I woke to the familiar and electronic click, click, click of the white plastic IKEA clock in the kitchen. The sound is not quite the precise yet labored tick, tick, tick that comes from the antique clocks I grew up with (and still cherish each time I visit my father) but the sound, even electronic, still affords the warm heartbeat of a home.
As I was up a little earlier than normal, the clock sound was mixed with songbirds starting their day. I only seem to hear them between six and eight in the morning. Perhaps that is the end of their shift, and then the swallows begin theirs. As I lingered under the billowing feather comforter unwilling to get up, I imagined the stark white of the ceiling was coffered and gilded. Painting that image further, my mind added frescoes to the walls. I think my visit yesterday to the Palazzo Medici Riccardi has saturated my mind with opulence. The palazzo is the working headquarters of the Prefettura, the Provincia de Firenze and the Istituto Storico della Resistenza Toscana (regional government offices and the Historical Institute of Tuscany). As a former Medici residence it is top notch. There are more guards and handmaidens to the artwork than even in the Palazzo Vecchio. In addition, it is outfitted with marvelous electronics. There is one room with huge LCD/Plasma screens perhaps seven by nine feet each. You stand on (and under) a device and thus control the paintings you see on the screen with your hand movements. You are able, like a computer mouse, to highlight portions of the painting for explanation, enlargement or move on to other works that are of more interest. Just a big gadget but rather nifty. The courtyard is great and the working governmental rooms are over-the-top grandeur from floor to ceiling. The main attraction is the Cappella dei Magi, which is best described by Fodor’s as “like walking into the middle of a magnificently illustrated children’s storybook, and…makes it one of the most enjoyable rooms in the city.”
Later in the day I took a wrong turn and got lost thus discovering yet another side to Florence.
I went to the store then home to eat. Then I got ready for the gym. The gym session on Wednesday was independent and I did a little too much. I am still sore. On my trip to the gym today, I got on the correct bus but at the wrong street. It was awhile before I realized what I had done but I knew the bus made a full circle so I stayed on, not knowing that the circle was so big. Soon I was in Sorgorne about ten miles east and south of the Arno, in the opposite direction of where I should have gone. Once we landed in Sorgorne the bus stopped and the driver got off. Fifteen minutes later he came back and the return trip began. A few minutes later, into the trip, the bus driver lit up a cigarette. Smoking is not allowed on the bus. In the U.S., I would have said something but my Italian is not that good. However, the woman behind me decided to do just that. She and the driver had a heated argument the likes of which only Italians seem to have. He promptly pulled the bus over and shut it off. He walked off the bus and took the next ten minutes or so finishing his cigarette, while glaring at her sitting there waiting. I guess he told her!
When I got back I was no longer in the mood to go to the gym. I exited the bus at the Duomo and just went into the Duomo museum (Opera di Santa Maria Del Fiore). This is where they keep all the former façades of the cathedral (it has changed many times), as well as those “parts” that have suffered from exposure. Yes, many of the carved pillars, lunettes, most of the statues and detailing are copies, made (as I saw) just a block or so away. The Donatello choir loft and many of the other items from the now stripped interior of the cathedral are also kept here. Michelangelo’s later life Pieta is housed here. It was meant to be his burial monument. It was never finished. Also housed in nitrogen protective cases are the actual restored gold-leafed bronze doors of the Battistero by Ghiberti. The ones that the public sees are copies made from molds.
Later, dinner and a concert in Piazza Santa Croce and at the Uffizi. The guy at the Uffizi was new and played not only the usually expected Vivaldi but some rather abstract piece that was pleasant to listen to but watching his facial movements as he jumped around the scale was most amusing. On my way home walking under the swarming swallows I noticed a sweets-shop with gelato filled brioche. It was a little cool for gelato but I have made a mental note for a future visit. They left the lights on again in the upper floors of the Palazzo Vecchio. The rich colors illuminated by the crystal chandeliers of the rooms shined through the leaded glass windows like a strip of jewels. I visually panned around the Piazza della Signoria just to take it in. It still hasn’t lost its allure. I got home and was serenaded by a guy whistling as he worked around the restaurant below. Into clean line-dried sheets tonight, what else could I wish for?
Your pictures for tonight are: Michelangelo Pieta in Opera Di Santa Maria Del Fiore, lemon tree in Santa Corce, meeting hall in Palazzo Medici Riccardi, scribed stucco walls of the exterior and courtyard of Palazzo Medici Riccardi and the crowds admiring the fake Battistero doors of Ghiberti.
