Michelangelo and Machiavelli

There’s no way to see all the sites of Florence in anything less than a month, and we gave ourselves only three full days (plus the day in Lucca) to see as much as we could. Margaret’s must-see sight was the Uffizi — actually the Botticellis in the Uffizi. John’s must see-sight was Michelangelo’s David. John’s fascination with David began when we were in Amsterdam. That’s when we ran out of reading material for Margaret. At an English bookstore, she picked out something called the Plague Sorcerer, but fairness required that we get John something too. Most of what was there was either too babyish or too hard for him, but we found a book on the art of Michelangelo and, more generally, about Renaissance art. He devoured that book (having not much else to read) and has become a big fan of Michelangelo. He insisted that we find the Michelangelo Holy Family at the Uffizi and then that we go to the David.

We’re told that in the summer it’s necessary to book tickets in advance to get into the Accademia to see David, but we just showed up at about nine in the morning on Friday and walked right in, which saved us 16 Euros in booking fees (about $20). I have mixed feelings about the Accademia. On the one hand, David in person more than lives up to the hype, and it was worth the 10 Euro admission fee just to see it. It is difficult to write anything about it that isn’t clichéd or trite, so I won’t. But it is stunning. And it must have been, when it was first unveiled, awe-inspiring proof that in at least one domain the moderns had surpassed the ancients.

On the other hand, there was not much else that I desperately wanted to see there, though the Michelangelo Prisoners were also very fine. For the rest, we could have done without the early Gothic altarpieces, the plaster casts of ancient sculptures, and the later religious art.

With the altarpieces, the kids are getting very good at playing “name that saint” — trying to recognize the saints in the paintings by their distinctive attributes. St. Catherine with the wheel upon which she was martyred; St. Paul with the sword with which he was martyred; St. Lawrence with the grill upon which he was martyred by roasting alive (see a pattern here?).

After the Accademia, we headed home and ate lunch in the flat. Then it was off to the Santa Croce church to see the tombs of Machiavelli and Michelangelo and some amazing Giotto frescoes. Though they belong to Florence’s Franciscans, this lavish church and cloister hardly evoke the simplicity one associates with the name of Francis.

The piazza outside Santa Croce is beautiful, as is the church facade, but some people just don't like to have their pictures taken:

We spent a long while at Santa Croce, where John paid his respects to the tomb of Michelangelo

and Joseph pays his to Machiavelli's tomb. (Unfortunately, that picture was too dark).

After that, we visited the cloister, where Margaret proved that she can pose for a lovely picture when she really wants to:

Then we went off for an exploratory walk to see some remnants of the old medieval wall of Florence.

We hiked down to the Arno (a sluggish, brown, weedy looking river — at least in October) and across to a hill on the other side, at the Piazzale Michelangelo, where we were treated to a lovely view of Florence. And, John tried to mimic the pose of David (with his clothes on, of course) in front of the copy of the famous statue.

After slowly making our way back down the hill, we headed along the river to the Ponte Vecchio. Along the way, we found this:

Note the detail (Ein Feste Burg ist Unser Gott):

This is the only Protestant church we have seen so far in Italy.

When we got to the Piazza della Signoria, we stopped for our daily gelato. And, for our final tour of the day, we visited the Palazzo Vecchio, where Joe got to see and stand in the study of Machiavelli. (He had a very nice office).

After dragging him out of there (and then convincing him that it was too late to visit any other museums—which took some work!), we slowly headed back to the flat. We grabbed some groceries to make dinner. Then, it was time to eat and pack.

Arrivederci, Florence!

Joe and Susan