Student Correspondent News: The Medici Chapels

Fall 2010 student Christine Williams, an Art Publications Intern at Flo 'n the Go, has recently published the following article. To see the full article and learn more about Flo 'n the Go,  click here

The Medici Chapels currently host an exhibition of the funeral panels of King Henry IV.  A combination of efforts by the Soprintendeza of Florence, the Medici Chapel museum and the Musée National du Chateau de Pau brought us the new exhibit entitled Parigi Val Bene una Messa! (Paris is Worth a Mass). In 1610, after King Henry IV died, Cosimo II de Medici mourned the death of his relative with a lavish funeral that took place in the Basilica of San Lorenzo. For the occasion, the Basilica was lit by hundreds of candles and decorated with monochrome canvases depicting the most important victories and events in the life of King Henry IV. Now, the 19 remaining chiaroscuro panels have returned to San Lorenzo along with books and drawings relating to the life and times of Henry IV.

Despite the slight aesthetic discord between the exhibit and the setting, Parigi Val Bene una Messa! is legibly displayed with both Italian and English descriptions. Make sure to see the coat of armor worn by the King that could not have been more than 5 feet tall. The exhibition of these historically and artistically significant panels is a lovely and fitting tribute to the 400^th anniversary of Henry IV’s death.  Although, if you believe the two darling Texan women beside me, the main oversight of this exhibit was forgetting to explain that Henry IV (“hmm… darlin’ that name certainly sounds familiar… important-like”) was, in fact, an “important-like” French monarch. The exhibition ends November 2, 2010.


Christine Williams
Vanderbilt University

Newsletter: Oct. 22 - Nov. 7

Announcements / CET Events

Monday, Oct. 25
Guided tour of the Ancient Roman Amphitheater located UNDERNEATH Palazzo Vecchio. Meet in front of Palazzo Vecchio at 4 pm.

Tuesday, Oct. 26
Midterm Housing Walk-Throughs. 12:30-2 pm

Tuesday, Oct. 26
Professional Fiorentina Soccer Game. Sign –up today! (Game starts at 8:30. Meeting time TBA).


Oct. 29-Nov. 7
Fall break. Buone vacanze a tutti!






This week in Florence

Saturday, Oct. 23

Firenze along the walls: Guided walk of Florence’s medieval perimeters (6 – 10 PM). Leaves from Piazza del Carmine.

Sunday, October 24

Val Di Rose e Stagni di Focognano, Pianai Park (9 AM – 5 PM)

Wed. Oct. 27, 6 pm 
British Library Lecture: Cristina Acidini Caravaggio and the Caravaggeschi.
It is not certain that Caravaggio ever visited Florence, though in Rome he certainly frequented Palazzo Firenze, and his two splendid paintings of Bacchus and Medusa are known to have reached the Uffizi before the end of the 16th century. Moreover, he had many followers in Florence. The distinguished art historian Cristina Acidini is Superintendent for the Historic, Artistic and Ethnoanthropological Patrimony of Florence, and head of the Polo Museale.

Oct. 31
Chestnut Festival Marradi, http://www.sagradellecastagne.it/

Through December 10
50 Days of Film – Festival at the Cinema Odeon
For more information, see www.odeon.intoscana.it





Anxious to explore? Suggestions in/around Florence:

Oct. 23 – December 7
“Firenze Insolita”: The city of Florence has created a program of guided tours and walks throughout the month of November. See the full schedule on the Activities bulletin board or online here: 

Newsletter: October 9 - 22

Announcements / CET Events:

Oct. 9
Buon compleanno, Sarah!

Oct. 18-22
Midterm Exams. In bocca al lupo!
The CET Center will be open until 20:30 pm Monday-Wednesday during exam week.


TBA
Fiorenza International Soccer Award Reception.

This week in Florence:

Tuesday, Oct 12
La Traviata by Verdi
English Church of St. Mark’s www.concertoclassico.info


Wednesday, October 13, 6 pm
Commemorative concert for Arthur Benjamin and Cecil Armstrong Gibbs; includes songs by both composers as well as Francis Toye and Frank Bridge.

