Day 6 in Italy: June 16, 2025
Dr. Cook - Reflection on the day:
This morning’s grand adventure was just getting to Venice – we took a bus ride, complete with stop at an authentic Italian “autogrill” (basically a gas station with a cafe and shopping inside) before boarding a ferry with the bus to our hotel on Lido, the island between Venice and the sea. We enjoyed a relaxed lunch and headed into the city on a vaporetto - a public transit boat that is essentially the Venetian version of a bus.
Students explored the contemporary side of Venice at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, including its temporary exhibition that one student wrote about for her blog post. With thunderstorms looming over us, we headed to dinner and then on to a concert at the Chiesa della Pietà. The musical performance of the famed composer Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons was extraordinary. Vivaldi was an ordained priest associated with this church during his lifetime, and he composed for the orchestra and choir and taught violin.
The church was a musical phenomenon in Vivaldi’s time; its musicians were as remarkable for their exceptional skill as for the fact that the orchestra, choir, and conductors were composed entirely of girls who lived at the church’s orphanage: “formed by abandoned or orphaned girls, and those whose parents were unable to educate them, they are educated at the State's expense, and trained exclusively to become excellent musicians. Therefore, they sing like angels, and there is no instrument, no matter how large, that they fear…”
Mia Fortt-Robinson - Venice:
Venice feels like a dream you can walk through. The canals, the old stone bridges, the boats instead of cars—it’s like nowhere else. We were basically walking on water. It is a city with infrastructure so old and so advanced you have no choice but to ponder. Since it’s our last city and we only have two days, we are trying to really soak it all in. Even a thunderstorm didn’t stop us—we got soaked and it was cold but it was worth it for the experience of Venice.
KiranAdele Gyllenhammer - Peggy Guggenheim Museum:
As soon as I stepped into the museum, I was surrounded by various abstract paintings by Vieira da Silva. In one of the painting's descriptions, it was stated that Vieira da Silva liked to "paint space." Through painting space, she creates a sense of labyrinthine depth and also the shifting perspectives of the "mazes" of one's life. Her intricate detail with her layering and the precision she holds with the space she takes up on the canvas only makes her work more appealing to the audience's eye.
Ava Al-Omoush - Vivaldi Concert:
We concluded the day by watching a concert by the Vivaldi Baroque Ensemble. The group played the Four Seasons and two other pieces: Concerto per 4 violini, violoncello, archi e cembalo Rv. 553 and Concerto per violoncello, archi e cembalo RV 400. The concert was lively and suspenseful. It was funny to me when Spring played, since that piece is the ringtone on my home phone! I enjoyed the concert and thought it was a great way to engage with the culture of Venice. I thought that the musicians encapsulated the energy of the piece, and it was very interesting to watch. Overall, I enjoyed this experience and cannot wait for tomorrow's events!
