Not far from
Ponte Vecchio, on the south side of the river Arno, is a stark, Renaissance
building, Palazzo Pitti, a huge complex of 32,000 square meters, divided into
many galleries with paintings, plates, statues, jewelry, furniture, and other
luxurious possessions of the Medici family.
Sitting on a
hill overlooking Florence, Pitti Palace is administered by Polo Museale
Florentino, an institution responsible for twenty museums, including the Uffizi
Gallery, and 250,000 works of art.
The original
part of the building was started in 1458 by a Florentine banker named Luca
Pitti. The Medicis bought it a century later as the residence for the Grand
Duchy of Tuscany. Napoleon used the palace as a power base in the late 18th
century, and, in 1919, King Victor Emannuel III donated it with its entire
contents to the Italian people and thus it became a museum.
The main
gallery of the palace is the Palatine Gallery with over 500 Renaissance
paintings by Raphael, Titian, Perugino, Peter Paul Rubens, Correggio, and
Pietro da Cortona. This gallery follows into the opulent 14-room royal
apartments, and is thus displayed as the private collection would have appeared
then, not in chronological order or by a particular style or school.
Eleonora of Toledo
Portrait by Bronzino
Photo: Wikipedia
The last
descendant of Luca Pitti, Buonaccorso Pitti, sold the palace in 1549 to
Eleonora of Toledo, the wife of Cosimo I. At that time, Cosimo hired Giorgio Vasari
to enlarge the palace to more than double the space and to build the famous
Vasari Corridor, an above-ground walkway from Palazzo Vecchio, his old palace
and the seat of government, through Uffizi, above Ponte Vecchio, and finally to
Palazzo Pitti. It was an easy escape route for the Grand Duke.
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| Boboli Gardens façade Photo: Wikipedia |
Behind the
Pitti Palace the sprawling Boboli Gardens overlooks Florence with a
breathtaking view. An array of 16th through 18th century
statues and Roman antiquities on wide graveled-avenues, fountains, grottos,
nympheums, and garden temples, cover the vast gardens.
The name
Boboli is a corruption of “Bogoli,” the name of the family from whom the land
was purchased for these gardens. The garden is lavish by any standards and it
was built solely for the enjoyment of the immediate Medici family members.
According to the guide, no parties or entertainment were took place in the
expansive gardens.
Eleonora di
Toledo, wife of Cosimo I laid out the Boboli Garden. Construction of first
stage began under Niccolo Tribolo, who died in 1550, leaving the work to
Bartolomeo Ammanati, with contributions by Giogio Vasari (laid out the
grottos), and Bernardo Buontalenti (sculptures).
Knowing how
difficult is to maintain and water even a small garden, it was even more
amazing to find out that everything in this garden of 111 acres is watered by a
conduit that brings water from the river Arno and is fed into an elaborate
irrigation system.
The Large
Grotto underwent restoration in 2015; the statues on display are examples of
mannerist sculpture and architecture.
Stalactites, luxuriant vegetation, and waterworks decorate the grotto.
Giotto's Bell in Piazza del Duomo
Photo: Wikipedia
The focal
point in Florence is Piazza del Duomo, one of the most visited places in Europe
and in the world, the location of the Florence Cathedral, with Brunelleschi
famous Cupola, Giotto’s Campanile (bell tower), and the Baptistery. Walking
from the train station, it is impossible to have an open space view of all the
works as buildings crowd around the small plaza. All of a sudden, this massive
construction comes into view once you reach the end of the street.
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| Baptistery with the Gates of Paradise Photo: Wikipedia |
Built on the ruins of a Roman wall and guard tower, the
Florence Baptistery (Baptistery of Saint John) is the oldest known building in
Florence, erected between 1059 and 1128, with a status of a minor basilica, a
place where, until the end of the nineteenth century, all Catholic Florentines
were baptized, including famous Italians like the poet Dante and famous
Renaissance men and women, including Medici family members.
The baptistery stands both in Piazza del Duomo and Piazza
San Giovanni, across from Florence Cathedral and the Campanile di Giotto. The sandstone,
colored marble, and white Carrara marble building, shaped like an octagon, has
three sets of bronze doors decorated with relief sculptures and Biblical scenes.
