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10-08-2018 Day 14 Two Days in Siena

When planning our trip to Italy, Deanna and I decided that rather than trying to see too much, we would focus on two completely different worlds. The southern coast of Amalfi was full of mountains, ocean, picturesque towns tumbling like blocks down the limestone cliffs, and warm sunshine.

Tuscany is a place that calls to many people, helped out by movies like “Under the Tuscan Sun” and “A Good Year”. I wanted to see Tuscany, but I also wanted to see Florence. Florence is not exactly in the middle of the Tuscan countryside, but it makes a great jumping off point, lying on the northern perimeter between the Tuscan hills and the landscapes of Umbria farther north.

We decided to stay in Florence but to use it as our jumping off point for possible tours into the Tuscan countryside. Options were many, from expensive day trips using a private driver, overcrowded day trips on tour buses, overnight stays at “Agriturissimo’s”, local farms that usually include feeding cows and chickens and experiencing the Tuscan farm life.

Once again, the Rick Steve’s Florence and Tuscany guide book came to the rescue. We opted to spend a couple of days in Siena, a reasonable distance just 43 miles south of Florence using public transportation, the Sita bus from Florence to Siena. Following Rick Steve’s advice, we booked a room at a small hotel, Albergo Tre Donzelle, just a couple of blocks from the famous Piazza del Campo. According to the guidebooks it is especially nice to spend a night in the city and enjoy it after the day trippers leave and the crowds thin out a bit. Something impossible to do on a day trip.

On Monday morning we rose early and packed up our small cases for the overnight trip. We opted to walk to the Santa Novella bus station which was about 1.5 miles from our apartment rather than paying for a taxi. Leaving home on foot around 9 am gave us ample time to walk along the river and through town. We didn’t bother to attempt to get to the station at any particular time, knowing that the Siena buses ran every 45 minutes or so.

Figuring out the bus station wasn’t too difficult. Finding the ticket line, we purchased round trip tickets for the Siena Rapida, rather than the local bus that would have several stops on the hour long route. The Rapida left just as we finished purchasing our tickets, but that was OK since we were first in line for the next bus 45 minutes later. In the mean time we returned to a little café that we had passed earlier and purchased a “stand-up” coffee and a pastry. The morning was chilly and holding the hot coffee felt great.

Getting on the bus was as usual for Italian buses, fighting people even though we were first in line. Once we got on the bus with our hot coffees in hand, we settled into our roomy and comfy seats wondering where the cup holders might be. Instead we found a sign, “No Food Or Drinks Allowed”. Hiding our cups under the seat, one of them tipped over and we hastily tried to hide the evil evidence. UhOh. No one seemed to notice and we didn’t get kicked off the bus.

The drive to Siena wasn’t as scenic as we had imagined, with the road down in a draw most of the way, surrounded by lots of shrubby trees and brush. It was surprising to me how much this part of Italy reminded me of brushy Sierra Nevada Foothills, or Arkansas hardwood forests, quite claustrophobic. Instead of the rolling golden hills I had imagined, the landscape was thick with scrub oaks and brush. Only rarely would we catch a glimpse of what I had envisioned as “Tuscany”. The highway was quick and modern, in good condition, and I could envision easily driving in this part of Italy.

Thick vegetation covers the Tuscan hills on the southern edge of Florence

When we arrived at the station in Siena we used the offline google maps again to get our bearings. The bus station isn’t located in the main part of town, but the city center is within walking distance.

A side note: We took so many vertical shots in the town that I have decided to use some collages since vertical shots don’t work that well in the blog. If you click on any of those shots, it will take you to the smug mug folder where the original photos are located. Only if you are interested.

This Tuscan hill town will transport you back to the Middle Ages. Siena’s grand cathedral, built in the 1200s, has treasured artworks and marvelous marble floors. The Piazza del Campo, the main town square, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s also home to the Palio, perhaps the most infamous horserace in the world. No hats or juleps at this race. This is a medieval tradition involving bareback riders racing on cobblestones (so as you might imagine, it’s quite dangerous). Check out this video of the famous race!

As we headed toward town and our hotel, we passed the Siena Duomo. Italy is filled with gorgeous cathedrals and the Duomo is one of the best. This church is striped with white and black marble both inside and out, giving it a unique and somewhat dramatic appearance. Continuing on down the narrow and quite busy streets, we passed a little restaurant that looked quite charming but decided to find our hotel before stopping for lunch

The hotel was just another block away, easy to find, and check in was simple. The proprietor was friendly and charming, and when we asked about a place to eat, he told about Taverna Di Cecco, the restaurant we had passed earlier. He said Di Cecco was best for our Bistecca, a Tuscan treat we had decided to enjoy in Sienna rather than Florence.

While the hotel was charming, the room was small with a window that looked out to a tight courtyard surrounded by very tall walls. The bed was as we have discovered in Italy, hard as a rock. Sigh. We unpacked and walked back to Di Cecco for a late lunch, thinking maybe we could spend the rest of the afternoon and evening walking off what we knew would be a huge meal.

