It was time
to leave Montecatini and my little haven of quiet and peace and head up North.
I was able to find a really wonderful hotel in Firenze (Florence) for the night
so I took the opportunity to spend a little more time in that amazing city and I’m
so glad I did. Unlike Milano and Roma, it’s a very manageable city with not as
many crowds (well if you don’t take into consideration the tourists) and not as
many whizzing cars and Vespas. It’s a more refined city and more pleasure to
just stroll. After a day of walking and just being in the city I could imagine
it would be a great place to live for a while. I submitted resumes to some
school so who knows maybe I’ll end up teaching in Firenze, one never knows.
I checked into
my wonderful hotel, Hotel Rosso23 in the Piazza Santa Maria Novella which is
only a 5 minute walk from the train station, so easy. I would recommend this
hotel to anyone traveling this part of Tuscany. It is modern but in an old
villa that has been refurbished in grey, white and red tones. It’s so
spectacular and the stairwell which, winds and winds with intricate white
banisters and enormous marble steps is partially carpeted in red and grey
stripes which is striking. I was on the 1st floor (there 2nd
as the 1st is always referred to as zero) and when I got of the tiny
elevator I walked into a gorgeous sitting room with red silk curtains, a red
sofa and two fabulous grey velvet chairs with matching foot stools. It was so
beautiful I’m sorry I wasn’t going to have time to enjoy it; I mean you don’t
come to Firenze to just sit in the hotel.
Then I went down this small corridor with a row of old windows and an
arched ceiling which you can see in the picture here that it is completely
painted in an angelic scene. It was breathtaking and then I got to my room on
the other side and it was very small with a queen bed and one window that
looked out to the back of another building but I have to say it was perfect. It
was so quiet and I slept with my window open and the bed was so comfortable
with all white bedding and only a hint of grey and red in the throw blanket and
tiny pillows. As you can see since I am
describing the room I really liked this place a lot.
But alas, I
had to leave my little haven for the city streets. I had lunch at a great
family owned restaurant not far from the hotel called Ristorante Alla Griglia
and they had three course meal for just 12 euros including a large mineral
water and coffee if that’s something you enjoy.
I had phenomenal pasta then chicken Milanese, salad, potatoes and fruit
at the end. It was really great food and such attentive happy servers. And it must be porcini season because they
have a basket of enormous porcini mushrooms displayed when you first walk in
with a sign saying 6 Euros. I don’t eat mushrooms but these two young, very
tiny Japanese women came in and asked for them and the waitress let them pick
the ones they wanted and after they devoured a huge plate of pasta each they
then enjoyed a large plate of the grilled porcinis. I just don’t understand how
two very thin, small women can eat so much and not gain weight. I mean if they
were a size 0 I would be surprised but yet they ate easily twice if not three
times as much food as I did. Well anyway, no more lamenting of why some people
are so thin and some are not for now I’m just so happy to be enjoying such
incredible food each day and also having so much time, energy and incredible
places to explore to walk it all off.
Next another
visit to the Duomo simply because I love it. And this time I attached myself to
a group of Australians whose tour guide obviously was speaking English. I learned
some interesting things like the Dome which is so impressive was engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi in the early 1400’s and it
inspired Michelangelo when designing his dome for St. Peter’s at the Vatican except out of
respect for Burtolluci he made St. Peter’s just a tiny bit smaller so as not to
outdo the work of the master that came before him.
The guide
also showed us what she believes to be one/if not THE most important work of
art in Italy, “The Gates of Paradise.” A little excerpt I found online gives a
bit of information but the guide also told us that after the 1966 flood it was
just too risky for the art work to be out in the elements like it was so a near
perfect replica was made in put in the Florence Baptistery or Battistero di San
Giovanni doorway. And although it
mentions here that Michelangelo named the gates according to the guide it’s
named “Gates of Paradise” because it stands on the grounds of a cemetery (which
still exists except many feet below the cobblestoned street) which was called “Paradise
Cemetery.”
