Tuscany grand tour, part I
Trip Start
Jun 03, 2008
1
10
23
Trip End
Oct 14, 2008
Florence,
Tuscany,
Italy
Monday, June 23, 2008
I was quite fascinated by the Medici family, who apparently started as pharmacists, but became bankers for the pope, and accumulated such wealth they became the de fecto rulers of Florence. The Florentines later adjucted Siena and controlled most of Tuscany, and at some point the French court owned the family so much money that they paid back with a title of grand duke. Thus explains the Medici coat of arms: 6 balls representing medical pills, all red except the top one being blue, the color of French court. So I paid a special visit to St Lorenzo, one of the guzzilion of grand churches in the city, but the only one committed to burial of the Medici family. It has a pleasantly spartan interior, with the perfect proportions that the Renaissant men are so obssessed with, and an awsomely modern tomb of the founding member of the family Cosimo the elder. The slab of marble set on the ground was etched with clean geographic lines ad filled in by contrasting colors. As much as the family is capable of yielding tyrants, they get credit for being major patrons of Renaissant art. Here, there is a library and reading room designed by Michelangeo, from a seperate entrance. A third entrance goes the capelle, a richly decorated pet church, housing Michelangeo's tomb sculpture Dawn and Dusk, Morning and Night. His gently reclining feminine Night is quite sublime.
As for the Boboli garden, supposedly most visited in Italy, my visit confirms my suspicion since visiting the garden in Verona, that the Italian garden in summer is not so worth seeing. Mostly consisting of labrinths of trees, it's a lot of walk, not much wind, vista or flowers. If you need some outdoor air, better lounging around the Piazza Della Signoria in front of the major Medici palace. David used to live here until some rioter broke his arm, today a copy stays, as are many other originals and copies of excellent sculpture pieces. Come around sunset to watch the shadow of David cast over the magnificant limestone palace of the Medicis.
And guess what, I got to see the once a year firework show in Florence, over the Arno river. Splendid. Following the city icon of lily flower, a lot of the fire works were flower patterned in clever ways, and the entire city seems to be out there sitting on river bank, their motorcycles packing every street. Really special- as is the T-bone steak famously known as steak-of-florence. It's a giant piece grilled almost raw, then brushed with rosemary marinated olive oil. A huge and hugely satisfying meal. I also tried the spicy pasta recommened by my friend Ying and quite liked it. Every meal is accompanied by downing a litter of water- you pay for the water, and they only come in litter bottles:( It is said that gelato is invented in Florence, make sense if you have tried the Grom, on via campelle hidden right behind the bell tower. They run out of half of the over dozen flavors by noon time, fruity and chocolate ones both blow your mind.
