The Absent-Minded Professor's Travels: Italy 2014 Day 05

Michelangelo's David

We were up no earlier, at 06:00, but more rushed as we had to set our suitcases outside the rooms by 06:45. Then it was down to breakfast for 07:00 and assembling in the lobby to leave the Hotel Giotto at 08:00 to walk down to the bus park. And so our time in Assisi came to an end. I think everyone on the pilgrimage agreed that it was the high point of the trip – quieter, less crowded, not a bit less rushed but altogether more enjoyable than the rest of our time in Italy. That extended from the religious sights we attended to the hotel itself, which had a quaint character that was lacking from our domiciles in Florence and Rome. Especially with regard to the common meals we enjoyed in the hotels’ respective restaurants, Giotto far outstripped either the Croce di Malta in Florence or the Hotel Cicerone in Rome in both food and hospitality. But we could not stay in Assisi forever.

Tuscan countryside

The drive from Assisi to Florence was a bit more than two hours. Even the Tuscan countryside sported extensively rugged hills – really mountains – that I had not expected. Florence itself [LINK] is pretty flat, in a valley on the Arno River, surrounded by highlands. I don’t know where to start regarding Florence – it is such a historically and culturally significant city – so I’ll confine myself to a few random and general facts and observations. The name in Italian is actually Firenze, so it’s a bit more different from what we’re used to in English than is Rome (Roma), but the meaning is the same, the City of Flowers, and the symbol is one we’re all familiar with in Louisiana – the lily that the French call fleur-de-lys. Founded as a Roman city by the Dictator Sulla in 80 BC, the city’s real importance commenced a thousand years later, when it became a center of medieval cloth manufacture, trade, and finance. Its importance became incalculable as the birthplace and epicenter of the Italian Renaissance in the 15^th century, more or less concurrent with the rise of the Medici family of clothiers-become-bankers to political dominance which they would maintain for about three hundred years. It eventually would serve a brief stint as one of the several successive capitals of the Kingdom of Italy in the 1860s. Its cultural importance is highlighted by the fact that the Tuscan dialect became the standard for modern Italian. [There are a number of Virtual Tours: LINK]

Statue of Dante by Santa Croce Church

Busses are not allowed into the city center itself, so Luigi pulled into a bus park – right on the river – where we debarked and set off walking again. It was not a bad walk, however, to Santa Croce Square, dominated at one end by the Church of the Holy Cross with a huge statue of Dante Alighieri, the writer of The Divine Comedy, standing at the entrance through which we passed. The church itself contains the tombs of many famous and important Italians – Michelangelo, Galileo, and so forth, including the tomb of Dante himself – although his body is not there; the rival city in which he died in exile from his home city of Florence has never returned him!

Piazza di Santa Croce

The square was teeming with people, and surrounded on the other three sides by leather and souvenir shops all around, as well as a number of restaurants and eateries. We spent some time there, beginning with Misuri’s, a fine gold and leather shop which treated us to a show of how they make their products and how to distinguish fine gold and leather from lower quality wares, as well as a considerable discount for members of our tour group (not unique to ours, of course – the same show and deal was clearly being offered to other groups while we were there). It worked – most of our group came out of there with something either for ourselves or as gifts: Anne bought a leather purse, we bought Tristan a wallet (and I got one just like it). Oh, included was free gold monogramming. Misuri’s took most of our time as well as a fair amount of money! We grabbed a quick lunch of panini. While Anne got the food and I held one of the small tables outside, I had a pleasant conversation with an English gentleman from the Cotswolds. Sadly, by the time we finished eating, there was not enough time to do a self-guided tour of the church, which others said took about thirty minutes.

Palazzo Vecchio overlooking
Piazza della Signoria

Brunelleschi's Dome,
the cupola of the
Duomo of Florence

It was there in the Plaza of Santa Croce that we met our guide for Florence, named Isabella. She led us on a brisk walk that first took us to the Piazza della Signoria, where we marveled at various statues including a replica of Michelangelo’s David and the marble Fountain of Neptune at the terminus of an active Roman aqueduct [Virtual Tour: LINK]. I was a bit dismayed that Isabella glossed over in favor of those works of art the many significant events in Florentine history that took place on the plaza, among which were the Dominican friar/dictator of Florence Savonarola’s Bonfire of the Vanities in 1497, followed by Savonarola’s own execution in 1498. But onward we marched, passing by the Duomo of Florence – the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (of the Flowers) – with virtually no comment, finally reaching the Academy art gallery and museum.

Over the next hour or so, we toured the Academy [Virtual Tour: LINK]. There we saw the real statue of David by Michelangelo and much, much more. It was here as well that another inherent drawback of these type “packaged” tours became apparent, in that there was hardly enough time to see something before we were moving on, on, on. For a pilgrimage group like this one, as well, there was disappointment that Isabella’s commentary tended toward the cultural rather than the religious. In any case, we saw a lot of famous art before backtracking to the Duomo. That most famous landmark of Florence we finally entered for a quick tour

Western facade of the Duomo

[Virtual Tours: LINK and LINK], but again nothing was even said regarding the significance of Brunellesci’s dome, the largest brick-and-mortar dome in the world. We did get to behold the magnificent painted interior, however.

Inside Brunelleschi's Dome

From the Duomo we walked to San Lorenzo’s Basilica [Virtual Tour: LINK], where Fr. Ryan said the Mass in the Canons’ Chapel. St. Lawrence was the special patron saint of the Medici family, and this was pretty much the “family church.” Although we did not see it, many of the family were interred in the mausoleum. We did not tour this church at all, but this first Renaissance chapel we heard Mass in was, as might be doubly expected given it was the Medicis’ own, exquisitely ornate. Once Mass was over we continued onward, ultimately walking past Santa Maria Novelle and finally arriving at our hotel, the Croce di Malta [LINK].

The Canons' Chapel, Church of San Lorenzo

After dinner at 19:00, some of us went across the street to get some gelato. Anne continued on with the group while I came back to the room and managed to get Tuesday’s blog entry posted!, as well as do some course maintenance. [Ca. 15:00 Italy time, Wed 29 Oct, somewhere between Rome and Atlanta]