Excerpt www.smithsonianmag.com - “Michelangelo
likened the gilded bronze doors of Florence's Baptistery of San Giovanni to the
"Gates of Paradise." The phrase stuck, for reasons that anyone who
has seen them will understand. Combining a goldsmith's delicacy with a
foundryman's bravura, sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti condensed the Old Testament
into ten panels to produce one of the defining masterpieces of the Italian
Renaissance. Since their installation in 1452, the doors have withstood a
variety of near-biblical catastrophes: a torrential flood, vandalism,
overzealous polishing and caustic air pollution. When the doors were finally
removed for restoration from the facade of the 11th-century octagonal
Baptistery in 1990, they looked dull and grimy. But the worst damage was
occurring almost invisibly. Diagnostic studies revealed that fluctuations in
humidity were causing unstable oxides on the bronze beneath the gilding to
dissolve and recrystallize, creating minute craters and blisters on the gold
surface. A disastrous Arno River flood
in 1966 had knocked five panels off the door frames and left another hanging
loose.”
I then
followed, as discreetly as possible to the group next destination the Piazza
della Repubblica, just a quick 2 minute walk away heading toward the Piazza
della Signoria. The large yellow
building with the enormous arch stands at the center of this Piazza and the
guide explained it’s not because of that building which is fairly new only a
few hundred years old that this Piazza is so significant but because it was
first settled by Roman soldiers (said to have been a gift to them by
Caesar). Here a brief excerpt for the
internet to explain further or just better than I could. “Florence was founded in 59 (BCE) as a
settlement for former soldiers, being named 'Florentia', allotted by Julius
Caesar to his veterans in the rich farming valley of the Arno. The city was
built in the style of a military camp with a castrum of grid pattern and the
main streets, the cardo and the decumanus, intersecting at the present Piazza
della Repubblica, which can still be seen in the city center. Florentia was
situated at the Via Cassia, the main route between Rome and the North, which position
enabled it to rapidly expand as a commercial center. Emperor Diocletian made
Florentia capital of the province of Tuscia in the 3rd century CE.”
I again followed
the group to their next stop the market place under the beautiful pillared
enclosure. She didn’t talk about the structure which was a pity because it’s so
beautiful but she mentioned the shopping and how you’ll see many Pinocchio themed
toys, memorabilia, etc. because the writer of Pinocchio was Florentine. I never
knew that, very interesting.
So then we came
to Piazza Signoria and still no one noticed I didn’t belong on their tour so I
just kept going. I figured she was talking in the open, in public places which
makes it totally okay for people to listen in. And as you’ll notice from the day’s
pictures I got a little obsessed with pigeons on statues, but for some reason
they fascinated me today. And I loved seeing this man on scaffolding. He was scrubbing and brushing away. There must be a regular schedule of maintence becuse they look very well kept despite all those pesky pigeons.
She pointed
out the statue of David by Michelangelo’s student and also how when Michelangelo’s
David was commissioned he was told exactly what his subject matter would be “David
and Goliath” and he was given the slab of marble he had to use which also dictated
its size. I learned, actually not during this tour but on the train leaving
Florence by an Italian woman who explained as we passed the Apuan Alps
(Italian: Alpi Apuane), a mountain range in northern Tuscany and part of the
Apennine Mountains where Carrara Marble is cut that Michelangelo always, with
the exception of “David” went to the quarry and picked out the exact marble he wanted
to use for each project.
Another
interesting thing about “David” is when Michelangelo decided how he wanted to
treat the subject matter he was dictated to use he kind of purposely insulted the
Medici family whose place was directly behind where the sculpture would stand.
Michelangelo didn’t depict David killing Goliath but a man/boy about to do it.
Him contemplating what he was going to do and showing strength as the common
man or something like that, couldn’t really hear everything she was saying but
the gist of it is the sculpture did not please the Medici family who I guess
felt it gave the idea that the people were stronger than the Medici’s so to get
their dissatisfaction across as well as to make “David” less prominent they commissioned
other sculptures to be placed in the piazza along with the Fountain of Neptune.
