Stadio Artemio Franchi

I attended a UEFA Cup game last Thursday in Florence, to watch Fiorentina and Rosenberg on the return. As compared to the last game I went to, this game was of much more important and much more intense.

This image is of the tower which represents the fans of Fiorentina, it can be seen from far away and especially upon entering the city from the north. Florence is a much larger city than Ascoli is. So it was not likely to see so many places closed down since there is always a need for commerce in that city. It was very similar to see the amounts of people arriving at the stadium before hand, talking and debating about the game. You could see a few thousand people who were anxious to get the game started. This stadium had an abundance of shops, apparel venders, and food venders in and around the stadium providing food, the means to support their team and provide an exciting, active atmosphere.


this is the piazza that fans soon flocked to nearly two hours before the game started

you can see the fans and people are waiting for the game to start

food venders and sports venders



This image shows the common places where people were located before the game, the dark blue are buildings, the green and yellow are the stadium, and the light blue are the herds of people, staying near entrances. The largest spot is where the fans who were sitting in the curve entered, these fans arrived very very early, and were singing and cheering as soon as they entered inside the park nearly an hour before the game started

an offical outlet store for apparel along with people reading the game paper

this cross section of the main stands shows the attempt at arches that were formed with concrete

here is another image of the structure at a different location, the arches are apparent here

This game was played at night because of its significance in the UEFA Cup. I have noticed through schedules that the important matches are played at night where as most other games are played during the day. A majority of tournament matches are played at night to attract more fans away from work and television viewers. The atmosphere inside this park spoke volumes of the importance of this game.

Between the image above and the image below you can see how many people arrived at the stadium to watch this game, around 35,000. Throughout the game the symbol of the fans (the tower) is a unifying element.


This underpass for access to the stands was great because it allowed people who were going to use the facilities or concessions to have visual access to the game almost always, but at the same time was sheltered from the largest volumes of noises.



its difficult to tell from these images to, but the seats were much closer together and much smaller than in American facilities. There is a desire to really create a close and intimate atmosphere inside the stadium. Shielding people from the outside distractions as much as possible to focus on the game. This stadio was amazing in the amounts of singers that came to support the team. Almost a third of the stadium was dedicated to chants and cheers, particularly the curves.

This is an unfortunate but common occurance in Italia lately. This is strictly a sign of pride and is an attempt by fans to show their passion for their team and their sport. For some people its great to see, for others it is just dangerous.

Firenze!!

Ok, quindi, la settemana scorsa e stato fantastico. La settemana era piccolo perche andaremo a firenze per la ultimo tre giorni. Mi e piachuto che siamo andati a Firenze perche quella citta ha tantissimo archittectura. Per questo entra scrivero italiano e inglese insieme, invece scrivere italiano prima e dopo inglise, va bene? Ok…

So, this last week was really amazing. The week was short because we were going to Florence for the last three days of the week. I liked that we could go to Florence because that city has so much amazing architecture to see. For this entry I will write Italian and English together, instead of writing Italian first and then English, ok?

Quando siamo arrivati, siamo andati a la posta alta vedere la Chiesa di San Miniato al Monte. Quella Chiesa e tanto vecchia e e cimitero dalle persone famose nella historia di Italia. Dopo, siamo andati a Piazzale Michelangelo. Quella Piazza a grande ma non in centro di Firenze. Ma da qui, abbiamo potuto vedere la citta da sopra…guardate…

When we arrived, we went to a high place to see the Church of San Miniato al Monte. This church was very old and is also the cemetery for many famous persons in the history of Italia and Florence. After, we went to the Piazzale Michelange. This place was big but not in the center of Florence. But from here, we could see the whole city from above…look at this…

la chiesa di San Miniato al Monte, lots of persian influence in this structure

from the piazzale michelangelo

Dopo, siamo andati in centro di Firenze, abbiamo visto la Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore prima. Mama mia, come grande e fantastico. Siamo andati indentro e abbiamo imparato come e fatto. So dalle mie clase di archittectura, che il architteo era Brunelleschi. Anche, il giorno prossimo, siamo ascendati il duomo. Questa Chiesa e il quarto grande chiesa nel mondo. Posso dire piu cosi, ma penso che I fotografie possono parlare per loro…

