Italy 2014

Monday, May 5

After our enjoyable lunch, David took Patrick and me to the train station for a trip to Florence for a few days. We have loved the city since we first visited there years ago and we are so looking forward to our return visit. Our train ride took about three hours with one change in Padua (Padova in Italia).

Our hotel, Domus Florentiae, is conveniently located just a short walk from the train station and next to Santa Maria Novella. We almost never found it.

Do you see why we walked by
this hotel? The signs are too
small!

When you enter the archway, you go through this area, turn right, and go upstairs.

Small lobby

   Santa Maria Novella basilica faces the Piazza, built between 1287 and 1325 as a civil
   and religious meeting place. In 1563 the piazza was transformed by Cosimo I de Medici
   into a track for coach-racing. Two obelisks marked the ends of the race track.

Bronze tortoises support the obelisks.

After checking into the hotel, we walked to the Duomo to get our bearings.

Behind Giotto's bell tower is Brunelleschi's Dome.The green and pink marbles
look dark in the dusk.

Tuesday, May 6

We went to the Academia to visit David. We met some very nice people from California. Talking with them helped pass the hour we stood in line. The Academia has been arranged differently and for the better since we were here. Photos are not allowed, but guess who took them with his phone? Not me!

                     In 1501, Michelangelo Buonarroti was commissioned to carve this
   statue. He was 26 years old. David, the shepherd boy who killed
   Goliath, stands 17 feet tall.

The Academia also has pre-Renaissance and Renaissance paintings
and plaster models, but David is what people want to see.

Next stop: the Medici Chapels in San Lorenzo. We did not visit the
basililca designed by Brunelleschi for the Medici family church, but
we went to the other side to revisit the Cappella dei Principi (Princes'
Chapel) and the New Sacristy. The chapel was erected between 1604
                    and 1640. The domed, octagonal chapel is a mausoleum for the
Grand Dukes. It is almost entirely covered with semi-precious stones
and marbles of different colors. Photos are not allowed, but I encourage
                    you to look up photos on the web.

                    The New Sacristy contains the tomb and statues by Michelangelo fo
    Lorenzo Il Magnifico and his brother Giuliano and monuments to
    Giulliano, Duke of Nemours, the son of Lorenzo Il Magnifico, and to
Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino. Michelangelo's Madonna and Child
is flanked by Medici patron saints Cosmas and Damian
(which were completed by Michelangelo's students). Drawings by
                    Michelangelo were discovered on one wall in 1976 and can be seen.

       Dinner tonight at Il Bargello in Piazza della Signoria. A wonderful, nostalgic evening.

View of Palazzo Vecchio (Town Hall) and Loggia with statues on the right

Bruschetta

                    Patrick had penne pasta;
                  I had lasagna that was tasty
but not like our layered lasagna.

Statues in the Loggia della Signoria: (front) Rape of the Sabine Women;
(middle) Hercules beating the centaur Nessus

Roman lion

Famous statue of Perseus holding
the head of Medusa by
Benevenuto Cellini

Dusk in Piazza della Signoria; statue of Neptune in the fountain

Cosimo I de' Medici who took the Town Hall for his palace in 1540

Copy of the David was put here in 1873; Hercules and Cacus statue on right

Palazzo Vecchio; The Uffizi is just to the right of the palace
Look at that sapphire sky!

   Wednesday, May 7

   This morning we went to the church of Orsanmichele to buy Uffizi tickets and were very
   lucky to get tickets for 10:45 entry.

    Patrick is standing in line in front of the couple with backpacks. The church has several
    niches with statues of guild saints on the exterior. On the right is a statue of Christ with
    Doubting Thomas. The present building was a market and grain store (1336). By 1380,
    the ground floor had become a church.

      St. Matthew; the original statues are in the
         museum on the second floor. We did not
   have time for a visit.

                                            St. Philip

Beautiful roundels by Della Robbia; the
iris, symbol of Firenza

Dante Alighieri

                    The interior of Oransanmichele has this gorgeous tabernacle framing
               Bernardo Daddi's Madonna della Grazie.

All these people have tickets; we got into the Uffizi at 11:10. The U-shaped building has
about 2500 masterpieces in 45 rooms.

Since we have been to the gallery before, we wanted to see certain works again:
Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Spring; da Vinci's The Annunciation; Michelangelo's
Holy Family with St. John; Caravaggio's Medusa shield; and others by Rafael,
Titian, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Van Dyke. Talk about sensory overload!

