Florence (Firenze)

Travel & Arrival - Monday, June 5th

Our B&B host gave us a ride to the train station and it was a quick ride into Florence.

The center of Florence is really a small area and quite walkable. We could have taken a taxi from the train station but we would have arrived too early at our AirBNB. Also we had to purchase our museum pass and make a reservation to climb to the top of the Duomo Cupola (at 11am it's already fully booked for today). So, we walked ourselves and our luggage from the train station and took care of touristy ticket tasks along the way. 

We really like this AirBNB. It's cozy and quiet. It's clearly just an AirBNB (no one lives here) but our host, Bianca, was here in person to welcome us and she has made the apartment very homey. For example, it has actual living houseplants. She also left us with a small basket of fresh fruit and a vase of home-grown culinary herbs. The kitchen is small and the bathroom miniscule but it all functions. It has AC and there is a laundry machine on the deck. Even when we don't use the kitchen to the fullest extent for saving money, AirBNBs are still better than hotels. AirBNBs are generally cheaper than hotels and we get all the living space (bedroom, living room, dining room). With a long trip like this one, the ability to do laundry is a necessity.

We're a little tired but we have only 3 1/2 days here in Florence (because there's another MotoGP race next weekend near Barcelona) so we headed directly out to explore the Duomo area. We went first to the Duomo museum which was pretty interesting. It explains the history of the Duomo but also the unusual aspect that the present exterior appearance is somewhat modern (less than 200 years) and not even close to what the original plans called for. Or the second set plans for the exterior or the ones after those. It seems the exterior kept getting close to being finished and then the tastes in architecture and design would change along with the community leadership and they would start all over again. 

From there we walked to the river Arno via a major shopping street. We're starting to get a sense of how small Florence is since it didn't take us long at all and along the way we've already found several of the sights and museums we plan to visit. It's also become clear that Florence is the place to buy leather clothes, jackets, purses, etc. Close to the river, the plaza della Signoria has many famous sculptures including the Neptune Fountain (undergoing a major restoration), a replica of Michelangelo's David, and a covered outdoor gallery with a dozen-ish more.

The Ponte Vecchio (old bridge) used to be butcher shops (we presume it was so they could discard bits they didn't want directly into the river). Today it is all very pricey jewelry shops. We were just being touristy, not shopping, but Serena saw some small inlay floral scenes. These are exactly the same craft that she has been enjoying most in all the various museums we've visited (though the museums generally have large-scale table tops). We were certain they were out of our price range but by how much? Serena asked and $950 for a piece less than 2"x2" is definitely out of our price range. But the shop lady identified it as Florentine Mosaic. Prior to this Serena had no idea the art that has so fascinated her originated here in Florence!

We ate dinner out on the edge of a plaza that had overtones of Santa Cruz. There was a Merry-go-round in it, a couple of street musicians*, and a guy making very large bubbles which kids (and adults) were chasing. Back at our apartment we did some planning for tomorrow then off to bed.

*With one exception in Torino the street musicians we've encountered this whole trip have been very talented and a pleasure to listen to.

Tuesday, June 6th

Plans we made last night were a little messed up 'cause we slept in - 10 hours of sleep last night so I guess we were tired. After some coffee, breakfast and showers we went off to the Galleria Accademia which is the home of the actual David by Michelangelo. 

Lucky for us our Firenze Card museum pass allowed us into the short admission line; this museum is popular due to David. The actual sculpture of David is 17' tall and the plinth on which he is standing appears about 4-5' tall. The room he's in was specifically built for this sculpture. Seeing the real thing here in the Accademia versus the replica yesterday is not a lot different aside from the crowds in the gallery. What's special about seeing David here is learning the story that Michelangelo is telling, which is very different from that of other artists and their renditions of David, and also the challenges he faced in creating this work of art. This David is pictured before he killed the giant. He is calm and confident. The challenges were the shape and quality of the marble block that Michelangelo used - one that was rejected by others due to flaws. It was also a very narrow piece which you can see when you look at David in profile. 

Also in the Accademia there is a room filled with plaster models of works that were subsequently made in marble. Michelangelo tended to work from the blank piece of marble and discover the piece inside as he went. Others used plaster models (cast from a clay sculpture) and calipers to measure the model and create its likeness in marble. It was an impressive room in two ways: the vast number of plaster models and that all of them came from only two major workshops.