Lorenzo Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise
Photo: Wikipedia
The south doors were made by Andrea Pisano, and the north
and east doors by Lorenzo Ghiberti. These
east doors made of gilded bronze were named by Michelangelo the Gates of
Paradise. Lorenzo Ghiberti, who worked on them for 21 years, carved his own
face on the right side, a self-portrait signature piece for eternity. Twenty
panels depict the life of Christ from the New Testament. Eight lower panels
depict four evangelists and the Church Fathers, Saint Ambrose, Saint Jerome,
Saint Gregory, and Saint Augustine. The door frame has gilded busts of prophets
and sibyls.
Ghiberti's self-portrait on the Gates of Paradise
Photo: Wikipedia
Giotto’s campanile (bell tower) stands adjacent to the
Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore and the Baptistery of Saint John. The free-standing tower was built in
Florentine Gothic architecture, with “polychrome marble encrustations” and rich
sculpted decorations. Giotto’s Bell Tower has 414 very narrow and slippery
marble steps which I climbed years ago, giving the daring climber a
breathtaking view of Florence.
Duomo at night
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2016
When Giotto died in 1337, he had only built the lower
floor, richly decorated with geometric patterns, hexagonal panels of white
marble from Carrara, green marble from Prato, and reddish marble from Siena and
bas-reliefs. A century later, Lucca della Robbia built five more panels. Seven panels were chosen because the number
seven has a Biblical meaning of human perfectibility. Giotto was succeeded by Andrea
Pisano, who added two more levels, then by Francesco Talenti who built the top
three levels and thus completed the tower in 1359. Talenti did not build the
original spire designed by Giotto, thus lowering the original design
height from the 400 ft. to 277.9 ft. Nobody
knows exactly which is the decorative work of Giotto and which belongs to
Pisano. The work came to a halt during the vicious Black Death.
Duomo complex
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2016
The largest medieval building in Europe is Santa Maria
del Fiore Cathedral (St. Mary of the Flowers) at almost 502 ft. in length and
381 ft. in height. Began in 1296, Il
Duomo di Firenze, as the Italians call it, was completed structurally in 1436
with a dome planned by Filippo Brunelleschi. The façade of the basilica, with
an elaborate 19th century Gothic Revival style by Emilio De Fabris,
is adorned by multi-colored marble panels in shades of green and pink, and
white. The cathedral is the mother
church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Florence.
Brunelleschi’s dome is the largest masonry dome in the
world. And he topped it with a lantern
which he did not have time to finish before his death but his friend,
Michelozzo did in 1461. In 1469 Verrocchio crowned the conical roof with a gilt
copper ball and cross, containing holy relics. Brunelleschi’s dome and lantern
is thus 375 ft. tall. The copper ball was struck by lightning on July 17, 1600
and the copper ball fell to the ground. Two years later it was replaced by an
even larger ball.
The copper ball was cast in the workshop of sculptor Andrea
del Verrocchio. One his young apprentices was none other than Leonardo da Vinci
who was allegedly fascinated by Verrocchio’s machines that were used to hoist
the ball to the top and young Leonardo made sketches of them.
As ornate as the exterior is, the Gothic interior of the
church is disappointingly vast and empty. Perhaps it is so bare to make the
point that a religious life must be austere and simple. Decorations were lost
over time and some were moved to museums. On the other hand, the vast interior
can accommodate lots of worshippers at one time.
The interior art honors locals who contributed funds to
its construction and repairs. There are 44 stained glass windows, quite a large
number for that time period. The first
bishop of Florence, Saint Zenobius, is honored with a silver shrine that
contains an urn with his relics. Saint Zenobius performed the miracle of
reviving a dead child. The dome is covered with frescoes completed by different
painters who used different methods and techniques. Brunelleschi had wanted
gold mosaics that would have reflected more light through the lantern but he
died and his idea died with him.
The crypt contains vaults where bishops were buried over
the centuries. Among the archeological are the ruins of Roman houses, of early
Christian pavement, and remains of the former cathedral, Santa Reparata, with the tomb of Conrad II (c.
990-June 4, 1039), Holy Roman Emperor, and his wife. There is a part of the crypt that is open to
the public in which Brunelleschi’s simple and humble tomb is located, an
expression of the esteem in which Florentines held the architect who helped build
their place of worship. The cathedral is really his masterpiece and the
crowning of his life.
