Florence Duomo |
Our love
affair with Florence started twenty-two years ago and has brought us back again
and again, and every time we have discovered something new. The capital of Tuscany, the birthplace and
cradle of the Renaissance, is truly the crown jewel with magnificent palaces,
museums, cultural monuments, art and architecture, a place where the visitor
can feel lost in time.
Cupola of the Brunelleschi Duomo, a real jewel
Photo: Wikipedia
River Arno from Ponte Vecchio Photo: Ileana Johnson 2016
The River Arno
runs peacefully and muddy today through downtown Florence. You can see
bridges crossing the river in the distance and the Florentine hills surrounding
the city. In medieval times, wealthy merchants retreated to these hills during hot
summers. August is still the favorite vacation month of Italians. It is not a
good time to visit though because many businesses are closed and it is really,
really hot.
Ponte Vecchio
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2016
Taking the
early hotel shuttle in the morning, I stopped first in my favorite silk shop,
the Evangelisti, while David was busy
searching for a place to have lunch in the vicinity. On a parallel street from
the city hall, Palazzo Vecchio, he
found the sandwich shop where he had spotted the night before a large crowd of
students, a sign that the food was good and inexpensive.
A huge fresh
and just-sliced pork sandwich and a prosciutto sandwich later, we ate standing in
the narrow shop crowded with smoked ham hocks, bologna, and fragrant salamis hanging
from the ceiling; a few miniature wooden chairs designed for Tiny Tim, glass
displays overflowing with typical Italian salads, meats, freshly made breads, anemic
bulbs, a message board, and bottles of wines from the local and neighboring vintners
completed the rustic decor.
There was no
empty spot in this miniature eatery. A couple and their beautiful yellow lab
were seated right in the front of the store, literally on the edge of the very
narrow cobbled sidewalk, on the tiny street designated both pedestrian and
“carrabile.” It was a dangerous game of “watch out for cars and scooters” to
walk on this street.
Basilica di San Lorenzo exterior
Photo: Wikipedia
Carousel in front of Santa Maria della Croce
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2005
Ponte Vecchio
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2004
As nasty and
smelly as the Arno must have been back then, it made a full come back today. I
saw what appeared to be a beaver swimming below one of the shop windows. I can
only imagine what the monthly rent must be to occupy such a tiny and special
place – and it was like a miniature shop inside.
Vasari corridor from Palazzo Vecchio to Uffizi
Photo: Wikipedia
The bridge also
carries Vasari’s elevated corridor which connects the Uffizi to the Palazzo
Pitti, the Medici residence. The neighboring bridges are Ponte Santa Trinita
and Ponte alle Grazie.
The original
Ponte Vecchio was built by Etruscans;
it was first documented in 996; but the current one was rebuilt in the 14th
century. It was the only bridge in Florence that survived WWII undamaged. As
the locals tell the story, it survived because of an alleged direct order from
Hitler to spare it. Its unusual construction of “segmental arches” reduces
span-to-rise ratio and the number of pillars into the riverbed. The back shops
that can be seen from upriver were added in the 17th century.
The Hills surrounding Florence
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2004
We walked to
Ponte Vecchio, ever so careful to
avoid the speeding scooters, the tourists, the pick pockets, and the kids
balancing precariously large cones of gelato. I took pictures of the vistas and
admired the expensive “vitrine” laden
with gold jewelry, something that insurers would never allow in fine jewelry
shops in the United States. My friend Sevil would have loved window shopping on
this bridge.
Benvenuto Cellini Photo: Ileana Johnson 2016
To honor the
great Florentine sculptor, Benvenuto Cellini, and the fourth century of his
birth, the goldsmiths commissioned his bronze bust in 1900. His statue carved
and cast by Raffaello Romanelli stands on a fountain in the middle of the
Eastern side of the bridge.
There are padlocks
on the bridge placed by lovers who throw the key into the river under the illusory
belief that their love will be eternal. The warning of a steep fine of 160
euros may have prevented some from attaching padlocks to the bridge. However, mass
hysteria founded on foolish superstition, still leaves behind thousands of
padlocks that must be removed monthly, padlocks that have caused expensive and
extensive damage to the bridge.
Uffizi Photo: Wikipedia |
The Uffizi
Gallery, with one side facing the river Arno, started as a project by Giorgio
Vasari in 1560 at the order of Cosimo di Medici to make room for offices of
Florentine magistrates, hence the name “uffizi” (offices) but was not completed
until 1581. The magistrates’ offices, the tribunal, and the state archives were
combined under one roof, with the eventual intention to display art works from
the vast Medici collections. Grand Duke Francesco I, the son of Cosimo I,
carried out his plan.
