Florence Part 1

Yikes, it has been nearly 2 weeks since my last post. Feels like I did it just last week.

Florence was the next stop on my trip. I spent four days and enjoyed myself. I often think of Florence as a major city, but is really quite small compared to Rome and others. I took the slow bus from Siena to Florence which meant I got to stop in various towns along the way. I was not far from the town of Volterra, which vampire lovers everywhere will recognize as the city where Edward goes to die, but couldn't get there without taking another bus, me that is, not Edward. It would be interesting to see if the town's tourism industry has grown since the publishing of Meyer's novels.

I stayed in another convent in Florence, and this time I can say that there were old nuns everywhere. None of them spoke English, but they did speak Italian and French, so I was saved. It was fun to use my French. It was a big convent with a lovely garden area. It appears as if they have a specific area dedicated to travelers, while the rest of convent is set apart for the nuns that live there. Soeur Theresa was very nice and filled the image of a nun to a T.

I am proud to say that I had gelato at every one of Rick Steves' recommended gelateria. The best gelato I had it Italy was across the Arno river. It was peach (yes, even though I had some really good cioccolato), and had little peach chunks in it. I still think about it and know that when I visit Florence again I'll find it and hope it is still open. I tried a famous Sicilian granite, a lovely Italian drink made with ice and fresh fruit.

Picture of my room:


Luckily it was a room with a view out over the lovely garden. To bad the windows didn't have screens otherwise I could have kept them open all of the time, but had to keep them closed to keep out the bugs.


The street outside the front door:


Florence was the birth place of the Renaissance. You begin to understand why as you visit various places around the city. One such place was the Museum of Precious Stone (Museo dell'Opificio delle Petre Dure). The lower floors had collection of mosaics of inlaid marble and stones. The upper floor contains the remnants of a Medici workshop from 1588. In the workshop you could see the tools used by the workers who created the mosaics. There were so many beautiful pieces with intricate designs.

A vase:


One of the few paintings in the museum, but the one I liked the most:


A cabinet front. The cabinet is made of wood, with each drawer covered with a different stone mosaic.


A small wall hanging:


A large table top:


Nex stop, Florence's Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore): This duomo has the third-longest nave in Christendom. You will notice again the white and green striping (like the duomo in Siena). Included along with the white and green Tuscan marble is pink marble.


I took this picture because the duomo looked so dirty But when you compare it with the picture above, the "dirtiness" might just be the lack of light.


The nave's ceiling:


The dome's ceiling:


The baptistery, sits apart from the duomo:


The ceiling, it was impossible to get a good picture of the entire thing. So I had to do it pieces:



Notice Christ's hands, you either get a thumb up or a thumbs down:



Lorenzo Ghiberti's famous bronze doors are on the north side of the baptistery, facing the duomo. Ghiberti won the opportunity to design the doors after beating out Brunelleshci in a competition. Taking a picture of the full doors was impossible without some stranger in the picture, which is fine because I am the stranger in many other photographs. Reportedly, Michelangelo said these doors were fit to be the gates of paradise.


Ghiberti used mathematical laws to create the illusion of distance on a flat plane, something that had never been done before.


As with most things I have seen in Italy, the detail on each panel was incredible:


I am stopping here because I can. Not even the end of the first day.

Siena

I cut my time in Rome by two days and came up to Siena to get away from the big city. It is lovely and I am glad visited. The place where I stayed was a convent but I didn't see nuns roaming the place.

At one time Siena was a major banking and trade center as well as a military power. Then in 1348 the bubonic plague swept through the town killing more than 1/3 of the population and the city never recovered to its earlier glory.

A street near the center of town:


Siena's famous main square, Il Campo. Before becoming the city's main square this area was a field (campo) located outside the old city walls. The square's brick surface is divided into nine sections. Each section represents the council of nine merchants who rules medival Siena. This square is pedestrian only, a lovely respite:


On July 2 and August 16th of each year the square is crammed with spectators that come to watch the Palio horse races. Ten horses and riders are selected from among the 17 neighborhoods (contrada) that make up Siena. Each contrada is represented by a mascot and has their own flag which displays the contrada's unique colors. The spectators stay in the middle of the square while the horses and riders race around the perimeter three times. Mattresses pad the sharpest corners:


Looking up to Siena's duomo:


The duomo from the back:


The striped effect comes from the white and green marbles. This marble combination is very popular all over Italy. The duomo was started in 1215, and as you can see from the crane, it is still under construction:


The nave:


One section of the dome's ceiling:


Inlaid pavement panel of the "Slaughter of the Innocents," depicting Herod sitting on his throne as angry soldiers killing all babies to prevent Christ's coming.


