Saying goodbye to the city of canals, we headed south to the city that gave birth to a revolution that changed the way the world thought: Florence. However, on the way there, we stopped at the city of Pisa.
Pisa is famous mainly because of the Leaning Tower, something that was built by mistake and has since become a landmark. While the angle is not as great as it once was due to remedial work to decrease it so that it was safe, the tower now leans at 4°, just enough to see, and safe enough to climb. Indeed, it started to lean apparently just after it was being built, hence the upper levels being slightly taller on the leaning side as they tried to compensate, thus curving the tower as it goes up. Apparently it is stable now for at least 200 years before further work will be needed. Of course, a lot of people went for the cliche picture but I refrained. It was enough to appreciate the beauty of the tower.
Surrounding the tower are two buildings, the Pisa Baptistry and Cathedral — both gorgeous pieces of architecture. While there was no time to go in, or climb the leaning tower, the grandness of the buildings are awe inspiring. Certainly a visit will be made next time.
And then it was on to Florence. Florence is well known as being the birth of the Renaissance, the time when people stopped looking up and started looking around, and is reflected in the art and the buildings, all contained within the historic heart of the city.
One of the main sights of the city is the Florence Cathedral. It contains one of the worlds largest domes, of which was a marvel considering it is made of bricks. To hold it up, a second dome was built inside it, supporting the weight of the other dome, allowing a small gap that allows people to climb up to the top. I was not brave enough to do that, nor was I well enough without coughing up my lungs while walking up. However, Edd climbed to to the top and said the view was amazing.
The rest of the outside has quite a commanding presence, the green, pink and white marble towering over the square and buildings around it, the stonework delicate and fine. It’s quite hard to take the whole thing in at once. Inside though, the cathedral is quite sparse, all the decoration left for the dome. The dome is painted with a scene depicting the Last Judgement and the colours, the form of the painting is just breaktaking. Again, going up to the dome allows a closer look at it, but from down below, it is just as amazing, just as colourful. It’s also amazing to think not just here but at other churches on the domes people painting them keeping in mind that people down below had to be able to see them, keeping the scale right while still allowing the epic nature of such paintings to not be diminished.
Elsewhere in Florence, there is art everywhere. There is the famous David statue made by Michelangelo and there are replicas everywhere in Florence, but the original is in a museum, though on the day we wanted to visit, there was a two hour wait in the rain. There is also the Uffizi Gallery that contains a number of Renaissance paintings and is one of the most popular galleries in Italy. Again, we didn’t visit because of time — if you visit Florence and want to see these pieces, you have to get up early and wait or buy tickets in advance and have plenty of time to wait in line.
However, there is a sculpture garden by the Uffizi Gallery containing original sculptures. This includes the Perseus with the Head of Medussa, which is a single casted bronze statue — a miracle of a piece of art and simply awe-inspiring considering the methods needed to make it. Apparently it was also the first piece where the base of the statue formed part of the whole statue in terms of the story. Other statues included depictions of moments from Greek/Roman myths.
One of the last places we went to, and to which we escaped the pouring rain that was coming down at the time, was the Santa Croce. This church in some ways, while not as grand at the main cathedral, is just as, if not more special. While the outside doesn’t point to something extraordinary, inside there are many treasures to behold. Firstly, the inside of the church itself is just gorgeous, from its wooden rood, to its altar covered in images from the bible, shining through the whole church. Even the decorations of the doors and the handles are exquisite and detailed. The church has a lot of history, some of which is remarked on the walls through the damaged paintings after one of the floods that have hit Florence.
Probably one of the most interesting things about the church though is that they contain the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo, two of Florence’s famous sons, with a cenotaph to Dante located just down from them. It was quite something to realise two people who had such an influence on the world in quite different areas have had such an impact on our lives. Certainly something I won’t forget.
Another thing I won’t forget is the Florence Food Market. Here, we probably came across one of the best places in Italy for pizza. There are different types of pizza, with the ones from Rome flat, the ones from Napoli fatter and in some ways more like Western pizza. This latter one was served at a pizza place in this food market teeming with Italian food and lots of people so clearly it was good food and it was. A simple margherita pizza was all that was needed and it was delicious, the sauce and cheese perfect. A lovely way to end Florence.
Florence is definitely somewhere to visit if you love the art, and definitely somewhere where you need a few days to explore it. However, there is still plenty to do if you don’t like the art. At least on this trip though, one day and we were gone. Our last stop in Italy was coming up. Rome here we come!
