Vinci and the Medici Villas

I had the minestrone soup for dinner last night and washed it down with cheerios and milk. Sleep time was at 9:30 because I knew I'd be getting up early today, at 6:45am, for a long, arduous field trip to Vinci and a bunch of Medici villas.

The trip started at the Piazza Indipendenza, which is a 20 minute walk from the apartment. I got there on time and got onto the bus. The tour was led by the art history teacher, who is a bit like the Energizer bunny in that she never gets tired or stops for breaks. But more on that later.

The first stop was in the village of Vinci, which I and most people know as being attached to Leonardo da. upon arrival there was a brief coffee break, and the group of students and I all crowded into one of two coffee shops that sit near the Museo Leonardiano. I got a one euro pastry thingy that turned out to have delicious grape jelly inside.

I also got powdered sugar everywhere.

Then we went into the museum, which housed some models of Leonardo's inventions based on his drawings. The descriptions were all in Italian, though, so I had to mostly rely on the professor to get the full idea of what each model was supposed to do.

The outside of the museum. Part of it is in a medieval castle.

Some models of Leo sketches. These reminded me of Brunelleschi's inventions that I read about in that dome book.

Supposedly where Leo was baptized.

This part of the museum was on the smaller side, but the same ticket also got us into Leo's house in Anchiano, where he was thought to have been born. The house had a video playing (in Italian) and an interactive wall-length image of The Last Supper, where we could zoom in and see all the details in the painting.

Exhibit on stamps that feature Leonardo.

I've got the stamp at the top!

Sculpture of the Vitruvian Man.

The view from the museum. Somehow I'm making the same exact fact as in the prior picture.

USC Vanessa, Leonardo, and I

The view from Leo's house.

Leo's house. I'm kind of blocking it with my face... taking selfies with a view of the background is not easy.

The view from Leo's bedroom window.

After we finished with Vinci, we got back on the bus and drove to Carmignano. The view to this city was very very pretty, though I dunno if my pictures do it justice. Olive trees and grape vines lined the street and the surrounding hillsides, and in the distance we could see villas and tons of cyprus trees. Everywhere you looked was like a postcard.

Olive trees.

More trees, view.

You can see a bit more of the view here.

More view!

I tried to take a selfie with it, but bad lighting and the bus got in the way.

In Carmignano we stopped in the church of San Michele, where a painting by Pontormo called The Visitation is on the wall. The picture is apparently significant as an example of Mannerism.

In the church, painting on the left.

After that quick stop, we got back in the bus and set off for Poggio a Caiano, a Medici villa favored by Lorenzo the Magnificent. We walked into the villa garden and had lunch there. Nice scenery for a picnic. I had put together a David Special lunch the night before (pasta with sauce), and that worked out fine.

Poking my head in front of the Caiano villa.

Another side of the villa.

I found this fountain thing walking further into the garden.

More villa.

Then we toured the inside of the villa, which is called the Museo della Natura Morta. The upper level housed a collection of still life artwork collected by a succession of Medici's, and the bottom two levels contained some reconstructions of what the villa used to look like.

A mistake photo, but it gives a view of the ceiling inside the villa.

Me blocking some paintings.

This one painter named Bimbi liked to paint weird things, like this two-headed cow.

Another Bimbi, this painting of lemons has a list at the bottom that labels all the different lemon types. Really big painting.

The view from the villa balcony.

Still the view from the balcony. It was sunny.

 At around 3pm we got back on the bus and departed for the next villa. I was tired at this point and fell asleep for the 30 minutes it took to get to the villa Petraia, which was at one point used by King Victor Emmanuel II. Again, very pretty decorations and art.

Fountain outside the villa.

Petraia villa. Still sunny.

The first room had a glass ceiling that let in light, but there was still a massive chandelier hanging down.

The inside of the same room.

One of the rooms inside the villa (note that I can't really see my face while taking the selfie).

We then walked to a nearby villa (the whole area is hopping with villas) called Castello. We weren't able to go inside this one, but we could go around the garden, which had nicely cut hedges and fountains and a grotto area that was under scaffolding but supposedly pretty neat-looking.

Me, USC Di, and a fountain that stars a statue of Hercules at the top.

This old guy statue was sitting on a rock in the middle of a pond. I don't remember who the old guy is now, but it's a fun statue nevertheless.

View from the villa balcony.

Another view from the balcony.

This is called the secret garden, I guess because it's hidden behind a door. It has herbs in it, a nice pond, and another statue.

And then the final villa, which used to be called Pratolino and is now Villa Demidoff. There wasn't any villa left there because it had all been demolished, but there was a ginormous statue called the Appennino.

Next to me is the Appennino. It's hard to tell in the picture, but it's BIG.

A better view of the same statue.

The back of the statue had a dragon stuck to it. There's also some caves in the back, but they were unfortunately blocked off.

All that's left of the demolished villa is the front stairs.

At 8pm we got back on the bus and back into Florence. My feet were absolutely dying, I had drunk a liter of water, and I am currently super tired, but it was a fun day. Lots of beautiful sights (again, I'm not sure if the pictures fully convey that... some of friends took some better pictures so I might attach those), and I learned that it must have been a really nice life being a Medici (besides the assassinations and the exiles). I want to live in an Italian villa now.

Back at the apartment, I had a microwaved potato and cheese for dinner and finished off the cheerios for dessert. I think I will sleep very well tonight.