HNRS3065

Journal Entries
Annie Clark
5/13/16
Day 1:
Let me just start out by saying that Italy is gorgeous. Everyone here drives Fiats and
looks at us like we're obnoxious Americans but what else would you expect? Despite
the jet lag we actually got some stuff done today. We basically took a whirl wind
tour of Florence. We saw the Santa Maria Novella, the outside of it at least and then
went to the Palazzo Vecchio. I was really impressed by the Vecchio, the rooms are
huge and it is just absolutely amazing how much detail was put into every aspect of
the Palace, between all of the Frescos on the walls and ceilings and the detail work
along the trim of the doors and even the wood on the doors themselves, it was
absolutely stunning. My favorite part was definitely going to the top of the Vecchio
and being able to look out on all of Florence, it was absolutely breath taking, and
totally worth the 283 steps that it took to get up there. Afterwards, we had dinner at
a little restaurant outside of the Vecchio, I had lasagna and we all ordered the wine,
it was good but not as good as I was expecting. We spent well over an hour
wandering back to the hotel, but it's okay we'll figure it out eventually.

Day 2:

Today we started with a visit to the Palazzo Bargello. The Palazzo Bargello was
originally a prison that was later transformed into a museum and now holds private

collections. Then we went across the Pointe Vecchio and that was cool, a little bit
sketchy and I don't think I have ever held my purse so tight but definitely neat to
see. Lastly we went to the Palazzo de Medici. The actual rooms of the palace were
so interesting and this palace held all of the private art collection of the Medici
which was beautiful but quite boring because it was basically seeing painting after
painting for 4 hours. The garden was beautiful but I wish it wasn't raining the whole
time that we were there. The night was also so much fun because it was what is
known as the "white night" in Florence because it is the day before the first day of
summer so everyone was out despite the rain and it was so much fun, despite
getting separated from the group, no worries we found our way home.

Day 3:

So far most definitely the best day. We went to the Duomo and visited the
baptistery. The baptistery was nice and I really liked the frescos on the ceiling, they
were so vivid and detailed. I liked how I was able to look at all of the different
depictions and know exactly which bible story they were supposed to depict. The
whole thing is truly remarkable. After the baptistery we trekked up the 483 stairs to
the top of the Duomo. This was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. It is
amazing how the whole city just seems to fall in between the mountains and the
houses in the mountains are just absolutely gorgeous. I could have stayed up there
forever, I definitely plan on returning. Afterwards we walked across the river to the
piazza de Michelangelo for another stunning sight of the city, then ate at this little
hole in the wall restaurant where we had the nicest waiter who insisted on helping
us speak better Italian.

Day 4:
Not the most eventful of days, we visited Santa Croce, which was another beautiful
church. All of the tombs in the church were very interesting and the stained glass
windows were absolutely stunning. We also visited the library and basilica of San
Lorenzo, neither really stood out to me but still interesting buildings to see. After
that we got on the bus and travelled back to Rome. On a side note, once we pulled
into Rome I realized that I left the purse and Pandora charm that I had bought in the
Hotel back in Florence, oh well, something had to go wrong right?

Day 5:

Today we visited the Colosseum which was really cool but I was a little disappointed,
I guess I expected something a little more elaborate but I think I was just thrown off
because of all of the ornate buildings of Florence. It is interesting to see how
different Rome is from Florence, which I guess shouldnt have surprised me that
much because cities in America have very different distinctions, but I don't know, I
wasn't expecting it, definitely a culture shock. Afterwards, we walked through the
forum and up the Palentine hill which was really cool to see all of the ruins and
again I expected there to be more but it was interesting how much we had to use
our imagination to try and understand how the area was set up during the Roman
age. It's all so strange to me because you just don't see ruins like that, like Tony
said, "only in Rome." In the afternoon we visited a couple churches including Santa
Maria Maggiore which was beautiful, it continues to amaze me that people we able
to make these HUGE buildings without any modern technology.

Day 6:
Today we visited the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. I was really impressed
with just the sheer size of Vatican City. Again, it continues to amaze me that the
people were able to make such huge elaborate buildings with the little technology
that they had at the time. I thought that one of the coolest places there was the
Popes garage, seeing all of the cars and carriages that theyve used was so much
fun! I think part of why I liked it so much was because I was totally not expecting to
see something like that, very cool. I was not as impressed with the Sistine chapel
like I thought that I was supposed to be I expected it to be bigger, although that
could be because I wasn't feeling well. Unfortunately I went back to the hotel for the
remainder of the day so I didn't get to see castle sant'angelo which I was really
dissappointed about.

