58. Mantova

                                                      'Fortune Favours the Bold'  Virgil

                                                       Ludovico Gonzaga

This weekend Florence is going 'Anti-Global' as the social forum comes to town. This means I have Saturday off work! Hurrah! So a weekend in Mantova is the plan, with a special visit to the Gonzaga exhibition that's on at the moment.

Mantova or 'Mantua' in English, is a medium-sized city situated on the Emilia Romagna, Lombardy, Veneto borders and nestled in the Po valley. Although it was founded around 2,000 BC by the Etruscans, artistically, culturally and musically it was made famous by the wealthy Gonzaga family during the 14th century. After this, Mantua came under the rulership of the French, Spanish, Austrian Hapsburgs, Napoleon and finally incorporated into a united Italy in 1866. In 2008 it was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


We head off on Saturday lunchtime, as it's only a two and a half hour drive north and in no time we're there. We park up and head for the tourist office and book a room for the night at a local 'agriturismo' farmhouse just outside the city. As we have a few hours to check in, we go for a wander and soak up some of the atmosphere of this very pretty city. By chance we stumble on this famous church, St. Andrea, which is one of the many masterpieces by 'Renaissance man', Leon Battista Alberti, and a real architectural gem it is too!  Just round the corner is Piazza Erbe with this 11th century 'round' church, San Lorenzo, Palace and clock tower. Around the back there is a monument to Mantova's favourite son, the 70 BC poet, Virgil

There are outdoor market stalls and the centre is buzzing with locals enjoying a last bit of Saturday evening shopping as of course the shops close at 7.30 here in Italy. We stop at a bar and enjoy an aperitivo, with a 'brachetto,' which is a kind of red spumante... By now it's time for us to go and check in, so we make our way to Corte Nespolo, our renovated farmhouse for the night. It turns out to be very pleasant, definitely one of the best places we've stayed in Italy.

http://www.cortenespolo.it/Default_EN.htm

Then it's back out to find a restaurant for the evening. Which may be difficult on a Saturday evening... The first 3 or 4 places we find are all booked out. But finally we find a very modern looking place down a side alley. It's all decked out in minimalist style with white plastic furniture, not normally our kind of thing, however the food is very good. We try the local dish, Tortelli di Zucca (Pumpkin ravioli) which is very sweet! We also both go for the duck, which is ok and for dessert, I opt for some mountain cheeses and Annette gets the waiter to combine two desserts, which he dutifully does! And we have a very enjoyable evening. Finished off by a nice stroll through the huge Piazza Sardello, where we will be returning tomorrow.

http://www.cortaccia.com/

Sunday

After a very strange but tasty cheese and cake breakfast we're off on our art extravaganza. We've booked tickets for the Gonzaga exhibition and head to the Palazzo Te, a palace/villa built between 1524 and 1534 by Raphael's pupil, Giulio Romano. The exhibition celebrates the glorious collection of the prolific Gonzaga dukes that includes over 2,000 paintings and 20,00 precious objects which were commissioned over a four hundred year period. The Gonzagas were to Mantova what the Medici were to Florence and just as keen patrons of the arts. All these works have been scattered to the four corners of the globe, but for three months 1,800 pieces have been returned to Mantova for this extraordinary occasion...

Most of the collection is in the huge Celeste gallery and we stroll round admiring some the masterpieces. Some of my favourites include; Titian's very beautiful 'Woman with the mirror' usually exhibited in the Louvre.











 'Love Conquers All' Virgil

Andrea Mantegna's 'Dead Christ', usually in Milan, with its ground breaking perspective

and Correggio's breathtaking 'Mercury and Cupid'.

After the Celeste gallery we take a look at the rest of the Palace - a series of themed rooms frescoed in the Mannerist style by Giulio Romano. In particular the hall of the Giants with a floor to ceiling fresco is impressive.














All 'arted' out for the morning, we drive back into the city and find a small Piazza to have a spot of lunch. The temperature is cold, but the fog has lifted and we sit outside in the sun... re-charged for the second leg of our tour-de-force... The Palazzo Ducale. We have come here to see Mantegna's 1465-1475 Masterpiece, the fresco of the 'Camera degli Sposi' (Wedding Room) There is a time limit for the viewing as it is a very small room, but it's definitely worth the visit! Three of the walls are frescoed with members of the Gonzaga family set in an idealized Roman countryside scene - and on the ceiling is an 'Oculus' with incredible foreshortening features, which was revolutionary for its time. Incredible!

