La Dolce Vita?

I got back from Florence last night, and I have a multitude of stories and random thoughts. Tonight, however, I am in a rather contemplative mood and feel like expanding on my thoughts on Italian culture in general. I feel that after 4 weeks (official tomorrow!) I have a decent grasp on the basics. Further when I visited Florence I stayed with a Cru staffer who has lived there 6-7 years. We talked about Italian culture, and I received the biggest compliment ever when she told me before I left that I seemed to have a better understanding of Italy than some people she knew who had been there much longer. Occasionally I wonder if I will really be a good counselor since all I seem to do is talk, but hearing things like that encourages me greatly.

One of many churches I saw...they all blend together even after studying them.

As a prelude, I spent most of this weekend touring churches. I did the Uffizi and saw the David when I came 4 years ago, so I concentrated all of my time on seeing the 7-8 churches packed with Renaissance art and architecture. My dream trip after taking an Italian Renaissance Art History class last year (the reason I cam specifically to Italy actually....) So I got to see a lot about churches, namely the fact that they are almost oppressively overdecorated and the small fact that there are no people in them. Case in point: accidentally walked into a church during mass, and there were between 10-15 older people sitting with a priest chanting. Granted it was a Friday night, but still, if that doesn't seem dead to you then I don't know what would.

Now honestly I don't remember most of our conversation well enough to expand upon, it just flowed naturally. I do though remember a few of the key points. My roommates and I had noted the fact that Italy seems very much in the past. It does not feel like a modern city, and its main trade (at least in Rome) is tourism, which of course emphasizes the past. People seem distrustful of authority and religion because of the past abuses by the emperors and popes. Further they don't seem to entertain hopes that they can do anything they want, rather you have to have the history and connections. American has its many issues, but compared to these separation of church and state and the unbridled optimism of the American dream do indeed seem dreamlike.

Everyone is very private, and family is everything. There is no escaping it. Not that I want to (love y'all!) but the idea that you could never change who you were at all is horribly depressing. Their treatment of women is at times just as deplorable. The country is extremely sexist, and slanted in men's favor. And like in most cultures, the more South you go the more this is true apparently. I find this especially true in the fact that it is basically my responsibility not to smile or really even make eye contact with a boy. I generally follow this rule to a tee, and have in fact perfected my look of indifference/frown. Walking to the grocery store around 7 though I saw a 3 year old running across the side walk. He was adorably blocking most people's path, his father was a bit behind him and i made the mistake at smiling slightly (toddlers always do that to me). As the father (a North African it would seem) passed by I hear "so beautiful"....yikes, never breaking my no smiling rule for strangers ever again!

Then we tried to talk about positive aspects of Italian culture. I believe that no one culture will ever perfect. I am not so relativistic as to think that all cultures are entirely equally righteous, yet in seemingly opposite cultures each generally has a part of God's divine plan more correct (East vs West for example). However, I was having a very hard time coming up with many true positives for Italy. I decided that its emphasis on family, beauty, and community are definitely redeeming characteristics, but I guess that is what I will be looking for over the next 3 months: more positives that the US perhaps lacks.

Now on an even deeper note I want to talk about the Italy, God, and the church....so if you are reading this and don't want to hear about the Bible just stop now.
I was having a quiet time Sunday morning after all of our deep talks, in the park/piazza in front of Santa Maria Novella and I just felt like reading some of my favorite, most intimate verses. I had a slight revelation, not a huge, life-altering one. Just some simple thoughts and and illustrations of Italy. To backtrack briefly, the day the staff (namely Megan) left Tahoe two summers ago I found a set of verses which spoke to my changing heart:
       "Arise my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. The winter is past. The rains are over and gone. The cooing of doves is again heard in our land. The fig trees form their first fruits; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise come my darling, my beautiful one come with me. (Song of Solomon 2:8-13ish)"
My favorite song that summer, I also only recently discovered is actually taken almost word from word from Songs of Solomon too:
     "Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm, for love is strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like a blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love, rivers cannot wash it away. (Song of Solomon 8:6-7)"