With lovely service in the small but delightful restaurant, we had our best meal in Italy. Our traditional Tuscan Porterhouse steak, 1 full kilo, cooked to perfection and seasoned with coarse salt and rosemary was the best steak I have had anywhere. We shared a half bottle of local chianti, and spent a long time sharing our steak. The steak was served with no side dishes, but the chef did bring a plate of Italian bread soup for each of us as an appetizer. Another treat, the bread soup is like Italian bread soaked in marinara sauce, quite delicious.

With Bistecca being such a “thing” in Florence and Tuscany, it isn’t necessarily easy to weed out the tourist restaurants claiming to have traditional Bistecca, and the real thing. One of the factors in determining the real thing is that the meat must come from the famous right breed. The Chianina is an Italian breed of cattle, formerly a draught breed, but now raised for beef. It is the largest and one of the oldest cattle breeds in the world and is known for its incredible flavor.

After our amazing lunch we walked back toward the main part of the city, exploring the nooks and crannies, and were suddenly caught in a huge rain storm. Our umbrellas were safely back at the hotel, but we were just close enough to the Duomo that we managed to get tickets to get inside in time to escape the heaviest of the rain.

The Duomo was an incredible experience, with so much complexity and art. Like many churches in Italy, it took hundreds of years to build the cathedral. Work began in 1196 and over the next 200 years, additions were built and ornate facades were added. In 1339, another massive addition was planned, but the arrival of the Black Death in 1348 halted all further construction on the cathedral.

Once we entered, we were awed by the intricately designed interior with large, colorful mosaics. It was probably our favorite cathedral that we visited during our time in Italy. We loved the most famous masterpiece of Duomo, the inlaid colored marble mosaics covering the entire floor of the church.

Sitting atop Siena’s highest point and visible for miles around, the white and dark-green striped church is as over-the-top as Gothic gets. Inside and out, it’s lavished with statues and mosaics. The heads of 172 popes peer down on all those who enter.

Great art, including Michelangelo statues (above) and Bernini sculptures, fills the church interior. Nicola Pisano carved the wonderful marble pulpit in 1268.

It’s crowded with delicate Gothic storytelling with scenes from the life of Christ and the Last Judgment.

When we left the church the rain had diminished and we ambled back toward Il Campo and the square discovering what some say is Italy’s best medieval city experience. Narrow red brick lanes wander in every direction, lined with colorful flags and studded with iron rings for tethering horses. Those flags represent the city’s contrade (neighborhood associations), whose fierce loyalties are on vivid display twice each summer during the Palio.

A bit of History: quoted from Rick Steves follows.

“Five hundred years ago, Italy was the center of humanism. Today, the self-assured Sienese remember their centuries-old accomplishments with pride. In the 1300s, Siena was one of Europe’s largest cities and a major military force, in a class with Florence, Venice, and Genoa. But weakened by a disastrous plague and conquered by her Florentine rivals, Siena became a backwater for six centuries.

Siena’s loss became our sightseeing gain, because its political and economic irrelevance preserved its Gothic-era identity, most notably its great, gorgeous central piazza — Il Campo. People hang out as if at the beach at this tilted shell-shaped “square” of red brick. It gets my vote for the finest piazza in all of Europe.

Most Italian cities have a church on their main square, but Il Campo gathers around Siena’s city hall, symbol of rational government, and a tall municipal tower (open for climbers). If it’s true that a society builds its tallest towers to its greatest gods, then Siena worships secular effectiveness more than it trusts in God.

Nowadays, the city hall tends a museum collection of beautiful paintings (including a knockout work by hometown master Simone Martini). The 14th-century town council met here in the Sala della Pace (Room of Peace) under instructive frescoes reminding them of the effects of bad and good government: One fresco shows a city in ruins, overrun by greed and tyranny; the other fresco depicts a utopian republic, blissfully at peace.”

We enjoyed the contrast between the Renaissance era of Florence and the Gothic style of Siena, especially the narrow winding lanes. After a short power nap at our hotel, we decided to explore the square in the evening. The crowds had thinned, and we enjoyed sitting at a café for an aperitif. I had my first classic Italian spritz, and Deanna chose Baileys, since the spritz was a bit too bitter for her taste.

We people watched, and the waiter brought us delicious fried potato appetizers, free gratis with our cocktail. After taking some photos of the beautiful fountain and a bit more wandering, we returned to our hotel for what was to be a very long night in our very hard bed.

The next morning we woke to a darkened room with little light even though it was after 8AM. We went downstairs to have a coffee and a croissant on the square before getting tickets at 10 am to climb the tower of the Civic building.

The Torre del Mangia inside the Public Palace in Piazza del Campo is the most recognizable landmark in town. To reach the top of the tower you have to climb 400 steps, but the views of the town and surrounding countryside are simply terrific. 400 steps..very few people. Early morning when the tower first opened at 10 was the perfect time to do the classic climb.

