A shot on the plane leaving for Italy by way of Amsterdam! We're so excited here!
The most Italian we will learn--by necessity is "Si, siamo gimelli." Yes, we're twins. :)
We made it!
A shot from the Ponte Vecchio in Florence
In Florence we met up with my friend Sabrina Query who is living in Zurich Switzerland for a few years with her family. It was great fun meeting up with her for some walking around, dinner and a night's stay in Florence at the awesome Hotel Savoy. Here, we were standing in line
to see the David - Michelangelo's GORGEOUS David!
The Piazza Della Repubblica in Firenze! Our hotel overlooked this--gorgeous especially this night shot! The
Hotel Savoy has a cool theme to it that any woman would love--SHOES. Take a look at some of the art there...
A shot of Sabrina and Claire down the hall to our hotel room. Sleek, huh?
And we relished a wonderful breakfast, more for the conversation and catching up, but the food was terrific too!
In keeping with the shoe theme...
Then it was off to Cortona!! We went by way of taxi. Unless you're filthy rich, we don't recommend this mode of transportation for the hour ride. Enough said. Ahem...OK, we learned some lessons!
My beautiful sister relishing her arrival in Cortona. :)
The familiar and "home" of our hearts: The Piazza della Repubblica of Cortona. This is where it all happens! You have seen lots of views of this piazza if you've looked at our photos on our Fan Page
Facebook (JOIN IT!) There is the small grocery owned by the Molesini's who also have a new-since-we've-been-there Wine Shop--it's beautiful! We hope to have a wine - tasting for our group that we take back next year. More about the piazza in a bit.
Marco Molesini
This is one of our favorite shots of some awesome "age" on a set of doors we came across. Someone could do a fantastic photo study of textures in Cortona with age everywhere since the town was settled in 500 B.C. Yes! It's that old.
Another shot of my sister. I did this shoot with her--it was fun! At the bottom of the stairs, we noticed about 10-12 people shooting away at us doing this shoot. It was sooooo funny! They must have thought we were doing some magazine shoot or something.
I was singing in the rain. We had expected alot more rain than there was and had brought raincoats and rain boots. So we didn't let the rain stop of us from having fun. Everywhere is a great place for a shoot!
Oh, I just had to have my photo made with these two ladies. The things I bought in Italy were all very special to me--usually because I connected really well with the people selling the items. I really did fall in love with these 2. The older lady knits, and they had the cutest collection of sweaters, scarves, and poncho things. The workmanship was just unbelievable. We connected with them so well, without speaking a word of Italian, well maybe one or two words, but the rapport was really from the heart in their trying to explain their beautiful pieces and wanting us to try them on, etc. I can't wait to wear my sweater and scarf I bought from them!
And sometimes, there was a language barrier. This sweet lady invited us in
for lunch after trying to communicate, really, unsuccessfully. So sweet, she was!!!
One of the many beautiful streets, called Via (s)
As dusk arrives, the town turns a brilliantly-toned amber as the street lights turn on and people gather to eat at the restaurants that line Via Nazionale--our favorite street.
And who doesn't like these cute little cars? Fiats used to be everywhere when we here last--along with Vespas. Now you see Smart cars and more hefty scooter-y motorcycles as well as bikes. We loved this yellow-orange Fiat!
Heaven. Sitting at Bar Signorelli journaling and enjoying their award-winning cappuccinos! Well, we think they deserve an award! I'll bet they are missing us since we must have spent close to $300 on coffee and food while we were there. Yikes!
This is the City Hall attached to the church right there in Piazza della Repubblica. That balcony holds the window of the office of Alfredo Gnerucci (below) who we got to know--he is head of Arts & Culture in Cortona. Nice connection. ;)
We saw Alfredo for the first time while we were trying to accomplish the shot below. We were, of course, being silly, and he stopped to watch us and apparently got a kick out of it. We later came to meet him and found out his position in Cortona. See where craziness can get you?
This morning's walk took us on the 2-mile route that winds around the walled town of Cortona. It goes through
The Gardens of Parterre park (below) and is a great place to run, walk, do yoga, or sit and enjoy the most wonderful views from atop Cortona.
I was missing yoga and had to maintain my Flying Scissors pose by practicing some. Nah, really, this is a still shot of me break-dancing.
Our first morning, we headed out on a long trek taking pictures everywhere. The light in Italy is simply stunning, and you can catch different shadow/light combinations, and this particular morning was really foggy. Loved this shot!
Pleasure. Pure and Simple.
A bride and groom had just gotten married at the Piazza Church. Don't you love her red boots that matched her red flowers? Well, this is not her groom. This was a precious older gentleman we had just passed on the street who stopped at the reception that was being held in the Piazza and began to dance! First, with Claire! OH, it was so funny--I couldn't get my camera out fast enough before he moved onto the bride herself. It was awesome!
