Firenze/Florence: Science!

When Fate (or the Catholic Church) closes a door, it pays to look for an open window.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, we weren't able to get into Santa Croce, which I had been looking forward to doing since our brief visit to Florence 21 years ago. But that did leave a hole in my schedule that I was able to fill with a museum that was almost as high on my list—the Museo Galileo. 

Henry opted instead to take Rick Steves' Oltrarno Walk (using his Florence and Tuscany guidebook), but I couldn't pass up this opportunity to see Galileo's telescope, as well as other wonders scientific. 

That's not the telescope in question above, by the way, just one of the most handsome of the—probably—thousands on display. 

Below are a couple of the great man's instruments that first saw our moon's craters and Jupiter's Galilean satellites (wouldn't he be pumped to know how many more there are?!) and changed our world forever:

Since the old guy is kind of a personal hero of mine (E pur si muove) this was a fabulous experience.

And there's lots of other really cool things in this relatively small space, which is a relatively recent addition to Florence's museum scene. Originally most of the objects on display were at the Uffizi, and it's not surprising, since they're as beautiful as they were functional, like this perpetual calendar:

I've always been fascinated by old scientific instruments (well, if not always, at least since I got to see so many of these gorgeous objects in various museums when I was in London).

Here are a few more samples of the fun stuff in the Galileo Museum...

a particularly handsome set of inertial balls

many microscopes

the biggest—and most beautiful—armillary sphere I've ever seen

many watches

There were a lot of people in the museum, but it wasn't too crowded to get to see everything you wanted to.

Back out into the Florentine sunshine after my informative and inspirational visit to this shrine to science, I snapped this picture of my Aquarius sign on the zodiac line outside the museum. 

Florence is most well-known for art and architecture (and those are coming up in my next posts), but I was glad to have the chance to appreciate the contributions it's made to science as well.

Firenze/Florence: San Miniato

The place to get the best views of Florence's landmarks, even if the air's a bit hazy, is across the river and up the hill.

But that's not all you can do over there. A simply gorgeous, and really, really old (think 11th century) church is on top of the hill—San Miniato. 

The lovely architecture and the fabulous views weren't the main attraction for us, though. We wanted to hear some Gregorian chants that are sung in the chapel every day at 5:30. 

Thinking we were giving ourselves plenty of time, we strolled the bus station to catch a 5 o'clock bus. What we didn't figure into our calculations was what is apparently a chronic problem with Florentine buses (according to a local we got to know at the bus stop). The bus we were looking for didn't appear until after 5:30, and by then so many people were waiting that it was totally sardine-ville inside. (Fortunately we were in a good spot when the door opened and we got seats.)

We made it to the church just in time to hear the tail end of the chants, which was a shame, because they sounded amazing. But, on the other hand, we were there at an absolutely perfect time, as far as city and sky views were concerned. As you can see at the right.

The interior of San Miniato was a little dark to take good photos, but trust me, it was very impressive...

And, yes, there was floor tile art!

But it was the views and the lovely gardens surrounding the church that made the trip worthwhile.

San Miniato cemetery with Florence in the background

arboreal silhouettes against the sunset sky

We hadn't seen such lush, and unusual, landscapes close up since Lake Como.

Bus service being as unreliable as it seemed to be, and any bus certain to be packed to the gills for the trip down anyway, we opted to walk it. That's where we were able to get this nice view back up the hill to San Miniato...

...as well as this look at a fine Florentine sunset...

Plus, we wanted to stop along the way anyway, at the Piazzale Michelangelo. We knew there would be more fabulous views on offer here, even though it was getting a little dark by this time. Not to mention a replica of David that makes a great addition to any photocomposition...

And wouldn't you know it, a full moon had just risen when we arrived! How perfect is that! Here's a shot with Henry's low-light super-camera...

There were lots of people up there, enjoying the mild evening and the great views...

And though it was a rather long walk back to the hotel, there were some more spectacular photo ops on offer along the way...

...plus by this time we knew where all the the gelato shops were along our route home, so we were able to re-fuel...

mango and lemon are so good, but you can't do without chocolate, either

Firenze/Florence: round about town

We visited Florence very briefly in 1996, and had always vowed to return. So, after only 21 years, the vow was honored!

