Today was our second day in Florence. After a torrential downpour during our initial tour of the city even today’s gray weather was lovely in contrast. Our first stop today was a building that had once been a great mansion. The inside was left decorated as it had been and was filled with many common household trinkets of the time.
Luckily, we had a reservation which allowed us to go a floor above those with the regular tour passes. Here we observed a bedroom that was decorated with scenes of courtly love. Items varied in the other rooms. There was a grand fire place in one room. Another held a great dining table. A third showed examples of lace and the instruments with which fabric was made.
After this we moved on towards Piazza Vecchio. There we briefly discussed the bronze version of David we were about to see, created by Donatello. It was an odd sensation to receive a lecture standing in the middle of Florence, surrounded by famous statues with the tower of the Signoria above our heads. It was also in this place that Savonarola was burned.
After this lecture we moved on towards the Bargello. Tucked away in this building are many pieces of amazing art. Earlier in the week we discussed the competition between Ghiberti and Brunelleschi for the baptistery doors. In the Bargello we were allowed to closely examine these competition panels, which featured the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham. Finally we moved on towards Donatello’s David. Behind the statue towered a replica. The contrast was helpful because the replica was gilded as the original piece would have been.
After the Bargello we took a quick lunch break. Marco took a group of us to a panini place which he, our resident panino expert, claimed was the best panino he had had in Italy. I can’t disagree with him. One of the best parts of the sandwich was not their taste or warmth but their names! I chose the Savonarola, while Richelle chose the Brunelleschi and Jess, the Botticelli. All of the sandwiches were named after people who had been influential in Florentine history and who we had studied over the past week.
The lunch break was a nice chance to recoup but from there we went to the Uffizi, an art museum comparable to the Louvre. Here we took an epic walk through the museum. We began by analyzing religious art, especially some altar pieces by Giatto. Lisa wanted us to note their size, which was much larger than most of us assumed. Then we moved on to the Botticelli room. Here we stood in awe in front of many Botticelli pieces including two of his famous pieces, The Birth of Venus and Primavera. From there, we moved on to a move of Leonardo Da Vinci. One of the pieces we saw was a collaboration in which his master let Da Vinci draw an angel. It is said that Da Vinci’s angel was so beautiful, the master put down his own brush for the rest of his life. Then we were dismissed but highly encouraged to check out the rest of the first floor, in which every wall held at least 4 pieces of art. Many were covered in jewels of paintings, surrounding lovely statues. On our way towards the exit, we discovered the Caravaggio exhibit and saw the famous picture of Judith. Then, we exited the museum into a lovely Florence day.
Marco and I decided to work on our quests and ventured over to the nearby Orsamichele church in an effort to distinguish the gothic and renaissance touches on two statues put into the niches. Finding all we could, we discovered Perche No? and Grom on our way back but only tried the first. Then we made our way back to the hotel. From there, we all labored on our Quests, explored the city and had wonderful dinners, excited for the next day. Some others ended their day with a riveting venture to go purse shopping!
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