May 29, 2012: Siena and San Gimignano
	Return to the Index for Our Week in Florence and Rome

Well, our second cruise has ended, and this morning we have docked in Civitavecchia. At long last, we'll have to leave the ship, which has been our home for almost a month. This will mean schlepping bags again as we make our way to the Civitavecchia train station for a train into Rome. There, we will be met by a friend of Greg's- Frederico- who has graciously offered to hold some of our luggage while we go off to Florence for four days. When we return to Rome, he will meet us again with our stuff, and then we will spend some time in Rome with him as our guide.

When we get to Florence, we'll walk to Casa Rovai, a B&B that Greg has booked for us, and that will be our base of operations for the next four days as we tour Florence, Sienna and San Gimignano. We hope to have time this afternoon to begin to see the sights in Florence.

Civitavecchia to Florence

We were docked at Civitavecchia by 5:30 in the morning. The three of us were up and done with breakfast by eight, and ready to disembark. As we were carrying our own luggage, we were able to disembark at our leisure, and by nine we were off the ship and on our way to the shuttle bus.

The shuttle bus wound its way through the port area, past an old fort, and then out the gates of the port. It headed southeast along the harbor street to drop us about four blocks from the train station. We had to carry our luggage that distance; that was a little unpleasant because, for the first time on our trip, it was overcast, misty and drizzly. We got to the train station and, with Greg's help, got our tickets into Rome and found our way to the platform.

There were a lot of people at the Civitavecchia station; not only were there a great many cruise passengers, but it was the morning commute, and so there were quite a few locals as well. When we got on board the train, we found that this was not a train set up for passengers going to or from an airport our cruise terminal- there was almost no space at all for luggage. Cruise passengers squeezed into seats and piled luggage into the seat beside them. We did the same, and between the three of us took up five seats.

As the train made stops on its way into Rome, and other passengers got on, we cruise folks could tell that they were irritated that so many seats were taken up by luggage, and there were quite a few words exchanged in excited Italian. We couldn't tell exactly what was being said- to us and other cruise folks- but it didn't sound like "Welcome to Italy, we are so glad you are here." We had to fend off some irate passengers ourselves. Eventually, since Fred and Greg were in window seats with luggage next to them, and I was in an aisle, I relinquished my seat to what I thought would be an Italian woman, but as I got up, an Italian man rushed into the seat before the woman could sit down; so much for Italian chivalry.

In any event, we were in Rome by 10:30.

In the early morning mist, we got off the train from Civitavecchia at Rome's Central Station. I'd show you an aerial view of the station, but I'll wait until we return to Rome from Florence. Then I can show you, because our apartment turned out to be only a few blocks from it. Anway, we disembarked and carried our bags down to the end of the platform, where Fred and I waited with our bags for Greg to go off and find Frederico. As you can see in this picture of Fred with our bags, the station was pretty much open-air, although the platforms themselves were covered.

A few minutes later, Greg returned with Frederico in tow and we were introduced. Frederico is a lawyer in Rome, just starting out in his career; Greg had met him some years ago and stayed in touch. Frederico helped us buy tickets on the train to Florence, and then we carried our bags outside to Frederico's small car parked nearby. We each gave him the one bag we would not need in Florence, and he stowed them in the car to keep them at his apartment until we returned.

Before we left him to get back to work (we would spend four days with him later this week), I got a picture of Greg, Frederico and Fred outside the Rome Central Station, and you can have a look at that picture at left.

Frederico headed back to his office, and the three of us re-entered the station to find the platform for the Eurostar train to Florence. We were on board at 11:15, and the train departed exactly on time at 11:30.

Once we got outside Rome, the scenery was very nice, although the train was moving so fast that the nearground in almost every shot was blurred- even at the camera's fastest setting. On the train, there was almost no sense of motion, even though the train was at times moving at well over 150mph! (There was a display at the end of each car that showed news and weather and things like outside temperature- as well as current speed. I should have taken a picture of the display on the way up; maybe I can remember on the way back.) It was an amazing ride.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) Riding on the Eurostar

If you'd like to get an idea of what the train ride was like, just use the movie player at left.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

And if you would like to see some of the scenery along the way, as we passed one picturesque town after another set against the hills and mountains in the distance, you should have a look at the pictures Fred took. I have put them into a slideshow for you.

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at right and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

As we rode, I couldn't help but wonder what the U.S. would be like if we had trains like this connecting our major cities; perhaps we would have developed an entirely different infrastructure if we hadn't become so dependent on the automobile. But then we have longer distances to travel, and even our cities are impossible to walk everywhere; your work is usually many miles from where you live- not, apparently, the case in cities like Florence and Rome. And the cities themselves are so compact that having a car is more of a liability than an asset. I know that living in Chicago I could easily have done without one, but the same cannot be said of Dallas. The train ride was about 90 minutes, so by 12:30 we were approaching Florence.

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As we came into Florence (Firenze), the weather cleared up very nicely, with blue sky and clouds. I took some pictures as the train slowed to come into the Florence Central Station, and you can use the thumbnails below to have a look at these trackside pictures:

When we got off the Eurostar, and were walking down the platform towards the entrance, we stopped to get pictures of each other. Here is Fred's picture of me and my picture of Fred.

