Transfigured By Italy

We arrived home from our adventure to Italy on Tuesday. Over several days I sat and tried to digest my experience and make an account of it. After sorting through over 500 photographs and typing a 25 page blog, I started over and decided to give a briefer account without the minute by minute details and focus more on my reactions. In E. M. Forster’s novel A Room With A View, one of the characters says, “A young girl, transfigured by Italy! And why shouldn't she be transfigured? It happened to the Goths!” I can tell you that young girls, the Goths, and middle aged men can all be transfigured by Italy. I was.

For most of my life I have loved history and art. I’ve read many, many books and studied photographs of the great works of men like da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Rembrandt, and others. I know their works. Or, I thought I did. Now having stood in the presence of some of those works, I see that I knew hardly anything at all. Being there has changed everything.

We left home for Newark, New Jersey, on Monday the 11th, a day earlier than planned, to avoid bad weather. There were five of us traveling together – Stacey, Josiah, me, and our friends Gina and Nancy. We met up with our daughter Sarah in Newark. She was not coming to Italy with us, but happened to be in Newark on business, a nice coincidence. We spent the night in Newark and on Tuesday the 12th, in the evening, the Thayn group arrived – Tabor, Rachel, Miriam, Hannah, and my niece Elisabeth. We flew out of Newark on Tuesday night and on Wednesday afternoon, the 13th, we were in Rome. The flight was nine hours long, but Italy is six hours ahead of us so we lost some time.

Ready to embark.

Waiting for our flight.

The Alps viewed from the air.

At the airport in Rome we met up with more of our party, Otilia and her sister Jaya, who had flown in from California. We all took the train into the city and made our way to our Airbnb where we met up with the final members of our group, my nephew Aaron and his wife Mandi, who had flown in from Georgia the day before.

On the train into Rome

On the train.

 My first impression of Rome was that it was like other big cities I’ve been in – crowded, dirty, full of traffic, walls covered with graffiti. But this city was Rome, the Eternal City, and that seemed to make the noise and the litter and the spray painted walls somehow exotic.

Rome is full of apartment buildings. Our Airbnb was in a large apartment building at Via Cesare Algranati 15, on the eighth floor. Luckily there was a tiny elevator in the building and we came to bless it after first climbing sixteen flights of stairs with our luggage. We settled into our rooms – very nice, modern rooms in an apartment with doors and windows armored like a fortress (all of them are in Italy). Then we set out on our first adventure to the Colosseum.

Outside our Airbnb. Sixteen flights of stairs. The kitchen. The bathroom.

The streets near our apartment. The view from our balcony. The bakery nearby. In the bakery.

All during our stay in Rome we rode the Metro, took buses, and walked. The Metro was always crowded. We learned right away to rely on Stacey and her somewhat rusty but adequate ability to speak Italian. She got us everywhere we needed to go, bought us the right tickets, got us on the right trains and buses. She was amazing.

Riding the Metro.

It was dark when we got to the Colosseum, but it was lit up and very impressive. We didn’t go into the Colosseum or the Forum next door to it. They were already closed. We wandered around and took photos. There were hundreds of people also wandering around. We found that at every famous site we visited during our stay. We were there in the off season. I hate to think what Italy must be like in the busy season. It seems like I saw as many foreigners, especially Asians, as I did Italians.

At the Colosseum.

On our second day in Rome, the 14th, we went to the Vatican. We first toured the Vatican Museum, which included the Sistine Chapel. We had reserved tickets so we didn’t have to wait in the long line that stretched for a block down the sidewalk. The museum was impressive. It held so much art – paintings, sculptures, things from the ancient world, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance – that it was overwhelming to take it all in. The Sistine Chapel was smaller than I expected, but Michelangelo’s frescoes were more beautiful than I imagined. Unfortunately, no photographs or videos or even talking is allowed in the chapel. That didn’t really work. There were hundreds of people in there with cameras and cell phones and questions and comments. The guards kept bellowing “SILENCE! NO PHOTOS! NO VIDEO!” which seemed counterproductive.

The door to the Vatican Museum. Riding the escalator up. Taking the stairs down. Leaving the museum.

In the Vatican Museum.

