Firenze – il grande fine a il benissimo weekend

On Sunday we had already reserved our train tickets from Venice to Florence (we learned from our earlier mistake!) so we caught the 8:30am train for a comfortable and air-conditioned trip on the Eurostar to Florence. We arrived at 10:30am, just in time to head to San Lorenzo market where Ana Rose wanted to buy some handmade necklaces for her friends. We then went straight to Florence’s Duomo – this weekend’s theme seemed to be HUGE churches and baptisteries! The Duomo was sculpted with pink, green, and white Tuscan marble and looked extremely grand. Although I’d seen it a few years ago, I forgot just how striking is it. Since it was Sunday, they only let people in after mass was over. But we were intending on going to mass so we were allowed inside and sat in one of the front rows. We were early enough to see a tiny, old priest walk around greeting people before the service. Inside the Duomo actually was not nearly as impressive as the other churches we have seen, and it was a lot more plain than its outside. However, the architecture of the dome and its ceiling is incredible, with Giorgio Vasari’s and Federico Zuccari’s Last Judgment painted on the inside. Mass was good (they had the English translation of the Scriptures, which were helpful!) and was the most crowded church service I’d been too, which wasn’t surprising. Afterwards we headed straight to the Accademia for our reservations (grabbing a panini along the way). Even though I had also already seen Michelangelo’s David statue, its magnificence still shocked me as I walked into the museum and saw the 14-foot David at the end of the hallway. The detail of every muscle that Michelangelo carved is incredible. And fun fact; the marble that Michelangelo used was rejected by all other sculptures during that time for not being good enough – I guess Michelangelo proved that it’s the artist, not the marble, that makes the masterpiece. The Accademia also has some unfinished Prisoners statues by Michelangelo, which I didn’t appreciate on my first visit but now know that his inspiration came from part of Siena’s Cathedral. Next we booked it to the Uffizi Gallery for our reservations there. But not before taking in the views (and pictures) from Ponte Vecchio – Florence’s most famous bridge over the River Arno. Although the river is kind of green, the bridge is still pretty. The Uffizi Gallery takes about two hours to tour because there is such much notable art. Since I’d seen the Botticelli paintings before – Birth of Venus, Allegory of Spring, etc. – and da Vinci’s work, such as the Annunciation, I was very excited to take in the medieval art, which I’d passed over last time. (Although don’t get me wrong, the Botticelli’s, da Vinci’s, etc. were still utterly amazing!) However, we’d studied almost all of the paintings in the medieval section in my Art and Architecture class, so it was extremely interesting to see them in person. For instance, both Duccio’s and Giotto’s Madonna and Child were influential works, as they experimented with three-dimensionality. Giotto’s Madonna is particularly important because she is portrayed as normal and human, instead of idealized as was common during this time. However, my favorite work to see this time was Simone Martini’s Annunciation, which we studied in class for being so important for striving for realism. It beautifully depicts Mary as being young as well as skeptical and afraid of Gabriel delivering the news to her. It is a large altarpiece with a gilded background, making Mary’s blue robe, which she draws up around herself for concealment, stand out. I ended up writing my Art/Architecture paper on this piece since I was so inspired by it. By the time we finished the museum, Ana Rose and I were exhausted. Not only was it hot (a theme of the weekend!) but we were carrying out weekend backpacks around all day while touring all of the museums and walking the city. So we headed back to the bus station and caught the 5:20pm bus back to Siena. On the ride, we met a professor who was heading to Siena to study Italian since he teaches opera and music. When asking where he taught, he replied that I wouldn’t have heard of it because it’s a small college in Illinois, called Augustana. Needless to say, he was surprised that I was actually quite familiar with it (well its basketball team anyway!) and explained that my boyfriend played for Wheaton – small world! We were able to help him get oriented to Siena and how to get to his apartment once we arrived. That evening, Stella made us crustinis and a delicious mushroom chicken dish for dinner. She was very excited to hear all about our adventures… and enjoyed seeing the pictures that we put on Facebook too (yes, Stella has a Facebook!).