Petersontravels

For our first full day in Florence I booked a “Tours by Locals” with Cristina, a local expert.  She would be our guide for visiting two of the most important sites in the city, the Uffizi and Accademia Galleries that are filled with renaissance artworks.  This post will just cover the Uffizi Gallery.  If you are not a fan of renaissance artworks you might want to skip this!  Here is Cristina with William just outside the Uffizi.

Just inside the entrance the first thing you see is the Medici Family Coat of Arms.  Cristina explained that the five brown orbs represent coins as the Medici were primarily bankers.  Above the coins is a Fleur-de-lis, representing the strong relationship the Medici had with the French.  This coat of arms is pretty much everywhere in Florence.

The gallery displays their art in chronological order, starting from the oldest items in their collection.  Cristina pointed out that this painting on wood represented the earliest version of how Mary and baby Jesus appeared in Italian artwork.  This is by Cimabue and dates from 1290-1300.  Cristina referred to this as “Ugly Mary”, as you can barely tell it’s a woman.

Fast forward 20 years to Giotto’s version from 1310 and Mary is starting to look more feminine, which Cristina called “Sexy Mary”.  Maybe slightly more attractive Mary??

This is the Annunciation of Mary from 1333, and if you click on the photo you can see words being spoken across the painting from Archangel Gabriel to Mary.  I’ve never seen this in a painting.  Cristina referred to this Mary as “Angelina Jolie” Mary.  Maybe 30 years ago!

Here is one of the most famous paintings in the Uffizi, “Primavera”, painted by Botticelli around 1480.

The even more famous Botticelli is just across the room.  This is “The Birth of Venus”, painted around 1485.  Cristina advised us that Botticelli used the same model as the central figure for both paintings.

One more Botticelli from 1483 that was painted in a unique round format that was reserved for works commissioned by aristocrats for their private homes.

The Uffizi is a U-shaped museum, and as you round the U there are several city views from the windows.  This is the Palazzo Vecchio with the Duomo in the background.

As well as a view of the Ponte Vecchio bridge.

The hallways of the museum are beautiful works of art all on their own!

This painting has an interesting back story.  This was painted by Andrea del Verrocchio in 1475, who had a young student named Leonardo da Vinci.

The teacher was impressed by Leonardo and asked him to paint the angel on the left of his own painting, shown in more detail here.  Verrocchio was said to be so amazed by the superior skill of his pupil that he resolved to never paint again.

Here is another painting by Leonardo from 1481-2 that he never finished, as he left for Milan shortly after starting it.

Cristina advised us that the figure on the lower right is said to be a self-portrait of Leonardo at 30 years old.

One last work from Leonardo is Annunciation from 1472-5, which took on different looks depending on the angle you were looking at it from.

Cristina advised it was best to look at it from the right side.  From straight on Mary’s arm looks too long, but it’s appropriate when viewed from the right.  The furniture also looks too wide from straight on.  Leonardo did this on purpose as it was designed to be hung high up on a wall and viewed from the right.

Getting close to done with paintings.  This next one is the only painting on wood by Michelangelo.  It was commissioned by a local merchant on the birth of his daughter in 1507.  He ended up not liking the painting, but the Pope ended up seeing it on a visit to Florence and liked it so much he invited Michelangelo to Rome to paint the Sistine Chapel.

We went downstairs to see a few more artworks, and I saw this plaque on the wall.

This is the impact from a window in the stairwell being blown out by a car bomb placed by the Mafia.  The bomb ended up killing 5 people and injuring 40.

One last painting at the Uffizi.  This is Testa di Medusa painted by Caravaggio in 1597.  It was actually painted onto an curved shield of armor, which gives it an extra creepy look as the eyes and mouth follow you as you move past it.

Remember that Mafia car bomb?  This is a statue called The Tree of Peace erected at the site of the blast to honor the victims.  You can still see some damage to the framing of the right window

Up next, we visit the Accademia Gallery for more Florence masterpieces!