As we carried our bags to the entrance, and I was following Fred and Greg, I made a movie of the activity in the station (which was quite busy), and you can watch it with the player at left.

Our B&B: Casa Rovai

Casa Rovai (www.casarovi.it) is a charming, quiet B&B about a half-mile from the Florence Central Station and quite near the Duomo (cathedral). It is pretty much in the heart of Florence and has six rooms carved out of an original apartment. The web site says that it located on the first floor of an historical palace, but of course in Europe, the first floor is actually our second floor. There is no elevator, but that wasn't a problem.

The B&B is located on a quiet street about three blocks from the Duomo and Santa Croce Church, and about six blocks from attractions such as the Uffizi Museum and the Academia Gallery, and the streets around it are full of other residences and small inns, boutiques, restaurants, cafés and markets at at least one "Kabob" (more about those later). It has been in current owner’s family since the beginning of the 1900s. Casa Rovai is at No. 1 Fiesolana Street, in the historical, small quarter of San Pier Maggiore. The street dates back to the second series of walls around the city.

Getting there from the train station was pretty easy, although we got a bit turned around with the map we were trying to follow. The major point of interest that we passed was the Duomo- the Cathedral of Florence. As we were passing the Duomo, Greg reiterated that "cathedral" really has a specific meaning insofar as Catholic Churches are concerned; the major church (or seat of a bishop if there is one) in each city is the "cathedral;" others are just churches or possibly sanctuaries.

We will go past the Duomo a number of times, and take lots of pictures of it. Rather than sprinkle them all throughout these pages, I've gathered them together at the point where Fred and I climbed up to the observation platform on top of the Dome (a couple of days from now).

As you can see from the aerial view of downtown Florence at left, Casa Rovai was indeed convenient to just about everything. In case you want a yardstick, at a normal pace, the distance from Casa Rovai to the Pitti Palace or Piazza Michaelangelo was about 15 minutes. It tool slightly longer to get to and from the train station, mostly because the area around the Duomo is always so crowded. The Uffizi was only ten minutes away. We also went to a park one afternoon that is just outside the aerial view to the west; it was a 25 minute walk along the Arno River. The "Kabob" (more about that later) was much, much closer- just around the corner.

Casa Rovai was, apparently, completely renovated in 2005, and has single, double and triple rooms (each with its own private bathroom, although not always "en-suite"), a large breakfast room and a "living room" (which is actually a small lobby that contains a couple of chairs, a sofa and a table, as well as the "registration desk" where the guests can get checked in). Guests can congregate here, but the room isn't very large so you can't get a lot of people in the space.) As advertised, the breakfast room, with six separate tables and a buffet, can hold all the guests at the same time. Just off the lobby, our B&B had its own little balcony where we sat in the afternoon to have a drink and a snack.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) A Tour of Casa Rovai (and our room)

The very best way to get introduced to our B&B is to take a tour. One afternoon, I went out into Fiesolana Street and began a movie that will take you through the guest house. We'll begin in the street, and come in through the door to our particular building, pausing to look into out building's atrium, and then head up the stairs to the first (actually second) floor. At the second floor landing we'll enter through the actual front door of Casa Rovai; using our key or by ringing the bell. Inside this door is a small anteroom with another door at the far end leading to the lobby area. The movie will show you Greg's room, the lobby, the breakfast room, the guesthouse's small balcony and, of course, our own room. It is a really good movie, I think, and I hope you will use the player at right and take the time to watch it.

I thought that Casa Rovai is tastefully decorated, and I understood from talking with the proprietress, that much of the furniture was original from the 19th and 20th centuries. Our room and all but one of the others has a private, en-suite bathroom; Greg had that other room, and his bath was private but just across the entry hall. Casa Rovai had almost all the modern conveniencces, including air conditioning, satellite, and, very helpful for us, free wireless Internet access. The website indicated that this access was only in the breakfast room, but I was able to get a good signal right in our own room.

Our room was called "Il Giglio" (the red lily). This was because a red lily, the emblem of Florence, adorned the ceiling of the large room. We had a window looking out into one of the atriums in our block of buildings and a private bath. In one corner, there was a desk and sofabed; we were able to set up the laptop and access the Internet in the evening when we returned from sightseeing. From the window in our room, we could look out onto another large atrium. We had to take two pictures to show the main part of our room; you can see these pictures here and here.

Our block was typical, I think, of many others in the city. From the outside, if you walked around the long, thin block, all you would see are building fronts- shops and cafes and doors. But if the blocks were solid buildings, interior rooms and apartments would be dark and claustrophobic (and stifling, if they did not have air-conditioning). This problem was addressed a century or more ago when open atria were sprinkled through the block's interior, so that every apartment could look out onto sunlight and could get fresh air. The atria also provided convenient places for window boxes, clotheslines and little balconies. The buildings were rarely more than three or four stories tall, so it wasn't as if you were looking into a deep well. At the bottom, individual buildings or businesses had common doors that opened out into these atria, so that residents could utilize them for plants or little gardens.

Casa Rovai was our home-away-from-home for the next four days; it was a very pleasant place to stay with everything we needed. Greg hit a home run by finding it and booking it.

