Christmas in Florence

Pandoro & Panetonne

                For this Christmas in Italy, I had many firsts.
1) Pandoro, a traditional cake in Italy in the shape of a star.  It is a very tall cake, and we sprinkle icing sugar and shake the cake in the bag to make it look like snowing.

2) Panetonne. With the supermarket shelves displaying all those festive pastries, I absolutely have to try the panetonne. Another tall Christmas breadloaf, traditionally with raisins and canditi (candy crystals). Both are not my favourites in a confection, so I chose the Panetonne from Verona, an adapted version with just chocolate chips and almonds. Che buono! (How delicious in Italian)

3) Roasted the first chicken of my life. Hmmm, it turned out pretty good! Crispy and well-cooked, yet juicy and succulent. That's with the help of googling the simplest recipe I can find and innovating a little.

4) Made my first successful tiramisù after my 6th attempt. That mascarpone turned out well! Whipping that egg white without an electric beater was no feeble effort, my arms ached the next day after all the action. It was the combine effort with my flatmates and we had fun crushing that amaretti, taking turns at whipping and layering the tiramisù. When it was time to check out the results of the previous day efforts, I was almost in tears. At last! There was no drenching of the savoiardi (pastry of ladys' fingers) with excess coffee or insufficiently beaten eggs at the bottom of the tray. In my previous attempts, there were always a puddle at the bottom of the container. The recipe was from a friend from Verona and it was well-received by everyone from Japan to Nigeria to Sudan, not to mention my folks from Singapore and even Italians from other regions. So kudos to my Veronese friend's mom, who so generously shared the recipe.

            There is still one major thing not yet fulfilled. Seeing my first snowfall and having my first walk in the snow.  Building my first snowman, having my first snowball fight. Skiing on my first snow slope, or skating on a real frozen pond. Anyway, like many things, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be.


Façade, Bell Tower, Baptistry and Dome

           "Il Duomo" is the Italian word for the main cathedral of a city. So every Italian city has a Duomo. There's also the Duomo of Milan, Duomo of Siena and the Duomo of Naples just to name a few. This is my 6th and 7th sketch of the Duomo of Florence and also the only ones that I kept. The main architectural features of most cathedral or churches in Italy are: the dome, bell tower, façade and baptistry. Sometimes the smaller churches do not have a separate baptistry and not all will have a large dome.

           The Italian words for the features are:

1) dome = cupola

2) bell tower = campanile (bell = campana)

3) façade = facciata

4) baptistery = battistero. 

         Several names in the Italian Renaissance period or earlier are associated with the Duomo of Florence. The Florence cathedral is named Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, or Basilica of Saint Mary of the flower. The huge dome is commonly known as Brunelleschi's Dome as the city waited for years before a genius like Brunelleschi emerged to have the intellectual capability to architect the great dome. Giotto's bell tower as seen from the second sketch below. Usually cathedrals or churches are named according to the patron saint. The patron saint of Florence is St John the Baptist, hence the unique octagonal building of the baptistery is the Baptistry of Saint John. Here's the view of the cathedral showing part of the dome from the north side.

               There is one angle, towards the west side of the Piazza del Duomo where one can fit all 3 buildings in one single shot of the camera. It's just the eyes get too busy all at once, as they are presented with so many details. Here, the bell tower is situated right in the middle with the octagonal baptistry on the right, and the main façade of the cathedral on its left. Known as Giotto's bell tower, as he devoted himself to its design and construction after the death of his predecessor Arnolfo di Cambio.

               I did not wish to crowd the sketch, so I attempted the bell tower with pencil instead of the usual ball-point pen to give it a lighter shade. Drawing is really the best way to appreciate every detail of these Florence icons. I get to examine closely each tile of the cathedral, the number of sides of the polygon of the bell tower's buttresses, the rigid geometry of the Romanesque style of the baptistery.

                We went for the mid-night mass at the Florence cathedral. The streets were rather quiet, but it seemed like the whole city had crowded in silence in one of the most famous cathedrals in the world. I could see nothing, only hear the chanting. As I looked up at the high ceilings, I wondered at all those that have stood under them over the centuries, silent witnesses to the changes over the generations.

