Florence
Trip Start
Jul 01, 2008
1
12
13
Trip End
Jul 31, 2008
Florence,
Tuscany,
Italy
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Yes, I contributed mightily to this mistake.
In my self-imposed mad-rush (ummm...we were on vacation, right?)to get us back to our hotel in Rome, I did not choose the Euro-Star train that so wondefully moved us quickly and efficiently in the A.M. On the automatic ticket machine I clicked on a train that was a local, without the refreshment service or clean washrooms of the Euro-Star, a train that stopped at over thirty different towns and didn't get back to Rome until 11:40 at night. I am so glad I had put George Carlin on my MP3 player... Elaine was not so lucky, or as amused.
Anyway, Florence: very walkable, filled with medieval and renaissance churches, paintings, and statues
Della Robbia
. A lot less people than Rome although enough to cause the usual Disney World lines at the museums. Plenty of shady, quiet alleys and side-streets to explore. The vibe is 180 degrees opposite of Rome. Much calmer. Most people would say, "DUH!" to that last statement, especially in the summertime; however, if you were a martian and landed in the Sahara, you might think that Earth was a very dry place, eh? Rome was all we knew of Italy up until Florence. And, if I may re-state the obvious, I am very glad we saw something else in Italia besides the Roman environs (Ostia Antiqua and Cristofo Columbo were quiet, tiny towns we visited that were among the last few stops on the Roman transit system; Ostia was a large set of ancient ruins, the site of Imperial Rome's harbor at the mouth of the Tiber River, Columbo is a very, very popular beach for 21st century Romans).Florence's main streets were determined by Julius Caesar's soldiers during the infancy of the Empire, about 50 B.C. The town's italian name, Fiorenza, means "town of flowers".
Bisecting the city is the main water source, the river Arno. There are several bridges that span it, some with houses on them.
Initially, out of the train station in Florence, it is easy to see one's first destination: the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Holy Mary of the Flower) is the largest structure in the city. It is topped by a gigantic red-brick dome completed during the High Renaissance in 1434 by the architect/artist Filippo Brunelleschi. This dome is the most recognizable feature of Florence, and it took quite a bit of heartache (15 years of it, to be exact) to construct--- a story for another time
The Piazza della Signoria
. The cathedral and the octogonal baptistry across from it are sheathed in tuscan white marble. The Oriental, dare I say "Moorish", influence to the design makes it all the more striking. No, we didn't go inside. It is, by all accounts we've heard and pictures that we've seen, spectacular; yet the impulse in our souls to wait for hours in a sun-drenched line was non-existent, so we oohed and aahed outside for several minutes and moved on. The same went for the Uffizi Gallery, a repository for many beautiful paintings including my favorite Botticelli, "the Rite of Spring". I really wanted to see it, but my patience for long, long, long... well, you get the idea. We moved on and happened onto the Piazza della Signoria (plaza of the town leaders) by the Palazzo Vecchio (the old palace).
The Piazza della Signoria is filled with famous statues and is, on this summer's day, a vast open -space filled with tourists. I'm sure I am more world famous after this day because I was haphazardly included in at least twenty photographs involving friends, couples, and entire families snapping pix of each other in front of all the sculptures. "Who IS that guy?" they will say, gathered around the dining room table two months from now... "And how did he get into our group photo?"
After the Bargello Palace, where the artists Donatello, Verrocchio, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Cellini, Michelangelo, and the ceramics of the Della Robbia family (Elaine's favorite, for sure) are all represented, we took in the Piazza Santa Croce
The Santa Maria del Fiore and Baptistry
. It's a sunny plaza with a bunch of artists selling their works in front of the myriad outdoor cafes lining the borders of the open space. At one end of the Piazza is the statue of Dante Aligheri (of The Inferno fame) perched imperiously upon a 12 foot high pedestal next to the gothic Church of Santa Croce'. This church is the final resting place for three of Florence's favorite sons. Buried here are Dante', that rather obscure artist Michelangelo, and one Nicolo' Machiavelli (the world's greatest apologist for ruthless politicians...). Right outside the church itself there is an insane choir chamber, called the Pazzi Chapel, topped by a dome designed by our ol' pal Brunelleschi that creates a vocal reverb of some 7-8 seconds after one sings a note. It sounds gorgeous in there and it's like singing in the shower times 1,000. There were several tourists trying out their best karoake falsettos (ummm...yeh, I did...) and all inside the dome couldn't help but smile, even laugh out loud, at the results. I could just imagine how otherworldly a trained choir might sound. Almost, it seems, as an afterthought, the Pazzi Chapel features Della Robbia terra-cotta representations of the apostles hanging along its inner walls.
The Piazzale Michelangelo is the place most people end up when visiting Florence. It's across the Arno River and then, straight up. There must be a thousand stairs, or more, leading up to the point where one overlooks the entire city. There was a guy carrying a bike up the stairs who passed me right when I was panting and inwardly whining the most. The view from the height of the plaza is a simply gorgeous 180 of the valley. The old defensive walls of the town ramble on over the hills to the left, the Arno and its bridges weave from left to right. Across the river is a charming, red-roofed city with church bell-towers sprouting up now and then. And, of course, the major landmark: the Cathedral of Saint Mary and Brunelleschi's Dome. The sky is bright blue. There is a stiff breeze that blows Elaine's hair around her face. There are hundreds of tourists up here milling around, jostling for the best spots to view the town and take a snapshot. There are the ubiquitous African vendors pushing tee-shirts, sunglasses, posters of world famous paintings, wind-up toys.
It soon comes time to wander back down into the city and find an outdoor cafe for dinner. More than one day needs to be spent in Florence. We missed so much according to the guidebook, but did what we came to do: walk freely in a sun-splashed, story-book beautiful Italian city where world class art is literally everywhere you look. It was a welcome vacation from our vacation in Rome.
