Travel Overall

I really enjoyed our travel for the most part. While at times I was thinking to myself why are we in this dinky, little town, I would have never traveled to many of these places had it not been for this travel class. Some of the towns we went to had some magnificent sites that I am really glad I saw. For example I would have never gone to Ravenna most likely and seen all of the buildings filled with mosaics. We learned a lot about different parts of Italy and the three regions that we traveled in. There was lots of food, which is always a good thing, and we were really able to experience the local tastes of the regions. The free time we were given was definitely enjoyed to go and explore by myself and again eat some local food.

Ravenna

                Today we visited Ravenna which is the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region.  Similar to Venice, Ravenna was built on a series of small islands in a marshy lagoon.  We started our tour with the Basilica di San Vitale. It was one of the most important examples of early Christian Byzantine art and architecture in Western Europe. The church has an octagonal plan and is supposed to symbolize the seven days of the week plus the Day of the Resurrection and Eternal Life. The central section of the church is covered with mosaics. Above the triforia, sacrifices from the Old Testament are depicted. All of the mosaics were created in the Hellenistic-Roman tradition, so they are lively and imaginative, full of rich colors and they have a certain perspective. They have a very vivid portrayal of the landscape, plants and birds too. Inside of the triumphal arch there are fifteen mosaic medallions depicting Jesus and the twelve Apostles and Saint Gervasius and Saint Protasius. At the foot of the right wall is a mosaic depicting the East Roman Emperor Justinian I standing with court officials, Bishop Maximian, palatinae guards and deacons.

After the Basilica, we visited the Mausoleum di Galla Placidia. It is a Roman building, that is one of the eight UNESCO World Heritage sites. Formerly it was the oratory of the Church of the Holy Cross, but it now contains three sarcophagi. In the largest sarcophagus, the remains of Galla Placidia was believed to have been there, but it was accidentally burned in 1577. The sarcophagus to the right is attributed to Galla’s son, Emperor Valentinian III or her brother, Emperor Honorius. The one to the left is her husband, Emperor Constantius III. Mosaics cover the walls just like many other buildings we visited.

We then saw the Battistero Neoniano, which is the most ancient monument remaining in Ravenna. It is an octagonal building that was partly erected from a Roman bath. The octagonal design is seen in basically all Early Christian baptisteries, again the octagonal architecture is seen here. We see the number eight in a lot of the religious buildings in Ravenna. The original floor is about 3 meters underground now so you can no longer see the proper structure of the building. The center ceiling mosaic depicts John the Baptist baptizing Jesus; around the center is the procession of the twelve apostles. This is also one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ravenna.

We ended our tour with the Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo. It was the palace chapel of Ostrogoth King Theodoric the Great during his first quarter of rule, but then reconstructed under the rule of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I. On the upper side of the left wall are 13 mosaics depicting Jesus’ miracles and parables. On the upper side of the right wall are 13 mosaics depicting the Passion and Resurrection. The row of mosaics below the first 13 on both sides are haloed saints, prophets and evangelists (16 on each side). Below those on the left wall are 22 Virgins of the Byzantine period, with the Three Magi in the front moving towards the group of Madonna and Child surrounded by four angels. On the right wall are is a procession of 26 martyrs with Saint Partin and Sait Apollinaris in the front leading towards a group representing Christ enthroned by four angels. The mosaics in this building were stunning as well. Again this is one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

I really enjoyed Ravenna. Out of all the towns we went to and all of the sites we visited, I found the buildings and decorations in Ravenna to be some of the most interesting. I am always fascinated by mosaics so I may be a little bit biased towards them, but I truly thought the mosaics we saw were gorgeous.

Assisi, Montefalco, and travel to Ravenna

                Today we visited Assisi which is where St. Francis was born. St. Francis formed the Franciscan religious order in Assisi in 1208 and St. Clare the founder of the Poor Sisters was also founded there. We first visited the Basilicia di Santa Chiara. It is dedicated to and contains the remains of Saint Clare of Assisi. Next, we went to the Piazza del Comune which has the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo and the Torree del Popolo on two sides with a fountain in the middle. The Temple of Minerva is also facing this Piazza. We then walked through the streets of Assisi to get to the Basilica di San Francesco. It is the mother church to the Roman Catholic Order of Friars Minor, or the Franciscan Order. It is one of the most important places of Christian pilgrimage in Italy. In 2000 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Basilica is split in to two sections known as the Upper Church and the Lower Church and also a crypt; this is because it was built in to the side of a hill. In the crypt, the remains of St. Francis are buried. Both the Upper and Lower Churches are decorated with frescoes by various late medieval painters from the Roman and Tuscan schools. The range and quality of the difference frescoes makes the basilica an important example of the development of Italian art in this period.

The Upper Church consists of four ribbed vaults. The entrance vault shows the Four Latin Doctors of the Church: St. Gregory, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, and St. Augustine. The frescoes in the Upper Church show different parts of The Bible. Both sides of the nave are decorated with 32 different scenes from the Old Testament and the New Testament. The most important frescoes here are in the lower part of the nave that were painted by Giotto. These frescoes demonstrate major events in the life of St. Francis and are painted so vividly that it is as if Giotto was right there when the events occurred.