Markets in Florence

          There are several market places in Florence that I get to pass through frequently. 

                Starting from Piazza di Madonna degli Aldobrandini, towards the Medici Chapel, here's the view of Basilica di San Lorenzo from under the tentages of San Lorenzo market set up around it's premises. Though they look like temporary tentages set up like the local basar malam (meaning "night market" in the Malay language) back in Singapore, the prices of Italian leather goods are not "basar malam" kind of prices at all. 

      

           Here's the facade of the Basilica, when we follow the market till it leads us to another square - Piazza San Lorenzo in front of the Basilica.

           Apart from getting a pair of leather gloves and bringing friends who visited Florence to the market, I seldom stopped to look too long at the wares that are sold. I've looked yes, several times tempted to get that summer hat, or the fashionable scarf, or that cool leather bag, but I think I have learned to differentiate stuff that are essential to have from stuff that are nice to have. Well, besides going back to the frugal life of a student, I prefer to prioritize my finances for visiting museums and traveling. I am also learning how to be more mobile - two luggage is all I am limiting my possessions to. 

          Here's another marketplace - Loggia del Mercato Nuovo, or meaning "new market". This name is to distinguish it from "Mercato Vecchio" or "old market" previously located at today's Piazza della Repubblica. Unfortunately, the glory of Mercato Vecchio" can only be seen from the paintings. Leather goods and souvenirs can be found in this loggia and at the other side, a famous statue of a bronze boar is placed. Its snot is gleaming due to all the rubbing from the visitors as it is believe to bring good luck. People also place a coin in its mouth and if it slops down into the "wishing well" at the bottom of it, it's a sign of good luck as the coin do not always land into the water below.

            I was more fascinated by the columns, capitals and arches when I first saw it. That was before I realize those are the common features in Roman architecture found all throughout Florence. Nevertheless the loggia, and the complicated branching of arches from all four direction at the top of the columns post as an interesting perspective.

          

Rome - twice n thrice

         I have been to Rome for the second and third time. Hopefully many more. Every visit I threw a coin in the Trevi Fountain, so I hope my wishes can come true.

         The Vatican city was in my agenda the last two visits. Also a thorough visit at the Pantheon. The best preserved Roman architecture, the magnificent dome reminded me of inverted chocolates. Well, coffered ceilings do remind me of inverted chocolate bars, or rather the molds from which they are made.

            I loved the way shadow are made on the square patterns when light enters from the oculus. It is also where Brunelleschi drew inspiration before he devised a way to architecture the Dome of Florence.

           As a little exercise for my Italian learning, I decided to write a little paragraph on my thoughts of the dome of the Pantheon:

"Il Soffitto del Pantheon, Roma
Sono andata al Pantheon due volte. Ogni volta, il soffitto a cassettoni sempre mi sbalordisce. L'ombra, quando la luce entra attraverso l'oculo è bellissima. Il monumento meglio conservato delle architetture Romane, il Pantheon è dove Brunelleschi ha raggiunto l'inspirazione per la cupola di Firenze."

          The grammar wasn't perfect, but I was pretty happy with the new vocabulary I had acquired and quite minimal corrections. With some help of course.

            When I first saw the dome of the Pantheon, I wanted to possess it. Possess it by capturing it in my sketch. I had a great time doing that ceiling. I looked really closely at the photograph to observe where the light and dark areas are.

            Here's the Colosseo from another angle. It's not a spelling error. It's "Il Colosseo" in Italian, I prefer to keep its name in the native language.

              I always try to find the end when I see something round or elliptical. We were walking around the Colosseo from one "end" until we came back to the same point. I liked seeing the "end" or "beginning" of it. There was a strike that day, so the monument was close to visitors.  Several tourists were standing there and just staring at the notice, not able to believe their luck for flying miles to see it and not able to. Well, it's Italy! See some pissed off visitor who wrote their piece of mind at the bottom right hand corner?