After, we went to the center of Florence, we say the Cathedral of Santa Maria of the Flowers, first. Wow, so big and fantastic. We went inside and learned how it was made. I know from my architecture classes that the architect was Brunelleschi. Also, the next day we went up the dome to see out.This church is the fourth biggest church in the world. I can say more about it, but I think that the photographs can speak for themselves.

the redone facade of St Mary's, its stature is phenominal

inside you can begin to fathom the scale

the dome of Brunelleschi covered with frescos, Filiberto told us that this was a shame, because the original idea of the church was to be done in the renaissance movement, and these frescos don't follow those ideals

outside showing the apps and transepts of St. Mary's, you can see the scaffolding around it obviously, this is because Italia has workers that regularly maintain the facades of important structures

the view of florence from the dome


Filiberto and I (with my new juventus scarf) sitting atop florence

deep in thought

Abbiamo visto tanto, per l’esampo, abbiamo visto il lavoro di Michelangelo, Caravaggio e l’altra artiste di Italia. Anche abbiamo visto i construzioni importanti dalla historia di Firenze. Ma c’era qualcosa che mi non e piachuto di Firenze. Firenze ha molti gli studenti americani. Dappertutto, puo vedere un American. In questa citta, possibile ogni persone puo parlare in inglese e in italiano. Era difficale parlare in italiano perche le persone di Firenze volgiono parlare veloce perche loro stanno lavorando, quindi, parlano in inglese perche e piu veloce, non mi e piachuto quello.

We saw so much, for example, we saw the works of Michelangelo, Caravaggio and other artists of Italia. We also saw many important buildings from Florence’s history. But there was something I didn’t like about Florence. The city has so many American students. Everywhere, you can see Americans. In this city, almost every person can speak both English and Italian. It is difficult to talk in Italian because the people of Florence want to talk fast because they are working, so they talk in English to be more swift, and I didn’t like that.

the river that runs beside the old city and some of the cool structures that exist on it



an important piazza in florence with replicas of many well done sculptures

Ma, totalle, Firenze e una citta magnifico. Dopo, io ed I miei amici siamo andati a Bologna e Modena per poco tempo. Abbiamo visto qualche construzioni fantastico, ma non abbiamo capito come hanno fatto.

But overall, Florence was an awesome city. After some friends and I went to Bologna and Modena for a short time. We saw some fantastic building, but we didn’t know how they were made, so it was difficult to really appreciate how awesome those places were.

the church in bologna that was halted because it was going to overtake St. Peters insize, Michelangelo was workign on the facade, you can see how it abruptly stopped

i was fascinated with the idea of the arcade in bologna and modena, here you can see the arcade sits right next to the street, providing shelter and nice means to bring the user into shopping space

my first encounter with bocci, these guys were playing for about four hours before the game started in Modena.

patience...

ok, I just got back from Florence, Bologna and Modena and I have alot to talk about and show you all. Give me one more day to get everything organized and posted. Thanks!
Also, Professor Deeg, I went to an amazing game in Florence this week and will post tomorrow as well. Thanks! Ciao Tutti!

in vacanza (non certo, ma ancora, una vacanza)

Questa settamana e andata veloce, ma ancora tranquillo. Lunedi e Mercoledi in mia clase di pittura, noi abbiamo comincato fare una pittura di un fiore, e tanto divertente.

Anche nella mia clase di lingua italiano, abbiamo avuto un esame per la prima meta del simistre. E andato bene, ho pensato ho fatto buona, tanto facile, ma non so come buona adesso.

Dopo le mie clase, siamo andati a un “excursion” venerdi. Prima, siamo andati a Loreto vedere La Basilica Santuario della Santa Casa e la Sala del Tesero in dentro. Questa chiese e stato fantastico. Desidero conosco le piu perole describere come bella e stato. Le relique di Maria e nella Sala del Tepero. Non so essato, ma penso che Maria abita in Loreto o vicino a qua. Quella basilica e tantisimo famosa. Il papa va qua spesso.

Ci sono solo le tre chiese in Italian che lui va in un anno. San pietro certo, la basilica a Firenze (che io vado visitare questa settamana,) e questa basilica a Loreto.

Ok, quindi, piu cosi volgio dire dei miei viaggi, ma e tanto difficale scrivere solo in italiano. Adesso fermato le italiana e cambio a inglese dire piu, ciao ciao.

This week went very fast, but still calmly. Monday and Wednesday in my painting class, we started to do a picture of a gorgeous flower, it’s a lot of fun and I’m very excited to be doing it.

