Florence... wow!

How often in life are your expectations actually exceeded? Not often I would expect. Florence exceeded my expectations. Not in its beauty, which I counted on, but on how I had a visceral lesson in what the Renaissance was all about - and how huge this century and a half of artistic and scientific evolution was on humanity in general. Its one thing to see Michaelangelo's sculptures - to walk the very streets he walked was another layer. Here is a shot of the Duomo, the clock tower to it and the clock tower next to the town hall on the left from a hill across the Arno river.

I actually took this pic my first night in town -it was all downhill after this one! A shot at sunset from Point Vecchio (bridge) west over the Arno. Room with a view, anyone?

This is my favorite square, Piazza del Signorio . Its next to the famous Uffizzi gallery.. and also the Vecchio palace, which used to be the town hall. And prison I think. Lots of friction in Tuscany 600 years ago - the buildings have few windows and they are high to avoid the unwashed masses rioting in the front yard.


The Renaissance occured 1400-1550 and was basically a rediscovery of the individual and humanity of the individual from the times of the ancient Greeks. It was a sea change from the middle ages, where submission to the Church was paramount. This movement towards the individual was represented by many things - Galileo with scientific inventions, Leonardo Da Vinci with art and design, and Michaelangelo with sculpture and painting. Much of the credit for funding this goes to the Medici family, who sponsored many of those above. The difference from Florence and Holland when private benefactors sponsored art was that in Holland, the art became about the merchants and their lives, thus pictures of still life like food and flowers. In Florence, it was still about religion, but much more personal than before.

Lots of sculpture -here is a head that probably had a water spout out of the mouth - it was probably on a church at some point, like the Duomo. Its huge... about 2 feet high.

Here is a shot from my hotel window on the third floor to the roof patio across the way.

Here is a church on the hill where I took the shot of Florence from a distance. This style of multicolored marble facing is very common in Florence. Interesting how each region or city has a unique style to their churches.




This is the view inside the church - usually you can't take pics but people were here. Caught the late afternoon sun coming in. There is a guy sitting on the bottom on a bench so you can see how big the room is. Very elaborate painting on the walls and ceiling.

After hiking up the hill to see this church, got a treat of a view back to Florence. Hazy though.







Florence....its about.. and food, baby! Got two words for you... wild boar! Its a speciality of the area and makes a red sauce just plain sumptous. Here is a shot of dinner one night = wild boar lasagna, a mini bottle of chianti and tons of water - it was butt hot in Florence. Drank 3 litres of water a day, at least.

Here is my view at this dinner at an outside cafe - my room is under the tower on the right.








Florence claims to have invented gelato - and I gotta give them credit on having some of the best I have ever had. My fave? Chocolate orange - its like brownie dough. These gelaterias are allllllll over .I can't tell if the Italians eat gelato or just the tourists. At night, I would grab one after dinner and sit in that Signoria square to people watch. They put a piece of whatever the gelato is made of on the gelato so you dont even need to speak Italian - see the strawberry? I couldn't seem to find wild boar gelato, regretably.

Sculpture manifests in many ways. Sometimes its painted ceramic. This shot is from Europe's first orphanage, in Florence about 1400.

Madonna and Bambino - EVERYWHERE!!! This one is called Madonna of the Glass Eyes, cuz they are.

One of the ubiquitous leather stands on the streets - they are everywhere.

A shot of what some of the houses look like - very very tall. Its a vertical city which is why so many of my pics are on their side!

The Bargello museum specialized in sculpture with several Michaelangelos and Donatellos. Sometimes the less famous ones hit home...I loved this wall frieze. Tuscany is definitely for lovers and this captures that nicely.

Same museum...sometimes the museum is part of the package and is lovely to boot. The DeBargello's walls are covered with 3D sculpture, especially walking up these stairs to the Donatello David on the first floor.

These guys were solving world problems this evening.

Tilework is exquisite here - on the floors or walls. I actually got excited about coming back to tile my kitchen and under my new arbor after seeing how pretty these combos could be.













