Postcards from Italy

Posteitaliane 2017
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  4/18-19
  We're off to Florence, or Firenze in Italy, so named because tourists are in a frenzy just to get to all of its "must see" treasures. It's capital of Tuscany, which we'll also visit when we run out of stuff to see in Fir... Hmm ... OK, here's a plan: to sightsee faster we'll take the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Tour, limiting ourselves only to art by Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo & Raphael. How long could that take? It's going to be Tuscany plus lots of great Italian food. Wait! Who's Botticelli?

  
  
  
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  4/20
  We are in our large first [US 2nd] floor one bedroom corner apartment at 5 Via delle Badesse. The 11th C building was originally a monastery. (Today's only 2:00 AM prayer: "After 23 hours travel, please let me sleep.") The place has 14' ceilings, tall windows, shutters, original beams (mostly level), wonderful stone tile floors and a well appointed kitchen. We arrived to find a starter bottle of Chianti and four espresso makers. Italy!

  
  
  
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  4/21
  Today was our first visit to the Uffizi Gallery, a Medici palace housing 1000s of paintings and sculptures. Here are the first three: "Madonna and Child" masterpieces by Boninsegna (1285), Cimabue (1290), Giotto (1306) show the launch of Renaissance Art*. In the first two, Mary is an expressionless icon; she's not really sitting; the stacked angels look stamped out. Ta-da! Giotto painted a real woman seated in a 3D chair; the angels aren't cutouts. There's perspective! Bravo!
  *Major support from the Medici Family funds.

  
  
  
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  4/22
  Today near the birthplace of Galileo, in Leonardo Da Vinci's hometown and at the fountainhead of the Renaissance we joined Florentines on the steps of the Basilica di San Lorenzo to stand up for science and to protest current US science policy. Climate change and US participation in the Paris agreement were focal points. As one protest sign put it, "RESIST: There is no plan(et) B!" Galileo surely wanted us to be there.

  
  
  
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  4/23
  Florence envelops the Duomo, choking its grandeur. Never is it visible in toto; always in peekaboo. Cambio started it in 1296. Brunelleschi domed it in 1436. Fabris wrapped the exterior with white, pink and green marble in 1876-87. The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore is a Gothic monster: 153 m (505') long; 90 m (300') wide at crossing; 114 m (375') high. And it is breathtakingly gorgeous. Glimpse the doors, nave, and dome's interior. Enveloped, yes, but grand!

  
  
  
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  4/24
  At the rear of the Duomo's sanctuary is the world's only operational Italian clock. (French clocks are standard today.) Named for Paolo Uccello, who painted it (1433), the clock is 2 m (7') across. Uccello's is a 24 hour clock whose single hand sweeps counter- clockwise. The start of the day (1:00) is at sundown, so, the clock needs continual adjustments. Keeping track of Happy Hour is probably what made the Florentines so brainy: in winter it could be 1:30-2:30; in summer 20:00-21:00.

  
  
  
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  4/25
  Gnocchi. It's a three ingredient pasta (semolina, potatoes, egg yolks) whose fluffiness is a measure of good Italian cooking. J upgraded her technique under Fabrizio's guidance. Teamed with a delightful Iranian family from Dallas, she stirred and cut and rolled. Oh, my! Perfect gnocchi to go with spinach soufflé, chicken marsala and lava cake. Summary: "Technique is everything! Even anemic off season tomatoes can make a terrific sauce."

  
  
  
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  4/26
  The world's most famous sculpture and Florence's most mentioned artwork is Michelangelo's David [1504]. Even so, the first viewing as one walks into the room is quite emotional. At 5.17 m (17'), 6 tons and carved from a dis- carded block of Carrara marble deemed too narrow for a human form, David is alive. Has he killed Goliath with his sling or is he about to? Experts differ. We see him as focused and con- fident, and believe he's ready. And, he's definitely merchandisable.

  
  
  
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  4/27
  Fra Angelico, a Dominican friar who produced exceptional Renaissance art, lived a decade of piety at Firenze's San Marco friary. Starting as a book illumin- ator, his work combined old Catholic symbolism with the new humanism of his time. Characteristically, his work was extremely meticulous; even huge doors were adorned with a dozen angels around the frame. He painted frescoes in each friar's cell. As the friars kibitzed while watching him paint, "The angel's in the details."

  
  
  
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  4/28
  Yesterday we donated at San Martino del Vescovo, a 10 C church, now HQ for Compagnia di Buonomini. It's an old (1442) charity helping the "shamed poor," poveri vergognosi: people nor- mally OK, but presently down on their luck, too proud to beg. Frescoes show "seven acts of corporal mercy": release from debtor's prison, clothing the poor, etc. The CdB meets secretly Friday afternoons - as we write - to decide on donees. Maybe some deserving person can get a sustaining glass of Prosecco.

