Florence

Today we left Munich at 7am to drive 10 hours to Florence. It was a terrible, hot bus ride where I couldn’t sleep but the scenery was absolutely beautiful. We drove straight through the Alps in Austria and northern Italy then through wine country in Italy. We went by an hour stretch where it was nothing but vineyards on either side of the highway. The weather in Italy is very hot and humid, similar to home.

            When we got in around 5pm, we tried to walk to the opera but it was cancelled because something fell on the stage. So we just walked back through the city and went to a bar at night because it was someone’s birthday in our group.

           

The next day, we had class for 4 hours then met at the Uffizi museum in the afternoon. This housed the famous Birth of Venus painting and Madonna of the Long Neck. It was cool to see many of the works that we’ve been learning about in class. The Uffizi wasn’t as big as I had expected, but it was set up much simpler than the Louvre. And nearly every work there was internationally famous. We also saw the Caravaggio exhibit with his Medusa shield.

           

After finishing the museum, we walked around the main plaza, Piazza del Signatori (or something like that) where the huge fortress city hall building stands. This is where Michelangelo’s David statue stands guarding the city of Florence. Throughout the city, you’ll see statues of David everywhere along with the Medici family coat of arms. Florence adopted David as their local symbol because they were smaller than surrounding Italian communities but they believed they were capable of beating anyone with intelligence, cunning, and the grace of God. The Medici family is solely responsible for supporting the arts in Florence up until the 1400s, when they became too powerful and the city ousted them from power. Michelangelo’s David is 16 feet tall and stands as an ironic symbol against the Medici.

            This square also has tons of other statues, like Neptune and the Rape of the Sabine Woman (one of the best sculptures I’ve ever seen). There is also a cool bronze statue of severing the head from Medusa. This is a very touristy area with gelato and Panini shops every 10 yards. Pretty much every flavor of gelato is delicious and way better than ice cream.

            Then we walked to the Duomo, which means “Cathedral.” The Duomo is the third largest church in Europe, but it is the oldest, largest dome in the world. The building was completed 200 years before the dome, simply because it took that long to find a design that could construct a dome large enough to fit. We spent an hour hiking to the top of the dome, which was scary but definitely worth it. At the top, you could see views throughout Italy and to the Swiss Alps. On the way up, you walk through the dome itself because it was actually designed as two domes with about 8 feet of space between the two. The pathway takes you through a walkway that goes halfway around the inner base of the dome, so you are looking down 200 feet to the alter and main chapel of the cathedral. The Duomo is another symbol of the city – people don’t say they are from Florence; they say they were born “in the shadow of the dome, under David’s watchful eye.”

            Then we saw the Duomo baptistery where the Gates of Paradise cover the front door. These were gold sculpture scenes on the doors created by Ghiberti as a pictorial description of Christ’s life. They weren’t as bright in person, but still really beautiful. The other two doors have similar bronze sculpture scenes from previous periods. After that, we walked back to the hotel through the huge leather black market. It seems like Florence is best known for their leather products because there are hundreds of really expensive stores throughout the city. It also holds the headquarters of Gucci.

On the second day, we went to the Bargello museum which holds the real Rape of the Sabine Woman and a few other famous pieces. Then we had a 2 hour lunch at a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant. We were the only customers while we were there, so they put on Bob Marley and Michael Jackson music to accommodate “the Americans.” The food was really good, but it took about 45 minutes to get the check and leave like everywhere else in Europe. Then we went on a walking tour of Florence which was great since our teacher lived in Florence for a while. We ended at the Brancacci Chapel, which holds the Expulsion of Adam and Eve and Tribute Money. The second day was a lot of walking and art history lecturing. At night, we went to Piazza del Michelangelo and watched the sunset over Florence. Then we went to an Irish bar where we bought drinks for some Airborne guys that were leaving for Afghanistan in the morning.

We went to Pitti Palace on the third day. This was similar to Versailles, but not as big. The duke of Florence used to live here, but now it is a palace converted into a museum. It was ok, not too special but the architecture of these palaces is interesting. They have secret doors in all the nice rooms for the servants to enter before disappearing into their own network of crappy rooms in the center of the palace. We ate lunch in the gardens and walked to the top, which is one of the highest points in Florence. The garden slopes severely uphill, so it’s actually not a good walking garden at all. After that, we walked to the Academia to see the real Michelangelo’s David, Duchamp’s spoof on the Mona Lisa, and a musical instrument exhibit. Finally, we hiked to the other side of town to see the concerto “The Magnificent Mandarin” and the opera “Bluebeard’s Castle” that were previously canceled.

Combined, these lasted about 3.5 hours. The orchestra was fantastic in both. “The Magnificent Mandarin” was really weird as it was only dancing with no words. But I liked “Bluebeard’s Castle,” the opera singers were really good and the show was packed. They got a standing ovation with everyone shouting Bravo! At the end so it must have been a good performance. Luckily, they projected English subtitles on the screen for us. I liked the opera overall; I just didn’t like how much downtime there was between people singing.

Overall, I liked Florence, though probably not as much as Munich. Florence was also easy going and beautiful. It was larger than I thought but pretty easy to navigate with the river running on the south side. Most of the people were nice, but some were creepy and strange. There were tons of gypsy ladies in Florence begging for money, but there were also tons of artists painting on canvases, walls, and roads for tips. It was a very artsy city that is definitely proud of its heritage.

You know you’re in Florence when:

• The sidewalk isn’t wide enough for one person.
• Everyone drives a moped or motorcycle.
• The people are very impatient and usually will not speak in English.
• Anywhere you walk you’re in the shadow of the dome.
• There is a sculpture or piece of art on every street corner and every store/restaurant.
• Thousands of street vendors are trying to sell you leather, sunglasses, souvenirs, etc.
• Every meal includes carbs and olive oil.
• Some wine is cheaper than water, and most of the water is carbonated.