Our First Florence Walk: Pont del Vecchio

We had arranged with the owner of Casa Rovai to have someone there to check us in at one o'clock (no one is there after breakfast unless a guest is checking in or out, and then guests are asked to let the owners know when they would like to arrive so that someone can be sent over to receive them), and this worked fine. By one-thirty Greg and Fred and I were in our rooms and had a chance to relax for a little while. Just before two o'clock, we headed out for a walk through Florence.

Personally, when I look at someone's pictures of some location I haven't visited, I need some context in which to place them. Sure, they can be interesting in and of themselves but, particularly when they are from a tour of some kind, it helps me immensely to have the route that was followed available, so that I can get an idea of how the pictures relate one to another. Fortunately, we have available an excellent tool for just this purpose- an online aerial view of the earth's surface. So, for our afternoon walk through Florence, I have excerpted an aerial view of the section of Florence that we will cover, and on this aerial view I've marked the route we followed and some of the stops we made. If you click on the button at right, this aerial view will open in a separate little window; you can keep that window open and scroll through the aerial view as necessary to follow us. When our walk is done a little later on, you can close the window. To begin, when you open the window, scroll to the upper right corner, where you will see Casa Rovai and the beginning of our walk.

Basilica de Santa Croce

To begin our walk, we turned left out of Casa Rovai and went to the beginning of Fiesolana Street and crossed Via Pietrapiana heading south. At that point, Fiesolana Street became Via del Benci and we walked south along that moderately busy, but narrow street. Four block later we came out onto the plaza in front of Santa Croce Church (shown at left). The Basilica of the Holy Cross is Florence's principal Franciscan church. When the site was first chosen, it was in marshland outside the city walls. It is the burial place of some of the most illustrious Italians, such as Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli and Rossini, and for this reason it is known as the Temple of the Italian Glories.

We should have gone inside, but for some reason we did not. The Basilica has sixteen chapels, many of them decorated with frescoes by Giotto and his pupils, tombs and cenotaphs. Legend says that Santa Croce was founded by St Francis himself. The construction of the current church (which replaced an older building) began in 1294; it was paid for by some of the city's wealthiest families. It was consecrated in 1442 by Pope Eugene IV. The building's design reflects the austere approach of the Franciscans. The floorplan is an Egyptian or Tau cross (a symbol of St Francis), 115 metres in length with a nave and two aisles separated by lines of octagonal columns. To the south of the church was a convent, some of whose buildings remain.

In the 1470s, Filippo Brunelleschi (who had designed and executed the dome of the Duomo) helped design the cloister. The current bell tower is relatively recent; only 160 years old as of this writing. It replaced an earlier one damaged by lightning. A Jewish architect, Niccolo Matas from Ancona, designed the church's 19th century neo-Gothic facade, working a prominent Star of David into the composition. Matas had wanted to be buried with his peers but because he was Jewish, he was buried under the porch and not within the walls.

The Museo dell'Opera di Santa Croce is housed here, and a monument to Florence Nightingale stands in the cloister, in the city in which she was born and after which she was named. In 1966, the Arno River flooded much of Florence, including Santa Croce. The water entered the church bringing mud, pollution and heating oil. The damage to buildings and art treasures was severe, taking several decades to repair.

The Arno: Looking Towards Pont del Vecchio

We left the plaza Santa Croce and continued south on Via del Benci, passing a little Internet cafe and heading towards the Arno River. After a few blocks, we came out at the Arno, and we could look north towards Pont del Vecchio. We thought we would walk up to that famous bridge, so we crossed the river here to walk up the south side. We took a few good pictures here on the Via del Benci bridge across the Arno, looking east towards the mountains and west towards Pont Vecchio. You can use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at some of these pictures:

From the Via del Benci bridge, we started down the south side of the Arno River. When we got about halfway down towards the Pont del Vecchio, we were just across from the Uffizi Museum, and at this point I stopped to do a large panorama. I took five pictures this time, spanning a 200°-view from west to east. The result is below:

As we walked down the Arno, we began to get excellent views of the Pont del Vecchio, probably the most iconic of the bridges in Italy.

Pont del Vecchio

We got some other nice views along the south side of the Arno, and you can use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at them:

The topography to our left (south) was a fairly steep incline; the hill begins a bit further west of us and continues east along the river all the way past Piazza Michaelangelo, which we will visit in a day or two. As you can see from the aerial view, we went through an arch underneath a building, and this brought us to Via Romana. This street crosses the Pont del Vecchio to our right; to our left, it goes southwest past the front of the Pitti Palace. When we turned left, we were in an area of little cafes and shops, including one art shop that had a series of cat prints for sale.

On the aerial view you've been following, you'll note that our quick side trip to the Pitti Palace is not shown; adding it would have made the entire view much larger, so I have instead shown this part of our walk on the aerial view at right. We actually came to the Palace because Greg was supposed to meet someone to arrange for a photo tour tomorrow. As it turned out, there was some miscommunication, the lady wasn't here, and we never did arrange for that tour.

We did, however, get to see the back side of the Pitti Palace; the front actually faces the Boboli Gardens to the south. I made a movie in the plaza, and you can watch it with the player below:

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I'm not sure why there is such a large plaza on what is essentially the back side of the palace, but it may be that there was once an entrance for carriages at either end of the building, or perhaps before Florence got so big, the buildings across the plaza were not there.

