Museums: The Bargello

One of the best art museums in Florence is the Bargello, a 13th century fortress. 

It houses some of Italy's greatest gothic and Renaissance art treasures--paintings, sculptures and more. 

   

We toured the Bargello and plan to visit again and again.  Here are a few photos.

Interior courtyard of the Bargello

Oceanus, or Neptune, by Giambologna, took years to sculpt.

P.S.  A large segment of Florentine Renaissance art is politically symbolic.  Many of the same figures are sculpted or painted again and again over a couple of centuries. 

• One repeated figure is Neptune, representing Florence's sea power.  While Florence is an inland city, it controlled major ports and large fleets of ships for fighting and carrying cargo.
• Another repeated figure is David.  David signifies small yet powerful Florence overcoming even the greatest enemy.  In other words,

Don't mess with Florence.

 

The Original Spork?

The spork is a useful eating utensil. 

You can have two utensils close at hand:  a spoon and a fork.  How cumbersome.

Or, better yet, you can have one spork--examples pictured below.

The spork seems to be a modern invention.  Right?  Well, perhaps not.

On a recent museum visit in Florence, we spotted a 500 year old spork.  In the photo below is a fork and a bowl of a spoon.  The spoon part has slots where the fork fits.  Slide in the fork and you have a working spoon.  Or, in modern parlance, a spork. 

Who knew?

Museums: The Uffizi #2

During another visit to the Uffizi, we saw other Renaissance masterpieces, along with art from other periods.  Here are photos of some of the paintings that we especially liked.

A quick story about the dude in the painting above, a real caduzzo.  If you look closely, the Duke has an oddly shaped nose.  In a tournament, the Duke was badly scarred on the right side of his face and lost his right eye, hence, he was painted in profile.  After the injury, he could no longer serve effectively as a military commander because he had a blind side.  His blind side also meant that he could be easily attacked by an assassin.  So, he had his surgeons remove part of the bridge of his nose to improve his field of vision.  He returned to military service and avoided assassination.  That is one tough dude. 

In the Uffizi, you can touch some of the artwork.  One example is Botticelli's Birth of Venus.  Below is photo of a 2x3 foot relief of the painting for a visitor with impaired or no vision to touch. 

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli (1486), restored in October 2016 and placed in a large renovated room in the Uffizi

Saint Dominic by Cosme Tura (1480).  Susan worked for a Dominican university in Florida and also went on a retreat to a Dominican monastery in southeastern France.  Also, Dominicans played a prominent role in the history of Florence. So, we simply  had to photograph this portrait of St. Dominic.         

A special exhibit at the Uffizi includes numerous 19th and 20th century works.  One painting caught our eye.  The painting below appears to be of Whistler's mother before she got old and took to always sitting in a chair.

One last item.  Because the Uffizi is a top tourist attraction, it is guarded by soldiers.  They are heavily armed and appear ready for action.   Soldiers also guard other locations with lots of tourists, such as the train station, and also the synagogue near our apartment. 

Museums: The Galileo Museum

Florence is home to the Galileo Museum, which houses exhibits about Galileo and scientific achievements during and after the Renaissance.  Galileo lived a large part of his life in or near Florence and some of the Medici were among his patrons.  The Medici family and descendants collected many scientific artifacts which formed the basis for the museum.

In 2010, the museum was extensively renovated and is now very modern in its design.  The exhibits cover many scientific fields, including astronomy, navigation and medicine.  It is worth a visit, even if science is not your bag.

Bust of Galileo Galilei by Carlo Marcellini (1674-1677) and some random hottie

Galileo's actual telescopes from 400 years ago

Exploded replica of Galileo's telescope

A very large astrolabe with a mirrored ball in the center.  Is that someone's reflection?  Let's take a closer look. 

On closer look, it's some random dude.

The 900 year old Palazzo Castellani, the building that houses the Galileo Museum, is on the bank of the River Arno--a great location unless the river overflows its banks.  So, in 1966, when the Arno flooded, the building was flooded--the basement and the ground floor.  The upper floors were spared. 

To commemorate the 1966 flood, the museum hosted an exhibition called Fishing in the Mud (Pescare nel Fango).  A lot of mud filled the basement and ground floor.  The staff of the museum went "fishing" for museum artifacts buried in the mud.  Many artifacts were recovered and restored but some were permanently damaged or destroyed.  Fortunately, most of the priceless artifacts, such as Galileo's telescopes, were safe on the upper floors.     

