Florence Duomo 2011

Florence's Duomo, its cathedral, and particularly its great dome, dominate the city's skyline and identity like no other great city and great building. The green, white and pink marble Gothic building was erected in the 14th century--anticipating the largest dome that ever had been built--but without the engineering nor architectual expertise to complete such an endeavor. But in 1420, Brunelleschi solved these problems, studying the Pantheon in Rome, drilling into its dome to see how the Romans had done it a millennium earlier. He solved the problem and many underlying engineering problems: one of the earliest patents granted was for the special hoists he designed to lift 3 ton blocks into the sky, along with thousands and thousands of bricks, all resting on a complex system of arches and buttresses and a double-dome. It's been standing up there for nearly 600 years, I know, but I am always nervous in these ancient and gigantic buildings that are held together by nothing much more than friction and gravity. And genius.

The Duomo, from Piazzale Michaelangelo, across the river

Speaking of genius: here is the campanile, the

bell tower, built a bit earlier; 267 feet tall;

designed by Giotto, aka "Father of the

Renaissance," in painting at least; but he also

did campaniles, bridges...one begins to

understand what being a "Renaissance Man"

was all about...

Ground-up view

West facade and campanile

Intitially, the interior looks rather stark, if huge (3rd largest

nave in Christendom)

But then when one begins looking around,

there are all kinds of interesting things:

e.g., this giant bass-ackwards 24 hour clock

in Roman numerals

Super-billboard-sized illusionistic paintings of

local equestrian heroes

Great glass, and

This merely billboard-sized painting of Dante explaining

his Divine Comedy to the Florentines; he was subsequently

exiled and died in Ravenna, but Florence would really like

to have his mortal remains back now

And then the KO punch: the interior of the great dome is just

as colossal and impressive as the dome itself...Vasari's Last

Judgment

Great Hell and Satan scenes

But best of all, at the very top, hanging in over the edge,

this motley crew of illlusionistic skumdullions lightening
things up a bit...

Glimpse of a Last Supper behind the altar

And beautiful della Robbias all around

Ospedale degli Innocenti: Hospital of the Innocents

It doesn't look very revolutionary to our eyes, but the Foundlings' Hospital would have amazed anyone who saw it in 1424, the first of Brunelleschi's architectural designs. (That road trip to Rome he took with Donatello and Masaccio changed a lot of things, in sculpture, painting, and architecture). The Foundlings' Hospital was a new concept as well, a secular hospital for abandoned innocents. The wheel on which unwanted infants anonymously were left, for more than 400 years, is now gone. But Andrea della Robbia's touching medallions, between all the arches, remind us of a practice and charity that continues to our own time.

CamperStop Florence

After our 4th day in Florence, the Tuscan sun disappeared behind storm clouds and there were violent thunderstorms morning, afternoon and evening for two days. We wondered how far above the river our camperstop might be. As I said, it was in a near suburb, Poggeto, I think, about 3 km from the city center. Still quite urban. Anyhow, with the bad weather, we decided to take a couple days off.

CamperStop FLOG; actually, it was a large parking area

serving a big community center among the scores of

apartment blocks; a Coop a couple streets away for groceries

and the usual assortment of shops all around; from my now

vast experience in such neighborhoods, I estimate that every

street has at least one tabachi, one alimentaria, 3 bar/cafes,

one trattoria, one dry-goods/hardware store (maybe 200

square feet, crammed wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling), a

pet store, 3 snack bars, and 6 pasticerrias; amazingly, one

never sees a pastry shop without customers (nor a bar); yet

seldom sees a seriously over-weight Italian

One evening, during a lull between thunderstorms, I noticed

considerable commotion in the car parking area, and followed

the crowds to the community center, which was jammed

For a dance recital

I have no idea whether it was a school event, a neighborhood

thing, someone's private dance school recital

But there were people of all ages there

It's a very family-centered society

Return to San Lorenzo

Our first visit to San Lorenzo we saw mostly the Medici Tombs. This time we saw the church proper, and especially the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (Lorenzo the Great's Library).

Despite the great wealth of some of its parishioners, the

church of San Lorenzo somehow never got a proper facade

Another vast 14th and 15th century church,

architecture by Brunelleschi (at the same time he was doing

the Duomo dome); one might describe it as battleship-gray,

but the real name is pietra serena, and it really has a serene

effect

Map of the heavens, in one of the chapels

In another chapel, Lippi's Annunciation, noted for its use

of perspective

Entering the great old Biblioteca

A beautiful old room; the books were kept out on the reading

desks, chained

Arranged by subject...

The books, all incunibles, displayed in another room; note
chain

Works of Plato, Constantinople, 11th century

Elixirs, Balms, Ointments, Balsams, Essences, and Free Radicals

The Dominican friars at S. Maria Novella were selling rose water as a disinfectant as early as 1381, and their Farmacia is famous world-wide. It is mostly natural and traditional stuff, undoubtedly blessed, and we saw several people making 100 and 200 euro purchases. Most of the space is a pharmacy museum.

One of the several showrooms

Museum

Ditto

Ditto again

And again

What? Your local pharmacy doesn't have a chapel with 16th

century frescoes?!

Pharmacist desk reference

Yes, but no band-aids, multi-vitamins, nor sun-screen; nor

lottery tickets; nor condoms

Santa Maria Novella

The next morning, with just minutes left on our Florence Cards, we made it to the Santa Maria Novella, another large church and cloister, near the bus station.

S. Maria Novella from the piazza

In the cloisters, one of the many 1430 frescoes, here,

Creation, Temptation, Expulsion, et cetera, by Ucello and

students; quite weathered, but a few still recognizable

But the big draw, outside the church itself, is the Spanish

Chapel (so-called because Spanish courtiers used to hang

out there), three vast walls and a ceiling of frescoes by

Andrea di Bonaiuti, all celebrating the Dominicans; above,

a Crucifixion plus cast of hundreds

Including cute devils

The left wall, my personal favorite, showing the Triumph of

Divine Wisdom and Glorification of St. Thomas Aquinas,

there, center/front, stomping on Nestor, Averroes, and some

other intellectual competitor

The right-hand wall glorifies the Dominicans more generally;

as ecclesiatical leaders, teachers, and as "God's dogs," at the

bottom, devouring the non-Christian wolves

In the detail here, lower register, center, allegedly, are pictured

Cimabue, Giotto, Boccaccio, Petrarch, and Dante

Up on the ceiling, the Church as ship

Church interior: a very large, austere,

preaching church for the Dominicans

Very nice, very old windows in the chancel

And enormous frescoes by Ghirlandiao and

Lippi

But the great treasure in this church is

Masaccio's Trinity, said to be the first painting

to employ Brunelleschi's new mathematics of

linear perspective