Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Discovering Renaissance Art: The Scenic Route
A
t the end of a week-long seminar that Pam and I led in Florence sometime back in the late
90s, we went around the room and asked people to share a closing comment about their ex-
perience of the week that was. At a certain point, a quiet, older gentleman named Jim spoke
up. He was a retired Chief Financial Officer who was visiting Florence for the first time.
His wife, Julia, on the other hand, had been to Florence no less than a dozen times over the
years. It was a second marriage for both of them.
Jim: “I want to say that enjoying my museum visits was the most unexpected and surprising
part of the trip. I came along on this trip mostly to please Julia, and, frankly, I was dreading
spending a lot of time with all the art stuff. But somehow you made it meaningful, and you
made it enjoyable. I have a sense that I can go and look at art myself now. And I'm actually
looking forward to visiting some museums with Julia when we get back to the States.”
Across the room Julia is weeping, and she has trouble getting the words out.
“I can't tell you how much this means to me. Much as I love him, this was a part of my life
that I never thought I would be able to share with Jim. This is such a gift. Thank you.”
At this point Pam is also teary-eyed as are half the others in the group. Being from New Jer-
sey where guys never cry, I'm doing my best to keep a stiff upper lip, but I'm deeply moved.
It's one of those moments when I'm wondering why we still teach project management in-
stead of doing this all the time.
It's apparent that the way we approach and present Renaissance art has a way of touching
people's hearts and souls. Although there's quite a bit of thought and learning that's gone in-
to it, the end result is geared toward a mainstream audience, not toward Ivy League graduate
students. As our tour business has evolved and grown through the years, we've added many
kinds of other activities to our adventures. But looking at art has remained a core component
of almost all the trips we organize. For those who might be interested, here is a meandering
tale of how I went from innocently making cappuccinos one day to teaching people about
the art of the Italian Renaissance.
Robert Bly
During the late 70s I found great value in the time that I spent every week seeing a Jungian
therapist and working with my dreams on an ongoing basis. That period overlapped with my
tenure as co-owner of a bookstore café across the road from the College of Marin in Kent-
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