Under the Tuscan Sun: Day Two – Arezzo
Sunday we spent in Arezzo, another little town in Tuscany. There was an antique fair going on that weekend, so the streets were packed with tables upon tables of vendors selling all sorts of antique and craft items. I got some shopping in, buying gifts for my brothers as well as some jewelry for myself (these were just some of the craft stuff, not antiques).
We learned more about the Renaissance as we took a walking tour, ending in a pretty, open park next to the cathedral. Then some of us headed to mass at the cathedral. There was a parade of musicians walking by at this time, and they stopped on the steps of the cathedral for a performance. My dad and I went to watch this group of drum and trumpet players, dressed in old-fashioned uniforms, which was really fun to watch and listen to. Not sure what the occasion was; I guess it just had to do with the whole weekend’s festivities.
After mass at the cathedral, we went to a church to view an exhibition of some frescoes, which my professor explained to us. They told the legendary story of the origins of the wood of the cross on which Jesus was crucified and what happened to the cross after Jesus’s death. The other parts of the church had bits and pieces of frescoes showing, but a lot of them had been painted over years ago when the Church was moving away from the decadent art and decorations covering the churches, and so started covering these “distractions” on the walls. Some restoration work was being done to recover them, though. A fresco, by the way, is where an artist works on a wet plaster surface and has to paint the design on it before it dries, which gives it its texture.
After the frescoes, we had free time, and so my dad and I did some shopping on the street and then found a little trattoria where we ate lunch. We were pressed for time since we had to meet back up with the group to leave, so I got my delicious chocolate cake to go, which meant I had to share it with my food hound of a friend, Sarah (well, we both are, I guess, so it works out), when I met up with the group at the bus.
I rode with my dad in his rental car, and we followed the bus up winding mountain roads with beautiful views of the Tuscan countryside to the Castello del Trebbio, for an evening of wine tasting!!
|
