Petersontravels

On our final day in Florence we decided to visit the interior of the Basilica di Santa Croce, something we’ve only viewed from the front facade a few times.  To refresh your memory, here is a shot of the exterior from our first night in Florence.  Santa Croce is the largest Franciscan church in the world.

This is the High Altar and Polyptych (the Trumpish looking “panel painting” below the cross…yeah, I had to look the word up).  The entire wall area around the altar is covered in frescoes….a testament to how much was spent on this place!

Shortly after entering the church I saw this “cenotaph memorial” (another term I had to look up) to Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the radio.  A cenotaph is an empty tomb dedicated to somebody important to the church.  Marconi is actually buried in Bologna.  “My bologna has a first name, it’s O S C A R…..”  See, now you can’t get it out of your head!

Now for the most famous tomb in the church, which requires a bit of a story.  When Michelangelo died in 1564 at the age of 88 there was a great debate regarding how his remains should be handled.  Rome thought the worlds greatest artist should be kept there, but the Medici family insisted that their most famous son belonged in Florence.

Realizing the Pope would never agree to release the body, Michelangelo’s nephew, Lionardo, orchestrated a daring midnight heist (cue “Mission Impossible” music here).  They removed Michelangelo from his temporary tomb and wrapped the three-week-old corpse in a giant bale of hay and packed it inside a shipping crate.  The crate rolled quietly out of Rome, and by the time the Pope found out they were in Florentine territory.  It arrived at Santa Croce on March 10, 1564.  Local lore has it that when they removed him the crate Michelangelo’s body was pristine, perfectly preserved, and completely free from any odor of decay (ok, I call bullshit here…maybe the peasants who hadn’t showered for a few weeks couldn’t smell it, but come on…the Medici certainly could!)

This is his final resting place in the church, with a portrait bust in the middle, and three marble statues below him representing the arts that Michelangelo mastered; Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.  His bust is looking towards the center of Florence, the city he loved.

Up next is another famous tomb with a back story, that of Galileo Galilei.  This was completed in 1737, nearly a century after his death in 1642, due to initial opposition from the church authorities as he was thought to be a heretic.  Galileo was actually put on trial on 1633 and found “vehemently suspect of heresy” because he defended what is known as heliocentrism, the astronomical model showing the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun.  This flew in the face of certain Bible passages, and the Pope was not happy!  Galileo spent the last 9 years of his life under house arrest, and the Vatican only cleared his name in 1992.

Galileo’s bust is obvious, with a statue representing Astronomy on the left (holding a diagram of sunspots) and Geometry on the right.

This is the Cavalcanti Annunciation, a famous early Renaissance high-relief scuplture created by Donatello around 1433-1435.

On the right side of the altar is the Bardi chapel, where famous frescoes represent the Stories of Saint Francis.  These were painted in the 14th century by a man considered the father of Italian painting, Giotto.  Santa Croce was unfortunately devastated by a massive flood in 1966, and these were just recently restored, with portions lost due to the flood waters.

The opposite wall of Giotto’s frescoes.

Hey look, another Medici Coat of Arms!  This creepy looking frescoe is “Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well”, painted in 1445 by Paolo Schiavo.  Yeah, I never heard of him before this either,  I just thought it was scary looking.  Can you imagine this poor woman meeting a dude with an orange frisbee on this head?

This is a famous painted wooden crucifix of Christ on the Cross by artist Cimabue, created before 1288.  It was unfortunately heavily damaged by the 1966 flood, and only recently restored (as much as possible).  It now sits up high enough in the church that it will never see water again.

Upon exiting the church towards the south you can see some markers up on the wall that show the height of the 1966 floods (the highest mark).

Here is a better view of the upper markers.

Just past those markers in the Pazzi Chapel, another family of bankers that was often at odds with the Medici.  The two sea creatures are part of their Coat of Arms.

One last part of the Santa Croce complex is the Refectory that has several restored paintings and frescoes from the flood.  This is Giorgio Vasari’s “The Last Supper”, painted between 1546-1547.  Heavily damaged while under 22 feet of water, mud and heating oil for over 12 hours, it was considered unsalvageable.  It took 50 years of innovative conservation to get it fully restored and returned to the church in 2016.

Your last view of Santa Croce as you are exiting is the cloister.  That’s the Pazzi Chapel in the background.

From the church we decided to check off one more spot, Boboli Gardens, on the south side of the Arno River and up on the hillside.  We made the steep climb pretty much on one road, and we passed what was once the home of Galileo (for a brief period).  In the below photo he lived in the white building, while the owners of the adjacent “Tower of Galileo” allowed him to use the buildings to the right for his work.  What they are calling the tower (in the middle) had observation windows for his telescopes.

After entering the Boboli Gardens we were a little surprised with how little there was to see.  Most everything was either closed (buildings) or in a state of repair (most of the grounds).  They shouldn’t even be charging a fee at this point.  Here is what is supposed to be a famous fountain of Neptune, which looks to be a long ways from completion.  In the background is the Pitti Palace, the last home of the Medici family before their reign ended.

