THE STANFORD ARTS REVIEW

Postcards from Italy: Violin-making is like Wand-making

by SABRINA BEDFORD

On our Bing Trip in the Florence program this year we went to Modena, Parma, and Cremona. I had no idea what to expect of these places, but I knew I’d be seeing a lot of art. Our tour guide in Parma explained that Parma is (and was) a lot like Frankfurt Airport. If you’ve ever been there, you’ll know that no one wants to be there, but everyone must go through it to get where there going. Parma is definitely a bit like that. Everywhere we went, she explained how some horrid and ugly location used to be grand and beautiful 400 years ago, but history had taken some desolate turn at one point and was never revived.

Postcards from Italy: Golden Constellations

by SABRINA BEDFORD

t’s been a little while since the first of May, but the events that happened on the eve of that day this year, just like every year, is something worth talking about.

In Italy, the night before May first is called the “white night,” dubbed so because the lights stay on all night long. Free concerts were sprinkled throughout the city in the piazzas, you could buy a panino at 2, 3, 4 in the morning. Flash mobs were set up all during the night to the song “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO. I couldn’t even get close enough to see the performers, every high school student in Florence was in my way.

Postcards from Italy: Roma

by SABRINA BEDFORD

A few weekends ago, I and several other students in the Stanford Florence program went on a trip to Rome for a paper assignment. The train ride there was remarkable. I’ve been on several buses and trains and I’m never disappointed with the view. Here is something I saw on the way back from Rome. This country is just nature sprinkled with culture, aging houses and gorgeous cities.

We had a nice long list of things we were expected to see in our expedition to Rome, all within the Vatican Museums. I’ve never been more excited for a class trip. At Stanford, professors always send us to the SFMOMA. Here, they just send us off to Rome to see, you know, just the greatest works of art from the Renaissance period.