We took some good pictures here in the plaza; you can use the clickable thumbnails at left and below to have a look at them:

As you can see, the back side of the Palace is not very impressive, and since we never got to the Boboli Gardens or into the Palace, I have found a stock shot of the front of this huge building.

The Palazzo Pitti is a vast mainly Renaissance palace; the core of the present palazzo dates from 1458 and was originally the town residence of Luca Pitti, an ambitious Florentine banker.

The palace was bought by the Medici family in 1549 and became the chief residence of the ruling families of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. It grew as a great treasure house as later generations amassed paintings, plates, jewelry and luxurious possessions.

In the late 18th century, the palazzo was used as a power base by Napoleon, and later served for a brief period as the principal royal palace of the newly united Italy. The palace and its contents were donated to the Italian people by King Victor Emmanuel III in 1919, and its doors were opened to the public as one of Florence's largest art galleries. Today, it houses several minor collections in addition to those of the Medici family, and is fully open to the public.

I'm sorry we didn't get into the Gardens; I am sure they are beautiful. Instead, when we were done here in the plaza (the Palace itself was not open), we headed back up Via Romana towards the south end of the Pont del Vecchio. Just before we headed across the bridge, I stopped to buy some cookies from a little shop we passed. The Pont del Vecchio is, of course, more than just a bridge; it is actually a bridge that is so wide that shops and buildings have been built on both sides of it; my guess is that the bridge is now over a hundred feet wide. In the middle of the bridge, there is an opening that offers good views, such as back towards the Uffizi.

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There is also an open space where there is a monument to somebody (didn't write down who); you can see Fred and this monument here. I made a movie out here on the Pont del Vecchio, and you can watch it with the player at left.

Fred took quite a few pictures from the bridge; below are clickable thumbnails for some additional views up and down the Arno River from Pont del Vecchio:

Coming off the bridge, we continued straight ahead up Via Romana, turned right, and came into the square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio.

The Palazzo Vecchio

In 1299, the people of Florence decided to build a palace, worthy of the city's importance. Arnolfo di Cambio, the architect of the Duomo and the Santa Croce church, began constructing it upon the ruins of two older buildings once owned by the Uberti family. Giovanni Villani (1276–1348) wrote in his Nuova Cronica that the Uberti were "rebels of Florence and Ghibellines", stating that the plaza was built so that the Uberti family homes would never be rebuilt on the same location. He also wrote di Cambio incorporated the ancient tower of the Foraboschi family into the building, which is why it is not directly centered in the building. This tower contains two small cells, that, at different times, imprisoned Cosimo de' Medici (the Elder) (1435) and Girolamo Savonarola (1498). The tower is named after its designer Torre d'Arnolfo. The tower's large, one-handed clock was originally constructed by the Florentine Nicolò Bernardo, but was replaced in 1667 by a clock made by Vincenzo Viviani.

The cubical building is built in solid rusticated stonework, with two rows of two-lighted Gothic windows, each with a trefoil arch. Michelozzo Michelozzi added decorative bas-reliefs of the cross and the Florentine lily in the spandrels between the trefoils. The building is crowned with a projecting crenellated battlement, supported by small arches and corbels. Under the arches are a repeated series of nine painted coats of arms of the Florentine republic. Some of these arches can be used to drop heated liquids or rocks on invaders.

We did not go into the Palazzo itself; it is now a museum and there would have been way too much to see this afternoon. One can enter the first courtyard, and we did that. We also spent time in the Loggia dei Lanzi on the south side of the Piazza Signoria, admiring the large sculptures there. There were also sculptures in front of the Palazzo and, in the piazza, the Fountain of Neptune and an equestrian statue of Cosmo I di Medici. These features are marked on the aerial view at left.

Duke Cosimo I de' Medici moved his official seat here from the Medici palazzo in Via Larga in 1540, signalling the security of Medici power in Florence. The name was officially changed after Cosimo removed to Palazzo Pitti, renaming his former palace the Palazzo Vecchio, the "Old Palace", although the adjacent town square, the Piazza della Signoria, still bears the old name. Cosimo commissioned Giorgio Vasari to build an above-ground walkway, the Vasari corridor, from the palace, through the Uffizi, over the Ponte Vecchio to the Palazzo Pitti; all of it still survives, although portions are closed. You can see the connection between the Palazzo and the Uffizi here.

Cosimo I also moved the seat of government to the Uffizi. The palace gained new importance as the seat of United Italy's provisional government from 1865–71, at a moment when Florence had become the temporary capital of the kingdom of Italy. Although most of the Palazzo Vecchio is now a museum, it remains the symbol of local government: since 1872 it has housed the office of the mayor of Florence, and it is the seat of the City Council.

Let's visit the main elements of the complex, one at a time.

Loggia dei Lanzi

The Loggia dei Lanzi is at the southeast corner of the Piazza della Signoria- adjoining the Uffizi Gallery. It consists of wide arches open to the street, three bays wide and one bay deep. The arches rest on clustered pilasters with Corinthian capitals.