Day 7:
Today we visited the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and Campo De Fiori.
The Trevi fountain was so pretty and I was once again impressed with the
Architecture of the fountain, and of course I threw my three coins in the fountain for
luck, love and return to Rome (fingers crossed). The pantheon was quite the unique
building and I was really surprised by the hole in the dome, I thought that the hole
was going to be a lot smaller than it actually was, and I thought the building was
going to be bigger, so overall just strange proportions for that building as seen in
pictures. The outside area surrounding the Pantheon was so much fun to hang out
in, there were people everywhere and there were street performers playing music
and singing it was such a fun atmosphere. Also the market in and around Campo De
Fiori was so nice and I really wasn't expecting it so it was a nice surprise. In the
afternoon we went in a couple more churches, per usual.

Day 8:
Today we walked past the Spanish steps which were unfortunately under restoration
so we didn't really get to see them. Then we spent a lot of time in the Piazza del
Popolo which was another really nice area that I liked because of all of the people

and the big open area. In the afternoon we visited more churches and were able to
stop in the public library which was really small surprisingly but so different from
American libraries, it looked like something you would imagine seeing in a movie, it
was kind of funny because there were students sitting in there studying and they all
turned around and looked at us like we were crazy. In the afternoon we walked
through a beautiful park while we were walking to the Villa Borghese, I kind of wish
we had some free time to spend in the park, that would have been a lot of fun. The
Borghese was pretty but not as interesting as I hoped because it was mostly statues
and paintings but I really enjoyed the Caravaggio pieces, I love his work. At the end
of the day we visited the Caracalla Baths which were very interesting to learn about
and understanding how the Roman bathing techniques worked and how they
treated the bathing process made visiting the baths more interesting. I can't believe
how walking around naked was such a social event but seeing the baths made it
easier to understand how it was social just due to the immense size of the baths.
Again, the engineering of the age absolutely amazes me that they were able to
figure all of this stuff out like how to heat the baths and keep the rooms regulated,
so impressive.

Day 9:
We woke up at 6am and decided that it was going to be a good idea to climb 900
stairs to the top of the St. Peter's Dome. Actually the climb was not that bad, it was
probably easier than climbing the Duomo and the view was totally worth it. After we
came down from the dome we were able to watch a really cool ceremony that was
going on at the Vatican for the Catholic Jubilee so we were able to see one of the
Cardinals and some of the Swiss arms had a whole little show that went with the
ceremony. We got so lucky to be there. And turns out that if we would have stayed
20 minutes longer we could have seen the Pope! We then stayed out and proceeded
to just walk around (8 miles before noon) and then went to the Quirinale Palace

where Fitz decided to wear an American flag shirt to walk through the Italian
president's house, of course. The view from the Quirinale was so pretty, I could
definitely live there.

Overview:
One word that I could use to describe the trip: Amazing. Italy is beautiful, and so
different from America. At this point describing the difference between Florence and
Rome, Florence is like Chicago and Rome is like New York city, that being said, I
really liked Florence better and I kind of wish that we would have started with Rome
and then gone to Florence, I know why we did it the way that we did, but it would
have been nice to have the more lax walking amount at the end of the trip and I
think we would have had more time to spend in Florence, it kind of felt rushed. But I
must say, I'm really glad that we did Florence and Rome rather than just Rome, I
feel like 10 days of just Rome would be too much. I also wish that we would have
had more free time to just explore the city because the time that we did have to just

explore the cities was so much fun and I felt like I really got to experience the city
more than I was while walking around with the guides. Overall, it was a great trip
and I know I left a ton out of this journal but there was just so much information to
remember, it was a bit of information overload, but the 12 miles a day was
definitely worth it. I definitely plan on returning to Italy one day.
Class Notes:
Brief History:
***Leave Thursday of exam week (28th)
History (Rome)

753 Rome founded by Romulus

Rapid growth
o
Central position on Italian peninsula
o
Area formed by volcanic eruptions
o
Had good drinking water

Seven hills of Rome.

Rome started as a Republic (Julius Caesar) then to an empire

o
Influx of Greek architecture and structure

Roman Empire 27 B.C to 330 A.D

Quality monuments

Growth of Roman Catholic Church

o
Pope Gregory

Barbarian invasions

Papacy

Rebuilding of Rome (Renaissance)

Italy did not become country until 19c

o
Florence was the capital but then became Rome

2016-- Prime Minister: Matteo Renzi; President: Sergio Mattarella

History (Florence)

Established as a Roman town

Center of European finance

Construction of Duomo

Black Death

Developed Renaissance there

Napoleon invaded

Germans blew up all of the bridges during WWII

Vocab

Travertine: volcanic rock, favorable towards compression, looks like marble

Peperino: pourus
Tufa: soft rock, harden when exposed to air, used for filler for catacombs
Reprise initiation: mousilini, restore Rome to former glory, wanted to restore
the monuments, lost a lot of history
Forum: holitorium: market; boarium; cattle, good access to the port

Cloaca maxima: first sewer, cleaned up the city

Diaconia: grain market for churches and the poor
Ponte rotto: bridge by Tiber island, "broken bridge"
Latium: area of Rome
Etruscans: founded Tuscany, precursors of Rome
Velabrum: area between the area and the forum

7 hills of Rome

Aventine

Palatine

Capitoline

Esquiline

Rome columns much more decorative than the Greeks

o
Not freestanding all the way around the temple, creates entrance
Temple of Hercules
o
Round, all freestanding columns
Theater of Marcellus
o
Shaped like a "D"

Structures:
Ancient structures

Masonry materials
o
Stones
o
Masonry
o
Concrete
o
Wood

Post and beam

Arch
o
Build with individual stones and simultaneously with the other side and
middle is keystone
o
Barrel vault

Essentially a tunnel made of arches

Buttress
o
Thicker buttresses are much more effective
o
Taller doesn't really do much, but making it wider gets to resist higher
forces faster.

