SOAKING IN THE FLORENTINE CULTURE

I stayed in town this weekend.  I had tickets on Saturday to hear a chamber music concert at Teatro delle Pergola.  I got a little lost, so was a little late, and forgot to pick up a program, so I can't tell you the name of the ensemble or what I heard.  What I can say is that there were 4 violins and two cellos, and the music was beautiful, and so was the theater.

  

 I was wishing I could sit in one of those boxes because they just look so elegant.

Today I spent close to five hours wandering through several museums in the enormous Palazzo Pitti.  The palace is the former residence of the Medici family.  Before they bought it, Luca Pitti, a Florentine banker, owned it.

It doesn't look that beautiful on the outside, but the inside is unbelievable.  In addition to the several museums housed in the palace, there's a huge beautiful garden behind it, which is loaded with statuary.  It's the largest museum complex in Florence.  I bought a ticket that got me into three of the museums.  The first was the Palatine Gallery, which exhibits more than 500 Renaissance art works and many of the palaces furnishings and frescoes from the 16th century through the 19th century.  

  

You couldn't take photographs, of course, but these borrowed ones will give you an idea of the elegance of the several rooms in the Palatine Gallery.

Besides being chock full of Renaissance art, every ceiling was a masterpiece; most had a central fresco and several lunettes.  Roman gods conveying power to the Medicis were the subject of some.  Hercules was also featured in several. 

This is a relatively simple example of a ceiling fresco.

Raphael's La Donna Velata (Woman with a Veil) is among the more valuable pieces in this collection of art.

Caravaggi's Sleeping Cupid is another.

My ticket also got me entry to the Costume Museum.  The display is 98% women's clothing, mostly evening gowns from the 16th through the 20th century.

I spent at least two hours in the Gallery of Modern Art, and I must say I was pretty excited to see some secular art.  There were 30 rooms of paintings, statuary, clocks, and some furniture, all displayed in beautifully appointed surroundings.  

Besides the Boboli Gardens behind the palace, you can also tour the Royal Apartments, a Silver Museum, and a Porcelain Museum.  Palazzo Pitti is quite a grand place.  

After 5 hours, I felt a deserved a gelato--strawberry and pistachio isn't such a great pairing tastewise, but it sure looked pretty.

I CLUMB AND CLUMB SOME MORE

I've always used "climbed" as the past tense of climb, but today I clumb.  It's a grammatically acceptable alternative, and it just seems to more aptly fit my experience of ascending to the Piazzale Michelangelo (as in, my legs felt heavy from all the steps I clumb).  The piazzale is perched above Firenze on the south side of the Arno (my side of town). 

Some of the 163 steps up to the Piazzale were these wide ones that reminded me of scaling similar steps to the language school in Sorrento.

And close to 100 of them were just regular steps.  I clumb them all and immediately treated myself to a gelato from a stand that was strategically located very close to the top of the stairs.  I'd like to own that little business.

The view of Firenze from the Piazzale was spectacular and definitely worth the physical effort to climb those stairs.  

There's a reproduction of David standing in the center of the Piazzale.  The sun went under the clouds, which made a really clear picture impossible, but I love this shadowy silouette-like photo of this famous fella.

I couldn't take enough pictures of these juicy tulips and daffodils that sang the platitudes of spring.  There were several beds of them in the Piazzale.

Perched even higher, above the Piazzale, is the Basilica di San Miniato al Monte.  There were more steps that led to the top, but I chose to ascend more gradually on a road that wound its way up to this church.

There were some nice frescoes inside.

And a nice altar.  There was organ music playing all the while I was inside.

I could have sat on the stone wall surrounding the church courtyard all afternoon enjoying this even more expansive view of the city.  It was a warm, beautiful April day, perfect for climbing a Tuscan hill.  And I clumb it!