The Cappelle Medicee (Medici Chapel) is not a major tourist draw but it was on our list and was fantastic. The chapel portion is completely filled with precious stone mosaics! The majority of the Medici clan did not end up being buried here but since they planned to be, no expense was spared in the decorations. Downstairs there is a museum of reliquaries that several of the Medici commissioned to house the vast number of relics* that they collected. 

*Relics - This word probably does not mean what you think it does. In this context 'relics' are bones or other pieces of a dead saint or other holy person. These relics were bought, sold, traded, and hoarded. Relics were venerated because people believed that in doing so, they would receive protection and intercession from the venerated dead.

One Medici grand dame had a collection of over 600 relics. There were fewer than 50 on display and those were in very ornate reliquaries. The reliquaries themselves are amazing works of art. The relics thankfully were mostly indeterminate pieces and not identified other than the name of the holy person they came from.

Though we now know that precious stone mosaics are a Florence thing we weren't looking for them (thinking they were all too expensive) and then we came upon a workshop and gallery. Here we could see the process and the people creating these amazing 'stone paintings'. And there are larger pieces for sale here for less $$ than what we found in the Ponte Vecchio shop yesterday. We weren't ready to buy but we did do some research for more places like this.

We forgot that museums tend to close around 5pm so we went to the Bargello Museum and didn't get all the way through before it was time to go. That was somewhat okay since we had hit the overwhelm point. 

It was an hour until our 6pm reservation for going to the top of the Duomo Cupola which means we had time for a drink. We did that in the Duomo plaza right across from where we line up to go in. There is no elevator for the Duomo Cupola; it is all stairs - 463 stairs (according to the internet). The first opportunity to catch up on breathing was when we emerged on the inside just below the base of the dome. The path goes about a third of the way around and then the final stairs to the upper outside view area. On the way down the path goes around the inside of part of the dome a bit higher up. Much of the stairway is circular and all of it is narrow. This becomes very interesting when people are going up and down since it is the same set of stairs. It was pleasantly breezy up top and the sun was coming and going from behind the clouds. We have had some sprinkles today but nothing really rainy (though we did eat lunch indoors rather than al fresco). This is the highest viewpoint in the city though there are other tall structures we could climb (campanile, Torre d'Arnolfo).

Wednesday, June 7th

Got to Palazzo Vecchio at the right time to pay for and wait for our "Secret Passages" tour.

Fantastic tour - not a lot of passages but a huge amount of information. Alchemy was discussed a fair bit so we saw a picture of a bezoar (a real thing that features prominently in Harry Potter). We also learned that Nicolas Flammel, also mentioned in Harry Potter, was a real person who was thought to have dabbled in alchemy and produced a philosophers stone (aka sorcerers stone). In particular we got to go into a private study which was a place the Duke stored precious items in cabinets around the room. The ceiling and the cabinet doors were all decorated with art which, when properly interpreted, told you what was stored in each cabinet. Nothing is in the cabinets at this time and in fact three of them have become doors. 

We also got to go up into the area between the ceiling and roof (20 foot tall "attic") of the Salon of the 500. The room below is 177' long x 75' wide x 59' high. The truss system for supporting a roof of that size was a marvel when it was installed in 1494. Even now it is the same system though in the interest of safety and redundancy they have added additional trusses. Of course almost all of the original wooden beams have been replaced. There are grey stone lines on the floor that match the frames of the artwork on the ceiling. Simply looking up at the ceiling the pieces are impressive but when you compare them to the floor space you get a real sense of their actual size - 15'x15' which is 300 square feet would be some of the smaller paintings.

   

The museum portions of Palazzo Vecchio are confusing - lots of places you have to exit or retrace your steps and the interpretive displays are minimal. Many rooms are a bit bare bones but the ones that have art/paintings have a lot. We walked the ramparts of the original fortress portion but decided against climbing stairs to the tower (we got a great view yesterday from the Duomo Cupola). We probably spent more time there than we needed to.

