Ravenna and Gradara!

This weekend was very cool to say the least. Our Friday excursion was to Ravenna and Gradara. Though it was an extremely early departure time, my turtle pillow pet served as a wonderful headrest for the 3 and a half hour journey. When we got to Ravenna, it was a cloudy day and it was the first time we could actually wear a sweatshirt. We split up into two groups: one with everyone in the Dante class and the other with everyone else. I am taking the “Dante and His Italy” course here and it is BY FAR my favorite class…I guess you could say it’s probably because I am an English major and I really like literature… But anyways, we visited Centro Dantesco where the guy told us they had 15,000 volumes of Dante and that 2,000 are produced in one year! He also explained the significance of the churches and the beliefs of Dante. He then proceeded to show us their largest version of Dante’s work and their smallest, which was able to fit on one single poster with teeny tiny writing. After a brief lesson, we were taken to Dante’s tomb. It was crazy to think that I was standing before someone who stamped history and wrote incredible literature. Next, we ventured to a basilica with the altar and surrounding walls all decorated by mosaics. I was in awe of how beautiful and how perfect each glass piece was laid. (Shown in the pictures I posted) We continued our morning trudging through the rain to visit other sites with unbelievable mosaics and historical background as well.

After lunch we journeyed an hour to visit Gradara. Gradara is a city that has an amazing castle in which we got to explore! Right before the entrance of the caste, was a little church that we entered. There was a crucifix in hanging in which you could look at it from three different angles and watch as the expression on Christ’s face change. It gave me the chills. Next, we entered the castle, and sadly I could not take pictures, but I’ll do my best to describe what we saw.

First we entered the dungeon where there was a trap door and places to chain the prisoners. It was a very cold atmosphere and almost impossible to grasp the fact that we were standing in a place where people actually tortured prisoners. Next we moved to the upstairs where we saw paintings, architecture, and weapons. In one of the bedrooms there was a square on the floor that was darker then the rest of the others, and the tour guide explained to us that they used to lift that square up and below them they would eavesdrop on people giving confessions to the priests!  Also, along the hallway floors there were little trap doors, which was pretty cool to see! Then, we get to my favorite part of the whole trip. We entered the room in which the story of Paulo and Francesca took place (Dante’s Canto V). For those of you who don’t know the story: I will summarize what happened.

            Giovanni, an ugly, crippled, and powerful man intends to marry Francesca. He has a clever idea to send for his brother, Paulo (even though he is married) to trick Francesca into thinking that that is who she will marry. Francesca actually ends up falling in love with Paulo. Paulo and Francesca frequently would sneak off to this room while her real husband, Giovanni, is at war. The setting of the room is shown as two chairs and a stand to give the image of them reading the story of Lancelot. During their reading of this, they kiss and at their moment of passion, Francesca’s husband enters furious. Francesca jumps in front of Paulo and gets stabbed by Giovanni. Paulo makes a run for it trying to escape through a trap door in the floor. However, he ends up tripping on his cloak and is stabbed to death by his brother. Dante’s Inferno is the very first place we can find evidence of this story.

 

...Amor condusse noi ad una morte... (Love brought us to one death)

…la bocca mi bascio tutto tremante. Galeotto fu ‘l libro e chi lo scrisse: quell giorno piu non vi leggemmo avante… (while all his body trembled, kissed my mouth. A Gallehault indeed, that book and he who wrote it, too; that day we read no more.)

Though it is a story of lust and unfaithfulness, it was still a really interesting part in the Inferno that we discussed in class. Being at the exact place where it happened was unreal!

After a long day, we headed back to Macerata where most of us just went home and slept.

On Saturday, I went to the men’s volleyball game with my tandem partner, Chiara. I forget if I have mentioned what a tandem partner is..so I suppose I will just say it again. Chiara is a high school student who was paired up with me and we meet at least once a week for two hours! I help her with English and she helps me with Italian. A bunch of us got partners and we all hang out in big groups which is so much fun! They are amazed by our culture and we are amazed with theirs! One of my favorite conversations was how in shock they were when we told them about our proms and dances! They don’t have them here in Italy and couldn’t believe things actually happened like in the movies! But anyways, Chiara really likes volleyball too so we went to the game together and had so much fun! She was teaching me what their cheers meant in English and it was a really good game! Afterwards, a bunch of us all went out to the bars and met some more really cool people from Australia, Canada, Ireland, and many more who are studying here in Macerata as well!

Today my parents called me and told me they landed in Rome! I am REALLY looking forward to seeing them on Wednesday!!!!