San Lorenzo, 2013

We got a late start Friday and saw but one sight, the church of San Lorenzo, which was the Medicis' parish church. Actually it's three sights, although all under the same roof (so to speak; actually there are perhaps a dozen different buildings), but you pay three different admissions, one for the church, one for the tombs (New Sacristy), and one for the Medici libraries. We did all this in 2011: http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/06/medici-tombs-palazzo-medici-riccardi.html, and http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/06/return-to-san-lorenzo.html. But Vicki is a big Michaelangelo fan and the church has several items of note, so we went back again. There is a pretty strictly enforced no fotos policy--actually, more guards per square foot, I'd imagine, than the Uffizi. But I was undeterred this time.

In the Michaelangelo-designed and -decorated New Sacristy: Night and Day or was it
Day and Night? "Night and Day, you are the one, only you 'neath the moon or under
the sun..."

Dawn and Dusk

Madonna and Child 

Inside the great pietra serena church, designed by Brunelleschi even as he was
doing the Duomo; passion for geometry, balance, classicism, distaste for Gothic,
then in its flamboyant stage

Donatello panels, originally for the altar, now adorning this and an adjacent pulpit

In a side room off the Brunelleschi-designed and Donatello- adorned Old Sacristy...
this curious view of the heavens...a view from Florence on July 4, 1442...matched
by a nearly identical structure in the Brunelleschi-designed and Donatello-adorned
sacristy at Santa Croce...same date, which no one yet has figured out...

As is well known, San Lorenzo never got a facade, despite Lorenzo's (the Magnificent,
not the saint) desire to have one and Michaelangelo's design; Lorenzo died and
Michaelangelo got put onto other tasks...

We'd been in Florence four days already and could stand it no more...we had to have
our bifstecca fiorentino; here it is, or what's left of the original kilogram of delight,
from our favorite of favorites, the Antico Ristoro de Cambi

Brancacci Chapel, 2013; and Uffizi

Thursday was a big day for us. Rain was forecast, so we decided it would be well to be indoors, mostly at the Uffizi. But we stopped on the way at perhaps our favorite Florence site, the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine. I blogged about it in 2011 at: http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/06/brancacci-chapel.html. If you're interested in art history, there are few more important places where you can see great change in situ. Masolino, his pupil Masaccio, and, fifty years later, Filipino Lippi labored on the walls of this chapel, but the most stunning of the work, and the one to whom credit is generally given (as co-founder of the renaissance in visual arts), is Masaccio. It's right up there with the Arena (Scrovegni) Chapel. Below are just a few clarifications and embellishments on the former post.

Self-portrait time: of the four on top, the
short guy is Masolino, nevermind the guy
looking at you, the fair-headed one is
Massacio, and the hooded guy is Brunelleschi;
Brunelleschi's mathematical theories of
linear perspective informed Masaccio's
painting, and much else; Donatello was the
third member of this group; they actually
made a road trip to Rome together, which one
might fancifully argue was the beginning of
the renaissance in art; just FYI

Definitely Italy, or possibly Spain, with laundry hanging out
the windows; oh, that's St. Peter with the halo (the Chapel
is mostly about him)

On-lookers at St. Peter's crucifixion; the one looking at you
is Botticelli, done by his friend and pupil, Lippi

Michaelangelo was sitting just about here, sketching St. Peter's
raising of Theophilus' son from the dead, when Torrigiano
cold-cocked him, breaking his nose; they were having a discussion
about Torrigiano's drawing skills...

Peter and Simon the Magician disputing before Nero; a personal favorite

Just one shot from the ("no fotos!") Uffizi: the totally
mobbed Botticelli room: our 2011 Uffizi post is at:
http://roadeveron.blogspot.it/2011/06/uffizi.html

Descent From The Duomo Cupola; And More

Back inside, looking up at Vasari's funny people

Looking down to the nave below

Up very close with the great frescoes

Our descent continued through the great church and its
marble carpet

And its rather spare ornamentation: here, an
enormous "war leader" painting, by Ucello,
perhaps 30 feet high, that I know I posted in
2011; the new angle, you see, is that I now
really know who this guy is: Sir John Hawkwood,
English hero in the earlier Hundred Years'
War, later brigand in France and general
of the mercenary armies that fought (and won)
Florence's battles with Siena; he also fought
for the Popes and anybody else with large
enough a purse and good credit; read Barbara
Tuchman; I now also have much clearer notion
of who Ucello was...

Dante explaining to the citizens of Florence that any
resemblance between characters in his poems and actual
persons was purely and entirely coincidental...

Ground floor view of the colossal dome and colossal painting

And now in the crypt, as it were, Santa Reparata, the original
very early Medieval cathedral on the site; along with Roman
mosaics, etc.

Tomb of Brunelleschi, architect of the dome, and many other
things...

Back out on the street, a statue of Brunelleschi
looking up at his dome

Thus

A bit later, in the Duomo Museum, one of
Ghiberti's Baptistry Doors; the competition
Brunelleschi lost...

Up closer

Same cathedral (museum), a century later,
one of Michaelangelo's Pietas

Ascent Of The Duomo Cupola

We spent more than a week in Florence in June, 2011, and I blogged fairly extensively about it all then. Of course, we are visiting many of the same sights now that we visited in 2011, and before that, too, and, of course, I am taking many of the same pix that I took in 2011. But I won't post them again. I am going to try, heroically, to stick just to new stuff, new things we did, new angles, etc. Bear with me. If you want to see fuller coverage, in this blog, of such things as the Duomo, go directly to the June, 2011 posts.

Thursday we spent primarily at the Duomo, the cathedral, its Baptistry, and Giotto's Tower, the campanile. Old friends that I'd visit every day if I could. For new experiences, we climbed the dome and cupola, Brunelleschi's triumph, enjoyed the views both inside and outside, and then briefly toured the still-a-work-in-progress Duomo museum.

Just for review, it's the big dome in the middle

You climb up about 300 steps of Medieval spiraling staircase
(the total is somewhat shy of 500) and then emerge inside the
great dome, at its base, looking up into Vasari's incredible
Last Judgment and its oculus with those people hanging in

Up close and personal with these much larger-than-life
figures

And then you're climbing up further, now
between the inner and outer domes

And then, quicker than you can say "hoop stress" 10,000
times, you're on top of the great 15th century cupola (on
top of the 13th century cathedral), in the lantern, gripping
the handrail, thinking about the 37,000 tons of material
constituting the dome, reflecting on the fact that a
dome of this height and size had not been attempted in a
milennium...and ...taking in the sights...Bargello
there on the left, Palazzo Vecchio on the right...and the
Uffizi...and...

Santa Croce

San Miniato, where we were the night before

Santa Maria Novella

San Lorenzo

Looking down to the nave and to Giotto's campanile

Us, taken by a nice lady from Indianapolis

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"