So back to the point, when I reread these verses I suddenly felt almost too intimate with God. ("Do not awaken or arouse love until it so desires...") So many verses stuck out. One of the many art related things I am studying this term is the Baroque period, which is characterized my opulence, regality, and basically artificiality. In response to beating back the Reformation, the church wanted to emphasize its power and prestige and so it decorated its churches in this way. The following portions of verses from Song of Solomon reminded me of this concept:

The Cathedral of Florence in all its ornateness.

    "How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful!"
    "Eat oh friends, drink your fill, O lovers."
    "Let him kiss me with the kisses of your mouth   for your love is more delightful than wine."
Normally I just dwell on how intimate a relationship with God is, but this time I could see tendencies for this book to seem almost Baroque in a sense, like the epitome of Rome. I countered by reading Ecclesiastes:
    "Meaningless! Meaningless! says the teacher. Everything is utterly meaningless."
This book to is by Solomon, where he bemoans that living for pleasures is utterly meaningless, in fact living for anything other than God (and he really explores most topics) eventually feels empty. Now of course this approach too can definitely be taken to a fault. Rather a happy medium fully showing both sides is necessary, but often nearly impossible...

This reminded me of Italian culture, because I feel like it focuses on temporal pleasures but is completely empty inside. If you have ever read Eat, Pray, Love, the author talks about living in Rome and hearing from a Roman that every city has one word which epitomizes it, and for Rome the word is apparently "sex." For examples, there was a couple making out in the grass at the piazza where I was writing all these things out. But at the same time the culture is utterly depressing in this sense. Men are expected to cheat, etc. At least from an outsider's perspective it seems very disenchanting, in fact I think that is the best word to describe it: disenchanted.

This generation is disenchanted with the church in Italy, but they have no examples on how it could be different. This is depressing, and again utterly evident in the giant, empty churches. Which reminds me, to enter churches here (no matter the day) you must cover your shoulders and knees. I am generally fine with modesty, however in this context, it seems to emphasize that the sanctity of the building is more important than the people entering it. No wonder the younger generation thinks the church is corrupt. Ornamenting the church is more important than ornamenting God's people, and speaking of which, whatever happened to welcoming sinners? So to conclude my thoughts on Italy, I think as a culture they are too centered on Song of Solomon - they certainly understand the beauty and wine parts, but they are lacking a healthy dose of Ecclesiastes.

Ok so how all of this relates to me. After reading these two books, I attempted to put myself on some sort of schedule by working in my nav press study book of John (which I finally found after it was missing at home for 5 months...). Unfortunately this did not seem any less deep. In fact I often think of John as being similar of Song of Solomon: it is extremely deep. Granted John is also very basic, but its teachings are all about such radical and revolutionary love.  It was then that I came to the realization that I always want emotion, but of course it is not always going to be there. I started to wonder if I ever "jumped" in Tahoe. I got really close, could taste the air and water, and yes I slowly backed away upon coming back to school for many diverse reasons. And it often seems that in my life I am trying to forget what I saw, instead demanding a miracle of sorts to jump, an extreme emotion perhaps. This is my excuse for not taking a leap.

So perhaps I too am too Italian. I thrive on emotions, attempting to get the most out of this world. I need to remember that it is not enough to just know God (to see the jump), but I must live for Him (so freefall from the cliff) in order for life to not turn simply meaningless. Emotions will come and go...
Hmm, I feel like this should have stayed in my head/personal notes rather than the internet, but at the same time I want to share what I am learning/contemplating in Rome. Sorry if this just got way too deep/like a Bible study. I generally tend to stick with the format of only telling funny stories, and later this week will tell the lighter side of Florence.

Ciao Belles (ironic...?)

(Where most of my reflecting happened.)