Digging Deeper …
by Justin Angell
As many of you know, Kelly and I have been checking items off each of our bucket lists with a trip to Italy and Greece. Next week we were supposed to complete a 43-year wait for me by visiting the pyramids in Egypt. However, due to the Persian troubles, that portion of the trip has been canceled.
We first arrived in northern Italy in the world famous city of Venice, where we spent two days. I did not realize that Venice is actually 117 different islands connected by canals and bridges. Highlights there were attending Easter Mass and a demonstration of Venetian glass blowing using techniques centuries old.
From Venice, we moved south to the wonderful city of Florence where we also spent two nights. The first highlight for me was a walking wine tour that culminated in a dinner of Florentine steak. I learned that Florentine steak is a delicacy of grass fed, Chianina beef served very rare. For the art and architecture lovers, Florence is a must see.
The Medici family ruled Florence for 300 years during the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. The Medici’s for decades were wealthy, powerful patrons of the arts. Beginning as a family of butchers, they eventually became wealthy merchants and bankers gravitating to politics and administrative positions in the Florentine government and the Catholic Church, including three different popes picked from their family organization.
Approximately 1500, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci (contemporary, and competitors) were both creating architectural wonders and incredible art in the city.
I was able to see Michaelangelo‘s world famous marble statue of David along with hundreds of his other sculptures. Having been accumulated for centuries, Italians used marble and gold as building materials like we would use wood and paint. Incredible floors, staircases, sculptured artwork and mosaics are everywhere.
Moving from Florence to Rome, the opulent theme continued with massive Roman Era ruins, including buildings like the Pantheon and the Colosseum. I could spend a month describing the Coliseum alone, but suffice to say the most stunning statistic was the estimate that over 350 years of “games”, 1 million gladiators, Christians and other condemned human beings were killed in that arena for entertainment of the Roman masses.
The true modern glory of Rome the city has occurred in the last 600 years with the expansion and prosperity of Italy the country and the Catholic Church. Much of this expansion occurred during the European conquest and subsequent plundering of the wealth of the New World civilizations. Huge amounts of gold, silver, precious stones etc flowed into Rome mostly through Catholic Spain, resulting in a church and Basilica building spree that lasted 100s of years. I cannot stress enough the opulence and beauty of Basilica architecture and the craftsmanship of the artists that filled every corner of these churches. The ceiling of the Sistine chapel took Michelangelo over four years to paint. For all my Catholic friends, I would encourage you to make this trip at some point in your life. You will not be disappointed.
My final impressions of Italy concerns not only the beauty of the rugged countryside, but also the Italians are a beautiful people. Tall, lean physiques with dark hair, dark eyes and wonderful skin.
They seem to be a very happy, healthy culture and enjoy living every day with incredible cuisine and fantastic wines. There is no bad wine in Italy. There is something special about their diet and their walk everyday lifestyle because the only fat people I saw in Italy were either in the mirror or were American tourists.
Closing, I will say that Italy is a country that works. Gas is eight dollars a gallon, so people walk and conserve fuel with small, efficient automobiles. The roads are exceptionally good with many of the highways utilizing a network of tunnels, each over 3 miles long to facilitate quick and easy movement of the population. The high-speed train network here is just as good or maybe actually better than flying in our country.
No TSA lines, no two-hour drives to the airport and on the train it’s more like sitting in your living room, except you’re going 140 miles per hour.
I hope you found this interesting. Tomorrow we leave for Greece.