This is an excerpt of a travelogue produced for Professor Isabella Martini’s class Fictional Tuscany: Travel through Text. The assignment asked students to reflect on a site visit in Florence or a trip elsewhere in Tuscany, either a Syracuse Florence field trip or a destination they explored on their own, enriching it with their own research of the site.
While there were many more places I would have loved to visit during my time in Tuscany, I call Florence home for a reason. During the first weekend off of traveling I made it my mission to find my place here. Saturday morning my roommates and friends wanted to head to Zara for possibly the 4th time this week. Broke and bored, I made the courageous decision to venture out on my own.
It was still February so I did not want to do the Boboli gardens yet, but it was a gorgeous day that month and I wanted to be in nature. I had heard of the Rose Gardens but was not nearly as familiar with their importance or location as the Boboli.
“The landscape design and materiality of the gardens in the HP [Hypnerotomachia Poliphili] are testament to a profound shift in cultural sensibility and developing renaissance aesthetic, and it is through walking that the novel and the gardens are understood and experienced, where the protagonist is developed, and how a new perspective on Renaissance … can be approached, through the constellational thinking.”
Oneill, Sage Journals
This quote from a research experiment tracing Renaissance ideals in the gardens of Florence just further made me appreciate what I felt that day in the Rose Gardens. I walked by myself from Piazza Repubblica to the Oltrarno in search of the gardens. Apple maps, however, is not up to date with the entrance of the garden and I found myself walking up and down an extra 10 hills in search of where to go. Eventually I wandered in the direction of many families entering the rose gardens and followed them.
Fish pond where I read my book
The gardens in Florence are held in a very high regard. There is a stereotype about the gardens that you have not visited Florence if you did not go to the gardens. Stereotypes about how gorgeous something is puts pressure on me to enjoy the place as much as everyone else does. When I reached the top of the garden and looked out at the view, I suddenly understood why everyone says what they do. I picked out a bench near the fountain of fish so I could admire the view of Palazzo Vecchio and the Duomo while I read my book.
This was the first place I had been in Florence by myself. This was the first time I felt myself developing my own personal connection to the city. I think that having a perspective over the city reminds you how small it truly is. Smelling the fresh air and the roses beginning to bloom from above was the most relaxed I had felt since arriving.
The first post in this series, “A Meditative Moment in the Duomo of Florence,” is here.
Dr. Samuel Aronson of Montreal, Canada was part of the second group of students brought over to Syracuse Florence by founding director John Clark Adams. In this interview, he tells us about travelling here by ship, how the program began, the passion for opera that Professor Adams shared with his students, and what it was like to scooter around Italy and Greece in the summer of 1960.
Pictures of the Duomo in darkness, the energy was even better in person.
By Sophia Stokoe, Syracuse University
This is an excerpt of a travelogue produced for Professor Isabella Martini’s class Fictional Tuscany: Travel through Text. The assignment asked students to reflect on a site visit in Florence or a trip elsewhere in Tuscany, either a Syracuse Florence field trip or a destination they explored on their own, enriching it with their own research of the site.
While I’ve been rewriting my understanding of Florence, simultaneously, the city has in turn changed who I am as a person…While my anxiety is still present, I adapted to Italian culture and have become more relaxed. The uncertainty of the situations I’ve had to encounter, especially those with a language barrier, have also forced me to be more adaptable which in turn has increased my confidence in Italy.
My original personality never left but there’s now a quiet confidence that has deeply changed how I interact with the world…I know for a fact that I would not have been able to change if not for the moments of solitude I’ve had in Florence. When one is exploring a place with family or friends, they’re often too busy talking to each other to notice all of the smaller details on that place. I’ve had many moments alone with the city mentally tracing the architecture and people watching.
While I’ve had a multitude of moments doing so in several piazzas; one of my best solo observational moments was partially planned. My introductory Italian professor had told my class about how Italians celebrate the Thursday before Easter by visiting multiple churches. The day itself is known as Santo Giovedì while Easter is called Pasqua. Florence specifically is known for the tradition of visiting seven churches the night of Santo Giovedì. While I personally am not a spiritual person, I decided to visit some of the churches in the area as a way of participating in Florentine tradition.