  
  
  
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  4/29
  This is a still life of inlaid rock. Museo Opificio delle Pietre Dura is devoted to this art form popular in the 18th & 19th C. Artisans created portraits, entire [1.9 MB] scenes [2.3 MB], even butterflies. The process is explained by showing the artisan's benches, equipment and materials. First, define the design with a colored painting; then cut each stone and position it. For a bird's breast, for example, an agate with ideal shading would be cut to shape with a wire saw. Work verrry patiently; never say 'oops'!

  
  
  
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  4/30
  Per the Museo Galileo:
  
  Case 1: Assume the Sun orbits Earth. To explain the observed data requires the apparatus at left, an armillare built by Antonio Santucci in 1588; it's huge.
  
  Case 2: Assume Earth orbits the Sun. To explain the observed data requires the apparatus at right plus a little math; it also reveals other data, which is huge.
  
  Any questions? This will be on the final.

  
  
  
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  5/1
  Yes! International Workers' Day. It's always fun to see another country's issues. In Berlin we arrived after 10:00, late for a large and loud parade already underway. Issue: 10€/hr pay. An all day party came next at Brandenburg Gates. But this is Italy. Florence is tiny, life is more relaxed. We came at 11:00. After noon fewer than 100 marchers arrived with flags and chants. It was casual. A guy showed up for Algeria. Then it was over. Time for an espresso!

  
  
  
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  5/2
  "Our" basilica is Santa Croce. It's beautiful outside with white marble and modest Franciscan trim. Inside is huge, and art-filled. Michelangelo grew up a block away, so it was his basilica, too. Greats are buried here. Michelangelo's bust (by his nephew) shows his broken nose. Galileo's bust, telescope in hand, is defiant. Rossini's smug; Machiavelli's tomb is bustless. Donatello did several works; Annunciation is one; Giotto scored with The Death of St. Francis. It's a pretty good neighborhood church.

  
  
  
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  5/3
  Tonight, we attended a concert at "our" basilica, Santa Croce. Though the MC lost us at buonasera, we figured out the music celebrated the 723 anniversary of setting the church's cornerstone on this day in 1294. Four lovely musicians performed works by JS Bach, Wagner, Chopin and Schumann. Scheduled at 9:00, starting late, welcoming digni- taries from the Orthodox Church and China, it was a delightful celebration. Happy Birthday!

  
  
  
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  5/4
  Whoa! How much Renaissance art can one look at before it all looks the same: a mom + her son? We took a break-day to tiny Siena, still rocking 14 C charm with arches and windows and no cars. People love it! The town's heart is the Campo, a large bricked "field" next to City Hall; it's a place to meet. Reached by stairs the Duomo's spectacular out- side, inside, in between. Possibly the main reason people love Siena is the pigeons have learned to drink from the Campo's fountain.

  
  
  
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  5/5
  The 59th Florence International Iris competition is on. Their garden, 2.5 acres on a hillside, dotted with gnarly old olive trees, is free and open to any- one willing to be stunned. Wanna compete? Send your rhizomes. They will cultivate them for 3 years, and then present your blossoms anonymously to a panel of experts. They have 1500+ varieties. Imagine sunny warm weather, a strong iris fragrance, and enjoy them with us: #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6.

  
  
  
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  5/6
  Looking down the Arno River one sees a bridge with buildings on it, Ponte Vecchio. It's like this because after a hard day at the office in Palazzo della Signoria, the Medicis didn't want to walk back home to the Palazzo Pitti with riff-raff. So, they got Vasari to build a "corridor," an elevated passageway: out the door, along the river, over the bridge and home. The original bridge businesses, butchers & fish mongers, being too smelly for sensitive Medici noses, all got evicted for jewelers.

  
  
  
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  5/7
  It's early May, as the instrument at left shows. It and another instrument are on the façade of Santa Marie Novella Dominican Church, where religion, art and science are big. Inside, two tiny holes - in the wall and in the window - allow sunlight to beam onto a scale in the floor to measure equinoxes and solstices. They're there to gather data to get the date of Easter right. Irony alert: From this pulpit visible at right Galileo was first accused of heresy.

  
  
  
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  5/8
  In Seattle we shop at Central Market. In Florence we shop at Mercato Centrale. It has veggies, meat, parmasean, olive oil and fish. We like the anchovies. On the street, the signature Florentine food is lampredotto, the fourth stomach of a cow, braised and in a spicy green sauce: don't think about it, just enjoy it! Also, we love the fried rabbit, chianina steak sandwices, and every porchetta sandwich we try. Oh! And don't forget the cappuccino. Delizioso!

  
  
  
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  5/9
  On our last day we visited Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, the Basilica di San Lorenzo library. It was founded by Medici Pope Clement VII and designed by Michelangelo with coffered ceiling, stained glass and two files of sit-read- store-under desks. Row catalogs on the aisle. Among its 15,500 books and manuscripts (now in climate control) is Virgil's Aeneid from the 5th C. Napo- lean grabbed it at one point, but later it was returned. Did he get stuck with the huge 50 Florin fine?

  
  
  
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  5/10
  Ciao, Italia. Hello, America.

  
  
  

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