Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Day 6 - San Marco/Bargello/Florence Academy of Art

Happy Birthday Gabriel!
We spent our last day visiting Museo San Marco, the Domenican monastery, a treat for all who love Fra Angelico's religious paintings. He painted a mural in each cell. The students also had some time to sketch.
We also visited Bargello museum, it was first the Palace of the chief Magistrate, then the headquarters of the chief of pollice and now it houses some of the most beautiful sculptures in Florence.
After lunch we visited the Florence Academy of Art, perhaps your kids will be tempted to spend a couple of years in Florence learning how to paint like a true Master!
We spent some time sketching in Piazza della Signoria, under the Loggia, after which the students needed some more ice cream and some more market shopping and I needed not to look over my shoulders and count students!!!






sketching














Florence Academy of Art




Bargello














Museo San Marco






San Marco







































Monday, April 18, 2011

Day 5 – Siena/San Gimignano


A gorgeous day, perfect for a road trip to Siena and San Gimignano! We organized a competition – Photography as a Fine Art.

The students enjoyed relaxing in the sun and taking photos around the Campo in Siena. We had lunch at Gallo Nero a restaurant famous for its medieval setting.

After lunch we headed back to our coach … (pause for a dance! – just to put you in the picture, I am writing this blog downstairs in the hostel basement/gamesroom/disco) and drove on to San Gimignano. We strolled through the narrow streets, went in and out of quaint shops and galleries, ate famous ice-cream and sat in the sun… (more dancing!)

We got back to Florence in time for supper after which we had a great time dancing to Giulia’s mix of music!










Sunday, April 17, 2011

Day 4 – Medici Chapel/San Lorenzo/Palazzo Pitti/Boboli Gardens


















We went to Mass at San Lorenzo, the Florentines don’t just hand out a tiny palm tree cutting, it seems to be all about waving the branches here.


After a quick snack, actually I can never say quick! What should take a mere 15 or 30 minutes takes slightly longer – we headed for Palazzo Pitti, as I said, it is all about the Medici today. Palazzo Pitti houses hundreds of paintings so a fun way for the kids to see the paintings was a treasure hunt, in search of a handful of well known paintings such as Caravaggio’s Sleeping Cupid, Raphael’s Mother and Child and others. The highlight of the day was Boboli Gardens where we could lie in the grass, enjoy the view and the weather. We also managed a short session of sketching.

We headed back to the hostel after giving in to the usual pleading of “Please can we go shopping!!?”

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Day 3 – Uffizi/Piazzale Michelangelo/San Miniato



We spent the morning at the Uffizi, Florence’s Museum of Fine Arts.

The students were really interested to learn about the paintings. Of course there were some favourites like Botticelli, Filippo Lippi, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Caravaggio.

We had lunch in a 900 year old Palace,very rustic and full of character with its murals of reproductions of some paintings we had just s

een in the Uffizi.

Satisfied and rested, we headed toward Piazzale Michelangelo, on the south side of the river. It is an hour’s walk along the river and up a fairly long trail, past trees, flowers and green grass and what do kids do when they see green grass? You guessed it! They had a great time rolling on the grass and forming human pyramids.


At the top of the hill we were greeted by live Indian music, stalls and street vendors and our kids

never have enough of street vendors!! The view from the top was breathta

king. We climbed further up to the Monastery of San Miniato and sat there for a while, enjoying the view. We left San Miniato at around 5.30, walked back along the river and crossed Ponte Vecchio.

We arrived at the hostel a couple of hours later, exhausted and happy.


Friday, April 15, 2011

Day 2 - Accdemia/Saci/La Chiesa di Santa Maria Novella














We started our day admiring Michelangelo's David, the icon of Florence, the symbol of humility and power. Some of our students fell in love!! What a great way to start the day.

Off to Saci, an American school of Fine Art, design, conservation and restoration. We split the group up into two so that while one group was visiting the church of Santa Maria Novella, the other group was learning the skills of gilding, retouching, patching and assembling broken pottery.

The students also enjoyed learning about Giotto’s technique of fresco painting using tempera, pure pigment bound with egg yolk. The Saci team led by Roberta Lapucci were excellent and gave our students an unforgettable experience and a basic knowledge of Art conservation and restoration.

Roberta’s team have been commissioned by the Xewkija Parish to restore two Mattia Preti paintings so they will be spending the first two weeks of May working in Gozo!

After a full day at Saci we headed for the famous San Lorenzo Market. A couple of hours hopping from one colourful stall to another the kids enjoyed haggling and purchasing all sorts of typical market merchandise.

e started our day admiring Michelangelo's David, the icon of Florence, the symbol of humility and power. Some of our students fell in love!! What a great way to start the day.

Off to Saci, an American school of Fine Art, design, conservation and restoration. We split the group up into two so that while one group was visiting the church of Santa Maria Novella, the other group was learning the skills of gilding, retouching, patching and assembling broken pottery.

The students also enjoyed learning about Giotto’s technique of fresco painting using tempera, pure pigment bound with egg yolk. The Saci team led by Roberta Lapucci were excellent and gave our students an unforgettable experience and a basic knowledge of Art conservation and restoration.

Roberta’s team have been commissioned by the Xewkija Parish to restore two Mattia Preti paintings so they will be spending the first two weeks of May working in Gozo!

After a full day at Saci we headed for the famous San Lorenzo Market. A couple of hours hopping from one colourful stall to another the kids enjoyed haggling and purchasing all sorts of typical market merchandise.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Day 1 - The road trip and more...









We had a great flight and arrived in Rome at 1030 but as expected we didn't get to the coach till past 11am. We drove straight to Florence in a very comfortable coach with just one stop at an Autogrill for lunch.

We got to the hostel at around 4pm, The students are always amazed when reaching the square and standing right in front of the beautiful Cathedral, you can imagine how quickly the cameras were pulled out of the bags. We headed for the Giotto Tower and were determined to climb up the 460 or so steps to the top! The view is exceptional.

We headed towards the baptistry after some souvenir shopping. I have no words to describe the magnificent Baptistry in Florence, all I can say is that all the kids were gobsmacked.

At around 7pm we headed towards a pleasant Trattoria/Pizzeria for dinner enjoying a pizza and finishing off with a lovely Birthday cake for Jessica who refuses to be caught in any of my blog photos ... sorry Jane!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Preparations are underway!


Just under two weeks!
We are all extremely excited
students joining us on this Art trip to Florence are:
Jessie, Daniela, Pauline, Martina, Hannah, Sarah, Michaela, Martina, Gabriel, Rodianne, Maxine, Enaam, Harriet, Elisa, Gaby, Giulia, Kyra and Gaby