Loggia dei Lanci

The Loggia was built between 1376 and 1382 by Benci di Cione and Simone di Francesco Talenti to house the assemblies of the people and hold public ceremonies, such as the swearing into office of the Gonfaloniers and the Priors. The construction of the Loggia is in stark contrast with the severe architecture of the Palazzo Vecchio. It is effectively an open-air sculpture gallery of antique and Renaissance art.

The name Loggia dei Lanzi dates back to the reign of Grand Duke Cosimo I, when it was used to house his formidable "landsknechts" (in Italian "Lanzichenecchi", corrupted to Lanzi), or German mercenary pikemen. After the construction of the Uffizi at the rear of the Loggia, the Loggia's roof was modified by Bernardo Buontalenti and became a terrace from which the Medici princes could watch ceremonies in the piazza.

There were a number of beautiful sculptures in the Loggia, and I think that between Fred and I we got pictures of all of them. Below is a table with the names of these sculptures; click on any of them to see the picture we took of it:

Lion Roman Sculpture Found in Rome and sent from Villa Medici there to Florence in 1584. Placed under the Loggia in 1600. Perseus Holding the Head of Medusa Benvenuto Cellini One of the world's most famous statues, the statue is the original although the pedestal is a replica. It was the first statue placed under the Loggia in 1554. Menelaus Supporting the Body of Patroclus Roman Sculpture (Flavian) Copied from a 240 BC Greek original. Discovered in Rome in 1541, it was a gift from Pope Pius IV to Cosimo I in 1579. Moved from the Ponte Vecchio to the Loggia in 1841. Rape of the Sabine Women Jean de Boulogne (1583) Carved from a single block of marble, second sculpture placed under the Loggia. First sculpture with no principal viewpoints, just an upward snakelike spiral movement. Sabine Woman Roman Sculpture Found in Rome mid-16th century, it had been in the Medici villa at Rome until 1584. Placed under the loggia in 1789. Hercules Beating the Centaur Nessus Jean de Boulogne/Pietro Francavilla Sculpted from one solid block of white marble in 1599, it had been on Via Panzani until 1789. Moved to the Uffizi and finally placed under the Loggia in 1841. The Rape of Polyxena Made by Pio Fedi in 1865. Roman Matron Roman Sculpture Found in Rome, it was brought from the Medici villa there in 1584 and placed in the Loggia in 1789. Sabine Woman Roman Sculpture Found in Rome and in the Medici villa there until 1584. Brought to the Pitti Palace and then placed in the Loggia in 1789. Barbarian Prisoner Thusneldo Roman Sculpture The quality of the marble of this statue is very poor compared to others, probably because it was supposed to represent a slave. Brought from the Medici villa in 1584 and placed under the Loggia in 1789. Roman Matron Roman Sculpture Taken from the Foro di Traiano to the Medici villa. Brought to Florence in 1584 and placed under the loggia in 1789. Roman Matron Roman Sculpture Taken from the Foro di Traiano to the Medici villa. Brought to Florence in 1584 and placed under the loggia in 1789.

Palazzo Vecchio Facade and Statuary

Entrance to the Palazzo Vecchio

Various statues are lined up in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, including a copy of Michelangelo's David. The original stood at the entrance from its completion in 1504 to 1873, when it was moved to the Accademia Gallery. The replica that now stands in its place was erected in 1910. That statue is flanked by the group of Hercules and Cacus by Bandinelli.

Above the front entrance door, there is a notable ornamental marble frontispiece, dating from 1528. In the middle, flanked by two gilded lions, is the Monogram of Christ, surrounded by a glory, and above that the text (in Latin): "Rex Regum et Dominus Dominantium" (translation: "Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords"). This text dates from 1851 and does not replace an earlier text by Savonarola as mentioned in guidebooks. Between 1529 and 1851 they were concealed behind a large shield with the grand-ducal coat of arms.

On either side of the doorway and steps there are two smaller statues, both armless. They appear to be a woman and a man. I have tried to find more information about these statues, but all the information available seems to concentrate on David or Hercules.

Palazzo Vecchio

The Palazzo Vecchio is a combination museum and public space. To go inside and see all the various rooms and artwork would take the better part of a day, and we simply did not have time. So we contented ourselves with the "first courtyard."

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) In the First Courtyard of Palazzo Vecchio

As we entered the first courtyard, I stopped to make a movie looking all around; you can watch that movie with the player at left.

The first courtyard was designed in 1453 by Michelozzo. In the lunettes, high around the courtyard, are crests of the Church and City Guilds. In the center, the porphyry fountain is by Battista del Tadda. The Putto with Dolphin on top of the basin is a copy of the original by Andrea del Verrocchio (1476), now on display on the second floor of the palace. This small statue was originally placed in the garden of the villa of the Medici in Careggi. The water, flowing through the nose of the dolphin, is brought here by pipes from the Boboli Gardens.

In the niche, in front of the fountain, stands Samson and Philistine by Pierino da Vinci.

The frescoes on the walls, representing scenes of the Austrian Habsburg estates, were painted in 1565 by Giorgio Vasari for the wedding celebration of Francesco I di Medici, the eldest son of Cosimo I, and Johanna of Austria, sister of the Emperor Maximilian. The harmoniously proportioned columns, at one time smooth and untouched, were at the same time richly decorated with gilt stuccoes. The barrel vaults are furnished with painted floral and geometric designs.

