Photos of Italian Ceilings

[KLSymph]

Hi everyone!  In the first half of this month, January 2013, I went on a trip to Italy.  It was my first time in Europe, and I had a wonderful time walking around some of the major Italian cities.  I shot a lot of vacation photos, some of which I'd like to share with you all.  Specifically, photos of ceilings; in addition to all the awesome old-world architecture I enjoyed, it turns out that there is quite a lot of really gorgeous ceiling art in Italy that people may be only passingly aware of, so here is something to look forward to if you ever go yourselves.



Venezia

Welcome to Venice!



This is the Palazzo Ducale, or Doge's Palace, which you may remember as that building where Ezio Auditore da Firenze killed a bunch of dudes in Assassin's Creed 2.

Line wait: 30 minutes
Entrance fee: 16€




The stairs look kinda different....

The palace of the Doge of Venice (the elected chief magistrate of the city-state) is very lavishly constructed, boasting living quarters, an armory, and even a dungeon section that you can visit.  Within the palace, the walls and ceilings are covered with artwork.  It really makes you want to take pictu--


No luggage, improper clothes, animals, food, phones, or cameras.

...Uhh.  Yeah.  You're not allowed to take pictures of the inner portions of the palace.  Photography is forbidden in many of the most famous galleries and exhibitions in Italy, and when I found out about this, I was very sad, because I wouldn't be able to share all of the great art.

I made a disappointed face.


Like this.

So here are some pictures of the inner chambers.



This is the hallway that leads into the Scudo Room.  I don't know the place well enough to remember which room each of these pictures was taken in, but this site has some room descriptions.















Oh, wait, this is the armory.  And that's a chastity belt.

The next four photos are of the Chamber of the Great Council (one of the Institutional Chambers).  It's one of the largest rooms of the largest rooms in Europe, according to the website, and it is fully covered with wall and ceiling art.









The place is crammed with bling.  Worth a visit!

Let's go out of the palace and head next door.  This is the Basilica di San Marco.



Line wait: 15 minutes
Entrance fee: free for ground floor, 4€ for museum on upper floor, 8€ for detached bell tower

The basilica also disallows photography (in fact the previous no-photo sign was for the basilica; I forgot to take a picture of the palace's sign until I was already out the door, but the icons were the same).  However, the guards in the basilica didn't appear to really care as people were taking flash photos everywhere, which was not the case in the palace.











And below is a photo from the 4€ upper floor.



Hmm.  Wait a minute, what's that writing over the arch?


"Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini"

Wow, has it really been eight years since I wrote that piece?

...Man.  Takes me back.



Roma

Welcome to Rome!



This is the wall of the Vatican City, and we are here today for the Musei Vaticani.

Line wait: 3 hours
Entrance fee: 16€

If you're thinking that three hours is a long time, well yes.  Here's a picture of the line wrapping around the wall.



But we're not here for some of Rome's early-morning winter weather.  No, we're here for something much nicer: the Cappella Sistina.


"No photo!  No video!  Silence!" -- chapel guards, frequently

What?!  You had people standing outside the wall for three hours!  No.  There shall be defiance.



These photos are misleading, due to the camera's automatic brightness adjustment.  While it looks like the chapel is reasonably lit, the actual ambient light in the room was in fact quite dim.







By the way, the golden drapes are painted on the walls.  They're not real.  Do not be fooled.







Note Michaelangelo's famous God-touches-Adam image in the top center of the photo above.  I had to take a bunch of pics to get a decent shot of that one.



This is the cruficix in front of Michaelangelo's other famous Sistine piece, as seen more fully below:



I had to run back to the chapel for the Last Judgment, because my first take was blurred.  Getting a good shot of the entire wall with all those people in the room was quite hard, especially since the chapel guards are also standing there.

I also tried to take pictures of the guards, because why not.  The patrolling ones are impossible to catch, since their motion plus the dimness of the room makes any photo a formless streak on camera.  The standing guards were, unfortunately, also beyond my abilities, since you have to get close enough so they are visible in the shot, aim through the moving crowd entering from the door (the bright rectangle in the photo above), take the shot without moving the camera, and then quickly move away.  All without being noticed--and beaten--by a bunch of angry Italians.  So I gave up after my one pic turned out blurred to heck.  I tried, guys.

Anyway, the Sistine Chapel.  It's quite beautiful, although it can get very crowded.  The rest of the Vatican Museums also has great artwork, but for some reason they flat out don't care if you photograph those.

I don't really understand.



Milano

Welcome to Milan!



This is Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie.

Line wait: N/A
Entrance fee: ???

We are here for one thing, and the road to that thing is pretty difficult.  You can't wait in line to enter the Cenacolo Vinciano portion; only 25 people are allowed inside every fifteen minutes, and getting the tickets requires a reservation from half a month in advance--more, presumably, in tourist-heavier months.  The entrance fee quotes I see online range around 10€ to 20€, but my group got in at the price of more than 30€ per person with a special deal, so I think the quoted prices are a bit optimistic.

