Florence Italy. Bardini Gardens & Boboli Gardens.

Today we found ourselves strolling through Boboli and Bardini Gardens on the south side of the Arno River. We were supposed to get rain a lot today but it held off till late afternoon and only sprinkled. We had perfect weather for our garden visits. Professor Brad Collett gave a short instruction on sketching and understanding how to set up perspective views.

We then scattered to our corners of the Boboli garden. The Boboli Gardens host numerous sculptures from the 16th through the 18th century. The gardens served as a private estate for the Medici family and as their main home. Grottos, sculptures, obelisks, lawns, rose gardens, and more are all found on the property. The entire property is peppered with intersecting allees and secluded paths. One of the more successful aspects of the designs is the ability to create spaces which allow privacy from those around you. Bardini Gardens was a smaller better equally pleasing garden. It hosts some of the best views of the city from its terraced plazas. The gardens have a great variety of azaleas, ferns, viburnums, camellias, and fruits.

This evening we enjoyed the Gelato festival downtown and ate at the local eateries, visited the Accademia to check out Michelangelo's David statue, visited Piazza Michelangelo, climbed the tower at the tower for the Duomo, and basically walked mile after mile of main streets and side streets.

Tomorrow we will be visiting Villa Gamberaia & Villa Caio Duilio.

Florence, Villa Medici,Chianti...

Today we found ourselves whisked away to a rainy Villa Medici in Fiesole. While the rain may have dampened the Villa our spirits were up by the end of the visit. The sun came out and revealed the town of Florence. Villa Medici belonged to the same Medici family that you read about as part of our Rome visit a few days ago. We explored the terraced garden which had a variety of spaces including lemon and orange trees and arbor covered walkway. While it exists as one of the smaller gardens from the Renaissance Era, it was important because it represented gardens which were a respite for owners who sought to escape the business of the city life.

 Following the visit of the Medici Gardens we drove to the Chianti region which makes the world famous Chianti wines. Here we viewed the small gardens and had a tour of the wine making facilities. Before and after this tour we were able to drive through the hillsides and see all of the vineyards which supply the farmers with liquid gold.

 Our evening was filled with free-time in Florence. We broke out into small groups and explored the town. Some people visited Piazzale Michelangiolo. Other groups visited the Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze which hosts many groups works of art from a variety of historical periods. One such great work is the statue of David. Some of the students visited the tower of S. Maria Del Fiore. Again we were astonished with great views, great food, and great people today. Tomorrow we will be visiting the Biboli and Bardini Gardens here in Florence. Until then Ciao!

Roma, Tivoli, Florence...

Because our days have been so packed full of tours and evening life I am going to combine these three days for the sake of catching up.

Tuesday:

The hot spots that we toured while finishing up Rome were: The Colossuem, The Roman Forum, St. Peter's Basilica, The Vatican, and The Trevi Fountain, basically all of the piazza in the downtown area. Today was our free day. We broke off into groups and explored the city’s back alleys, monuments, and restaurants.

Wednesday:

Today we drove to Tivoli to Villa Adriana and finished up our day with an afternoon visit of Villa D’Este. Villa Adriana was owned by Emperor Hadrian in the first century. He used this property to entertain officials and dignitaries. Villa D’ Este wowed our group with its impressive water system. Dozens of fountains lined multiple areas of the property. One of the main walkways has the well-known 100 fountains. After visiting the villas and their gardens we traveled to our hotel ‘Voi E Noi’ and were treated to a three course meal of mushroom pasta, pork and vegetables, and fruit dessert.

Thursday:

Today we traveled to Villa Lante in Bugnaie and Parco Dei Mostri in Bomarzo. Villa Lante, originally created for Cardianl Raffaele Roarop in the 16^th Century, consists of 22 ha. with cascades, fountains, flowering shrubs, long chambers of water, grottos, and two small casinis. Hydraulic and sound elements add variety to the creative works of Sienese architect, Tommaso Chinucci.  The Park of Monsters was created for the Prince Pier Francesco Orsini when he returned home from war to find his wife had died. The garden is believed to be a garden which reflects grief through odd and grotesque statues. It was quite the interesting garden and entertaining to see and sing in. We had to do a lot of driving today in order to reach Firenze (Florence). When we arrived we took a quick tour of the downtown to orient ourselves and had dinner throughout the city. Favorite tonight were Gnocci, Sausage Pizza, Pasta, and Calzones.

Well that has caught us up for now. See you tomorrow after our wine tasting tour! I apologize for the layout of the pictures. The internet isn't responding properly where we are staying. They are scattered.

Food, Wine, Villa's oh my!

Buona Sera! The past three says have been fairly intense and varied. From a day flying around the world to a few days in Rome, Italy we have been extremely busy adjusting to jetlag and a new culture. For the most part airlines got us to our destination on time with all of our luggage. A few items got shuffled in the mix and a few flights were delayed. We are only short one person so far.

At the airport we were enthusiastically greeted by our guide Edi Conson. After everyone arrived we collected our items and found ourselves rushed away to downtown Rome for an afternoon of gardens and good food. We first stopped at Villa Medici. Here we were given an incredible tour by a French gentleman who could have doubled as a history book. The villa's most notable owner was Feidinando I de' Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The villa garden was peppered with statues and had an eye raising canopy of Umbrella Pines. The Villa is now property of the Government of France.

After lunch we were driven to the Museum of Villa Giulia we were at our leisure to inspect the garden and the museum. The garden utilizes forced perspective and split level design which leads into a variety of garden rooms and an overlook down upon the nympaeum. Many of these features were designed by Bartolomeo Ammanati. Just a minute from the Villa is the Spanish Steps. A place to watch your personal belongings for sure. But, it was covered in flowers and people!

After completing our visit we traveled to the hotel to get refreshed from our travels and ready for dinner. We ate at Ristorante Mario's. Red and white wine flowed and four courses of food followed. The first course was a starter for each of us consisting of Bruschetta, prosciutto, and peppered salami. Our second course was a pea and mushroom pasta with red sauce pasta. Course three was a meat course of chicken, sausage, lamb, alongside some eggplant. Our final course was tiramisu. It was to say the least, delicious.

This concluded our first day in Italy.

More to come tomorrow about todays adventures. For now enjoy the pictures!