Assisi - 23 April

View across the plain of Assisi. The dome is the Basilica of the Porciuncola, which encloses the little church in which Saint Francis died. Beautiful light.

 First day in Assisi. The weather is not as good as it could be, a bit cold and cloudy, but Assisi is still lovely. The place I'm staying at is the Monastero Santa Colette. It's a French foundation so many people here are visitors from France and speak only French! Just when I'd got used to speaking Italian. My French is very limited, Oui, Bonjour, Merci and Non are about it. Santa Colette was a French nun of the early 15th century who brought the Franciscan women's order into France, St. Clare of Assisi being her inspiration. Colette wrote her own Rule for her nuns, which was accepted by Pope Benedict. I'd not heard of her before, but she seems to be a particularly popular French saint.
   I had trouble finding the place and only came upon it by chance. Street numbers in old Italian towns are often eccentric, owing to subdivision and infill. Hence no.3 Borgo San Pietro comes after no .9 and is over the road from no. 17. It's a much bigger, buzzier place than Villa i Cancelli, so no hopes of an afternoon snooze. A group of kids outside playing hide and seek very noisily, so I'm going to go out to get away from them.

The Basilica of Saint Francis in the evening light.

I thought at first that this was where I was staying - sadly not.

The main gate into the town from the massive bus-park for the pilgrims.

Main door of the lower Basilica, where Francis is buried in the crypt.

Basilica in daylight.

Villa i Cancelli and Santa Maria Novella - 14 April

Villa i Cancelli in the morning sun

Tonight I am writing this in the peace and quiet of Villa i Cancelli, a convent up in the hills to the north of Florence. Last night at the appartement I hardly slept at all, the noise of cars and passers-by was very annoying. I don't know how people can live like that and retain their sanity; some people like it buzzy, but there are limits, and mine have been well and truly reached and gone beyond. Now I am at Villa i Cancelli, surrounded by olive groves, gardens and orchards; it is lovely. It's the convent of the Suore Orsolino di San Carlo, the Ursuline Sisters of Saint Charles Borromeo, whose foundress was Saint Angela Merici, a remarkable woman who set up her own order based on the third order of the Franciscans. They were later absorbed into the Catholic Church because the male hierarchy was uncomfortable with a community of religious women who were not under direct Church (read male) rule. Typical men!

There are lovely gardens here, decorated with terracotta urns and with views over Florence and up to Fiesole

And an old tortoise

Fiesole is on the highest hill.

"The Faith is a comfort of our day"

White banksia rose

Statue on the wall of the guest wing.

This was a Medici villa, one of the smaller ones, but lovelier for all that. It has a human scale and was built to accomodate, not to impress. The German Army requisitioned the building during the war, and one of the nuns showed me a mirror with bullet holes where soldiers shot at it. But "that's in the past, now" she said, "we're not supposed to talk about it". 

Went to Santa Maria Novella this morning, my favourite church in Florence - if you see only one church here, it should be this one. Unlike the Duomo, much of the artwork and furnishings are still in place, so we can get a much better idea of how the church would have appeared during the Renaissance, plus there has been very little Baroque meddling. The frescoes by Ghirlandaio in the apse are wonderful, particularly because the artist portrayed the characters in contemporary costume; it's like an encylopedia of late 14thc women'swear. This must have been quite startling at the time, even avant-garde. Imagine if Biblical scenes were painted in churches now with characters in modern dress. Miley Cyrus as the Magdalene, complete with foam finger? Yes, definitely.

Massacio's Trinity

Ceiling behind the high altar

Altar pillars

Here's a particularly Renaissance device; one character looks out from the picture, including the viewer in the action, in this case a very fetching young man.

 Nativity of the Virgin

Nativity of John the Baptist; women coming to coo over the baby and congratulate the mother.

Altarpiece in the Strozzi Chapel - late Medieval

A lot more of the Santa Maria Novella complex is open now than when I first visited in 2007; then, only the church and the first cloister were able to be visited, now 2 more cloisters and several other chapels surrounding them are open, plus a small museum of reliquaries and vestments. This is a treasure house of art. So many churches have been stripped of their treasures, it's good to see so much still in situ and in context.

The Duomo - 12 April

Giotto's tower for Florence Cathedral.

Bit of a wander today. Stayed in bed till late (11-ish) after being wakened at various intervals during the night by noise in the street outside, then went back to the flea-market at San Ambrogio to see if I could find more second-hand books in English. Nothing to my taste; most of the books seemed to be The Da Vinci Code, a sad reflection on tourists' reading tastes. Finally made contact with my emails. Very hard to find public internet facilities here. I also found a lavanderia so I can do my washing before I go up into the hills. I remember now that this was quite a problem on my last trips, being able to get washing done and dried.

