{"id":245,"date":"2024-02-23T13:00:24","date_gmt":"2024-02-23T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drcarolyncoulson.com\/?p=245"},"modified":"2024-02-23T13:10:50","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T13:10:50","slug":"planning-italy-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drcarolyncoulson.com\/?p=245","title":{"rendered":"Planning: Italy Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


ITALY PART TWO <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TO FLORENCE<\/strong> (Thursday-Sunday)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 We\u2019re heading to Florence and staying at an AirBnB not too far from the train station. We\u2019ll arrive Thursday and be there through midday on Sunday. The things we want to see are the usual suspects of Florence\u2019s art and architecture: the Uffizi Gallery, Accademia, Bargello, Duomo, Baptistery, Santa Maria Novella, Brancacci Chapel, Boboli Gardens. Bird\u2019s eye views of the city are always a plus. We\u2019ll likely visit Piazzale Michelangelo<\/strong><\/a> for photo ops! I last went to Florence right after high school, and I loved it. That was before I studied Art History and became a medievalist, so I want to soak up all that stuff! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuscany<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For our second week, Eliza and I will go our separate ways. I\u2019m heading to a Writers\u2019 Retreat at a Tuscan villa about half an hour from Florence, where we\u2019ll also have side trips to Siena and probably San Gimignano. The retreat is all week, a total splurge, and I hope it will be inspiring! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This will be home for a week!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reasons to visit Siena<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eliza will be going to Lucca for a couple of days, and then to Siena. Either of those is about an hour away from where I\u2019ll be. It will be funny if we happen to be in Siena or San Gimignano on the same day. She\u2019ll be flying home from Rome at the end of the week, as her school break is over. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Week Three: Northern Italy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, this is where my trip gets into places I haven\u2019t seen with specific sites I\u2019ve been wanting to visit for years!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the retreat, I\u2019m heading to northern Italy and the Veneto region, where I\u2019ll make Vicenza my home base. It\u2019s about 2.5 hours on the train from Florence. I had an internal debate about which town to stay in, and Vicenza won, partly due to its Palladian architecture and partly because I think it will be less touristy than somewhere like Verona. This is the only time I\u2019m doing an AirBnB that is a homestay, because I actually think it might be interesting and \u201clocal\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, why Vicenza? Well, it\u2019s home to the Teatro Olimpico! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019ve been teaching students about this theatre for years and have questions that can be answered only by visiting! It was built in the 16th century, modeled on Roman theatres. Like much in this city, it was designed by Andrea Palladio, who kind of invented the whole neo-classical look that we find all over the world. Vicenza has 23 buildings designed by Palladio, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll be staying in Vicenza for five days, and this is very much the \u201cRenaissance Theatre History\u201d portion of my trip. I\u2019ll definitely do day trips to Mantua and Sabbioneta, Parma, and Padua. Verona and Ferrara are on my \u201cmaybe\u201d list. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mantua and Sabbioneta: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNESCO World Heritage Sites, both are full of history and Renaissance design. They both bear the imprint of the Dukes of Gonzaga. Mantua was largely redesigned in the fifteenth century, and in the sixteenth century, Sabbioneta was planned out as an ideal Renaissance city and features the Teatro all\u2019Antica, which I have to visit. In Mantua, I plan to mostly soak it in and wander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Teatro all\u2019Antica in Sabbioneta (Wikipedia images)<\/a> with recreation of Scamozzi\u2019s scenic designs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mantua (Photo: purpurpurpur<\/a>) Loggia, Palazzo Te, Mantua (Photo: LaughTravelEat<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parma<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another city chock-full of Medieval and Renaissance history, its home to one of the oldest Universities in the world as well as Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese! But I am most interested in visiting the Teatro Farnese, a seventeenth century wooden theatre with what is thought to be the first surviving PROSCENIUM ARCH. How geeky can I possibly get?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teatro Farnese, Parma<\/a> (Wikipedia) Farnese groundplan<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Padua<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I\u2019ve gotta go for the Scrovegni (aka Arena) Chapel and Giotto\u2019s 14th century frescoes, Padua is also home to another of the world\u2019s oldest universities (think Galileo and Copernicus), the world\u2019s oldest botanical garden, and Donatello\u2019s Gattamelata statue. I have some very specific interests! Giotto\u2019s The Kiss of Judas<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Padua (istock<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ferrara or Verona:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These would both be \u201cwander around\u201d slow-travel kind of visits to soak up the architecture and vibe \u2013 no absolute musts, except Verona\u2019s Roman Arena\u2026maybe some art\u2026and food\u2026. I am NOT interested in the touristy quality of Verona. If anyone has \u201cmust sees,\u201d let me know!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ITALY PART TWO  TO FLORENCE (Thursday-Sunday)  We\u2019re heading to Florence and staying at an AirBnB not too far from the train station. We\u2019ll arrive Thursday and be there through midday on Sunday. The things we want to see are the usual suspects of Florence\u2019s art and architecture: the Uffizi Gallery, Accademia, Bargello, Duomo, Baptistery, Santa … Continue reading “Planning: Italy Part Two”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sabbatical-travels","category-travel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7xyY9-3X","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drcarolyncoulson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drcarolyncoulson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drcarolyncoulson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drcarolyncoulson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drcarolyncoulson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=245"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.drcarolyncoulson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255,"href":"https:\/\/www.drcarolyncoulson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions\/255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drcarolyncoulson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drcarolyncoulson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drcarolyncoulson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}