Wednesday, September 8: Florence

In the spring of 2009, Chris and Rianne spent a week in Italy.  Chris, who admits he doesn’t know much about art, focused his attention, and his photographs, on the details in Italian works of art that caught his attention.  In his pictures from that week, he had found details such as a person in a Renaissance painting who looked like he was wearing a Panama hat, and a fruit on a tree that really did look like a dill pickle.  When he and Rianne climbed the winding stairs inside the dome in the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, he took several pictures of the dome’s fresco.  It depicts the Last Judgment, with Heaven (of course) at the top of the dome and Hell around the bottom edge.  Without going into gruesome detail, there was a dragonish-looking creature, which I assume was Satan, dining on the unfortunates who had been pitched into his pit.  That guy kind of resonated with my instinctively vengeful feelings against the many and varied selfish, greedy, not-nice creeps who daily profit from  the misfortune of the vulnerable on this planet.  So ever since I saw Chris’s pictures I have been condemning selected sociopathic jerks to the dragon.  I really wanted to say hello to the dragon on this trip.

Tom and I lined up at 9AM for the 10AM opening of the dome.  We should have known something was amiss when they didn’t charge us the advertised 6 euros admission.  Anyway, after our hour wait (during which we visited with a young American couple who had both graduated from Washington State University—small world!) we got in for free, commenced climbing, and reached the walkway at the base of the dome.  Very, very nice aerial views of Florence.  Also some really nice glimpses of lightning popping on the horizon, as a storm was headed our way.  

On the walkway at the base
of the dome.

  

With the Campanile (Bell Tower)
in the background.

Rumbly skies over Florence.



The Baptistery as seen from above, with people gathered

around its golden doors.



The elusive dome, from the outside

When we had finished enjoying the view from the base of the dome, we were ready to begin our climb to the top of the dome’s interior and see the Last Judgment up close.  But the door was blocked.  The dome was closed.  We still aren’t sure why.  Was it the storm?  Was there something else going on inside that day?  I was disappointed my quest went unfulfilled, and I really would like to go back someday.

When we reached ground level we were able to crane our necks from an angle and just see part of the fresco.  But no dragon.

Whatever.  We went back to the hotel, gathered up our dirty clothes, and hauled them to the launderette down the street.  While I sulked and babysat the laundry, Tom rustled us up some sandwiches from a shop somewhere nearby.






As soon as our laundry was done and sandwiches eaten, it was time to meet our tour group at a specific statue at the Loggia della Signoria, which Daniela had pointed out to us yesterday, for our tour of the Uffizi Gallery.  With two of our fellow tour group members, we set out at a brisk pace through the driving rainstorm that we had seen on the horizon that morning, dodging street vendors who were determined to sell us rain ponchos and cheap umbrellas.  And yes, of course we got a little lost.  And we were a little late (I hate being late.)  But eventually we made it and nobody seemed too upset with us.

Our tour guide, Ricardo (“Practice rolling your R’s—RRicarrdo,” he said) was really knowledgeable about the art and other things he showed us that afternoon.  Interestingly, he said his father was also a tour guide, so I guess it was a family tradition.

During our tour of the Uffizi, I gained even more respect for Michelangelo, and also for Leonardo Da Vinci, and even Donatello and Rafael—basically all the Ninja Turtles.  I always knew they were cool, but I didn’t know how much they sort of ruled the Renaissance.  Now I know.

We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the Gallery itself, but pictures out the window were allowed, so we got this nice view of the Ponte Vecchio spanning the Arno River.  (We never made it to the Ponte Vecchio either—another reason to go back to Florence.)

Tom squints in the sun as Ricardo tells
us about the Basilica.  The rainstorm
was over!

After the Uffizi, Ricardo took us on a short walk to the Basilica of Santa Croce, which contains the tombs of a whole bunch of famous Italians, including Michelangelo, Galileo, and Niccolò Machiavelli, as well as monuments to some who are buried elsewhere, such as Dante and Enrico Fermi.  The façade of the Basilica was designed by Niccolò Matas, who apparently was Jewish—thus the Star of David at the top.

Inside the Basilica.



You can see monuments to various eminent Italians along the wall.



Ricardo (on the left) tells us about the pazzo Pazzi family
and their chapel.

The last place Ricardo took us to was the Pazzi Chapel, behind the Basilica.  This was the private chapel of the Pazzi family, who were Tuscan nobles  and bankers in Florence in the 15th century.  They are remembered for their conspiracy to murder Lorenzo and Giuliano de' Medici and to replace the Medici family as rulers of Florence.  They did succeed in murdering Giuliano, but Lorenzo escaped.  So it didn’t work out too well for them.  Ricardo told us the word “pazzo” is Italian slang for “crazy.”







 

On the chapel ceiling: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.




















After our full afternoon of touring we rested up at the hotel for a little while; then we went in search of a good Italian dinner.  We found it at Trattoria Za' Za', which was just a short walk from our hotel.  And here is where I found the second best tiramisu of my vacation.  Later on we found out Chris and Rianne had eaten here too, when they were in Florence.

Tom shows how studious he is,
even in the midst of this very fine meal…

…while Karen would rather just drink the wine
and savor the eggplant.