Poor patient horses waiting for tourists outside the Duomo

Popped into the Duomo, Florence's Cathedral. I noticed the line was going fast, so tacked on to the end of it. The building is surprisingly dull inside, many of the famous artworks are now housed in the nearby Cathedral Museum, such is the risk of them being stolen or vandalised.  Sadly, the Cathedral has now become almost entirely a tourist attraction; the interior is a dull, dark, undecorated shell, and there is little feeling of a continuing spiritual life there at all. The big celebrations of Easter, Christmas and the blessing of the first Chianti bottles of the season are held there, but there seem to be no everyday worshippers, just a parade of bewildered tourists going up the left aisle and down the right.

Duomo facade

Tomb of Sir John Hawkswood, English condotierro and mercenary.

Side of the Duomo - incredibly 

ornate and very large

Comment overheard while sitting in the Piazza eating icecream - two American tourists looking at the Cathedral:

"Oh yeah, that's that Domo thing". And Brunelleschi and Michelangelo are whirling around in their graves like tops.

Bits and pieces

Going to leave my holiday journal for this post, I'm getting a bit bored with it! 
    Some pictures instead, of everyday things.

Washing day for the doilies. I'm having a tidy-up around the house at the moment, making use of the few fine days we have had to do a little washing and gardening. 

I've signed on to a watercolour class at the nearby community centre, hoping to give myself a bit more incentive to attempt and complete works. This is a painting of the Seven Sleepers above Lyttelton Harbour. There's something wrong with it, I'll take it to class tomorrow and the teacher can tell me what. (I think it's the road at bottom centre).

And here's the gorgeous Thomas, in his thick soft winter coat, sitting on my blue chair. This is the one I have in my painting room; Thom sits on it so I have to move him and the chair to one side then go and get another chair from the living-room for me to sit on. Boy, is he spoiled!

Bargello, Boboli and Bardi - 11 April

Evening light on the Palazzo della Signoria

Yesterday had a rest day. Stayed at the apartment and slept and read, very tired. In the evening I went out and wandered the Piazza della Signoria, and had salmon bruschetta, a beer, a chocolate cake and a coffee. Forgot to put olive oil on my bruschetta, but hey, I'm a tourist; the Italians know we're all crazy. Nice to just sit in the evening sunshine and people-watch. Lots of school groups (it's their holidays and all of them seem to have come to Florence). All of them seem to be at that age where they discover the opposite sex - lots of flirting and chasing and noisy, silly behaviour - "showing off" my mother would have called it. Nice waiter at Perseo. I had to buy more bottled water, this is a daily chore here, as Florence does not have such good water as Rome does. Here the water is heavily chlorinated, only fit for washing.

Today I went for another 'long' day. First to the Bargello (courtyard above), Florence's sculpture museum. This is less popular with the tourist crowds than the Uffizi, so is well worth a visit. Several of Michelangelo's works are here, also Donatello's famous "David". Michelangelo's 'Drunken Bacchus" is one of my favourites - you can see that he is nearly, nearly at the falling-down stage.

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The last time I saw Donatello's "David" in 2007, the bronze was being restored, lying on its back in the middle of the room. Now it stands upright in all its nude glory. This was a somewhat controversial piece, rumoured to be modelled by a well-known Florentine rent-boy. It was cast for the Medici, but was not popular,  the nudity of the subject perhaps being too confrontational and it was later relegated to a garden area.

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The Isolotto, Boboli.

Then I travelled on to the Boboli Gardens, the largest garden in  Florence, created behind the Pitti Palace for (you guessed it) the Medici.

Sea-goat atop a gate to the Isolotto.

Statue of Autumn, Viale Cipressi

Viale Cipressi

Then up the famous Viale Cipressi with its statues of gods and goddesses. For me, the best part of Boboli is the little garden piazza by the Porcelain Museum. You go up some dark shaded steps, no idea where you'll come out, and WOW! There you are in the sunshine with a beautiful rose garden and stunning views of the southern hills of Florence. A real coup de jardin.

Huge Banksia rose on the wall of the terrace of the Porcelain Museum

View to the west - the old city wall and watchtower

The Porcelain Museum and its garden

Views to the East

The ticket for Boboli also gets you into the Giardino Bardini, a lovely small garden that was only re-opened in 2007 after long restoration. Not considered one of the 'great' gardens of Italy by the experts, for me it makes up for lack of grandeur with a pleasing intimacy and informality. The only survival of the Baroque garden is the central staircase down the middle. The villa and garden originally belonged to the Bardi family, but both family and garden had a mixed history. At one time it was owned by an Englishman, so current plantings have continued with an "English" feel. 

Fabulous wisteria tunnel

Baroque staircase

The view over the city is spectacular. It's so nice to be in a green, quiet place after so much noise and stonework in the city.