On To Florence

Part 15:  On to Florence 

Thursday October 3:  We are up at 8, out by 9, and on the road to Florence.  We pull and carry our luggage over the Rialto Bridge, onto the vaporetto, off the vaporetto at Piazzale Roma, (Venice’s parking lot/bus station), and board this very nice bus that will take us to Florence.

But on the way we stop for lunch at an Autogrill for some really great Italian road food.  You can eat at a fast food counter serving fresh squeezed OJ, or buy some high class Eye-talian souvenirs.

OR you can head upstairs where you can see where you’ve been and where you’re heading and have a sit down meal at a very nice cafeteria.

 

You can even make a pit stop in some plushy WCs.

What did Little Red Riding Hood say to the Big Bad Panino?

"My, what big french fries you have!"

Florence

Firenze, (speaking properly) is a big city, 360,000 – but our group will stick to a couple of neighborhoods in the city center: Duomo & Piazza della Signoria, San Marco, and Oltrarno..

Our hotel, Loggiato dei Serviti, is almost extravagant.

It sits on the west side of Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, the first true renaissance piazza.  On the north side is the Chiesa della Santissima Annunziata, which has been rebuilt several times since first construction in 1250.  It is the mother church of the Servite order of nuns and priests.  On the eastside is the Spedale degli Innocenti, the oldest orphanage in Europe (constructed 1413-1445).  It is now a museum. Our hotel (built 1527) was originally a Servite monastery.  It has been an inn or hotel of some type since the middle of the 19^th century, and has been restored to faithfully reflect its 16^th century beginnings.

Spedale degli Innocenti

 
The closeup is of the orphanage and shows the terra cotta medallions that adorn its façade.  They are babies in swaddling clothes.  Some of them are the originals done in the 16^th century by Luca della Robia.

Though it appears a little run down today, the piazza is getting a facelift.  The city has recently made it a “no cars” zone and on the Saturday we were there, there was a large ceramics market set up in the square for the weekend.  The rain kept the attendance low but the ceramics were of good quality. 

The statue is Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, 1587-1609.

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Here are two small dishes that we bought for 6 euros each - a good deal.

The hotel is very well located.  Just behind it is the Galleria dell’Accademia (home of Michelangelo’s “David,” ).  Ten minutes away are the Uffizi Gallery and the Duomo.  We can see the tip of its dome from our room.

After settling in we went on a quick walking tour of the historic center of Florence, seeing the exteriors of the Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio (with its copy of Michelangelo’s David) and finishing at the Galleria dell’Accademia, home of the real David.

The Accademia is a small museum and Michelangelo’s David is its claim to fame.  It has been there since 1879.  The statue was originally in the piazza outside the Palazzo Vecchio.  Here is the copy that is outside the Palazzo vecchio

And here is the original inside the Accademia.

Michelangelo began working on the piece in 1501 and completed it in 1504.  He was 26 years old when he started and was resuming work on a project that was begun in 1463.  Two other sculptors had worked on it, but left the project.  It was supposed to be one of 12 figures that would sit atop  the Duomo’s roofline,  but when completed city officials decided to put it on the square at the entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio, the town hall.  David was seen as a political statement: an image of strong government and a warning to all who would see it.

Our group was one of several viewing the statue, packed into very large lobby just inside the Accademia.  Not optimal viewing conditions.  To see the backside you had to file almost single file through the apse.  My first impression was how big it was (17 feet from floor to top of head).  After about 15 minutes of neck-craning viewing, Bonnie found a just abandoned spot on a bench  about 20 feet from David’s right hand.  Now we could relax and enjoy the work.  The head and hands are too large for the rest of the body (as we had read) but this does not take anything away from its power and strength.  I was impressed by the musculature and the veins, especially in the right hand and arm.  It is a marvelous piece.

In my mind David has always been “the greatest piece of sculpture”  since taking art appreciation courses in high school and college, and to actually see it only confirmed that impression. 

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That evening our group had a “hearty Tuscan “ dinner  at Ristorante Giulio Rosso, where the food was great and our waiter turned master entertainer when he wheeled out the dessert cart and distributed his goodies like a beneficent Medici.

The Doges and the Opera

Part 14:  The Doges and the Opera

 The Doge's Palace - Palazzo Ducale

The Republic of Venice was a dominant military, economic and trading power from the 7^th century until it fell to Napoleon in 1797.  The Doge was the head of state, first elected in the early years of the 8^th century when Venice was a province of the Byzantine Empire.    A measure of the Doge’s power and status in Venice is that until the 18^th century St Mark’s Church was considered the Doge’s Chapel and a special pulpit was built in it for him to lead prayers and make announcements.

The present palace dates from the latter 12^th century, although it has been added to many times. Construction of what we see today began in mid 14^th century.  Fires in the 14^th, 15^th and 16^th centuries all resulted in large renovations and additions. In the late 19^th century the Italian government made major renovations.  In 1923 Italy gave management of the Palace to Venice to be run as a museum.
The exterior of the Palace is a mixture of Byzantine and Venetian influences

This is the court yard of the Palace and the Golden Staircase which leads to the Doge’s living quarters and offices whence he and the 120 senators met and ran the state.  No photography is allowed in these rooms. 

