Ciao, Firenze!

Ciao amici!

These last few days in Florence have been truly, truly incredible.  I CANNOT believe that there I am in this incredible place, walking the same streets as Michelangelo and Lorenzo de Medici EVERYDAY.  There is art and churched with well-known art and architecture EVERYWHERE.  Some of the most famous buildings, paintings and sculptures ARE RIGHT HERE and that is no exaggeration!!

Yesterday, I went to mass in the morning with Michelle and Andrea (two of my lovely roommates) at a church that is literally a five minute walk from our house.  Directly on the right, one of the first things you see when you walk in, was a painting called The Deposition by Pontormo, un artista working in Italy in the mid-1500s.  This is a work that I had studied in my Art History class Senior year of high school.  I never remembered the name of the church the painting was in (it is relatively small compared to, say, Il Duomo) and, of course, never even thought of trying to find it.

 I was so shocked and I tried to stay quiet but it was so hard!!  I kept saying to Michelle, "Questa e' cosi' famosa!! This is so famous!!"  To prove it, when we got back I opened one of our Art History books and it was re-printed on a whole page!

I guess that if I had to pick only a few words to describe my trip so far, it would be a stroke of buona fortuna, good luck, just like that.  This semester, all the FSU students live in the same building and guess who got the best apartment in the building??  We are on the fourth floor and we have THE BEST VIEW EVER.  From my window I see the top of some darling Florentine houses, some lovely gardens and, the best part, in the really distant horizon, the very tip-top of big tower which I lovingly refer to as "my castle."


And wait, it gets better.  I have AWESOME roommates.  I definitely feel like throughout my whole college career, I have really lucked out with respect to my roommates. (Dear Anne, Cait and Paige: I love and miss you all a ton and wish that you were here!)

We have already have several excursions and i don't have time to write about all of them, but the highlight was probably yesterday when we went to a church called San Miniato al Monte (St. Minias on the Mountain).  It's dedicated to Saint Minias, who is considered to first Florentine martyr.  He was actually an Armenian prince who was converted to Christianity when he had a vision while staying in Florence in the early first centuries AD, when Florence was still a Roman colony.  He began preaching in the streets and, as the story goes, when the Roman leader tried to boil him alive in hot oil, which was miraculously cooled the second his body touched the oil.  When lions were sent in to maul him, the lions stopped before Minias and bowed down.  Finally, the Roman leader ordered that Minias be be-headed and after the guards had done their job, Minias picked up his head and walked back to the mountains of Florence where he later died.  San Miniato was built in that spot to honor him and has grown into a reasonably large church

How Minias made that trek without his head, I can't fathom, because it was quite long and arduous for me with my body intact.  However, it was definitely worth the climb to see such a beautiful church and for such a great view of the city of Florence.

For any of you who are planning to come visit me, please bring your hiking boots because this is a trek that WE WILL be making!!

I wish I had time to write about everything that I have experienced, but it's time for me to go out and make some new memories so that I will have more to write about later...I must say ciao for now!