John Cabot University had the brilliant idea of cramming a visit to the art-capitol of the world into one measly afternoon. Needless to say, I was left unsatisfied.
The day started at 5:30 in the morning. I logged on to Facebook to fulfill my morning routine and chatted with a surprisingly sober-seeming Eric Sweirczek. Especially since he had the awesome news that he will be traveling to Paris this summer! Oui, oui! Congratulations bud.
I was traveling with Joe who woke up just in time, still slightly inebriated from last evening. Joe and I had about a combined 6 hours of sleep that night. We got to the bus, sat down, and went right back to sleep.
I woke up halfway to Florence on the open highway and received a beautiful sunrise view of Tuscany through my window.
I got a good start on the book I borrowed from Adam, Hemmingway's The Sun Also Rises, and we arrived in Florence shortly thereafter. It was cloudy and looked like it might rain.
Getting off the bus and meeting our tour guide made me feel much more like a tour group than I would have preferred. However, the guide was really nice, funny, and had some good insight about our visits. We first visited the burial site of Michelangelo and Galileo, the Basilica of Santa Croce.
They weren't the only ones buried here. Many high-standing members of the Catholic Church, writers, poets, artists and architects were as well. Many devout religious men would be buried in the floor in strategic locations that required visitors to walk over them in order to conduct their worships. The whole layout of graves was sporadic and eerie.
They were currently attempting to restore the basilica to its former, 15th century state by conducting work on the frescoes. As it is seen today, the walls are white and the brick is exposed. When it was constructed in 1442, all of the walls and brick arches would have been decorated in colorful frescoes. This next picture shows a restoration juxtaposed with the current state of preservation. The entire basilica would have had a completely different atmosphere.
Next on the tour was the Palazzo Vecchio. Recently turned into a museum, it was the home of the famous Machiavelli family and was the seat of the Florentine government. The Machiavelli family was the most powerful in Florence and they were also very interested in art. They created a massive collection of artwork with the intent of showing it off to the important people at the time. The Palazzo was the original location of the David and many other brilliant statues used to symbolize the strength and glory of Florence.
Nearby is the Musei Uffizi. This office building constructed by the Machiavelli later became the home of their art collection, making it one of Europe's first public museums.
We were unable to visit either museum, due to time...
Our lunch/dinner was pretty good. Although, most of my peers would have disagreed. I think their over-expectation for spectacular food, everywhere they go, tends to allow for disappointment in things which are still really great. I try to avoid that mentality.
I have come to adopt a different mentality: It's all about living and enjoying life, not about expecting life to be a certain way. This mentality, I believe, leads to the best possible enjoyment of Italy.
After lunch was free-time. Yay, kindergarten! Joe and I decided to climb to the top of the Duomo.
Finally, we got to the top. Wow!
360 degree view of Florence from the highest point in the city. Gorgeous!
One thing that was slightly disappointing was the graffiti. Italy (and most of Europe, I think) is covered with graffiti. Although as strange as it is, it's really part of the culture. Some of it is very creative, and for the most part it doesn't point to any sort of danger, poverty, gang activity or other negative associations generally made with it in the States. In fact, the graffiti can be used academically to historically document social concerns and trends at particular time periods.
The grafiti never bothered me until I saw it up here. When
it defaces a concrete wall, I'm fine, but when it defaces a marble monument, it
bothers me. It just seems unnecessary.
We walked down and stopped inside the Duomo which we were
just on top of. Sheer height and size! Simply sublime! In fact, this particular Duomo was
the inspiration behind the construction of St. Peters Basilica.
Of course, we had to see the David, and we had just enough
time to do it. The David is hands-down the most impressive statue I have ever
seen. One art historian once said that we could throw out all Greek statues and
replace it with the David. Once you see it, it's hard to argue against that. Pure genius.
(Credit: Wikipedia)
Seeing this statue raises many questions. Most of them
worth-while and academic, others simply for entertainment.
Here is a good entertianable example. Would you rather be Michelangelo or the model for the David?
Would you rather have your supreme, artistic ability be immortalized in stone for all
to see or have your perfect body immortalized in stone for all to see? Great
conversation starter.
In the waning hours of the day, exhaustion started to set
in. I had only a couple more stops in mind. The first, of course, was to buy a bottle
of Tuscan wine. "Buona sera!
Qual vino rosso è più buono per dieci euro? ... Ciao e grazie!" Who
knows if that was correct? But, he picked out one for 8.50 and it was the best
wine I've had in Italy so far.
Lastly, the Ponte Vecchio, meaning literally the old bridge. Indeed, it
is an old bridge. The only one not knocked down by the Nazis. Supposedly,
Hitler really liked it.
The bridge has a hallway on top which was used by the
Machiavelli family so that they could commute from their mansion to their
palace without having to mingle with the common folk. However, the shops on the
bridge (yes, on the bridge), at the time, were mostly butcher shops
and leather shops. This created an indecent smell for the poor Machiavelli’s'
hallway, so they made a rule that only jewelry shops could be placed there.
That tradition has since continued. Sure enough, only jewelry shops. Gold,
sliver, diamonds, and gemstones everywhere.
That concluded the trip. The sun was setting and I was sleepy. I felt that I missed out on a lot, but I got what I could out of it. Again, live and enjoy living. It's hard to complain when you're walking around with views like this.
