September 22, 1993
In Florence
We were awakened this morning by the chimes of a succession of church bells announcing the beginning of the day, from various nearby churches and towers. We spent the entire day wandering through the city, exploring its many attractions. First though, we were treated to real, French-style coffee at the inn, and then deposited our laundry across the street.
Our first stop was at the magnificent duomo. It is awesome - almost to large and impressive to take in close up. At the time of its completion in 1436, it was the largest church in the world. Gradually over the two days that we were here we were exposed to a fair amount of Italian history. This is the first time that I have really understood who the Medici family were, and something of their significance to world history.
From the duomo, we walked through the Palazzo Vecchio then on to the Uffizi Gallery, stopping along the way to admire the great fountain of Neptune and numerous fine public sculptures, including Cellini's Perseus, Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine Women, and Michaelangelo's David.
We waited a long time (45 minutes?) for the Ufizzi Gallery to open, in about a two block queue; but it was worth the wait. By cozying up to various English speaking tour guides we obtained a fair art history course in Florentine art -as well as an in depth discussion of some of the more significant masterpieces.
After the Ufizzi, we crossed the Arno on the Ponte Vecchio and then refreshed ourselves before climbing up the rige to Fort Belvedere for a tremendous panoramic view of the city. The visit to the top also featured a collection of the curious sculptures by Paladino. They have some of the characteristics of icons from the Cycladic Islands, with various animistic or grotesque embellishments.
Dropping down again, we finished off the day with more food, a visit to the church of Santa Maria Novella, a stop to collect our laundry, and of course pizza.
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