Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Ciao from Florence!

Ciao!

Greetings from Florence, Italy! Today marks my 9th day in Italy and it has certainly been a wonderful nine days! To start things off, I am Hailey and I chose to study in Florence primarily because of my interest in art. Florence is considered to be the birthplace of the Renaissance and is noted for its Renaissance art and architecture. Although I haven’t been here for very long, it does not take long to know that Florence is an old city that flourished during the Renaissance, and is a city that is still flourishing today!

To give you a visual, the streets of Florence are narrow, made of cobblestone, and are shadowed by phenomenal cathedrals, towers, and a variety of homes occupied by Florentines and other study abroad students. On nearly every street you can find artists creating and selling their work, whether it be paintings, etchings, hand-crafted bags, or jewelry. The level of creativity and artistic talent in Florence is quite spectacular. The city of Florence is busy, however catching a break from the city is rather simple. With a short bus ride, we have been able to explore the Chianti valley, famous for Chianti wines. And, here in a few days, we will take the train to Cinque Terre to enjoy the beach!

While I write to you, I just want to share a few of my favorite experiences here in Florence. The first would be getting to see Michelangelo’s “David.” The sculpture is breathtaking to say the least, and I honestly can’t even begin to describe how magnificent viewing the sculpture is. “David” is 7 feet tall and was carved from a solid piece of marble. In addition to Michelangelo’s “David,” I also got to see Donatello’s “David,” which is made of bronze. The Renaissance art that decorates Florence is fantastic. I definitely plan to share more when I visit the Uffizi Gallery, where I will see many works by famous artists, such as Da Vinci!

I’m going to head out to sketch for a while, but I plan to update you soon! P.S. today is my 22nd Birthday, and I must say I can’t imagine a more beautiful city to spend my birthday in! Have a splendid day!

-Hailey
1 Response
  1. Brian Kessel Says:

    Hope you had a great birthday! Would love to see some pictures to go with great descriptions of Florence!


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