Italy - Florence

My last post for this trip is about Florence. I took the train up to Florence from Rome, and on the high-speed train it's only about an hour and a half ride. Again, you can check times for the rail system at www.virail.it. Given my short time in Italy it was actually kind of nice to be able to see more of the country through the windows of the train on the ride up, so I'd recommend taking a train ride at some point in your own trip. As I mention in the first post on Planning and Tips for Travel, you'll want to download Rick Steves' audio tours and maps before you go. I hadn't planned on having time for the short trip to Florence, so I didn't do it beforehand, but we wish I had. I've got the links here for your convenience -

Florence Audio Tours from Rick Steves' Italy Audio Tours

• Renaissance Walk Tour
  Listen or Download | Download map
• Accademia & Michelangelo's David
  Listen or Download | Download map
• Uffizi Gallery Tour
  Listen or Download | Download map

Florence is commonly referred to as the "birthplace of the Renaissance," and given its massive wealth (due largely to rich families like the Medicis) it had many arts patrons who could finance some massive projects. For more on the history of Florence, check out Lonely Planet's article. My time in Florence was brief, so I didn't do half of the things we wanted to do, but it was still a great time. I did see the beautiful and architectural masterpiece built by Brunelleschi. National Geographic did a story on the dome's history, which is fascinating, given that the city built the massive church before the technology existed to create a dome that would cover such a great expanse. With rain falling into the cathedral, it is certainly true in the case of the Duomo that "necessity is the mother of invention," and in 1420 the designer Brunelleschi proposed a nested two-dome design which the church fathers cautiously commissioned. When climbing to the top you get an idea of just how massive of a project it must have been, and you realize when seeing the frescoed ceiling up close just how large the paintings are.

Up close picture of one of the faces in the dome. This guy's head is about as big as me.

The Last Judgment fresco. Check out this blog for more on the artwork inside the cupola.

There are over 400 steps to get to the top, so eat your Wheaties the morning you prepare to visit.

 

View from the top...

Makes you feel like the Assassin from Assassin's Creed 2... I admit I'm a fan. If you are too check out this video juxtaposing Assassin's Creed 2 segments with the real shots of the city. The game designers really did an amazing job.

 

After the Duomo, I walked over to see the Baptistry of St. John's, which is right in front of the Duomo. This is a must-see, and be sure to check out the famous doors of the Baptistry. Although they're copies now, Ghiberti's "Gates of Paradise" depicts 10 Old Testament stories.

The scenes are 3D.

For more on the doors and the inside of the Baptistry, check out Sacred Destination's article.

Once inside you have to sit down and look up a lot at all of the scenes. Be sure to grab a pamphlet inside the doors on the left so you know what is being depicted on the ceiling's beautiful (and sometimes terrifying) mosaics.

Small chapel altar inside the Baptistry.

The mosaic of Christ is amazing as he sits in judgment of the world. To his left you can see a terrifying image of hell.

A look up into the dome. For a good description of the different scenes depicted, check out the Web Gallery of Art.

Some statues inside the Baptistry.

Check out the terrifying image of hell on the bottom row... Here's a brief description of what's happening.

After that we walked through some shops and visited some of the street market vendors on our way over to the famous Ponte Vecchio, which is a stone bridge lined with shops. You can read a brief history of the bridge on Lonely Planet's review. Today it's pretty much entirely gold shops, so if you're in the market for a watch or some jewelry, this is definitely a stop you'll want to make.

View from the bridge overlooking the Arno river.

The bridge is pretty crowded... watch for pickpockets.

After that we walked around and shopped for a while. I got some shoes and a chess board. Florence is known for its gold, leather, and many fashion stores. If you're into shopping this is your place. Check out this Conde Nast Traveller article on where to shop if that's the case for you.

Apparently waffles are a thing in Florence. I had never had gelato sandwiched in between two waffles before. Check...

Gotta have Florentine steak in Florence, right? I found a good restaurant that I reviewed here.

I don't really have anyplace to put this, but we happened to walk by this nondescript apartment after walking through the Ponte Vecchio and found that this is the apartment where Dostoevsky wrote one of my favorite novels, The Idiot. I wouldn't have noticed had I not seen another person taking a picture of it!

The last stop before heading home was to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, which after serving as a personal residence for members of the Medici family and the Riccardi family, then briefly the capital of Italy after the unification of Italy, is now a museum and sometimes a meeting place for city leaders.

