October 11 - Florence Part 2

Today we travelled to the center of the Renaissance movement, Florence.  Florence is famous for its history and its art.  It was a centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time.  In the 15^th century, the di Medici family financed the arts and science as a way of exerting their power and influence in Europe.  Among those who received support were Michelangelo and Galileo. Most of the major Italian masters studied in Florence.

Florence is in the Tuscany region of northern Italy.  Tuscany is known worldwide for its fine food, olive oil, and Chianti wine.   It is also known for its leather goods and gold jewellery.

We had a walking tour of the old city, starting in Santa Croce Square, where Michelangelo, Galileo and Machiavelli are all buried. We then walked along the banks of the Arno River, where we had a good view of the Ponte Vecchio Bridge.  It has always hosted shops and merchants who displayed their goods on tables located on the side of the bridge.  Originally it was full of butcher shops but the Bargello's, a sort of a combination of  mayor, judge and a police, outlawed them when his wife complained of the smell.

Rumour has it that when the German army retreated from Florence at the end of the Second World War they blew up all the bridges except the Ponte Vecchio on the direct order of Hitler.

The Arno River has flooded many times and damaged priceless paintings and books.  A flood in 1966 left a high water mark that was at least 3 meters above the ground level. 

Arno River

We then walked to the Piazza della Signoria where there are numerous statues from the 15^th century, many by Renaissance masters.  This was followed by a stroll over to the Duomo, Florence’s most import church.

Perseus Holding Medusa Head - Cellini

Judith and Holofernes - Donatello

Fountain of Neptune -  Bartolomeo Ammannati

During the walk we came across an electric car recharging station.  Here electric cars can recharge their batteries free of charge.  This has been sponsored by the city.

We finished the tour by visiting Galleria dell’Accademia.  Here we saw the famous Michelangelo statue of the “David”.  Our guide gave us a 15 minute lecture on the artistic merits of the statue.  It was a bit long but quite interesting.

Michelangelo statue of the “David”

Our hotel, Hotel Croce di Malta, was an old Florentine palace.  Our suite had a living room overlooking the garden and the swimming pool.  The bedroom was upstairs and the bathroom was another step up.  The entrance to each room was through a grand arch.

In the evening we went for rural Tuscan dinner at a restaurant known as Tre Pini or the Three Pines.  Ken would have loved this dinner.  It started with an antipasti buffet with 25 items.  This was followed by Ravioli with truffles and a white sauce.  Then we had another serving of Ravioli with a meat and tomato sauce. As a main course we then had prime rib and potatoes.  This was followed by a salad.  To top it off we then had some cake for dessert.  This was served with as much Chianti as we could drink.  There was also some sweet sparkling fruit wine.

We had two soprano singers, who entertained us all evening.  They were very good and had excellent voices.

Getting here was lots of fun.  Carlos drove the bus through the city to get to the highway which would take us to the restaurant but when he got to the entrance it was closed.  He then crossed over the highway and proceeded up into the hills for ten minutes before he decided that this was the wrong route.  He then backed the bus into a narrow country lane that bordered on a steep cliff in a blinding rain storm and returned to Florence.  It then seemed that every road he wanted to take was closed or was full of traffic.  What should have been a thirty minute drive ended up being ninety minutes. He was one frustrated bus driver by then end of the evening.

Note to Jase:  Next time you don’t want to go to school, just remember that Italian children go to school Monday through Saturday.  They only have Sunday as a day off.