Afterwards we are treated by an impromptu private tour of three special rooms of the Palace which were occupied by the real star of the family, Isabella d'Este, who was primarily responsible for keeping this vast collection together.




Isabella d'Este
(Leonardo da Vinci)

New Wine



As if we haven't done or seen enough, on the way out of Mantova I spot a poster advertising a 'Vino Novello' wine festival in nearby Ostiglia, so we take a little detour to check it out... Ostiglia is a small town, but for four days it has been turned into a huge tent, with new wine from all over the area and for the hefty price of 1 euro you can taste away to your heart’s content! I try about 10 different wines and we buy some dessert wine and a bottle of cream of Amaretto!






'Time flies never to be regained. Perhaps even these things, one day, will be pleasing to remember.' Virgil


(Original journal entry 10/11/02)

19. Mum! - Our 1st house guest.

We've settled in nicely and after four months we're finally getting our first visitor. My mum is the first to break! She's booked a ten day trip and although she's half Italian and has been to Naples many times this is her first time in Tuscany. Obviously we're both still working, but with our unconventional timetables there will still be plenty of spaces to fit in some nice excursions... After catching a raucous 2-2 draw between Juventus and Inter at the Irish pub in Santa Maria Novella, I dash out to nearby Peretola airport for the 22.40 pick up, emotional welcome and the 1 hour drive back to Greve.



 Piazzale Michelangelo

Sunday and we're in the city, so our first port of call is Piazzale Michelangelo. This is the big square above Florence, it's one of my favourite spots and where you can see the whole city. It's the perfect place to start your tour of Florence, as you can point out all the landmarks and get an idea where everything is before you tackle it.
It's a nice sunny afternoon and the nearby ice cream parlour proves too much of a temptation!

Monday we're both working all day, so Mum gets a chance to relax in our olive grove and take in a bit of that glorious Tuscan sun!

Florence
Tuesday it's down to business. I drop Mum at the Cascine market, a seemingly 10 mile-long outdoor market in the Cascine park which sells absolutely everything. I pick her up after work and we enjoy a leisurely stroll through the historic centre of Florence and we take in some of the main sights, the Cathedral, bell tower and baptistry and Piazza Signoria. We walk over the Ponte Vecchio and finally end up at the Galleria del Accademia, where after a very short queue we are in to see Michelangelo's David, arguably the world's most famous statue. It's my second time here, but a chance to get re-acquainted with the big naked guy again!

David                                                Of course David is the crowning glory of one of the world's greatest artists. Sculpted from a piece of damaged marble that nobody thought was possible to recover. A 26 year-old Michelangelo crafted this 17 ft  masterpiece in only 3 years. Originally it was outside in Piazza Signoria, but in 1860 it was brought inside and can be seen alongside some of Michelangelo's other sculptures, the dying slaves and Madonna.

Wednesday and we've booked tickets for the Uffizi art gallery, yes Mum's going for the whole cultural experience!  We meet up with Annette and buy some sunglasses, as the sun's becoming unbearable.

I'm quite excited as this is only my second time here.

The Uffizi
The Uffizi is the kind of art gallery you can come back to many times... and today the Caravaggio room is open! Our pre-booked ticket allows us to jump the queue and we spend about 3 hours journeying through Renaissance Florence...

There are so many masterpieces here it's quite overwhelming , and so many different styles and personalities and wonderful stories behind the paintings. You can witness the progression and developement of the Renaisance style from the 13th to the 16th centuries. Obviously too many to mention here in one go, but I'll highlight a few of my favourites.

Two of the most famous and beautiful are 'the birth of Venus' and 'Primavera' painted in about 1482  by Sandro Botticelli.

The two paintings depict pagan and mythological themes influenced by a love of Greek ideologies.

Venus emerges from the sea upon a shell that is pushed to the shore from the winds produced by the Zephyr wind-gods amid a shower of roses. As the goddess is about to step on the shore, one of the Nymphs reaches out to cover her with a purple cloke. The model for Venus, Simonetta Cattaneo Vespucci was the niece of Amerigo di Vepucci, the discoverer of America and was a popular 'muse' at the time and a favourite of Boticelli. She died very young and Boticelli requested that he be buried at her feet.

