We had planned to not do any sightseeing in the morning so it was our chance to catch up on sleep and rest so we woke up around 9 am. We lazed in bed and went down for breakfast in about an hour. We came back up to our room and took our time getting ready. We left around 1:30 pm.
Our first stop of the day was Santa Maria Novella Church which is in the same square where our hotel is located. The main train station of Florence that's behind the church is named after the church and is called Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station. It's a peaceful church and there were very few tourists inside. The church's main draw is Masaccio's early renaissance painting on a wall in which the concept of perspective and mathematical proportions was used. Its importance to painting can be compared with Brunelleschi's importance to architecture and Donatello's importance to sculpting. We saw many other paintings and frescos in addition to the stained glass windows of the altar before checking out the courtyard and then made our way out.
We started walking towards the Accademia Gallery and passed through the famous San Lorenzo flea market with shops selling leather goods among other things. We had purchased our Accademia tickets online so thankfully we didn't have to wait too long in the blistering heat outside the Accademia and were inside after a wait of about five minutes. The Gallery was primarily commissioned to house just one masterpiece - Michelangelo's David. When you enter the gallery and turn left, you emerge in a long hall and David is at the end of the hall.
What a magnificent statue! You can start to appreciate the 14 feet tall giant statue as you walk towards it. Five of Michelangelo's unfinished statues flank both sides of the hall as you walk towards David. We were initially unsure if we should come to the Accademia to see the original but we are so glad that we did. There is something about Michelangelo's creations that leave you spell bound. We had the same feeling a couple of years back when we saw the Sistine Chapel that he had painted and we were spellbound once more. The white marble statue is a naked David sizing up his opponent Goliath with a stone in his right hand and a sling strapped over his left shoulder with one end in his left hand. His gaze is steady and confident and his muscles relaxed. The mastery with which Michelangelo has depicted the detail of the human anatomy is astonishing. Everything from the veins in David's hands and feet to his calf muscles to his abs to his chest to his biceps to his thighs to his knees is so real! You can almost be forgiven for thinking that he can start walking any moment. If the Renaissance marked the most significant era of art in history, then the most significant work of the Renaissance has to be David. David is the epitome of the Renaissance. He is thoughtful and confident in his abilities and doesn't need an army to slay the giant Goliath, just his wits. David is truly the highlight of our trip to Florence and dare I say perhaps the highlight of our entire trip to Italy!
After admiring the magnificence of David from many angles, we observed the unfinished statues to get an idea of the chronology of Michelangelo's sculpting since they are all in different stages of creation. Michelangelo was a true genius and worked without any model or blueprint, directly on marble. We also saw another statue that draws inspiration from Michelangelo's David in the sense that it's also a spiral work - there is no one "best" vantage point but you get a different view from every angle. The Accademia gallery is still very much a teaching academy for sculptors so we also saw a huge room with hundreds of marble busts and statues that are basically the students' final exams. We finally made our way out and then decided to have lunch.
The sun was still at its peak and the heat was unbearable so we decided that we will take our time having lunch so that it got cooler by the time we were done. We walked to the Repubblica Square to have lunch at the famous cafe Gilli that was founded in 1733. It was a hotspot during the 1850s and 1860s where intellectuals met to discuss the unification of Italy. Our lunch started with bruschetta for appetizer. I had gnocchi with tomato sauce and fresh buffalo mozzarella while Samia had spinach and ricotta cheese filled Cannelloni for the main course. For dessert, I had tiramisu and Samia had panna cotta. It was an exceptional meal in a historic cafe with stuccoed ceilings but the best part was the air conditioning! We left around 5:30 pm and came back to our hotel to rest for a couple of hours.
In the evening, we walked through the Duomo Square, the Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi courtyard to arrive at the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) and walked along the River Arno. The bridge is the only one that survived the Second World War bombing. It has shops lining both sides. When we got there, there was a band performing live songs so we spent a few minutes enjoying the music while looking at the Arno river flowing beneath the bridge. Then we walked to the Repubblica square and got gelato from a shop Venchi that we (read Samia) had been eyeing since our first day in Florence. We got chocolate, cappuccino and milk flavors. The milk was pretty generic but the other two flavors were the best gelato we've had in Italy so far. We sat next to a column in the Repubblica square and ate our gelato while listening to yet another live music band. Florence is a very intimate city and reminds us of Prague. After listening to a few songs, we walked back to a restaurant next to our hotel for a dinner. Samia had the eggplant parmigiana and I had a margherita pizza (tomato, basil and mozzarella cheese). The pizza was the best we've had so far in Italy. After dinner, we came back to our room and called it a night. We'll be taking a train to Rome in the morning. Till the next update from the Eternal City, take care!
