The Italian Beginning

Dear Mom,

After spending 3 days in Rome and a day in Florence and Bologna, here are my thoughts about Italy

Rome:

It was pretty dope.

Bologna:

Least touristy of the three cities, it was much like a corn maze were you to replace the corn with nifty city shops and magnificent churches. Bologna was very cool in that aspect of having the ability to poke your head in the doorway between a gelato shop and a local restaurant and being able to experience one of the 22 marvelous churches. Very prominent youth culture. Reminded me a lot of Spain’s Toledo in seeing the town’s layout, vibrant culture, and cathedral/basilica-centered nature.

Florence:
Twas more of a humble tasty. There are a lot of gems there (read: the Duomo) but Florence was not all up in your face about it. Most importantly, Florence gave me Jason Bourne dreams.

The Duomo:

A basilica in the center of the city of Florence, I am near positive aliens must have built it. And probably painted it too. In sheer mass, the Duomo is in a league of its own. What really struck me about the Duomo though, is that the inside of the cupola (the actual dome portion) is completely painted. Think about that for a second. Not only did they have to find a guy who was a master painter to deliver the artistic equivalent of the Sistine Chapel, but they also had to convince this poor bastard to be hoisted hundreds of feet up in the air on some rickety wooden contraption.  Give that man a cookie.

Sacristy, viewed from cupola walkway at 170ft

Painted Dome of Duomo

The Leather:

Florence is famous for its leather working, which is awesome, but to the average tourist, that won’t mean much in the end. If you really want high quality leather, you better be prepared to pay for it, both in time and money. The thing is, everybody wants to buy leather in Florence, so the hundreds of street vendors there sell real crap. Of course, if you’re looking for an awesome cheap belt or wallet – and you don’t care that it’s not real – you’re fine. But I’m pretty sure I did not see much - if any- actual Florentine leather around the vendors.

Ancient Roman Ruins:

Every time you turn a corner, there’s something ancient and impressive in your face. It’s a good idea to mark some stuff on the map for the first run, but going beyond the famous stuff, the real fun is not having a destination in mind. Rome is like some sort of fudge chunk chocolate chip cookie: you got your big pieces, you know, the Coliseum, the Forum, the Constantine Arch – things that you absolutely need to mark on your map.  But most of what’s sweet on the Rome cookie are all the little chocolate chips; ancient tidbits that are everywhere, but you only find them by really diving in and getting your walk on.

                                                                                               Da Pope -->

Hallway in Vatican Church

Vatican Church:
The best way I can describe it is that it is the Chris “Birdman” Anderson of buildings. Every inch of the interior, from wall to ceiling is covered completely with art that includes thousands of individual paintings and hundreds of years of professional work. This magnificent devotion to scriptural art culminates in the Sistine Chapel, which due its triumphant and vaulting interior, is by far the most famous part.  What a wonderful treat it would have been to study scripture in place where the stories come alive on the walls that surround.

The Pigeons and Seagulls:

They Are Huge.

Absolute savages, I saw one devour a half a pizza by itself faster than Kobiyashi and then follow it up by pooping it out on a nearby friend on a flyover; they are truly impressive creatures.
These avians are also very aware of their size and strength. Much like the monstrous squirrels at Notre Dame, they don’t move for no one. The pigeons don’t fly and instead play the game of who can flap their wings least in a day. In Rome, I punched a seagull. Not hard that it was cruel but enough to let it know that we weren’t going halfsies on the pizza I just bought.

Calzedonia:

By far Glee Club’s favorite store, Calzedonia is essentially an Italian Victoria’s Secret that sells swimwear. The interesting part about Italy and Calzedonia is that you can’t see one without seeing the other. Over 50% of the billboards we saw were Calzedonian and 100% of those were of the same model (portrayed in two different photos). Because of its prominence and its obvious indication of an upstanding society I decided to due some research to come up with the Calzedonia story. This is what I found:

“People could give two shits about product you sell. Today’s business is all about building a brand” – CEO of Calzedonia

Upon the company’s creation and before even creating their product line, the Calzedonia Co. put all their cash towards buying out the billboard monopoly in Italy.  Dealing with a minimalist budget and thousands of billboards, Calzedonia began to build its brand the best way possible: through a massive advertising campaign involving a smoking model in a swimsuit. Unable to hire a model of country-wide caliber, the company went to Facebook to find the right girl to build their brand and undetermined product around. After finding an aspiring American model with accessible profile pictures, Calzedonia launched itself into the eyes of the Italian public. After two years of dominating advertisement, the company was able to secure loans to establish a handful of stores. Given the billboards, Calzedonia determined it made most sense to sell swimwear and that they have. Today, Calzedonia operates with roughly 50 stores, 5 swimsuits, and the strongest brand of any Italian company.