The Lower Church was designed by Brother Elias. The large doors have a rose window above. The doors portray stories from the lives of St. Francis, St. Clare, St. Louis and St. Anthony. The bust of Pope Benedict XIV is also portrayed here because he granted this church the title of Patriarchal Basilica and Cappella Papale. When you enter the lower basilica, you feel as if you are actually underground. The frescoes are darker and there are not many windows so it seems as if you are below ground when in fact you are not. The oldest fresco in the church is in the Lower Church, the artist is unknown. This fresco is five scenes from the Passion of Christ on the right side and on the left side there are another five scenes from the Life of St. Francis.

Both the Upper and Lower Churches were beautiful. It was unfortunate that some of the frescoes were not as in tact as they used to be because of the earthquakes that had occurred, but they were still very impressive. After Assisi, we travelled to Montefalco where we had an olive oil tasting, lunch, and a lesson with a certified sommelier. I was a little disappointed with the olive oil tasting. I was expecting our visit to be more about the olive oil than the wine tasting, but it was the opposite. We tried multiple types of wine and the sommelier we had accompanying us showed us how wines are tasted and graded. We were told to pick out certain flavors and aromas. She did a good job of showing us how wine does not just taste like wine to a lot of people and how much of a process the flavoring of wine takes. What it is aged in makes a difference in the taste; there can be more of a rosy taste in it because of how it is aged, etcetera. After lunch were able to see the machinery used to make the olive oil and we were explained the process which was interesting to see. At the end of the day we left for Ravenna, our last destination of our travel.

Todi and Perugia

                Today in Todi we saw the Church of Saint Fortunata. It is not considered a basilica because it is not owned by the Pope and the Church, it is owned by the municipality of Todi. The outside was not completed so only the bottom half of the church is decorated by carved marble. Represented on the outside was good and evil by fig leaves and grape vines; a bacillus representing evil also; and also a naked nun and friar. There are many stories behind the naked nun and friar and nobody really knows the true story. The inside of this church was fairly plain; in the crypt was the tomb of Jacapone. His body was not actually put in to the church until 300 years after his death because he was excommunicated from the Church ten years before his death. The Bishop of Todi decided that Jacapone deserved to be buried inside of the church because his excommunication was not a huge deal. He also honored the fact that Jacapone did a lot for not only the church but Todi and he deserved to be recognized; so his tomb was put in to the church in Todi. Todi also has a basilica. The basilica is on the main square in Todi, but the Church of Saint Fortunata was more important to the history of the city.

                In the afternoon, we visited Perugia which was one of the larger towns that we visited and the capital city of the Umbria region. It was one of the main Etruscan cities; today it is known as a university town with the University of Perugia, the University of Foreigners and other smaller colleges. One of the main attractions in Perugia is the Cathedral of San Lorenzo. The outside decoration was never completed but is covered with white and pink marble. Outside of this Cathedral is the Fontana Maggiore. It is a medieval fountain that was made between 1277 and 1278 by Nicola Pisano and Giovanni Pisano. It was part of a program of local improvements that began in 1278 to celebrate the independence of Perugia. The basin has twenty five sides with sculptures representing prophets and saints, the labors of the months, the zodiac signs, scenes from Genesis, and events from Roman history. After spending some time in the main square we began walking further in to town. We had some lovely views of the whole city, which was too big to see in the amount of time we had. After our tour, we had some time to walk around by ourselves. Because it was a Sunday, there were a lot of people out and about. Families were getting gelato; people were hanging out on the steps of the Cathedral and in the main square, so people watching was readily available. It was nice to see so many people out and about. So many of the towns that we had visited were bare of people because it is offseason and locals are on vacation and there are no tourists. The fact that Perugia was a bigger town and had universities so there were students also helped; but it was definitely a nice change of pace. The chocolate and the gelato was also a bonus of the trip!

Potluck Night

                Tonight our dinner consisted of a sort of potluck which we all contributed to. We had to chosoe an Italian dish and then prepare it for the whole group. It was interesting to see what foods people chose to cook because some were dishes which have been very introduced in to American lifestyle a large amount like lasagna and pizza and there were others which you do not find so often like bruschetta. I thought it was a really enjoyable activity that we did; we all turned out to be pretty good chefs!

                Personally, I made a family recipe that has been adapted from a dish my family used to get from a restaurant in Italy, we call it pasta rolls. It basically is rolled up pasta sheets, with ham and cheese on the inside, and a cream sauce. I was a little scared to make these though because they are a dish that my brother and father used to make together; whenever I asked to help I was told no by my brother because it was “father, son bonding time.” So even though I have been eating pasta rolls my whole life and I have seen the process before, I had never made them; I was scared that I would not be able to live up to my brother and father’s process. While to me they may not have been as good as the ones from home (mainly because they were not made with the same love and bonding time), they were still very good. I was proud of my final dish and thoroughly enjoyed our home cooked potluck meal.