Dome
Masonry Beams
o
Timber beams were common because it allowed for larger interior
spaces, but no longer exists because the timber didn't survive
Building Vertical Support systems
o
Wall: encloses, divides or supports; forms sides or inner partition of a
building
o
Bearing Wall: supports gravity forces on the building

Chapter 3 Notes:

The Imperial City

o
Palentine was center of town
o
Augustus opened his home to the public
o
Liked to combine the green space with the indoors (believes that it
makes the city more livable.
o
The city became so muddled with all of the streets that it was not safe
to navigate and it became very dangerous with gangs and thugs and
robbers

Stone and masonry

o
Very good compressive strength
o
Large unit weight, density
o
Very durable
o
Strength
o
Hard surface
o
Resists natural deterioration
o
Poor tinsile strength

Emperors
o
Niro

Great fire
o
Palatine

Stadium of domition

Houses of all of the political figures

o
Horti

Houses just outside of the city

o
Gardens brought the outdoors in
o
Circus Maximus

Racing arena
o
Campus martius

Training ground for war

o
Colosseum

The combo of the arches and the columns to give the wall 3
dimensionality

The column is not free standing, it is engaged in the wall

Pilaster- on the top wall to articulate the wall

Like a wedding cake, Doric to ionic to Corinthian

Barrel and groin vaults used in the colosseum

o
Pantheon- all the gods
Chapter 2:

Romulus and Remus raised by a woodpecker, wolf and fig tree and Romulus
killed Remus and founded Rome

Rome founded April 21, 600BC

Rostrum- podium for speakers

Vestal virgins- temple in the forum, had to remain virgins for 35 years, if
found with man they would get buried alive

Julius ceasar- 1st triumph and emperor

Octavian became Augustus after he killed Brutus

Plebeians- lesser class, had house in the senate

Olegarchy- ruled by the elite

Curia Julia- senate chambers
Basilica- large hall and was adapted by the Christians

Characteristics of Roman Art

Admiration for Greek art

Innovations= arch vault and dome systems

Invented concrete
Column orders: refinement of architcural form

Doric
o
Oldest and simplest
o
Column=shaft +capital
o
Capital, not actually necessary but makes a transition simple molding
o
Usually rests directly on the step, no base
o

Ionic
Second, developed in eastern Greece
Has a base
More ornate capital
Shaft is more slender
Corinthian
o
Most ornate
o
Capital is much more decorative
o
o
o
o

Roman Basilica and Middle Ages

Basilica

Derives from the Roman "hall"-- in Roman Forum

Adopted for the Medieval Roman Catholic Churches; could hold large numbers
of people

Majority of churches placed near or outside the walls of the city

Major components: nave, aisles, nave arcade or colonnade, clerestory,

triumphal arch, apse, mosaics
Definitions

Nave: main body of the church

Apse: A semi-circular recess built sometimes at the east end of a church

Aisle: passageway usually going from the back to the front (west to east) of
the building, parallel to nave

Clerestory: extra row of windows, high towards roof

Transept: Rectangular are which cuts across the main axis of a basilica-type
building and projects beyond it

Narthex: like a porch

Arches:

Catenary curve (shape of cables aka parabola but more rounded)

Cables always seek equilibrium

The higher vertical the arch the less opposing horizontal force required.

Roman arch

Rise is 1/2 it's span, semi circle

Arches all in a row are archades
o

Mosaic and Fresco

Terrerae-material used in mosaic

Shapes were irregular

Grout

Used in floors and walls

Narrative- to tell a story

Geometric- just art

Fresco techniques
o
Painting on plaster essentially
o
Prepare the wall, paint pigments quickly on wet plaster
o
Arricco- prepare the wall
o
Sinopia-under drawing on wall
o
Intonaco- fresh plaster, section to be painted
Renaissance:

Duomo- covered in marble because it was local

Florence tend to have marble venir-- sometimes unfinished

Giotto- father of italian painting

Middle of 15th century, Vatican becomes spiritual and governmental center

for Roman Church and City of Rome

Constantine's church-- dedicated to St. Peter usually referred to Old St.

Peter's
Baroque in Rome:
Summary of stylistic periods

Classical

Etruscans-Italy's first civilization

Byzantine- early Christian period

Romanesque- Roman qualities, rounded arches

Gothic- taller, pointed arches

Renaissance

Baroque