Botticelli was a craftsman in his own right. His “Venus” was the first large-scale canvas created in Renaissance Florence. He prepared his own tempera pigments with very little fat and covered them with a layer of pure egg white in a process unusual for his time. He had fantastic results. His painting resembles a fresco in its freshness and brightness. It is preserved exceptionally well: the painting today remains firm and elastic with very little cracks.

The Primavera is a painting filled with mythological and symbolic meaning and has been the subject of much debate. Venus is standing in the center of the picture, set slightly back from the other figures. Above her, Cupid is aiming one of his arrows of love at the Three Graces, who are elegantly dancing. The Grace on the right side has the face of Caterina Sforza, also painted by Botticelli in a famous portrait. The garden of Venus, the goddess of love, is guarded on the left by Mercury, who stretches out his hand to touch the fruit. Mercury, who is lightly clad in a red cloak covered with flames, is wearing a helmet and carrying a sword, clearly characterizing him as the guardian of the garden. The messenger of the gods is also identified by means of his winged shoes and the staff which he used to drive two snakes apart and make peace; Botticelli has depicted the snakes as winged dragons. From the right, Zephyrus, the god of the winds, is forcefully pushing his way in, in pursuit of the nymph Chloris. Next to her walks Flora (said to be a portrait of Giuliano de Medici's mistress Simonetta Vespucci), the goddess of spring, who is scattering flowers.

Leonardo da Vinci is well represented in the Uffizi with three pieces and probably my favourite painting in the whole gallery is his annunciation. It's a very early painting by Leonardo, originally thought to be by Ghirlandaio, x-rays have shown it to be the work of two artists, Leonardo and his master, Verrochio. Leonardo's attention to detail in the landscape and flowers in the foreground show an incredible understanding in his extensive studies of nature. His extremely light brush stroke is just breathtaking!

One of the gallery's most erotic paintings is this gem by Titian. I remember seeing his rather portly ladies in the National gallery in London, when I was a child. However the Venus of Urbino is a more slender young woman with very pleasant curves! In this very suggestive pose the naked Venus is looking straight at the viewer. The painting was comissioned and painted in 1538, probably as a wedding present and we can see the maids rummaging around for clothes to cover her up. Dogs were usually a symbol of faithfulness, so the fact it's sleeping suggests she may have been 'unfaithful'.

My last homage is to Caravaggio. I love Caravaggio's paintings. They kind of go against the grain, he was a rebel artist and painted dark canvases with low life people as the subjects. There are several Caravaggio paintings in the Uffizi, one of which is this Bacchus, god of wine. It was a favourite theme of Caravaggio, he could probably relate to his dark and mischevious nature. He generally painted him as an adolescent, using as a model his young assistant (and probable lover!), Mario Minniti. His pose is almost languid, with the over ripe fruit signifying the transient nature of pleasure. If you look closely you can see Caravaggio's portrait in the carafe of wine. 

There is also a special temporary exhibition dedicated to Massaccio, on the re-discovery of perspection, which I whizz round at the end! 

San Gimignano

After a day to recover from our cultural extravaganza, which mum spends relaxing in our local town Greve, we're off on our travels again. Todays destination is San Gimignano, with a stop at Castellina. It's a bit foggy this morning, but we head out anyway. 1st stop is Castellina, where we have a chance to taste some local Chianti Classico wine and a 4o year-old Brandy! By the time we reach San Gimignano the sun has reappeared and we are able to enjoy a pleasant afternoon. We stumble upon an underground grotto Cafè/Deli run by a Neapolitan family. We tuck into big bruschetta with truffles and porcini, some home made lasagne and ribolitta (a local vegetable soup) We wash it down with a very nice local white wine called 'Vernaccia'. I spot a bottle of limoncello liquer on the way out and we get chatting with the owner. When he finds out we have family from Naples he offers us a free taste along with some chocolate truffles!  We enjoy a pleasant stroll in this beautifully preserved medieval town with the big towers and Mum enjoys all the leather shops!

Fiesole and Baldovino

Saturday morning and Annette and I are working so we arrange to meet up with mum in Florence and head up to Fiesole. She's brought a picnic and we walk through the woods at Mt. Ceceri to that spot we only found a few weeks ago! In the evening Mum has invited us out to dinner and we have chosen a restaurant in the Santa Croce area of Florence called 'Baldovino'. Although we haven't booked, the waiter just manages to squeeze us in on a table near the entrance. During the evening countless people are turned away, so a very popular place! The food is amazing. Mum has an incredible salad with pesto, pine nuts and mozerella. Annette chooses a carpaccio of swordfish with juniper berries and I go for a chunky wild boar papardelle. For main course mum has a creamy linguine, Annette a chicken, pesto and sundried tomato affair and I have a swordfish, scallop and prawn kebab and we share some yummy pumpkin cooked with sage and black olives. No room for dessert... and all for a great price.