It was definitely one of my favorite stops, although I only stumbled upon it after walking by it and figuring we should see something related to the famous banking family. It has a lot of classical work and some very intriguing modern art pieces as well, which (in spite of my lack of interest in modern art) I found to be pretty cool. Inside you can see the famous Chapel of the Magi by Bennozzo Gozzoli (no pictures allowed, sorry) which is a beautiful Renaissance frescoed chapel that is definitely worth visiting. You can see some of the fresco walls here though. There's also a really neat interactive simulation set up outside the chapel which is set up kind of like a Wii where you can point to different parts of the fresco and listen to explanations of what is being depicted on that part of the painting.

Here are some of the highlights from the visit -

Cool ceramic art piece depicting the Tower of Babel.

"Kiss" by Xu Hong-fei. This was part of a traveling exhibit at the museum that was pretty cool. It's part of his "Chubby Charms" series, which have traveled around the world. Here's an article from when they were in London.

There are also some classic pieces and some really valuable stuff as well, like this (purple marble again) basin...

I loved this golfing one... it's called Good Job.

And this one too... apparently I share a love of golfing and motorcycle riding with the Chubby Charms...

...and cycling. The sculptures just make you feel joy.

Lots of classical statues to see here as well.

There is a great hall on the first floor overlooking the garden that was frescoed by Luca Giordano. On the ceiling is the Apotheosis of Medici. Apparently they thought very highly of themselves... pun intended.

It's easier to snap a picture of the description of the Galleria than explain it.

A scene from the Galleria.

Council meetings are still held from time to time in the tapestry room.

See?

Shot of The Apotheosis of the Medici from underneath the fresco.

 

While you're there, don't miss peaking inside the salon on the first floor, where negotiations between Charles VIII and the Florentine elite took place after the Medici family ceded this palace to him, resulting in the family's banishment from Florence for the shame of stooping to his demands. After Charles VIII's demands became too great and he threatened that the city would be sacked once he called for his trumpets to sound, Senator Pier Capponi supposedly said "If you sound your trumpets we shall toll our bells!" The Florentine leaders then vacated the negotiations, prompting Charles to call them back into the salon, as he didn't want to risk the revolt of the entire city. Read more about the history of the encounter and what happened at the Province of Florence's website.


 

 

The stay was too short, and these are of course just a few things to do. While admittedly a terrible thing to miss, I didn't make it to see Michelangelo's famous David sculpture in the Galleria dell Academia. The line was simply too long and I didn't make it there in time to get through the line. There were many other things I didn't have time to do, which you can research on Lonely Planet ahead of time. Still, I enjoyed the experience and it was a nice day trip. I took the last train back to Rome and headed to my favorite restaurant again, Tema, back in Rome.

Relaxing in the streets of Rome after our day trip.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip to Italy. If this is the first post you've checked out, there are four other posts you can check out as well. If you go there, please share your experiences with us.

Thanks for reading!

Italy - Planning and Tips for Travel

Italy - Minturno

Italy - Rome

Italy - Vatican City
 

Italy - Vatican City

Seeing the Vatican was at the top of my list of things I wanted to do in Rome. Although it's not just St. Peter's Basilica that attracts visitors, the Vatican Museums are also a huge pull, and there is more art on display there than you have time to truly see in a day. 

If you know nothing about Vatican City, you probably are aware that it is the world's smallest country and is an enclave inside Rome. Also referred to as the "Holy See," the Vatican has a population of less than 1000 people and, according to the CIA World Factbook, takes up less space than the National Mall in Washington, D.C. As I pointed out in the Rome post, this is not actually where the Pope's cathedral rests. That's in St. John's Lateran. Lateran refers to a number of things, such as the Laterni family and the palace that used to be there, but in this context it refers to the Lateran Treaty, which created the papal enclave and allowed it to separate from the rest of Italy after Italian unification in the 1800s. For a long time the Pope considered himself a prisoner inside the walls of the Vatican until the Lateran Treaties set up Vatican City as a fully sovereign nation, still the world's smallest country in geographic area and in population. My own small town of Xenia, OH dwarfs it by comparison. Here's a good map of the Vatican so you can orient yourself.

Click here to view a larger version of this map.

