Renaissance Capital of the World

We were up bright and early the next day for the excursion I'd been looking forward to the most...The Art and Architecture of Florence.  It was a couple hour bus ride from the port through the rolling hills of Tuscany.  

(On the drive we saw gas stations where a liter of gas was between 1.6 and 1.7 Euros.  That's approximately $7 per gallon.  American's really need a reality check of what the rest of the world pays for gas.) 

First stop was the Accademia Gallery where Florence's most famous piece of art is on display--Michelangelo's David.

Lots of artwork is on display in the gallery including Botticelli's Madonna with Child.

Botticelli's Madonna of the Sea.

As we made our way to the gallery where David is on display our tour guide asked us to keep our eyes on her before looking towards David.  Leading up to David are several unfinished works by Michelangelo that depict prisoners or slaves.

Seeing these works really gives you an idea of how he chiseled them out of marble.

It's said that he purposefully left them unfinished to represent man's eternal struggle to free themselves from material trappings.

Then you turn your head and at the end of the gallery is the 17 foot tall David carved in marble.

It's said that Michelangelo secretly dissected humans to learn about human anatomy.  David is so spectacular because of its attention to detail.

There are veins and muscles and definition of every part of his body.

I thought you needed a 360 degree view of this masterpiece.

He's absolutely gorgeous!.  He was supposed to sit atop the cathedral, but the church refused him because he was "too naked".  He was outside at the Palazzo Vecchio for 400 years and in 1873 this gallery was built especially to house him.

Did you know that in 1991 someone brought a hammer inside the gallery and destroyed a toe on David's left foot?  They did a good job at repairing it, but you can still see it was damaged.

I visited Florence 30 years ago and remember seeing David then, but at that time I didn't have an appreciation of art so it didn't have a huge impact on me.  I was on a girls trip to Florence and Venice and we were more interested in having a good time.

We left the gallery and started heading towards the city center.  Here's the first glimpse of the Duomo.

Officially it's named Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral.  Construction began in the 13th century and originally it was in the gothic style.  In the 14th century the style was changed to Roman-Byzantine.

The baptistery is right next door.

The original gothic façade was hidden by white, red, and green marble and amazing sculptures.

When it was consecrated in 1436 it was the largest church in the world capable of holding 30,000 worshippers.

These are the Gates of Paradise by Lorenzo Ghiberti. on the baptistery.  They are 17 feet tall and weigh 3 tons.

Each door contains five panels that depict the Old Testament.  It took Ghiberti 27 years to complete them.  He had a sense of humor because he sculpted his own likeness into them as seen above.  Over the decades they've been through a lot--vandalism, massive flood in 1966, air pollution, and overzealous polishing.  In 1943 they were removed to protect them from bombing during WWII.

The dome was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi after he won a contest to figure out the technical challenges of building that dome.  His design was self-supporting and required no scaffolding.

We've seen a lot of churches, cathedrals and basilicas in Europe and this one was by far the most impressive and breathtaking probably due to its massive size and all that marble.

You can't visit Florence without admiring the Ponte Vecchio bridge.  It was constructed in 1345 and was considered an outstanding engineering achievement.  It was the only bridge crossing the Arno River that the Germans spared during WWII.

If you know much about Florence then you have to be familiar with the Medici family.  The Palazo Medici Riccardi was built for Cosomo Medici between 1444 and 1484.  It was sold to the Riccardi family in 1659 and they sold it to the Tuscan state in 1814 and it became the provincial seat of government for Florence in 1874.

You can normally tour the house, but it was closed on the day we were there (as was the cathedral).  We were able to walk through the lower level.  One thing you'll notice all over Florence is that coat of arms that is displayed above the arches.  That's the Medici coat of arms.

This is the workshop where it is believed Michelangelo crafted his David.  Now it does restoration on the thousands of sculptures found in Florence.

The Medici family commissioned many statues and sculptures in the plaza outside the palazzo.  This one is bronze statue of Cosomo on his horse.  It's currently under renovation.

They removed Cosomo from his horse during this process.

Just some of the artwork in the plaza.

There's also a full size replica of David.

This walkway connected the Medici house to the Uffizi or his offices.  Apparently the Medici's feared for their safety and added this walkway so they wouldn't have to walk outside on the streets.

The Uffizi is now a museum that houses the Medici collection.  I'm sure the Medici's were a bunch of bullies and had their own mafia going on, but they were great lovers of art and had significant influence one the Renaissance.  They wanted to hire Michelangelo to do more artwork for them, but he ended up spending years in Rome working on things like the Sistine Chapel.  Sculpture was his first love, but he's probably remembered more for his paintings.

There's that coat of arms again.

After lunch we did have time to go inside the Uffizi and admire some amazing artwork that I didn't even know was housed there.  There were lots of pieces by Botticelli including...

...La Primavera (the Spring).  There are some pieces of art that you know about that you never think you'll actually see in person and this is one of them for me.

Then you go into the next room and there's Caravvagio's Testa de Medusa and...

...Jacapo Chimenti's still life with dead game and fowl.  I've always gotten a kick out of his work and to actually view this one was a gift.

There were also Ruben's and..

...van Dyck's.

The best surprise was when I looked across the hallway and in front of my face was The Birth of Venus by Botticelli.  I had no idea where this painting was located in the world, but I never expected it to be in the same location that I was.  I assumed it was at the Vatican.  Tears came to my eyes.  What a gift!

This wonderful artwork collection is due to the last Medici, Anna Maria Louisa.  She was the last survivor of the Medici line and she gifted the collection to Florence in 1737 with the understanding that no part of it could ever leave Florence.

Our last stop of the day was the Santa Croce Church.  Most churches in Europe have a plaza or square outside and this one had a Christmas market going on.  I usually love a good Christmas Market, but today I was more interested in seeing what's inside the church.

More beautiful doors.

More gilded gold and amazing artwork all the way to the ceiling.

Many great artists are buried in this "little" church including Galileo Galilei.  Did you know Galileo was convicted of heresy by the Roman Catholic Church because he said the earth rotated around the sun?  He spent the rest of his life under house arrest.  It took the church 300 years to admit Galileo was right and clear his name of heresy.  He was not allowed a Christian burial until 95 years after death.

Michelango rests here.  He was originally buried in Rome, but Cosomo Medici has his body stolen and brought back to Florence where he received a state funeral and an elaborate tomb.  The tomb took 14 years to complete.  The three statues on top represent personifications of sculpture (his favorite medium), painting, and architecture and they appear to be grieving the disappearance of the great master.

There's a memorial to Dante, but he isn't actually buried here because he was exiled from Florence.

The great philosopher, Machiavelli.

And finally the great composer, Rossini.

After touring the church we had a few minutes to walk through the Christmas Market before making the long walk to the bus.  We saw a lot in during our visit but a proper visit would take 2-3+ days.  We barely scratched the surface of this magnificent city.

Whew, it's hard doing these posts.  I hope you're enjoying them. 

Next stop--Pisa and Lucce, Italy