Also, in my Italian class, we had our mid semester exam. It went well, I thought I did very well, very easy, but I don’t know how good right now so I’ll wait to see.

After my classes, we went on an excursion on Friday. First we went to Loreto to see the Basilica Santuario della Santa Casa and the Sala del Tesero inside. This church was phenomenal. I wish I know more words to describe how beautiful it was. The relics of Mary (the mother of Christ) are inside the Sala del Tepero. I don’t know exactly, but I think that Mary stayed in or near Loreto (something like that). This church is so famous because of it. The pope goes here often There are only three churches in Italy that he goes to every year. St. Peters of course, the church in Florence (which I am going to visit this week) and this church is Loreto.

Ok, so there are more things I want to talk about my travels, but it’s really difficult to write only in Italian. So I stop the Italian and change to English to write more.

I love talking in Italian and writing as well for the practice, but it takes a lot of time right now and with my vocabulary I can’t truly describe how wonderful some of these places are.

So anyway, after Loreto we went to a small town not far from Ancona called Sirolo. This place is pretty much the Cinqueterre of the east coast. It was so beautiful. You should really watch the movie I am posting because it describes the beauty of this place.

After that we went back to Genga where I was stranded the week before. But this time the experience was much more amazing. Genga is famous for its caves. It has the largest natural indoor space in Europe. The formations inside were absolutely gorgeous and incredible to fathom. I couldn’t take any pictures but believe me, it was amazing.

After that we headed to a winery in Metalica to learn about and sample the native white of Marche, Verdicchio. It was a lot of fun not to just learn about the process, but to learn the correct methods of tasting and choosing foods to join with it. I will say, that this winery had by far the best white wine I’ve had since getting to Italy. So if you are ever in a wine store and see Verdicchio white wine, BUY IT!! I promise you that you won’t be disappointed.

Well for now I am done, enjoy the pictures and tell me what you think when you get the chance. Take care everyone. Ciao Ciao!

This first image is of the piazza in front of La Basilica Santurario della Santa Casa. It’s fairly large in this small town, but really gorgeous, everything was built at different times which makes the composition more interesting.

This image is inside the church, the marble square box you can see in the middle of the image is the Sala del Tesero, where the relics of Mary are held.

Here is another image, you can see the scale of the house better and in comparison from the last image how big the church is. Inside this renaissance house is a two thousand year old brick construction where Mary’s relics are located. It’s amazing that through Napolean’s conquests that this place still stands. There are other rooms in the same church that were destroyed and everything was stolen.

This is the church from the exterior at the back, and some friends.

This is back in the main piazza, while we were inside a man had uncovered some of his works and was working on another, fantastic.

So this is Sirolo, an amazing place, we’re up a few hundred feet from sea level but the next image…

…shows the view from below at the beach, it is absolutely amazing. I hope you can grasp from this image that it is almost a full 360 degree image, about 300 degrees

Here are two pictures of me and some friends climbing some of the rocks on this beach, it was a lot of fun.

Here are the mountains of Genga, but we got to go inside and see the 1.4 million year old formations (sorry that there are no pictures of the inside)

This is at the winery in Metalica. This gentleman, Luca, explained the process and then took us here to the store to do a wine tasting and let us spend money on good wines. I bought three bottles, two of Verdicchio and one of a white wine and honey, all of which were produced at that winery.

Assisi, Perugia e poco altra posta non volgio andare...

Sabado scorso noi siamo andati a Assisi a vedere la Basilica di San Francesco e altri cosi nella quella citta. Prima siamo andati, mercoledi scorso, noi abbiamo guardato un film ha chiamato “Fratello Sole, Sorella Luna”. Il Film ha descributo la vita di Francesco e come ha cambiato come pensa. Quando siamo arrivati, la prima cosa abbiamo visto, la basilica. Sulla montagna dove e Assisi, la basilica e grande.

Noi abbiamo fatto una passegiato vicino alla basilica, dopo in dentro. Abbiamo potuto fotografire indentro, perche molti persone vengono a Assisi entrare e pregare in quella chiesa.

Per tre ore siamomo stati in dentro. La storia di San Francesco e come la basilica ha construito e fantastico. Io penso questo posta e stato la prima volta che mi sono piachuto ascoltare di la historia.

Dopo la Basilica, siamo andati a pranza e quindi altre poste a Assisi.