The equestrian statue of Cosimo I de' Medici (you can see it in the distance in
the pictures just past the Fountain of Neptune) who brought the Medici family
back to power in 1537, was commissioned by his son Ferdinando and created by
Giambologna. Interestingly the guide said that the Medici’s used these statues
as propaganda to let the towns people know who was really in power and not to
mess around with them and I guess if you look at the graphic, violent nature of
some of the sculptures like “Hercules and Cacus,” “Rape of
the Sabines” and Cellini’s "Perseus with the Head of Medusa” all depicting
power and especially power over wrong doers. Also mentioned by the guide and
the Medici’s way of sending a message was how the face of the Neptune sculpture
in the fountain is an almost identical replica of the face of Cosimo
I de' Medici who is riding his horse just 40 or so feet away from the fountain.
Now on a related but more
personal note; before I left
Montecatini I emailed a friend of mine from NYC who was born and raised in
Firenze and was planning on being here to visit his daughter and grandson this
month. Unfortunately Roberto has to have eye surgery next week so he’s
postponed his visit to his beloved home city but he gave me some advice on
things to see but first asked me to "La mi porti un bacione a Firenze
che l'e' la mia citta' " (Bring a big kiss for me to Florence 'cause
it's my city!). Which I did at 4:15pm
Firenze time just before I took the picture from the bridge overlooking the
river. Roberto belongs to the theater
group I work with Aching Dogs and I’ve directed two of his plays, both staring
him. He really likes to write himself into all his plays which is great because
he always guarantees himself a part. The funny thing is for a while there he
was naming all his characters “Roberto.” He’s slowly getting away from that as
I pointed out on his resume it will look a little strange if he’s only ever
played the part of “Roberto!”
The first
thing he said to do was go to Piazza della Signoria where all the statues are
outside. The following is what he wrote to me in his email:
Tip while
you tour the city: Piazza Signoria, go to the Loggia
and look carefully (morning is better 'cause there's lot of light) at the back
of the Perseus' head and you should see another face. It's supposed to be
Cellinis, the sculptor. See pix of the statue attached.
Piazza della
Signoria, face the statue of Neptune (near the palazzo) walk to your left and
place yourself on the side of the statue. Look at the panel at the bottom of
the statue near the pool, there's the head of a lion surrounded by 4 little
pieces of sculpture in relief. The first from the right is situated close to
the water of the little pool and shows a naked man and a naked woman in the act
of embracing. If you can sneak behind the fence gently make a few waves in the
water and look at the reflection of the relief. Something magical will appear!
See pix of statue attached.
Now I did
the first, no problem and he was so right there is a face right behind the head
of Perseus. It’s supposed to be the back of his Helmut with his hair sticking
out underneath but it’s clearly a face and it makes sense it would be the face
of the artist. You can see him clearly in this picture.
The second
was impossible, sadly. I took a picture so you could see the pair embracing but
what Roberto doesn’t realize or else he really thought I would first climb over
a 4 foot railing (trying not to step in all the planters that line the back of
it and then walk the 10 feet or so of open space to get to the large marble
base of the fountain and then climb up the side of it and somehow extend my arm
past the 5 or 6 feet of water to get under the relief. And by the way I was to do
all of this while two very uptight looking Carabinieri with big guns are
watching me. So I imagine what Roberto
wanted me to see if I made a gentle wave I the water was the two lovers dancing
but I’ll have to email and ask him.