The climb was more dramatic than our previous climb of the Campanile in Florence. The stairs in the tower were older, much more narrow, and the turns were much tighter. We were incredibly happy that the foot traffic was light enough we didn’t have to pass too many people either going up or coming down. I am pretty sure that this will be another memory of our trip to Italy that will stay imbedded in our minds for a very long time.

We had purchased the group ticket, which included seeing the civic museum, but after climbing the tower we had to make a decision. We really wanted lunch. For us at this moment it was more important than the museum, with the desire to have a dish of pici pasta more compelling than another museum. The caveat was that we also wanted to get back to Florence before too late in the evening.

We had a hard time deciding where to eat. By this time the square was horribly crowded, and settling into one of the few open tables at Il Palio, right on the square didn’t feel right. When no one came to attend to us, we simply decided to get up and walk the back lanes to our little restaurant Di Cecco. When we had dined there on the previous day, there was a group of people on a “Eating in Tuscany” tour, with a fascinating guide that we enjoyed listening to as we ate. The group was served the classic Sienese pici pasta, but many of them asked if they could look at our Bistecca, as the guide explained our famous dish to them. It was time for us to return to what was obviously a good restaurant to try pici.

The pasta is a bit like spaghetti, but thicker, and of course denser with the al dente cooking that is so important for Italian pasta. We had it with a porcini sauce, which we thought somehow was pork, but turned out to be mushrooms. The lunch was delicious, and we enjoyed eating at the outdoor tables along the narrow street watching people amble by as we ate. Our simple glass of chianti was just 3 Euro each.

Before exploring the town, we had checked out of our hotel and left our bags in the safe keeping area. We walked back to get our bags and headed out of town toward the bus station where we had arrived the previous day. It took a bit of doing, but in the confusing square we found our bus number and time, and the area where we should plan to board. Once again we managed to deal with the crazy Italian bus system and got on the right bus to Florence, Firenze Rapida.

Then a conundrum. After all of this, we both needed a bathroom, and of course there is no such thing on the Sita buses. The 90 minute ride was a bit of a challenge, and when we arrived back at the station in Florence Deanna and I both had our euro ready for the bus station washroom and managed to get there in time! Simple problems, and it was funny only later.

With our lightweight overnight luggage, which seemed a lot heavier than it had yesterday, we walked the mile and a half back to our apartment. Both of us were happy to finally climb our 4 flights of stairs. We knew that we wouldn’t want to go out again, so supper was another piece of take-away pizza purchased on our walk home. It actually was a pretty good piece of pizza, or we were just tired and hungry which made it taste fabulous. A great ending to a lovely two day adventure.

10-07-2018 Day 13 A Day with Michelangelo

Who knows why, after such a simple day that we enjoyed yesterday, but neither of us slept well last night. We finally fell asleep around 2:30 AM and woke at 7, but even those few hours were restless. We are both grateful for the sofa bed mattress, but still quite tired of being generally uncomfortable.

Sunday morning in Firenze is a wonder of bells, with the calls echoing all through the city and reverberating in all directions. It was a lovely way to begin our day, in spite of the lack of sleep. Reading our trusty Rick Steve’s Florence guidebook, we decided that this Sunday would be a good day to visit some of the less popular sites in the main part of the city.

Basilica de Santa Croce from the rear entrance near Scoula del Cuoio

Santa Croce was big on the list, not only for its beautiful facade, but for viewing the tomb of Michelangelo, which he designed for himself. Tucked away in Steve’s book was a little tidbit of information that turned out to be incredibly helpful. Crossing the river once again, we took the back roads toward the Santa Croce, where we had seen the entrance to Casa Buonarotti, one time home of Michelangelo.

Facade of Santa Croce with sculpture of Dante to the left. The fancy tomb inside the church is merely a memorial and Dante isn’t actually buried here

The Basilica de Santa Croce (Basilica of the Holy Cross, is the principal Franciscan church in Florence. There is a fee to enter this church, and from the main square, the lines are long even on a quiet day. Just to the south of the church however, is a convent, and tucked away to the rear of the convent is the famous Scuola del Cuoio “School of Leather”. Rick Steves suggested that one should visit the school, buy entry tickets to Santa Croce there, and enter the church through the back door from the school, no lines.

Great advice! Except the church wouldn’t be open until later in the day and we would have to return to the school to buy our tickets and enter. No problem. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting the school and reading about their world class leather training. Even bought a few small leather pieces for presents for our kids and grandkids, and I found a purple wallet as soft as butter.

Leaving the school, we walked a block or so to enter Casa Buonarotti. Once again, there was an entry fee. I never managed to track just how much we spent on entry fees in Florence to see all that we did, but it wasn’t a small amount.

Although Michelangelo lived in this house as a young man, most of the art was added later by his descendant, Michelangelo the Younger, more than a century later. We did see a pair of shoes and a walking stick that supposedly belonged to the great sculptor and several paintings of him. The beautiful frescoes on the ceiling were completed in the 1600’s.