    The Ponte Vecchio Bridge from the Uffizi; photos are only allowed from the windows and
terrace. The Medici built the red-tiled, elevated, enclosed passageway (Vasari Corridor)
over the bridge in 1565 to give them a safe, private route to the Uffizi and Palazzo
    Vecchio from the Pitti Palace on the other side of the Arno.

The Ponte Vecchio is lined with shops as it has been for centuries. Gold and silver shops
are still there. A statue of Benevenuto Cellini, the master Renaissance goldsmith, is in
the center of the bridge (not pictured).

These two photos were taken from the Uffizi terrace near the restaurant.

Next stop: Santa Croce

    Santa Croce was started in 1294 and completed in 1385. The facade by Niccolo Matas,
    a Jew, was finished in 1853. The star of David is prominent on the largest Franciscan
    church in the world.

Dante Alighieri, the Shakespeare of Italy

Tomb of Galileo; his daughter is buried with him.

Michelangelo's tomb

Michelangelo Buonarroti

Machiavelli's tomb

Memorial to Dante; he is buried in Ravenna because he was exiled from Florence.

Crucifix painted on wooden cross by Cinabue in the nave

Some of the many tombstones in the floor

Madonna Enthroned by Luca della Robbia in the Medici Chapel

Frescoes in the sacristy

The Cloister

The Cloister - red, pink, white, and yellow rosebushes

     We also visited the leather school which is in the former dormitory of the Friars.
     Prices on leather goods have gone up considerably in ten years!

     Thursday, May 8

   We plan to make our last day in Florence memorable with a tour of the Duomo and
   visits to the Baptistery, the Cathedral Museum (Museo dell' Opera del Duomo), and
     Santa Maria Novella before taking the train back to Vicenza to celebrate Vanessa's
     eleventh birthday.

Last day for breakfast on
the terrace at Domus
Florentiae.

     Looking up at the Duomo, or
     Cathedral of Santa Maria
     del Fiore, fourth largest
     church in the world

The 24-hour liturgical clock was
painted by Paolo Uccello in 1443; only clock in the world on
"Italian time" which is based on sunset at XXIII; single hand moves counterclockwise; is rewound each week

The altar; we were in a small,
English-speaking group with
a wonderful volunteer guide

Brunelleschi's Dome - an architectural feat; frescoes of the Final Judgment by Vasari and Zuccari painted in 1572 - 79 and restored in 1978 - 1994

                             Our guide said every school child in Italy knows this famous
   fresco of Dante by Domenico di Michelino.A copy was painted
                            on the outer wall of Oransanmichele.

Under the Duomo is the remains of an early Christian church and crypt.

In 1966 during a major renovation of the Duomo, the remains Santa Reparata, a 4th century basilica, was discovered. Santa Reparata was the site of the new cathedral; most of the destruction took place in 1375. This photo shows some of the original Roman mosaic floor.

      Many prominent Florentines are buried
      in this crypt. One is Lando di Giano,
      chaplain of Santa Reparata, who died
      in 1353.This is not his tombstone;
      it is just a representative of ones in
      crypt.

The great architect of the Dome is
entombed here at the foot of the stairs
by the gift shop. You will miss it if you
aren't looking for it.

Next we went to Cathedral Museum (Museo dell' Opera del Duomo) behind the Duomo.
The exterior is being renovated and was covered. Artwork that has been removed from the
Duomo, Bell Tower, and Baptistery are on display here.

     This work by Michelangelo made for his tomb is deeply personal; "Toward the end of
   the work, the statue broke because the block of marble was defective, and he let his
   servant take the pieces. Later the servant sold them. The new owner, Tiberio Calcani,
   had it pieced together and probably added the figure supporting Christ's arm, which is
   certainly not by Michelangelo." (The Museum of Florence website)

Michelangelo portrayed himself as Nicodemus, one of the
two men who removed Christ from the cross.

The original bronze Gate to Paradise from the Baptistery by Lorenzo Ghiberti.
In 1401, the 23-year-old won a competition to make the doors; it
took 21 years to complete the 28 panels of New Testament scenes.

Detail from the beautifully restored.door panel

After visiting the Museum, we went to The Baptistery which is in front of the Duomo.
We were told this is the oldest building in Florence.

The amazing gold mosaic ceiling and open lantern

Venetians completed the mosaic-covered ceiling around 1225.Cimabue was a
Florentine painter and creator of mosaics; he probably was included in this venture.

Mosaic floors

The Apse

Our last major stop in Florence is Santa Maria Novella.

A download of the Piazza to show the obelisks where races were held. It is much prettier
now with flowers where the grass is. Our hotel is on the right.