Sunday, Oct 17
Little Fall Fair, Piazza S.Spirito (all day)

Oct 10, 17, 24, 31, 47th Chestnut Festival 
Marradi, http://www.sagradellecastagne.it/

Wednesday, October 20, 6 pm
Lecture: Bronzino: A behind-the-scenes look at the organization of the first monographic exhibition of the Italian Mannerist painter Agnolo di Cosimo, known as Bronzino (1503-1572). It will also explore the ways in which the exhibition serves as a platform for reaching out to new audiences in new ways, linking the city's cultural institutions to make Florence ‘the city of Bronzino' from September 2010 to January 2011.

October 21-24
Creativity Festival. For events, locations and details, see www.festivaldellacreativita.it.




October 21 (through December 10)
50 Days of Film – Festival at the Cinema Odeon
For more information, see www.odeon.intoscana.it








Anxious to explore? Suggestions in/around Florence:

tomba etrusca, La Montagnola

Sunday, Oct. 17
“Un viaggio nel tempo” Guided (in Italian) bus tour of Etruscan tombs, gardens, villas, and ceramics museum. 9:30 am – 6 pm. Meeting point at the train station. To reserve your spot on the bus, you just have to call 055/5001495

















Italian phrase of the week:

“A chi nulla tenta, nulla riesce”
(Those who attempt nothing accomplish nothing).


Siate coraggiosi! Be brave! Take advantage of your time in Italy!

Original Sound Movie Schedule Oct 21 - Dec. 2010
ORIGINAL SOUND – ASTRA 2
Piazza Beccaria Reduced ticket €6.00 (Italian and foreign Students from Monday to Friday)


OCTOBER 2010
Monday 11th and Tuesday 12th
EAT PRAY LOVE shows: 3.00 - 5.30 - 8.00 - 10 30 pm

Monday 18th
THE CITY OF YOUR FINAL DESTINATION
(GB 2009, 118') by James Ivory shows 3.45 - 6.00 - 8.15 - 10.30 pm

Monday 25th Tuesday 26th
SOMEWHERE with Italian Subtitles
(USA , 98’) by Sofia Coppola shows 4.30 – 6.30 – 8.30 – 10.30 p.m.


NOVEMBER 2010
Tuesday 2nd
SALT with Italian Subtitles
(USA 2010 – 100’) by Phillip Noyce shows 4.30 - 6.30 - 8.30 - 10.30 pm

Monday 8th
GROWN UPS
(USA 2010 - 102’) by Dennis Dugan shows 4.30 - 6.30 - 8.30 - 10.30 pm

Tuesday 9th
KNIGHT & DAY
(USA 2010 – 110’) by James Mangold shows 4.00 – 6.10 - 8.20 - 10.30 pm

Monday 15th
Tuesday 16th THE SOCIAL NETWORK
(USA 2010 - 120') by David Fincher shows 3.30 - 5.50 - 8.10 - 10.30 pm

Friday 19th – Saturday 20th – Sunday 21st - Wednesday 24th - Saturday 27th – Sunday 28th
HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1
with Italian Subtitles (USA, UK 2010 - XXX' ) by David Yates shows 3.30 – 6.30 – 9.30 p.m.

Monday 22nd – Tuesday 23th – Thursday 25th – Fruday 26th - Monday 29th – Tuesday 30th
HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 1
with Italian Subtitles (USA, UK 2010 - XXX' ) by David Yates shows 5.00 – 9.00 p.m.

DECEMBER 2010
Wednesday 1st Thursday 2nd
WALL STREET – MONEY NEVER SLEEPS
(USA 2010 – 125’) by Oliver Stone shows 8.10 – 10.30 pm

Monday 6th LAST NIGHT (Usa, Fr 2010 - 90') by Massy Tadjedin. shows 4.30 – 6.30 – 8.30 – 10.30 pm

Monday 13th Tuesday 14th
YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER (USA, Spain– 108’) by Woody Allen shows 4.30 – 6.30 – 8.30 – 10.30 pm

Traveling Seminar in Rome: Sept 30 - Oct. 3

DAY 1: 
Thursday, Sept. 30


Colosseum, Roman Forum, Capitoline Hill and Pantheon.


Group Dinner

DAY 2: 
Friday, Oct. 1



Vatican Museums, Rooms of Raphael, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica

Tour of the Italian Senate, Palazzo Madama.

San Luigi de’ Francesi and Pantheon.

DAY 3: 
Saturday, Oct. 2

S. Giovanni in Laterano and Museo Storico del Vaticano [link]

Baroque rivals walking tour: Santa Maria della Vittoria (Ecstasy of St. Teresa), S. Andrea al Quirinale; Borromini’s S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane.

