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| Perseus with the head of Medusa, by Cellini (1554) |
So, you’re on your way to
Florence, Italy. Good choice.
By the way, Italians call it Firenze
(Fear-in-say). How long have you
got? A year? A month?
At least a week? What, only a few
hours? Pity drips from my every pore. To me, even more than Rome, Florence is the heart of Italy.
With only a few hours, better
get started and I mean a year before you go.
If you don’t know what you’re looking at, you’re only a dull dog
watching TV. Read a couple of thousand
books, become an authority on Michelangelo, Botticelli, Donatello, and dozens
of other Renaissance artists. Bone up
on the Medicis, Machiavelli and other Italian political powers.
Think I’m joking? There are some twenty major museums in Firenze.
That doesn’t count wandering the streets, and visiting the Ponte
Vecchio, perhaps one of the top ten famous bridges of the world. Bring credit cards, P.V. is a throng of jewelry shops. Oh, yeah, there’s the Plazzio Vecchio Musuem
and tower.
Don’t feel like standing in
line for tickets to the world famous Uffizi Gallery Museum? Get your ticket online. Of course, the Uffizi has some 45 corridors,
so if you get there in the morning, be sure to switch the lights off when you
leave.
We had only four hours? Who’s the prankster? You could spend four hours just waiting in
line at the Uffizi.
So, what can you do to
entertain yourself in the blink of an Italian eye? I pondered that question. Simple mind.
Simple answer.
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| Piazza dela Signoria, compliments of Wikipedia |
The Piazza dela Signoria is a
good place to start. Lots to see,
including The David
by Michelangelo, which is in front of the Palazzo Vecchio (Old Palace). The original is in the Galleria
dell'Accademia. Lots of other statues in the Piazza dela
Signoria, in fact too many to list. And, that goes for the rest of Florence!
It was here that the Bonfire
of the Vanities took place. Nope, not
talking about Tom Wolfe’s 1990 novel.
This real life bonfire was lit by a Dominican priest, Girolamo Savonarola,
who wanted to rid society of every temptation to sin, including everything that
had to do with vanity. Books. Cosmetics.
Mirrors. Paintings.
Etc-freaking-cetera. In the end,
Savonarola got what was coming to him.
Denounced by the Inquisition, he was burned at the stake. The place of
his conflagration is marked in the piazza.
Which makes a good point. Without
getting too political, time marches on and humans are humans. Want to stop time, or stop humans from being
human? Good luck. Been tried.
In my often-inebriated opinion, the good and the bad of humanity are
with us to stay. A corollary: often, both good and bad are moving targets
and truth goes along for the ride. Name
a topical triumph or defeat and you’ll easily find humans who long to reverse
the decision.
I say, forget those things we
cannot change and go have a pizza and a wine.
In Florence, no problem.
After shopping for leather
coats, and being blinded by tears when I saw the price tags, it was time to
find a cool spot for a tall cool one.
And, by tall cool one, I only wish I were talking about the raven
haired, dark-eyed beauties swishing by in diaphanous skirts and blouses. Father Savonarola, you must be burning over
in your grave.
But, no, I’m talking about
wine and beer. Take what you get and
remain the portrait of grace and tranquility.
Rested after a leisurely wine or two?
Time to move on.
Maybe you’d like to idle a
few moments visiting the final resting places of the giants. Michelangelo, Dante, Rossini, Galileo, among
many others. Trot over to the Basilica
di Santa Croce. Don’t worry, Florence is compact, so it’s an easy walk. But, touring the basilica will take awhile. Purchase a map at the entry to avoid missing
the highlights.
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| Basilica di Santa Croce |
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| Galileo's Tomb |
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| Michelangelo's Tomb |
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| Dante's Tomb |
It’s hot. You’re sweaty and tired again. Time is almost up. You have one more mission-that’s-possible,
and you’re a fool, Ethan Hunt, if you don’t accept it. In a word:
Gelato!
You’ve heard of the frozen,
Italian confection, but maybe you always thought, “Ah, what the hell, just
another word for ice cream.” Is that your
final answer? Lots of differences. Gelato has less fat (5 to 7% instead of 10%),
less air (25% vs 50%), and isn’t frozen as solidly. The differences add up to a more intense
flavor. But, do they have sugar-free,
lactose-free, calorie-free, made only from sustainable plants, sold at
fair-market prices, in factories where workers are paid a living wage, and have
free healthcare, including contraceptive devices???? Gosh, I don’t know. I’ll have two scoops while I do the research.
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