Sunday, September 17, 2006

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Jeffrey had us all headed down to the city very early. To get to Pistoia, it is necessary to take two buses. If the buses meet up with each other, it is called “coincidence.” If they don’t meet up, it is only necessary to walk about 10 minutes down to the place where the second bus connects. Of course because we were relying on the bus system, it dictated our schedule, and most mornings we had to be on the 8:17 bus fed and ready for a day of exploring.

We stopped off at the old hospital to take a look at a frieze that has been done by Della Robbia’s sons. Della Robbia is well known for inventing a way to carve and glaze terra cotta so that it looked like marble. He became rich during the Renaissance using his technique because he was able to make sculpture/reliefs much faster and much cheaper than a traditional marble sculptor. His son inherited his workshop and then was able to change the technique to include many more colors. The old hospital (it is actually still part of the hospital), has a really amazing frieze in terra cotta with many different colors. We evaluated it for quite a while after a nice break in the coffee shop.

I had some hot chocolate that was like drinking hot pudding. It was very amazing.

We then headed off to another church to look at the Renaissance architecture. It was a really amazing church. I have come to really love and appreciate Renaissance architecture.

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