This is a special mailbox in the Courtyard into which palace employees could put unsigned messages to the Doge providing secret information about any of the palace employees.

In 1714 the Bridge of Sighs was built to transport prisoners between the prison and the courts in the Doge's Palace. Here is the prisoner’s view of the Lagoon from the Bridge of Sighs.

We were allowed in the prison and allowed to take pictures.

Bonnie returning from her hearing.  Judge let her out – time served

 

A Cell with quadruple bunking

 

The courtyard (but not by Marriott)

The Opera – La Fenice

Opera is to Venice as the NFL is to the U.S:  a spectacle to see and a place to be seen.   In the 18^th century Venice had seven opera houses.  La Fenice (Gran Teatro alla Fenice) was the largest and one of the most famous in Europe.  In 1996 a fire (Arson? Probably, but by whom?) destroyed the interior.  It was restored and re-opened in 2003.  The interior is magnificent, but over the top for my tastes – but so is opera.

John Behrendt (the author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil) has written a great book about the fire, and the politics of re-building La Fenice and assigning guilt - The City of Falling Angels.  It is also a great portrait of the politics of Venice.  One intriguing line from the book, spoken by a citizen of Venice:  “Never believe anything a Venetian tells you.”  

For you Phoenix people, La Fenice means “The Phoenix.”  Aren’t you proud?

On the Canal(s)

Part 13:  On the Canal(s) 

The Grand Canal winds like a spine through the fish-shaped islands that form Venice.  It is two miles long, 150 feet wide and 15 feet deep.  There are two smaller canals and 45 smaller “rii” (rivers) that flow into the Grand Canal.  Plying the canals are vaporetti (water taxis) police and government boats, work boats, personal transportation and fishing boats, small luxury boats and the romantic and colorful gondole.  Luxurious pallazzi line the Grand Canal, smaller homes and shopping areas line the smaller canals and rivers.  Real estate on the Grand Canal can cost as much as $100,000 a square  foot.  Flooding and rising water levels have led to a polyglot of elegance and decay. 

The Grand Canal from Rialto Bridge

The Palazzo Corner 

 

The Palazzo dates from the late 16^th century.  In 1817 the Corner family sold it to the Austrian Empire.  Today it is the seat of the province of Venice.

The Accademia Bridge 

At its southern end is the Gallerie dell ‘Accademia, the best art museum in Venice.  It displays Venetian art from the Middle Ages through the 18^th century.  Our group toured the Accademia, but no photography is allowed. 

Our guide Laura gave us a marvelous tour and lecture.  Using the paintings in the Accademia  she wove together the development of art from the start of the 14^th  century to the end of the 15^th, the high point of the Renaissance in Florence.  Some of her points:  icons (thought to have miraculous powers) were no longer emphasized in religious paintings; saints were less likely to be portrayed with halos; paintings were given shadows and depth, and colors were subdued – all  placing saints more in the real world than in a far off heaven.  Some of the painters we saw:  Ghirlandaio, Giorgione (The Tempest), Mantegna, Tintoretto, Titian, and Veronese. There was special exhibit of Leonardo’s sketches and notebooks for several of his works.  Here is the Wikipedia link:
              
                                             http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallerie_dell%27Accademia

The Palazzo Barbaro

The Palazzo is now the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti.  In the late 19 century the Stuart family (American) bought, moved into and restored this palace.  Their actions were instrumental in attracting other foreign investors to Venice and re-establishing it as an international center of art and culture.

Gondole

In the 17^th and 18^th century there were eight to ten thousand gondolas, Today there are about 400. The profession is controlled by a guild which issues a limited number of licenses after training , apprenticeship, and testing on Venetian history, landmarks, foreign language skills,  and ability to maneuver the gondola  through the smaller canals.

It’s traditionally been an all-male profession.  But recently a woman was licensed, and is only waiting for her father to retire so she can assume his position.

A small canal - Rio

Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore,

The Basilica, built in the late 16^th century, is on a small island across the lagoon from St. Marks.

 La Salute Church

 The Church (officially the Church of St Mary of Good Health) was built after a plague killed a third of the population in 1630.

An Array of Boats

Workboat

Small Water Bus

Emergency Boat

Luxury Boat

Is Venice Dying?

 In 1951, 174,000 people lived in Venice; today only 60,000, and 25% are 65 or older.  Rick Steves points out the difficulty of living there:  apartments are small and expensive;  humidity and flooding make basic maintenance a pain (The first floors of many buildings have been abandoned because they are too expensive to maintain); home improvement requires miles of red tape to assure the historical ambience is maintained; everything has to be shipped from the mainland; running basic errands means lots of walking and carting over arched bridges.

 The city loses 1000 people every year in spite of the government subsidizing housing.  But the economy thrives thanks to tourism (150,000 visitors every day) and rich foreigners buying second homes.  City planners worry that in a few decades Venice will not be a city but a cultural theme park, a decaying Disneyland for adults.