San Miniato Al Monte

After the usual recon in town, we took bus #12 up to the Piazza Michaelangelo, ignored it, and walked around the corner and up the hill to the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte. A great old Romanesque church plus incredible views of the city, sans turbusses and the seas of witless humanity.

The 11th century church of St. Miniato; St. Miniato--of course
you want to know--was a 3rd century Armenian soldier who
was martyred, after many unsuccessful attempts, by
beheading; undaunted by this setback, he picked up his
head and marched up the hill to the site of the present monastery
and church; sound familiar? Hey, it worked in France

If you're going to be martyred, get a nice view

Thus

Inside; pretty thoroughly Romanesque;
wooden roof; gorgeous frescoes of various
ages all along the walls

Another day, another Pantokrator; huge mosaic generally
suggests the place is 11th or 12th century; Miniato is the
one offering his earthly crown to the Pantokrator

Frescoes on the sacristy walls

Sacristy ceiling; four gospel evangelists

We stayed through the service, sung by just four monks,
including this very old man

Beautiful place; the early 13th century floor
is a "carpet of marble," featuring, among other
designs, a zodiac

View out the door

The monastery gift shoppe sells gelato;
one of several clever ads on the premises

Tuscan sunset

Beautiful monastery grounds

Nice to be back in Florence

On To Florence, 2013

After Ravenna, we drove through clouds and rain and mountains past Florence to Greve-in-Chianti (I swear I am not making this up) and the nice sosta there to meet friends Rick and Kathy, fellow travelers, actually far more experienced than we, with whom we meet up every couple years on some continent or other. Last time was in Mountain View, CA; before that, Mantua. But I digress. We had a great afternoon and evening, swapping stories and information. Kathy edits the monthly World Wide Travelers newsletter for The Escapees, and Vicki is one of the contributors. Vicki fixed her veal Aosta and pasta, and Kathy brought a salad and delicious pecan pie (pecans from Texas). Next morning, Rick installed a new fuel filter on our van, something we don't trust to just any mechanic; particularly me. We parted, they to the west and then south to Rome and Fiumicino for their fall/winter sojourn back in the States, we back east to Florence and more of Italy. Alas, unlike previous meetings, I didn't take pix.

Riot in marble at the Duomo/Baptistry/Campanile

And the usual riot in humanity, even in mid-October; OK, a
lot of these people probably thought it was Mardi Gras

Still probably a good deal for people with limited time (3-4
days), but, wow, a 40+% increase?! This time we are here in
order to savor the things we like, see a few new things, not
in a hurry; so we demurred; diesel costs more in Italy, about
$1 more per gallon, but we have seen no other vast increases
in costs here; the main advantages of the Florence Card are
1) you get free bus/tram transportation for 72 hours, and 2)
you don't have to stand in lines to buy tickets/get in...but
there are work-arounds for those issues, particularly if you
have time

"I'm sorry," the Angel is saying, "but your
Florence Card expired 20 minutes ago"

Ravenna, 2013

We visited Ravenna in 2011, on our last Italian campaign. It was one of our very best visits then, or ever, and it was again in 2013. Simply put: if you care about Western history, art, architecture, or religion, and the intersections among them, Ravenna is a must-see. The transitions from Roman to Byzantine to European occurred in many places. But many of those transitions occurred in Ravenna--the capital of Italy under the Goths, after Rome fell, and under Byzantine rule for the next few centuries as well--and they are best preserved, if preserved at all, in Ravenna. Said another way: Classical art ends in Ravenna, and Medieval art begins there too. Think: mosaics, the best in the West until Montreale and Palermo in 12th century Sicily. Also think: San Vitale, model for the Hagia Sofia as well as for Charlemagne's chapel, later, the Cathedral of Aachen. Were that all not enough, it is a very enlightened and tourist-friendly town. Oh yes, there's all the Dante stuff too. After exile from Florence, he lived out his years in Ravenna. I blogged about Ravenna in 2011, at http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/06/ravenna-mosaics-i.html, and at http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/06/ravenna-mosaics-ii.html, and at http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/06/ravenna-non-mosaic-bits.html, so if you want to see what I am talking about, take a look at those posts. For 2013, I'll just fill in a few gaps--which won't make much sense unless you've looked at the 2011 posts, or know Ravenna--and add the two or three new things we did during our couple of days there. It's a glorious place. We'll be back.