SIENA HEIGHTS

Siena Heights College in Adrian, Michigan, was where I spent my first year of college.  This town of Siena has nothing to do with that, but it is perched atop  three of the rolling hills of bella Toscana.  I took a bus there, and sometimes it's just a good idea to let someone else drive, because you could hurt yourself badly by gaping in awe at the countryside whilst sitting behind the wheel.  It was a rapid transit that took only an hour and 15 minutes.

There was a run taking place when we arrived in Siena, and a passel of runners sped by us as we stepped off the bus.  The run ended in the famous Piazza del Campo, which was my first destination.  

The Palazzo Pubblico was directly across the piazza from me as I relaxed and people watched whilst sipping my caffelatte and munching on a delicious cream-filled croissant.

I couldn't figure out whether these people were waiting for something to happen in the piazza or whether this is just how some Siena residents or tourists decided to spend Sunday afternoon.

I paid the 8 euro entry fee to get into the museum in the Palazzo Pubblico to see the frescoes  it is so famous for housing.  And I wasn't a smidgen disappointed.  They were fabulous!  Of course, no photos were allowed, so again I borrowed from the Internet.

This room houses an amazing fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti and is said to be one of the most remarkable accomplishments of the Renaissance.  The work was commissioned by the local government.

Lorenzetti was asked to paint allegorical depictions of good and bad government and the effects each would have in the town and the country.  This fresco represents "good" government".

And this wall depicts the effects of good government on life in the town.

This wall depicts bad government--you might see Satan sitting on his throne over toward the right.  Unfortunately, this fresco is deteriorating in several areas, while the "good government" frescoes are in very good condition.  Is that an allegory in progress?

  I really enjoyed my tour of this museum because it wasn't all religious art.  You could get a view of secular life from some of frescoes.  

My next stop was the Duomo.

Again, no photos allowed inside.  This is the pulpit and nave.

There's just no end to spectacular cathedrals in Italy.

When I stopped at an ATM to get some cash, I discovered that I didn't have my debit card, and I couldn't remember the PIN number for my credit card.  I had about enough cash left for a decent mid-afternoon lunch/dinner, but nothing for entry fees to other sights.  So I just wandered around town for a while.

This is the Basilica of San Domenica.  This view gives a sense of the character of Siena.

One of the many little side streets.

Typical of the more major streets.

A few flowers to remind us it's spring.

Another long view.

It was a nice way to spend a Sunday.

MORE HEART, LESS SOLE

I'm finally feeling human again, and today was a perfect day to get out and reacquaint myself with bella Firenze.  I wanted to go to the train station to get a ticket to Siena for tomorrow, so I just walked in that direction.  The sun was shining, it was 60 beautiful degrees, and for the first time since I arrived here, I felt warm!

After purchasing my bus ticket (no trains to Siena), I stopped for a special menu lunch (only 12 euro) of riboilita, roast pork, a lettuce salad and water.  

I was lucky to get a table in the garden patio with this beautiful view.  I was the only one there.  



The food was just okay, but it was quiet and I was able to call my Mom without a lot of noise interference.  (I can't get cell phone reception in my apartment.)

After lunch, I just wandered the streets with a bizillion other people.  There was an open street market, which reminded me of all the market in Asia, except the wares being hawked were quite different.

Lots of leather purses, belts, shoes, and coats 

And a variety of sweaters, cloth coats, and touristy 
t-shirts.  

Loads of scarves here too, just like in Asia.

And masks....love
'em!





In one piazza, I stumbled onto a major tourist attraction--the Bascilica di San Lorenzo.  I hadn't seen this on my last trip here.  

This early Renaissance-style church was designed by Brunelleschi and constructed in the mid-1400's.

The New Sacristy, called the Medici Chapel, is largely the work of Michelangelo, as are the Medici Tombs it houses. Michelangelo also designed the Laurentian Library, which is located off the cloister. 

There were several Donatello pieces here.  I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside, so I borrowed these from the web.

