Today was our second excursion, in which we walked around Macerata and saw a bunch of super cool things that had been previously unknown to us. I'm going to talk about all the sites we saw in order of awesomeness:
9. The first nucleus of the city of Macerata. Medieval towns developed from the original palace/castle of the Lord, who administered the land in the name of the king. The original palace is gone (hence the last place on the list) but you can imagine how the town was originally.
8. Cattedrale di San Giuliano. This was a church we'd seen on our previous walking tours (those were to help us orient ourselves, not to talk about the history of the town). The church itself is a beautiful work of art, even if the wax figure of a former bishop in a glass sarcophagus was a little creepy.
7. Basilica di Santa Maria della Misericordia. This little chapel was built to honor the Virgin Mary for protecting the town during the Black Plague. So pretty!
6. Teatro Lauro Rossi. This is the place of the orchestra concert I attended a week ago, but we went back again to talk about the history of the theater. Going back without lots of people meant we got to see it a lot better. Plus? We got to run around and take Brady Bunch remnicent pictures in all the theater boxes. So fun.
5. Fonte Maggiore. The place outside the city walls where women (no boys allowed) went to wash the clothes. It's now unnecessary (yay, modern plumbing!), and so a little unkempt. Still, there was a rather romantic abandoned air about the still water and old stones.
4. Arena Sferisterio. This was originally built right outside the city walls to play a game that was only in fashion for about twenty or thirty years (basically, you hit a ball with your wrist against the wall.... obviously that wasn't going to last). Now, it's used for operas in the summer. I've been to an opera, and have a zero, no, negative desire to go back to the opera. Once was enough for me. Luckily, I won't have to explain that to the Italians (such an offensive idea, really), since the shows only run in the summer. Still, the architecture was really pretty.
3. Chiesa di Santa Maria della Porta. This is no longer a church, but through the now Goodwill-type store operating on the ground floor (in Italy, the second floor is the first floor), we got to go to some of the tunnels that used to run all under the city, as escape routes in case of seige or attack. The adventurer in me was much appeased, though disappointed many have been sealed off and I couldn't go very far.
2. Torre Civica. From the depths of the city to the top of the bell tower, this was my second favorite place we went all day. There was such an awesome view of the surrounding area! The wind was, perhaps, a bit strong, but I thought it was absolutely invigorating. We were up there for the noon bells!
1. The honor of numero uno goes to Biblioteca Comunale "Mozzi-Borgetti," one of the local libraries. It's being renovated, but basically, it's everything I've ever wanted in a library. I even found a ... wait for it... spiral staircase. It was almost too perfect. The difference in national attitude towards antiques was never more clear than at this place. The librarian showed us priceless manuscripts from as early as the 1300's, just holding them up and talking about them -- no pane of glass kept us from them. I was a foot away from etchings by Albrecht Durer, you know, no big deal. In other words, I was in a reader's paradise!
9. The first nucleus of the city of Macerata. Medieval towns developed from the original palace/castle of the Lord, who administered the land in the name of the king. The original palace is gone (hence the last place on the list) but you can imagine how the town was originally.
8. Cattedrale di San Giuliano. This was a church we'd seen on our previous walking tours (those were to help us orient ourselves, not to talk about the history of the town). The church itself is a beautiful work of art, even if the wax figure of a former bishop in a glass sarcophagus was a little creepy.
6. Teatro Lauro Rossi. This is the place of the orchestra concert I attended a week ago, but we went back again to talk about the history of the theater. Going back without lots of people meant we got to see it a lot better. Plus? We got to run around and take Brady Bunch remnicent pictures in all the theater boxes. So fun.
5. Fonte Maggiore. The place outside the city walls where women (no boys allowed) went to wash the clothes. It's now unnecessary (yay, modern plumbing!), and so a little unkempt. Still, there was a rather romantic abandoned air about the still water and old stones.
3. Chiesa di Santa Maria della Porta. This is no longer a church, but through the now Goodwill-type store operating on the ground floor (in Italy, the second floor is the first floor), we got to go to some of the tunnels that used to run all under the city, as escape routes in case of seige or attack. The adventurer in me was much appeased, though disappointed many have been sealed off and I couldn't go very far.
2. Torre Civica. From the depths of the city to the top of the bell tower, this was my second favorite place we went all day. There was such an awesome view of the surrounding area! The wind was, perhaps, a bit strong, but I thought it was absolutely invigorating. We were up there for the noon bells!
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