But let's say you paid your money and you got in.



Are you kidding me?!  When I said only 25 people every fifteen minutes, I mean you're in there for fifteen minutes and then they kick you out.  There is basically only one room where there is art, then BOOM, buy some souvenirs at the gift shop and get lost.  30€ for that?  You better believe I'm taking some photos.

...

...

...Unfortunately...

*sigh*

Unfortunately, this is the one time during this trip that I got caught.  Unlike the other spots on my trip, the people working at Santa Maria delle Grazie were quite vigilant, and the 25 people rule means that in the one room where I took the photos, it was much easier to watch over all the visitors.

So one guard got me, and I didn't notice him coming because he walked up behind me.  And he made me delete all the pictures I took, one by one.

...


*sniffle*

So here are those photos after I recovered them from my memcard once I got home.



On the south wall of the refectory is the Crucifixion, by Giovanni Donato da Montorfano



Information on this painting is bizarrely hard to find on the internet without knowing its name.  I bet you haven't heard of it; search engine results are completely overshadowed by the fame of the painting on the north wall, and that one I'm pretty sure you'll recognize on sight:



The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci.

Yep, that's what we're here for.  The painting has been restored a lot over the years, but I think it still looks pretty good.  Hope the fifteen minutes you get to see it in person is worth the 30€, as well as the six hour round trip from Rome!

By the way, when I said I deleted my photos one by one, these are my two best shots of the murals.  Take a moment to imagine that you're a museum guard, watching me delete another twenty versions of these pictures, a process that takes around thirty seconds.  One by one.





Conclusion

Italy was very pretty, and a good vacation spot, although like me, you may have problems navigating its convoluted streets in the beginning.  Map-reading is a worthwhile skill, you know?  The lines can be pretty heinous--the Vatican Museums aren't the only place with hours-long lines; you should think about buying reservations for entering at a particular hour instead of buying a ticket for immediate access, which cuts the wait down to the half-hour range but typically cost 4€ more.  It's a tradeoff.

But suppose you go there.  How will you take your pictures at all these places they don't want you taking pictures of?  Before I left, a friend warned me about the Sistine Chapel, and said he simply waited until right before he left, snapped a whole bunch as quickly as possible, then ran out.  That's certainly a hilarious option, but it's probably not the best for good picture results, so here's my technique.

• You'll need a fairly standard point-and-shoot digital camera that you can fit into your pocket.  Taking pics with your cell phone is possible, but guards may be on the lookout for people who are holding their cell phones out for no particular reason.  On the other hand, a professional camera with detachable lens is a problem if it's too bulky to fit into your pocket, because some places want you to put your camera in your luggage and leave the luggage at the door.  Fiddling with a lens cover is also a hassle you don't want.  I used a Canon Powershot SX.


• Turn off the flash.  Turn off the red-eye correction light or autofocus assist beam, or whatever that thing is.  Turn off all cosmetic shutter sounds.


• When you enter the room, scan and locate all the museum guards.  Keep some sense of where they are, and especially if they're looking in your direction when you're taking a picture.  This is less important, and less practical, if there is a crowd, but be aware.


• To take the picture, you can't raise the camera to your eye to aim, since that's too obvious to watchers.  Instead, you must hold the camera at around belly level, as if it is hanging from a cord around your neck.  This allows you to keep your arms at your sides naturally, yet still hold the camera with both hands for steadiness.  Take pictures from that position.  If your camera has a screen on the back to let you see what you're photographing, you probably can't turn that off; you must press the screen into your belly, so that the light from the screen doesn't escape and alert nearby guards that your camera is on.


• When you press the button to take the picture, you must hold the camera at the proper angle without lowering your head to look at the camera itself while doing it (or checking the screen to see how your photo came out).  Finding the right angle is fairly easy with a bit of practice.  You must also hold the camera steady for a bit before, during, and after the the camera takes the photo, so that the image isn't blurred.  The length of pause seems to depend on the ambient light level, so that also takes practice.  However, you can't pause for an unnaturally long time either (which was probably my mistake at the Last Supper given the dimness of that room), especially if you're in a moving crowd.


• Get photo recovery software, just in case.  Learn how to use it.  Bring photo recovery software with you on your vacation if possible, but if not, bring a backup camera memory card, since taking newer photos on a memcard with deleted photos decreases the chance that you can recover those photos but you still want to take pictures during your trip until you have the chance to do a recovery.

And that's it!  I hope you've enjoyed my vacation pics, and that you'll have the chance to go to Italy and take your own, whether Italy likes it or not.  It's a little late, but I want to wish everyone a good 2013.  To wrap things up the same way I started, here's a rack of Assassin's Creed books being officially sold in the Uffizi museum in Firenze, birthplace of Ezio Auditore da Firenze.