Two special pieces made the visit worthwhile, both sculpted by Michelangelo when he was only 17 years old.

Madonna della Scala, Madonna of the Stairs reflects a traditional form of sculpture for the time, with the influence of Donatello and the use “stiaccato” relief which allows a sculptor to create a recessed or relief sculpture carving only millimeters deep. The illusion of greater depth is created by decreasing the thickness gradually from the foreground to the background. It is more like a 2D image rather than a 3D sculpture. It stands in sharp contrast to the other relief carved by Michelangelo at Casa Buonarroti.

The Battle of the Centaurs

“The Battle of the Centaurs is a writhing mass of figures three-dimensionally carved into a marble block. The figures are layered in overlapping positions adding to the spatial depth of the work. We can see the artists interest in the massive bulk of the naked male form, a theme that would serve Michelangelo well in future commissions, including his work in the Sistine Chapel.”

Detail of ceiling in Casa Buonarroti

After visiting the leather school and Casa Buonarroti, we still had some time to kill before we could enter Santa Croce due to Sunday mass services being held there. We decided to walk to the Bargello, a museum we had passed several times on our route to and from the Duomo Piazza. The Bargello is a small museum, with a few hidden treasures and some obscure art that was nonetheless outstanding.

Michelangelo’s Bacchus is a highlight in this museum

Donatello’s David in bronze is much different than Michelangelo’s David

Dying Adonis by Vincenzo de Rossi was the one that caught our hearts. Incredible.

We loved the majolica pottery

And the Della Robbia glazed pottery display was dramatic

The city was still fairly quiet as we emerged from the museum to head back toward Santa Croce. But first we needed sustenance. We found another little cafe for cappuccino and a pastry, and laughed together about the truly snotty waitress. She was so harsh and somewhat rude that it was actually funny. I guess this happened to us less than we had expected during our Italian visit.

It was around 2 when we meandered back to the rear of the great church, smiling to each other as we looked at the long entry lines. The shopkeepers smiled as they sold us our entry tickets, remembering that we had made some purchases earlier. They are very friendly at the Scoula, and directed us to the entrance to the church where there wasn’t a single person in line.

Entering Santa Croce was just a bit overwhelming. There are sixteen family chapels that compose a large part of the Santa Croce Basilica, considered the largest Franciscan church in the world. Well-to-do families typically had chapels built and decorated in their honor and dedicated to a favorite saint.

In addition the the chapels filled with art, and the beautiful crypts on the floors, it is the tombs that make Santa Croce so thrilling. The list of the famous artists and scientists of the Renaissance that are entombed in this basilica reads like a history of art and science. Here lies Michelangelo, Michiavelli, Marconi, Galileo, and Rossini.

We spent a long time wandering through the church, admiring the art and sculpture, until at last we came to the tomb of Michelangelo. Silly me, somehow this place brought tears to my eyes. I was looking up and another woman near me looked at me with tears in her eyes as well. She only spoke Italian, but we laughed and smiled at each other and with hand gestures and eyes we acknowledged that this was somehow an incredible moment for each of us. I have no idea why, not a clue. But being here still got to me down deep.

Michelangelo, crazy man, wild artist, genius of sculpture, legendary personality. It was good to see his work in person and to stand at his tomb and honor him.

We left the church and walked back across the river, reaching our little apartment by 4. By this time the city was incredibly crowded, and the streets were shoulder to shoulder with tourists. The big tour buses parked along the Arno River just across from where our apartment is located and we saw them lining up and filling with hordes of people returning from a day in the city center.

Florence is truly wonderful if you know to get up early before the crowds, find the quiet neighborhoods, go out in the evening when the tour buses have departed. Also, often short walk to another street will open up space where no one has ventured to go because it isn’t on the main tour walking route. Still, it is very important to get the heck out of downtown before 4pm!

Once again, no fancy dinner out for the two of us. Are you surprised that Deanna cooked a great supper for us of pasta with veggies, tomatoes, zucchini, and some of Sara’s tomato sauce? We enjoyed a glass of wine, a bit of chocolate for dessert, and hopefully we will be rested for the next big adventure.

Tomorrow we travel from Florence to the medieval town of Sienna, little over an hour south by bus and a world away from the Renaissance and back into the Middle Ages. We have a hotel reservation and an idea of where to catch the bus. Both of us are a bit excited about this one, so hopefully we can sleep tonight.

10-06-2018 Day 12 The Oltrarno, The Other Side of the Arno

After 12 days of almost perfect weather, we wakened this morning to gray skies and dripping rain. The cool air and sound of the rain made for a wonderful night’s sleep for both of us. Once again we had a nice home breakfast and worked on our photos, caught up on emails and conversations from people at home, and enjoyed just hanging out.

