Fabulous Florence (Firenze)

“Whoever you are: some evening take a step out of your house, which you know so well. Enormous space is near…” – Michael Crichton

“There is too much of Florence for a person to do justice to it in a blog post!” – Barbara A Murphy

*Florence’s massive cathedral is the city’s geographical and spiritual heart. Its dome, visible from all over the city, inspired Florentines to do great things.*

*Right* *next door is the Campanile (bell tower) – Giotto’s Tower.*

*We climbed to the top, which had great views of the countryside and the dome…*

*along with my favorite church, Santa Croce* — *where Michelangelo attended services as a child and is also entombed here.*

*Speaking of Michelangelo,* *we visited the Accademia Museum to see David, which he sculpted in 1501 at 26 years old. Again, my friends, marble!*

*David is readying himself to slay Goliath and you can almost sense his confidence as he may be thinking,”I can take this guy.”*

*Ponte Vecchio is a beloved bridge, crossing the River Arno. I like to envision Michelangelo walking over it as a child.*

*It’s also quite beautiful in the evening.*

*While I’m talking about Michelangelo I may as well point out this beautiful painting of his, that we saw in the Uffizi Gallery.* *The Holy Family (c. 1506)*

*So gracefully done. He was quite a prolific artist, no?*

*Just a cool pic of the Palazzo Vecchio Tower.*

*Caught lunch at the very busy Mercado (market).*

*Spotted this “wine door”. It was one of several that we saw. We didn’t try it but evidently you can ring the bell and order up a glass of wine most times of the day.*

*This sculpture of Mary Magdalene, carved from wood, by Donatello is extremely touching.*

*John the Baptist and Jesus on one of the many bronze doors we saw in the Duomo museum.*

*We spotted this interestingly lit piece of art while walking the backstreets one evening*.

*On closer inspection, we found it to be somewhat curious but never found a description of its’ meaning.* 🤷🏽‍♀️

*I loved the cloister at the San Lorenzo library.*

*Enjoying dinner at a quiet square near our “house”.*

*Is this a tiny truck? More like a motorcycle with a trunk.*

Sumptuous Siena

“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.” – Martin Buber

*“Travel lightly. You are not traveling for people to see you!” –* Wilfred A Peterson

*Murph found a really great apartment for us to spend the night in Siena. We were in the center tower on the top floor on a corner.*

*The apartment was fully* *equipped with modern appliances.*

*But what really excited us was a clothes washer & dryer!* 😉

*“Can’t I just stay here all day and night?”*

*What a great view of Il Campo! First layed out in the 12th century*, *this square is the heart of Siena*, *both geographically and metaphorically.*

*The only town square where people stretch out as if at the beach!*

Siena has 17 historic neighborhoods, or contradas—each with a parish church, well or fountain, and square—each contrada plays an active role in the life of the city. Each is represented by a mascot (porcupine, unicorn, wolf etc.) and unique colors are worn proudly by residents. These drummers, leading the parade, belong to the Goose contrada.

*And this lamp hangs in the contrada of the Goose.*

*This is the Duomo di Siena – 13th century cathedral that is both beautiful during the day…*

*The inside has captivating stripped columns…*

*and along side the angels that stand* *on the face of the cathedral!*

*From the top of the Duomo we had an amazing birds* *eye view of the surrounding countryside!*

*Murph and Brittany weren’t done with climbing yet though. Off they headed to the city hall with its 400 steps.*

*I decided to take in the ambience below and enjoy the campo. That’s me on the right of the fountain, waving to them up in the tower.*

It’s really hard to capture the size of this campo and it’s difficult to imagine, but twice a year those contradas that I’ve been telling you about compete in a world famous horse race, the Palio di Siena. A horse from each contrada races three times around the elliptical shaped town square and the winning horse (with or without his rider) gains the honor for the following year. *It’s not a very large campo so we tried to picture 60,000 screaming fans. Must be a wild scene!*

We were awakened around midnight by the sounds of a twelve piece band and lots of cheering. The Goose contrada had won the Palio about a month ago and now have bragging rights for the entire next year. They parade around the town and remind every one of their victory as often as possible. I spoke to a local and he showed me a video of his winning contrada (the Rams) at their church, singing their praises to the Blessed Virgin Mary – their patron saint.