Firenze/Florence: rock star art in a gorgeous building

The handsome courtyard you see above is where you have to wait, in several different lines, to enter the Uffizi Gallery. Although it is something of an ordeal (and pricey, too) to get into this most famous of museums, with Rick Steves' help, it's doable. And worth the hassle.

Most important of his tips is to get your tickets in advance. A corollary might be to stay at one of his recommended hotels (Il Bargellino) and mention to your helpful hostess that you want to do the Uffizi. As I related in an earlier post, she secured us a reservation that allowed us to see this spectacular place.

Then you finish off, once you've gained entry, with Rick's free audio tour. Perfetto!

One other Uffizi tip, this one courtesy of yours truly: don't just look at the paintings. Spend some time looking at the walls, floors, and ceilings. Wow! What a gorgeous building! A sample is the ceiling you can see on the left. I'll show you some more of these fabulous architectural features after we cover the main attractions.

Like this masterpiece, for example. As many times as I've seen pictures of this beautiful Botticelli, there's something special about seeing it in person.

One of the advantages over pictures in the history of art textbook is that you can get [pretty] close and notice exquisite details...

clothing details from Birth of Venus

baby and fruit detail from Madonna of the Pomegranate

Gorgeous paintings by other famous Italians are on offer, too...

Michelangelo's Doni Tondo, or Holy Family

Titian's Venus of Urbino

Leonardo's Annuciation

Caravaggio's Medusa

This pretty much covers all my favorite painters! At least the Renaissance ones. And there's lots more fabulous stuff in the Uffizi. Like sculpture, for example. Here's the amazing Laocoön; it's a copy, but still powerful.

Henry got a great closeup that really brings the agony of the scene home:

But that's enough about world-class art. What about that world-class interior decoration?

Those ceilings are really amazing. Don't forget to look up!

Even the spandrels are gorgeous...

Don't let the great sculpture in the beautifully octagonal Tribune Room...

...cause you to miss its great ceiling...

...and, yes, there's floor tile art! So look down, too.

It would probably be borderline insanity to spend €33 just to look at the Ponte Vecchio, but the windows at one end of the Uffizi's sculpture hall do give you Rick's favorite view of the bridge...

...and it's a great place to notice the Vasari Corridor (note the red line in the photo below). It was a shortcut for the Medicis to get from the Uffizi (which means "offices") home to the Pitti Palace. I mean, you wouldn't want to have to deal with the crowds of hoi-poloi on the Ponte every day, would you? The Medicis: among other things, the inventors of freeways' toll lanes.

Firenze/Florence: sculpture and more at the Bargello

Behind the handsome walls on all sides of this courtyard (the building was constructed in 1255) is another spot-on Rick Steves recommendation, the Museo Nazionale del Bargello. Some very famous sculptures are its main attractions, and where the crowds are. 

But folks who leave after seeing all the Donatellos are really missing out. I found its assortment of "minor" galleries to be fascinating and well worth the time. But first, a quick look at the main sculpture galleries.

We listened to Rick's [free] audio tour which directed us to the main attractions and provided witty and useful context to many of these pieces. 

Oceanus, by Giambologna (I assume this is Neptune?)

Micelangelo's Bacchus
(Rick says "hope he's not driving")

Donatello's St. George

There were a lot of impressive busts in the ground floor gallery. Not surprisingly, the most engaging was this one, Brutus, by Michelangelo. Doesn't he look like a real guy?

I got kind of a kick out of this one. Not mythological characters battling in some cosmic struggle, but rather mythologized figures representing Florence and Pisa. Guess who comes out on top?

I've always liked DellaRobbia medallions, and the Bargello has several, including this beauty:

Three sculptures of the same subject are the highlights of the first floor's main gallery. Two Davids by Donatello and one by Verocchio, all of which I remember from History of Art class, and all pretty gorgeous.

The early Donatello is probably my least favorite of the three...

...but I call your attention to the fabulous giant's head at David's feet. Isn't it gorgeous?!

Rick says the model for Verrochio's might have been his apprentice, a kid named Leonardo whom you may have heard of...

Donatello's second attempt is the best of the lot, though. Just stunning.

So, the highlights are pretty spectacular, but what about those other galleries that are almost empty of visitors? They shouldn't be! The truly miscellaneous nature of the objects on display, as well as their beauty and historical interest, reminded me strongly of one of my favorite London museums, the Victoria and Albert. 

Here's just a taste of what you can find in this mini-V&A:

exquisite gold...hinges?

gorgeous medieval triptych

backgammon, anyone?

appropriate for the tallest flower stalks

There were a lot of interesting weapons, many of which had been owned by various Medicis, so it's no wonder they were fancy and elaborate...