This quiet time, and the opportunity to slow down a bit now and then is one advantage of spending two weeks in Florence. We meet people who have 2 days, or maybe 3, and are rushing around trying to see everything. I just cannot imagine doing that, and more than once Deanna and I congratulated ourselves on our stellar planning that allowed us enough time to explore with down times to actually absorb the wonders around us.

The Oltrarno, on the left bank of the Arno River, is a completely different side of Florence. Here local life flourishes, and with just a a bit of distance from the crowded Ponte Vecchio, the old neighborhood is a lovely respite from the city and hordes of tourists. The Oltrarno area is now becoming more popular and well known, with new artisanal stores, galleries and eateries adding to the old neighborhood craftsman shops.

The neighborhood where our apartment was located, was technically in the Oltrarno, although we were about a mile from the main streets near the Ponte Vecchio. By this time we were used to walking the streets on both sides of the river, and knew which way to go to find coffee and pastries to begin our explorations of the neighborhood.

The little heart on the lower right is our apartment. The Ponte Vecchio bridge is about a mile to the left (west). The Oltrarno neighborhood that we explored is the large red circled area on the lower left corner of the map.

Near the Ponte Vecchio, the streets are choked with tourists, traffic is crazy, and the shops are full of tourist junk. Just a block or two in either direction yielded a completely different view. We found the beautiful shop of hand woven textiles founded by the Busatti family in 1842. Frances Mayes, author of “Under the Tuscan Sun”, bought linens for her famous house in Tuscany right here in this shop. I managed to treat myself to a pillow cover, (yes, the one in the photo) in a place where a full tablecloth would cost half a month’s income. I did keep the business card and the name of my favorite weave and color.

We continued along the narrow streets and found ourselves in front of a magnificent jewelry store. The artist was in residence, creating some of the most elegant and wild pieces I have ever seen anywhere. He didn’t talk to us, but all around the store were photos of him at work and copies of magazine and newspapers from around the world touting his art. I didn’t see the “no photos” sign until we had already walked through most of the shop.

We were hungry and decided it was time for real pizza, with real wine, rather than something grabbed in a bakery. The rain was coming down in earnest when we slipped in the the Tarocchi Cafe, with big wooden tables and images of the Tarot on the walls. The pizza was again delicious, and the wine inexpensive and wonderful. We even had dessert as we lingered. Such a delight.

With the rain still coming down in fits and spurts, we continued walking up the hills toward the Pitti Palace and Pitti Square. The shops lining the street in front of the square were more geared toward the tourist crowd so we didn’t linger. We planned to save our explorations of Pitti Palace for later the following week, on a day when the rain would allow us to visit the beautiful Boboli Gardens that are included with the price of entering the famous Medici Palace.

Taking our time, we ambled into several ceramic shops, where I ooh-ed and ahh-ed and gasped at the prices, and thought better of buying. I tucked the image of a special piece away in my mind, however, and knew that I might return before we left Florence.

As afternoon ambled toward evening and the rains increased, we decided it was time for a nice hot cappuccino. With the rains, crowds were thinning a bit, and we found a seat beneath a canopy and decided once again paying to sit and drink was better than just buying a coffee and standing around in the rain to drink it.

We really loved wandering around the Oltrarno, and there were plenty of churches, museums, parks and workshops to explore. In addition to the historical treasures that we skipped on this day, the Oltrarno has another great advantage. It is far enough from the busy center of Florence that you can find a calmer, more authentic area. It is full of artisan studios making centuries-old traditions and crafts, many antique stores,and small, family-run restaurants.

We followed the Rick Steve’s Oltrarno walk directions for part of our afternoon, but wandered off on our own as well, discovering small treasures like this bit of street art in a back alley.

Our route home took us once again past the very crowded Ponte Vecchio where tourists were shoulder to shoulder vying for position to see the tiny crowded shops along the bridge. Not something we were into much at all.

I did stop in at the small Supermarket for a few supplies, and discovered to my chagrin at the check-out station that I was supposed to weigh and mark my own produce before getting in line. Oops. The cashier was full of disdain, but when I apologized profusely in Italian, she warmed up a bit. I think it was the one time my little bit of Italian made a tiny difference.

We passed a couple of restaurants on the way back home, with folks in line for tables, and big plates of gorgeous pasta. It was tempting, but the wait was not. Once home to the cozy apartment we draped all our damp clothes over the rack and cooked a great supper.

Hand cut pork chops from the Carni shop were complemented by delicious fresh green beans and some tiny steamed potatoes that came in a vacuum packed package. We loved these little potatoes sliced and sautéed in olive oil. One item that wasn’t that great in Italy was lettuce, most that we purchased was tough and not that good. Maybe the country is too warm to grow good lettuce, but it surely does grow great tomatoes. See that little bottle of Balsamic Vinegar on the table? I managed to get that in my suitcase. Pure rich gold. I have never had balsamic like that before or since and when that bottle is gone who knows what I will do.