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| Santa Croce Wikipedia |
I found the
Basilica di Santa Croce a most interesting church, smaller but very intriguing.
A comfortable walk from the back of the Palazzo Vecchio, it is located in Piazza
di Santa Croce, 800 meters south-east from the Duomo. The leather district of
Florence with its shops ends in the corner of the piazza.
The minor
Basilica of the Holy Cross is the largest Franciscan church in the world with
sixteen chapels decorated with frescoes by Giotto and his students. It is said
that St. Francis himself funded its construction. It is quite possible; St.
Francis was a very rich man who gave up all his riches when he decided to
follow God and the road to a simple and austere life.
Tomb in Santa Croce
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2016
When the
site was chosen for the church, it was a marshland outside the city walls. Over
time, some of the most famous Italians were buried inside the church,
Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Foscolo, Gentile, and Rossini. For this
reason, Italians call it the Temple of the Italian Glories.
Santa Croce Interior Courtyard
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2005
The current
church was erected to replace the old building and construction began in May
1294, paid for by Florence’s wealthiest residents. Pope Eugene IV consecrated
it in 1442. The construction plan represents the Symbol of St. Francis, the
Egyptian or Tau cross. There is a convent to the south of the church. Both
Brunelleschi and Vasari were involved in the construction and design of the
interior.
Santa Croce Façade
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2016
The neo-Gothic marble façade was designed by Niccolo Matas from Ancona and
is dated from 1857-1863. I was surprised to see a large Star of David on the 19th
century façade which was the work of the Jewish architect Matas. Matas asked to
be buried with his peers but, because he was Jewish, he was buried instead
under the porch and not within the wall of the church.
Santa Croce Tomb
Photo: Ileana Johnson 2005
A public property since 1866, the entire complex is not just a place of
worship but a burial for so many famous Italians and lesser known but moneyed
residents. Florence Nightingale, who was born in Florence and named after her
birthplace, has a monument dedicated to her memory in the cloister built by
Brunelleschi and completed in 1453.
There is a Museo dell’Opera di Santa Croce and is housed in the refectory.
The former dormitory of the Franciscan monks houses today the Leather School
(Scuola del Cuoio) where tourists can watch artisans make purses, wallets, and
other leather goods sold adjacent to the shop.
Santa Croce suffered immensely during the Arno River flood of 1966 which
affected the entire town of Florence. Mud, detritus, heating oil, and other
pollutants entered the church and caused such heavy damage that it took decades
to repair. On several visits, I witnessed the repairs to the main floor and to
the tombs covering the entire surface. We had to walk on cardboard while the
tombs were hidden from sight. I even wondered why rich Florentines would want
to be buried in the floor and get trampled on by visitors and worshippers
alike. The most famous were actually buried in the walls.
The renovations were finished on this visit and the tombs in the floor were
restored to their original glory. It must have been quite smelly in the church
when all the dead people had been buried constantly in the floors and the
walls.
We left the church after lighting more candles and walked to Leonardo’s
leather shop. My students had been fascinated on previous visits by the
beautifully embellished book covers and leather goods. On this trip, as a
memento, I bought Dave a leather tray embossed with his initials. An apprentice
pressed the thin foil of gold onto the rich burgundy leather with an
old-looking embossing press.
In the narrow street outside, a group of four Chinese tourists were busy
watching their doctor painstakingly free a pigeon that had entangled his legs
and claws into numerous thin strands of silk and could no longer fly. Using tweezers, a nail clipper, and an antibiotic
spray, he released the bird after giving him water and a couple of seeds. The
bird was a bit confused, walked like a drunk for a bit and then flew away to
everyone’s applause who had witnessed the rescue.
From this point we stopped at the Gold
Corner, not far from Santa Croce and bought an exquisite Christmas gift. We
walked to the famous Gilli café, in
operation since 1793. It was a real disappointment! The service was bad, it was
noisy, hot, and the sweets were way too sweet but the coffee was divine. Scuderi, on the other hand, a café from
the turn of the 20th century, had delicious cookies which we brought
back to our hotel. After a Caesar salad with chicken and delicious cookies to
boot, we were ready for a restful sleep after covering so much historical hallowed
ground in Florence.
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