 

On the final day of our Tuscan wine trip we checked out of our hotel and headed north towards Florence.  Before we departed I noted a fog bank in the valley below the Castle and had to get some photos.  Very cool!

The fog we saw on the valley floor would be repeated quite a bit during the first part of our drive.

We drove north for over an hour until we reached our first stop of the day, Castello di Monsanto.  This was our last winery visit of the trip.

We had excellent weather so we took a vineyard tour.  You can see a platform in this photo at the top of the hill and right in the middle of the vineyards.

Gorgeous views in every direction from the platform!

Group photo time!

One last shot as we were heading back down the hill (“Poggio” in Italian).

We took a tour of the aging cellars, with more of the huge neutral-oak tanks.

They also have some wine aging in a tunnel that connects the winery owners villa with the wine making building.  This long tunnel (maybe 200 meters?) was built completely by hand.

There are spots along the sides of the tunnel where they are storing wine, and you could see roots sticking out of the tunnel walls.  We are about 30 feet below ground here.

The library wines were in easy reach of the winery owner.  Not sure how often he comes down to grab a bottle, but I’d surely try this 1962, my birth year.

Here is the lineup of wines we tried in their tasting area, directly adjacent to the tunnel.

This is where I had my two favorite wines of the tour!  First up is the 2022 Chianti Classico Riserva, an excellent expression of Sangiovese!  Love this wine!!

The second wine that we were very impressed by was not supposed to be part of our tasting, but after three of us asked separately about it they opened this Chardonnay, which is excellent!

William is hopefully already working on acquiring some of these two wines from his contacts in the wine business (he works for a distributor).

Our last stop was lunch at the Michelin Star restaurant Osteria di Passignano, set amongst the medieval Abbey of Passignano.

The entrance to the restaurant was very inviting.

The Tortelli Mugellani with Wild Boar Ragout was excellent!  I stopped taking photos after the first course, but it was all amazing!

Our tour director Filippo pulled out all the stops for this final meal, as they were pouring some great wines!  They were all really good but the Tignanello and Solaia, both by Antinori, were excellent!!  What a great lunch!

After lunch we drove the final 45 minutes to our hotel in Florence where we said goodbye to our expert wine guide Alessia and our wonderful driver Max.  Thanks so much for everything you two did for us!

We checked into the Hotel Bernini Palace, located perfectly in the center of historic Florence, just in time to take a walk as the sun was starting to set.  A short 3 minute walk from the hotel is the stunning Basilica of Santa Croce.

The area just above the main entrance was still lit up by the sun.  We will be visiting this church later during our time in Florence.

To the left of the church is this statue of Dante Aligheri, the famed classical Italian writer of “Dante’s Inferno” fame.  The statue was built by Enrico Pazzi in 1865.  I’ve gotta admit, I haven’t read any of Dante’s works.

One of the wonders of Florence is the plethora of “wine windows” along the narrow roads and alleyways of the city.  You hit a button or ring a bell and order a glass of wine through the little window.  These windows started in 1559 when Cosimo Medici allowed noble families to sell surplus wine from their homes, bypassing taxes.  These small openings became more important in the 17th century during the bubonic plague, allowing safe transactions without close contact.

We still had some light so we walked along the Arno River, with this view of the Uffizi Gallery, a definite highlight of Florence we visited the next day.

Also on the Arno River is the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge, which seems to be perpetually packed with tourists.

After crossing back over the Arno River we turned back towards our hotel and had this view of Palazzo Vecchio.  It seems everything looks better at sunset!

This is the Fountain of Neptune directly adjacent to the Palazzo Vecchio.  It was commissioned by Cosimo Medici in 1559 to commemorate his son’s marriage.  It sustained considerable damage over the years and was restored in 2019.

One last night shot of the Basilica of Santa Croce all lit up.

Coming up, we have a guided tour of the Uffizi and Accademia galleries, the main reason most tourists visit Florence!