Florence Y’all*

Florence is nothing like I expected. And it’s hard to describe. Imagine the French Quarter of New Orleans but more than 50 times bigger, with buildings 6 stories instead of 2, and without the debauchery and your close. The city is ancient, many of the buildings date to the middle ages, most of the streets are alleys, a modest sedan can get through but an SUV struggles to fit. There are few green spaces but lots of squares, or piazzas, and there are lots of people out walking, and it doesn’t seem to slow down at night. There are no high rises, no malls, just small shops, many of them specializing in designer goods. Two of the most famous, and best, museums in the world are here, the Ufizzi and L’academia, open 6 days a week but closed on Mondays. This is Monday. We made the best of it by going to three churches/cathedrals, each spectacular in its own way, two are essentially art museums, the third had a separate museum attached. First a few pics to illustrate what Florence is like:

Our hotel pictured above, just a door with a small sign to its right with Hotel La Casa di Morfeo on it. You get buzzed in to find an empty stone hall and a stone staircase in the opposite corner. On the second floor you can find another door with a smaller hotel sign. Once again hit the buzzer and the door opens onto a front desk and people. There are about 10 rooms on the second floor, that’s the hotel.

Statues abound in Florence. A replica of Michaelangelo’s David is in the Piazza Signoria, a giant Neptune spouts water from various orifices nearby and a statue of Dante sits outside the Basilica Santa Maria di Croce. That latter was our first church today. Inside are the tombs of Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Rossini. Tomb-like monuments are present honoring others, such as Dante, Da Vinci, Fermi and Marconi and others.

Michealangelo’s tomb left, Galileo’s right. This church had a few Donatello sculptures in it.

Next we went to the main Basilica of Florence about half a mile away, The Duomo with its bell tower and baptistry next door. The three are each stunning to see:

And inside the Basilica:

The Duomo has so much art a separate museum was created for it. That museum held a dozen or so sculptures by Donatello, one by Da Vinci and the 4 ton brass door to the baptistry. A replica is in place, this is the actual door. We had fun trying to recognize the scenes from the old testament. Can you get any (hint, David and Goliath is the lower left)

This was the most moving piece in the Duomo museum, it’s called “The Penitent Mary Magdalene”, by Donatello carved in wood, legend has it she became an itinerant hermit after Jesus death, this is how Donatello imagined her:

There’s so much more but I will close with Ponte Vecchio. A pedestrian bridge over the Arno. Shops line the bridge on both sides, mostly highly expensive designer stuff, and there is a gap in the middle through which the first picture is taken.

We also went to Basilica San Lorenzo which had several stunning works of art, the two pulpits designed by Donatello were the most impressive (the guy was prolific). Also Peggy discovered it is possible to have a bad meal in Italy, more on that later. Train to Venice in AM.

• * readers who have traveled I 71 to Cincinnati will get it