Anna Maria
Luisa, the last Medici member, negotiated a Patto
di famiglia, which left the art treasures to the public in Florence, forming
the first modern museums. The gallery had been opened to visitors by request
since the sixteenth century but it opened officially to the public in 1765. The
collection was so huge that some of the pieces had been transferred to other
museums in Florence.
A car bomb which exploded in Via dei
Georgofili in May 1993 severely damaged the Niobe room, classical sculptures,
and the neoclassical interior which had been repaired; however the frescoes were
damaged beyond repair. It was believed that the Sicilian Mafia was responsible.
Street art in Florence
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2016
Uffizi is so
popular that standing in line for a few hours is not unusual. Last time we
visited the museum we had to wait about an hour to get our tickets even though
we had reservations.
The flood
which resulted from a heavy rainstorm in August 2007 affected the Gallery when
water leaked through the ceiling and visitors had to be evacuated. The heavy flood of 1966 damaged many art
collections in Florence including the Uffizi and inundated churches like Santa
Croce.
In addition
to ancient sculptures, the Uffizi collection contains works by Cimabue, Giotto,
Sandro Boticelli (Primavera, The Birth of Venus, Adoration of the Magi of
1475), Leonardo da Vinci (The Annunciation, Adoration of the Magi), Albrecht Dürer (Adoration of the Magi), Michelangelo
(Doni Tondo), Raphael (Madonna of the Goldfinch), Titian (Flora, Venus of
Urbino), Caravaggio (Bacchus, Sacrifice of Isaac, Medusa), and Rembrandt
(Self-portrait as a Young Man), just to name a few.
Boticelli's Birth of Venus |
I was in
awed silence as I paced the marble corridors of history and was lost in beauty,
color, form, and genius.
Backtracking
from the Ponte Vecchio, we came upon the Mercato
del Porcellino (the piglet market) where tourists were busy rubbing a wild boar’s
bronze snout for good luck and having pictures of themselves taken with it
after throwing a coin in the fountain to make sure they would return to
Florence.
Markets were
held at this location as early as the eleventh century. The Loggia was added in
the mid-1500s during the reign of the Grand Duke Cosimo I to protect vendors
from inclement weather. The Fontana del
Porcellino (the fountain of the piglet) is a 17th century
replica of a Roman statue which was also a copy of an original Greek statue.
Street art Photo: Ileana Johnson 2016
As we got
lost on purpose on various narrow and dark cobbled stradas, we encountered phenomenally talented street painters who
were using the asphalted pavement to duplicate with so much skill masterpieces
from the Uffizi, using only colored chalk and charcoal.
San Lorenzo and the Medici Chapel
Photo: Wikipedia
Running from
the Church of San Lorenzo along Via Ariento to Via Nazionale are the San
Lorenzo markets. The Central Market (mercato centrale), a two-level indoor
market, sells raw and cooked food, and fruits and vegetables. In typical
Italian fashion, food or produce cannot be touched, you must ask the shopkeeper
to pick it up for you and place it in a bag.
The outdoor market sells leather goods, clothing and souvenirs which are
of cheaper quality and not exactly inexpensive. I remember buying here a pair
of sandals for April sixteen years ago.
Interior of Basilica of San Lorenzo
Photo: Wikipedia
The exterior
of Basilica di San Lorenzo is a monastically-drab stone that can be easily
overlooked when compared to the more lavish marbled-exteriors of many other
basilicas I have visited. It is one of the largest churches in Florence, the
burial place for famous Medici family members from Cosimo il Vecchio (the Old)
to Cosimo III, and for the longest time, the parish church for the Medici
family. After three hundred years of being the city’s cathedral, the bishop’s
seat was moved to Santa Reparata.
It is
believed that the first church at this location was consecrated in 393 A.D.
when it stood outside the city walls. As the city grew, the church found itself
in the heart of the Central Market.
One of the
Medicis, Giovanni di Bicci, offered to replace the 11th century Romanesque rebuilding
and hired Filippo Brunelleschi, the most important architect of the first half
of the 15th century, to design it.
“The building with his alteration was not completed until after his
death.”
The San
Lorenzo Church is part of a large monastic complex that contains the Old
Sacristy by Burnelleschi with interior decorations and sculpture by Donatello,
the Laurentian Library by Michelangelo, the New Sacristy based on
Michelangelo’s design, and the Medici Chapels by Matteo Nigetti.
The
Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Medicea
Laurenziana), built by the Medici Pope, Clement VII, to emphasize the
Medici’s scholarship, contains more than 11,000 manuscripts and 4,500 early
printed books. These manuscripts and books of the famous merchant family formed
their private library. Michelangelo planned and built this library in the style
called mannerism, with elongated proportion,
balance, ideal beauty, and highly stylized poses, often exaggerated.
TO BE
CONTINUED
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