Monster Garden

After the Villa Lante, we visited the Monster Garden. Apparently this whimsical garden was created for lords and ladies to 'play' in. We definitely had a great time here!




This is the first time I've been eaten by a monster!

Villa Lante

The Villa Lante

The Villa Lante was exquisite. Yarnie, Henry and I had studied the Villa Lante our first quarter at Cal Poly, and it was fabulous to finally see the garden in person.

The garden evolved over time as a residence for important people connected with the Pope. At the height of the Renaissance, Cardinal Gambara acquired the property, and hired the most brilliant talent of the time to construct the Villa. The site is important because it is the first time that the house was split in half and the garden was elevated as the most important element.

Fountain of the Moores



Another point of importance here is the strong axis of the garden, which is a strong visual line which can't actually be walked. This was an important evolutionary step in Renaissance garden design. The symmetry is perfect.

The hydraulic feats of the garden are a marvel for the time, as well. Water symbolizes the flow of blood and life through the human body. The water was brought from a great distance to the garden, then feeds into the supply for the city of Vitterbo below.


Partier garden






Yarnie, Henry and Kim with one of the houses, or Casini, in the back.















Dave & Laurie




















The water chain. The design is a series of crawdad tails, a play on Cardinal Gambara's name, which means crawdad in Italian. The garden was later acquired by the Lante family for decades, hence the name.



















the Grotto


































Kim in a tree!










Neptune was amazing. I spent an hour sketching him. I'll post my sketches from the trip later.....



Overall, it was an amazing experience to see the Villa Lante. For its size, each of the spaces felt very intimate. I think it is my favorite garden so far, just for how peaceful and lovely everything is. Although the Villa d'Este is more spectacular, this garden has a wonderful human - scale quality about it that makes it serene and contemplative.

Assisi

This week's field trip was to Assisi. The first place we visited was the church of St. Francis. We started on the lower church, and worked our way up. The tomb of St. Francis was especially wonderful.



City wall into Assisi, with the cathedral in the background.

Piazza of Assisi



The top level of the Assisi church. This top level has the beautiful frescoes done by Giotto. Giotto's painting style moved the medieval style into perspectives and realistic scenery.



An old Roman temple in the main square in Assisi.



Fountain in the main square.



This is a view of the older part of town. The city was really beautiful. Each apartment was heavily decorated with potted flowering plants.








We walked up to the old fortress which had amazing views.

Winegrape Harvest

We were offered a wonderful opportunity to harvest winegrapes at a local organic winery. Dave signed up our group for the afternoon. As you can see, Dave and Laurie are thoroughly enjoying themselves!







Yarnie



Kim with Raphael's mom in the background




Ana and Kari



Joel

Here are two of the local workers keeping an eye on us.


After picking the grapes, we went back to the winery to help process the grapes. People loaded the crates of grapes onto the conveyor belt, and the stems were spat out the end, the grapes pumped over to a press machine. The grape skins are bagged up for processing into Grappa. The juice is pumped into a cooling tank to settle overnight, then it's purified and cleanded before entering the fermentation tanks. We were given tastes of some of the different wines 20 days into fermentation.



After fermentation, the wine is put into barrels for at least 6 months.



Here Dave is relaxing after a hard day's work. The farm also produces olive oil and honey. They have an Agritourismi here, which means that they are a combination working farm, hotel, and restaurant facility. We ended up buying two cases of wine for the house to share at dinner, and some olive oil. I could definitely get into this kind of lifestyle.

Lucca

On September 23rd we went on a trip to Lucca, which is on the west coast, in the northern part of Tuscany. It is a medieval town, surrounded by a large wall. There used to be a moat surrounding the town as well. Luckily, it was never attacked and the town is still in excellent condition.



Isby & Yarnie walking into town




On top of the wall is a wonderful path system lined with trees. There are great views out to the city and hills beyond.



We were drawn to this tower topped with trees. It looked like a great rooftop garden, and we wanted to see if we could get up there.




It turned out that it cost 3 euro to go up in the tower. We had to climb almost 20 flights of stairs to get up to the top. Luckily there were some extremely amusing medieval drawings and murals lining the walls on the way up, which seemed to tell the story of the city. Some were rather gruesome with guillotines and all, and others were beautiful. Above is a view out of one of the windows near the top of the tower.


A view out from the top of the tower. The line of trees is the city wall.




This is what happens when you're bad.






This was a really nice piazza in the center of town. It was lined with trees and benches, with a row of shops and restaurants behind it.



Statue

This Piazza was formerly a gaming coluseum. It has been transformed over the ages into a shopping and housing area.








Above is a wonderful store that had beautiful hand-made pasta, sauces, jellies, wine, etc.

Below is a picture of one of the local markets. The white stuff is garlic in spices...looked fantastic.




We left Lucca in the late afternoon and took a train over to Pietrasanta. This is the town where a large majority of the marble used in Italy comes from. The six of us stayed in a bed and breakfast here, which caused the proprietor to laugh her head off. Matt and Henry were kind enough to sleep on the floor (on piles of sleeping bags, pillows, blankets and towels!) and leave the beds for the ladies. The next day, Isby, Matt and Henry went off to a backpacking trip, while Yarnie, Ana and I headed to Florence to go shopping. The first train out was cancelled, so we sat here and sketched this view. It was particularly interesting with the modern art sculpture in the foreground and the oldest structure in town, the old wall and gate to the city, in the background.

Ravenna

This week's field trip was to Ravenna, which is located on the east coast north of Tuscany. Ravenna became an important Italian sea port when the Roman Empire moved the capitol from Rome to Constantinople, during the Byzantine era. As a result, many beautiful cathedrals were built here during that era which incorporate Byzantine style. The western style cathedral was still evolving at this time. This first church is strongly Byzantine, as it is octagonal in shape and completely adorned with mosaics.


Mosaic wall and ceiling. Note that the ceilings have no sharp edges in the corners, as it's too difficult to attach the mosaic tiles.




The floor was incredible.



Here is the outside of the church. All of these old buildings are actually sinking, as the soil is a sandy alluvium.



This church on the other side of town displays a more contemporary western Christian style. We're still several decades away from the Renaissance, so although there is a strong central axis, there isn't any symmetry in the building yet. The arches are not perfectly lined up, either. note in the mosaics that perspective hasn't really been discovered yet.




Mosaics on the wall, and hand carved wooden cieling. As usual, the lighting inside was lovely.