The first stop on my list surprisingly turned out to be my favorite out of the 4 churches that I visited that night. I explored the Duomo, Santa Croce, San Lorenzo, and Santa Maria Novella. I went into the Duomo with standard expectations, as I had gone before during the day and knew what the interior looked like. However, the inside of the cathedral was absolutely breathtaking in the dark. The little bit of light from the occasional candle crept up the arches and dimly lit the surroundings just enough to be able to navigate the building, while still leaving enough room for shadows to adorn the walls.
People had begun to gather around the painting of the last supper, all talking in hushed voices. I didn’t hear a single word of English and did not dare speak myself without reason. I don’t think I said anything out loud that night until I returned home. Yet I did have to stop myself from chuckling as I made out a conversation of a couple of children talking about wanting dinner. I spent a while in one of the pews taking in the surrounding atmosphere. The energy inside along with the overpowering silence had me in a more contemplative mood and I felt the most spiritual I had ever been. It wasn’t as tied to Catholicism and more so to a general spirituality, but I felt rooted to the moment and to the place by maintaining that silence myself. In hindsight, it reminds me of L’infinito by Giacomo Leopardi. The following is an excerpt from the English translation of the poem:
An all encompassing silence and a deeply profound quiet,
To the point that my heart is quite overwhelmed.
And when I hear the wind rustling through the trees
I compare its voice to the infinite silence.
And eternity occurs to me, and all the ages past,
And the present time, and its sound.
There wasn’t that same sense of quiet through nature necessarily, but rather a profound kind of silence created by the church and by Santo Giovedì. Being there was almost a meditative experience for me, as my mind strolled through observations of the space and flicked through memories, both old and new.
After a while I left to visit the other churches. I preferred San Lorenzo over Santa Croce and Santa Maria Novella. While those two did have a more contemplative atmosphere than San Lorenzo, I preferred the architecture and the Medici Chapel. The chapel had rather impressively detailed green and bronze walls with a domed ceiling. It was easy to forget time in the chapel both because of the slight intensity of the light in comparison to the Duomo and the rest of San Lorenzo. There was a choir there for the holidays accompanied by a flute and piano. The airy voice of the flute seemed to bounce off the walls creating an echo within the chapel while the choir tethered them back to earth. I again felt time melting around me, a feeling I wouldn’t have had if I wasn’t alone.
For the second post in this series, “Time Alone in the Rose Gardens,” see here.
After attending NYU’s Graduate Film School, Stephen A. Unger lived abroad for 10+ years during which time he co-founded Foster’s Hollywood, a massive European restaurant chain with over 200 locations in Spain and Portugal. He went on to make a name for himself in Hollywood as a producer, distributor, and executive recruiter. In May he returned to Florence and visited the Villa Rossa.
When did you study here and how did you arrive in Italy?
I don’t recall the precise dates of my studies in Italy. I know I came early for the Fall ’65 Program, and stayed late. My family had moved to Paris, France after my graduation from Beverly Hills High School in the spring of 1963. I enrolled at Syracuse that September and for the next two years spent Christmas, Easter and summer vacations in Europe. I drove from Paris to Florence, accompanied by my older brother Tony, arriving a couple of weeks before the start of classes. Since (at least in those days) Syracuse students were not permitted to drive during the Program, I turned my car over to Tony who returned to Paris in it.
What did you study here?
Fine Arts (especially the Renaissance), Political Science and, of course, Italian.
What was your impression of Florence?
I loved every minute of my time in Florence. My folks had already instilled in me a great interest in foreign cultures and world history. Florence was and is glorious. Roaming the city was like being embedded in a fabulous outdoor museum. I was totally swept up in the breathtaking art and architecture, political intrigue and momentous historical events which were emblematic of Florence.
Any particularly memorable experiences either inside or outside of the classroom while you here?