Either way there is a nice web page about the fountain which is a good
quick read: http://www.webdeveloper.pl/fountain-of-neptune-tourist_attractions-6031.html
So I left
the tour group because they were just taking far too long to get pictures and move
on to their final destination the Ponte Vecchio. I decided to explore on my own
and walked over the bridge and to the Pitti Palace. I didn’t go in this time
because I had done it 11 years ago and I just felt like wondering around. I
found lots of little streets, the Gucci headquarters or some kind of office in
a beautiful old building on a side street removed from anything high fashion
related but they had several huge old photos of actors like Audrey Hepburn and
Rhett Butler in the Gucci store. I also came to The Chiesa di San Felice
(Church of St Felix) located on the South Bank of the River Arno where I had
been exploring and I went in as I do with so many churches I just happen upon
but this time I missed the cues outside that there was a funeral going on in
the church. I thought it was a regular mass and I would just stay for it but as
I got closer and sat in a pew I realized what was going on. I couldn’t leave it
just felt to disrespectful and the mass was near the end so I stayed. It was a
beautiful service for a man who clearly had a loving family and friends.
After the
service I walked back to the river, had the most incredible grapefruit gelato
at www.gelateriasantatrinita.it So delicious and a lovely décor, they even
sell wine on the side.
As you can
imagine I needed a little rest so I went in search of a nice hotel to relax in
and came to the Piazza del Limbo and the Chiesa SS. Apostoli which is rather
small and almost concealed in this tiny, tiny piazza surrounded by lots of
newer buildings but it’s worth seeing it’s such an intimate, quiet church and
great for personal contemplation or just a respite from a busy city. Some details from my internet search "
I sat in
the hotel across from the church for a bit and then off again for more walking.
Built in the 11th century, Santi Apostoli is one of the
oldest churches in Florence. Perhaps built by Charlemagne in the year 800 A.D.,
as the plaque near the door states, the style is of the Romanesque period and
the main doors are from the 14th century. During the flood of 1966 Santi
Apostoli was completely under water. Many of the interior such as the frescoes
were damaged beyond repair and others are still being restored. The first impression upon entering is one of
tranquillity, and one can understand why the church is said to have served as
Brunelleschi's source of inspiration when he designed his masterpieces, San
Lorenzo and Santo. This hidden gem knows a period of notoriety in the Easter
week. Once you go inside, immediately on
the right, there is a chapel with the “Stones of the Holy Sepulchre.” Pazzino
de’ Pazzi was the first crusader to be able to put, in 1099, the crusader’s
flag on the walls of the liberated Jerusalem. So he obtained the right to have
(by Godfrey of Bouillon) three stones of the Holy Sepulchre of Jesus that he
took with him to Florence.
Since then the Stones were considered very important by the
people, revered and still used nowadays to begin the famous Florentine
celebration of the ”Explosion of the Cart.”
The ignition of the Holy Fire ceremony takes place on Sunday
morning when the Bishop comes here from the Cathedral to lit the paschal
candle. The “holy fire” is then taken in procession back to the Duomo and then
used during the Gloria to lit the “colombina” that will explode the cart." I imagine this must be truly spectacular at Easter.
One of the last
touristy things I saw was the poet, Dante Alighieri’s home and Santa Margherita
de' Cerchi the church where he went as child/young man. It’s a small but lovely church and there are
two painting of him depicting the two meetings he had with a women, Beatrice "Bice"
di Folco Portinari (1266–1290) who was a Florentine woman known as his muse.
Beatrice was the principal inspiration for Dante's Vita Nuova, and also appears
as his guide in the Divine Comedy (La Divina Commedia) in the last book,
Paradiso, and in the last four canti of Purgatorio. The two painting depict the
two times Dante saw her in his life (once when Dante was nine and she eight,
again when he was 18.) It’s so
interesting to just come upon things, I didn’t know he was from Firenze but it’s
so exciting to discover something rather than have planned it all before
coming.
Dinner was
very simple since I’d had such a large lunch, just a small vegetable minestrone
and tomato bruschetta at a diner type restaurant. I was back at the hotel by 8pm and after a
nice shower I was ready to just relax in my fabulous bed with the soft breeze
coming in the window.
Oh and
something very interesting that I found while looking online for information
about Neptune’s fountain and the embraced lovers. This website about “YOUR
17-YEAR PLUTO FORECAST:2007-2025
BY TIM
STEPHENS.” Now I always take these kinds
of things with a grain of salt but it’s always fun to read them and when this
popped up in Google under my search I was amazed to read my Scorpio horoscope.