Tomorrow we will again trek into downtown Florence for what we think of as our “Michelangelo Day’. Coming up, Casa Buonarotti, where Michelangelo lived, the Bargello Museum, with more of his sculptures, and Santa Croce, where Michelangelo is buried.

10-05-2018 Day 11 Quiet Morning and an Afternoon at the Duomo

Current Location: Sunset House in Grants Pass Oregon

A crowded Piazza Michelangelo viewed from our late afternoon walk toward home along the Arno River.

Maybe you noticed the long silence between October 4th and October 5th. I managed to write several posts about our journey to Italy before I had to take a short break. After uploading the post for October 4th Day 10, I boarded an airplane bound for Missouri to visit my son for almost a week. It has been a long time since we spent much time together, and I treasured the opportunity to visit. Blog will follow when and if I ever finish writing about Italy.

I was home for about 36 hours before I once again boarded an airplane, this time with Mo. We sadly needed to fly to Denver to support her sister Edna as she laid her husband to rest. We stayed several days, sharing good meals and good memories of her husband Tom with the Colorado arm of the Oukrop family. Mo’s brothers, Dan and Don, also flew to Denver to support their elder sister. I probably won’t blog about this one, being a sad family event.

Oukrop Family in Denver

Home again on the 18th, just in time to get ready for Thanksgiving. Once again, we hosted family here at Sunset House, and I will blog about this one eventually. But first, time to return to writing about our time in the beautiful city of Florence.

Thanksgiving at Sunset House

Deanna and I woke on this Friday morning, looked at each other and said, “Nope, not going anywhere soon”. We were a bit worn from all the traveling and sight seeing of the previous few days and decided to go back to sleep. That is something neither of us does often. A bit later we woke to share coffee in our living room sofa bed and some of the delicious pastries that we had purchased the day before.

With hundreds of photos of Erculano, Pompeii, and Vesuvius crowding our cameras and phones, it was time to take it easy and try to decide which to keep and which to toss. So many photos, so many things to remember. We later decided that dealing with that particular day of our trip to Italy was probably the most complicated. It was good to get a handle on it. Neither of us wanted to return home and try to figure it all out after the fact.

Deanna cooked up a great breakfast/lunch of tomatoes, excellent zucchini, and some eggs that had strange peachy colored yolks that we had purchased at a local market. We ate on the terrace as we completed the last of the photos. Our method was to upload phone photos to SmugMug, load camera photos onto the laptop, then download everything from SmugMug to the same folder and work from there. We managed to synch our phones and cameras to the right time so that we could then sort by time acquired to get things in some sort of reasonable order. Final edits in Lightroom, and everything then uploaded again to the final, publicly visible folder on SmugMug. Does that sound like overkill to you? Just try managing photos from 2 cameras and 2 phones. (We had one Lumix and a mini pocket camera in addition to our phones) It got a bit crazy sometimes., especially when the laptop refused to “see” the photos on our Samsung Galaxy S9 phones. Much easier to simply upload and download. Especially with decent Wi-Fi in our apartment.

After our somewhat relaxing morning, we were ready to once again walk to the city center of Florence to visit the interior of the Duomo cathedral, the Crypt beneath the cathedral, and to climb the Duomo steps at our scheduled 5pm time. We wandered toward town, choosing to skip an afternoon gelato after noticing that our tummies definitely needed a rest.

Visiting the interior of the Duomo was free of charge, but still required a very long wait in a very long line. The longer we waited, the more we decided that perhaps we didn’t need to climb the Duomo steps after all. With lots of fun conversation with our line mates, we offered our Duomo step climbing slot to someone who wasn’t able to get a ticket.

Because there was a threat of rain that day, we both had decided to wear long pants, and Deanna had a light wrap for her shoulders in case she needed to cover her arms against the weather. What a lucky thing! We both had completely forgotten the rules for entering the cathedral: arms and knees must be covered! An official of some sort was walking the line checking people for the correct dress and the young woman and her mother who were behind us in line did not have the proper coverings! The mother ran off looking for shawls while the daughter held their place in line. It took forever for mom to reappear and everyone was very worried about her. She seemed like a bit of a ditz and the piazza was incredibly crowded and busy. We reached the entrance before she returned and her daughter held back hoping to maintain her place in line when her mom eventually found her. The other couple which had originally accepted our climbing reservation also were improperly dressed and gave up their place in line to do something else for the afternoon. Sadly, we couldn’t give away our reservation.

Later, as we explored, we heard someone call to us, and there stood mother and daughter, properly clad in shawls to cover all the necessary parts. We all laughed and Deanna and I were very relieved that mother and daughter were reunited and didn’t miss their chance to enter the cathedral.

The Duomo, (Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Firore), is the most iconic landmark in Florence. The red tiled cupola designed by Filippo Brunelleschi caps an overwhelming facade of pink, green, and white marble. Work began in 1296, but construction of the cathedral took almost 150 years. Interesting to me that the beginning of its construction and its consecration cross over the turn from the Middle Ages to the age of the Renaissance.

