Florence

Our Italian vacation ended in Florence. After two weeks of walking, sight seeing, restaurants, hotels and trains we were beginning to think of home. Home, where we had dogs howling and barking all night, venomous tap water, murderous traffic and choking air pollution. We said we were “thinking” about home…not necessarily wanting to go home. Also, by the time we had reached Florence, we were beginning to get our fill of Catholic iconographic artwork…Jesus on the cross, Jesus being taken down from the cross, always Mary Magdalene on the ground hugging the cross, Jesus rising from the dead, Jesus looking skyward, baby Jesus in his mother’s arms and endless unknown saints with saint-like stares. Did anyone ever just paint fruit during the Renaissance?

Art simply fills Florence. Before leaving India we reserved tickets (a MUST unless you want to stand in long lines waiting!) for the Medici Chapel, the Uffizi, the Bargello and the Pitti Palace Paletina Gallery. We may have been pushing our art quota, but we were highly organized.

The Medici Chapel was the parish church of the Medici family. Built in the 1400’s with tomb decorations by Michelangelo, it was very impressive. We entered on the ground floor and were wondering what all the fuss was about. We walked up to the second floor and our jaws dropped to the ground! The interior of this enormous (five story high) private chapel with its’ red marble interwoven with veins of white marble was unique to all the churches we had seen. Michelangelo’s funerary figures symbolizing Night, Day, Dawn and Dusk housed in the church is noted as one of his finest works. We had seen his Pieta in Rome and would soon to see his David in Florence. After seeing his David we would conclude we had indeed seen his best work.

The next day was the Uffizi, built in the late 1500’s to house the offices of Cosimo I. We took an audio tour and traversed about 40 galleries spanning religious artwork from the 10th century onward. We were then off to the Galleria del’Accademia to see Michelangelo’s David. Commissioned in 1504, the 17 ft. high marble representation of the Biblical hero who killed the giant Goliath established Michelangelo as the foremost sculptor in Florence. He was 29 when he completed this work. Amazing! The statue is positioned slightly back from the center of a windowed dome and the natural light falls on its face beautifully.

There are many artistic representations of David. In the Bargello, a 13th century prison turned art gallery in 1865, we saw Donatello’s bronze David, the first nude in “modern times” and quite a dandy of a representation.

Our final art hop was the Paletina Gallery at the Pitti Palace. The enormous palace bankrupted the original owner and later became the main residence of the stratospherically rich Medici family. We gazed at more images of Jesus on the cross, Jesus being taken down from the cross, always Mary Magdalene hugging the cross…you get the painting.

After Florence it was quick train ride back to Milan, an evening’s rest and then our flight back to Bangalore…where the dogs did howl and bark all night. Ah…home.