Initial Thoughts After My First Trip to Italy

Three of 9 Michelangelo statues in the Medici Chapel

Thursday evening I arrived at my home back in Duluth after an eleven day journey to Italy, specifically Florence and Parma. Becoming immersed in these two cities was so uplifting and sensational that trying to write about, share it, it has been challenging. 

I wrote over 40 pages of notes during my stay, and took what seems like a thousand photos. Over the next few weeks I will attempt to present "snapshots" of the various experiences I had there. 

Late last night I scribbled these two statements in my journal:

If Italy doesn't move you, then your eyes were closed.

If Italy doesn't change you, then your heart was closed.

Time will tell as regards the truth of the latter. From the moment I arrived, though, I fully experienced the former.

* * * 

Over the years I've thought much and written numerous times about influences. Usually I connected influence with people. A century ago, however, a Nobel prizewinner gave a few lectures on influence and connected it with places. Places can pull us just as much as they invigorate us and make us come alive. One of my first thoughts after I'd checked into my AirBnB and began walking the streets of Florence was this one: "I'm home." Something was resonating within me at a very deep level. 

What follows are a few miscellaneous photos from Florence with more to be shared as time unfolds over the weeks to come. 

Bust of Gallileo

Michelangelo's Bacchus

In an open square by the Academy

Bridge across the Arno

Courtyard of the Pitti Palace

One of literally countless painted ceilings.

Typical windows seen from the streets. 

There were three especially cool and unexpected surprises while I was there. Last weekend there was a protest by Peruvians in Italy, aimed at drawing attention to alleged genocide taking place in Peru under the current government regime. On April 25 there was a national celebration of the Liberation of Italy from fascist dictator Mussolini. Florence celebrated with speeches, the laying of a wreath at a monument commemorating this event in which the U.S. drove out Italy's enemies during World War II. (I plan to devote a blog post to this historical moment in which my father-in-law participated.) And third, there was a fantastic MC Escher retrospective of the first order in which I learned of Italy's influence on this great 20th century designer/artist. (This will be re-visited later as well.)

Then there were the numerous interesting people I became acquainted with. And the bookstores. And the food. And the wonder of it all.

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Shrunken Heads and the Law of Unintended Consequences

Shrunken heads… I remember our family going to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History when I was young. Dad drew my attention the shrunken heads exhibit. It was strange, and captivated the imagination. Each time we returned to the museum, I would seek out that shrunken head exhibit. It was creepy. Those were real heads of humans, yet so small. How did they do it?

We moved to New Jersey the year I turned twelve and to this day I have not seen a shrunken head. Yet I recall them vividly.

Today, due to the marvel of the Internet, I can find more info than I ever wanted to know about shrunken heads, and numerous images reminding me of those first gruesome memories.

The biggest mystery was how a whole head could be so reduced to the size of a large orange. Well, now I know. They remove the head from the skull first, then boil it down, dissolving the fat. The lips are sewn or pinned together.

When Westerners first discovered the Jivaro Indian tribe that did these things, there was probably both horror and fascination. What did they think when they first saw these shrunken heads in the remote jungles of Ecuador?

Well, it wasn’t long before a few of the more entrepreneurial of the bunch realized they could make a little money selling these to museum folks back home. “Got any more of these?” the white man asked.

The natives talked amongst themselves. “Sure… for guns we'll get you get a few more.”

And so, for about $25 a head the bartering began between natives and Westerners. And the exhibits garnered the desired attention from a grateful public. Did no one stop to think that the Javaro’s were taking other peoples’ lives in order to obtain these artifacts?

Eventually, the Peruvian and Ecuadorian governments had to crack down on this game,. passing laws against the trafficking of human heads. We're talking 1930's, not 1680.

Yes, the practices of cannibalism and making shrunken heads are barbarian. Are we, who imagine ourselves more civilized, less barbarian when we allow the museums who purchased these items at the cost of human lives to profit from selling us tickets to see them?

It's a strange thing to think about too deeply. Westerners unintentionally contributed to the killing of other human beings in order to obtain many of these primitive relics.