As I said, all we did inside the Palazzo was to look around the first courtyard. In the aerial view above, you can see that there are two more courtyards as well.

In the Piazza Signoria

There are two major sculptural elements in the spacious Piazza Signoria. One is the equestrian monument to Cosimo I.

Monument to Cosimo I

An equestrian monument to celebrate Cosimo I had been considered by his son, Francesco, since the 1560s, but the project did not come to fruition perhaps because the very same Francesco was employing Giambologna to create less solemn works.

For this Florentine monument, to be dedicated to his glorious father, Ferdinando I chose to have Cosimo I depicted in modern armour and placed on a base embellished with bronze reliefs. This work shows the horse as a dynamic, muscular beast, one leg raised and depicted with a graphic vivacity that reveals in-depth study of natural forms. The horse's head is most effective and the curls of its mane, lifted and moved by the wind, have been created with stupefying skill.

Giambologna worked on the statue from 1587 to 1594; he was supervised - at the direct instruction of Ferdinando I - by Bernardo Vecchietti, who perhaps worked with Giambologna in its conception. The marble base, with relevant foundations, was completed in January 1593 and the monument itself was inaugurated in June 1594.

The bas-reliefs that decorate the base were completed in 1598 aided by his workshop assistants, and they show key moments in the establishment of the Medici's power: the Florentine Senate paying homage to the young Duke Cosimo, the Triumphal entry of Cosimo into Siena, and the Coronation as Grand Duke.

The other, more intricate sculpture, is the Fountain of Neptune, which is close to the northwest corner of the Palazzo Vecchio.

The Fountain of Neptune

This work by Bartolomeo Ammannati (1563–1565) and assistants such as Giambologna, was commissioned on the occasion of the wedding of Francesco I di Medici and Johanna of Austria in 1565. The assignment had first been given to Baccio Bandinelli, who designed the model, but he died before he could start working on the block of Apuan marble.

The Neptune figure, whose face resembles that of Cosimo I, was meant to be an allusion to the dominion of the Florentines over the sea. The figure stands on a high pedestal in the middle of an octagonal fountain. The pedestal in the middle is decorated with the mythical chained figures of Scylla and Charybdis. The statue of Neptune is a copy made in the nineteenth century, while the original is in the National Museum.

Work continued on this fountain during the next ten years. Ammannati, with the assistance of the best Florentine sculptors and casters, added around the perimeter of the basin, in a mannerist style, suave, reclining, bronze river gods, laughing satyrs and marble seahorses emerging from the water. The monumental marble and the dynamic bronzes give nevertheless a coherent impression. The fountain served as an example for future fountain-makers.

Sadly, the fountain has suffered a great deal of damage during the centuries. It was vandalized on January 25, 1580, and it was used as a washbasin for laundry towards the end of that century. A satyr was stolen during the carnival in 1830. It was damaged again by the Bourbon bombardments of 1848. Consequently, it has been the object of several restorations and substitutions. On August 4, 2005, the statue was the target of three vandals who climbed it, damaging one of the hands and the trident of Neptune. The act was recorded by security cameras, the perpetrators arrested and punished. The statue was restored by 2007. Late that same year, an attempted vandalization by four teens was thwarted by police.

We'd done a lot already today, so we thought we'd head back to Casa Rovai to relax and refresh before heading out again. From Palazzo Vecchio, we headed down the narrow street just to the north of the Palazzo to come to Piazza Martino.

Tribunale Ordinario di Firenze

Standing in the plaza, we were in front of the building housing the ordinary courts of Florence- something like our own municipal courts. The building was symmetrical, with towers at the left and right corners as we faced it. Over each main doorway there were intricate carvings.

From the Tribunale, we took some different streets back to Casa Rovai as we headed generally northeast and back to the B&B. We arrived back at Casa Rovai about four, and spent an hour or so there.

If you have not already done so, you can close the aerial view on which you have been following us on our afternoon walk through part of Florence.

Early Evening Walk

We began our evening walk by leaving Casa Rovai and wandering through the small streets towards the northwest.

As I did with our afternoon walk, I thought it would be helpful for you to have access to an aerial view of the part of Florence that we covered, with our approximate route marked. You'll be able to follow us as we go, and you'll see the main sights that we stopped to look at. I think this will help you put the many pictures in some sort of context. Also, I think it is immensely interesting to be able to match some of our pictures to the aerial view; sometimes it is quite amazing. So I encourage you to open the aerial view by clicking on the button at right. Doing so will open the aerial view in a separate little window; you can keep that window open and scroll through the aerial view as necessary to follow us. When our walk is done a little later on, you can close the window. To begin, when you open the window, scroll to the lower right corner, where you will see Casa Rovai and the beginning of our walk.

As we worked our way through the side streets, we just photographed what we thought was interesting- or quirky. Fred concentrated on architecture and architectural detail. Sometimes, as we walked down the streets, we could see into the interior courtyards of the buildings we passed. Fred took a couple more interesting pictures of the architectural detailing that we passed, and you can have a look at those here and here.