After the museum, we had lunch from a shop on the street and then went to St. Peter’s Square and Basilica. St. Peter’s was designed to impress – and it does. Everything about it is massive. Every inch of it is decorated in beautiful stone work, metal work, and art work. We saw Michelangelo’s Pieta. We gazed up into the dome and walked through the chapels with their statuary. Again, it was overwhelming to see it.

Filling our drinkers at a public fountain.

Lunch near the Vatican.

St. Peter's Square.

In front of St. Peter's Basilica.

Michelangelo's Pieta.

In St. Peter's Basilica.

In St. Peter's.

Taking a rest.

From there we took a bus and then walked to the Pantheon, which was an ancient Roman temple that was converted into a church in the 7th century. Its huge dome was impressive. The painter Raphael’s tomb is there.

Walking to the Pantheon.

The Pantheon. The dome. Raphael's tomb.

After the Pantheon, we walked to the Trevi Fountain. Because it was Valentines Day and the Trevi is considered a romantic place, there was a mob of people there. We couldn’t even get close to the fountain. It was almost dark by then. We walked from there to the Spanish Steps. Then we took the Metro home again.

Stopping for some gelato. At the Trevi Fountain. The Spanish Steps.

Our last night in Rome - pizza and a game.

Friday the 15th was our day to go to the Rome Temple open house. We were leaving from there to go to Florence, so we packed up and were picked up by our driver, Cesare, at 9:00 A.M. He drove us through crazy traffic to the Temple, which is just outside the city.

On our way to the Temple.

The Temple was beautiful. It was so different from the places we’d already been. It was quiet and serene. I could feel the difference immediately. We took the tour, walking through every beautiful room, each one lovely and not at all ostentatious like what we’d seen in the Vatican. After the tour we took photos on the plaza outside and went through the Visitors Center. Our Italian liaison, Emmanuele, met us there. He was the one who helped Stacey make some of the arrangements for our trip. He was wonderful. If you ever plan to go to Italy, I recommend using his services.

The temple. Waiting in the chapel for our tour. The Visitors Center piazza. A 400 year old olive tree.

The main stairway. (These are not my photos. You can't take photos in the temple.)

The rooms we saw in the temple (again, not my photos).

The Visitors Center. The Christus and Apostles.

At the temple.

From there, we loaded back into our van and headed out of the city. With the city behind us, we drove through beautiful countryside, through Umbria and Tuscany. Emmanuele arranged for us to have lunch at a restaurant in Tuscany, a place called Nonna Rosa’s. We ate a delicious meal. First we had antipasto of thinly sliced bread with various toppings – tomatoes, lard drizzled with reduced balsamic vinegar (sounds a bit disgusting, but it was my favorite), there was thin slices of  prosciutto, salami, and pecorino toscano (sheep’s milk) cheese. Our main course was two kinds of pasta – a homemade hand rolled thick pasta called pici that was served with a white sauce with sausage, and a narrow flat pasta called tagliatelle that was served with a red sauce and wild boar. Our dessert was panna cotta with our choice of sauce – chocolate, caramel, or wild berry drizzled over it. It was all so delicious.

Traveling through Umbria and Tuscany.

Stopping for lunch.

Antipasto, panna cotta, and pici pasta.

From there we drove on to Florence. We had to stop outside the city to switch from our big van to two smaller Mercedes vans because big vehicles have to pay a high fee to drive in Florence because the streets are so narrow. There we said good-bye to Emmanuele and drove on into the city.

Our Airbnb in Florence was in a perfect location at Via dei Neri, 1, in the old part of the city just a few blocks from the river Arno and the Basilica of Santa Croce. Our apartments, (we had two right next to each other) were wonderful. The building was built in the 14th century and was once a Medici fortress. When we entered from the street (again through a fortified door) there was a small open courtyard and stairs up to our apartments on the third floor. The rooms were spacious with very high ceilings, some of them painted with 14th century frescoes. The floors were tile. The windows all had thick wooden shutters that closed on the inside. The building was ancient, but the amenities were very modern. Our host, Salvatore, met us there and advised us on how to get around and what to see. He took us up to the top of the building where there was an open porch with a view out over the city.

The Via dei Neri.

The inner courtyard of our building.

Settling into our apartment.

