Under The Tuscan Sun: Florence, Turin, Lake Como and Milan

Eight museums later and I have arrived back in Siena from Florence, Turin, Lake Como and Milan; Italy really is such a dream for a museum studies person! So on Thursday I had a few hours to spare in Florence before my train to Milan so I went inside the Palazzo Vecchio but unfortunately it is closed on Thursdays…bad timing. I look forward to seeing the interior of it soon but instead I stumbled into the newly opened Gucci Museum! The museum looked just like one of their high end stores with white marble floors and fancy black decorations everywhere. When I got to the glass doors they were opened for me by nice young men who calmly said, “Hello, welcome to the Gucci Museum, would you like to enter?” I said yes, bought my ticket and they said, “Can we take your bags for you while you tour the Gucci Museum?” It was an interesting but fun experience, I felt like I was being catered to! The museum was very trendy, intriguing and well put together. The museum followed the life of Guccio Gucci and the items he developed in the beginning of his career in the early 20^th century to where the brand is today. Luggage sets, a Gucci car, numerous handbags, a poker set, golf club set, bike and many textiles were displayed to showcase the range of the Gucci brand. There were also videos in each room showing a craftsman making an average Gucci purse. The video is on a continuous reel and each few minutes a new item is being made. It was very cool to see the work put into making a bag, all of the cutting, sewing and hand stitching. My favorite part of the museum was the five gorgeous gowns on display that were worn by Blake Lively, Salma Hayek, Evan Rachel Wood, Jessica Chastain and Cameron Diaz. There was also an accompanying video showing the gowns being worn on the red carpet. After the Gucci Museum experience I toured the Santa Maria Novella church and museum which had beautiful stained glass windows. I then headed to Milan and spent the night there. On Friday I spent the day in Turin, which was only about an hour and a half train ride from Milan. There were people walking around with “Turin 2006” backpacks and hats from the Olympics so it was fun being in a city where the Olympics took place not too long ago. The reason I went to Turin was to visit the Egyptian Museum which houses the world’s second largest Egyptian collection, the first being in Cairo. The museum was incredible, there were so many artifacts displayed, even numerous coffins and mummies! After the museum I toured the Palazzo Reale which is an over the top, elegant palace in the center of Turin. I went through the rooms, royal armory and the royal library. After the palace I took a glass elevator to the top of the Mole Antonelliana and got a great, yet slightly polluted view of Turin and the Po River. I headed back to Milan for the night again. On Saturday I went to Lake Como which is absolutely gorgeous! It was cloudy and foggy but that didn’t hurt the views at all! We took an hour ferry ride up the lake and got to see some of the quaint and beautiful hillside villages! I headed back to Milan Saturday afternoon to finally see the city! I went to the Duomo, La Scala Opera House and Museum, walked through the high end shopping districts and ended the day by going to the Palazzo Reale. I waited in line for an hour and half to see a Gustav Klimt exhibit which was well worth the wait! Out of the 100 surviving paintings of Gustav Klmit, 20 were displayed at this exhibit. I headed back to Siena on Sunday after a good weekend full of museums, train rides and the return of the rain. Next week I am going to Rome and Greece with my aunt for spring break!

Ciao!

-Rachel