A Day At The Uffizi

By my count, this was our eighth visit to the Uffizi, the first in 1979, the most recent way back in 2017.  Before 2011 or so, visiting the Uffizi was mostly a touristic obligation. About that time we studied some art history--thank you, Great Courses--and developed a taste for the art that preceded the Renaissance.  Now we spend an inordinate amount of time in the single digit rooms of the Uffizi, with Cimabuie, Duccio, and Giotto, Martini and Francesca, and others. Things I would earlier have dismissed as the "Halo Rooms" we now savor. After the two Botticelli rooms, down the hall, the game is pretty much over for me, and seeing a Cranach or Durer later on only makes me yearn for the 15th century Flemish masters. But I digress. Despite the respect and regard, a lot of this stuff brings out the worst of my impish nature, so apologies for that...

A small Giotto in which you can see, by comparison with the Cimabuie and
Duccio elsewhere in the room, what all the fuss was about in 1305: these are
paintings of credible people, with emotions; not of static Byzantine mosaics

Baby J was not a thumb-sucker; rather, all four fingers...scholars disagree on
whether this was 3 (for the trinity) + 1 (for the unity) or the duality squared...

Biblical origins of Game of Thrones

Giottino, mid-14th century sacred conversation; emotion plus interesting hair-dos

Rene Ssance, Adoration of the Monkeys

"Atta' girl, Mom" #1,746

Love Ucellos...Battle of San Marino

Lippi, St. Augustine getting his notion of the trinity (three divine arrows to the heart)

In the first of the now two Botticelli rooms

Second; almost every one of the 8-10 paintings in this room has an image of
his life-long love...

Simonetta

Once I'm done with the Botticellis, I'm done; and even more impish

New signage in the restaurant

Rebecca, Jeremy, and Penelope were touring the Uffizi the same day, and we
met for snacks; foto by Rebecca

The Arno and Ponte Vecchio from the club-house turn

One of several Luca Signorellis

The "Hark!" room

Gets an entire room to him-/herself

Yes, he became a cardinal

Ape picking lice from a man's hair...Annibale Carracci;
especially with the broad strokes, reminiscent of Hals, a
century later

The Uffizi's three or four Caravaggios are now split up into two rooms, one of
which contains four separate beheadings

Second Ascent Of Brunelleschi's Dome

Daughter Rebecca and I climbed to the top of the Duomo one day. My second time, but ever a thrill. (See http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/10/ascent-of-duomo-cupola.html, and http://roadeveron.blogspot.com/2013/10/ascent-of-duomo-cupola.html). P was too young for this expedition (must be 10), and Jeremy stayed with her. Alas, Vicki's right (natural) knee is acting up, and she did not do the 400+ steps up and down. It was late in the afternoon, the light was brilliant, and the views were spectacular.

Somehow I always find Giotto's tower, a century older, just
as interesting as the duomo

Looking up toward the summit

Closer up

Now inside the building, already up a couple hundred feet, looking at Vasari's
ceiling of the dome, from its base

Looking down

True Vasari design, not a square inch wasted; a Last Judgment

Now inside...between the inner and outer domes; note curvature; appreciating
Brunelleschi's genius

Staff lounge

View from the top

Michaelangelo Belvedere

Panning

Note shadow of dome

Us, there

Rebecca leading the descent

More of the ceiling figures, which are truly much larger than life

The cracks are a little concerning....

More of the awful things that can happen to you in a Last Judgement

Parthian interior shot

Almost alpenglow

Great place, great experience; thanks, Rebecca

Florence Scenes

It's been a busy 10 days since I last posted. After Siena we drove to Florence, staying at our usual Florence Park Scandicci, and met up with La Familia Sabbatica, who had preceded us by a few days. Our paths converged on a number of occasions in Florence, they doing many of the more obligatory sights than we, and also engaging in a variety of tours and classes. Having been to Florence many times before, and recently, too, we just took in a few favorites, always seeing and learning more than the last time, and enjoyed the ambiance. Below are a few assorted pix. I'll later do posts on the Uffizi, Santa Maria Novella, the Ognissanti, the Duomo, and more. And then move on to Pisa, Padua, Venice, Plitvice Lakes in Croatia, Ljubliana, and the Skocjan caves in Slovenia. It's been a busy 10 days.

At a trattoria one evening together; Rebecca taking the pic

With Penelope on the Ponte Vecchio

Actually we spent more time than usual on the Ponte Vecchio; P's birthday was
approaching, and Vicki had decided a small silver charm bracelet commemorating
Italian sights P had visited was in order

All locked up by night

Arno from the bridge

P with good luck friend

More sights by night

The Ognissanti church...en route to our favorite Ristoro Antico di Cambi

Street scene on the left bank

Love the old towers still around

13th century skyscrapers

And an old favorite in the Vespucci section

At the central market one day for lunch

And pondering our next bifstecca fiorentina

Siena Scenes

We walked about the old city for an hour so, stopping by the Piazza del Campo for a bit. Alas, the city was over-run with high school field trips, Italian mostly , but also from as far away as Spain and the Netherlands. As is nearly always the case, everywhere but France, the kids were not paying the least attention to the city, the artifacts, the buildings, the art.... We tired of all this and were soon ready to move on.

Us, there

In a music center of some sort

Sic transit, Gloria: now an investment bank

Restaurant over-reach

Policeman telling tourists it is not permitted to sit on the Piazza; his back turned
to the 25,000 high school students who are lounging in every manner in the
Piazza

Famous scene

Part of the Piazza

You can still ride in and hitch up in Siena

Moving on

Parking has always been an issue for us at Siena, but here we at last found a
place that was secure and also within 600m (they said) of the city's portal and
escalator, right nearly straight up to the Duomo; the site is reputed to be quite
noisy, but we did not find it so; other campers included French, Netherlandish
and Italian