In Florence, if you walk towards the Arno River and cross the Ponte alle Grazie, there are two beautiful views. One side is the Ponte Vecchio and the city of Florence, colorful and bustling, bright with the beaming midday sun, or soft and warm as the sun sets. On the other side, it’s green river banks, dotted with people and rolling mountains in the distance, calm and grounding. If you linger on the mountain view, you’ll notice that the tops of the mountains seem hazy. The green of the trees fade into the blue of the sky, and the line separating them is blurry, almost indistinct.
This blurry, hazy quality is reminiscent of sfumato, a painting technique used by Leonardo da Vinci during the Renaissance. This technique of his is meant to blend colors together, making the transition between colors more gentle, less noticeable. Picture the background of the Mona Lisa and think of how the colors fit together, flowing into one another. None of the lines are sharp or bold. Instead, they are gentle. Not only can it be a technique for painting, but it can also be a way to view our surroundings, especially our surroundings in Italy.
Sfumato in Our Surroundings
Consider the countryside in Tuscany. Imagine you are visiting a Tuscan villa, and you look out over the landscape. Hills roll into each other, lime green grass fading into deeper, darker greens. In the distance, the grass seems to almost morph into trees. The hills extend far out in front of you, vanishing into a far-off landscape of mountains, reminiscent of those in Florence. Being there is soft and soothing. It reminds you of the landscape backgrounds in da Vinci’s paintings.
Using Sfumato to Reflect
Picture yourself in Venice. It’s early in the morning, and the sky is still pink from sunrise. Though Venice is typically humming with energy, this morning is calm. Other people are still asleep. You stop to admire the canals. The water is blue, lapping gently among the cobblestone streets. Mist rises as the sun begins to shine on the water. Behind the mist, the bright colors of the buildings are softened, though you can still tell how vibrant and uplifting they are. Even the air on your skin feels warm and gentle. You breathe in deeply, enjoying the moment.
Using sfumato to enjoy our surroundings allows us to reflect internally. The landscapes of Italy make us stop and appreciate what we see. As a result, we slow down. We focus on the smaller moments in life, rather than chasing the next big thing. We feel more present, feel more free. We feel more open and accepting of things. We are more adaptable to changes, more willing to stray from our plans. We are less rigid with our thoughts. Though it might feel strange to welcome this new version of ourselves, it truly is our best self. We are calm, contemplative. We reflect, rather than quickly moving on. While we are quite distinct from the self we were before, we are happier and calmer. Our thoughts, feelings, and reflections blend together like the colors in da Vinci’s paintings and the mountains into the skies.
We are relaxed by our surroundings in Italy. Even if we are just visiting for a short time, we notice a difference in how we feel. This difference is not from grand tourist attractions; rather, it is from the small moments Italy has to offer: the way the mountains seem to melt into the sky when we look at them from Ponte Santa Trinita, the grapevines and olive trees at Tuscan villas, and the mist rising from the canals in the early hours of Venice.
Article written by Sophia Cossitt-Levy for Exclusive Connection.