One of his two pulpits

  

A sarcophagus in the form of a woven basket

  

Statue of John the Baptist

Detailing in the Old Sacistry

Donatello's tomb is in this church.

There were some beautiful domes, one of which showed all the constellations, but I couldn't find a photograph that did it justice.  This one was pretty nice.

This is only part of a large fresco of Bronzino's Martrydom of Saint Lawrence



When I came out of the church, the streets were even more crowded.  I wanted to find my way back to the Arno, but I lost my sense of direction and later discovered I was going the opposite way, but it was one of those days that you just didn't care.  

This looked like something I should check out some other day.

I loved this window display, it was exotic Italian.

Somehow I find my way  back to the Duomo.

And I was lucky to happen upon my second favorite statue in this city--David, the outside copy.  He stands in the piazza near the Uffizi.  My niece Shelley and I loved to sit in this piazza and wondered if people ever took all this for granted.

Neptune and his
sea nymphs play in this piazza, too.

This is a view of my neighborhood from across the Arno...bella!  The bridge is called Ponte Grazie.  Not sure how that translates--Thank You Bridge or Bridge of Gratitude?

I walked the streets of Firenze for hours.  I may have lost a layer of my soles today, but this city makes my heart sing.

BOWS UP, PLEASE

Okay, everybody get out your tiny little violins and start playing something sad.  Yes, I can hear the violin section now, and it's just the background I need to do a little whining.  

I'm really sick of getting sick every time I get on an airplane.  I figure I've lost a whole month of my 10-month journey being sick because people who are totally inconsiderate get on planes without wearing a mask to keep their germs to themselves.  (Yeah, I can hear you saying "Oh poor Colleen....having the time of her life and complaining about a common cold!"  Please resume your violin playing.)  

I went to a couple of pharmacies before I left Bangkok looking for one of those masks--was told I could buy one anywhere, but that's not true.  So I got on the plane without one, and I've been hacking and sneezing endlessly for the last four days.  And this chilly, damp weather isn't lifting my spirits one bit.

When you're sick, it doesn't matter where you are....you just want your Mommy to make you some warm buttered milk toast!

FREEZING IN FIRENZE

It seems that every time I get on a plane, I get sick.  I have another bad cold, and the rainy chilly weather here doesn't help me to feel any better.  If I were still in the tropics, I could bake this cold out of me, but I don't have enough heat in my apartment here to bake anything.

Despite the chilly wet weather and this miserable cold, I decided to venture out on Easter Day to see Scoppio del Carro (Explosion of the Cart), the traditional Easter celebration here in Firenze (Florence).  The articles I read advised me to arrive early to get a good standing spot for viewing this spectacle.  So I arrived at the Piazza del Duomo at about 9:15 a.m., prepared to stand around for close to two hours until the big event at 11 a.m.

This Easter ritual dates back to the First Crusade, when, after the crusader army took Jerusalem, the commander-in-chief received a reward in the form of three chips of stone from the Holy Sepulcher of Christ.  These stones were brought to Florence in 1101 and were used to kindle the first spark of "new fire", a symbol of the new life that began with Easter.  All lights and hearth fires were extinguished on Good Friday in commemoration of Christ's death and relit with the coals of this "new fire".  

I arrived too late for a first row standing spot, but I got a pretty good second row place behind two short women.  

The celebration begins with a parade through the streets of Florence, with four white oxen pulling the cart.

Paraders sport costumes from centuries gone by, and there are lots of them.

The cart rests in the center of the plaza in front of Il Duomo, Florence's large cathedral.  It's lighted at 11 a.m. by the Bishop and the fireworks begin.....and go on for about 10 minutes.

If I were smarter, I could figure out how to post a video from youtube here, so all you'd have to do is click on the play button.  But I'm not, so you'll have to copy and paste this URL to see what I witnessed.  

http://youtu.be/KTSGmsjv3iQ

After this impressive spectacle, I walked back to my apartment on popsicle toes and crawled back into bed, where I've been ever since.