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Metropolitan City of Florence 3.2 mi (5.1 km) |
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Ciao, amici miei!
Even though I stayed out too late last night eating cheesy gnocchi at the Osteria Santo Spirito, I was up again super early this morning to explore the City of Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance and the standard Italian dialect that we visitors struggle to pronounce in our guidebooks!
My mission this morning was to visit the Accademia dell’Arte, home to some very famous works of art, and the most famous of all, Michelangelo’s David! While tickets were sold out online, I decided to try it out anyway and took off down the street. There was already a long line at 8:00 AM, but everyone seemed hopeful. By stroke of luck, the line only lasted about twenty minutes, and soon I was through security and into the gallery!
The gallery was full of paintings and sculptures dating back to at least the 13th century AD. In the Hall of the Colossus, there was a portrait of the Virgin Mary as an old woman that really grabbed my attention and works by Domenico Ghirlandaio, mentor to the master sculptor whose crowning achievement stands at the center of this grand gallery:
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There are thousands of photos of David, but it’s impossible for them to convey the wonder that comes from walking around the base of it. The veins in his forearms and the ligaments in his knees are so perfectly sculpted in the marble that you might just picture him taking a step off the platform to take selfies with the crowd of people gathered around him!
And as an Accademia, this place is home to hundreds of sculptures by students from many ages. The Gipsoteca next to David houses the plaster casts that students would create before taking their turn at marble. There were people of all ages and animals too, like dogs and a deer that someone hugged very closely and sadly.
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After about an hour wandering the Accademia, I had to get going. There was still so much to see in downtown Florence before I needed to get to my next destination. After quickly running back to the apartment to check out, I headed for Florence’s next crown jewel, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, usually just called the Duomo! Even though it’s nowhere near as large as St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, because it’s surrounded by so many smaller buildings, the Duomo here looks truly colossal!
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The Duomo arose over a hundred years between 1296 and 1421, designed by Arnolfo di Cambio and fulfilled by a whole bunch of other artists. It gets its name in honor of Mary and the flowers that symbolize Florence!
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It was very difficult to get a good photo of the amazing bell tower by Giotto and impossible to see Ghiberti’s famous baptistry doors, not because of the misting rain, not because of the closeness of the buildings, but because there were so many people! I’d walked right into a swarm of tours, jostling to get into the Duomo or learning about its secrets. That very quickly turned my attention from this magnificent work of art toward an escape route!
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I squeezed my way past the Pensione Pendini, a luxurious hotel built in 1879 over an old Roman military camp and a Jewish ghetto! It was part of a major overhaul of Florence once Italy unified and wanted their new capital to compete with Paris for elegance!
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I made my way to what I thought was the original home of poet, Dante Alighieri! Rather, this towering museum was built in his honor in the early 20th century to commemorate his early life, later years, and legacy! I would have loved to go in, but the crowds in this small space were more daunting than Dante!
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I shoved my way back out of this narrow street and made for the nearest plaza, which happened to be in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, the equivalent of Florence’s City Hall! It was built over a Roman amphitheater in 1299 by Guelphs who had just routed their Ghibelline rivals! It has been a city council meeting place and a Medici residence, but today, as a museum, its biggest draws are its secret tunnels and the hall painted on one side by Da Vinci and the other by Michelangelo! Unfortunately, it, and the Uffizi Gallery, were as jam-packed with people as the other places, so I didn’t get to explore the insides.
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But nothing was quite as mobbed as the Fontana del Porcellino, a famous replica of Pietro Tacca’s 1634 bronze! This is the Trevi Fountain of Florence! If you’re here, you have to touch its nose to ensure your return! It took some squeezing for the chance to take a photo of this shiny pig, and once I was there, I felt like a cell phone celebrity. It was a lot of fame all at once, so I didn’t linger!
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It’s a shame, but I didn’t bother crossing Florence’s oldest bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, during the day time. It was a pick-pocket’s paradise with sardined shoppers buying expensive things. So I chose to stand on the side, eat some gelato, and chat with an artist named Joseph while rowers glided down the Arno!
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With my gelato finished, it was time to head toward the next leg of my adventure. First, I needed to pay my respects at the Basilica di Santa Croce, the world’s largest Franciscan church, and the final resting place of such movers and shakers as Michelangelo, Galileo, and Niccolò Machiavelli.
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On my way out, I had one last chance to take in some more Renaissance knowledge, and this time, I found a place that had no crowd at all: Casa Buonarroti, a home owned by Michelangelo that he gave to his nephew, Lionardo. I walked right up to the counter to inquire about admission, and alas! It was cash only, and I was fresh out of euros. I would not be visiting this museum after all.
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A little disappointed, I headed out of town into the growing storm of my next destination. I could have spent a week or more in Florence, absorbing all of the history, but to really appreciate it, I would have needed to come here in March or another season when the weather was not so favorable for crowds. Nevertheless, I was glad to have experienced a taste of the art and history that blossom in this city, and I would definitely come back again!
Ciao per adesso!
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Total Ground Covered: 388.0 mi (624.3 km) |
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