A visit by MTV and a trip to Lucca

Last week MTV's TRL Award Show came to Santa Croce for a night, attracting quite a big crowd! We took a peek to see what was going on. Considering the stage was extremely low and the giant video screens were the same height as the stage, we couldn't see much. It was pretty neat though to hear some Italian artists we had been listening to on the radio the past few months.
Saturday we took a quick half-day trip to Lucca, about an hour and a half to the west by train. One of the nicest things about Lucca is its fully intact wall, which is very rare. People use this long green space for biking, walking, jogging, and all around socializing, which I think makes for a much more laid-back and peaceful city.

Picnic on the wall

Old jewelry shop

Tower houses

Roman amphitheater-turned piazza

San Michele

San Martino (the Duomo)

View through the walls

Lucca had some cute streets and a nice wall to explore, and was certainly less hectic than Florence, but we could already feel the crush of our fellow tourists. I wish we could have gone several weeks earlier to have avoided the crowds, but I'm glad we got to see it!

Buona Pasqua!

I hope everyone had a great Easter! Italians sure know how to celebrate the big day (perhaps the biggest day of the year in Florence, behind San Giovanni's day in July), and in fact the Monday after Easter, Pasquetta, is also a holiday. It is without a doubt the time to unwind after all the excitement!

Florence is known for Lo Scoppio del Carro, The Explosion of the Cart. In this tradition a 500 year old, 30ft-tall cart is paraded through the city by a pair of giant white oxen decorated with garlands of flowers and accompanied by flag wavers. The cart is parked between the Duomo and the Baptistry, and during Easter Mass in the cathedral, a dove-rocket is launched from behind the altar and shoots along a zipline attached the cart. When the dove collides with the cart it sets of an elaborate series of pyrotechnics, including colored smoke, whistles, fireworks, flames, and twirly sparklers. Luckily, the oxen are detached from the cart before this happens.

During the second half of his run early yesterday morning, Seth was fortunate enough to see the white oxen being walked through the Parco delle Cascine before event, and he even got to see the cart (nicknamed Il Brindellone) preparing to leave its tall, skinny house near Porta al Prato (I was a bit jealous).

We made it to the Duomo a half an hour early, which clearly was not early enough, but we did manage to see some of the action between the arms of people holding up their digital cameras and iPods. Of course, all the loud fireworks, smoke, and fire in the middle of the crowded piazza seemed really dangerous to me, but I suppose after 500 years of experience they have everything under control.

Seth took a peek inside the Duomo to see what was going on

The cart, just before its explosion

The first thing that happened after the impact of the dove was clouds of purple and red smoke

And a waterfall of sparks

And finally, a check-up by a fireman

After we navigated our way out of the crowds, we hopped on a bus and headed for an Easter lunch hosted by two people at I Tatti. In addition to great food (we had traditional lamb... the Lamb of God...), there was also an egg hunt!
Since ham is hard to come by around here, and I didn't feel like eating more lamb of god, for dinner I made a Torta Pasqualina--a pie filled with spinach, ricotta, beaten egg, cheese, and whole eggs baked under the crust.

The Easter Bunny found us!

Instead of elaborate Easter baskets, kids usually get one gigantic chocolate egg, usually filled with a toy. This was filled with a tiny round Nemo magnet... oooh, fun.

Parma

Last weekend I Tatti took their Spring trip to Parma, and I got to tag along. Early morning Friday the 30-or-so of us loaded onto a hired bus and spent the entire day hopping amongst three of the two-dozen castles that dot the province of Parma. By the early evening we checked into our hotels in Parma, then spent half of Saturday visiting some sites of art around the city. Seth and I have never been a part of a large tour group like this before (outside of trips in high school), and I must admit that while it does make one a much more passive traveler, it is also very comfortable and relaxing to be whisked around from place to place. The most draining aspect of the trip was the sun and the heat--Parma hit a record high of 31 C (about 88 F) while we were there!

The first stop was the fortress of Rocca Sanvitale, in the center of the town of Fontanellato. Here we saw the Sala di Diana e Acteon, a room frescoed by Parmagianino (Tim, one of the fellows, led the tour).

Sanvitale in the town of Fontanellato

I love the trash bins in front of the tiny drawbridge
We escaped the group (and the sun!) for a picnic lunch in a park just outside the old city walls
The next castle was Rocca dei Rosso (San Secondo), known for its well-preserved grotesques (spindly imaginary creatures) and scenes from fables frescoed on the walls and ceilings
Here, our tour guide is explaining why Pop Art is mixed in with the grotesques. I didn't really understand.
The last castle, Torrechiara, was parked on a big hill and had very wonderful views of the countryside.
Tim led a discussion on the mysterious Camera d'Oro

After finally checking into Parma, everyone went out for drinks and dinner. They made reservations for 9pm, which was a bit late for Seth and me (we had to wake up at 4am and would have to wake up early again the next morning), so we had a quicker dinner somewhere else.

Trattoria Corrieri
This area is indeed famous for its Parmigiano-Reggiano (aka Parmesan cheese) and Proscuitto. We are trying cheese and proscuitto-stuffed tortelli (regional pasta similar to ravioli) and tagliatelle with rocket and proscuitto cotto (basically ham).

Even though my plate was only eight little tortelli and Seth only had a small bowl of tagliatelle, it was so rich we had to to cancel our secondo!

The next morning: a pre-dawn run along the river and then to the Parco Ducale. We had to burn off all that cheese and butter-soaked pasta from dinner the night before!
In the morning we met the I Tattians for a tour of several sites around Parma, led by another fellow. First stop: the duomo.
One of the most impressive aspects was the choir stalls, carved by the Canozi workshop.
They had intricate wood-in-wood intarsia panels that depict geometric shapes, objects, and people, using an early form of perspective (see how it looks like the guitar is sitting on a window sill?). Some panels looked more like a Picasso painting, but they were still very impressive!
The mish-mosh Baptistry next door

Our last stop as a group was to see the Camera di S. Paolo, a small room frescoed by Correggio, then a bunch of us hopped over to the National Gallery of Parma before it closed. From here Seth and I broke off for a quick lunch.

A proscuitto sandwich! If an Italian saw me pulling off the large clumps of fat the meat is known for, I would have been kicked out of the country.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the very, very hot city and checking out a couple of the other churches before heading to the train station. All in all it was a wonderful, very culture-heavy trip, which is what Italy (and I Tatti) do best!