...but, although I'm not an expert, this multi-pistol array seems a little over the top...

The Bargello is, according to Rick Steves, "underappreciated." But the museum we toured on our last day in Florence is anything but. I'll show you some of the Uffizi treasures next time.

Firenze/Florence: Piazza della Signoria

Merry Christmas to all my faithful readers! I remember joking that I had enough blogging material from our European trip to last until the end of the year, but now I think I might even run over...I mean, I'm not even to the Danube River cruise yet! At any rate, thanks for your patience, and I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas day with friends and family.

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More free Florence sights! 

All concentrated in one great urban space, the Piazza della Signoria. 

Most of what I'm going to show you about this square is old and classical, but I do need to comment on the big, very contemporary piece at the center of the photo above. We didn't know it at the time, but it had only just arrived in the Piazza a couple of weeks before we did. It's a temporary work by a Swiss sculptor and is called Big Clay #4.

We thought it perhaps looked like a pile of something other than clay, but it is interesting. Plus, it provides welcome seating for tired tourist feet.

And you can eat there, which you can't do, as I embarrassingly discovered after not paying attention to the signs, in the shadier and more comfortable Loggia dei Lanzi.

This is where most of my favorite sculptures were located.

Like the amazing Rape of the Sabine Women...

The beauty of these sculptural displays (in addition to their being free!) is that it's easy to walk all around them and see them from every angle...

As disturbing as the subject matter is, you have to admire the artistry that created these figures that seem to move. There's even a bronze bas-relief of the same subject on one of the columns leading into the Loggia; lots of motion here, too:

I loved getting to see another favorite in three dimensions: Cellini's Perseus. First, you can get an idea of the piece's display context here...

...and then from the other side...

In the background of the second Perseus shot, you can see another famous piece, Hercules and Cacus, which is outside of the Loggia...

For some reason, I didn't get a close-up of Hercules' more famous partner on this side of the Piazza (which is a copy of the original; you can see a much bigger copy here)...

Two more dramatic scenes that are quite beautiful finish out my brief review of this wonderful space...

Menelaus Carrying the Body of Patroclus

Abduction of Polissena

another look at Polissena...
they did go in for abduction themes, didn't they?

I couldn't leave the Piazza without a picture of one of these very odd sculptural statements. We didn't know exactly what to make of them (there are two) at the time; at one time I even thought they might be people in red body suits. That is, until I saw all the melted wax on this guy!

Tuscan Man

The blog post I linked to above identifies the work as "two wax figures which will, periodically, be set alight, 'symbolising human transience and the lasting quality of art.'” Okay...but it's hard to argue with that lasting quality when you are in Florence. Next time I'll show you some more timeless stuff.

Firenze/Florence: architecture

Since visiting a lot of Florence's main sights and museums is a little pricey, it's super nice that you can have a pretty good experience there for free—just walk around the streets and piazzas and see some of the most interesting architecture in the world.

Like the random building at the top of the post; I have no idea what it is, just something in between the Bargello Museum (post coming up) and Santa Croce. But isn't it lovely?!

Of course, there are plenty of non-random buildings that are even more gorgeous, like the afore-mentioned Santa Croce...

...the Palazzo Vecchio...

...and the Duomo complex (which will have its own post)...

As often happens in fascinating cities, little sidelights are almost as photogenic as the three-star attractions. Henry snapped this charmingly tiny street on his walk in Oltrarno:

And then there are more of those unidentified beauties, like these guys...

One of the most interesting aspects of architecture in Florence is the blending of old and new, since it's been a vibrant cultural center for so very, very long, and still is. For example, there are new bridges over the Arno...

...but of course there are very old ones, too. Including this one, whose name is just "old bridge," or Ponte Vecchio, in the more musical Italian...

Then there's old, iconic features undergoing modern refurbishment...

...as well as some new sculpture right alongside some old buildings (and older sculpture; I'll show you more of this piazza's wonders in my next post)...

There's even older buildings than the Palazzo Vecchio, like the church of Santa Maria Maggiore...

...or this remnant of the ancient city walls, snapped by Henry in Oltrarno...

So, even though I wasn't able to visit one of my target architectural sites, the Pazzi Chapel adjacent to Santa Croce (St. Francis' feast day couldn't have come just a few days later?) I felt like we got our fill of Florentine architecture. And we were able to at least glimpse that little gem:

And the glimpse was free, as were all of the fabulous sights I've shown you here. I've got another free attraction to tell you about, which I will do next time, before I move on to the big-ticket attractions we chose to visit.