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.

Bottom - Christmas episode "Holy".

I know this is sacriligeous, but I think this is funny. Rik Mayall and the "Three Kings" - made us laugh.

Two days in Florence - 8 and 9 April

Flower seller at Loggia de Pesce

Flea-market bookshop, S. Ambrogio

Easy day today. Went a little way to the east, to the market at S. Ambrogio and a flea market by the old Loggia di Pesci, the old fish-market. The church of S. Ambrogio is a nice small church, roofed in wood and tiles, with architectural details in pietra serena, a grey marble much used in Florentine building. A church for worship, not for tourists, which of course makes it more interesting. The nearby market has an outdoors area with fruit, vegetables, clothes and household stuff and a wonderful indoor market for cheeses, meats, fish, bread and pasta. Nice buzzy area, lots of cyclists. 

Another book-stall, Loggia de Pesce. Little della Robbia  terracotte of fish species at the tops of the arches.

9 April

Frustrating day, feeling a bit snippy, tired of the whole tourist thing. Woken up at various intervals during the night by people in the street shouting and singing, street cleaning machines, traffic and a mosquito. I already have some bites on my face from another mozzy encounter, and dealt with this one, which I couldn't catch, by sleeping with my scarf over my ears.
I intended to see "David" at the Galleria Academia but the queue was so long I gave up. Maybe I'll try again another day. So I went to San Marco instead to renew my acquaintance with Fra Angelico's work. Quite a lot of tourists there too, but generally quieter and more respectful. Saw and photo'd my favourite work, the "Noli me tangere" of the risen Christ appearing to the Mary Magdalene in the garden. I love the way the figures move, Jesus sort of corkscrewing away from Mary's desperate move to touch him, and the colours are beautiful. And Jesus is carrying a gardener's mattock, as if he has had to dig himself out of the tomb perhaps, or did he just feel like doing a little gardening while he was passing through? I like the idea of Jesus as a gardener.

That's what makes me so fond of Renaissance art, as opposed to the medieval art that preceeded it; there's nearly always a human touch, even in pictures of the divine. There's another fresco here (no picture, not supposed to take them) of the women arriving at the empty tomb. One woman clutches her forehead as she looks into the sepulchre, as if she can't quite believe that there's no body there. The other two women look at the Angel with puzzled and annoyed expressions on their faces. "What do you mean, he's not here?" they seem to ask, just as they would. Endearing.

Santa Croce and the Piazzale - 7 April

The Rose Garden, Florence

Just realised that I've only got one more month in Italy. Time flies when you enjoy yourself.

Today to Santa Croce, and me with no Baedeker (or Lonely Planet either). Miss Lavish would be proud of me. ("Set an exam at Dover, and turn back all who can't pass it") .I have to agree with her, you see all the people reading the notes and wonder it they are really seeing the artwork/architecture. I hate those audio commentaries too; they are OK for general background, but can be horribly patronising for individual works - "see how the artist has outlined the figures in black" - yes, I can see that, thanks.

I didn't know that Santa Croce was a Franciscan establishment. One of Giotto's greatest works, "The Death of St Francis" is a fresco here on the wall of the Bardi Chapel (yes, this is the chapel that Mr Emerson upset the Vicar in - "the chapel is rather small for two parties, we will incommode you no longer!") The Bardi family rivalled the Medici in wealth during the 14th c, but were bankrupted when Edward IV of England reneged on a loan. Put not your faith in princes, indeed. The Bardi name lives on though, in this chapel, the Via dei Bardi, and the Palazzo, Giardino and Villa Bardino. 

Cross by Cimabue (?) badly damaged in the flood of 1966.

Rossini's tomb

Galileo's tomb

Donatello's Annunciation

Cloisters of Santa Croce

Elijah goes heavenward in his flaming chariot

Porta San Giorgio

Wandered on from Santa Croce up into the hills up toward the Piazzale Michelangelo, along the old wall from Porta San Giorgio and up the steps of Via San Salvatore al Monte. The Rose Garden was open, not many flowers yet, but a lot of people enjoying the spring sun.

Top of the street under Porta San Giorgio. The wisteria was in full flower everywhere.

Looking across to the Giardino Bardini (to right of the old city wall)

Ahhh, Firenze!

