the motion sickness ( for me) and the stress of driving ( for Martin). We often told the boys how much fun trains were and extolled train’s virtues over other modes of travel. Consider the impact on the environment, convenience, the sense of adventure- and also the fact that it has been about 15 years since we last took a train!
As a result, everyone was looking forward to our first train ride, imagining watching the countryside roll by through the big windows of the train, walking about to maintain circulation, time to chat, catch up on our blog posts and play games.
The trains we took in Italy were faster and sleeker than we remembered and they seemed to mostly run underground, so we didn’t get to see much countryside, but there certainly was plenty of time to chat and play games.
Somewhere between Rome and Florence that day we challenged each other to express in one word the essence/spirit of each place we had been to so far on our European adventure.
Obviously, this resulted in a lively discussion, but we (more or less) agreed on the following:
Athens- Balance ( for democracy, beautiful proportions in art and architecture, the view of divine and human, science and art)
Sparta- Duty ( for military discipline, selflessness, hierarchy)
Monemvasia- Castle ( somewhat obvious after “Cats” and “Cannons” were ruled out)
Nafplio- Sea ( memories of island castles, Palamidi, fish market, windy walks on the shore)
Hydra- Independence ( with “Donkeys” and “Leonard Cohen” as runners- up)
Rome- Power ( empire, Caesar, Vatican…)
And as that was settled, we arrived in rain soaked Florence.
We had been pretty lucky with the weather until then, but it was still February and rain had to come at some point. Once it started to rain, it rained in earnest more or less the whole week- although not continuously. Contrary to stereotypes, our Florence was rainy- charms undiminished-and far less crowded, all the better for marathon museum/ palazzo visits, bell tower climbs and sweet shop visits.
Firenze is, of course, the cradle of Renaissance, and the symbol of Renaissance is Il Duomo ( The Dome of Santa Maria de Fiore).
Long before our trip, we told the boys the story of the improbable dome of Santa Maria del Fiore. It was planned by ambitious citizens at the time when the technology for constructing such a dome simply didn’t exist and it came into existence thanks to the genius of the no less ambitious goldsmith Filippo Brunelleschi. If you are not familiar with the story, here’s a great documentary we watched with the boys the day before climbing the 463 steps between the two cupola, seeing and touching the spina di pesce, and tracing Brunelleschi’s footsteps: Great Cathedral Mystery • NatGeo TVG Special
Our architectural studies continued with day trips to nearby Pisa and Siena, gorgeous medieval towns. So much to see and so many steps to climb!
The leaning tower of Pisa…What a spectacular blunder. I shudder imagining the kind of embarrassment the builders must have felt in their lifetime.They must have been the laughingstock of builders all over Tuscany. None of them knew that they created one of the most famous landmarks in the world and ensured prosperity of their town for generations to come.
Something to remember when we beat ourselves up for a mistake. A pretty good example for Do your duty(best!), come what may!
The first view of the tower brought out a simultaneous “WOW” from the 4 of us. By then we had seen a multitude of wonky structures, a number of leaning towers, but Pisa’s tower is in a category of its own. The angle, the wedding cake layering, the banana curve resulting from the attempt at rectifying the problem mid-building create an unforgettable effect, an irresistible illusion of motion. As we climbed the tower ( we always climb towers; that’s just us), we had to hold on to the walls, so strong was the discrepancy between what our bodies felt and what our eyes were telling us. I still felt dizzy half an hour later, as if getting off a ship.
And so, the word for Florence? We could go with Renaissance, neatly packing Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael, Botticelli, all the music, architecture, science ( Galileo!) that this, geographically speaking, small city produced or nurtured.
Teo’s suggestion for the word for Florence: Scudieri. I must concede, he gives two very convincing arguments in support of his proposal, namely, Tiramisu and Mille-feuille.
Perhaps we got it all wrong, searching for that one word to capture the loveliness of streets, the riches of art and history, the exquisite taste of confections. Firenze already means all of that and more!
On the road again... 
Another delightful review of your experiences! Even romantic! I exclaimed at the one of Ponte Vecchio! Puccini’s opera Gianni Schichi has the famous aria “O mio babbino caro” that I know so well. Right now, my oldest student–grade 12—-is preparing that song for the Festival! She will sing it beautifully. I have had a few of my girls in the past, perform this and so beautifully, artistically and emotionally. So, I did exclaim. I will pass this report on to her. It is not a high bridge as I envisioned it to be! Maybe not so scary to jump off this one!
I understand very well the experience of travelling by train. When I first came to Nelson, it was the only way of getting to and from here other than by car. I travelled it a number of times to get back to Manitoba. Also I travelled that way from France to Germany those many years ago, but which seem not that long ago.
Your writing is so very right, complete, easy and intriguing to read, therefore totally interesting and entertaining. Nico is on that same track with his writing! Keep the good times coming! God bless you all. Love, mathilde
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Dear Mathilde, I love that aria too, sadly, no soprano here.
I would be scared to jump off Ponte Vecchio, but I think one would have a pretty good chance at surviving it.
Curiously, Nico was similarly surprised at how “squat” Castello Del’ Angelo was in Rome- thinking of Tosca and imagining it totally enormous. No chance of surviving that one though!
The boys got to hear both arias in Rome.
Thank you for your kind words, all the best to you and \’break a leg” to your lucky student- when is the festival this year? maybe we will be back in time to hear her? Lots of love,
Tanya
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Sienna & Firenze — love! So much history & such beautiful places.
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