A Visit with The David

We had a nice drive through Tuscany from the port of Carrara to Florence.  The wooded hillsides are lovely, although Karl didn't see too many of them as he dozed a good part of the way due to being up too late the night before.

The only place we had a ticket for was to the Accademia, the museum that houses one of my favorite pieces of art.

For me, it was all about Michelangelo and his works at the museum today.

And I'm just going to let the photos speak for themselves.  You'll either like them or you won't.  This sculptures in these photos are called "The Prisoners".

One more Prisoner,

and a later Pieta sculpture.  It's a much different version than the beautifully polished one in St. Peter's Basilica.

But the star for me is always the David.

I think this is the third time I've been here but every time I see David

I am amazed at the beauty, detail and power of this piece of art.

And to think Michelangelo learned how to create sculpted human figures by dissecting cadavers.

I always like to look in his eyes when I'm there, to see how determined he is.

Just a couple more angles.  It's hard to believe that it was completed when its artist was only 26 years old, in 1504.  David actually stood outdoors in the Piazza della Signoria until 1873 when it was finally moved indoors. 

After leaving the museum we walked to the Duomo di Firenze, or Florence Cathedral.  Begun in 1296 it was not completed until 1870 and even now the interior feels rather empty.

The exterior is pretty amazing though.

The Baptistery with Ghiberti’s Bronze Doors is a great place to wander by with their groundbreaking  11th century art that added depth to such pieces for the first time.  

Some details from the panels which tell different Bible stories.

It’s not surprising it took him 27 years to complete this project.

Next to the Duomo is the usual campanile, or bell tower, this one built by Giotto in the 1300s.  Some say that he was the ugliest man to have ever lived in Florence but that he designed what many say is the most beautiful bell tower in Europe, known as Giotto’s Tower.

Crowds were lined up for a look inside today, as well as for everything else.

The dome is my favorite part of the structure.  By the 15th century much of the church was complete but no one knew how to build a dome to cover the huge hole in the center. In 1422, after studying the dome of the Pantheon in Rome, Florentine Filippo Brunelleschi brilliantly designed and began executing the construction of this dome that took fourteen years to complete.  It became the model for Michelangelo’s dome on St. Peter’s about which he said “I’ll make its sister…bigger, but not more beautiful”.

We wandered on to Piazza della Signoria, which was the main civic center of Florence and is where you will find the Palazzo Vecchio the fortified palace and town hall that was once home to the Medici family.  It was and is a symbol of civic power. 

We'd met up with Wigrens and Milllers by this point and all of us were ready to sit down and have some delicious Italian food.  Everything here at Antico Fattore fit the bill as we enjoyed our leisurely lunch with them as well as LeaAnn and Chuck.

We decided next to take a walk to the Ponte Vecchio.

Behind us is the famous bridge over a narrow place in the Arno that is lined with gold and silver shops.  The current version was built in 1345 after the old one was washed away in a flood.  By the 1500’s the Medici’s had kicked out the butchers and hide-tanners whose shops were on the bridge where they emptied their waste products in the river, replacing them with more upscale gold and silversmiths.  Ponte Vecchio is so iconic that even though the Nazis blew up every bridge in Florence as they retreated during WW2 they left this one intact.  And with that, we’ll make our own retreat back to Carrara. 

LeaAnn and I looked around on the bridge, had a reciprocal photo taken there, but didn't buy anything except little wooden Pinocchios, much as I love pretty jewelry it's just not something I wear much.

It was time to head back to the bus for our trip to Pisa so we

walked along the Arno to get there.  Who knew there were these little falls on the river?

Pisa was about an hour by bus from Florence.  Unfortunately they can't park anywhere close to The Field of Miracles where  we needed to go so we were off on another 20 minute walk.

The colors here were pretty stunning today.   The Field of Miracles complex here in Pisa is the most visited site in the city as it has the typical Italian combo of duomo, bell tower and baptistry, plus a hospital (now museum) and a cemetery .  All are built in a style known as Pisan Romanesque which has a lighter look to it than just Romanesque architecture.  In the 12th century this area was one of the most impressive in the world.

We caught up with Heidi, Mark, Jolyn & Peter again here and we got a sister selfie to send home to Mom and Dad.

It took until 1999 to figure out how to stop the tower from learning.  The last time I was here there were braces all around it and no one was allowed to climb it at all.  Now they allow 300 people a day into the tower.

This iconic inclined structure took 200 years to build, has eight stories, an inner core that is hollow and weighs 14,000 tons.  It was begun in 1173 and by the time the base and first arcade were completed five years later it was already leaning.  In the 1990’s work was begun to completely stabilize the tower until finally by 2001 engineers had figured out the best way to do it (it involved drilling holes and moving out tons of dirt to make the north side sink) and finished the task.  

It’s believed after being stabilized, repaired and cleaned the tower now looks much like it did 400 years ago when Galileo performed his experiments.

One final shot of the Baptistry as I made my way back to the bus for our final hours of driving to return to port.  Farewell until next time Firenze and Pisa!