Florence

Firenze
A taxi picked us up at 6:15AM and we were at the Roma Termini by 6:30. We found our train easily and boarded. First Class included spacious seats, folding tables, electrical outlets and free Wi-Fi. We raced through the countryside and were reminded of how beautiful Sonoma County is. We arrived at Santa Maria Novella in 90 minutes. Claudio was waiting. A cheerful and engaging gentleman of maybe 50 years he enthusiastically led us to his car promises of the delights ahead. The Mercedes minivan was comfortable [it sat 8] and well appointed. The air-conditioning was the best we’ve experienced yet and I always had the impression that Mercedes had the worst. Live and learn.
The first order of business was to rearrange our itinerary a bit. He had reserved access to the Accademia first, at 9, then the Uffizi, at 11 and the Pitti Palace at 3PM. He called the Villa San Michele and moved our Lunch up to 1 instead of 2. With a quick spin around the city we were standing in front of the Accademia. As we entered I started move as if I was being pulled along. I looked behind me to see that the others were still there but I did not slow down. Turning to the left as we went through the ticket gate were 6 giant pieces of rough stone. Struggling within were torsos of muscular flesh and course suggestions of tortured faces. Michelangelo’s “unfinished” slaves lined the long corridor leading to DAVID! In between each statue were large Robert Mapplethorpe photographs of muscular nudes in contracted poses contrasting with expansive gestures of the slaves wrestling for freedom from their marble prisons. I started snapping away [without flash] until I heard a strident voice yell “No Photos!” Damn! I hadn’t even reached David. As most of you have already seen this miracle of sculpture you know how large it is. Well it is even larger in my eyes.
I remember many years ago [1972?] when I was visiting my brother in Santa Rosa [I was still in the military] he handed me the Sunday paper as I entered the kitchen for breakfast. The headlines showed a hirsute madman looking every bit like one of Manson’s Family. In an accompanying panel there was Michelangelo’s Pieta. This nut job had smashed the most important sculpture in the world. I was sick to my stomach and my eyes filled with tears. This perfect work created by a 24 year-old genius was defaced as a political statement.
Well, David is well protected [the Pieta is also; it is in a plastic room some 20 feet from the nearest viewer] but you are able to walk all around it and examine every aspect. The huge oversized hand cradling the deadly stone looks so real and relaxed as if to suggest he is about to drop the projectile. His feet with their long toes at eye level seem to big for the figure until you step back and grasp the subtle balance Michelangelo achieved with the understanding that this figure would be viewed most often from below but also often enough from a distance. It is so impressive a creation that I wonder about sculptural endeavors in its wake.
I cannot remember what else we saw at the Accademia; it is all a blur.
At the Uffizi I was following Jim as we entered a large gallery featuring Botticellis… not just any Botticellis but the Birth of Venus and La Primavera. There they were, right there on the walls in front of me. As my eyes moved from one to the other I noticed a young man looking at me with concern, I looked at Jim next to me and then back at the man. I was crying! I could no longer hold it in as I am now trying to do with no one here to even see me weeping. What had taken me so long to come here?
These paintings and sculptures had maintained front offices in my mind since I was 7 years old and discovered the Art section at the public library. We didn’t have books at home. Indeed, I made it through high school having read the bare minimum often resorting to “Clift’s notes” and “Classics Illustrated.” I did not really understand reading until I was well into my 30s. But the Art books I read thoroughly, every chance I had. By the time I was ready [?] for a higher education I chose Art History. I flunked out a short time later because we were supposed to learn other stuff, too. Math, Literature, Science and other required basic courses did me in. Uncle Sam saw to it that I was not without focus for very long.
For the next 40 years I avoided Europe. I felt more akin to the 3rd World. I now know that was a mistake. Had I experienced at 20 what I had experienced yesterday might have changed my life completely. I am gob smacked, weak-kneed, and trembling in the grandeur and art of this remarkable repository of beauty. Thank you, Jim & Dotty; I don’t think there is time enough left in my life to show you the proper appreciation for your extraordinary and insightful generosity.
I fell like I am the last person I know who has not seen these things and writing about their beauty and worth is preaching to the choir. But I will write anyway. I promised.
The Uffizi is dazzling in its size and scope. These “offices” contain so much that it would take weeks to properly appreciate their offerings. All the superstars, Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Rafaello, Del Sarto, Caravaggio, are here. The galleries them selves are works of art. But wait, we have the Pitti Palace to see.
This was a completely different “gallery” experience. The first thing you notice is the room as all the galleries are rooms of a palace. The art and sculpture are merely decorations. One enters a receptions area 8 sculpted fawns clinging to the ornate ceiling supporting the largest chandelier I have ever scene. Huge velvet curtains adorn the windows and doorways. Elaborate rugs cover every inch of floor and candelabra light every nook. And there on the wall in a simple gilt frame hung there because it filled that space is the most beautiful Raphael Madonna and Child [Madonna del Granduca] you could imagine. No museum highlight, no special room, no velvet cordon; it just hangs there on the wall. Oh, yeah, there are probably another ½ dozen Raphaels there as well as Del Sarto and Perugino.
This post is only part 1 of Florence so stay tuned.