That evening and for the next two days we explored Florence. It’s hard to describe how it feels to be in so ancient a place. The narrow twisting cobblestone streets, the massive stone buildings, the wide piazzas, the huge churches with their beautiful facades – I was aware at all times that I was in an old and important place. Florence was much cleaner than Rome. There was still a bit of litter, but every morning I saw street cleaners, people with brooms and small sweeper trucks, out on the streets. There was still some graffiti – it seems the Italians can’t stand to see an empty wall. In older times they covered them with art, now they cover them with graffiti.

Climbing to the roof.

The view from the roof.

Our first night in Florence. Exploring Santa Croce.

The statue of Dante at Santa Croce.

At the Loggia dei Lanzi and the Piazza Uffizi.

Tabor feeling intimidated by a Florentine steak.

There were crowds of people in Florence too, but not as many as Rome. I realized right away that the city stays up late and sleeps late in the mornings, so I got up before sunrise every day and went out by myself as soon as it started to get light to walk through the quiet city. I loved wandering the streets with no one else about but the street cleaners and the people opening their bakery shops.

My early morning walk on Saturday.

Out early to visit the ATM and buy pastries at a bakery.

While we were in Florence we went to some of the famous places, but there was no way we could see everything we wanted to see in so short a time. I think it would take years, perhaps a lifetime, to comprehend it all. We saw some of the great churches – the Basilica di Santa Croce, the Duomo di Santa Maria del Fiore with the Battistero di San Giovanni, San Lorenzo, Santa Maria Novella, Orsanmichele – some from the inside and outside, some just from the outside. We walked through some of the great museums – the Uffizi, the Galleria del’Accademia. We walked the streets and the piazzas, crossed and re-crossed the bridges, and visited the great Central Market.

Ready to go exploring.

At the Galleria dell’Accademia we saw Michelangelo’s David and other amazing sculptures and paintings.

Michelangelo's David.

In the Galleria dell Accademia.

The church of San Lorenzo.

The Medici Chapel at San Lorenzo.

Inside the Medici Chapel. Holy relics. The beautiful stone work. The dome. The Medici tombs.

The Central Market near San Lorenzo.

Inside the Central Market.

I found again that after a few hours in places like the Galleria and the Uffizi, where there is so much art to see, that I became overwhelmed – especially in the Uffizi. It was exhausting to try and see it all at once, but we tried. We stood before iconic works like Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Primavera, Michelangelo’s Holy Family, Titian’s Venus of Urbino, works by da Vinci, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and so many others.

Waiting to go into the Uffizi.

Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera.

I don't remember what the first painting is, but I liked it. The Nativity by Caravaggio. Titian's Venus of Urbino. Rembrandt's Self Portrait.

Josiah taking a rest half way through the Uffizi.

Outside the Duomo.

Inside the Duomo.

Walking to the Ponte Vecchio. On the Ponte Vecchio with its many jewelry shops. Stopping for gelato.

Eating gelato by the Ponte Vecchio.

On Sunday we traveled by bus across the city to attend church. We missed the first bus and then our stop and were late. The chapel there is a very nice, two story building. There were three bus loads of tourists also attending that day. The chapel, which is on the second floor, was full and all the class rooms were too. The people in the classrooms were watching the meeting in the chapel on televisions with simultaneous translation in English. There wasn’t even standing room for us. Because we were late and it was so crowded, we decided not to stay. We took the street car to the train station at Santa Maria Novella and headed west to visit Pisa.

My early walk on Sunday.

Going to church.

At the Florence Chapel.

Headed for Pisa. Waiting for the street car. Santa Maria Novella near the train station. A chocolate shop in the station with a huge chocolate fountain. On the train to Pisa.

The train ride to Pisa was just an hour and a half long. It felt good to sit still for a while after all the walking. We left the station and made our way through the town to the Piazza dei Miracoli where the church and its famous leaning tower are. There was a mob of people there. The tower was amazing. I think everyone knows what the tower looks like. It is so famous. But seeing it there right in front of me was thrilling. Everyone was trying to take the “Holding Up the Tower” photo or the “Pushing Over the Tower” photo. It looks silly when you see them posing. Some of our group had to do it too. Aaron, Tabor, Josiah, Gina, and Jaya paid to climb the tower. The rest of us stayed down on the ground. The cathedral and the baptistry, which don’t get as much attention as the tower, were stunningly beautiful. The baptistry also leans because the soil there is unstable.

