Florence

When I was about 16 years old my sister, Eryn, told me I looked like the figure of "Spring" in Botticelli's painting "Primavera."  Ever since that time I have wanted to visit Florence and see this painting for myself. I have always felt a certain connection to the painting and wrote a report on it for my Humanities class at BYU.  When I saw it in the museum I sat on a bench for about 10 minutes and thought about this painting, my sister, my time at college and how the renewal of Spring each year brings hope and happiness to the world.

The image of "Spring" from the painting

Me, around age 16

What do you think?  I think it must be all the blonde hair that made my sister think I was Botticelli's inspiration:)

My parents and I fully enjoyed our one day in Florence.  We woke up and headed over to the Accademia museum which houses Michelangelo's "David."  As you walk into the museum you turn directly to your left and then right again and find yourself staring down a long hallway with "David" at the end, towering over the crowd and standing serene and beautiful on his pedestal.  

"David" is awe inspiring.  Michelangelo was given this piece of marble to use because other sculptors had cast it off as "too big" and "too flawed."  Unlike other pieces of art I have seen here in Europe, the "David" statue is everything I imagined it would be.  The best part, there were only about 20 other people in the museum so we could appreciate the sculpture without a horde of other people around.

Also in this museum are Michelangelo's "Prisoners."  It was said that Michelangelo believed the sculptors job was to chip away at the stone until the figure inside was revealed.  He never made models of his sculptures but worked into the marble, from front to back, until the sculpture emerged.  The "Prisoners" are so cool because you can see how he worked, removing the bits of marble that didn't belong in his final piece.

After the Accademia my parents and I parted ways.  I wanted to do a walking tour and then visit the Uffizi gallery.  My parents wanted to visit the Galileo Science Museum and walk around a bit on their own.

The Duomo.  This is a very beautiful church in the center of the city.  If you ever get lost in Florence you can just look around a bit and make your way back to the Duomo.  This church was the first building, since Roman antiquity, to be capped with a dome and was seen as a real achievement for the Renaissance.

I hiked all 463 steps to the top of the dome!  It was quite the climb but completely worth it for the views of Florence.

Florence, from the top of the Duomo.

The steps were steep and narrow.  I would not recommend this climb for anyone that is claustrophobic.  

Across the square from the Duomo is the Baptistry.  This building is famous for it's bronze doors.  The original doors are housed in the Duomo museum, which I didn't get to, but the copies are pretty amazing.   According to Rick Steves: "Lorenzo Ghiberti made a breakthrough in perspective using mathematical laws to create the illusion of receding distance on a basically flat surface."

A close up of one of the panels on the bronze doors.

I was so happy to find gelato in Florence.  All the gelato stores in Germany are closed for the winter!

My walking tour took me past the Palazzo Vecchio.  This square has the fortress-like home of the famous Medici family.  Because of this wealthy family Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance.  They commissioned great works of art by all the famous artists of the time.

This is me posing by the Arno river with the famous bridge, Ponte Vecchio in the background.

I had about 2 hours to kill after my walking tour before my reservation at the Uffizi Gallery.  I walked around the markets of Florence, spent way too much money on pottery and then made my way over to the church of Santa Maria Novella.  This is a 13th century church with Masaccio's famous painting "Trinity."

Masaccio is considered the first painter of the Renaissance movement.  You can see in this painting an attempt to create a 3-D space, something you didn't see during the medieval period.  Also, the Holy figures are set in a realistic space (the interior of a Cathedral), instead of a mystical, unrealistic setting.

On my way back to the Uffizi Gallery I walked along the Arno river.  The sun was just setting and the lighting was perfect.  I kept thinking how much I wished Hyrum had been there to enjoy the beauty of Florence.

Botticelli's "Primavera"in the Uffizi Gallery.  This was such a wonderful museum to walk around.  I especially loved how you could see the change from Medieval to Renaissance art as you walked through the different rooms.

For example.  This is a Medieval painting of Mary with the infant Christ child...

...and this is a Renaissance painting of the same figures.

From the top floor of the museum you could see the Duomo in the distance.  I couldn't help snapping another shot of this beautiful dome.

After my dream tour of the Uffizi Gallery I met back up with my parents and we enjoyed a lovely dinner together.

The next morning my Mom and I squeezed in one more site before our train left.  I had wanted to see the Medici Chapel but ran out of time the day before.  This is my Mom in front of the Church of San Lorenzo which has the Medici Chapel.

Michelangelo, who had lived with the Medici family as a teenager, was commissioned to create their final resting place in the crypts of the San Lorenzo church.  Michelangelo was the architect, sculptor and painter of the chapel which became the burial place for Lorenzo "The Magnificent" Medici.

Our time in Florence had come to an end and we caught our 9:30 AM train to Venice and from there drove the full 7 hours back home.  What a trip!  I'm so glad I had the chance to spend this time with my parents and to see so many amazing and wonderful things.