The Last of Florence

We woke up the next day refreshed and excited for another day in Italy.  Our first appointment of the day was the Uffizi at 8:15, so we ate a quick breakfast and started towards the magical courtyard we had spent the last two evenings being serenaded by the Florentine street performers.  It was an interesting walk; seeing people going about their everyday lives, kids waiting for buses.  Sunrise over the Arno was beautiful; it was just a wonderful day for wandering.

We arrived in the courtyard with our trusty Rick Steves audio tour at the ready and spent the next three hours immersed in some of the finest artwork mankind has ever produced.  I am at a loss for how to summarize the experience.  The museum started with some excellent examples of medieval sacred art and showed the progression art made from 2D to 3D, from symbolic to realistic.  In a corner were some small prints of Hercules, the first believed to have been informed by dissections.  Soon, we found ourselves in the swirl of the Renaissance, with large wall space dedicated to Botticelli, his Rite of Spring marking one of the earlier secular works of art to enter mainstream discussion.

Every piece on the wall comes from a Who's Who list of painters you vaguely recall from school.  Several important themes are shown displayed by artists throughout time, the Annunciation (Gabriel announcing to Mary that she was about to have a baby by the Holy Spirit), the Adoration of the Magi, Madonna and Childs (I thought a long time about how to go about pluralizing that), and passion scenes abound.  In the Baroque area, we noticed quite a few escapes to Egypt.  Da Vinci, Michelangelo (using some of the brightest colors of his era, I noticed), Raphael, Carvaggio, all proudly displayed in a dazzling whirlwind tour.  Hallways lined with sculptures dating back to Constantine; rooms with wallpaper every bit as much a masterpiece as the framed paintings inside; summaries best left to sentence fragments rather than complete thought.

The memories flood back in droves.  We completed Rick Steve's tour, then wheeled back around for some of the stuff Alex had a hard time finding the first time.  At last, we departed and headed to our next destination, another museum.

The Galileo Museum is not one of the more advertised sites in Florence.  The churches and galleries, rightfully so, hold top billing in Florence, but there's only so much art you can look at, and the Uffizi was a ton of art.  The Galileo serves as a great palate cleanser, with an extensive collection of scientific instruments and displays.  Located a sort block away from the Uffizi, it was a great final tourist site for Florence.

Scientists of the Renaissance were, well, Renaissance men, and they had to be.  If you had an idea for an experiment, you couldn't just go and buy materials, you had to make it yourself, so a scientist was also an expert in forging metal, woodworking, and glassblowing.  They were proud craftsmen who made beautiful instruments, and four hundred years later industrial age man can look back and ponder what they accomplished without computers or automation.  Globes, astrolabes (a type of "clock", more or less, that tracks the motions of the celestial bodies), and telescopes abounded.  Early engines and electricity experiments abounded.  There was even several terracotta models of the development of a child inside the mother's womb.

Arthur's favorite displays had to do with clocks.  He had recently become fascinated with how pendulums, weights moving towards gravity, and tension springs could be so finely controlled as to accurately tell time, in some cases without loosing a second over a hundred days, and this is all, again, being achieved without electricity or automation of any type.  The museum had some wonderful displays describing different clock movements and types.

At last, is was time to move on.  We crossed the Arno for the last time and found a lovely little cafe for some authentic Italian, and when I mean authentic, I mean the waiters didn't even speak English; this was not a tourist spot but where the locals were gathering for lunch.  We enjoyed the pasta (selected by pointing a lot) and Arthur had, for the first time in his life, rabbit.  Rabbit is delicious but very bony; like every other meat you're trying to describe, chicken is a pretty good default answer, but it had more of a gamey quality to it.  Served in an olive and tomato sauce, it was a memorable and delicious final memory of Florence.

And so, somewhat sadly, we headed back to the train station from this lovely little town whose sights, sounds, and tastes we all too briefly explored.  But fear not, dear reader, our travels lead us next to Cinque Terre, where neither visual, audio, or gastronomical senses will be found wanting.  Omnia Vincit Amour.

A Renaissance Walk

Coming out of the Duomo, we had no major plans.  With appointments for the Bargello in the late afternoon and for the Uffizi the next day, we turned to our trusty audio guide, Rick Steves, to direct our path on a Renaissance walk.

