I booked an evening slot, around 7:20. That turned out to be a good choice because the chapel was very well lit and the whole experience felt a bit calmer. The visit is tightly controlled. Before you enter the actual chapel, they put you in a sort of glass airlock with about 20 other people and show a 15-minute overview video while everyone sits in comfortable chairs. At first, the arrogant part of me was thinking, “I know all this already. Grumble, grumble.” But I didn’t. Not really.
The video was excellent. It included a lot of additional information and some very high-resolution images of the frescoes, including close telescopic details that you would never really get on your own while standing in the chapel. It was genuinely worth it.
Once you get inside, you only have 20 minutes in the chapel itself, and you view it from a raised carpeted platform. That sounds brief, and it is, but it was still enough to really get to me, both emotionally and intellectually.
What struck me most was how complete, saturated, and colorful the frescoes are. Reproductions don’t really prepare you for that. I was also able to take some close-up shots of details that are harder to find, especially Hell and the Virtues and Vices.
My photos are of mixed quality, but the experience itself was not. It was one of those moments where something I’ve taught for decades suddenly felt fresh again.
If you want to learn more about Giotto and the Arena Chapel, I do a deep dive into it in my online art history courses.
I’ll probably end up remaking and rewriting some of those videos and texts when I get back to the USA, assuming all this still feels as vivid in a month or so.
Feel free to use, distribute or publish these images without having to credit me. It drives me nuts that it's so hard to get copyright free images.
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