The Galileo Museum is the square building in the center of the photo. 

Only in Italy, #1

A recent stroll in Florence revealed a vending machine located along the sidewalk. 

At first, we thought the vending machine might be for dispensing packs of cigarettes.  (They still have those in Italy.)

Next, we though it might be for paying for street parking.

Wrong on both counts.

Instead, the vending machine supports the healthy enjoyment of Italy's national pastime.  And we don't mean soccer. 

Only in Italy?  Probably not.

Another machine

Close up view.  Lots of choices. 

Random Things #2

Some more random things.

The Big Green Egg, an amazing outdoor smoker/grill, is popular with barbecue mavens in the U.S.  We spotted this bad boy in a local shop window.  So, the BGE has invaded Italy.  Check out the price!  That's over US$2,000. 

Check out this gelato from a shop not far from our apartment.  The orange colored gelato was mango.  The hot pink colored gelato is Dragon Fruit.  Very tasty. 

Dragon Fruit

Dentistry in Florence

Susan comes from a family of dentists, including her father, brother and sister-in-law.  So, she is a fan of dentistry.

During a recent museum visit, we spotted the painting below.

At first, we thought the painting portrayed someone poor soul being tortured for a crime or other bad deed. 

Then, we realized we were looking at a dentist extracting some poor soul's tooth.  The painting captures the patient's pain as the dentist pries the offending tooth from the patient's mouth.

Our fervent hope is that the painting depicts Italian dentistry in the distant past, not last year. 

"Odontoiatria senza novocaina" by "Dott. Orin Scrivello"

Open Invitation

Greetings to everyone from Italy.

Please consider this an open invitation to visit us during our time in Florence.  We live near the center of the city.  Plus, we have room for visitors.

Our apartment has a loft with a large bed and half bath.  The loft has authentic wood beams, some 500 years old.  A skylight floods the room with sunlight and provides a view of the night sky. 

One word of warning. The loft is up a spiral staircase--a challenge for taller folks and vertigo-prone people. 

We will be in Florence through October 2017.  Popular dates are already booking up.  Don't delay!

"Don't look down or you'll get dizzy." 

 M.C. Escher called and wants his staircase back.

Where do you live in Florence? #2

Where do we live in Florence? 

Apparently, we live in a flood zone.  No joke. 

Our building is a long way from the River Arno.  However, most of the old part of Florence, including our neighborhood, is flat, flat, flat.  Of course, river valleys often have broad flood plains and the Arno river valley is no exception. 

We suppose that is why the Romans built their town here in the 1st century B.C., because there was a river nearby and the terrain was flat for easy construction of a new town.   

Fast forward about 2000 years.  The terrible flood in November 1966 devastated the center of Florence, the oldest part of the city.  The water, mixed with fuel oil, overflowed the banks of the river and flooded areas far from the river. 

We recently visited an exhibit about the 1966 flood and saw a map that showed the extent of the flooding.  Most of the other attendees were elderly Florentines.  We suspect many of the them lived through the flood and were drawn to the exhibit since it's now the 50th anniversary of that disaster. 

Below is a map from the exhibit.  The map shows how far the flood extended across Florence and how high the water reached.  According to the map and the scale below it, our building (marked by the star) was in the 1-2 meter flood zone.  (1-2 meters is about 3-6 feet.)  So, the basement and the first floor of our building must have been flooded in 1966. 

Our apartment is on a higher floor (more than four flights up).  So, we should be fine if there is another big flood.  We will invite our neighbors to join us for wine and cheese.

A block from our apartment is a very old convent and church.  It was flooded in 1966 and was located 2-3 meter flood zone.  At the front of the church is a plaque that marks the high water line.  You can see how high is high in the photo below.

When we moved from to Florence, we did not fully appreciate the risks of living here--earthquakes and floods.  Who knew?

And don't get us started on the mosquitoes.  Fuggedaboutit.

P.S.  All joking aside.  We live in a wonderful apartment in a lovely building in a nice neighborhood.  

Random Things #1

Some random things spotted during our travels around Florence. 

A local clothing shop not far from our apartment.  We know a dude in the U.S. named Franz.  Now, we know why he was always (always!) so stylishly dressed.  He has his own shop with the latest Italian fashions.    

Not one, but TWO random hotties spotted on the streets of Florence.  Our cup runneth over!.