Antique Fair in Arezzo, Assisi & Italian Haircuts

This will be my last post for quite awhile- Tuesday morning the entire study center is kicking of spring break right with a 3 day trip to Venice! We've already got tours set up of Doges Palace, as well as the Guggenheim museum there, and we will have a day to explore the canals of Venice, as well as the islands that specialize in lace-making and glass-making! From there I will head off to Paris, France, Dublin, Ireland & London, England to enjoy the rest of my spring break! So it may be April before I am able to get back here seeing as I won't be back in touch with my computer until March 25.


This past week has been a pretty low key week, even though a lot has happened. Last Saturday we took a half day trip to Arezzo, a nearby town, to go to the antique fair that they hold on the first weekend of every month. Now I thought the antique fair was going to be in one or two of the major town squares, and that it would probably take an hour to wander through. Well the way the town is set up is that once you exit the train station, there is a town square with a nice park area and the town statue, and then on the other side of it is where all the houses and shops are. Well, basically, once we crossed that large town square to get in to the town, the antique fair was on EVERY SINGLE STREET of the town. Literally, every piazza, every alley way, any way you could turn, there were booths and umbrellas with tables set up of all sorts of things- books, watches, keys, candles, paintings, scarves, lots of furniture, some clothes, and a lot of jewelry. It was completely overwhelming! 


Before we got to indulge though, we went on a short tour of the 2 town churches in Arezzo, with the hilarious Giovanni. Luckily he only took us to 2 churches in 1 hour, but the second church seemed to be in much worse shape as you can tell by the picture below. Our day was mostly just filled with wondering around the town to experience the life going on within the town- it seemed as if everyone was out on the streets selling some sort of good! 

Antique fair in Arezzo

Church in Arezzo

Inside the church

Second church in Arezzo

Interior of church 2.

What the main square looks like NOT covered in snow!

ANTIQUE PLATES!

ANTIQUE KEYS!

ANTIQUE WATCHES

my inspiration for my stone carving final

Along with that trip on Saturday, this past Wednesday we had our weekly field trip to Assisi! Basically all I knew about it before we went is that Saint Francis was from Assisi...and well...that's really all there is to it, besides the fact that it is absolutely beautiful! When we got there we immediately toured the upper and lower basilica's of Saint Francesco, but of course I only have exterior shots for you because there are no pictures allowed inside. Once inside the lower basilica we were also allowed to go down into the crypt and look at the remains of St. Francis- the crypt itself was beautiful, and St. Francis's remains are among the best kept I've seen so far (some of the remains are actually quite gross looking).

After we toured the two basilica's we were led onto a piazza where you can overlook the town- BEAUTIFUL! We were able to spend a few minutes taking pictures and soaking in the views before we headed to Santa Chaira of Assisi (I found out Santa Chiara means Saint Claire, which is where we stay in Castiglion!). Again, no photos were allowed to be taken in the church, but it needs much more restoration because all the frescos on the walls had fallen off. We were also able to go down and see the tomb of Saint Claire, but we were quickly rushed out because the church closed at 1 p.m.

After this tour a lovely 3 course meal was provided for us, and then we had about 3 hours to kill on our own. Most everyone decided to make the trek up to the old castle and fortress that stands at the top of the hill, and we took a lot of cute pictures, some scaled the fortress wall, and some of us just hung out in the beautiful weather, breathing in the Umbrian air (Assisi is in the valley of Umbria, not in Tuscany)

An hour and half later we made our way back down to the town, grabbed some gelato and other goodies, did a little souvenir shopping and headed back to the bus. It was a very low key day in a beautiful town.

Welcome to Assisi

The lower Basilica of Saint Francesco

View outside of Saint Frencesco

Loggia wall that backs up to the valley

Santa Chiara

View of Assisi

The fortress

Clara, Erik and Robert on top of the fortress wall

Clara found me MARCEL THE SHELL!!!!

Katelyn, Clara, me, Alli and Chloe by the fortress

Now, the weekends here in Santa Chiara can get a little...well...boring if you're not planning on going out, and not really motivated to do any class work. So late Friday evening (I am talking 1 a.m. late) my friend Erik decided that he needed a haircut, and not only that, but he wanted an Italian one (long strip down the middle to kind of faux-hawk and cut shorter on the sides). My other friend Jake who used to be in the corps just happened to have an entire razor kit with cutting shears, and well, Erik got the first hair cut. 

Saturday afternoon Clara, Chloe and I decided to get lost in Castiglion and wander around for a few hours, and when we got back, there was a line of 5 more boys waiting to get their Italian haircuts. So, the boys of Santa Chiara may have a little less hair, but they look a little more authentically Italian now!

Nick, Raffa, Mitchell, Jake, Erik and Robert getting their Italian doos!

Thank you to all of you who read this, and I promise I will have TONS to fill you in on come April...Venice, Paris, Dublin and London...in 13 days! It will be a whirlwind and I cannot wait! 


COUNTDOWN: 36 days until my mom and aunt Mara arrive in Italy! Cannot wait!
Caio!