I concentrated on the odd and interesting, such as this automated convenience store. I recalled our search for a laundromat when were in Cartagena when I passed this establishment. I had read about combination laundromats/internet cafes before, and it seemed as if this was one of those. But when I took a look at the people inside (and particularly the sign on the window) I began to wonder if it was a singles hangout as well (and could people also get married here?). I couldn't quite figure out the Italian, except that "cambio" often means "currency change" and "matrimoniale" and "lavaggio" would seem to mean "marriage-related" and "washing-related" respectively. Just recently, though, I discovered that the shop is rather less interesting than I thought, for "cambio stagione lavaggio piumone matrimoniale" actually translates to "change of season wash duvet bed."

Brunelleschi's Rotunda at Monastery Santa Maria

We were walking along Via Degli Alfani when we came to Piazza Brunelleschi, and there we found "Brunelleschi's Rotunda," part of the ancient complex of the monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli. It was designed in 1434 by Filippo Brunelleschi as an office for the monastery; it is octagonal inside and out- but actually has 16 sides.

The building was built by Filippo Scolari, knight and governor of Serbia. His cousin left a legacy of 5,000 florins in gold to build a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and the twelve Apostles . The monastery was an important cultural center, with frequent visits by intellectuals of the time. The execution of the project was stopped because the Republic confiscated the cousin's estate to cover the costs of the war against Lucca; the building was basically a shell with no roof. The roof was not completed until much later, and the rotunda became part of the boundary wall of the garden of the monastery.

In the nineteenth century, some of the rooms became a restaurant, and others the studio of the sculptor Enrico Pazzi. The building was eventually restored by Rodolfo Sabatini in 1937 following Brunelleschi's design, and he chose to complete the Renaissance structure with a more contemporary look while still retaining the original architectural design. The rotunda of St. Mary of the Angels is the only central-plan building designed by Brunelleschi. The plan is octagonal and on each side there is a chapel, around the central hall surrounded by arches and pilasters in stone.

This kind of round design, inaugurated by Brunelleschi, had particular success from the end of the fifteenth century until the mid-sixteenth, inspiring numerous architects and acting as initial moment of reflection on the Renaissance central plan. Even Leonardo da Vinci used the plan for a design in Milan. He left architectural drawings that clearly show the influence of the Brunelleschi design- an octagonal, central-plan church with radiating chapels.

Just past the Rotunda, we turned right to enter the Piazza SS Annunziata.

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The first thing I did when we entered the plaza was to head out into the middle to make a movie looking 360° all around. You can watch that movie with the player at right.

The plaza takes its name from the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata (Basilica of the Most Holy Annunciation), located at the northeastern side of the plaza; it is the mother church of the Servite order- founded in 1250 by the seven original members of the order. In 1252, a painting of the Annunciation, which had been begun by one of the monks but abandoned in despair because he did not feel he could create a beautiful enough image, was supposedly completed by an angel while he slept.

This painting was placed in the church and became so venerated that in 1444 the Gonzaga family from Mantua financed a new chapel. Leon Battista Alberti was given the commission, but his vision was limited by the pre-existing foundations. Construction was completed in 1481, after Alberti’s death. Though the space was given a Baroque dressing in the seventeenth century, the basic scheme of a domed circular space flanked by altar niches is still visible.

Basilica of the Most Holy Annunciation

The facade of the church was added in 1601 by the architect Giovanni Battista Caccini, in imitation of Brunelleschi's facade of the Foundling Hospital, which defines the eastern side of the piazza (see below). The church is actually quite large, and other buildings behind the facade serve as home for the Order. The beauty of the facade is enhanced by the frescoes above the doorways.

At the center of the square stands a large bronze equestrian statue of Ferdinando I de'Medici. It was created by Giambologna, a Flemish sculptor who had moved to Italy in 1550 where he became known for his mannerist sculptures. After Giambologna died in 1608, the sculpture was completed by his student Pietro Tacca.

Pietro Tacca is also responsible for the two intriguing fountains on the square decorated with figures of grotesque mythical creatures. The two fountains are very similar; take a look at one of them here.

There are other notable buildings that form the other three sides of the square.

Spedale degli Innocenti

The Spedale degli Innocenti- Europe's oldest orphanage- flanks the east side of the square. The orphanage opened in 1445 and allowed women who had birthed unwanted children to leave them here anonymously by placing them on a circular stone. After they rang a bell, the stone was rotated 180 degrees, taking the baby inside the orphanage.

The arcaded portico was designed in 1419 by Brunelleschi and was the first classical loggia in the city. It would later serve as an example for other Renaissance architects. The façade is decorated with ceramic glazed medallions depicting swaddled babies. They were created by Andrea della Robbia, a Florentine artist who specialized in ceramic reliefs. There is a beautiful fresco illustrating the Lord's care of the innocent babies. There are also frescoes above some of the windows; one depicts Jesus and the children.

The building is home to a small museum with a collection of paintings, most of them depicting the Madonna with child. The most notable painting is the Adoration of the Wise Men by Domenico Ghirlandaio where the nativity scene contrasts starkly with the background depiction of the massacre of the innocents. The orphanage, which is officially known as the Ospedale degli Innocenti or Hospital of the Innocents, is named after this biblical event.

