<p>BETHIEVT–most of the concert series are not held during mass. For example, we heard a wonderful Vivaldi concert in the church of San Stephano in Venice on our last trip. The cost was only 10 Euro.</p>
<p>Growing up, my mom used to take me to a downtown Catholic church in the USA just to hear the magnificent music at Midnight Mass each Christmas. We didn’t bow or genuflect, and stayed seated during the communion, because we’re not Catholic. In those days, it was in Latin so we had no hope of participating. But it was beautiful.</p>
<p>To this day, I don’t know if that was respectful or disrespectful, to go in as a musical tourist to a sacred mass from another faith. But I did hear magnificent choral singing at a magical nighttime hour.</p>
<p>Agreeing with Musicamusica, there are also wonderful classical concerts held in churches in Italy at non-worship hours, if that’s more comfortable for you!</p>
<p>Bethie - in Tuscany, knowing your love of human experience, I think you’ll enjoy all the opportunities to see how the art/architecture morphed from the Gothic era to the more humanistic Early Renaissance. For example, in Florence, keep your eyes open for chances to see a fresco by Massaccio (Santa Carmine) or architecture by Brunelleschi (the small Brancaci chapel and monastic courtyard at Santa Croce). You see the beginnings of downsizing from “ethereal/impressive” Gothic medieval art to something with groundlines, depth and attention to human scale and facial features. Their attention to the natural beauty and sights available in this world (not the next) helped usher in the masters of the High Renaissance, such as DaVinci or Michelangelo, whose work you can also enjoy throughout Florence. </p>
<p>If you see Boticelli’s “Primavera” (a.k.a. Venus on the Half Shell) if she’s still at the Uffizi Gallery – please say hi for me. :)</p>
<p>And keep your ears open for business opportunity! When I studied there in the early l970’s someone tried to sell me a strange device called a “cappuccino machine.” He said the Americans made coffee that tasted like water, and if I was smart I’d open up a cafe with one of these machines. He lamented, “Questi Americani…these Americans! They can send a man to the moon but they can’t make a good cup of coffee!”</p>
<p>I wasn’t smart enough. Should’a listened.</p>
<p>paying3tuitions,</p>
<p>Your attending a service in a Catholic church just for the music is not of itself disrespectful, it would only be so if your behavior was. </p>
<p>I feel compelled to make some small corrections here. The full name of the church containing the well-known Masaccio frescoes is Santa Maria del Carmine. The frescoes are actually found within a chapel of the church – the Brancacci Chapel. I believe that what was designed by Brunelleschi is the convent adjoining the church, rather than the Brancacci Chapel itself.</p>
<p>The “Primavera” (Spring) of Botticelli is not the “Venus on the Half Shell” (otherwise known as Venus Emerging fom the Sea), though they are displayed in close proximity to each other.</p>
<p>What year were you studying in Florence and where? I was there from 1970-71.</p>
<p>Also, can you tell me how to enable my PM?</p>
<p>@Leanid – To send a private message, click on the screenname of the person you wish to address, then click the drop-down box, “send a private message”</p>
<p>To receive private messages:
l. Go to top left of this page. Look for the blue bars.