Borghese Gallery

DAY 4: Sunday, Oct. 3
The Quirinale

Corri la Vita

RUN FOR LIFE - CORRI LA VITA

CET students joined 20,000 others in this year's edition of CORRI LA VITA on September 26 at 9:30 am in Piazza della Signoria, the most historic and prestigious piazza of Florence.


CORRI LA VITA is an event organized and managed by a committee of volunteers in collaboration with the Italian Cancer Society. CORRI LA VITA is not only a walk/run, but is an event for people to gather together for sport, culture and solidarity. 


Together with Florentine families, friends and children we walked through the historic center of Florence and crossed over the river to the Oltrano, stopping along the way to visit gardens, churches, palaces and museums that will be opened especially for this occasion.

Newsletter Sept. 26th - October 10th

Announcements / CET Events

Sept. 27
Buon compleanno, Lucy!

Sept. 27-29
Fiorenza International Soccer Tournament. Come support our team!

Sept. 30-Oct. 3
Traveling Seminar to Rome

Oct. 4-6
Fiorenza International Soccer Tournament Play-Offs.

This week in Florence

Wed. Sept. 29
6 pm British Library Weekly Lecture: Christopher Newall, The Etruscans: Painters and Patriots
Italy, its landscape, literature, art, and history, was a central reference point for the movement of British artists known as Pre-Raphaelitism in the 1850s and 1860s. Later in the century there came about an artistic grouping which involved both British and Italian artists - the Etruscans. Led by the painter and patriot Giovanni Costa, members of this circle sought to treat landscape subjects as a means of prompting thought about the struggle for Italian unification. Writer and art historian Christopher Newall will explore the fascination that these British artists felt for Italy, their support for political unity and their depiction of the Italian landscape. Christopher Newall was co-curator of the exhibition Pre-Raphaelite Vision: Truth to Nature (Tate Britain, 2004) and of The Pre-Raphaelites and Italy (Ravenna and Oxford, 2010).


Wed. Sept. 30
Palazzo Strozzi, 7 pm, PORTRAITS AND POWER: People, Politics and Structure
Portraits of famous political figures, investigations into the lifestyle of the social elite, as well as inquiries into the power structures of international institutions. The exhibition explores portraiture and the representation of political, economical and social power in the today’s world through the works of contemporary artists. Artists: Tina Barney, Christoph Brech, Bureau d’études, Fabio Cifariello Ciardi, Clegg & Guttmann, Nick Danziger, Rineke Dijkstra, Jim Dow, Francesco Jodice, Annie Leibovitz, Helmut Newton, Trevor Paglen, Martin Parr, Wang Qingsong, Daniela Rossell, Jules Spinatsch, Hiroshi Sugimoto, The Yes Men.
www.strozzina.org www.palazzostrozzi.org

Starting Sept. 25th:
Guided tours of the Ancient Roman Amphitheater located UNDERNEATH Palazzo Vecchio.
The amphitheater, with a capacity for 15,000 spectators, is now open to tourists after 6 years of excavation. Guided tours on Saturday, Sunday and Monday (11, 2:30, 3:30 and 4:30). Reservations are required. €6.50. Tours are only held in Italian. Take advantage of this opportunity and sign up now for a tour of the amphitheater with CET on Monday, Oct. 25th! info.museoragazzi@comune.fi.it.


Anxious to explore? Suggestions in/around Florence:

This October, a series of guided walks are offered each weekend (see Aria for details if you are interested in participating):

Saturday, Oct. 9
Marble and sculptors: “La strada degli scalpellini. ll tragitto del marmot” (9 AM – 3 pm)

Saturday, Oct. 23
Firenze along the walls: Guided walk of Florence’s medieval perimeters (6 – 10 PM). Leaves from Piazza del Carmine.

Sunday, October 24
Val Di Rose e Stagni di Focognano, Pianai Park (9 AM – 5 PM)

Italian phrase of the week

“Chi non fa, non falla”
(He who does nothing makes no mistakes).

Siate coraggiosi! Be brave! Take advantage of your time in Italy to learn the language and culture, don’t be afraid to make mistakes!

Firenze Cum Laude: Welcome Reception for Foreign Students, Sept. 22

Yesterday, CET students attended the welcome reception for new international students held in the Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio. Here we are with the U.S. Consul General of Florence, Mary Ellen Countryman.