The building across from the Foundling Hospital, designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, was also given a Brunelleschian facade in the 1520s. When we'd finished looking around Piazza Annunziata, we left via the street at the northeast corner. Heading up that street, we passed under an arch between church buildings and continued up the street past the east end of the Botanical Garden. Then we turned the corner and headed northwest around the north side of the gardens. as we came up to the corner, we saw a particularly interesting Florentine building. We got another look at it as we passed by. We continued northwest to Via Giorgio la Pira, where we turned south.

As we turned the corner, there was a church tower undergoing renovation opposite us, and it had some interesting sculptures about halfway up each corner. You can use the clickable thumbnails at left to look at a couple of views of this tower. Then, heading south, we passed the gates of the Botanical Garden. It was already closed, so we couldn't go in, but Fred did get a couple of pictures looking in through the gates, and you can have a look at those views here and here.

A few blocks down the street, we came to the small Plaza San Marco, passing the little cafe at its northeast corner. In the middle of the plaza is the monument of General Manfredo Fanti. Fanti was a hero of the Italian Resurgence and the man who reorganised the armed forces in the newly founded Kingdom of Italy. Not long after unification, the city of Florence commissioned realist sculptor Pio Fedi (1816-1892) to create a bronze monument to Fanti. Once completed in 1873, it was erected where it stands today, facing what was then the headquarters of the Royal Military Command, on the corner of via Arazzieri.

On the opposite side of the square was the San Marco Church. We did not go inside, but Fred captured some of the artistic details of the building, including a beautiful frieze near the top of the facade. He also captured two other interesting carved elements on other buildings around the square, and you can see them here and here.

Piazza del Duomo

We continued to make our way south along Via Ricasoli until we came out into the Piazza del Duomo. Along the way we took a number of pictures, some of which turned out to be interesting in one way or another, and I would simply like to include them here. You can have a look at three of the pictures I took here (a building medallion), here (Fred and an ornate window) and here (an interesting building), and use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at four of Fred's:

We took quite a few pictures of the Duomo itself, but we did that each time we came through this plaza during our stay in Florence. So that I can avoid being repetitive, I'm going to gather all the Duomo pictures together in a separate section that will come up two album pages hence; that section will focus on the walk that Fred and I took inside the Duomo to come out on the observation deck atop the huge dome.

For now, we'll leave the Piazza del Duomo at the southwest corner, go two blocks down a major commercial street to the Piazza della Repubblica.

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The first thing I did when we got into the plaza was to make the movie that you can watch with the player at left.

The Piazza della Repubblica was first the city's forum but then became the city's old ghetto; the ghetto was swept away during the "Risanamento" initiated during the brief period when Florence was the capital of a reunited Italy (this work also created the city's avenues and boulevards). The present appearance of the square is the result of the planning and work carried out at that time.

Unfortunately, the decision to broaden the square caused the total destruction of buildings of great importance: medieval towers, churches, the corporate seats of the Arti, some palaces of noble families, as well as craftsmen's shops and residences. The demolition was presented as a necessity if the area's unsanitary conditions were to be improved, but in reality led to a speculative boom. Florence in fact underwent an enormous loss, minimally compensated for by the rescue of monuments like Vasari's Loggia del Pesce that was dismantled and reassembled in piazza dei Ciompi.

On 20 September 1890, with the renovation just underway, an equestrian monument to Vittorio Emanuele II was inaugurated in his presence; this monument gave the piazza its original name. The statue, a commemorative and rather rhetorical work which did not please the Florentines, was eventually moved to the Piazza delle Cascine. At the south end of the square, a loggia was built for public gatherings and events. Its columns were decorated with sculptures of famous Florentines; the loggia today shelters a local market.

The palaces that rose in the new square followed the eclectic fashion of the time; many were built by well-known architects. Following this transformation, the square became a kind of "lounge" for the town; since then, refined palaces, luxury hotels, department stores and elegant cafes have sprung up around it, among which the known Caffè delle Giubbe Rosse, where famous scholars and artists met and clashed.

The triumphal arch, called the "Arcone", was designed by Micheli and was inspired by the most courtly Florentine Renaissance architecture, even if its additions to that style seem to be distant from the true ancient style. The pompous inscription that dominates the square ("L'ANTICO CENTRO DELLA CITTA, DA SECOLARE SQUALLORE, A VITA NUOVA RESTITUITO") translates to "The ancient center of the city (was) restored from age-old squalor to new life." On top of the Arcone was an allegorical group of three women in plaster, representing Italy, Art and Science. (The Florentines instead nicknamed them after the three most famous prostitutes of the era.) The group was removed in 1904.

We left the plaza along the Via del Corso to the east, working our way back to Casa Rovai. It was getting late, and the sunlight was disappearing from the narrow streets, but Fred did get an interesting mix of photographs along the way of whatever interested him (as Greg and I were concentrating on following our map). There are clickable thumbnails below for some of Fred's pictures:

Our arrival back at Casa Rovai brought our first day in Florence to a close. We hung around the B&B until about seven-thirty, and then the three of us went out and found a local restaurant for dinner. Back at Casa Rovai, we discussed plans for the next day, which centered around a bus tour to Siena and San Gimignano.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	May 29, 2012: Siena and San Gimignano
	Return to the Index for Our Week in Florence and Rome