This was about the only part of the gardens that looked like a garden.

There were some nice views of Florence from the gardens.

Throughout the garden were various pieces of Roman artwork that the Medici family picked up over the years, including this 3000 year old obelisk (even that is cordoned off).

One more look at the Florence skyline as we descended from the gardens.

This grotto seemed really out of place and it seemed to be in poor condition.  It was created between 1583 and 1593, has fake stalactites and frescoed walls, and of course had the Medici Coat of Arms on the facade.  They seemed to always have a lot of money, but maybe not always a lot of taste?  Maybe it was more impressive in 1593.

This is the interior of the grotto.

On our way back to the hotel we crossed Ponte Vecchio Bridge for the last time, and the light was perfect for a final shot of Florence!

Coming up next, we fly to Palermo, Sicily, and start our 22 day adventure on the largest island in the Mediterranean.

I noted that in my last post regarding The Duomo that I didn’t have any photos showing the actual dome!  The issue is when you are up close you can barely see it.  There are just too many buildings in the way, including the church itself.  Therefore, here is an excellent shot from an elevated spot on our last day in Florence.

After our visit to The Duomo we made our way to the Basilica of San Lorenzo, maybe a 5 minute walk.  This church is one of the oldest in Florence, consecrated in 393.  It was rebuilt in the Romanesque style from 1045 to 1060, and then further expanded upon by the Medici in the 1400’s.  I love the very plain exterior.

The first thing you see when you enter makes it obvious what family was THE major influence of the church.

You couldn’t sling a cat in any direction and not hit a Medici Coat of Arms.  Here is a shot looking towards the altar.

The dome above the altar is of course gorgeous.

Spread across the ceiling are more strategically placed Medici Coat of Arms.  Here is a closeup of one of them.  As I said, they are everywhere.

Off to the side of the main church is the Old Sacristy, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi (a name you should be familiar with by now) and built in 1419 via a commission from the Medici family.  Brunelleschi designed this in Renaissance style based on stringent geometric harmony (that’s straight from the brochure).  In the center of the sacristy (under a table?) is the tomb of Giovanni di Bicci de’ Medici (settle on a last name already!) and his wife.  Giovanni di Bicci was the founder of the Medici Bank and the catalyst of the families meteoric rise to fame in Tuscany!

So why is the tomb under a table?  My brief research suggests that this was for “maximizing prayers”.  The sacristy was the busiest part of the church, with every priest preparing for Mass laying out their vestments and liturgical items on the table, and maybe giving a quick prayer to Giovanni’s soul?  Makes you wonder what the hell he did to be so worried that he needed all of this extra priestly attention?!?

These circular discs on the floor next to the tomb are where Giovanni and his wife’s bodies actually lay.  The tomb is just a memorial monument, with a table.  The things you learn with a little research!  BTW, the employee stationed in this room knew none of this.  I know because I asked her.

Also inside the sacristy is this dome depicting the night sky over Florence on the 4th of July 1442, in a gold and lapis-lazuli fresco.

Here is a closeup of the very cool fresco, with pretty seashells in each corner.  Makes me marvel at how dark the sky was back then!  It’s nearly impossible to find a dark sky location these days, but back then it was literally everywhere!

We exited the Basilica and I lead our group around to the back side so we could enter the Medici Chapels (yet another ticket).  At first I was confused because I had read great things about the chapels, but just saw some basic crypt-like burial sites.  After exploring for a bit we happened upon the Cappella dei Principi, the mausoleum of the Medici Family.  What a sight to behold!

It’s hard to fathom how much time and money was spent in making such a work of art!  It was started in 1604 and mostly completed in 1640.

Work has continued on the chapel for years, with the flooring of semi-precious stone inlay “recently” completed in 1962.  That’s quite the ornate Coat of Arms!  You can distinctly see the fleur-de-lis here.

There are tombs of the various important Medici family members aligned along the walls.  It was interesting to note that there were two tombs with sculptures above them,  but they stopped making them as the cost of the sculptures was prohibitively high.  They still have space for the sculptures of course (see below right side).  The Medici were worried about money??

The chapel is an amazing sight.  Definitely put this on your bucket list if you come to Florence!

There were some restoration workers by the altar.  I didn’t notice the “no photos” sign until after I took the shot.  Not sure why it mattered!

Directly adjacent to the church is a leather market.  I think they have other stuff for sale as well, but it was pretty much all leather goods, and all overpriced and run by aggressive hagglers.  Not sure why this is a Florence thing?  Avoid.

On our last night with William and Myra we had dinner at a seafood place called “Golden View”, which sits right on the Arno River and in view of Ponte Vecchio Bridge.  It was pricey but good.  The best part was Kim ordered this plate of seafood and when Kim was done Myra pretty much decimated every shell to extract every last morsel of food!  It was something to behold!  If you are starving on a desert island Myra is somebody you want to have around!

Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to William and Myra after dinner as they had an early morning flight.  We had one day left in Florence, and that is coming up!!