Gregorian Chant at the Duomo

Not too long ago, we found out that the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore (the Duomo) was planning a series of free concerts inside the cathedrial. The first one was Wednesday night, and it was great. Most of the works performed were composed by Girolamo Frescobaldi, a Florentine lived from 1583-1643.

The vocalists were accompanied by strings and, occasionally, brass instruments. I've never heard gregorian chant in a cathedrial before and it blew me away. The sound bounced off every wall, notes piled on top of notes, but it still sounded great. I'm not going to start downloading gregorian chant, but you will find me at the next concert (not chant, but also free) in April. If you're in town, you should visit this site for more details.

Living in Florence: The Campanile

I was browsing through some photos on our flickr account lately and came across this one that my mom shot of the Campanile while they were visiting last month. I love how everything in the sky to the right of the campanile is totally overexposed. It makes the photo even prettier, don't you think?

living in florence: il duomo

I never tire of photographing Santa Maria del Fiore -- or The Duomo as the basilica is called. The sheer size of the duomo means that no matter how many times you walk in or around it, you are always seeing something for the first time. The amount of architecture and decorative detail amazes me every time I look at it. After nearly eight months in Florence and having passed by it at least once or twice a week, I still haven't tired of it.

Not long after we arrived in Italy we attended a really great art event at Palazzo Strozzi called SlowArt. To date, it's still my favorite cultural thing we've done since being in Italy. Why? Because we learned a lot about how to really appreciate the immense amount of art in our new city. Instead of breezing through an entire museum in 2-3 hours, SlowArt suggests instead focusing on a handful of pieces -- take time to learn a bit about them before you go (Wikipedia is great for tidbits on authors and paintings) and then really immerse yourself in the art. Stand close, stand far away, look a brush strokes, admire the big picture. You'll find that you remember each and every work of art that you've focused on. Sure, you won't be able to tell friends that you saw everything in the Uffizi, but you'll actually have detailed memories of what you did see.

Anyway, I tell the SlowArt story because every time we go in or around the Duomo I try to focus on something entirely different -- arches, water spouts, marble, doors, floors, the roof, the ceiling...the list goes on. Since tourist season picked up we've mostly been admiring the exterior of the church; in a few months when things quiet down again I'm looking forward to heading back inside.

dusk in florence

I was planning to do another food post today, but after snapping these photos on a walk with Winston tonight, we couldn't help but share them.