Teacher's Essay Vol. 1

先日イタリア旅行に出かけたBobby先生のフィレンツェ（英語ではFlourence)紹介エッセイを掲載します。ヨーロッパ出身者が各国の名のある美術・建築物の中でも比べ物にならない程美しいと絶賛しております。

『食』に関して見てもリゾット、ピザ、トリュフ・・・日本人の胃袋をガッチリ掴んでくれそうですし、うーん。。。行きたい！

エッセイ中の文章や単語は固有名詞を除いては比較的平易、短く書かれておりますのでフィレンツェへの思い馳せながら楽しくお読みいただければと思います。

Florence a Beautiful City

by

Bobby

If you compared the art found in Florence Italy with other beautiful European cities there would be no equal. Paris has the Louvre and its beautiful streets; London its Hyde Park and Rome has the Colosseum. But as a home of high art none of them can compare to the achievements of Florence. The kingdom of Florence was the birth place of Michaelangelo, Galileo Galilei and Leonardo da Vinci, Dante and of course the birth place of the renaissance.

 

The city is an open air museum grown more beautiful over the centuries; and a treasure chest with masterworks of art and architecture so close that you can almost touch them. Florence today is crowded with tourists, but you can walk down the same streets where Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo walked. Florence is an ideal tourist destination although avoid the summer season in June, when it’s too hot. It’s not unusual to wait up to 5 hours outside some of the larger museums like the Uffizi Gallery one of the most visited art museums in the world. If you can wait then prepare for another two or three hours inside the gallery; where you can see masterworks like Botticelli’s ’Birth of Venus’ and Leonardo da Vinci’s ’Annunciation’ and many other works of art. There are even large seats more like beds in the gallery just in case you feel tired and need to rest.

 

 

 

Florence Cathedral with its famous dome makes an impressive sight anywhere in the city. It’s free to enter and open most days except religious holidays and Sundays. It’s dark inside so go in the morning until noon when the light is bright as the windows light up the paintings on the inside of the dome. If you fancy a challenge why not climb up the 463 to the top to see the paintings up close or a spectacular view of the city. Or if you fancy a walk away from the city why not go to the Pitti Palace with its beautiful garden.

 

The food is typically Italian where you can buy pasta, pizza and risotto. Florence is famous for its beef and especially Bistecca – a 0.5kg steak served on the bone. The locals also enjoy tripe soup, slow cooked pig’s trotters, chickens, rabbits and ducks too. Tuscany is also famous for its cheese, olive oil and chianti red wine. Florence is also famous for its cold meat cuts, salad, and tomato soup. Truffles are also popular and shops sell fresh truffles, truffle flavoured oil, or the city markets famous fresh seafood and shellfish.

 

WORDS LIST

Colosseum 　　　コロッセウム                              

Michaelangelo　　ミケランジェロ・ブオナローティ

Hyde Park 　　　ハイド・パーク　（ロンドンのバッキンガム宮殿に隣接）                           

Galileo Galilei　　ガリレオ・ガリレイ

Louvre 　　ルーヴル美術館      

achievements 　功績                                    

  
Uffzi Museum   ウフィツィ美術館                  
 

Dante ダンテ・アリギエーリ

open air  　野外

masterworks（piece） 傑作                            

Botticelli　サンドロ・ボッティチェッリ

architecture建築                                                 

dome ドーム

impressive  素晴らしい　

walk down ～まで歩いていく

fancy ～を気に入る

Florence Cathedral　　　サンタ・マリア・デル・フィオーレ大聖堂

treasure Chest    宝箱                                       　　　 kingdom　 王国

renaissance –　ルネッサンス                                　tripe – 豚や牛の胃

trotters 豚足                                                          cured ham-塩漬けハム

Chianti –キアンティ（ワインの名産地）                       　　truffles – トリュフ

Tripe-ハチノス                                   　　　　　　　　　　on the bone-骨付き

Birth of Venus – A famous painting showing the Greek Goddess Venus

Annunciation – A painting where an angel tells Mary she is pregnant with the baby Jesus

More Info ⇒　http://www.italyguides.it/us/florence/florence_italy.htm