The only really friendly cat I met in the whole of Italy! He'd parked himself right by the steps into the Rose Garden, and was accepting adoration from all comers. A character cat.

Florence - 5 April

Evening snack in the apartment in Florence

Apartment -everything I need

Writing this on the train for Florence. I forgot to validate my ticket, I was so worried I would miss the train, then realised that I don't have to validate my ticket if I have a seat reservation, but although I have a seat reservation it turned out to be academic because there are no carriage or seat numbers on this train! Ah, Italian bureaucracy.

Little things sent to try me today. I tried to access my emails last night in Rome but the @ sign is in a completely different place from NZ. Rome has very few public internet facilities; wi-fi is OK and quite widely available, but you need your own device, and in some cases, an Italian telephone account. Hopefully Florence will be better.

Arrived in the city after a long slow train ride. I forgot that there are 'treni veloce' only at certain times of day (and more expensive) so I just got an ordinary slowish train. I found the apartment without much trouble, and there was a charming young lady to meet me, Irena, the sister-in-law of the owner's daughter's husband. They had left me a bottle of wine, so after a visit to the nearby supermarket I had my first Florentine meal. 

Superficial differences between Rome and Florence:

Women's clothing more subdued in Florence, lots of beige and black. Roman women are fond of bling and bright colours.

"Intellectual" type of male more prominent, more beards and sloppier clothing, sort of a contemporary beatnik style.

Gardens - Tuscans have not buried their peasant roots. Coming in on the train past lots of well-tended allotments and plantations of  plants being grown on for the nursery trade. Gardening seems to be a more popular pastime here than in Rome.

Bicycles everywhere. The main city area is flat and it's easier to find a park for a bike. Romans don't seem to cycle much, probably because it's a bigger city and they all take the Metro or buses.

Someone is rehearsing a Beethoven piano sonata, and there are lots of book shops. Oh, joy!

St John Lateran - 4 April

My neighbourhood market in Via Cesare Balbo.

 Awoken this morning about 6.30 by a thunderstorm that banged back the shutters. At first I thought someone was taking flash photographs but it proved to be lightening. The merchants in the market all scurried for cover. They start setting up in the street below about 5.30, so they were delayed in finishing this morning.

This fountain on the corner runs all day and night with good drinkable water. The vegetable sellers wash their vegetables and fruit in it too. 

  Today I went to San Giovanni Laterano, Saint John Lateran, the Pope's "home" church and his seat as Bishop of Rome. Went slightly off track, took Via Carlo Alberto instead of Via Merulana, and ended up at Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, west through Piazza Vittorio Emanuele. My old Lonely Planet says that this is a 'boisterous ethnic food market" but not now it seems. The area is run down and seedy, but was probably a fashionable area at the end of the nineteenth century, when many of the buildings were built.

    Santa Croce in Gerusalemme is the church built by St. Helena to house her collection of relics of the Cross that she had found in Jerusalem. It's rather a neglected church, publicity-wise; only the hard-core faithful here, it's well off the tourist track. Most notable for me was the presence of three young, sexy priests! Very fetching they were, tall, slim, swishing around in their long black robes. I can see why some women get the hots for such as they, and of course, their priestly vows of celibacy would only pose a challenge. There's a calendar now of handsome priests - none of them are identified by name or location, and of course it may be a put-on, all posed by models.  The no.1 pin-up at the moment is, of course, Papa Francesco. He is already immensely popular, and appears on bookmarks (got one!), calendars and fridge-magnets. Poor old Benedict is well and truly trounced; it's only a matter of time before his merchandise is marked 'reduced to clear'.
   Finally found St John Lateran. Another huge basilica, the oldest church foundation in Rome, but sadly fires, a couple of earthquakes and a massive Baroque-era makeover have destroyed most of the medieval church. The only original part left is the cloister, which has lovely twirly columns with marble inlay, similar to the Cathedral in Palermo. It's hard to photograph these places; they are just so huge.

Don't know this guy, he was just convenient for giving an idea of the scale of the place. This is the main door, only opened on ceremonial occasions.

This was odd. The chapel is dedicated to St Francis receiving the stigmata, a fairly serious subject, but look at the giggling Rococo angels and perky cupids flitting around, a little incongruous I thought.

  Leaving for Florence early tomorrow morning on the train. Be nice to take the weight of my feet for a while.