Insieme per la vittoria!

[Dracos]

Viva La Photo Recovery.

Really, it's all based around preserving the mystique of the sites so that they can charge you 45 dollars for an entry fee.

Which by the way, is pretty ridiculous for 15 minutes of time.  Wow.

I've been through quite a bit of traveling and while I wouldn't call it a 'scam' persay, the pattern is quite common of:
Fancy Italian or Spanish name.  (Very odd when it's say an Arabic site but what am I to comment)
Expensive entry fee
Single tiny room of possibly interesting art or culture relics (Who knows before they go in), banned anything that records the experience.
Gift shop roughly the size of the original exhibit.  Bonus points if you can't exit without walking through the entire thing.

"Hey, so I'm in this country possibly once in my life.  I will never likely see this site again?"

Too bad.  That's exactly what helps their 'we're so special we can charge you ridiculous amounts well outside the site upkeep to come in.'

[Merc]

I think that while gift shop sales are a huge part of it, the most persistent reason is the myth of flash photography damage.

I should dig through my photos of italy and add to this. I didn't actually take photos of murals generally, simply because I'd hate to get kicked out after paying a bunch of money to get in, though I think we took a few pictures here and there.

As an aside, that is one damn nasty chastity belts. Good lord, it has -teeth- on it!

(Btw, shouldn't this be in the art board?)

[Brian]

I'm actually of the opinion that they want to preserve the mystique.  While the flash photography thing may have been an argument in the past, it's more likely that they saw the result was to get more people willing to pay absurd amounts since that was the only way to view whatever.

And when you've stumbled across a winning formula....

[Dracos]

Well, also an awful lot of  them really don't have crap to show.  Sure, most of the Roman sites can at least declare notable art-work, but really these are the exception.  I've certainly wandered past (on other people's dime) a lot of sites which are basically "IT IS A HOLE IN THE GROUND!" "IT IS THE FLOOR OF A STONE BUILDING THAT WAS REALLY OLD!".

[KLSymph]

The apex of the hole-in-the-ground sell is probably the Roman Forum.

It was for centuries the center of Roman public life: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches; and the nucleus of commercial affairs. Here statues and monuments commemorated the city's great men. The teeming heart of ancient Rome, it has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history.

I went there, stood in the middle of the Forum, and took a picture.


This is my best pic of the Roman Forum.

Not a whole lot going on.

Line wait: none, thankfully
Entrance fee: 16€ for Forum, Colosseum, and Palatine Hill bundle

[Kt3]

KLSymph, professional camera sneak.

It's a good thing you shared these photos, it's saved me a trip to Europe + various tourism fees!  :)

As well as those waiting times, yeesh.

[Music-chan]

hahahaOW, chastity belt. O.O

You sneaky sneak you =p

That sort of reminds me. I think at the Royal Ontario Museum, they allow photography all over the place.  So it's definitely a "we have this special thing that you don't" sort of rule.  Which sucks.

Been a while since I've been to the art institute in Chicago. I can't remember if you could take pictures in there.  Wish I had if I could have; I love that place.

[KLSymph]

It's a good thing you shared these photos, it's saved me a trip to Europe + various tourism fees!  :)

Don't let me dissuade you from going to Europe.  It's very nice.  Just expensive.

As well as those waiting times, yeesh.

I didn't actually wait for the Vatican Museums, as that was one of the few sites I had a reservation.  I did stand the full three hours at the Uffizi, though, and at that point your feet hurt so much from standing you kinda no longer care about, you know, walking through the museum you stood in line for.  It's terrible.

By the way, you shouldn't wear comfortable gym shoes when going around Italy during winter.  It's likely to rain, which means your gym shoes and your socks will become soaked and icky.  Instead, you should wear something thick and waterproof.  What's that?  Painful for walking around and standing in line?  Hindsight is a cruel mistress.

hahahaOW, chastity belt. O.O

Given that the rest of the nearby exhibits are all pistols and rifles, you'd think that maybe it's an accessory to go with the crossbow in the picture.

Nope, chastity belt.

My older, non-English-reading companions then asked what it was, so I had to explain it using hand gestures.  This is a thing that happened in my life, oh god.

On that creepy note, here's my picture of Michaelangelo's original David, at the Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence.


No, you're not allowed to photo it. Shh.

Line wait: 20 minutes if you get there before it opens
Entrance fee: 16€

Take careful note of the area behind the statue and the people there. The wall there has benches against it, so that at any particular time, you might find a dozen museum patrons sitting, relaxing, and admiring David's rock-hard buttocks.

I'm not posting that.

[Kt3]

The gentleman on the left seems to be admiring his companion's buttocks instead.

[KLSymph]

Probably wondering if their beauty will equally pass the test of time.