Our final day in Florence started with a fantastic lecture about the history of Florence. I am in awe of how the professor covered a millennium of history in ninety minutes. Florence begins to make sense. I hadn’t understood the relationship between the city and the guilds, the guilds and the de’Medici’s, not even the d’Medici’s and the popes. It’s very colorful history.
Out hotel is a former convent, and across the street is the old herbology for the Cathedral Santa Maria Novella. The historical cabinets and some glassware has been preserved in a new business that makes perfumes. We had an experience, and made a few purchases in elegant surroundings.
Next up was a pizza and salad lunch, with olive oil served in little packets like ketchup would be. The idea is to keep it fresh? Control the amount of oil patrons use? Prevent spills? Really not sure.
Our afternoon was free. We visited two churches and one gelateria. First was the Basilica Santa Maria Novella; very old and interesting art. The church has frescos that date to the 1200s. In the 1500s, the church was renovated and new paintings were installed in frames over the frescos. The frescos were rediscovered in this century and the paintings placed on hinged frames. Three days a month the paintings are “opened” to reveal the frescos beneath, rebus fashion.
This church also has beautiful stained glass.
The Basilica Santa Croce is an impressive space. We arrived just half an hour before closing. One of the chief attractions is to see the tombs of some of Florence’s finest citizens: Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Bruno. There’s also a cenotaph to poor Dante who was exiled and buried in Ravenna. The sculpture and art is impressive too: Vasari, Donatello, Giotto, Cimabue, and Brunelleschi. Meanwhile, while you walk over the floor, there are worn grave markers underfoot.
More than half of the population of Florence died of the plague. It’s impossible not to think about, especially in this post Covid time. I’ve been wondering about the Renaissance love of Madonna’s and curious if seeing babies in particular, was a popular motif after so much death and sadness in their culture.
Gelato at a place called Vivoli on Via Torta was the afternoon break. For dinner we tried Florentino steak. We had a great waiter. I asked him to tell me everything he knew about steak. His first advice was to find someone to eat with. I nodded to Mark and said I found someone on the street. Bene. The next advice was not to order much other food with the steak. Italians love their courses, so this was refreshing. We chose a steak and grilled vegetable. They brought the raw cut to show us— it was huge, and then cooked, very rare, and carved it for us. It was good. Ethical vegetarians should not look at the next photo.
We are packed for our last city, tomorrow.
One Response
I bet you are a delight to any servers who are lucky enough to get your table!!