Too many to count or recount. I had great teachers so the course work was vigorous and rewarding. The program encouraged us to immerse ourselves into Italian life, make Italian friends, speak the language (in those days, the two families I stayed with were instructed not to speak to us in English and that was a very good thing – “Necessity being the mother of invention.”). I remember the Giotto room at the Uffizi as being particularly impactful. Facing Giotto’s Madonna flanked by Duccio’s and Cimabue’s, I felt like I was witnessing the birth of the Renaissance (or at least a precursor to it.) Also memorable was my brother’s return to Florence at the end of the program when he turned over the keys to the Triumph Spitfire to me and I spent the next two weeks alone driving down from Florence to Rome to Naples, down the Amalfi Coast to Reggio Calabria. Taking the ferry over to Messina (Sicily), then Catania, Siracusa, Agrigento and across to Palermo. The way back to Naples to ship the car back to Syracuse where I would join it for the remainder of my Junior and Senior years. Lots of fun for a 19-year-old kid in a convertible!
Stephen Unger in the 1980s
You went on to have a very successful career as a Hollywood executive, among other things. Did your time abroad have an impact on your career path?
Absolutely! It was integral to any success I may have enjoyed. It’s helpful to know foreign languages (I’ve managed to learn several). An accidental byproduct of learning other languages is that it necessarily improves your fluency in your mother tongue. You become much more attune to grammar, structure and meaning. However, it is much more useful to be culturally fluent; that is, to be able visit/reside in a foreign land and adjust accordingly. Said otherwise: to be able to see things through a foreigner’s eyes. To be open to differences and embrace them. I ended up living in Europe for over ten years and it helped me immeasurably in my personal interactions as well as my business activities.
How has Florence changed since you studied here?
In 58 years….lots! For one thing, it is much more crowded, almost unrecognizable from the mid-1960s. The long lines around places of interest and the constant influx of tourists is noticeable. However, the beauty of Florence is eternal and it is still thrilling to approach the Duomo and other majestic sights – that has not diminished.
Any advice for current students?
Be bold. Battle to learn the language as well as you can. Reach out for new Italian friends. Treat every day of your stay in Florence as if it were a precious jewel.
Stephen Unger at Villa San Michele in Fiesole, May 2023
Cathy back at Syracuse Florence in April 2023 with her now husband
Cathy Doherty had the experience many students dream of. She came to Florence and fell in love with a local.
When did you study here?
I studied Photography in the spring of 2017 as a sophomore.
What did you enjoy most about the program?
It’s hard to pick just one thing but something I still rave about to this day was how anything we were learning from our textbooks was right there in our backyard. From the art we read about in Professor Zaloga’s class and going to see it at the Uffizi, to Professor Piombino’s class and speaking to family members of prominent people affected by mob rule during the mafia’s reign in Sicily, it blew my mind how lucky we were to have these experiences in person.
Cathy in Florence as a student
Any particularly vivid memories from that time?
As an art program student I got to live in an apartment with 3 other girls. It was a really beautiful space; my bedroom had big French doors that led to our own garden and the kitchen had a little breakfast nook. I wish I could live there again! I also played on one of the school’s soccer teams, I believe we got second place that semester so it was really fun going to practices and games and having our peers come out to support! Lastly, of course being in Italy, every girl wants the whirlwind experience of cruising through the streets on the back of a Vespa to fulfill our Lizzie McGuire dreams. So on the last night of the program, a bunch of us met in Piazza Savanarola to say our goodbyes. I worked my magic and got a trusted friend of a friend to bring my housemate Annie home on one as I couldn’t let her leave without crossing this off her bucket list, and she and I spent the rest of the night giggling about it in her room and just talking about the past 4 months. This is one of my favorite memories because we hadn’t been close the entire semester- we both thought one of us didn’t like the other! She’s now one of my dear friends so it was just a really sweet way to end the semester.
How did the experience affect your life?
I know everyone says their experience abroad is life changing but it’s true. The foundation that Professor Talini helped me set in my work in Advanced Photography ultimately led to the voice and inspiration for my Thesis my senior year back at Syracuse. And as cliché as it is, l’amore found me in Florence, so I added a couple more Italian language courses at school and found myself back there every summer and winter vacation until 2020 when I ended up living there for almost 3 years with my now husband. We are now both back in the US after 6 years together. I pretty much owe this program for changing the trajectory of my life.
At the student art show at the end of the semester
Local newspapers have been abuzz lately over a recent discovery made by history professor Marcello Simonetta, who taught a new class on Machiavelli for us this past semester. The discovery relates to the famous Pazzi Conspiracy, a savage episode in Florentine history when members of the Pazzi family tried to displace the Medici as rulers of Florence.