Some tips for visiting the Vatican

Be sure to book ahead of time for the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel (which is actually an exhibit inside the museum) so you don't have to wait in the long line. It's a bit of a jungle at the Vatican!

One thing I did ahead of time (but unfortunately forgot to bring with me) was to download Rick Steves' audio tours of St. Peter's Basilica. You can also download his Sistine Chapel Tour and map ahead of time for the visit.

Rick has a number of audio tours that you can download for free for Italy (and Rome in particular) and other European destinations. I'd recommend downloading those ahead of time and printing off the maps or saving them as pictures on your phone. The map for St. Peter's is here. I also updated our Planning and Tips for Travel post on Italy to include links to other sites in Italy for which he's created audio tours in case you'd like to know how to find them. Be sure to watch the Rick Steves Europe video Rome: Baroque Brilliance, which highlights a number of the stops you can see so you can get an idea of what you want to be sure to see in person when you get there.

Vising the Vatican was a really cool experience, and I'm sure everyone has things they found special. It was especially neat being there only a year into Pope Francis' papacy. As the first Jesuit Pope (see more in my Rome post about this religious order or check out this informative piece from CNN on the impact of the Jesuits), Pope Francis has chosen to forgo many of traditional trappings of the office in favor of a more humble papacy and seems to have a keen understanding of the symbolic power of the choices he makes in how he carries out his papacy. A good video and story about his choice not to live in the papal apartments from CNN can be viewed here. One of the more interesting things about being in Rome was just how much people love Francis. You can't help but feel a little sorry for Pope Emeritus Benedict, as his predecessor John Paul II and the Francis clearly outshine him. You can easily find tons of vendors selling JPII and Pope Francis stuff everywhere, but Benedict souvenirs are a bit more difficult to come by.

Below are some pictures highlighting some of the things I personally thought were the most interesting about our visit.

View of the obelisk and St Peter's Basilica as we stand in line for St Peter's. The lines are long, and beware of pickpockets.

A panorama doesn't do it justice, but it's still a breathtaking view. I've been told the design of St. Peter's "square" (which is not square) was meant to represent the arms of the Church reaching out to the world to welcome you into its embrace. It kind of felt that way.

The basilica up close. Christ is in the middle, flanked by the twelve apostles along the roof.

Inside the basilica it's a tradition to touch the feet of St. Peter.

Bernini's Baroque Baldachin (or altar canopy). Much more brilliant in person.

A look up into the dome of St. Peter's, designed by Michelangelo.

Jesus flanked by his apostles. Through here was a cool stop you should see... Again, listen to Rick Steves' free audio tour while you're inside for all the things I'm not pointing out.

Michelangelo's Pieta.

St. Peter stands outside holding the keys of the Church. For more on Catholic theology regarding St. Peter, check out this reading.

A better view of the basilica and St. Peter.

Inside the Vatican Museums now. This is a map from the Galleria delle Carte Geografiche (Gallery of Maps).

A picture of Jesus... I'm not an art expert by any means, and I can't remember which gallery this was in. You'll have to visit yourself and get the audio tour. Many of the exhibits have numbers, and if you decide to purchase the audio tours when you get there, you'll see numbers next to many of the pieces of art where you can listen to more specific details about certain artifacts.

The Vatican has a huge collection of Egyptian art.

If you recall the purple marble I talked about earlier, you'll remember how heavy it was. This is Nero's bath, made completely out of that really expensive marble... I can't begin to imagine how heavy it is.

There are many amazing frescoes to see inside the Vatican. The Cappella Niccolina has quite a few.

View from the Borgia apartments.

The School of Athens Fresco is in the Stanze di Raffaello.

Closer view of Plato and Aristotle.

Who knew one of The Thinker sculptures was in the Modern Art exhibit?

Modern Art exhibit in the Borgia apartments was one of my favorites...

OK, part of the reason I liked it was because we like watching the often pseudo-historical show The Borgias on Netflix, so it was cool being in the Borgia apartments.

There was a whole room of modern art dedicated to sculptures of popes.

I thought this one was particularly interesting.

A work by Fernando Botero entitled "Trip to the Ecumenical Council" from 1972 in the modern art exhibit. This was one of my favorites for some reason...

I just liked it.

There's so much to see at the Vatican, these are just a few of the ones I really enjoyed. I hope your visit is as much fun as mine was!

Last post for this trip is Florence - check it out!