Day 16: Firenze- city of art

The fast train from Rome purred us to Florence who met us with a sunny winter day.  It gets much cooler here than in Rome (-8 deg C one night) but warms up to around 8-10 deg C during the day. 

The cupola from the bell tower

First stop was the Santa Maria de Fiore (Cathedral of Florence or 'Duomo' ) a central point in Florence and a truly beautiful structure from the outside with facades of 'white Carrara, green Prato and red Siena marble' and ornate decorations especially around the doors. We headed up the cupola which has 463 steps, although it seemed a little easier than St Peter's cupola.  The Duomo is 45.52 metres 

on cupola looking towards bell tower

across and was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi.  The problem in 1418, when the church was being renovated, was that no-one had built a dome that big without reinforcement. The Pantheon is 43.3 M but was a different design (hole in top) which would not work for the cathedral.  St Peters is 41.47 M but this was finished in 1590 (over 100 years later).  Brunelleschi’s brilliant design was used to help figure out the best way to complete the St Peter’s cupola and football stadiums etc up to the present.  There is a great sculpture of him in the square looking up at the dome!

Anyway the views were worth it both of the inside of the frescoed cupola and of the city of Florence.

Baptistry doors

At the entrance end of the Cathedral is the famous Baptistry built over an Estruscan village/Roman fort in an octagonal shape.  This is equally as impressive as the cathedral with stunning gilded Bronze doors depicting stories from the old Testament ( I would bore you with details) and inside, a painted Byzantine ceiling depicting lots of stories of Old and New Testament and the Saints, generously gilded. When you walk in and look up you feel as if you may be swept up at any moment …the ceiling has the effect of connecting the ‘glory of the heavens’ depicted with the baptismal font and celebration of baptism which in Christian belief fills the baptised with the heavens (Holy Spirit).

The Uffizi Gallery is probably the most celebrated in Florence and sits at the edge of the Piazza

Piazza del Signore looking at Palazzo Vecchio

 della Signore which is the main square.  This square has a amazing history of conflict, celebration, burning at the stake etc.  Originally Michelangelo’s statue of David was placed here (it got damaged a couple of times) as a symbol of the small city state of Florence taking on the world (Goliath).  The Florentines drew inspiration from it when they kicked out the Medici rulers and made a republic (The Medici made a come back with Papal and Napolese armies later). We could not take photos in the gallery but here is the website. 

The array of masterpieces was overwhelming but I will name a few:

• Leonardo Da Vinci – ‘The Annunciation’
• ‘The Birth of Venus’ and ‘The Allegory of Spring’ by Sandro Botticelli.  I have added pic the first of these from the web so you may recognise.
• Lots of work by Giotto and his school
• ‘Holy Family (Doni Tondo) ’ Michelangelo
• ‘Bacchus’ by Carravaggio

  You will have to look the others up if you are interested.

looking upstream from Ponte Vecchio bridge

After the gallery we walked along the banks of the Arno and across the famous Ponte Vecchio (bridge crossing river Arno which flows through the city).  This bridge was full of people strolling and window shopping the exclusive jewellery shops both sides.