Anyway, I’m putting mine below but if you feel like checking your own out here
is the web site: http://www.astralreflections.com/html/pluto17.html
Scorpio -
(Oct. 23-Nov. 21)
SCORPIO, the
17 years ahead (2008-24) will bring you an increase in mobility,
communications, travel, paperwork and friends. You'll make many new casual
contacts, will network like a pro, and be tempted to spend half your life in
Starbucks (and the other half reading newspapers or daily stock market
reports). Your curiosity will increase. You'll benefit in unexpected ways if
you let it draw you where it will - this might take a little more flexibility,
more of a "what the heck" attitude than you're used to. Your huge
interest in earning money and acquiring possessions will lighten considerably -
you'll still like money, but your main interest will wander into more
intellectual things: you'll want to travel, explore, investigate and research
(but not too deeply, for you'll find speed is more important than depth - for
these 17 years).
You'll
become less closed, more open and spontaneous. Expect increased dealings with
siblings and neighbors.
For a major
portion of these 17 years, from 2011 to 2024, Neptune, your love ruler, moves
into your romance sector. If you're single, you'll very likely meet the love of
your life. If you're married, these 14 years will bring a parade of joys from
your children (who finally show their talents!). All Scorpios will soak up,
deeply, the beauty of life. You'll feel the joys of self-expression, your
musical appreciation will increase, and your artistic sense will prove almost
infallible. Your creative and inventive drives will deepen and grow more
intuitive. You'll want to take risks, many more than in the last 40 years - and
many of these will work out on the plus side. The number of Scorpio gamblers
will increase. (But this is not a recommendation.) In a good way, this period
will lift you from the emotional and psychological depths you've been striding
through - like striding through deep mud with loose rubber boots - for the last
twelve years.
In 2008 that
travel and communications phase outlined in the first paragraph will come with
a breezy wave of expansion. In 2009, you'll have great luck in establishing a
new or better home. In 2010, love's luck blesses you, but you might hardly
appreciate your fortune - it's a little like not being able to see in the bright
sun after emerging from a cave. But by 2011/12 onward, you'll discover that
you're either in love, or just had your first taste of a love different than
anything you've experienced before.
In the
biggest picture, from 1984-1995 your personality transformed (partly from the
furnace of fire you walked through); in 1996-2007 you hunkered into money
efforts; now you enter your social, love and fun phase - slow to come, but
worth it!
And one last
picture (but certainly a very important one) I took in the morning before
leaving Florence and during my after breakfast walk. It’s a picture of a
250-300 year old olive tree that was planted there in 2004 as remembrance of a
terrorist attack that took place there in 1993. I don’t remember hearing about
this 20 years ago but I’m sure many will. It’s a beautiful memorial to those
who lost their lives and to the spirit of this remarkable city. Here is what I
found online about it:
“On May 27,
1993, a bombing took place outside of the Uffizi Gallery. Five people died in
this bombing and many others were injured. Paintings in the Uffizi, for the
most part were unharmed from the spray of glass and debris, and only 3 masterpieces
suffered severe damage.
The incident
occurred with a car bomb and while the bombers are still unknown, it is
attributed to the Sicilian Mafia which was engaged in acts of terrorism at the
time.
Outside the
Uffizi in a small alley way where the bombing took place, on via Georgiofili,
you can see the outline on the wall where the gaping hole stood after the
bombing. While it has been repaired today, there is an olive tree memorial
which stands in memory of the act. A small brass plaque with these words in
many languages says:
“The olive,
this gracious and vivacious Mediterranean plant, mythological symbol of
holiness and of great values, and has the emblematic capacity to regenerate its
productivity although it has suffered events due to nature or man.”
The
association “Georgofili – Lambertesca”, together with the collaboration
Georgofili Academy, have planted this olive tree (250/300 years old) so as all
passersby will remember the barbaric act that took place on May 27, 1993, and
that all those that suffered will be in our minds and hearts.
Florence,
May 27th, 2004″