The Pisa station. Walking through Pisa. The Arno in Pisa. Walking to the Tower.

A street artist in Pisa.

Our first glimpse of the tower. The cathedral and baptistry. The baptistry. The cathedral.

Our people at the top of the tower.

The view from the top.

The traditional "holding up the tower" shot.

Otilia is not doing yoga. What the "holding up the tower" shot really looks like.

At Pisa.

We left Pisa and took the train back to Florence. We hopped on a bus hoping to reach the Piazzale Michelangleo, a plaza high on a hill on the south bank of the Arno, in time to watch the sun set over the city. We didn’t get there in time, but got to see the city in twilight. From there some of us walked straight back to the apartment to prepare dinner. The rest of us walked a longer route over to the Pitti Palace and across the Ponte Vecchio before going back.

The view from the Piazzale Michelangelo.

Our last night in Florence.

Otilia and Jaya were in charge of dinner that night (we didn’t want to eat out because it was Sunday). They made fajitas and rice with ingredients they bought at the Central Market on Saturday. It was so delicious.

Sunday dinner.

Speaking of food – I decided before leaving home that I would not keep to my strict diet while in Italy. I determined I should taste it all, but still be moderate. Cheese and meat are not a problem for me and I ate some wonderful prosciutto, salami, and different cheeses, especially fresh mozzarella. I ate bread and pasta and pastries that I normally do not eat. And I ate gelato. Every day. Sometimes more than once a day. There was a gelateria in Rome just around the corner from our apartment and in Florence there was the Gelateria dei Neri one door down from us. There were gelaterias everywhere and we felt the need to sample them all. I love gelato. It’s a good thing there aren’t any gelaterias in Potter County. I don’t think I could resist them. Despite all that, when I got home I found I hadn’t gained a single pound. That was probably because over the course of our time in Italy we walked over 50 miles.

Ah, gelato!

 On Monday we reluctantly began our journey home. I took one last long walk through Florence that morning trying to drink in everything I saw. After breakfast we packed up and headed out in different directions – some of us on a walk to see a few last sites, some to the Central Market to do some last minute shopping. We all met up at San Lorenzo and walked to the train station and caught an express train to Rome that took us straight to the airport. There we said good-bye to Aaron and Mandi, Otilia and Jaya who were staying a day longer.

My last morning in Florence.

On my last morning walk. The steps to the Piazzale. One last view. The church of San Miniato.

On my last walk. The church of Orsanmichele.

On my last walk. Dante's house.

Making our way to the station the long way with a stop at the Pitti Palace, the Boboli Gardens, the Arno, and the Palazzo Strozzi.

Waiting for the train at Santa Maria Novella.

On the train to Rome.

At the airport in Rome.

Good-bye to Italy.

And we came home. The flight back was tedious. New Jersey seemed bleak and depressing. Driving across Pennsylvania to Potter County was better, but despite the beauty of it, I felt sad. It was winter in Italy, but because of their Mediterranean climate, it was mild. The days were usually in the 60's. The nights got a bit chilly, in the high 30's or low 40's. But now we were back in Pennsylvania. It was 16°. There was some snow on the ground and as we got closer to home the amount increased.

Things looked fine at home. Bob Jones did a great job taking care of my chickens. I thank him for that. A few of my houseplants had wilted, but I think they will recover. It was nice to be home and yet sad.

I’ve always said that I am a homebody. That I do not like to travel. I realize now that I don’t like the getting there and the coming back part, but I find I do like being in other places. Already all I can think of is when and how I will get back to Italy. I have plans stewing in my brain. I’ve learned some things about traveling. I will pack lighter. I will stay longer. The next time we will skip Rome. We will fly into Milan and take the train to Florence. We will see all the things we didn’t get to see this time and go back to some of the places we need to see again. We will take the train over to Venice. We will go in the late spring before the busy season starts, but when there will be leaves on the trees and flowers. And after Italy, there’s England and Germany and Austria and Australia. We are already talking about a trip to Japan. Yes, I think I’m not the same homebody I used to be. Italy has transfigured me.