Anne Barkley was a recent participant in the Biennale International Contemporary Art Exhibition in Florence, Italy in December, 2009 and she generously shared her trip notes with us. Says Anne:
My companion, Pam, and I flew to Paris from Montreal, leaving at 7.30 in the evening. I guess some people could get some sleep overnight in this situation. (not me)
We had chosen to have a 24-hour layover in Paris, because we hadn’t been there. We took a bus and the subway to our hotel, then headed to the Louvre, again by subway. We found it surprisingly easy to get around by public transit. Mona is indeed beautiful in person! We asked someone at the hotel to recommend a restaurant for our evening in Paris, and he sent us to a typical French restaurant. It was not as I expected; I thought it would be dark with candles, but it was bright and busy, and the tables were shared. We spoke to a honeymoon couple beside us, and they told us that they thought we were going to love Florence. (they were right)
The next morning we headed back to the Paris airport for our flight to Rome. That is some airport – lots of construction going on, and it’s huge. One goes from one terminal to another by bus, and I think it might be easy to get the wrong bus. We were travelling with carry on luggage, nothing checked through, which makes life easier in busy airports, although it means your carry-on might be a little heavy. Imagine, 18 days with a carry on – that’s good packing, and it worked out well. (The hotels have heated towel racks so you can wash and hang as needed, also hair dryers.)
In Rome we were to stay at the Hotel Lancelot. If I was to do this again, I would have given my arrival time to the hotel and I think they would have picked us up at the airport, but as I hadn’t done that, several people offering us shuttle service approached us. The prices for this varied from 30 to 110 euros, so we did fairly well by comparing rates.
I highly recommend this beautiful family-run hotel to anyone staying in Rome. We opted for the optional meal plan for dinner, and dinner is served at large round communal tables, so we met interesting people from all over the world there. The hotel is only two blocks from the coliseum, and one evening we were invited up to the owner’s apartment on the 7th floor. From her deck, in the moonlight, (full moon) there was the Coliseum!!
I had no idea Rome is so beautiful. Again, once we were there, we found public transit easy to manage. Given the time of year, there were few crowds and lineups.
Caravaggio Bacon Exhibition at the Borghese GalleryIf I had to choose one exhibition in the world to see, this would be the one I would want, and here it was, in Rome, at the same time as I was there. What are the chances? I am most interested right now in the figure in abstract, figure/background, and juxtaposing the two, integrating the figure, and here are two pioneers in their times with their portrait work. We had a wonderful two hours here, with a side attraction of a guide fighting (quite loudly) with one of the patrons, over a perceived disrespect. Most interesting, I must learn to be more assertive.
I was reading a book from the hotel about the dancer Nureyev (Dancer, Colum McCann). One quotation from the book:
‘at the gathering Bacon asked ‘why dance?’ I retorted, ‘why paint?’ He dragged on his cigarette and said painting was the language he would give his soul if he could teach his soul to speak.
In Rome we also visited the Vatican Museum and the Coliseum, went to several different areas including Trasteverre.
Also in Rome, Danielle from Brockville, who is taking her master’s degree in England this year, joined us. She was with us for the next four days and added much to the fun of our trip.
Pictured below is a small art gallery in Rome.
There was a bus strike in Rome Friday afternoon, so we got on a train for Florence on Friday morning. It was a great trip, of course lots of scenery on our way.
When we arrived in Florence it was raining so we took a cab to our hotel, but from then on the weather was amazing. The first night we found a little bar in our neighbourhood with free appetizers if you bought a drink for 6 euros, so we had a good time there. We were in a very good location, lots to do and see right on our street, close to the train station and the fort where the art show was being held. The food and shopping and prices and wine in Florence were great.
Biennale: BIENNALE INTERNAZIONALE DELL’ARTE CONTEMPORANEAThe biennale was held in the Forta de Basso, a large area with several buildings at the end of our street. The exhibition opened on Saturday morning, with the work of six hundred and fifty artists from all over the world. The opening had lots of pomp and ceremony, bugles, marching, costumes, champagne, cheese, crowds of people – very exciting all in all. The display was well done, and well lit. Each artist had a section of a booth set up almost as small galleries. Below is a photo of the Fort, two of the opening, and one of my work in the booth (closest to the chair).
My art friend Pierrette Dulude Bohay also had work in the show. Her booth was close to mine, so that I could keep an eye on both areas. She had lots of response to her painting, Sir Earl and his Chicks. We also received a catalogue of the Exhibition, which we will treasure.
Pierrette’s work, the painting with a mat behind a group of artists discussing various works:
The opening was topped only by the closing banquet on Saturday evening, with 950 people in attendance, two opera singers, an eight-course meal, and costumes on some of the artists that defied belief! As this is a contemporary exhibition, there was lots of cutting edge work, (as well as some that was a little too far out for me).
As well, there were seminars on different art-related topics throughout the week. One seminar discussed: “Art is born in the eye of the beholder.” Which gave rise to lots of thoughts, why talk if no one listens? Why paint if no one looks? Is the doing enough? Can it be? Does it need the completion of an audience? Is this why our arts communities and groups can be so important to us? Lots of questions, sorry I don’t have any answers for you.
In Florence we also visited the Pitti Palace, another museum, and Pam and I bought watercolour paintings from an artist outside the entrance. (just what I need, more paintings, right?) But what would you rather buy?
We took a bus tour of Tuscany, which we thoroughly enjoyed, visiting Sienna, San Gimignano, Pisa, and lunch at a farm where everything served was from that farm, including four kinds of wine, olive oil, biscotti. What a beautiful spot, high on the side of a mountain looking out over vineyards and olive groves. I could have stayed there for a week. (see photo)
On another day we took the bullet train to Venice and visited the Peggy Guggenheim collection. Some train, we could use those in Canada
We were extremely lucky with timing. (End of November to middle of December). The weather was good while we were away, and since we have returned home Europe has been hit by lots of snow and ice, which they aren’t very well equipped to deal with; also the airplane incident on Christmas day has made air travel much slower. And, because it was the off season, we didn’t have crowds and lineups to deal with, but there was lots of shopping to be had. I think it would be fun to go to Florence for a month or two in the fall or spring, lots of great accommodation at reasonable prices, lots of good food and wine.
Anne Barkley is an accomplished abstract painter, and elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists. She belongs to several other art groups and organizations. Barkley’s award-winning work is held in public and private collections across Canada. Anne has recently exhibited her work in New York City and by invitation at the 7th Biennale Internazionale dell'Arte Contemporanea in Florence Italy. Anne Barkley's work can be found at Tay River Gallery and many other fine art galleries in Ontario and Quebec.
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