Woke up
excited for another fantastic Italian breakfast. It was good, but considerably more disappointing
than the first hotel’s. With how fast my
metabolism is and how meager that breakfast was, I was going to be hungry by
1.
We
boarded the bus early to get to Firenze.
Firenze is a Renaissance town basically funded by the Medici family back
in the day. Italy during the Renaissance
was not a unified country, and was factioned into city-states. These city-states were controlled by rich
families- the two most prominent being the Medici (which is Italian for
Medicine man) and the Borgia (don’t know what that one means). This town is also the home of Leonardo DaVinci,
Bottecelli, Michaelangelo, Dante, and numerous other noteworthies from
Italy.
Our
first stop of the day was to the Acadame de Arte to see Michaelangelo’s
David. The tour guide for the length of
our stay in Firenze was a stocky, spry, passionate (albeit gruff) man named
Berni. He was definitely artist and very
enthusiastic about the history of the town’s art and those artists from
there. (Berni was also in a couple
episodes of Jersey Shore, which he
doesn’t like, but thinks it’s funny enough).
Once
inside the Acadame we made our way to the main hall that showcases David. Before David however, there is a line of 4 of
Michaelangelo’s “emergining” sculptures.
These are lesser known sculptures of his in which he intentionally left “incomplete.” It is Michaelangelo’s artistic philosophy in
regards to sculpture that the works are already inside the marble, they are
just waiting to be released. To
capitalize on this he created these emerging sculptures by only partially “uncovering”
the figures inside, but leaving them trapped enough to create the contrast and
dynamics for the pieces. Compared to
David, these sculptures are coarse, with the lines from the chisel
intentionally left visible.
David
however, is very much one of the best things I have seen in my life. The statue stands over 16ft tall, hewn from a
block of marble that was rejected by several masters of its time for being “too
hard, and too un-usable.” Mikey at the
time was still a relative unknown in the art world, but in his cocky pride he
believed he could use the giant block and make the best David the Church had
ever seen. So, given a few years and a
hunky man-slave whom he used as the model for David, Mikey had completed the
piece. Now, the Church had been
expecting a David as the Bible depicts after slaying Goliath-with a lion’s
skin, a sling, and holding a giant’s head, or some such nonsense. Instead they get a young man in his early 20s
ready to move on the giant, standing naked (which was how the Roman athletes
performed-important to note because inducing Modern traits to ancient concepts
was a Renaissance thing), about to fill the sling and fire.
The
sculpture, is to put it in the simplest meaning, perfect. It depicts the perfect athletic man of the
western world. It is a true homage to
the artistic merit of the human body, and the emblem of the art world entering
into the Renaissance. The Renaissance
moving body position (as opposed to the Medieval static positions), the perfect
body proportions, the smoothness of the marble, the intricacy of detail, the
Humanistic expression of the body, it all comes together so perfectly to make
the model man.
The
history of David is just as interesting as its creation. To paraphrase: it has survived two riots, had
a marble bench fall on it off of 4 stories- and break the bench (with barely a
crack to show for it), been graffitied on its back, survived a gun shot to the
left foot, and survived a crazy sculptor in the 1980’s who attacked it with a
hammer. All in all, a sight you should
see before you die.
 |
| The Duomo |
After
the Acadame we were allowed to tour the other sites in Firenze. The first stop was the Duomo. Now, every town thinks their Duomo is “The”
Duomo, but folks, when you read literature and they just simply refer to “The
Duomo,” they mean this one. Aside from
St. Peter’s, this is the largest church in the world. The church opposite it (which was built
before), has a large gilded door with 12 panels depicting different stories
from the Bible. Now the door took 20
years to create, in contrast, the Duomo took 20 years to build. So, the Medici’s decided (they of course
funded both projects) to go with the Duomo since it was bigger and already done
by the time just the door was done on the other church (they were renovating the
first church to be more aesthetic “to God”).
 |
| DaVinci's Studio |
After
the quick shot of The Duomo, we made a quick stop to see the place where
DaVinci had painted the Mona Lisa, and then to the Piazza outside of Firenze’s
city hall. This is the largest outdoor
sculpture museum in Italy, and it is amazing.
