Northern Italy (Part One)

The first stop on our Northern Italy trip was in Firenze (Florence).  After arriving and dropping off our luggage, we headed straight to Santa Maria Novella by Alberti to sketch.  As the day continued, we studied a sequence of urban spaces in Piazza della Signoria. Later, we climbed all the way to the top of the dome, all 463 steps, on Santa Maria del Fiore by Brunelleschi. The last part of our day was a viewing of the Uffizi Gallery near the Arno River and Ponte Vecchio. 

 

The next day in Florence we tried to sketch in Michelangelo's new sacristy in San Lorenzo, but we got kicked out after a half hour.  We then went to sketch perspectives in the nave of San Lorenzo by Brunelleschi.  After a nice warm lunch, we were able to walk through the Laurentian Library and staircase by Michelangelo.  Then we walked to the Galleria dell'Academia to see the very famous David statue by Michelangelo. We also had the chance to see some of his unfinished sculptures intended for Pope Julius II's tomb which is in San Pietro in Vincoli, the site of our studio project in Rome. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping in the leather markets and then finished the day with a group dinner at a Florentine Steakhouse.

On the third day of our trip, we took a train to Como near the border of Switzerland. Como is a beautiful town of about 80,000 residents. During our time there we studied three projects by Giuseppe Terragni: Casa del Fascio, Casa Giuliani-Frigerio, and Palazzo Novocomum. We were able to keep warm sketching Casa del Fascio from a cafe over some hot tea. Later, we spent a good amount of time photographing the beautiful lake and hills. Some of the students were even able to attend Sunday mass at the Cathedral in town.

 

On the fourth day we all boarded a bus to travel across the Swiss border to a small town called Vals. Our only stop this day was the Therme Vals by Peter Zumthor. We spent four hours bathing like the ancients in the magnificent Swiss alps. Zumthor drew inspiration from the mountains surrounding the site. He used stone from a local quarry to create this structure that emerges from the hill-side. On the interior, Zumthor carefully modeled the circulation to lead bathers to certain predetermined points but allows some independent exploration. Every perspective is controlled and the windows serve as a frame of the incredible views of the alps. It was the perfect relaxing day we all needed after a very tiring three days of travel.  

Rebecca Murray and Ryan Lyssy