Florence Field Trips

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Hello everyone! I realize these next few entries are WAY overdue, but I am back from Christmas break and finally have internet access to my laptop, where everything is saved, so I will try to be very efficient in updating you all on my travels. Enjoy!

I went to Florence twice for field trips. Each time we went to museums and churches to view the changes in Renaissance art. I really liked Florence a lot; it is a large city but wandering around the center it has a small town feel and a quietness that Rome doesn’t have. My first trip to Florence my Michelangelo art history class took the train into the Santa Maria Novella train station and met our teacher on the platform, then we went to the Bargello museum to view statues carved by Michelangelo. The Bargello houses the Pitti Tondo, Apollo, and the Bacchus by Michelangelo. I went once for each field trip and during the second trip I was also able to see the bronze plates created for the East Baptistery doors competition and the David statue by Donatello. I will not bore you all with a long detailed explanation of the pieces, but they were really interesting to see and I was really excited because most of those pieces were created around the same time as America was discovered, some are even older, so it was a neat experience. Other things I saw in Florence were the San Lorenzo church which includes the Medici burial chapel, Santa Croce church, Santa Maria Novella church, frescoes by Masaccio in the Brancacci chapel, the Accademia museum, and the Uffizi gallery. Most of these house priceless pieces of art, like La Primavera and other Boticelli paintings and the David by Michelangelo.
In Florence I also had time to see the Palazzo Vecchio, the Ponte Vecchio for some shopping, and the Florence Cathedral. There are so many old piazzas to see and explore and almost every building is covered in statues and gargoyles. Sorry this update is so lame, mostly I just went where ever my teacher took me and then went shopping in the little free time that I had, so there isn’t that much to relate, and, unfortunately, I didn’t write this entry right after I went, so I’m sure I have forgotten some stuff. I think I have more pictures of things than adventures to relate…so I guess you will just have to look at them.
The second time I went to Florence I went with my Italian Renaissance Art class and it was an overnight trip. It also rained the ENTIRE time. It was kind of miserable at times because we were all so cold and wet. I went to many of the same museums on both trips, but saw different things, so it was still all new. It was kind of nice to have a couple of interesting trips that I didn’t have to plan; I just had to follow along and not get lost. I wanted to see many of the things we went to anyway, and how awful can a field trip to Florence really be?

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Photos

Florence Cathedral and Baptistry
The dome in the background is the Cathedral. Both of these buildings are very large!

Bell Tower
The bell tower is in the same piazza as the Cathedral and Baptistry...they are like a set.

Baptisry Doors
we studied the bronze reliefs on the outside for Renaissance class

Cathedral
here is a different view

Bargello Museum
there are a lot of Michelangelo statues in here.

Palazzo Vecchio
Palazzo Vecchio means "Old Palace" this at one time was a palace, a jail, and government buildings (I think that is what it is today)

Statues
Statues by Palazzo Vecchio

Plaque
This commemorates where Savonarola was killed...

Cleaning Statues
This is where the copy of the David is and the statue of Hercules...good thing I went to see the real thing, because the fake was covered for cleaning!

Statue
graphic huh?

Ponte Vecchio
notice a theme of "Vecchio"? this is the "old Bridge" there are shops that line it.

Inside the Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery is one of the most prestigious art museums for Italian Renaissance--very cool museum