A Day in Assisi

Buongiorno tutti! It is hot and I am tired, but more importantly, Assisi!! That’s right! The home of St. Francis himself (or San Francesco if you’re Italian).

The day started out with a train at 9:00 am, so I said goodbye to Melinda and Elizabeth (who were still able to sleep, lucky jerks), and headed off to the station to meet up with the rest of the Ciao Italia group.

After taking a nice train ride (1½ hours), we arrived at the Assisi train station (which in reality is part of a suburb of Assisi called Maria degli Angeli). 

                                                                 YAY!

We then visited the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. We weren’t allowed to take pictures of the inside, but it reminded me a lot of my old parish at home, St. Ann’s. It had the same feel. And smell. All churches smell the same. It’s kind of weird.

                                                             Saint Francis!

                                       See that monster church? That's Santa Maria.

But anyway. After that, we hopped on a bus to get as close to the Rocco d’Assisi as possible. Of course, this was still a difficult climb, especially since it was ridiculously hot. But the view at the top was so worth it. 

                                                          Oh, Assisi...

                                                      Valley behind Assisi.

                                                  Rocco (Fortress) of Assisi.

Oh, and this is Professor Houston.

                                                             Hi, Professor!

After walking around the super cool castle (that was once a fortress, but it was really more against the people of Assisi because they didn’t like the people who ‘ruled’ them) we headed downwards to grab some lunch (weird prosciutto sandwich, but good). 

After lunch, we walked over to the Basilica di San Francesco. It is really beautiful and there are in fact two churches. One is above the other. Basically, there was so much stuff that they wanted to put in that they couldn’t fit it in the church that was already there. So they built another one. Go figure.

                                                  It was really interesting.

Following the Basilica, we wandered down to the bus station, grabbed one back to the train station and then waited around for an hour for the 5:17 pm train. We happened to end up in an air-conditioned carriage (Grazie a Dio!) and most of us promptly fell asleep. Walking around Assisi was absolutely exhausting.

I then waited around in Piazza Guido Monaco for my host family. Since I didn’t actually know what my host mother looked like, and she didn’t know what I looked like, I hoped that my luggage and lost expression would be a clue. And it was!

I was picked up and taken to their apartment (which, by the way, is very nice). I had this amazing chicken salad sandwich (I think?) for dinner and then collapsed into bed. After a very nice chat in Italian. ^_^

Interesting Stories of the Day:

• When we wandered inside Santa Maria degli Angeli, they were having mass. I kind of felt like a horrible person for not participating. Catholic guilt for the win.
• We kept running into these University of Minnesota (?) students. At the Rocco, at lunch, it was ridiculous. They were very nice though.
• Also, the oldest picture of Saint Francis is located inside the Basilica di San Francesco. All the drawings inside were originally done by Cimabue, but later his student, Giotto, was commissioned to go over his work with a more ‘modern’ style. Giotto did this, but left Cimabue’s Saint Francis alone, even though it kind of looks out of place with what was put next to it. It was commissioned sooner after Saint Francis’ death than any other representation of him, making it, most likely, the closest to the reality of how he looked during life.

A dopo!

Arezzo, Week 3, Day 5

Ciao tutti! Today was the last day of JTI which means it was the last day with Elizabeth and Melinda. Sadness and tears abounded.

To give a good send off, we started the day with our History of Science final, because nothing says we’re going to miss you like a final exam.

After that, I had to run off to Italian grammar class and learn Italian stuff. Though we heard the Oberlin people practicing because apparently they had an opera performance at the town hall tonight. They sounded pretty good, so I’m sure they did really well.

Following Italian class, we had the Tower visit with our Getting to Know Arezzo class. The lady who gave us the tour was actual an Art History PhD, so she gave us a lot of cool information about the site.

                                                              Le Tower.

Apparently, the entire building was covered in frescos before people kept trying to improve it. The town hall has been redone multiple times throughout the centuries, most recently by the fascists during WWII. 

                                                             Silly fascists.

                                                You don't improve awesomeness.

What really messed with it was the Medici though. Arezzo does not like the Medici. Plus, they stole their bronze chimera. 

                                                          Not cool, man.

After a quick walk around the municipal building, we headed up into the Tower. And the higher we got…

                                                      ...the more impressive...

                                                     ...and more beautiful...

                                                     ...the view became. 

It was amazing.

I spent time after the Tower visit meeting with Monica Sharp (my internship advisor) and chilling in our hotel room for the last time.

(Side Note: I finally met my internship people and got to visit the place where I’ll be working. It’s the Museo dei mezzi di communicazione and it’s super cool. I’ll do a post on that later, once I actually do stuff there.)