Pisa                                           For mum's last full day, Pisa is the chosen destination. It's only an hour's drive away and the temperature's up to 23°C.  We find some free parking 100 metres from the 'Campo dei Miracoli' it's a symphony of white marble, with the Cathedral, the Baptistry and of course, the Leaning Tower. We enjoy our picnic on the lawn and Mum buys some souvenirs from the many stalls lining the streets.

Annette and I are working all day on Monday, but we meet up in Florence for a farewell ice cream. An appropriate end to a very pleasant 10 days, Mum has been a very good house guest, we are all totally exhausted, but I think she had a good time!  

(Original journal entry 9/3/02)

15. Pitti Palace

I always think it kind of amusing when I here somebody say they can 'do' Florence in a day! Ok so one only has so much time for holidays and there are so many other places to visit, but Florence in one day?  When I was here on holiday for two weeks, apart from everything else, I only visited 3 of the 70 museums in Florence! (and that's without counting special and temporary exhibitions)

However now that I'm living here, I have the opportunity to see some of the things that only residents, students or those holiday makers who stay in Florence for longer than a day, ever get to see...

After 18 consecutive days of sun in Tuscany to start the year, a 5 day trip to drizzly England for my Nan's funeral, it's time to recover with some art of the heavyweight variety!

Here, at the one time residence of the Medici, Napoleon and King of Italy... The Pitti Palace.

The brainchild of merchant banker Luca Pitti who in true 'keeping up with the Jones's fashion', wanted a palace to rival that of his sworn enemies the Medici family and their Palazzo Medici. Pitti died before it was finished and ironically the Pitti Palace was bought by Eleonora Toledo, wife of Cosimo I de' Medici and eventually came to be in possession of the Medici familly! Today the Pitti palace is the largest museum complex in Florence with 7 museums (containing 140 rooms which are open to the public) plus the Boboli gardens, the largest garden in the city. 

We visited Boboli last June in sweltering heat and I've walked past this enormous palace on many ocassions, but today I have about 4 hours free between lessons and the temptation to look inside is too much! Once through the imposing exterior it's into the colossal 'Ammananti' courtyard with no less than 4 enormous statues of Hercules. Here a copy of the Lyssipus bronze, but with the transposed head of Emperor Commodus!

Today I'm only visiting the Palatine Gallery as it houses works by some of my favourite artists, Caravaggio, Canova, Titian and  Raphael. The Palatine gallery is separated into about 30 rooms, named after Greek Mythological characters and there are around 5oo Renaissance paintings and some sculptures.

There are no less than 13 paintings by Titian here, his  young Englishman, or 'the man with blue-green eyes' and 'La Bella'  (above) were both mesmerising in their beauty.  

Raphael is well represented here with 11 paintings. This portrait being probably the most interesting piece in the museum. Nowhere near as famous as Leonardo's Mona Lisa, but many think, showing a striking similarity. Nothing prepares you for seeing the luxurious colours and soft beauty Raphael embues in this ideal portrait of womanhood, the identity of whom, like the Mona Lisa, remains a mystery. One is drawn to the warmth and love of this painting and cetainly you are able to get a lot closer to it than the Mona Lisa! 

My favourite piece here was Canova's gorgeous sculpture of Venus, called 'the Venus Italica' looking rather shy as she seeks to cover her nudity. You can see the Greek influence of this neo-Classical sculpture and in fact it was originally comissioned to replace the Medici Venus stolen by Napoleon and taken to the Louvre, but since replaced in the Uffizi. "When I saw this divine work of Canova," wrote the poet Ugo Foscolo in 1811, "I sighed with a thousand desires, for really, if the Medici Venus is a most beautiful goddess, this is a most beautiful woman."  My thoughts exactly! I definitely want to check out more of his work in the future.

  

A final piece was this dark 'Sleeping Cupid' by Caravaggio, I saw a Caravaggio exhibition in London a few years ago and this is his first piece I've seen in Italy. Painted in Malta towards the end of his life, with its plump, life like flesh, laying aside his bow and arrow he displays an abandonment of worldly possessions. Worth staying more than a day in Florence? I think so!

(Original journal entry 30/1/02)