2. Click on “My control panel.”
3. Under “Settings and Options”, click on “Edit Options”
4. Study the choices under “Messaging and Networking” and enable
the ones you want. </p>
<p>^^It sounds as though you wish to receive PM’s, so see how you bubbled it when you registered, and change that.</p>
<p>Thank you, paying3!</p>
<p>As you were in Florence about the same time as I, what did/do you think of Vivoli ice cream? I do not recall any other ice cream shops that compared, but maybe I wasn’t looking for others after finding Vivoli…</p>
<p>AiHy - my PM is now enabled.</p>
<p>lololu - I really appreciate your contribution to this thread!</p>
<p>Sorry I don’t remember where I got my icecream, just that I always enjoyed it! </p>
<p>I liked eating in a “trattoria” rather than a full “ristorante” because it was within my budget. I never realized that pasta was simply one of many courses, but as a student, I was satisfied with just pasta!</p>
<p>I think that would do it for me too, p3t!</p>
<p>Most Italians don’t do the whole seven courses every time they eat out either. Most will pick and choose off the menu as to what they want – often just a primi (first course, pasta or risotto kind of thing) and a salad. They may add a antipasta (an appetizer) or not, one or two people might order a secondo (an entree), and often a table will share the cheese and or dolce (dessert). The big multi course meal is reserved for very special occasions (it IS expensive to eat like that in even the cheapest restaurant) and usually with a large group.</p>
<p>Waiters will try to guilt you into ordering the whole shebang, but you really don’t have to. That all being said, it is a fun experience every once in while, maybe for Christmas dinner?</p>
<p>It used to be a well-known secret (I know, it’s oxymoronic) that some of the best, and certainly more authentic, meals were to be had at trattorias, osterias and even tavola caldos (literally, “warm tables”) than at ristorantes. They can be found on nearly any side street and off the beaten path. “Buon Appetito!”</p>
<p>We got back from our trip a day late and many $$$ short after losing the key of our rental car–DO NOT DO THIS!! with a crucial bag locked in the trunk. But we had a GREAT time in Morocco, meeting our son’s lovely host family, eating the traditional Friday couscous from a communal bowl, travelling to Chefchaouen in the Rif mountains, buying carpets there, not buying hashish, their other local product, and enjoying the local people. Chaouen is lovely and very laid back, a perfect place to hike or shop or just relax.</p>
<p>Six inches of snow had fallen in Florence the day we were supposed to fly in, so our flight was cancelled and we took a long bus ride from Rome. Use a GPS to travel in Tuscany! The roads go in circles around the hills and are hard to navigate. But we had a great time in Florence, Siena, Pisa, San Gimignano, saw more religious art than we’d ever known existed, had a Facebook engineereed meet-up with son’s first year roomie on Christmas Eve. We had some gelato and it was excellent! The gelato places do not seem to be closed for the winter. The Galleria dell’ Accademia had a wonderful Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit that worked beautifully with David and other sculptures. We also saw an amazing Chagall exhibit in Pisa. Thanks for all suggestions!</p>
<p>Thanks for the update. I had heard of the snow in Florence and wondered, since I thought you really weren’t hoping for cold/snowy weather on the trip. Can you recommend a place to stay in the area for, say July?</p>
<p>bethievt I am so glad you had good time in Florence. And Florence in the snow!! I had dinner last night with a friend who just got back from a 3 month stay in Florence. I got the impression she really didn’t like it very much dispite her insisting otherwise. It made me sad, so I am thrilled to have your good report. </p>
<p>Pisa is one of those places you have to go to at least once. You have seen pictures of the tower, but you really only appreciate the lean seeing it in person.</p>
<p>gloworm</p>
<p>We really liked the place we stayed [About.com:</a> <a href=“http://www.letorri.com/[/url]”>http://www.letorri.com/](<a href=“http://goitaly.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=goitaly&cdn=travel&tm=6&gps=238_416_1255_741&f=11&su=p531.50.336.ip_&tt=6&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.letorri.com/]About.com:”>http://goitaly.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=goitaly&cdn=travel&tm=6&gps=238_416_1255_741&f=11&su=p531.50.336.ip_&tt=6&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.letorri.com/)</a></p>
<p>Check it out!</p>
<p>If we go, that sounds like what we could use. Do they have apts. that would acc. 5 adults? I didn’t notice anything about a/c, but I imagine that’s not common. If not this summer, next, when D is finished with UG.</p>
<p>I think they describe the rooms/beds on the website. We had a 2 BR, one with a queen or double bed and 2 twins in the other. The kitchen and bathrooms are very nice. I think no AC, but I saw big fans in the laundry room so I suppose they use those in the summer.</p>
<p>It was snowy only for the first 3 days. Then temperatures went to about 50. The snow was really beautiful and defined the geometric lines of the grape vines, the hills and the olive groves. Vermonters know how to dress for cold.</p>