To being they are all nestled in the visage of the city hall, a building
which was modeled after a Castle, the philosophy being that the people who
choose those that rule them are also to defend the center of political life in
the city. The sculptures though are all
masterworks of the Renaissance. See them
too, because it is where David was originally placed (a fake now stands in its
place), but it is next to Heracles, Poseidon, the first sculpture ever to feature
no definitive front or back (three figures intertwined with each other, way
cool!), and half a dozen other statues just as noteworthy (only because the
David there isn’t the original, or else they would all seem eclipsed).
 |
| That is one diverse church |
After
the sculpture-yard we made our way to the 2nd largest church in
Firenze. This church is an oddity,
because on top of being a large traditional Catholic church, there is a large
stained glass Star of David crowning the main entrance. The marble is also red, white, and
green. This church was renovated to
include the star after Italy’s unification in the 1800’s. The star represents that all peoples of all
faiths and descent are welcome in Italy.
Each color of the marble represents different aspects as well- Red for
charity, white for purity, and green for peace.
And according to Berni, it is only coincidence that the Italian flag
shares these colors. The two were not
connected in any serious manner. Inside
the church the remains of such famous Florenteins as DaVinci, Boteccelli, Dante,
and about a dozen other peoples of note are inside-check it out, it’s worth the
time.
We hit
the shopping centers after this. Firenze
is known for 1) Leather 2) Jewelry (very fine, expensive jewelry) 3) Art 4)
Tourist Crap 5) Pasta 6) Overpricing. It
pays to shop around in this town- often times you will find the exact same item
you want, but for varying prices. So if
you look to spend more than 30 euro on a particular item, look around, you may
be able to find it for cheaper, and if not, try to haggle- it works in Italy
(though it’s not as well advertised as in Mexico).
We find
all the jewelry shops on the Old Town Bridge.
The view here in wonderful, and only about and 8 minute walk from either
of the large churches, just follow the big roads and you’ll inevitably find it.
 |
| I thought this was awesome |
Once
shopping was finished we took a proper tour of The Duomo. The inside is surprisingly naked. Well, here’s why: The story of The Duomo coincides with that of
the duomo in Siena. During all the wars
Siena and Firenze would have with each other, the loser had to pay excess taxes
for reprimands and expansions. Well,
everytime Siena would expand their church, Firenze would expand theirs. Then, for shits and giggles, Firenze would go
to war with Siena. Eventually, both
towns ran out of money for expanding their churches. And the Medici’s also ran out of money to
complete the inside of The Duomo. So you
walk inside, and many of the windows are plain, the walls, naked. There is a nifty crypt you can go into, and
you can even go up to the bell tower next to The Duomo (the tower only appears
taller than the dome’s cross, it’s an intentional optical illusion to prove
that the Medici’s just like to muddle around).
However,
the fresco ontop of the inside of the dome it spectacular. It isn’t to the same grandeur as St. Peter’s,
but it is gorgeous and memorable- it is easy to know why Michaelangelo found
the dome his main source of inspiration (according to Berni, when Mikey was
called up to go to the Vatican, he looked out his window to The Duomo and said “My
beloved, I am sorry, for today, I must go and make your sister, and she will be
more beautiful than you.”). There is
also a very famous painting of Dante’s Divine Comedy in there, as well as
paintings the depict the typical Medici and a painting of the typical Borgia
citizen.
After our tour of the Duomo came our concert. The church we performed at was less than a
block from The Duomo, and was called Chiesa di Santa Maria de’ Ricci. Befitting the rest of Firenze, the church was
a victory of the Renaissance and exhibited a fantastic acoustic. The priest was an unusual old man, but a
well-meaning person too. He ran around
with his cute dog, helping us get ready for the concert and get about. He apparently had a thing for smut novels,
and was hoping to write his own. He also
loved to snub the local cardinal, having broken the rules to let us perform
that night. He also faked his own death to get this same cardinal off his back
at one time- my kind of priest! The only
issue with having a hall that live, is that Firenze could just as easily be
called the bell tone city, because within that one block of The Duomo, you can
hear dozens of churches donging their bells at the same time. Our concert was an hour and half, so we were
able to hear them ring a few times. The
hall also picked up a lot of the traffic noise from outside, but the plus side
is that the hall required little effort to project. The audience was fantastic, having a full
house with a full back area full of walk-ins.
Even in our rehearsal we gained quite the audience. It’s nice to go to a country where they
relish sacred music, it reminds me why I’m a musician to begin with.
After
the concert, we headed to dinner. Beef
cubes with instamash style potatoes, but hey, it was free, and better than
basically anything I could make. Then
back on the bus, to the hotel, and bed.
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