This past weekend was unforgettable to say the least! I traveled out of Florence for the first time since my arrival back in January.
On Friday, I traveled to the small town of Solarolo, which is north-east of Florence and near the city of Bologna, to visit the studio of world-famous ceramist, Andrea Salvatori, whose work has been in the Venice Biennale. The trip was organized by FUA through a program called Arty Fridays. After a 2-hour, bus ride through the hilly landscape, we arrived at Andrea's studio. Here we discovered the works that have made him well-known in the contemporary art world. His work is controversial and darkly humorous. Besides making his own ceramic pieces, he also uses ready-made ceramic figurines and changes the context by adding small elements. For example, he showed us a figurine of a boy and he had added a severed head with the likeness of himself to be held in the boy's hands. The best part of the visit was getting to discover that as a ceramics student at FUA, I will be helping Andrea by making small ceramic pieces that will be used in an upcoming work. I even got to see sketches of the work, but we are sworn to secrecy!
 |
| Andrea and one of his most famous works - a dog made out of ceramic tiles |
 |
| Andrea's "Self Portrait" as I mentioned above |
 |
| The small ceramic pieces that I will be helping to make |
On Sunday, my roommates and I joined up with our friends and went on the FUA trip to Viareggio for Carnivale. Viareggio is a sea-side town in Tuscany, and their Carnivale is famous for its large-scale paper mache floats. The floats are mostly social and political allegories, which use satire to make fun of the government or society as a whole. Visually, these floats are breathtaking. The parade travels up and down the boardwalk for 3 hours and the atmosphere is electric. People are dancing in the streets and throwing confetti. Even though it rained for a majority of the day, the weather could not damper our excitement.
 |
| Me soaking in the excitement of Carnivale |
 |
| Our group in the streets enjoying the parade |
 |
| A float about captain of the Costa Concordia |
On Wednesday night, I went to the opera in Florence. It was the opening night of Tosca, which is a three-act opera that first premiered in 1900. The orchestra and opera singers were incredible. Even though I didn't understand anything that they were singing, I could still follow the story and I really appreciated the beauty of the whole experience.
This weekend I am of to Rome!