Our tiny car no longer with us at this point, the rest of our trip was undertaken via public transportation. The go-to guy, Rick Steves, recommends taking the bus instead of the train from Siena to Florence and it was a quick, scenic, economical ride (€15,60 for the two of us, according to my notes). Here's one of the nice views out the bus window, as we crossed the Arno, heading to the train station:

Our hotel (another of Rick's great recommendations) isn't far from the station, and is conveniently close to Florence's major sights. So after checking in we headed straight "downtown." We made this walk, back and forth, several times during our time in Florence, and I thought I'd share with you some of the sights we became familiar with along the way, many of which will get more detailed posts later.

another day, another Duomo...

Florence's Renaissance Duomo is even more spectacular, and certainly more famous, than Siena's. One section of the main church was scaffolded off for refurbishment works (see the framing on the upper left above). And it was  really crowded, all the time...

Still impressive, though, don't you think? I'll have some more photos of this landmark structure, inside and out, in a later post.

Moving on through this city of famous sights, you come to the Palazzo Vecchio (old palace), sporting a tower as handsome as Siena's. We thought the modern sculpture in the Piazza della Signoria, in front of the palazzo, made an interesting counterpoint to the late medieval landmark...

And this isn't the only modern touch in this most Renaissance of cities. Here's a neat shiny piece of public art (much smaller, but it reminded me of Chicago's Bean) that we passed several times on our walks:

In fact, chrome must be a Florentine thing; on his walk through Oltrarno, Henry saw this eye-catching installation outside the Pitti Palace:

But, of course, old stuff is the main attraction in Florence. Also on his Oltrarno walk, Henry snapped this great shot of the "old bridge," otherwise known as the Ponte Vecchio:

I don't think he could have ordered up a more perfect reflective surface! Yes, we had great weather in Florence as well as in Siena.

My favorite Florentine church is Santa Croce, seen here in the background, behind the statue of local-boy-made-good Dante Alighieri:

I'll show you more of this lovely church's exterior when I post about Florence's architecture. 

But unfortunately, I can't show you any of the inside (nor any of the Pazzi Chapel, which I'd recently learned about and was keen to visit). We were too late to go in by the time we made it here on our first afternoon, and so pencilled in a visit for the next day, not knowing that October 4 is Saint Francis' feast day and the whole complex was closed, except for mass! Bummer! Those Catholics and their feast days....

(We also missed out on seeing a soccer game while we were in Italy, much to our regret, but it just didn't work out, schedule-wise, in any of the cities we visited. The Fiorentina store, glimpsed on one of our walks about town, was as close as we got.)

The tower at the Palazzo Vecchio and the Duomo's Campanile (which we climbed in 1996 but not in 2017) aren't the only attractive towers in town. Our first museum stop was the Bargello, which is marked by the square-ish tower on the right here. (I'll show you some of the many treasures inside this remarkable museum in a future post.) The other is La Badia, a medieval abbey that's still a monastery:

From the grand to the mundane, this storefront provided a handy landmark that assured us we had chosen the right tiny street off the Piazza del Duomo to get us back to our hotel...

Speaking of our hotel—the Hotel il Bargellino on Via Guelfa—was it a find! I've already mentioned its great location, close to both the train station and the major sights. Another plus was the friendly proprietor, who is from Boston but has lived in Florence for years. 

our hotel's lovely terrace

(All of the people running the hotels we stayed at in Italy were super-nice and cooperative, but it was an extra convenience to have one who speaks both fluent English and Italian!)

We just mentioned to her that we planned to go to the Uffizi during our stay and she said we needed to make reservations right away. So she just called them up, found out that they were full up for the next day (when we had planned to go) and made us a reservation for early the next morning. We might have missed out on this must-see museum without her help.

She also told us where to find a handy travel agent; having them make the train reservations we needed to get to Bergamo was so much easier than trying to decipher the Trenitalia website ourselves.

But the best perk this great hotel offers is their beautiful rooftop terrace, open for guests to use! Our first dinner in Florence was enjoyed up there, after a stop at a local grocery on our way "home" from sightseeing.

