Florence 2010 (Santa Croce & Laurentian Library)

The Basilica San Croce was built in the 14th century and because is burial site of great Italians it is nicknamed the "Temple of Italian Glories". Interesting note, the facade was designed by a Jewish architect (note he worked in the Star of David) hoping to be buried inside the church itself. Alas, he didn't make as he was buried under the porch.

The interior of the church is known for its many chapels. Here's one done by Donatello. The only think I remember about it is that he was using local materials therefore the coloring is bland.

The tomb of Michelangelo

And here's Galileo's tomb

And the tomb of composer Rossini

"Crucifix" is by Cimabue and is significant because he is a bridge between the Byzantine flat style and the naturalism to come in the Renaissance. You'll notice the flecks of paint that are missing, this damage was due to the 1966 flood which ruined many great pieces of art.

Basilica San Lorenzo which houses the Medici family chapel, sacristies by both Brunelleschi and Michelangelo and the Laurentian Library. The facade was never finished.

Here is the burial site of one of the Medici family members.

The Medici's commissioned Michelangelo to build a library in the cloister. Here is the entrance to the reading room.

The Medici family had the library built to show that they had moved from simply being merchants to a family of intellectual heft. The library housed the private books of the family.

A closeup of the ceiling. Wondering if Michelangelo had something for longhorn bulls?

Books from Latin, Greek and other languages are incredibly well preserved.

Many of the books were medicine/health related.

Florence 2010 (Above Florence)

Ok, no, I didn't get in a plane and actually fly above Florence, but on two occasions, I went into the hills around the city. The first, to the north, to the town of Fiesole. The second, a hike up to San Miniato on the south side of the Arno.

Here I am standing at the marker of the site where Leonardo conned one of his friends to try out his flying machine.

According to Google Translator (my Italian is getting better every day but this one I had to use "the evil tool") the plaque says "Take the first flight off the big bird above his Ceceri Great filling the universe with awe filling all writings with its fame and glory to the eternal place where he was born."

Here's what they saw from their attempt to fly.

I'll cite the pamphlet describing the facade of the basilica, "The white and green marble dating from the 11th/13th centuries is typical of the Romanesque style in Tuscany. The idea of strict geometry evoke the perfection of God. Standing over the top is the bronze eagle of the Calimala Art guild, the corporation of wood merchants that for centuries kept patronage of the church adeptly COMBINING FAITH AND PROFIT, as was typical of the Middle Ages."

Ahh, another great view of the Duomo and Florence.

Florence 2010 (Around The Duomo)

I forgot to state in my previous post that the stops in Pienza and San Gimignano were the first day of the fourth of final trip of the school year. This last trip takes us those two stops in Tuscany and then finishes with two and a half days in Florence. We come to Florence last as this is about the time Art History is studying the Renaissance. I had how much there was to see in Florence and it's all packed into such a compact small area. There was no way to try and see everything in this one trip so I'll surely be going back on my own as well as coming back with the school next Spring.

The Chiesa Degli Innocenti (1419-1434) was built by the great Florentine architect Brunelleschi. This church was part of a hospital and its significance was that it might be the worlds first orphanage.

Babies could be "dropped off" at this turnstile and the child would be taken care of by the church.

The Duomo of Florence, Brunelleschi's architectural masterpiece. The Museo dell' Duomo has an exhibit about how Brunelleschi solved the architectural problems of constructing what is still the world's largest brick dome. Alas, I never had the chance to go into either the Duomo itself of its Museo. Next time.

The Florence Baptistry is just to the West of the Duomo and is known for its North, South and East doors.

Here are the north doors. In a competition sponsored by the wool merchants guild, 21 year old Ghiberti beat out the other finalist Brunelleschi to win the commission.

There are 28 quadrafoil panels each depicting a scenes from the New Testament. What is of note here is the return to classicism.

Ghiberti, after finishing the north doors, was given the commission for the East doors. The east doors are particularly significant because they open up on the to Duomo. The idea being once you were baptized, you left through East doors and stepped both physically and metaphorically into the the world of the church.

Michelangelo dubbed these 10 panes the "Gates of Paradise" and the name has stuck. The artistic significance of these panels is Ghiberti's introduction and mastery of perspective. The arches show us that there is a world beyond and behind what we see. Because of this, Ghiberti was able to tell more than one story per panel.

Florence was a economically wealthy because of the Medici family (banking) but also because of the guilds (wool, fur, etc) who also used their money to commission art. The Orsanmichele (the tall building in the middle between all the modern stores) was originally a grain market and storage facility.

The niches on the side of the building were assigned to different guilds who commissioned artists to install statues within. Here is four martyrs (can't you just imagine them in conversation!) created by Nanni di Banco and commissioned by the wood and stone workers guild.

St. Mark by Donatello commissioned by the linen weavers)

The Duomo dominates the psyche of Florence. It seems like you can always see it and it always takes your breath away. More to come...

Pienza and San Gimignano

First stop, the hilltop town of Pienza. Here in the piazza, the town’s church.

Barrel vaults!

The piazza in Pienza is actually a trapezoid, which...

...opens up onto this beautiful view of the Tuscan countryside.

I saw an open door in the town municipal building. I went in, climbed a couple of stairs and found myself in the town council room and managed to open a window.

Stop 2 of the first day was the famous town of towers San Gimignano.

Here in one of the churches in town with both a classical greek façade and gothic basilica apse juxtaposed next to each other. The fact that I recognized this as strange is a testament to art history class!

I just thought this picture was cool. It’s springtime in Italy and that means time to prune the olive trees. However, because of the natural oils, the branches don’t decompose quickly, so burning is the popular option.

I’ll be coming back to San Gimignano with my parents in June, so more pictures to come at that point.

Hans and Teresa's Visit

Hans and Teresa of Oakland were my second visitors while living here in Viterbo. They had four fantastic days of sightseeing, food and fantastic weather. They were troopers in joining two "Chenventures" to Bomarzo and Orvieto. And because they flew across the pond, they make the blog. That should be INCENTIVE enough to come and see the sites of Italy. Most of these pictures are courtesy of Hans.

Hans, Teresa and myself lounging around at Parco di Mostri in Bomarzo.

Sticking my hand into a "Bocca della Verita" fortune telling machine.

I got 8/9 in Life, 6/9 in Love, 4/9 in Luck, 9/9 in Health and 4/9 in Sex.

Partially because I'm a geek and wanted to test to see if the machine was consistent, I tried again. But part of me wanted some higher scores in Love and Sex. The second time around, 7/9 in Life, 4/9 in Love (OUCH), 8/9 in Luck, 8/9 in Health and 4/9 in Sex (DOUBLE OUCH).

Here we are sitting and waiting for the bus after having missed the one we wanted to take (and having been kicked out of Parco di Mostri for climbing on the sculptures). So we killed time by playing "SOLO", the Italian version of "UNO" at a local cafe. The Italian version has one card that has everyone pass their hand to the person on their left. Another card allows you to switch hands with another player. BRILLIANT!

Each morning, Hans and Teresa joined me for coffee at Bagolino's. This is picture with Massimo is proof that I got behind the counter for the first time EVER.

Here we are at the top of the "Torre del Moro" in Orvieto. That's the famous Duomo in the background.

I rarely have so many pictures of myself on the blog, but thanks to Hans, this is myself and Steve C. kissing a stuffed boar!

Hans was a BIG fan of the pizzas from "Il Monastero", so we had takeout on the night before they left. Thanks for a great visit, Hans and Teresa!