Sorry for the side shot -here is the main cathedral, the Duomo, from the front, with Giotti's tower next to it and the dome itself peeking through. I climbed this tower's 400 steps for amazing views. This tower was the first dome of this type since Roman times -and the architect totally made it up as he went along.

A look to the Duomo from Giotti's tower - see the little ants walking around the top? And the rolling Tuscan hills in the background. Sigh, lovely. Hot as hell, but lovely.

In front of the Duomo is the Bapistry, which is built on the foundation of an old Roman temple. This is a shot up into the ceiling which is covered with AMAZING gilt mosaics. Dante, yes that Dante, was baptized here.












The devil is in the details of the mosaic.

Most streets offer a view of the huge Dome from around town.














The Uffizzi gallery. Everything you ever heard about how great it is... believe it! It was a palace of the Medicis who donated it and the Italian art they had collected to the city. I spent 4 hours there - they do an amazing job of having the predominantly paintings in order by time... so as you progress, you see the impact of the Renaissance in art. For instance, the paintings become three dimensional as time goes on, not flat like many medival religious images.

This is a shot of the line of people who DIDN'T reserve a spot ahead of time. Hours and hours in the heat.... not too evolved.

Next to to the Uffizzi and the town hall is a sculpture area in the loggio -here is a shot of Perseus and Medea's head looking out over the Piazza del Signoria (just call it Gelato Square). That is a fake David to the right. The real one stood there for centuries until his arm was broken in a riot - so he was moved. These Italians are feisty, but they like their art.

That fountain of Neptune had all kinds of fun characters - this guy looks crabby.

The head on a statue of an Roman guy by Donatello - he was amazing. So real.... that was part of the deal... show human's humanity in art, which sometimes meant warts and wrinkles.

One of Michaelangelos Pietas - he did several. This one was one of his last, and people theorize that he portrayed his face on the old man holding Christ.

Michaelangelo sculpted on the fly. While some sculptors took the marble block and marked it up to make it easier to shape, Mike thought that he was the hand of God releasing the shapes from the stone.He chipped away freeform, from front to back, with no markings. And they just glow and breath. He done good.



I saw the real David at the Academia - and stood outside the exit doors to take a pic. You can't take pictures inside most museums. He's a babe.














A ashot of the front of the Duomo at sunset.

The Vecchio bridge at sunset. Its a medieval bridge lined with silver shops.

First time I encountered Vespas in volume- plus I liked the graffitti. Most of these cities have pedestrian only areas, and are very limited with car traffic. Its very nice.. .wish we could do the same in the US.

Just a no-name statue at the Debargello but even he glows.. the multicolored surface shows in this pic.

Walked around the area where the real people lived outside the tourist zone and loved this street - its just a bunch of houses piled on top of each other!

Went to the city market - vats of sun dried tomatoes.

Not only did this suffer the indignity of death, but then they stuck his head back on the body to boot.
A word on Rick Steves. Some folks don't like him - but between him and Lonely Planet, I prefer Steves. More detail, can trust restaurant suggestions, and he grades stuff so you know where to spend your time. Here is a little 4 table restaurant he recommended that I had an incredible plate of fresh paradelle in. The downside of Rick Steves? Sometimes everyone in there is American! One night, I swear the 10 tables had Americans only at them. Oh well -that works for me since I crave American English conversation.

Did I say that men wear orange here or what? Pants AND shirt!

More statues from the Neptune fountain. That horse on the left is alive.

Last night in Florence I went to a more contemporary restaurant, courtesy Rick Steves. There were 3 tables of Americans next to each other so we chatted, and in fact, I split a bottle of wine with one table, including Susan, on the left in this pic, from Oregon, and her husband Lance. We took this pic afterwards - and the table of Italians next to us who we hadn't said a peep to joined in, along with two waitresses, when they saw George. Sigh, George is a uniter, not a divider. Like many of my experiences, I have a bad exit leaving a town I really liked - the next day I went to Siena. The trains has gone on strike that day - and when I took a bus instead, it was a madhouse. Someone actually took my bag out of the bottom of the bus after I put it there and got onboard to get a seat. For some reason, I had a feeling I should check and rescued it. How freaking rude is that anyways!!!