Italy Party 3 – Florence « The Antsy Atens

Italy Party 3 – Florence

July 25, 2009 the Antsy Atens

So, after leaving Sorrento, we made the long drive north to Florence. But, first, we stopped in Orvieto to see another duomo. This church was beautiful for many reasons, but my favorite thing about it was that some of the windows were made of very thinly sliced wood rather than glass. Fascinating. I don’t have a picture of that, but I do have a picture (Thanks, Bonnie!) of one of the many beautiful stain-glassed windows in the church.

Stain Glass Window

Friends in front of the Orvieto Duomo

We arrived in Florence in the early evening. After dropping off our luggage at the hotel (in the pouring rain), we walked to the Academy and were able to see the amazing statue of David by Michelangelo. It’s breathtaking. I’ve taught World History for 7 years now, and have always told my students how tall it is – 18 feet – but until you stand in front of it, it’s difficult to imagine. The museum was strictly enforcing the no photo rule, so we didn’t get any pictures. But, I do have this picture of a replica of the David, placed in its original location in front of the Medici Palace.

David Replica

Forgive me for going all “history nerd” on my readers, but I learned something I did not know at all about the David. The scene is David immediately before he kills Goliath. David is supposed to represent the city of Florence – an underdog on the Italian Peninsula – which had just recently (at the time) become an independent city-state. I had no idea the statue was supposed to represent Florence.

On our first full day we visited THE Duomo of Florence. The dome of the Duomo is a 2-layered dome that was built without any structure. It is as big as the Pantheon, (45 meters in diameter, 114 meters high) a design no one had been able to recreate since the Pantheon’s creation 1400 years earlier. The architect of the Duomo is the renowned Brunelleschi. The inside of the dome is painted with scenes from the Last Judgement – one of the most beautiful paintings in all of Italy.

Dome of Duomo - so difficult to capture all of church in one picture

In Florence it is illegal to build any building taller than the dome of the Duomo and it is easy to understand their thinking.

The view of Florence and me doing my "Pretty Woman" impersonation

The baptistry of the Duomo was a separate building. Once a year, all the babies who had born in that year were brought to the church and baptized together, thereby unifying the citizens of Florence. The eastern doors of the baptistry, created by Ghiberti are the most famous – they are known as the “Gates of Paradise” as penned by Michelangelo. They are golden 3 dimensional scenes from the Old Testament. It took Ghiberti 27 years to complete the doors – crazy!

Paradise Gates

Another historical site in Florence is the Ponte Vecchio, or “Old Bridge.” This bridge in its hey-day of the 1400s, was the site of many goldsmith shops on the lower level of stores, and on top of the stores sat offices of the important Medici family (they were the McDougals of Florence). During WWII, as the Allies advanced into Italy and the Germans were retreating, the Nazis destroyed every bridge in Florence except this one. We heard some conflicting stories about why it was preserved, but the one that I think is probably most accurate is that it was too narrow for the American tanks to cross, so why waste ammo? The Nazis decided to blow up the nearby buildings instead, creating rubble that would make it more difficult to cross.

The Ponte Vecchio

We visited another church, the Santa Croce because it is home to the graves of so many influential Renaissance leaders: Dante Aligheri, Niccolo Machiaveli, Michelangelo (who was originally from Florence), Galileo Galilei, and many others.

Dante Aligheri's Grave

Michelangelo's Grave

Florence is famous for its leather district, so of course we did a ton of shopping there! We made sure to rub the nose of this boar, though, as it is a sign that you will someday return to Florence.

I have to admit that when we first started walking through Florence, I thought to myself, “Why did Lucy (“While You Were Sleeping”) want to come here so badly?” But the longer we were in Florence the more my attitude changed. By the end of our stay there, it was probably my most favorite city. Maybe it was the safe atmosphere, or perhaps the slower pace of the people, or quite possibly the bathtub in our hotel room (the only one we’d see the entire trip), something made me fall in love with that city!

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2 Comments Add your own

1. Bonnie | July 28, 2009 at 1:38 am

Just a little correction – Florence is north of Sorrento Also…the town we went to was Orvieto. I had to point those things out since you pointed out the whole passport thing earlier

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- 2. the Antsy Atens | July 28, 2009 at 2:39 am
  
  Touche!
  
  Reply

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