Exploring the foothills of the Alps (Extra Assignment Essay Post)
This scavenger hunt was a wonderful experience. Its interesting how similar Italy and the US areas well as how different they are. One thing that stuck out to me was the lack of sidewalks on most streets. I had always thought of Italy as pedestrian-friendly, so I was not expecting there to be a complete lack of sidewalks when going to Crespano. While there are a lack of sidewalks, it is due more to the streets being narrow and shared with cars. The thinness was overall still more appealing to pedestrians. This was also not the case in Bassano, where most of the streets still lacked sidewalks and were thin, but many of the streets were pedestrian only.
The Canova Museum was unique to me mostly because I think
this is the first time that I saw a museum display every step of the process
from the artists. Most museums only show the finished works, the successes, but
this museum had the original rough draft sketches, detailed painting from the
front and back of the statue, rough miniature statue, sometimes just a rough
statue, and finally the completed statue. The fact that everything was
preserved and put on display is something that you wouldn’t see in the US, and
I suspect that we won’t even see it in most of the major museums that we’ll go
to like the Uffizi. I believe that the museum showcased every step due to
Italy’s nature to preserve while the US likes to showcase the successes more.
By far the most unique experience was going to the market in
Bassano. I would say that going there was not only the coolest spot, but also
the most useful for learning about Italian culture. Crespano and Possagno were
lightly populated, and we didn’t have to interact with very many locals (two in
each location, one guy giving directions and the gelato lady in Crespano and
the ticket seller for the museum and for going to the temple roof in Possagno),
but Bassano was a constant experience of meeting people. For example, there was
a pair of shoes that I wanted, but they were the wrong size. The stall owner
spoke no English or Spanish, and thus talking to him required lots of pointing
and looking up words. After finding that he didn’t have my size, he went to try
and sell me other shoes, and communicating that I didn’t want them also
required more finagling. The Grappa was relatively easy to find, as we just
went into a shop selling alcohol and said “Grappa.” Talking with other
shopkeepers was also an experience due to various levels of English. Most knew
numbers, but it was hard to figure out when to transition to English as I typically
tried to start with Italian. I remember one shopkeeper realizing that we
weren’t local and asking for our Nationality and then just switching to English
after I looked confused from what he said. This market experience was 100%
needed as I got interactions with locals that I could not get before and that I
don’t know that I’ll get elsewhere. To be at an event designed for locals and
not for tourists is also amazing as we get to see the locals’ daily lives. I
suspect that this market will be different than the markets in Venice and
Florence- which will be more geared towards tourists than locals and thus have
more English speakers and be much more expensive. Bassano allowed me to immerse
myself in the culture unlike anywhere else in this trip so far.
I did not see any real postmodern spaces in any of the
cities, except in the museum. The museum had a variety of spaces inside it-
with a renaissance space in the old house that Canova lived in and a new
section that had a neoclassical section, a renaissance section with a modern
inside holding his flat pieces, and a post-modern section. This variation of
architecture mimicked the variation in the statues. Most of the statues were from
Canova, but many statues were from local artists that were contemporary. Seeing
a statue with dragon tattoos next to the Grecian nudes in the neo-classical
space made the juxtaposition and purpose behind the piece more obvious. The
juxtaposition of the art to the space made time less set and more fluid. The
cities themselves were a mixture of renaissance and medieval spaces, which was
pleasing to the eye. The closest to the American streets was on the main roads,
where many cars were traveling and which I tried to avoid when navigating
cities like Bassano.
I believe this experience was a huge advantage for me and
Arija. After talking about what we did with the others, I would suggest doing a
similar 8-week course before the trip (second 8 weeks of the semester), then
doing a trip to Bassano with the class on market day and going to the museum
and temple. The first day can be skipped, but I’m sure some other benefit can
be gained from it. I am sure people would be glad to take the course to get
more time exploring. The other students also seemed restless in the classroom in Italy, and would probably pay more attention at Purdue with less distractions. This is just an idea though as I certainly found benefit
in going to Bassano and Possagno.
Other cool things- not in scavenger hunt, but just loved it.
Bassano also had multiple things that stood out beyond the
market. There was a church at one end of the market that had a WWI memorial and
had the tombs of thousands of soldiers. In the US we would just have a cemetery, but we have more space in the US and land is seen as less of a premium and we can have a spread out cemetery. There was a Basilica with signs
explaining the restoration process. There was a wall by the city hall covered
in the insignias of other cities. I loved seeing this wall and recognizing the
various cities like Mullhouse, Augsburg, Verona, Genoa, and Padova among
others. I recognize these from a historical strategy game I play. I loved being
able to see this wall, see these tombs (I was remined that WWI saw the Italian
front very close to Venice). There were even statues from 1936. There was
ultimately just a large amount of history. The spaces were also cool, as they
were all renaissance to medieval spaces and every street appeared different and
had a unique view even if you just turned around.
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