We then went to have our farewell dinner at the really nice restaurant that was part chair and part couch. I sat on a couch part. We had some:

1) Variety of breads, spreads, and other appetizers

2) Pasta with beef sauce

3) Ham with four mini-potatoes

4) Some dessert type thing

It was really nice and there were some toasts afterward. Melinda even got to give one!

                                                Is not a good picture. Oh well.

We then grabbed some farewell gelato on the way back to the hotel and went upstairs to get all packed up. And watch Thor. Because our last movie night needed to be awesome. Which it was.

So farewell to all the JTI kids and Professors Barker and Crowther. It’s been a great time learning with you and from you. I’ll probably suffer an odd form of homesickness now that I don’t have my roomies with me anymore. So have fun in England, Melinda, and eat lots of chicken at home, Elizabeth. I’ll be thinking of you!

Grazie e ciao!

Arezzo, Week 3, Day 3

Ciao tutti! Come va? Things are going pretty well here in Arezzo, but it’s starting to wind down a little bit. Mainly because Journey to Italy people are leaving this Saturday. Including my roommates. T-T (<------ This is a crying face)

But more of that later. What’s been happening this week so far is a bit of a transition between JTI and Ciao Italia. Luckily, this is the only week where the two programs overlap, so things will hopefully calm down after this weekend.

So after class in the mornings with JTI, I’ve been booking it over to the Arezzo University for Ciao Italia classes with Professor Houston. It’s actually really fun, even though we’re just reviewing right now. But we also have conversational class in the afternoon with an Arezzo girl named Alisa. She’s super nice and very helpful with correcting our incorrect Italian grammar, which to be honest, happens a lot.

Today, we went a looked at the frescos in Piero della Francesca, a church here in Arezzo. Though I wasn’t able to take pictures, I can tell that the fresco series we looked at told the tale of the True Cross (though a different version than I learned in Crusades class).

                                                            It's a church!

Apparently, when Adam was dying, he told his son Seth to go to the angel of the Garden and ask for the oil of mercy. Seth did so, but the angel only gave him a branch from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and told him to plant in on his father’s grave and that from it would come salvation. Seth did so and the branch grew into a beautiful tree.

Fast forward to the time of King Solomon, and you have the Queen of Sheba coming to visit him. She stops and venerates a log that is lying by the river and, due to her gift of prophecy, is told that a true king will die on it. She tells King Solomon of this, and he is upset. He had in fact found the tree and cut it down to be put in the Temple. The wood fought him though, warping out of shape and changing colors, leading him to toss it in the river, where the Queen of Sheba found it.

                                          Copies of the frescos in my hotel. Win.

Fast forward again. It is the night before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge and Constantine is visiting by an angel, who tells him that he will win the battle if he puts the sign of the cross on the shields of his warriors. He does so, gaining victory.

At the same time, his mother, Helena, looks for the True Cross in the Holy Land and is told where to find it. She and her helpers dig up three crosses, one for the good thief, one for the bad, and one for Christ. They can’t tell which is the True Cross, and so they pass all three over a dead man. On the third try, the man is resurrected, proving that that cross is the cross of Christ.

In the last scene, two men are having a battle because one of the them has stolen the True Cross and committed blasphemy against God. They defeat and behead him, ending the series with the return of the Cross to Jerusalem. It was pretty cool to say the least.

Now the really cool thing today was that it was Elizabeth’s 22^nd birthday!

                                                     Happy Birthday!!

So we went to Ristoburger, grabbed some gelato from her favorite gelateria, and then had movie night with one of her favorites, The Importance of Being Earnest. (The one with Colin Firth, it’s hilarious. Strongly recommended to the folks at home.)

Interesting Stories of the Day:

• There was an inexplicable midget in the fresco next to Helena. He had a beard. And it was weird.
• We watched Italian music videos, most of which were very strange. European music is kind of odd I've decided. Not necessarily bad, but definitely odd.
• Also, the bacon on Elizabeth's bacon cheeseburger had bones in it. Which probably shouldn't happen, but totally did.

A dopo!

La Giostra del Saracino

Buongiorno tutti! Today is the day of the Giostra del Saracino, a jousting tournament that has been held in Arezzo for centuries. It’s also my Dad’s birthday! LOVE YOU DAD!!!

So yes, the joust. The joust has been a thing in Arezzo possibly as early as the 13^th century, and was definitely around by the 14^th century. In fact, Dante mentioned it in his Divine Comedy.

                                                   Giostra del Saracino!

Unfortunately, as time went on it became less popular, and by the 18^th century it was no longer in practice in its original form. But in 1931, the town of Arezzo decided to restart the tradition in a mock form, using dummies instead of actual opponents.

                                                           It's a dummy!

