Florence Diary I: Getting ThereComments on: --

By: Christopher Check

Christopher Check — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:40:28 +0000

Signore Chiarello et al,

The Baum’s are wonderful company and great appreciators of art, which makes our job (showing people the good, the beautiful, and the true) so much more gratifying. This was their second trip with us. The joined us in Venice, Ravenna, and Padova last spring. Indeed, three quarters of the folks on this Winter School were “repeaters,” that is this was not their first Rockford Institute conference. I’ve lost track of how many events Alice Drennan and the Culleys have attended. This also is gratifying: to welcome back so many friends again and again. It means we are doing something right, but more than that, it means that our Convivia and Schools have the joyful flavor of a family reunion. A good friend who teaches high school in suburban Milwaukee wrote one time, quoting Romano Guardini, that one of the trials of the modern world is that good people who understand the world are isolated and scattered. In gathering good people from time to time, the Rockford Institute, he said, replaces that sorrow with joy.

We did pass the American Cemetery on our way to Siena. As a Marine veteran, I am always moved by the sight of the modest white crosses covered and aligned on foreign soil. (I encourage anyone visiting Paris to visit the American Cemetery at Chateau-Thierry.) The heroism of individual soldiers is never, in my mind, diminished by the dubious political or strategic decisions that cost them their lives.

Bob Trojan’s remarks are on target. I remember being in San Marco in Venice in April and wishing more to escape the crowd than to admire one of the most magnificent churches in the world. Nonetheless, if we keep away from the great monuments of Christendom because they also attract cheap souvenir vendors and hordes of tourists who do not know what they are looking at, we are spiting ourselves. By visiting places off season (sometimes well off season), The Rockford Institute reduces much of the unpleasant effect of tourists. We did not stand in a single line this entire trip. Many places we had to ourselves: The Piccolomini Library and the Pinacoteca in Siena, and the Baptistry and the Brancacci Chapel in Florence are just a few examples. Tom and I have wondered who would be interested in going to Venice in January. We would!

By: Vincent Chiarello

Vincent Chiarello — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 04:19:30 +0000

After reading TJF’s comments about Florence, I examined the photos of the participants in the Winter School, and thought I recognized one … and I did: Harold Baum. Along with his late wife, Jeanne, Hal and I served as Foreign Service Officers in Norway. Glad to see he is still wandering the world.
I first visited Florence in 1963, when the Italian Communist Party was still a viable force, and their posters (affissi) were omnipresent in the labyrinthine streets of the city. A quarter century later, I would make the “classified mail run” to Florence (the posters were gone) from Rome, and came to know the city even better. Then,from 1996 to 2001,from September through mid-October, my wife and I rented an apartment on the other side of the Arno, – Olt’arno – which is far less crowded and touristy than the sites mentioned by TJF. A few comments are in order.
One cannot visit Firenze without knowing that, after Venice, and before Rome, these three cities have the greatest number of tourists vis-a-vis the native population than other Italian cities. Another problem with staying in Firenze is that it truly is a small city, and unless one can get out and travel around Tuscany, it can become deadly dull, unless one becomes a shopoholic or daily museum visitor. Dr. Fleming, a visit that I would suggest is to the US Memorial Cemetery,a well-kept site only a short bus ride from the city.
Finally, I knew that the time had come to look for an apartment elsewhere when one night in a fairly well-known restaurant, my guests and I were told that we would have to leave so that the restaurant could accomodate the busloads of Japanese tourists who eagerly awaited outside. The time had come to say, “Addio.”

By: bob trojan

bob trojan — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 02:22:19 +0000

As far as food, I had numerous good lunches and dinners. Lunches were especially enjoyable at local Osterias where daily specials were offered…like boiled octopus at Mario’s in Florence!

By: NGPM

NGPM — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:39:50 +0000

@9: So true. As a consequence, the best East Coast pizza apparently is no longer found in New York but in Boston. In Paris the best baguettes are in the 19th district, close to the really nasty suburbs. Even authentic “tourist trap” hot spots are so commercialised as to have lost their charm: when I lived in South Florida, my favourite hangouts were not in Miami but around Fort Lauderdale.