Claire was running so fast up the stairs that the shot went blurry. ha! No, she likes blurry shots now.
She finds them to be artistic.
Bar Signorelli, where we enjoyed coffee and people-watching!
One morning we made the trek up to see the Church of Saint Margaret. That trek is NOT for the weary, though nuns and priests must go up and down that hill everyday. I lost my breath a couple of times going up. But it was so very worth the effort. And the Saint herself lies in rest inside! This is a shot we snapped of one of the Signs of the Cross that has mosaic art by the Cortonese artist
Gino Severini, popular from the late 1800's and early 1900's.
The beautiful altar area and pendentives (I remember that architecture term!). Check out all the detail!
While in the Church, we took time to light candles for our family and friends who are ill and in need of prayer. ;)
One of many nooks in the streets that usually have a statue of some sort. People add little flower pots and their own beauty. :)
One of the sketches I did sitting in the piazza. I see a painting of this soon...
Ahh. The older men. They're everywhere, and they're so cute. People-watching is what they do. They've earned the right. They comment some times...
This night we enjoyed the fun, chic, hip bar where you sit in vignette seating all over and have drinks with complimentary hors d'oeuvres. Great fun!
Sweeping view from Cortona looking down on the towns below.
Strolling down
Via Nazionale there are all sorts of shops and boutiques. One of our favorite places was the Tabacchi and Art Gallery that are owned by Ivan (of
Under the Tuscan Sun fame). Ivan is the bomb! He was so kind and helpful, and will be a great help for our workshop next year!
Ivan pictured behind his counter in his beautiful art gallery.
A view from the steps of the City Hall/Church (Pilazzo Del Comune). If you hook this photo to the one below, you have a panorama view. This one is the right side one.
From this view you can see the second story restaurant Il Loggiato-our favorite restaurant we enjoyed. We ate under the umbrellas for lunch one day, then ate inside our last evening in Cortona. The beef filet was to die for! They use locally grown beef and recommend it to be cooked rare. They also "don't take responsibility" for how it turns out if you don't choose rare either. It's just a warning. :)
We don't usually pose for shots like this, but on this occasion a non-English speaking town worker motioned for us to come inside the church with him for a great shot. He told us to pose up behind the alter like this as though this would be our most prized shot from our trip. What do you think?
We met
Sebastian DelBrenna--an identical twin himself! He was lots of fun (and animated, as you can tell) to talk to since he knows English really well after marrying his Kansas wife there in the background! The DelBrenna family is known for their jewelry. It's some wonderful work! Check it out
here.
My sister on the train leaving Cortona, going to Firenza! She's crying. Can you see her tears?
The sidewalk artists in Florence blow me away! They squat and draw Michelangelo paintings onto the sidewalk. Michelangelo is one of my most favorite artist. It's amazing to see!
From our restaurant in the piazza near the Santa Croce church where Michelangelo's tomb is, is this beautiful statue. I don't know the name of it, but people like to sit all around it and enjoy gelatos and watch people go by.
Another Duomo shot. Beautiful!
Lovely Italian gelato!
Gelato-love. Carole.
Claire
The street vendors in Florence sell items that have a preoccupation with certain parts of
Michelangelo's David Statue. Available in boxer shorts and aprons!
At our restaurant for dinner in Florence.
Street in Florence.
This was a quick shot of the screen on board the plane. Each seatback had a screen for each passenger to enjoy movies, music, games, real-time info on the journey of the plane, etc. It was really great! We watched
"Coco Before Chanel" with Audrey Tatou. Fantastic movie! Three movies made the flight across the ocean go by really fast.
We had the time of our lives! Returning to Cortona was dreamy after 15 years of waiting to go back. Claire studied there for her Masters through a program with the University of Georgia, and I visited her back then. That school now boasts a 4.5 acre campus for their art school--quite impressive as we got to tour all through it! We dream of bringing our families over and, hopefully, allowing our children to do the art program. Anyone can do it from any school.
Check out the UGA program for yourself or your college-aged child!
Since that time 15 years ago, I think it's accurate to say that I started my art career selling paintings of Italy after I got back. Back then, I painted "straight" :), and so it will be great fun doing some new paintings in my current funky style. I can't wait!
Our joy is going to be taking some students over there to experience Cortona and enjoy learning to paint there. We are ready to go back and hold our workshop
September 11th through the 18th of 2010. If it interests you ladies, please read more about it on our site! Contact us and let us know if you wish to go. It will be a truly life-changing event!
Ciao! And I hope you enjoyed this documentary. :) & (: Carole & Claire