I'll be showing you more details about our encounters with Florence's major tourist sights in future posts. Next up, though, we'll venture across the Arno to see where to get great views of the city like the one at the top of the post. Stay tuned!

Siena: contrade and a party we missed

There was a party going on in this Piazzo del Mercato (Market Square) our first evening in Siena. (The photo was taken the next day from halfway up our Torre del Mangia climb.) We're not sure what they were celebrating, but all the decorations pointed to its being a party for the Onda (Wave) contrada. 

Siena's contrade are its neighborhoods, and their significance isn't just territorial. Each has their own colors, mascot, and traditions. Here are the Onda flags that mark their territory and the street leading off Il Campo to the party we saw...

You can see all of the imaginative mascots, colors, mottos, and all kinds of other contrade information, by following the link above. But I also made a collection of photos whenever I noticed a new contrada border symbol as we strolled around Siena; thanks again to Rick Steves' Florence and Tuscany guidebook for alerting me to this fun local cultural tidbit. It's great to see the variety of mascots—from the heroic to the whimsical to the weird...

Aquila (eagle) contrada

Civetta (owl) contrada

Leocorno (unicorn) contrada

Torre (tower, not elephant) contrada

The contrade serve as neighborhood associations and community centers, as we discovered during our Siena strolls. We came across two of these "clubhouses." One was in the Giraffa (giraffe, one of the weird ones!) contrada...

I really like their light fixtures, don't you?!

Here's a Giraffa border tile:

On our way from the Duomo to San Domenico, we came across the community center for the Selva (forest) contrada, and had the temerity to actually step inside, we were so curious to learn more about this local phenomenon...

On the floor below, it looked like some folks were setting up for some sort of community event. And here's a Selva border tile:

The big event for the contrade each year, when one gets bragging rights over all the others, is the Palio horserace. Which we—unfortunately, or, probably, fortunately—missed. It's a huge deal around here, and we wouldn't have been able to get a hotel room, or a table at any restaurant, had we happened to Siena on one of their race days.

You can see a picture of the race at the bottom of this post. What happens is that they turn Il Campo—yes, the whole enormous "square"—into a horse track! It must be crazy! Rick Steves has a video that can give you some idea of the scale of the thing. And Wikipedia gives more facts and history.

Much as it would be fun to see all the contrade parading in their colors, and to toast the victors when the race is done, I think we were lucky to be able to see Siena on a non-Palio day.

Siena: Duomo floor art

I guess it's not surprising that a church whose every inch of walls and ceilings, inside and out, is extravagantly decorated, wouldn't just have plain monochrome floors. But, gee whiz! They really went to the extreme in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption/Cattedrale Metropolitana di Santa Maria Assunta of Siena.

The panel you see above is possibly the most famous of the 56 that cover the whole floor of the church, depicting the Siena she-wolf surrounded by lesser Italian cities like Rome and Florence. The Wikipedia link above can tell you more than you probably want to know about the panels and the artists who made them. But I like Rick Steves' comment that this is "pretty secular stuff for such prime church real estate" (from the self-guided Duomo tour in his ever-helpful Florence and Tuscany guidebook).

All the panels really are extraordinary, inspiring me to look at floors in every church we subsequently visited. (Although none approached the richness and creativity of this one!)

On the right is a section of another famous panel, the "Slaughter of the Innocents," that's almost too realistic and gory. (If you have a strong stomach and want to see it larger, just click on the image.)

Almost as eye-catching, and even more beautiful, are the abstract designs that form borders between the narrative panels...

Aren't they beautiful, and so creative?! It's hard to imagine how difficult it would be to fit the little pieces of stone into such intricate patterns. Not to mention the artistic imagination required to come up with the designs in the first place.

I didn't make a scientific survey, but my impression is that there is little, if any, duplication from one section to the next. 

The sculptures, the frescoes, the Library, the floors...any one of these aspects of this amazing place would make it worth a visit. But you get all of them!

Siena as a whole has so much to offer the happy tourists who visit here. Next time I'll finish up my Siena posts with a look at an aspect of local culture that's easy to overlook among the more obvious attractions.