The Neo-Gothic facade that is visible today replaced the original that was torn down in the 16th century. Although the exterior is rather overwhelming with its detail and sheer size, the vast interior is a bit of a surprise. In comparison with many cathedrals I have visited, the interior of the Duomo is quite understated. Many of the most impressive sculptures and paintings have been removed to the safety of the Duomo Museum, which we visited earlier in the week.

Even though we did not climb the 463 interior stone steps leading to the cupola, we did admire it from below. The complex engineering of this dome, using over 4 million red bricks laid in overlapping concentric circles is a marvel. This allowed the dome to be built without needing a wooden support frame. I took many photos, but this 360 degree image will give you an idea of what it is like to enter the main part of the cathedral.

A replica of the cupola at the Duomo Museum with information about how it was created.

After exploring the main part of the cathedral, we took the steps the led down to the Cripta Santa Reparata, where excavations between 1965 and 1974 unearthed parts of the 5th century Chiesa di Santa Reparata that originally stood on the site.

Deanna wandered much more than I did in this underground vault of history. I needed a bathroom, was dizzy from too much looking up, and was seriously worn down. Sometimes all that stuff can get to be just too much, no matter how fabulous it is. My memory of the crypt is mostly about looking for a place to sit and a place to potty. Real life enters, even in Florence.

I was happy to return to the relative openness of the piazza, in spite of the huge crowds. We once again wandered to our Duomo Cafe, this time choosing bruschetta and wine to fortify us for the walk back across the river.

We had discovered the easiest walking route from our apartment to downtown Florence, along the back roads parallel to Santa Croce, and Casa Buonorotti, places we planned to visit at a later time. You can only do so much in a day in Florence. Once again, our late supper at home was pasta and veggies, our go to meal during most of our time in Italy. Easy and Perfect.

10-04-2018 Day 10 The Accademia, “The David”, and Visiting the Baptistry

Florence weather on this day: clear and sunny, with a high of 81 Degrees F/27.2 C

One of the great thrills of visiting Europe for many people is seeing Michelangelo’s David in the (stone) flesh at the Accademia Gallery of Florence. I knew it was going to be a thrill for me. Michelangelo in my opinion is the greatest sculptor that ever lived, and there have been some great ones.

There are several “David’s” in Florence, and some might choose to skip the crowded gallery and simply view the copy that is placed in the square where the original once stood. Not me. Several months before our trip I contacted the Accademia directly online and purchased our “skip the line” tickets for a day early in our visit to Florence. I decided that since this particular gallery is small enough to be manageable we could do it without a guided tour. Instead, we used Rick Steve’s Accademia Gallery Tour in the Florence and Tuscany book that was our little bible while visiting the city.

A view of our apartment from the bridge, with Piazza Michelangelo in the upper background

Our entry time was at 10, and the Accademia is about 45 minutes to an hour walking time from the apartment. We left early enough to walk slowly enjoying the uncrowded streets. We arrived in time to enjoy a cappuccino and a croissant at a nearby cafe before our designated entry. Deanna and I both came to love those morning stops for capuccinno.

Early morning walk through Florence to the Accademia

The main stars of the show at the Accademia are Michelangelo’s David and his sculptures later named “The Prisoners”. There are several exhibits in the museum in addition to these that are lovely but not completely overwhelming. Visiting all the magnificent museums full of art and all the overpowering architecture in a city like Florence can be a bit much at times. There is even a syndrome named for this. It is called Stendahl Syndrome, and can be caused by seeing too much art in Italy. According to Wikipedia, “Stendhal syndrome, Stendhal’s syndrome, hyperkulturemia, or Florence syndrome is a psychosomatic disorder that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art, usually when the art is particularly beautiful or a large amount of art is in a single place.”

I know that after a few days, in addition to the vertigo, I started getting a neckache from looking up all the time, always up. There is a lot of tall stuff to look at in Florence.

This morning visit to the Accademia was perfect for us. I didn’t waste a lot of time initially looking at anything else, heading with single minded purpose to the room containing Michelangelo’s David. It is probably his most famous sculpture, of many, and not even my favorite. I love the Pieta that is in the Vatican most of all, but seeing his work in person, for real and up close is incomparable.

Michelangelo was only 26 when he was commissioned to carve a large scale work for the Duomo. This particular block of marble had been rejected by other sculptors as too tall, too flawed, and too shallow to be valuable. Much has been written about whether the sculpture depicts David before or after the kill of the Giant, of the purpose behind the huge outsized left hand, about the changing expression on his face as the statue is viewed from different directions.

We stayed in the David room for quite some time, viewing from many angles, taking our turn up close to get photos. I was so excited about seeing it and didn’t mind in the least that the gallery was crowded with people, all vying for their position in front of the David. Some were being silly taking selfies, others posing for photos as I was, and others sitting on the benches along the sidelines contemplating the statue.