Our first stop of the day was Santa Maria Novella Church which is in the same square where our hotel is located. The main train station of Florence that's behind the church is named after the church and is called Firenze Santa Maria Novella train station. It's a peaceful church and there were very few tourists inside. The church's main draw is Masaccio's early renaissance painting on a wall in which the concept of perspective and mathematical proportions was used. Its importance to painting can be compared with Brunelleschi's importance to architecture and Donatello's importance to sculpting. We saw many other paintings and frescos in addition to the stained glass windows of the altar before checking out the courtyard and then made our way out.
We started walking towards the Accademia Gallery and passed through the famous San Lorenzo flea market with shops selling leather goods among other things. We had purchased our Accademia tickets online so thankfully we didn't have to wait too long in the blistering heat outside the Accademia and were inside after a wait of about five minutes. The Gallery was primarily commissioned to house just one masterpiece - Michelangelo's David. When you enter the gallery and turn left, you emerge in a long hall and David is at the end of the hall.
What a magnificent statue! You can start to appreciate the 14 feet tall giant statue as you walk towards it. Five of Michelangelo's unfinished statues flank both sides of the hall as you walk towards David. We were initially unsure if we should come to the Accademia to see the original but we are so glad that we did. There is something about Michelangelo's creations that leave you spell bound. We had the same feeling a couple of years back when we saw the Sistine Chapel that he had painted and we were spellbound once more. The white marble statue is a naked David sizing up his opponent Goliath with a stone in his right hand and a sling strapped over his left shoulder with one end in his left hand. His gaze is steady and confident and his muscles relaxed. The mastery with which Michelangelo has depicted the detail of the human anatomy is astonishing. Everything from the veins in David's hands and feet to his calf muscles to his abs to his chest to his biceps to his thighs to his knees is so real! You can almost be forgiven for thinking that he can start walking any moment. If the Renaissance marked the most significant era of art in history, then the most significant work of the Renaissance has to be David. David is the epitome of the Renaissance. He is thoughtful and confident in his abilities and doesn't need an army to slay the giant Goliath, just his wits. David is truly the highlight of our trip to Florence and dare I say perhaps the highlight of our entire trip to Italy!
After admiring the magnificence of David from many angles, we observed the unfinished statues to get an idea of the chronology of Michelangelo's sculpting since they are all in different stages of creation. Michelangelo was a true genius and worked without any model or blueprint, directly on marble. We also saw another statue that draws inspiration from Michelangelo's David in the sense that it's also a spiral work - there is no one "best" vantage point but you get a different view from every angle. The Accademia gallery is still very much a teaching academy for sculptors so we also saw a huge room with hundreds of marble busts and statues that are basically the students' final exams. We finally made our way out and then decided to have lunch.
The sun was still at its peak and the heat was unbearable so we decided that we will take our time having lunch so that it got cooler by the time we were done. We walked to the Repubblica Square to have lunch at the famous cafe Gilli that was founded in 1733. It was a hotspot during the 1850s and 1860s where intellectuals met to discuss the unification of Italy. Our lunch started with bruschetta for appetizer. I had gnocchi with tomato sauce and fresh buffalo mozzarella while Samia had spinach and ricotta cheese filled Cannelloni for the main course. For dessert, I had tiramisu and Samia had panna cotta. It was an exceptional meal in a historic cafe with stuccoed ceilings but the best part was the air conditioning! We left around 5:30 pm and came back to our hotel to rest for a couple of hours.
In the evening, we walked through the Duomo Square, the Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi courtyard to arrive at the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) and walked along the River Arno. The bridge is the only one that survived the Second World War bombing. It has shops lining both sides. When we got there, there was a band performing live songs so we spent a few minutes enjoying the music while looking at the Arno river flowing beneath the bridge. Then we walked to the Repubblica square and got gelato from a shop Venchi that we (read Samia) had been eyeing since our first day in Florence. We got chocolate, cappuccino and milk flavors. The milk was pretty generic but the other two flavors were the best gelato we've had in Italy so far. We sat next to a column in the Repubblica square and ate our gelato while listening to yet another live music band. Florence is a very intimate city and reminds us of Prague. After listening to a few songs, we walked back to a restaurant next to our hotel for a dinner. Samia had the eggplant parmigiana and I had a margherita pizza (tomato, basil and mozzarella cheese). The pizza was the best we've had so far in Italy. After dinner, we came back to our room and called it a night. We'll be taking a train to Rome in the morning. Till the next update from the Eternal City, take care!
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