In Florence
We arrived here on Sunday afternoon the 14th after an interesting trip from Vicenza via Padua. What made it interesting was that some of the employees of TrenItalia decided to go out on strike that day and the company was forced to selectively cancel about half its schedule... our trip to Padua was one of them. After a rather exciting hour or so wondering if we were going to miss our connection we jumped on another train that was heading in the right direction, and jumped off in Padua in time to catch the Freccargento to Florence.
This has long been another one of my favorite cities on earth - mainly due to all of the Renaissance art and architecture that make the place seem like a midieval time capsule. Even having the usual tourist hordes crowding many of the famous galleries couldn't detract from our enjoyment of the place. We went to a few of the lesser known museums and then headed in the other direction, found a little cafe along the river in the shade of the trees, sipped a cold beer, and generally chilled out for a couple of hours. It really is a great city if you're not in a hurry to be anywhere. Besides, this is Italy, and the Italians are never in a hurry to get to much of anywhere.
It's amazing what you can just stumble upon while you're ambling about. Along one of the streets on the Oltrarno side of the river was this address - home to Galileo for a few years back in the 1600's. A plaque on the building next door announced that it was from that rooftop that he conducted his early experiments with the telescope, and which led to his theory that the earth wasn't the center of the universe after all...a teaching that nearly got him burned at the stake by the Catholic Church to whom all of this was heresy. Thing is, both buildings are still everyday residences. In the US these places would be shrines, but here it's just business as usual.
A nice scene from Piazza della Signoria - a Statue of Neptune along with Cosimo I to the left - with the skyline of Florence behind. The famous statues of David and Perseus holding the head of Medusa are just to the right of the photo.
In the Cloisters of one of the many churches. I think this was San Lorenzo.
In the center of the city are the Duomo , the Baptistry (on the left) and the Campanile (on the right). They're truly monumental, and the tight quarters and the crowds make it tough to get a panoramic photo. Beautiful though. The Baptistry is one of the oldest buildings here, dating from the 4th century. The Duomo was completed in 1436 when the bronze ball was installed at the very top. One of the bystanders that day who turned out to witness the "capping" was a young Leonardo da Vinci.
Santa Croce - the burial place for every famous Florentine who ever lived I think. Dante, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Donatello and a host of others are entombed here. See the pylon just to the right of the church? There's another one just behind where we took the photo - they were the turning points for horse and chariot races back in the 15th century. They also conducted jousting tournaments here, sponsored by Cosimo de Medici. There's a famous story that recounts a chance meeting on the corner to the left of the photo between Leonardo and Michelangelo. Seems that as they passed one said something to the other (they didn't like each other much), the other took offense, and people had to physically restrain them from duking it out in the street. And the place probably looks exactly as it did on that particular day. History is very much alive here.
The tomb of Michelangelo Buonarotti located inside Santa Croce. Galileo is here too, but he had to wait 100 years before the church forgave him for his "heresy", and allowed him to be buried in consecrated ground.
Fiesole
One great day trip was up to the little town of Fiesole - about 5 miles north of Florence in the foothills above the city. Talk about a world away from everything. No crowds, pretty day, and having the run of the place made for a terrific day out.
There are some pretty extensive Roman ruins here, including this small theater (seating for 3000 and still used for summer festivals today), some ancient baths, and both Etruscan and Roman religious sites. And it's all enclosed by an Etruscan stone wall that dates back probably 2500 years.
Nice view looking back at the Campanile in Fiesole from the arches near the Roman Bath.
Like Rome, Fiesole was built on seven hills. It's located about 800 ft. above the valley floor where Florence sits, and in fact predates the Roman founding of Florence by several hundred years - probably because it was placed in a much more defensible site. Made for some breathtaking views of the surrounding countryside, which was dotted with villas along the surrounding hills and each with its own grove of olive trees or vineyards - both of which are still cash crops here...same as they were 2000 years ago.
When I saw this place on the local map I knew we had to hike out to it. This is the spot where Leonardo and his crew came one Spring day around 1508 to conduct the first experimental test flight - from a design of Leonardo's for what was essentially an unpowered glider. Didn't work - in fact I think one of the crewmen suffered a broken arm when he leapt off the cliff just behind me trying to fly the thing - but it was here, 400 years before Kitty Hawk, that Leonardo first gave it a try. I've read that with only some minor tweaking of his design, and substituting the use of modern lightweight construction materials for the lumber he used, his design has actually been demonstrated as being flight capable.
The city is just too pretty to not include another view of it.
Heading for Rome today by train and will be there for another week. Hopefully we won't encounter any more railroad work stoppages and the trip will go off without a hitch. Will be staying near Vatican City while we're there. Haven't been to Rome since 1984 with the boys so we're very much looking forward to it.
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