On April 26, 1478, an assassination attempt took place against Lorenzo the Magnificent and his brother Giuliano during High Mass inside the Duomo of Florence. Lorenzo was wounded but survived. His brother, having been stabbed 19 times, did not. Some 80 suspected conspirators were later executed, some by hanging from the windows of the Palazzo della Signoria.
One of these was Antonio Maffei da Volterra whose detailed, page-and-a-half-long signed confession Professor Simonetta discovered in the Florence State Archives on the Ides of March this year. As he recounts in the national newspaper La Repubblica, “I confess I did not believe my eyes when I read it the first time, and I thought it was an archival hallucination. But no, it was really him, who was writing under ‘crazy’ pressure [pazzi = crazy] before they cut off his ears and nose and hung him from a noose!”
On April 19, students, host families, faculty, and staff were invited to view the spring 2023 final Student Art + Architecture Exhibition, held, as every semester, in the Studio Arts and Architecture buildings in Piazzale Donatello. Once again, beginner, intermediate, and advanced students alike demonstrated their creative talents through a wide variety of artistic media while students of the Syracuse University School of Architecture maintained their usual high standards of excellence, as well.
Photos taken by Francesco Guazzelli, professional photographer and Syracuse Florence lab technician.
Thanks to a Syracuse University Innovation Fund grant, Professor Carlotta Kliemann organized a unique workshop for the students in her Comedy and Satire in Italian film class. She hired film and video editor Alessio Lavacchi to teach them theory and practice with the programs ShortCut and Premiere over 4 sessions together. The five students in the class were then tasked with creating a short film inspired by one of the genres they had studied in class. They wrote the script, shot, acted in and edited a final work titled Local Tourist, a 6-minute video shot mostly around downtown Florence.
We interviewed alumna Mary Ann DuMond Kerr about her experience of the program a year after it was launched.
What semester and year did you attend Syracuse Florence?
Fall semester of 1960. I think it was the second year of Syracuse in Florence.
What were your home school (Syracuse or elsewhere) and major?
I went to Syracuse and my major was sociology.
What did you study while in Florence? What kinds of courses were offered?
Political Science, Renaissance History, Art History, Italian, and ?
What was the fieldtrip program like at the time?
We arranged our own field trips to Napoli, Rome, Venice, Siena, Pisa, Bologna, and countless trips around Florence. Dr. Fleming took us to the Uffizi and many churches to see incredible art works. The field trips probably contributed to my mediocre grades, but I learned more than books could teach me.
Art history professor Dr. Fleming
What is your most vivid memory of your study abroad experience?
I always think of the families with whom I stayed. One family was a Count and Countess and the other a Jewish family. They put up with my poor Italian, my late nights, crazy trips. (Dr. Adams told us that we were expected to get culture shock, not give it.) I was so grateful for the experiences they shared and would never have had such a deep experience if it had not been for them. It was not that long after WWII. One family, at great risk, had housed a Jewish family during the war, and my other family had to leave Florence quickly for a harrowing journey to Switzerland.
One of Mary Ann’s host families, the D’Urbino’s
When I was in Florence, it was during the fear of Communism era. It was exciting to see the election banners and check out the Communist headquarters. I saved my Vota Communista poster for years. Dr. Adams later told us that whenever we climbed on a bus we would “rub shoulders and bump rumps with a Communist”.
I also remember an exhausting trip to Siena, by bicycle (I loved my rickety bicycle). We didn’t account for the mountains we would have to climb or the failing brakes going downhill or the rain which soaked us or the many hours in the dark it took us to travel 50 miles. We were exhausted but saw most everything in Siena anyway.
Dr. Adams took us to his farm where we made wine. A barrel of about 10 feet tall and 5 feet wide was filled with grapes. We climbed a ladder, jumped in, and stomped around. After awhile, we could feel warm bubbles between our toes, and then we sank up to our knees in squished grapes. Finally we had to hold onto the beams to keep from drowning in wine. My friend said, “It must have been the greatest free leg show going!” I have had a passion for wine ever since. I heard that the wine we made was very strong.
