Today I decided to leave my little tourist comfort zone that basically extends from the Duomo to the Palazzo Vecchio and cross the bridge to the other (oltre) side of the river (the Arno). The area is a lot less touristy and gives you a much better sense of what day to day life is like for real Florentines.
The main art attraction in the Oltrarno is the Pitti Palace. It used to be the home of the Medicis, was taken over by Napoleon, was subsequently returned to Florentine control and was the equivalent of the White House when Florence was the capital, and now it is a fantastic museum (or rather museum complex). There is tons and tons of stuff to see here. Besides the Palatine Gallery and the Royal Apartments (which is what I saw today) there is a Modern Art Museum, a Porcelain Museum, and huge Gardens (the Boboli Gardens). I'm hoping to go back another day to see the gardens. They are apparently amazing and are said to have been used as a model for Versailles.
One of the annoying things about museums here is that they have one price for the actual museum, but then they raise the prince to include "special exhibits" which you cannot opt out of. Normally this is totally frustrating, because who cares about this random exhibit. Today it made me happy though, because right now there is a joint special exhibit at both the Pitti Palace and the Uffizi (Saturday) on Caravaggio. Since Caravaggio worked mostly in Rome, I figured I wouldn't see much of his paintings here. But Florence apparently has a large collection, so it was a great special exhibit for me. The even had "Bacchus," which was studied in class!
The rest of the museum is basically one High Renaissance treasure after another. Starting out a little earlier, they have a beautiful Madonna and Child by Fra Filippo Lippi (yes!), two by Botticelli, and a bunch by Raphael (absolutely stunning). There is also a really famous Raphael portrait that was amazing as well. Finally there were a couple of really nice Titian paintings. At the end of the painting galleries, there are a few of the Royal Apartments open to view. These are basically huge, opulent, color coordinated rooms where the royalty of Florence used to life.
After the museum, I met my friend (the daughter of this family again) for lunch. She took me to this amazing little cafe where I had great open-faced sandwiches with melanzana (eggplant) and brie. YUM! Then she made me try my first espresso. I actually didn't find it as horrible as I expected (since I hate things that are bitter and this is really strong). As your probably know, however, I'm not at all used to drinking coffee, so I was on a huge buzz (think shaky hands and heart palpitations) for the rest of the day.
To round out my day, I went over to the Brancacci Chapel (inside the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine). This chapel was painted with frescos by Massaccio, and is something that I studied a lot so I was really excited to see it. He was really the first person to start depicting humans as humans, with real, heavy, corporeal bodies and intense emotion. He also was one of the first to work with perspective. But what future Renaissance painters did using math, he did intuitively.
Before you view the chapel, they have you watch a really cheesy 40 minute film. Then you're only allowed to stay in the chapel for 15 minutes. I really didn't feel like I had enough there, but I guess it was nice just to see it. As photography was allowed (and this post is horribly devoid of photographs), here are some of the scenes:
From left to right: Adam and Eve expelled from the garden, the Tribute Money, and Peter Baptizing Converts
After that I walked back across the Ponte Vecchio (most famous bridge here), window shopping at all of the gold and silver jewelry stores. I got a gelato at a place near the Uffizi and continued to wander around. But it was not idle wandering. I was on a mission to find the cheapest postcards and a little leather bag. I was so proud of myself because I found what I was convinced had to be a steal for postcards. Sadly, later in the day I found even cheaper ones. Blech.
The bag story is a little more complicated. I knew the kind I want (they sell them everywhere, in stores and on the street). You've got to figure that something they sell on the street for half the price is fake. But it's not a brand anyone would recognize anyway, so why do I care. As I wandered, I asked merchants how much their bags cost (Quanto costa, see, money and food). Most would just answer me and I would move on. But one guy was really persistent, and I'll admit that I caved to the pressure. My (not at all faked) reticence to buy and my desire to move on and come back later did negotiate a lower price for me though, so I don't feel too bad about my lack of will-power. Oh well, I did need it and it wasn't that expensive...
Now I'm all caught up! Yay! I'll probably fall right behind again, but for now I feel productive, albeit incredibly tired. I think I'm going to take it a little more easy for the next few days. Saturday is Uffizi day, which I'm super excited about. Sunday there is a family birthday party in the country, which should be fun. I still need to find a time to go to the Accademia, and the Gardens, and I'll likely do a couple of day trips. I'll post more updates when I decide for sure!
PS: Last call of addresses. I'll be sending postcards in the next couple of days and I have a few extra!!
No comments:
Post a Comment