Florence, Italy

On December 23, Craig and I climbed into a cab at 4:30 am, boarded a plane at 6:45, arrived in Rome, Italy at 9ish, and took a train to the downtown station, where, in a matter of hours, we were on a fast train to Florence. I was fighting a sore throat and an earache so each time the train dove into a tunnel, the pressure built in my head and I was miserable. But these fast trains are amazing: the would-be 3 hour drive from Rome to Florence was only 1 ½ hours by train, and the scenery was amazing, all green fields and sheep and hillside homes.

We made our way to the tourist information office when we arrived in a rainy Florence, and the kind man we spoke to kindly reminded us that it was Christmas Eve, and that the next day, most of the city would be shut down (it’s amazing how egocentric we become when traveling). He gave us a list of closures and recommended we skip finding boarding and make our way to the museums that we would not be able to see later. So, we hurried across the city on foot, rucksacks strapped to our backs, and passed through security at the gallery of the Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze. We wandered the corridors, gazing at works by such artists as Botticelli (one of my personal favorites), Ghirlandaio, and, of course, Michelangelo.

I was talking excitedly (who would have ever guessed?) about Michelangelo’s sculptures of The Prisoners when we turned the corner. I was stunned into silence and gave The Prisoners hardly a second look as we gawked at the statue of David, illuminated by a skylight at the end of the corridor. There is nothing that can prepare you for seeing this statue. I’ve seen hundreds of pictures and still, I was shocked by the detail, the size, the sheer perfection. As I probably said to Craig ten times, I would not have been surprised in the least had David stretched out his mighty fingers, blinked, and stepped down off his pedestal to stomp off in search of Goliath. Michelangelo simply is one of the most brilliant and talented artists in human history.

The next morning, Christmas, we attended mass in Florence’s most famous cathedral (Duomo), Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. The service was in Italian. We followed the message as well as we could, but also felt captivated by the beauty of the architecture and, in particular, the artwork on the ceiling of the dome, which is a scene of The Last Judgement by Federigo Zuccaro. The next day, when the wind shooed the clouds out of Florence and the sun finally shone, we climbed the 414 stairs in narrow spirals to the top of the bell tower to gaze at the view below.


The next day we were up early to make it to the Uffizi Gallery, where I made it past all the tour groups to Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and Primavera!!! Among other favorite pieces, we saw Titian’s Venus de Urbino and Flora, Francesca’s The Duke and Duchess of Urbino, Michelangelo’s The Holy Family, Da Vinci’s incomplete Adoration of the Magi and his piece The Baptism of Christ, Raphael’s Madonna of the Goldfinch, and Caravaggio’s Medusa. We learned a lot. This was one place we went where the entrance fee was completely worth it!

We managed to do a lot in the three days we spent in Florence. In addition to these places and all the restaurants we ate at, we visited the Piazza della Signora, where we were able to see the original sculpture The Rape of the Sabine Women by Giamnologna, Perseus as he beheads Medusa by Cellini,
and Fontana de Nettuno, or Fountain of Neptune, by Ammannati.

We stopped by San Lorenzo, the Medici cathedral hosting the library staircase designed by Michelangelo, the tomb of Donatello, early writings of Dante and Boccacio, and Michelangelo’s The Tomb of Duke Nemours (which unfortunately was closed off to the public at the time).

We paid the overpriced admission fee for the Da Vinci exhibition at what we thought was the Bargello museum but what we later learned was actually pretty much a rented space called the Bigallo, hiding in the corner of the Bargello building. Woops.

We tried to visit the church of Santa Croce where Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli all lie buried (it was closed every day).

We walked most of the bridges, including Ponte Vecchio. We experienced the expected price rip-offs, including a bill for two coffees and a piece of average tiramisu for 17 euro. And finally, we returned to the train station, freezing and tired (and in my case, now coughing as my cold had moved to my chest), and boarded our train back to Rome.