By: Bob Trojan

Bob Trojan — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:37:37 +0000

What was interesting to me, which I think many “tourists” completely miss, is the knowledge of the history of the what’s, who’s, and where’s.

More than just looking at various well known objects, I was able, due to prior study, to envision what took place hundreds of years ago, who was involved and even why.

One example, on the Palazzo Vecchio about 50 feet from the Fountain of Neptune, was a large commemorative disk/plate. Even in my limited knowledge of Italian, I could make out one of the words “Savonarola” I quickly realized what it signified.

I could cite other examples but the point is not just go and see but also understand.

By: TJF

TJF — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:35:27 +0000

The problem with Florence, Venice, Rome, and many other important cities is that they have been tourist shrines so long that the real city has shrunk within itself and is harder and harder to find. My object, in planning this Winter School, was to give participants a bit of the flavor of the city, where it still survives, as well as taking them to the great museums and monuments. It is not impossible to eat well or have a good time in Florence, but it takes a bit of work and research.

By: Derek Leaberry

Derek Leaberry — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:27:16 +0000

Dr. Fleming, that ultimate source of European cultural knowledge, Rick Steves, would be disappointed in your assessment of Florence. My memories of Florence are ancient, dating my wife’s first pregnancy many years ago. Although the art museums were worthwhile, I found much of the rest of Florence mundane. A steak I ate was on par with Golden Corral. The Ponte Vecchio was a bridge of jewelry, fit for a tour of rappers or blue-haired ladies. A walk along the Arno accidentally brought me upon a minefield of discarded syringes.

By: TJF

TJF — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:50:53 +0000

Nap? I recall a long walk with Christopher and Nicholas. I returned to the hotel, anticipating the pleasant duty of taking my wife to lunch. In the end, we settled on the hotel bar, and, though the kitchen was closed, they made us quite good “toast”–sandwiches with prosciutto and cheese–which we washed down with a bottle of Vernaccia before taking a walk around the neighborhood.

By: Christopher Check

Christopher Check — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:38:44 +0000

My friend Tom neglected to mention that he took a nap on the day of arrival while Nick and I walked over all of our walking tours for the coming week. We did pause for a lunch and a liter of rosso della casa at my favorite Florentine fiaschetteria, “da Nuvoli,” a block west of the Baptistry. I was eager to return to the place. Alice Drennan, my father, Aunt Ruth Besemer (God rest her soul), and I found it in 2002 after Mrs. Drennan had just haggled with a nearby shopkeeper over a replacement roll-aboard. Nick and I ate their twice on this trip, the second time with Mrs. Drennan, Tom Piatak and his charming wife Valerie. On the second visit, the proprietor set a flask of his Rosso Eliseo, a Sangiovese blend, on our table. I know enough Italian to understand, “drink as much as you wish.” Though da Nuvoli is only a block from the Duomo, I’ve never seen a tourist in their bottle-lined cellar dining rooms, though I have seen plenty of laborers and football players, who appreciate well made polpette, more than fairly priced.

By: Bob Trojan

Bob Trojan — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:06:39 +0000

While I have been to Italy a number of times and even breezed through Florence once, I had always wanted to spend more time there. When the Tuscany Winter School came up, I signed up. This was my first school with TRI and I must admit that I found it very enjoyable and as interesting as I had hoped.

Even before we departed, we had numerous readings to prepare us for this time period.

The School was attended by people from as far as Sweden, Nova Scotia and all points from the US. The group quickly made friends of each other.

The program was well organized with daily walks, mini-lectures and sufficient free time for us to enjoy on our own if desired. A day trip to Pisa and Siena helped to expand the Tuscan experience. Even the bus lectures helped the journey along.

Highlights of art, architecture, sculptures and history were well provided by Dr. Tom and Gail Fleming and Captain Check, who kept us on schedule with his morning briefings and daily interim schedule review. Suffice it to say that the recommended guide books were well supplemented with interesting insights as went along on our tours.

Although the weather was a bit on the cool and sometimes rainy side, the almost complete lack of tourists made church and museum entry most enjoyable.

Hotel accommodations were good, clean and helpful staff; most walks were within 1/2 to 1 mile from it. Most dinner meals were there; lunches were on our own but with some good suggestions from Tom.

All in all, I would give this School an “A” and look forward to the next one that I can attend.