We happened across a place called the Beer House Club and Jeff finally had a decent IPA which was Italian and on tap. We've been pointed in various shops to different beers and some even said IPA but nothing like those that are so widely available in Santa Cruz.

We're exploring Florentine mosaic so we went this afternoon to a different workshop than the one we randomly found yesterday. This one (Lastrucci) is out of our price range but super impressive and they were very friendly. They explained the process, let us watch them work, and pointed out nuances of some of the pieces on display (even though they knew we weren't buying). After that we refreshed our memory of prices and options (and the location) by revisiting the Scarpelli mosaic workshop we went to yesterday. The mosaic museum closes very early so we'll go there tomorrow. 

We stopped in at the Lindt store and bought some chocolate then did a grocery run on the way home for snacks and dinner fixings. While Serena organized food Jeff went out to get some wine for tonight. Then we snacked and read and journaled on our little deck - with several mosquito smoke coils burning - and had dinner and watched the full moon light up the sky.

Thursday, June 8th

Our first stop today was the Mosaic Museum. It's a tiny museum but a lot to see. There were sooooo many examples from small to large and a variety of images - landscape, scrolls, sea shells, portraits, musical instruments, birds, butterflies, flowers and more. The upstairs had more than 600 samples of the different stones that artists use. There was plenty of description in English. The store didn't have much actual or affordable mosaic art so it looks like we'll go back a third time to Scarpelli Mosaici. 

Before we did that we went to the Uffizi gallery. We have only 72 hours to use our Firenze Museum Card (everything we've visited here was part of the card) and it expires this morning around 11am. The Uffizi is large and rightfully famous. They have nearly an entire floor full of marble statues. Around the outside are smaller rooms mostly with paintings. Of particular note are several Boticelli's - including The Birth of Venus - and Leonardo da Vinci's Annunciation and Adoration of the Magi. 

After the Uffizi and lunch we went to Scarpelli Mosaici one final time and bought ourselves a beautiful Florentine mosaic 'stone painting'. Tonight is our last night in Italy so the rest of the afternoon was spent preparing to depart (laundry, blogging, photo management, and packing). Of course we also went out for a lovely dinner and toasted Italia and Firenze with some bubbly wine.

A full-scale model of what the facade of the Duomo was supposed to look like as it was originally planned. A few of the sculptures in the niches were completed but then moved elsewhere when the facade plan evolved.

The Duomo today covered in white, green and coral colored marble.
But also notice that the statuary niches are gone and the decorative lines are much different.

View of the Duomo from the battlements of the Bargello Museum.

Some delightful "entertainment" during dinner our first night in Firenze.

Side view which shows the narrowness of the block that Michelangelo chose to work with.

An entirely different interpretation of David after slaying the giant.
This is obviously not marble. It is also smaller than life size.

In the gift store you can buy your own tiny model of David. Four sizes and numerous colors available.
Who buys this stuff and what do they do with it when they get home?

Stairs up to the top of the Duomo Cupola.

View of Firenze from the top of the Cupola.

 I don't know what part of which saint is in this reliquary, but it is in the glass bit at the top.

Some mosaic flooring in the Medici Chapel.

One of the tombs in the Medici chapel.

A sample of Florentine mosaic in the Medici chapel.

Scarpelli Mosaici - A landscape piece in progress and some of the stones that may be used.
Landscapes are generally less expensive than floral pieces.

Pieces are cut from a drawing and glued to the desired piece of stone.
Then they are cut very carefully by hand using this "saw" of steel wire.

An example from the Mosaic Museum.
Every single bit that is a different color is a separate piece of stone.

One of the cabinets in the the Duke's private study in Palazzo Vecchio.
This is one of the special places we got to go on our "Secret Passages" tour.

This is a photo of a small portion of a half-mile "secret" corridor from the home of the Medici in Pitti Palace to where they "worked" in Palazzo Vecchio.

Finally found some decent IPA at the Beer House Club. Like the Bay Area's Zachary's Pizza they appear to have customers submit art. This one is obviously fairly recent.

Very creative use of a mannequin and some pasta for the window display of this kitchen ware store.

This is the piece we bought. Again, every bit that is a different color is a separate piece of stone.
This is neither a painting or a photograph. The "shadows" cast by the rose are inlaid pieces of stone.