A Fortnight in Italy, Part 2

Firenze
Florence is a beautiful city on the Arno River. Its most famous building is probably the Duomo (cathedral), also called Santa Maria del Fiore, whose dome was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi. Florence also has several outstanding museums, including the Galleria dell’Accademia and the Uffizi Gallery.

There are several copies of Michelangelo’s sculpture of David around Florence, but the real thing is in the Accademia. I only have one picture, since photography is not permitted and I had to sneak the one while we were sitting behind the statue, but I really wish I could have gotten a picture of his expression, which to me seems to say, “Kill a giant? Ain’t no thing.” David is one work of art that is still awe-inspiring in person. As you walk towards him, the gallery is lined with Michelangelo’s “unfinished” sculptures of human forms awakening from blocks of marble. The contrast between them and David at the end is striking.

While we only had to wait a very short time to get into the Accademia in the morning, we waited nearly two hours to get into the Uffizi Gallery in the afternoon. The gallery is in the former offices (uffizi) of the Medici family. Once inside I got separated from the others, and somehow totally missed the room with one of the museum’s most famous pieces, Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. The terrace of the gallery does have a good view of the Palazzo Vecchio, though, and tons of other classic art, including an exhibit on Caravaggio featuring the shield decorated with Medusa’s head.

There are a number of rivers that cross the Arno, but the coolest one is the Ponte Vecchio. It’s lined with shops, most of them selling gold and other jewelry, and it’s still very Renaissance-like. I liked walking across it at night, when the shops were covered with wooden shutters.

We ate dinner one night at a place Rick Steves recommended (Robin has great faith in Rick, and I find I do, too), calling it “disturbingly cheap.” We got to the restaurant a few minutes before it opened, and we were the only non-Italians there. The menus were typed with the day’s date. That was definitely the most authentic Italian dining experience I had.

The next day I went to the Chiesa Santa Maria Novella, right by the train station, and then went to check out a fortress nearby on the map. The Fortezza da Basso was doing a good job, since it was indeed a big building that I couldn’t get into. After that I tried to wander to somewhere else, but I found myself trapped in orbit around the train station, Santa Maria Novella, and the Duomo. Every time I thought I’d gotten away I’d turn a corner and see one of them in the distance. Finally I escaped, though I don’t know how; and in escaping I succeeded in getting lost. I couldn’t even find myself on the map. When I was starting to get just a little concerned, everything was made right when I found a cemetery. This was another English cemetery, and even though it wasn’t as cool as the one in Rome, it did have Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s grave. Eventually I found where I was on the map and headed back to the hostel, passing the synagogue and going into a church called Sant’Ambrogio, which had a few frescoes (like the one at right) from the 14th and 15th centuries that had been covered over the years and were discovered in the ’80s or ’90s. They were amazing. Then I very quickly went through Santa Croce (below), a basilica with monuments to a number of Florentine luminaries, including Dante and Machiavelli. I knew that my fellow medievalists would have good ideas about Florence, and one of them recommended that I go to San Miniato al Monte. I’d never heard of the church, but it was well worth the trek up a hill. Really, the view alone would have been worth it; but the Romanesque interior was amazing, with a number of frescoes, and a mosaic above the altar. Surrounding the church on three sides was the Porte Sante cemetery, one of the stranger cemeteries I’ve visited. There were both regular graves and mausoleums, and there were terraces with mausoleums built atop other mausoleums. I spent some time walking on a road through the hills before descending and watching the New Year’s Eve fireworks from a bridge.
I had gelato for dinner twice in Florence. They are supposed to have the best gelato in Italy, after all.

And here's my favorite picture of Dante, from where he stands with an eagle outside Santa Croce. Oh, Dante, don't look so disapproving. Gelato for dinner isn't that bad.