Starting at the Duomo, the tour took us down the Via de Calziuoli, which has served as the main pedestrian walkway since the Duomo' dome was but a dream in Brunelleschi's head, towards Orsanmichele.  This impressive building served as a grain storage facility until it was renovated into a church during the Renaissance.  Evidence of its prior function, with covered slot openings for pouring out grain to bolts in the roof that secured hooks for raising bushels upwards, can still be seen, but again the true attraction is the artwork in situ.  The massive tabernacle encasing a portrait of Madonna and child is truly astonishing in its intricacy and beauty; it's considered one of the great works of art predating the Renaissance.

It costs nothing to enter the building, and was definitely worth sitting down to allow the profound stillness and gravity of the place fill you with reverence.  It became something of a ritual for Arthur to find a quiet place to sit down and look around, trying to feel the awe of a 13th century layman entering into sacred space; something that he found deeply moving and something that kept him fresh as we moved from location to place.

Outside, Oranmichele is ornamented with statues by some of the giants of the early Renaissance.  Donatello's St. Mark and St. George stand guard in marble; Ghiberti adds in a Matthew and Stephen in bronze, in face the first freestanding bronze statues seen in Europe; even Brunelleschi contributed.  These statues were all commissioned by guilds of different trades and symbols for the guilds can be seen carved into the niches where the statues reside.

At this point, we did stop for some sandwiches prepared in a small little shop on the other side of the street that had been in business for almost 150 years.  It was delicious, and we enjoyed watching the pigeons clean up after the customers.   Then it was on to the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall we had been to the night before.  We got some much better pictures in daylight than the previous night, then it was time for the Bargello.

The Bargello, which translates to jail, makes no secret of its previous function, and its sturdy stone walls fit the part.  Today is serves as home to some of the most important statues and sculptures of the Renaissance.  We saw some early works of Michaelangelo and Donatello.  On the second floor, three Davids reside in a corner, illustrating the progression of sculpture from Medeival art to the Renaissance.  The entries from the famous contest for the right to create the bronze doors of the Duomo baptistry between Brunelleschi and Ghiberti were there.  It was fun to try to guess who won.

The Bargello hosts an impressive collection, from small figures dating back to the Etruscans to an armory of antiquated weaponry.  We happy took it all in until closing time.

After indulging in great art we decided to take a little bit of a break and indulge in some gelato.  We sat on the steps right outside San Croce, where Galileo, Michelangelo, and Ghiberti are buried.  We did not have time to look in, but it was amazing to think of so many amazing men coming in such a short span of time from the same town of 50,000.  We did make a quick stop at the leather school located behind the church and watched a few of the craftsmen at work.

We then made our way up the hill across the river to San Miniato atop the tallest hill in Florence.
The monks reside in a church overlooking the town and this made for some beautiful views of the city.  Inside, the chapel built in 1018 was pre-Renaissance, with a large 12th century  mosaic greeting you as you come in.  We were there to listen to the monks' nightly Gregorian chants.  We arrived early enough that we caught the end of mass as well.  The chants were held in the crypt of the church.  There were minimal windows in Romanesque architecture and since it was late afternoon it was fairly dark with just candle light.  The melodies were basic and without accompaniment which showcased the monks' voices.  After the hustle and bustle of being a tourist in Florence it was nice to sit and be mindful and contemplative.  Arthur enjoyed the concert thoroughly; Alex reached her max of contemplation headed outside a little early to catch watching sunset over Florence from the church's steps. 

We then meandered back through Florence to our "neighborhood", Piazza di San Spirito.  We then got some margherita pizza from the aptly named Gusta Pizza and enjoyed our pizza with the locals out in San Spirito square.  The highlight for Alex was when an Italian asked us where we got our pizza and she was able to reply in Italian.  Speaking Italian just seems to come a little bit easier if speaking with your mouth full of pizza. 

And finally, this day that has comprised the past three posts began concluding.  On our way back, we stopped by the Uffizi courtyard to listen to more street performers while enjoying our second cone of gelato for the day.  This time the musicians were a trio of two violins and a cello performing Vivaldi and Pachelbel.  Usually we aren't much for a nightlife but we had a hard time convincing ourselves we needed to head back to the hotel and go to bed.  There was just so much to drink in at night in Florence.

And with that, dear reader, we conclude day one of Florence.  It was a full day but one of our favorites on the trip.  Omnia Vincit Amour.