The nave ceiling:


Piccolomini Alter was designed for the tomb of Sienese-born Pope Pius III. Even more interesting than this though is Michelangelo's statute of St. Paul which is difficult to see, it is the statute near the right-hand corner.


Designed and built by Nicola Pisano in 1268. The marble pulpit sits on the backs of lions, symbols of Christianity's triumphant. The seven panels at the top depict the life of Christ.


Trying to get some of the detail that covers the outside:



This wall was supposed to be part of the duomo. The plan was to build the largest church in Christendom, but the city was unable to finish the project before the plague struck, forcing the city to give up the project. You can climb to the top of this wall and you can vaguely see individuals already up there. I of course climb to the top. The stairwells were extremely narrow and if you met somebody along the way, one of you had to back up to let the other person pass. There was one lady who had a little breakdown when trying to descend one of the sets of stairs.


Looking down on the duomo from the wall:


Looking out over the city and countryside. I admit I took the picture because I thought the cloud in the distance was amazing:


Looking down on Siena:


Looking down onto the main square:


I took this picture, because it was the first time I had seen an image of Christ on the cross with his arms elevated in the "Y" position. It of course made me wonder if there is any special significance to this position or if it was entirely dictated by its creator.


As will all the places where I stayed, these photos represent only a small number of my photos from Siena. This city is definitely on my recommend list of places to visit when you go to Italy.

Roma Miscellany

These photos are from various places I visited:

The National Museum of Rome (Museo Nazionale Romano): I have more pictures from this museum, but I still feel that this rock chest is perhaps the most amazing item in the collection. Just look at the detail:


Victor Emmanuel Monument: Emmanuel was Italy's first king. This monument was built in 1870 in an effort to bring together the various regions and create an Italian national identity. Rick Steves' makes mention of the fact that most Romans do not like this monument, often referring to as "the wedding cake," "the typewriter," or the "the dentures." From street level to the roof where you have great views of the city is 242 steps and I climbed them all:


The size of the monument is overwhelming, 200 feet high and 500 feet wide. Everything is super-sized. This monument provides a good example. This statute is of the king, and is 43 feet long and is the largest equestrian statute in the world (oh the facts that Rick includes). The king's moustache is five feet wide and a person could fit into the horse's hoof.


Like so many other countries, Italy's tomb of the unknown soldier, with its eternal flame is located at the monument and is continually guarded by soldiers.


The Pantheon: This famous piece of Roman architecture just comes up from nowhere. You are walking down a fairly narrow alley way and then you exit into a piazza and wham there it is. Built before the fall of Rome and dedicated to martyrs just after the fall of Rome, this building was left untouched by the invading barbarians and locals didn't not use it as a quarry. The columns are all made from one single piece of marble (biggest in Italy) and shipped from Egypt.


The dome is 142 feet high and wide and was Europe's largest until the Renaissance. This dome is 3-feet larger than the one at St. Peter's. The dome becomes more thin and lighter as it rises up and the stone at the highest part is volcanic pumice.



The tomb of Raphael. Victor Emmanuel and Italy's second king are also buried here:



An alley on the way to the Pantheon:


And again, you are walking along and all of the sudden the alley empties out on to a piazza and this is what you see, the Piazza of Stone (Piazza di Pietra). This square was actually set up as a quarry to chip away abandoned Roman buildings. The holes you see in the columns and wall are from people stealing the metal pins that held the slabs together. Which makes one wonder exactly is holding all of this up?


The Trevi Fountain: Italy's fountains are powered by aqueducts and the force of the water flowing out of the fountain depends on the water pressure provided by the aqueduct. As you can see the Trevi Fountain's aqueduct is quite strong. Again a case of walking down an alley way and wham, you are there. You hear the crowds long before you get there.


There are 24 spouts tumbling over 3o different kinds of plants, all carved in stone. The fountain was completed in 1762 by Nicola Salvi, and it looks as if the fountain was carved strait out of the marble used to build the building that sits as the fountain's backdrop. No streets directly approach the fountain, so you have to get there by foot.


The custom is to a coin over your shoulder for a wish and to ensure that you will once again return to Rome. I did indeed toss more than one coin, hopefully ensuring numerous trips back. The money thrown into the fountain is gathered and used to help Rome's poor.


Have to include at least one photo of myself:


The Spanish Steps: The piazza at the bottom of the stairs is named for the Spanish embassy to the Vatican that has been here for more than 300 years. The pink house on the left is where John Keats lived and then died:



Next to the Spanish Steps is this house where Lord Bryon lived:


These photos are the last from Rome, yes I have not even left Rome yet. I am sure you are super excited for what I saw after leaving Rome.