San Croce, 2011

Our last major site in Florence was the San Croce church, another vast church building, this one something of Italy's Westminster Abbey.

"Oh God, not another cathedral?!"

The facade is 19th century

The rest 14th, including a chapel by Brunelleschi

And all the shrines and occasional tombs: here,

Marconi

Fermi

Galileo; never had anything to do with

Florence as far as I know

Dante (exiled from Florence; mortal remains in Ravenna)

Michaelangelo (design by Vasari)

Machiavelli

Donatello

Rossini ("Hi-ho, Silver!!!")

Ghiberti

Among the great art at San Croce, Donatello's

wood crucifixion, a work so realistic it

frightened its original audiences

Many beautiful della Robbias

In the Capella de' Pazzi; gotta look this one

up, which we liked but did not note

A&W root beer was popular even in the 14th century

"Look, Ma--I mean MOG--no hands!"

Central Market, Orsanmichel, Piazza della Signori

Our last few days in Florence were a hodge-podge of sights, filling in some gaps, indulging some curiosities.

For sightseeing as well as purchasing purposes, we always try

to hit the central market; I have posted about so many now

that I am trying to limit myself to only the most unusual or

interesting shots: here, an item of the plant kingdom we

never did figure out 

And here, an action shot: the master butcher whacking off

some beef-steak Florentine for us; we figured we could

cook this ourselves

More ditto

Not cheap, but worth it

Apparently these items are not so highly valued

We also visited the Orsanmichel, another church

with an interesting history (originally a granary)

And great scultpure

And then back to the Piazza della Signori for a

look at more sculpture, including Cellini's

Perseus

And--X marks the spot--the precise place on the Piazza

where Savanarola was "martyred" on his own Bonfire of

Vanities

Anniversary #43

Actually we passed anniversary #43, June 8, in the thunderstorms. But we had already resolved to celebrate #43 by having a beef-steak Florentine dinner, which we finally did at the Antico Ristoro di Cambi. 800 grams of certainly the best steak we have had in Europe. Nothing's as good as Peter Luger's, of course, but this and a few others have come close.

Antipasti: prosciutto and bufala mozzarella

Pasta course: spinach and ricotta-stuffed ravioli in ragu sauce

Me, luxuriating

Steak Florentine for two

No left-overs; creme brulee and expresso for the dulci; they

had a 250 euro bottle of Brunello, but we opted instead for

the house rosso; I had tried some Brunello earlier and was not

that impressed

Peeking into the kitchen as we left

Piazzale Michaelangelo

It was to be another multi-site day. After the ospedale and the duomo and campanile and baptistry, we caught a bus that took us across the river and up the hill to the Piazzale Michaelangelo, the great belvedere overlooking the city.

Florence from Piazzale Michaelangelo

River and bridges, most prominently, the Ponte Vecchio

Us; the duomo is just below my right ear

We took the bus back down and then walked a couple

kilometers along the river

River traffic, the old-fashioned way

Most commitment padlocks I have ever seen; and this was

one of several...

Ponte Vecchio up close

Up closer

And what it's been all about for several hundred years

Florence Cathedral Baptistry

The much older Baptistry rivals the Duomo in interest, at least to us. It was built in the 11th century, but, because of its octagonal (Roman) shape, Roman columns and sarcophagi, Islamic geometic floor mosaics, etc., was long thought to be much older than merely Medieval.

The Baptistry

Most people, including us in the past, visit the

Baptistry only to see the great 15th century
bronze doors done by Ghiberti (who won the
competition over Brunelleschi (who decided
to try architecture instead)); but the great east
doors, now kept in the Duomo museum, were
undergoing restoration; hence we skipped the
museum, and thereby missed the above,
Michaelangelo's beloved Conehead Pieta

The Exact Replica Doors were there, and still

pretty impressive

Detail: Creation, etc.

Moses getting The Law

David slaying Goliath; etc.

Ghiberti self-portrait

Inside the Baptistry, things get really interesting...the altar

with its weird designs

In the gallery, more interesting, seemingly

Roman designs

And the seemingly Islamic mosaic floor

The great dome of the baptistry is totally Byzantine, as one

would expect from its age; gleaming gold mosaic telling all

the relevant Biblical stories

Another day, another Pantokrator

Resurrection

Hell and a great Satan

Have you ever wondered whether you can be

de-poped? Sure you have! And the answer is

yes, you can have your papacy revoked, as in

fact happened with the guy buried here, the

original Pope John the 23rd, now more
officially known as Anti-Pope John the 23rd;
this was during the Great Schism, early 15th
century, with popes in both Rome and
Avignon, and eventually a third one, too; J23 is
here in Florence because Florence backed him
and not the pope in Rome; check it all out at
http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Antipope_John_XXIII