Now the town of Arezzo is divided up into four quartiere, or neighborhoods; Santo Spirito, San Andrea, del Foro, and Crucifera. Each quartiere has two jousters who each get one run at the dummy. They measure points by how well the jouster hits the target, which has points from 1 to 5. It looks like this.

                                                      Upper right side, guys.

If the jousters drops his lance, he gets 0 points. If he gets hit by the mace the dummy is holding, they lose 1 point off their original hit. If they break their lance, they get double points. Once the jouster hits the target, it is immediately taken down so that no one can see it and the judges can look at it and decided what the score should be. The winner gains the coveted prize, the golden lance.

So the first thing that happened was a cannon going off at 7 this morning. We didn’t wake up, but it was on the schedule, so I assume it happened. But we were awake for the 11 o’clock parade. Our room at the hotel is on the first floor with a balcony terrace facing the road, so we had a perfect view.

                                                      Working the feather hat.

                                                Banners of the different quartiere.

                                                      Totally legit drummers.

                                                 And of course, the ambulance...

After that, we basically lazed around all day in preparation for the actual joust at night. So we ate some dinner (Cheeseburger!) and headed over to the Center to meet up with the rest of the OU students. And then there happened to be another parade!

                                                 The handcrafted golden lance.

                                                        San Andreas archers.

                                                      Flag bearer. No shame.

                                       Super awesome page girl for Santo Spirito.

                                                 And a great many horses.

Following that, we grabbed our tickets and headed over to the Piazza Grande, where they had set up this huge stadium-thing for the joust.

                                                                It was big...

                                                             ...very big.

They started off with the entrance of the drums and trumpets...

                                                        Very talented.

...followed by the ‘court’...

                                                      They're all teenagers!

...followed by the judges.

                                                  Who wore creepy robes.

To shake things up, they then brought in the acrobatic flag bearers. They were super awesome with their doing backflips over flags and stuff. Just look.

                                                         Over the flags!

                                                         Under the legs!

                                                          Off the flagstaffs!

                                                             And TADA!!!!

Then came the colorful flag bearers, and let me tell you, band color guards have nothing on these guys. They were a’tossin’. And a’twirlin’. Good times.

                                                         Ready...Set...

                                                                   Go!

                                                          So many flags!

                                                        It's like a rainbow!

After the flag bearers did their thing, the ‘announcer’ read off the poem that speaks of the great battle between the Saracens and the Aretini. I didn’t understand it, but the people in the audience all yelled out the same things at the same times during his speech, so I assume they knew it really well. And then it was finally time for the joust to begin!

                                                          Go Horsie, Go!!

The first jouster was from San Andrea and though I couldn’t see what he hit in time, I assumed it was very good from the team, who broke into hysterics and threw themselves at each in joy. And then immediately got into a fistfight with a different team.

                                                 Yes, the police got involved.

Each subsequent team went, reacting with joy or despair appropriately. In the first round there were two dropped lances by del Foro and Crucifera, leading to large amounts of angst. San Andrea got a 5 and Santo Spirito got a 4.

After half time, the next jousters from each quartiere went, and though there were no dropped lances, there were some not-so-hot scores. San Andrea went first, gaining 3 more points, which, though respectable, was not enough the guarantee them the victory. del Foro got a disappointing 2 and then Santo Spirito blew away the crowd with a 5! Unless Crucifera broke a lance on the 5 mark, Santo Spirito was assured victory.

And indeed, victory was theirs! Crucifera ended the joust with a 4, leading to Santo Spirito being declared the winner of this joust. And if you thought Ursuline Intramurals was crazy, it’s got nothing on the Giostra.

After the screaming and crying at the stadium, the winning quartiere walked over to the Duomo of Arezzo to be blessed by the Archbishop. I imagine this is what churches were like back in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. A huge party!

                                                             Archbishop!

                                          Drum core on the high altar...umm...

                                                   Church is at full capacity!

We then walked back to the hotel, tired yet wired, and ended up asleep by about 2 in the morning. It was definitely one of the coolest experiences that I’ve ever had, and something that everyone should see at some point in their life.

Interesting Stories of the Day:

• Instead of going to Ristoburger, we were originally going to try to go to DLF, this cafeteria buffet type of place. The map said it was by the train station and so we walked over there. And found a parking lot. With abandoned warehouses. We decided to leave.
• The little page boy for del Foro kept playing air drums when the drum core would play, which was absolutely adorable. I’m sure he’ll grow up to do that in the later jousts. 

                                                         Drummer in training!

• There was also a soccer game going on at the same time, so people had to choose what they wanted to watch. Unless you were these guys. Then you just watched both.

                                                         ...so not fair.

A dopo!!