Notes from Saturday, May 23, 2009:

The first site that we visited was a traditional Toscanini village that sits on a hill in the outskirts of Milano, Italy. Castigilione Olona Village is named after the Castiglioni family, which was one of the most powerful families around 401 AD, and is located in the small valley of the Olona River. Surrounded by the ruins of the old boundary wall of the village and constructed of red colored Lombard bricks this site is filled with history told mainly thorough pictures on the walls of ancient buildings.
The first part of the village that we visited was the Church of the Collegiata. WOW! Absolutely overwhelming… Approaching the building you immediately notice the steep pathway of stones from the river to the front steps of the ancient building. The Church of the Collegiata was build between 1422 and 1425 by the architects of Alberto, Giovanni and Pietro Solari. According to our tour guide this location served as not only a church for the village, but also as an educational facility. The teachings included that of the arts, literature, and grammar.
The two main areas of the Collegiata included the Baptistery and the actual Collegiata Church. Inside of each of these areas are original carvings and hand paintings of various biblical stories. Images of the Virgin Mary with Child, St. Lorenzo, St. Stefano, John the Baptist, The Four Gospels, and Jesus being Baptized are among a few of the images that we were able to view. What was most fascinating about these images was the stories behind them. During a time when written language was scarce these images acted as a means of documenting history and transferring information from generation to generation. Also, these paintings though hundreds of years old showed great leaps in the development of painting as an evolutionary form of art. The artist, Masolino da Panicale, began to move past one dimensional designs to depicting movements and hand gestures as well as 3D images. As an educator, this really hit home for me. .. The images that I was able to capture with my camera could never do this section of the village justice…