After getting our fill of David, and finally leaving that part of the museum, we returned to the gallery we had passed through previously unseen with our eyes only for David. In this gallery were the unfinished figures of Michelangelo’s Prisoners. Michelangelo believed that as a sculptor he merely revealed the figures that God had already embedded in the marble. The figures are in various states of completion appearing to simply emerge from the stone as Michelangelo envisioned.

In the same gallery was another later, unfinished Pieta by Michelangelo and a bronze bust of Michelangelo himself, depicting a craggy, wrinkled old man at the age of 89, with the famous broken nose.

On the second floor are the Florentine Paintings, with altarpieces showing saints and Madonnas. These paintings are from the last part of the Middle Ages, the time after the Great Plague almost destroyed Florence, yet before the Renaissance hit in full force.

As we finished our tour, I wandered back into the nave where The David stood, and tried to imprint on my mind the actuality of seeing this great piece of art up close, in real life.

Emerging into the early afternoon sunlight, we were a short 15 minute walk from the Duomo. We had planned to spend the next day (Friday) climbing the Duomo stairs and viewing the interior of the great cathedral. With a bit of energy left to spend we decided to visit the smaller and older Baptistry this afternoon to simplify tomorrow’s explorations.

The Baptistry is the smaller octagonal building to the left of the Duomo across the crowded piazza

The Baptistry is Florence’s oldest building, built 1,000 years ago. It is the soul heart of the Florentines, more so than the Duomo itself which is close by. The difference in the crowds by late afternoon was dramatic. The piazza was teeming with people lining up to see the sights, eating in the cafes, and strolling the square.

The interior of the great church is rich with ceiling mosaics made of Venetian glass, added to the church in the late 1200’s. The Last Judgment on the ceiling shows a glimpse of the medieval worldview where life was a preparation for the afterlife. Some of the scenes look like the hells of Dante with demons and monsters. Dante himself was baptized in the waters in this church.

After leaving the Baptistry we braved the ever growing crowds and stopped at a few shops along the route. We discovered one of the most amazing arts to be found in Florence. The images below are created from inlaid colored natural stone. The smallest start at 350 EU, for a piece about 3×4 inches, and the larger pieces were many thousands of dollars. I decided against putting out half a years worth of income for the one I loved most but so enjoyed looking at the artistry up close.

Our meandering route led us almost by accident to the Piazza dell Repubblica, which has a long and incredible history. The statue of Neptune was in a state of disrepair, and as is the case with many displays of outdoor art in Florence was draped in tarps with photos depicting what we would be seeing if it weren’t all covered up.

By this time, in this part of the city, the crowds were truly horrific and we were beginning to show some wear and tear on our bodies as well as our psyches.

Wandering aimlessly to Piazza della Signoria we discovered the fake David (a truly awful rendition of the real thing) adjacent to the Palazzo Vecchio, the palatial Town Hall of the Medici.

We spent a bit of time in the Palazzio Vecchio courtyard in the free zone, and skipped the paid tour of the interior. This was the original home of the Medici’s before they decided that it was too “dated” and moved their residences to the brand new Pitti Palace on the other side of the Arno River.

We were both getting very tired and hungry. Wandering in the general direction of the river, we found another take away bakery with fresh, hot pizza slices. We later decided these were the best pizzas we tasted during our entire time in Italy, but we could never find that little bakery again.

After devouring our pizza, we had another gelato before following the main road along the river back home to the apartment. After napping a bit we settled in the warm sun on the terrace, made some calls to home and tried to decide it if was time to hike up to the Piazza Michelangelo for a traditional sunset view.

Although this gorgeous and quite famous piazza is just blocks from our apartment, the roads leading there are winding and steep, including many steps and stairs and more switchbacks. I am ashamed to admit that even though we talked about it several times, this evening was our only visit to the famous square overlooking the city.

As with most everything else we had experienced on this day, the square was very crowded. There is a small cafe but all the chairs were filled, and the open spaces along the walls were filled with people and cameras getting ready to shoot the famous view of the city at sunset.

I am doing this just for fun, and as much for Deanna and for me as anyone else, but if you want to, check out the google map street view of the Piazza. You can walk all around and see it as we did with LOTS of people waiting for sunset and the view. There is another fake David in the center of the square, a somewhat newer addition to the city of Florence, only created in 1869.

We looked at the bright early evening skies, not a cloud in sight for interest, looked at each other and said, “Nah, Tired, Home”. It truly was a gorgeous, expansive view of the great city that would no doubt be magnificent on a day with some clouds for interest, or on a day when we would be willing to wait another hour and fight the crowds for a photo.

We had a perfectly lovely view of the quiet evening sunset from our very own terrace where our dinner consisted of an entire container of fresh green olives, tomatoes, and the last of our yogurts. Those olives are addictive, and every time we would run out of them we had to buy more. My goodness, I can taste them right now but have no clue where in the world I would ever find them here at home. Maybe some things are best saved in the memories of visiting Italy.

Photos from our visit to the Accademia are here

Photos from our visit to the Baptistry and Piazza Michelangelo are here