Rome

Statue of David, The Leaning Tower of Pisa, And Florence

Firenze

Going to Florence this weekend was quite an adventure, although during the entire trip I was suffering from my horrible allergies to basically the outdoors. We arrived on Friday morning and as soon as we arrived we got on a bus, got to the Hotel Bologna where we were staying, dropped our bags, and went to Uffizi Gallery. The Uffizi Gallery was so much better and enjoyable than I would have expected, while taking art history this year I had never realized that by the summer I would be standing 2 feet away from the famous paintings and sculptures we learned about from the Renaissance period. I was able to see one of my favorite paintings, The Birth of Venus, and the painting that I used as inspiration for a photography assignment this year, Judith Slaying Holofernes. Seeing the Statue of David definitely was the cherry on top of this artistic exploration, seeing this statue I literally had no words, if I tried to describe it just by saying it was magnificent of amazing it would be an insult to this statue. This 17 foot tall statue was sculpted so perfectly that you just have to stare at this statue of art and take it all in, soaking in every second of where you are, what you are seeing, and how something so perfect could resemble man so much. These paintings and works of art I saw truly lifted me and made me realize why I love art so much and the reason behind me being an artist and hopefully creating something one day that can move somebody the way these works of art moved me. We also had the opportunity to meet Patricia's friend Maurizio Benicioli who is a famous photographer and I was so grateful that he took the time out of his weekend to meet with us and show us his work because it was truly great to see all his work from when he first started in photography to his most recent work, he really inspired me to shoot so much the rest of the day in Florence and was an inspiration to my final project here in Italy. After seeing all the art we also did have our fun time going to the San Lorenzo market and going shopping. I bought a new leather belt and pair of converse because these shoes were so cool that I didn't want to leave Florence without them on my feet. I love everything about Florence, the culture, architecture, the food, the shopping, and the artistic feel of the city. It was sad when we had to return to Genova, but on our way back we had to be very touristy and stop by Pisa to take a picture next to the leaning tower. It was really a great weekend and I can’t wait for more excursions through Italy.
Ciao,
Harry

Firenze In Italiano

Venerdi

Questa mattina fa siamo arrivato a Firenze. Abbiamo preso un autobus al hotel Bologna. Dopo arrivato al hotel abbiato voluto caminare attraverso Firenze. Siamo andato alla galleria Uffizi quale contiene lavori di arte famose. Ho visto olti lavori d’arte che ho studiate questi anni. E’ stato molto bello vedere il mio pinto preferito chiamato la nascita di venere. Dopo il museo siamo partiti al hotel preparare per la cena. Abbiamo mangiato a un ristorante con cibo eccellente, ho manigato un bisteca e’ stato molto bello. Dopo la cena abbiamo caminato sopra il ponte vecchio, e durante la notte e’ una vista magnifica con il fiume e luce.

Sabato

Ieri mattina siamo andati incontrare un amico di Patrizio chiamato Maurizio Berlinicioni, lui e’ un fotografo famoso e molto simpatico. Sono piacuto I lavori di Maurizio e contento che lui ha presentato il suo lavori di fotografia. Dopo abbiamo incontrato con Maurizio siamo andati al mercato all’aperto di San Lorenzo e ho comprato una cintura di pelle nuova e siamo andati al mercato di cibo a dentro e ho mangiato un Panini con una carne chiamato bresaolo invece di tacchino. Dopo ho visto un originale lavoro d’arte grande chiamato La Statue di David a La Galleria Academia. Alla notte siamo andati a altro statue di David che ha avuto un grande vista di la citta di Firenze durante un tramonto. Oggi siamo saliti Firenze e abbiamo visitato la torre de Pisa prima siamo tornati a Genova.

La Sfilata dell'Republica di Italia

Cinque Terre

This weekend we visited Cinque Terre which was another great excursion through italian cities. For the first time here we got to have a nice relaxing time on the beach, for a group that lives right by the ocean, and I was able to swim in the Mediterranean for the first time which was one of the many great and new experiences i hope to encounter on this trip. The scenery was beautiful; colorful houses built on the side of the mountains, walkway through the island, and little shops and restaurants on the side of the road. It was definitely nice to get out of the city and experience this kind of small town feel of Italy, and we definitely did not feel like tourists here since most of the people happened to speak English. After spending the morning on the beach in Monterosso we then took a ferry over to the last island of these five islands called Rio Maggiore. On the ferry ride there we were able to see from a distance these groups of Italian mountains that at some points are so high they are in the clouds, or we might have simply been that close to heaven because it was truly beautiful looked like the most peaceful place on earth. When we reached Rio Maggiore we ate a very nice lunch at this small restaurant that you basically have to climb up a hill to get to, like the rest of the town it is built on a winding hill. We got to have some more fun in the sun and the water of course and took turns jumping into the Mediterranean which made everybody's day more fun and exciting. As I was swimming in this blue water that was crystal clear all I wanted to do was freeze time and live the rest of my life like this because I had never felt so at peace. After the long day at the beach we started to head towards the hostel where we were spending the night and that's when I continued to photograph seeing as how I kept stopping during the day to go swimming. Luckily we had a chance to walk around the higher part of the city since our bus wouldn't take us to our stop and I was so interested in the simplistic natural scenes that I had been seeing all day that to me wasn't touristy because they implied a documentary mood of where I was traveling and my relationship with the nature around me. I liked some of the photographs shot that day but I think I was being a little lazy because going into the ocean was so important for me. But the day slowly ended and we walked to our hostel and ate pizza and went to sleep to only wake up 6 hours later to make our train back to Genova. It was a very enjoyable trip and I can wait to see what the other Italian cities have in store for us.

Ciao,
Harry

Nervi

Visiting Nervi was definitely a great trip. It was the firs time since we arrived in Genova that we were able to get out of the city and see the beautiful natural Italy and not the busy, narrow city street. I was able to dip my feet into the Mediterranean for the first time. It was a very small town and we were able to walk along the side of the ocean and have a great gelato. I think my pictures still looked kind of touristy but it was such an amazing place that it was hard for me to keep my eyes off of the simple beuatiful pictures of the water, sunset, and houses that i could see. I think that the most amazing thing i saw was that at the top of the mountain that this town looked up to the mountains were in the clouds which is definitely not something you see everyday. I think that I am focusing on more of a "place" project on where I have been traveling and what the common, simplistic things are here that most Italians probably just see every day but it sticks out to me in a way of being a beautiful landscape, scene, or object. Well there should be more fun experiences to come when we head to cinque terre. Hopefully my ideas will start to flow a little better when i get to swim in the ocean.

Ciao,
Harry