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Published: August 21st 2008
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Tower
The tower next to the Duomo Florence (Firenze, in Italian) of course. This is the birthplace of the Renaissance, and hometown of Michelangelo (the painter/sculptor, not the ninja turtle). This is a city packed with ancient, medieval, and Renaissance art. It is also a thriving modern city, though not a very big city. Of course Florence’s most important contribution to civilization and the modern world is not its influence on art, science, and religion, it’s most important accomplishment is being the birthplace of gelato, Italy’s own ice cream.
Gelato is good, very very good! It comes in more flavors that I could possibly recite here, but a few of our favorites are Nutella, Caramel, and Menta. There is a gelataria on almost every street in Florence, it is amazing to see so many ice cream shops able to stay in business, the city must eat more gelato than anywhere on earth! I have to say though, and some of you may disagree with me on this, gelato is great and delicious, but I was telling Chelsea last night that I don’t think it is better than Tillamook Ice Cream. I am sure there are some of you reading this right now nodding your heads in agreement.
Tillamook ‘Mudslide’ is so deliciously, obnoxiously, over-the-top chocolately, I have never tasted a better chocolate ice cream. Sorry Italy, gelato is great, but the Northwest has Tillamook! Booyah!
Ok, back to the art. I am not an art lover, I do not get excited about museums full of really old paintings and sculptures. My idea of a vacation is to lay on the beach (mostly in the shade), swim, eat, nap, etc. HOWEVER, there really is something to this Renaissance stuff!
We saw the ‘Duomo’ a 600 year old cathedral, initially designed and built without a roof! They didn’t have the technology to build a dome large enough to cover the building, so they just left if open, confident that someone would devise a way to build the necessary dome. Well, someone did (sorry, his name escapes me) and the resulting dome is MINDBLOWING! On the inside of the dome is the largest Renaissance painting, showing Heaven, Earth, and Hell. Hell is a cute place with Satan eating people, and demons putting hot and sharp things into rather uncomfortable places. If this didn’t scare people into becoming Catholic I don’t know what would. The Duomo’s dome inspired domed
Renaissance roofs across Europe.
Our one full day in Florence was PACKED! We saw 3 museums (San Marco, Bargello, and the Uffizi), shopped till we dropped (I bought a pink pullover because I am that comfortable with my masculinity, and Chelsea thinks it’s cute) and drank wine on a city square as the sun went down and the warm concrete kept out backsides cozy.
The San Marco museum was interesting, it is in a monastery and we were able to see the cells that the monks lived and worked in. Each one had a different depiction of Christ’s crucifixion on the wall, and it wasn’t hard to imagine monks praying, meditating, and studying under the constant image of Jesus on the cross.
Bargello was full of great sculptures. There was a cast bronze scene of John the Baptist being beheaded that was very intense. The look on the face of the executioner was so shocking I had to take a picture even though I wasn’t supposed to. For the most part I followed the rules about picture taking, but sometimes I couldn’t help myself :p One interesting piece was a large metal cannon, very ornately decorated, with head
of Paul the Apostle sticking out of the back, it was a little strange.
The Uffizi was incredible! It was 3 floors of medieval, early Renaissance, and High Renaissance art. We followed Rick Steve’s audio guides on our iPods (saved the $10 from not renting the museums audio guides) and saw firsthand the most impressive collection of art in Italy. There were Leonardo’s, Botticelli’s, Michelangelo’s, Raffael’s, and many other masters. Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” (you’ve seen it, the naked chick standing on a seashell) was so impressive in person. I really started to appreciate art more seeing the development from flat, dark, gaudy art from the Middle Ages juxtaposed with humanistic, realistic, masterful and emotional art from the Renaissance. Michelangelo was a sculptor, he only painted 2 works, one was the Sistine Chapel ceiling (which we will see in Rome tomorrow) and the other was a scene of the Holy Family, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus with some naked Greek/Roman god looking figures in the background. His ‘Holy Family’ was on display at the Uffizi, and it was so amazing to see someone with such multitalented gifts using them to bring glory to God through art.
This morning we
Ouch.
The morbid creativity of the Florentine's is a little disturbing. saw the single most identifiable piece of Renaissance art, Michelangelo’s ‘David.’ Going into the museum I didn’t know what to expect, but I wasn’t expecting to be that impressed. Well, I was that impressed! The ‘David’ stands 14’ tall in his own domed room, and he is absolutely stunning. We spent more time looking at the ‘David’ than any other single piece of art. He looks real. The way the muscles stand firm underneath the taught skin, the way he looks confident yet pensive as he sizes up Goliath, and the way the veins and tendons stand out, all serve to make this 5,600kg piece of marble look like a real man. I was shocked. Chelsea and I just sat down and stared for probably 20 minutes. I am already excited for our next trip to Florence because I want to see the ‘David’ again.
While I have never hated art, I was never excited about it either. Sculpture was somewhat more interesting due to the 3D nature of it, but I still think I would have chosen a margarita on the beach over an art museum any day of the week. Now though, if it was a REALLY
good art museum, I would have to think long and hard, and it would depend on if it was a margarita made from scratch. No really, I am a changed man, I like art. I really like Renaissance paintings, sculptures, and architecture, they are truly amazing. Don’t tell Chelsea I said that. 😊
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Kelsey
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hey
Things are looking good!