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Published: November 12th 2007
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The weekend was made to order, as if the gods and goddesses themselves had commanded the great Italian painters to create these days for us. Swaths of bright blue sky outline grand, ornate buildings. Splashes of sunshine turned everything golden and shimmery. Meanwhile, Mother Nature continued her march towards winter, showing brilliant reds and yellows in the leaves fluttering down in our wake.
Firenze is just like you would think it would be....old men and beautiful young women riding their bicycles, with baskets attached to the front, through cobbled streets. Each morning, men and women in orange jackets swept the sidewalks with rustic brooms. In Firenze, all senses are overwhelmed with sights and colours and smells. Everywhere we turned there would be little flourishes that made an ordinary building a lot less ordinary. Statues and al fresco paintings are incorporated into the everyday landscape. It is like opening up a small present at every turn.
And then we turn a corner and nestled high between buildings, we found ourselves staring at the Duomo. We got in line to walk up the Duomo's 437 steps to the top of the dome, which was designed by Fillipo Brunelleschi. Imagining the people
Street Cleaners
Men cleaning the streets before the morning crowds. for whom the steps were originally designed -- carpenters, and stone layers, and painters, and sculptors, we couln't help but enjoy every step (that, and there are lots of rest stops where we could walk around the interior of the dome before making our way up to the next level). The ceiling is painted in magnificent scenes by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari depicting the Last Judgment. Near the top of the dome, angels, and the righteous watch as demons take unbelievers to a fiery hell down below.
After a few more steps, up a narrow stairwell (which is the only stairwell heading to the top of the dome, so it is a good thing neither of us are claustrophobic or have a fear of coming in to close contact with strangers!), we reached a door taking us out to the top of the Duomo. Breathtaking views allowed us to see everything, from the Bell Tower next door, to other grand cathedrals in Firenze, to the Piazza della Republica, and the Tuscan hills covered in grapes.
If food was art, the baristas and cooks in Florence would also be the artists....in the morning we would belly up to
the bar and order perfection in a cup--espresso topped with a dollop of steamed milk, and cappucinos with silky white thick foam. Lunch was pizza. We were packed into a little pizzeria, brown picnic tables and benches lined both walls of the pizzeria, leaving just enough room for Jason and I to get up to the tall counter to order 2 slices of pizza margherita. The only English spoken here was "4 euro, please." We took our seats on the crowded benches, and savoured each bite.
Fortified, we headed to the Basilica di Santa Croce, a cathedral covered in art. The Basilica di Santa Croce is the burial place of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Gentile, and Rossini. While Dante is buried elsewhere, the Basilica di Santa Croce holds a monument honoring Dante within the church and a statue honoring Dante in front of the church. Inside, everywhere you look there is art, famous art by famous artists.
After the Basilica di Santa Croce, we walked along the River Arno to the Ponte Vecchio Bridge. The Ponte Vecchio is a stone bridge that was built over the Arno in 1345. It is the only Florentine bridge not destroyed by the
Germans in 1944. The bridge is replete with jewelry and gold shops, which have resided on the bridge since the 15th Century when Cosimo Medici I banned butchers from operating on the bridge. The bridge is also replete with people.
On Sunday, we headed to the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall of Firenze and former residence of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the most famous of the de Medicis. (The de Medicis ruled Florence for more than 100 years and, along with the Pope, funded the Renaissance, basically). It should be known as an art gallery. Every wall, and every ceiling is covered in beautiful art. Many of the frescoes and paintings depicted life in 15th century Florence. The most memorable room depicted the four elements, earth on the north wall, fire on the east - which included the room's fireplace, water and the south wall, and air on the west wall - whose window overlooked the River Arno.
Our airport was in Pisa. Naturally, we made a side trip to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa and to eat Pizza in Pisa. The Leaning Tower of Pisa was what you would expect: lots of people from all over the
world posing in front of it.
Both the natural beauty of the place along with the art will make Firenze a place we will never forget. It balances out the atrocious in the world.
Some questions for you, dear ones
What is art?
What is beauty?
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Robin
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Art and Beauty
Art is a guy I went to high school with. Beauty is something we can see any time depending on what we think feels good to our eyes. Beauty to me is usually something that's been created by an artist, whoever made the mountains and the seas is/was and artist