Dopo Assisi, io sono andato a Perugia, solo. Niente dei miei amici sono volute andare con mi. Ma, pero, sono andato. Perugia e una citta grande e tanta moderna. Ho pensato che Perugia e cosi cosi. Ho comprato ciccolati per la mia familia ed io. Mi dispiace, mama, non ho comprato niente per tu, ma possibile posso ritornare a comprare qualcosa.

Ho abitato in una ostello per i gioveni. Quando mi sono alzato, ho fatto un passagiato a Perugia e dopo io sono ritornato a Macerata. Ma prima sono arrivato, non ho cambiato a la vero posta e e stato in una piccolo piccolo villago chiama Genga.

Se voi volete capire piu, chiede, non so quanti scrivere. Ciao Ciao!

Last Saturday, we went to Assisi to see the Church of St. Fransis and other things in that city. Before we went, on Wednesday, we watched a film called “Brother Sun, Sister Moon” The film described the life of St. Fransis and how he changed the way he thought because of his love for God. When we arrived, the first thing we saw was the church. On the mountain where Assisi is, the basilica is huge and very apparent.

We took a walk near the church and then afterwards inside. We couldn’t photograph anything inside because many people come to Assisi to enter and pray in that church and we must show respect.

For three hours we were inside. The story of St. Fransis and how the church was constructed is fantastic. I think this place was the first time I really liked listening to the history of the churches.

After St. Fransis of Assisi, we went to lunch and then other places in Assisi.

After Assisi, I went to Perugia, only. None of my friends wanted to go with me. But, nevertheless, I went. Perugia is a huge and such a modern city. I thought that Perugia was just ok though. I bought chocolates for the family I stay with and me. And I am sorry mom, but I didn’t buy you anything but possibly I can return and buy you something.

I stayed ina hostel for the kids. When I woke up, I walked a little more in Perugia and then returned to Macerata. But before I arrived, I didn’t changed at the right place and was stuck in a small, small village called Genga. (Oh the joys of the Italian train system on Sundays)

If you want to know more, just ask, I never know how much to write and it can be very strenuous thinking in Italian. Ciao Ciao!

this is the Basilica di San Francesco, and the lawn in front of it, this is a very very old structure and gorgeous inside, the monument of the soldier on the horse represents the humility before god, which is why his head and the horse's are bowed

this is a small piazza built a little later also leading up to the church, it was very simple but served the point of focus towards the basilica

this was one of the roman's inputs towards Assisi, this structure is about a km from the basilica and was built in the boroque style


here is the same piazza from earlier but from a different view, you can see the bell tower up to the right

this is me with an audio system around my beck because we had to be extermely quiet inside, holding my sketch book, I'll try and get a couple sketches on here from the church in the next day or two

this is another image of me and the basilica (I wanted people to know I actually WAS visiting these places so I included a couple of me pictures)

here was a very neoclassical church in Assisi, the floor had recently been redone after an earthquake shook the region in 1997. But the earthquake revealed some ancient structures barried below that people were unaware of, and the remodel included a light blue glass floor to reveal those ancient ruins. I thought it was a great opportunity to be creative with this picture

this picture is from perugia. I unfortunately don't think i got to do as much traveling as i wanted to do in perugia, but my favorite part was the type of architecture called "mixed use" that this city had seemed to master. first floors were for business and local companies and upstairs for residences. 99% of italia's cities are covered with mixed use and it is refreshing to see the efficient of space

this is the mini metro station in perugia, recently the city invested in about 10 stops of a high tech tram system to transport people through the city (along with their great bus system), perugia is a very modern town and this was just another part of it, I enjoyed the sleekness of these stations

here is the last station of the mini metro at the top of perugia, the empty tracks in front of these two trains (which are going in opposite directions) is a place for the incoming train to revolved 180 degrees and go back in the other direction, very fun

this picture was taken in Foligno, one of the cities i had to transfer in while returning to Macerata, I have no clue about the history of this church, but how can you not appreciate the beauty

Foligno also had a street filled with these gorgeous homes that were fairly old and redone (or just recently done to look old). reminds me a tiny bit of a fraternity row on a college campus (not necessarily a good thing)

here is another image of one of the gothic houses

and this is genga, the tiny mountain town in the MIDDLE of nowhere with about 100 inhabitants, but very picturesque

thanks for reading guys!