If you have been back to Florence since, what was the most glaring change you noticed?
In 1967 I introduced my new husband to my beloved families. We have visited several times since, the last was in 2009 when Syracuse in Florence had its 50th reunion. I was impressed that the school had grown so much and offered many programs. We were shown around the city by a faculty member and saw places that I had forgotten or never seen. What an education!
How did studying abroad affect your life?
I wrote to my folks, “Being here, 5000 miles away, has sure given me a chance to look at situations and life from an entirely different prospective. I’m sure I will be a better person for it, and I really want to thank you for letting me have this opportunity. I just wish I could relate in words every feeling and experience that I have had, so that you could share it with me. No matter how many pictures I show or how much I talk, I will never be able to share the full impact with anyone, not even my fellow students here, and I’m sure we will all feel the same way.”
While I was in Florence, I did a lot of soul searching about religion, relationships and my future. I left with a sense of purpose, which included a commitment to go to graduate school in social work. Since my grades weren’t great in Italy, (too much outside of school learning) I sure had to study when I got back to school. Classes were exciting and the reading inspiring. I had a real goal.
I did get my MSW at Smith College, where I was sent in the winter to Cleveland and Denver to do internships. After my time in Florence, these moves were a cinch. Again Syracuse in Italy made it easier to adjust when we moved to Kingston, Jamaica. I was the pediatric social worker at University of the West Indies Hospital. I had learned how to take risks and explore when I was in Florence, skills I used to make home visits, to confront and try to ease the pain of poverty.
How do you occupy yourself now?
I’m a retired clinical social worker and look back on the heartwarming experiences I’ve had and the people I’ve met and learned from. Most of my work was in pediatrics – parenting, child abuse, and malnutrition. I’ve also worked with sex offenders and with families coping with hemophilia.
I have also organized fundraisers for EyeWitness Palestine, which organizes trips to Israel/Palestine to meet activists and peacemakers and return to share with others what they have seen. We bring speakers to Cleveland who discuss the plight of the Palestinians and their efforts to resist military rule, imprisonment of children, demolishing houses, wounding civilians.
I have become more active in our Methodist Church especially after the discriminatory decision by the church to exclude the LGBTQ community. We are a diverse, reconciling church which means that we welcome all those who are LGBTQ people. How do we resist this anti-Christian decision?
We also visit our children in Washington, DC and Taos, NM. We have one granddaughter after years of nagging. Both are activists, our son is a history professor at American University, focusing on the homeless and social justice. Our daughter is a high school Spanish teacher and works for human rights in the Latino community.
[Editor’s note: see UNESCO Firenze’s Facebook page to check out the reels Katie created for the association during her time working for them.]
During my internship with UNESCO I visited the following heritage sites around the city: the Basilica di Santa Trinita, the Hospital of the Innocents, the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, the Misericordia, Piazza Savonarola, Piazza Libertà, the Giardino Dell’Orticoltura, and the Palazzo Guadagni Strozzi Sacrati. This internship allowed me to learn about Florence’s history and culture and explore smaller, less-touristy sites that tend to hold immaterial culture. These sites are not as grand as the Uffizi or the Duomo, but they still have history and cultural significance. Stories about sites like the Misericordia and the Hospital of the Innocents taught me a lot about the community and the long history of social welfare in Florence. This has been very interesting for me as I major in policy.
I have also had the opportunity to attend heritage events, such as Carlo Levi a Firenze, and learn more about immaterial heritage, that is, the history and culture of those living in the city, rather than the concrete sites themselves. This immaterial heritage is especially valuable when learning about the lives of those that were marginalized under the fascist regime and how they preserved their culture in Florence.
I highly recommend taking up an internship while abroad as it allows you to learn more about Florence than you ever could in a classroom. The hands-on opportunity to visit sites around the city, attend events, and develop relationships has been invaluable. I could not recommend UNESCO more if you want to experience Florence for all of its cultures. I am very lucky to have had this experience, and to encourage you further to visit smaller sites, here are a few pictures of those I had the opportunity to visit:
My favorite ceiling artwork, I cannot remember which site. The artwork just stood out to me, and I wanted to share.
