Palazzo Gondi

Our architecture assignment is to analyze Palazzo Gondi, a Renaissance palace designed by San Gallo. It's right around the corner from the Palazzo Vecchio. Today our class was given the opportunity to go on a private tour, given by Signora Gondi herself. The building is privately owned and people still live and work there, so they don't open many parts to the public. In the spring, they were only letting people as far as the courtyard on the ground floor! We, on the other hand, were taken to what is essentially the penthouse apartment. She took us to the first terrace of the apartment and we were blown away by the view. When she saw how excited we got she insisted we see the one with the better view. That wasn't good enough apparently, because she took us to the third terrace which had the BEST view I have seen in the city so far.




The outside of the Palazzo Gondi, don't let its simplicity fool you!





The courtyard. On the left and right are my architecture teachers. In the middle is Signora Gondi. The only word she knew in english was "clothes"...not suprising. She was very stylish!

A very large, and supposedly very famous fireplace.



Some beautiful ceiling decoration.

These are both views from the second terrace we visited. I thought this little window was so interesing because it was so clearly meant to frame Brunelleschi's dome. If you moved a little to the left, it would frame the tower of the Bargello instead. In the image on the left, the green dome belongs to a synogogue. I walked by there on wednesday, and they have a Jewish restaurant! I was disappointed when I found out that it was vegetarian...no corned beef for me I guess.

One of my roomates, Catherine, and I on the third terrace!

The Hilltowns

We took a day trip for Architecture today. We went to the towns situated on the hills outside of florence. These included Monteriggione, Pienza and then Siena. Each town was more beautiful than the last. We mostly studied the piazze outside of the main medieval municipal buildings. Our teachers seem to want us to pay particular attention to the relationship between the built environment and the natural environment, and also how the space around a structure effects/enhances its function. It was really nice to get away from the overwhelming tourism in Florence. Admittedly, it was hard to focus on sketching when every place you went had an absolutely spectacular view. Luckily, my teacher said we will return to Siena.

Monteriggione

These two pictures are from Monteriggione. A town that is
probably smaller than a football field. It is one of the only
towns that is still enclosed by it's medieval walls.
This herringbone slope was very slippery!

 
Pienza

 The view below is from Palazzo Piccolomini (once the home of Pope Piccolomini). This town was also small, but bigger than Monteriggione. It was very cute and reminded me a little bit of San Giminiano.

Siena

The Cathedral at Siena

The Palazzo Pubblico

This is the view from the loggia at the Palazzo Publico. When we return to Siena, we're going to go all the way to the top of the tower! I can't even imagine that view.

L'architettura

Yesterday was my first day of architecture class! The studio is located at Piazzale Donatello, 25. It's about 3 floors of drafting tables and it's pretty amazing.

 
This is the lobby of Piazzale Donatello, 25.




This is our drafting room. Note the Lilies on the ceiling.



This is the room where we have any sort of lecture or meeting. Theres a very nice little courtyard right outside that we are free to use.



This is the terrace (and the view) from the top floor of the building.
The other architecture classes have their tables on this floor,
but any of us are allowed to use the deck. It's even prettier in
person!





Il Centro

I will DEFINITELY take more pictures of the city center soon. When I was there yesterday I kept managing to get distracted by gelato.

This is pretty much a typical street in my neighborhood. Fairly quiet and residential.

A picturesque view from the Ponte Vecchio.

Pretty amazing!

La Mia Casa

Ciao everyone!
I just wanted you all to be able to see some pictures throughout the semester. Don't worry! I will have plenty more to show you when I get home.

This is my room (my apologies for the unmade bed). Right next to the furnace theres a bathroom which is a good thing to have! Please note the chandelier.

The kitchen, equipped with a washing machine. Also, most of the art on the walls was done by family of our landlords.

It's pretty cute! I'll have to take some pictures of the neighborhood which is very adorable. The architecture studio is right around the corner. You can see Brunelleschi's dome from right there!