Florence & Siena

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Having seen Michelangelo's David before, I was unsure whether I would be as awestruck as I was the first time. In an unexpected turn of events, I actually found myself even more spellbound than I was four years ago. The sheer scale of this masterpiece (which he completed when he was only 29!) is what struck me first, but once I got closer and studied the perfect form of what I had to keep reminding myself was stone, not flesh and bone, I could only marvel at Michelangelo's knowledge of the human body, such as how certain muscles are tensed in relation to the position of how the body is poised, right down to which veins are vasodilated. In every way, this marble statue is superb. I had to concur with a statement from another artist from Michelangelo's era, where he stated something along the lines that there is no point in trying to create a statue of man anymore, as David is perfect and shall never be surpassed. Within the same gallery that houses David, there was a wonderful collection of medieval intruments from the Medici court, including three created by the hand of Antonio Stradivari.

During our stay in Florence we also visited the Uffizi Gallery. This involved lining up in an incredibly slow moving queue that took a total of two and a half hours until the time arrived when we were ushered inside! The highlights from this gallery were definitely the works of Botticelli, in particular 'Nascita di Venere' (Birth of Venus) and 'Primavera' (Spring), along with the room dedicated to the works of Raphael. The colours used by Michelangelo in his painting 'Tondo Doni' were stunning in their vibrance and seemed to possess an almost luminescent quality.

Florence will always be known as the place where the Renaissance came to life; however, I believe it should also be known for its tasty calzone! I devoured at least one per day and will find it hard to not be able to eat at my favourite Firenze haunt again - although I don't know how much more my body could have ingested.

From Florence we went to Siena, which is now my favourite Tuscan city. Siena is situated just over an hour south of Florence and is located in stereotypical Tuscan countryside. I completely fell in love with this Gothic city and feel that we left only all too soon. The city already had my tick of approval as it was the first European city to forbid cars from driving in the heart of the city - in 1966! The medieval part of the town, which is essentially everything within the old city wall, is a Unesco World Heritage Site and I happily spent many hours wandering its winding streets. Siena is the birthplace of Saint Catherine, who is not only the patron saint of Italy (along with Saint Francis of Assisi), but is also the patron saint of Europe. As a result, there are some interesting things to see from her life, such as where she grew up, which now houses a beautiful chapel. However, I got more than I bargained for when I went to Chiesa Di San Domenico (a rather large church). I will begin by stating that at first I saw the chain that Saint Catherine used to flagellate herself. Next to this chain (which was in a glass box) was Saint Catherine's thumb! The Catholic Church used to have a tradition of spreading the body of a Saint around to various important places in their life. Given the fact that Saint Catherine died roughly 600 years ago, the thumb was in a rather dessicated state. As weird as this all was to me, I was not too perturbed by what I had seen. This all changed when I moved into a side chapel within the church, where sits the HEAD of Saint Catherine in a box! Her actual head, separated from her body, which is in Rome. The past six centuries have taken their toll on the state of Saint Catherine's head, which has resulted in a few of her upper teeth being able to be seen quite clearly. I am still worried that I am going to have nightmares from seeing this head. I know it's a holy head, but all the same, I'm still quite freaked out by it. I felt like it was looking right at me, even though the lids are shut. It was very unsettling.

Moving away from the matter of dead saints, an enjoyable event that we witnessed on Sunday evening was a festival that meandered through the streets and piazzas of the city. We could hear some drumming in the streets, so we went to the sound and witnessed a hundred or so men in medieval garb (blue tights and tunics) waving massive flags. Interspersed within the throng were also about a hundred men playing drums. For many hours they marched through the streets, drawing an enormous crowd. Whenever they reached a piazza, they spread into a formation and would hurl their flags high into the air, either catching their own or cleverly exchanging flags with another person by the direction of their throw. It was an enthralling spectacle and I felt like I had stepped back about 500 years in time.

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