The Mausoleo di Teodorico, erected by
Theordic in 520, is built of  huge stones
without mortar; the ceiling is a single monolith
weighing 300 tons

Inside is only a huge porphyry basin, apparently a
sarcophagus

In the Basilica di San Vitale...one of those
seminal works of architecture...legend has
it Charlegmagne carried away much of the
marble facing for use in his chapel in Aachen;
he and his aesthetic advisors were visiting
after his being crowned Holy Roman Emperor,
c. 800

According to the Ravenna TI guidebook, Cole Porter got
his inspiration for Night and Day while looking at the ceiling
of the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna; I submit he
got his inspiration for Anything Goes while watching old
Monty Python re-runs ("Anything goes in/ Anything goes
out/ Fish, bananas, old pyjamas/ Mutton! Beef! and Trout!);
or possibly Paul Feyerabend

At yet another very old church, whose name now eludes me,
the crypt...the water table in Ravenna has risen a meter or so
in the last several centuries, and so it is now flooded; look
closely, a tad below center, and you'll see a goldfish

In the Museo Arcivescovile (Bishop's Palace),
the 7th century bishop's throne I had not
photographed on our previous visit ("no fotos!")

Quite recently--new construction--major new Roman mosaics
were found and now have been put together and exhibited
as the House of Stone Carpets, Domus dei Tappeti di Pietra;
here, a dance of the seasons

Thus, beautiful, nearly complete mosaic floors

And thus, the Good Shepherd

Wider view

As we were walking to one of Ravenna's many wonderful
sostas, where we had parked, we passed the State Institute
for Mosaic Art

And in its yard, a fine replica of Jerusalem from San Vitale

Bologna Churches

Most of what we saw in Bologna were the churches below. Time ran out, and we didn't get in the art museum with its whole room devoted to Guido Reni, a favorite. We'll do better next time, allowing a full two days.

On the Via dell Indepenza, Holy Telecommunications

Bologna Cathedral

It took us two tries to see this one, scrambling in and out
between masses; it's large, reputedly the 5th largest (they
all say that), Gothic

Its main sights are this 38 meter sundial contraption

Thus, which led to the discovery that the
solar year is actualy 1/4 day longer than 365

And this beautifully-frescoed chapel, which
was closed because of the ongoing services

St. Petronius himself across the piazza

Next,the Chiesa San Domenico

A bit Baroque nowadays

Nave view

Notable largely for this incredible Pisano sarcophagus; the
candle-holding angel on the right was done by a very young
Michaelangelo

Bologna

We drove on in the afternoon from Modena to Bologna. By 7PM we had given up on attempts to find a sosta or other cheap/free parking and ended up at the municipal campground/resort. 25 euros. We did some wash, cheaper there, just to justify the unexpected expense. Next morning, getting a late start, we took the bus (runs every 2 hours) to the city.

Dueling Saints: in our pagan ignorance, we did not realize
it was the feast day of Italy's national patron saint, St. Francis,
and Bologna's city patron saint, St. Petronius; nor did we
fathom the implications for public transportation, business
closings, large crowds and rock concerts in the big piazza,
and the 8 day-time masses held at the cathedral...such is
the life of the wanderer errant

Roman ruins at the outskirts of the old city; near the great
Parco Magnolia garden

It is a town of great old architecture, covered arcades, the
oldest of universities...

Many painted arcades

This is the largest city we have been in in a
while, and, alas, there were far more beggars
than we have seen recently

We had a nice long lunch at Osteria dei Poeti; pictured is the
house specialty, pounded and rolled chicken breast, stuffed
with mozzarella and porcini, then wrapped in prosciutto and
baked; served on toast on a bed of greens; Vicki had a
disappointing spaghetti Bolognese

Near the church of San Domenico--think:
Domenican Order--a casket with a view

More arcades

Ditto--I love this stuff--and the wonderful colors (mostly
pinko) of this town

High up in the courtyard of a palazzo we stuck our heads into,
now the parking area for building tenants, a della Robia

Beautiful curves

In the fashionista district, camo is the new lime...

Festivities! Although we couldn't tell whether they were for
St. Francis or St. Petronius

The very famous Neptune fountain by
Giambologna

Interesting poses all around; apparently
there's a water conservation program in effect

At this point we had missed our bus and were hurrying
back across the old town to catch a supposed alternative
bus...on the Via Malcontenti

But we managed to get a good look at
Bologne's emblematic Due Torri--its two
towers--the Garisenda and the Asinelli, 97
meters high (think: 30 stories)

Both lean rather precariously; you can climb
up to the top of the Asinelli, but not the
Garisendi