Flourishing Florence

by

Kelly Kent

Usually Jenny is quite indefatigable, but she began showing signs of sleep deprivation, and thus opted to let my real mommy share a room with me for the rest of the trip. Each room had twin beds, but situated differently. Our room was a wheelchair accessible room located next to the breakfast room. Consequently, we were awakened each morning to the sounds of the preparations for the continental breakfast. Each time we left the hotel to wander throughout the city or go to the nearby McDonald's, the hotel kept our room key. As we entered the hotel through the electronic sliding doors, we identified ourselves and were given back our room keys. Our room keys were extremely important become the lights in our rooms would not turn on without it.

Florence was not one of my favorite Italian cities that we visited, probably because our guide spoke heavily-accented English, and our driver spoke little to no English!! Elena, our guide, had studied English in college but lacked English speaking experience. The Armani clad driver, I will call him Forgetio, told us his name but none of us remembered it or even attempted to entreat him again for it.

Forgetio drove us through the rain to Piazza Michelangelo while we struggled to understand and hear Elena. Piazza Michelangelo, designed by architect Giuseppe Poggi in 1868, has an outstanding view of Florence and a mesmerizing bird poop stained replica of Michelangelo’s David.

The rain drizzled off and on all morning as we walked through the cobblestone streets of Florence. The grandiose Duomo was within walking distance of our hotel. The original facade of the Duomo was designed by Arnolfo di Cambio and was demolished in 1587. Emillio de Fabrics began construction on the current facade in 1871. The Cathedral was constructed out of Carrara white, Prato green, Maremma pink (practically orange) marble and completed in 1887.

The Baptistry, situated directly in front of the Duomo, dates back to the 11th-13th centuries. The octagonal shape and decorations of the Baptistry date back to its original construction in the 4th-5th centuries. The east doors are famous for containing Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, gold doors with ten panels that depict episodes from the Old Testament. Presently, the real doors commissioned in a 1425 by Arte dei Mercanti are in a museum. We did not need to visit the museum in order to become more cultured, seeing the fake one was quite enough for us.

Forgetio drove us to Piazza della Signoria, a picturesque square built between the 13th and 14th centuries, where hoards of people stood around fountains and copies of famous statues. Despite the fact that copies of many important masterpieces stood outside of Loggia del Lanzi, a beautiful Gothic building built by Benci di Cione and Simone Talenti, the quaintness of Piazza della Signoria was dominated by Palazzo Vecchio, a majestic, asymmetrical building. We did our best to look stone-faced while Elena took a picture of a standing next to a copy of Perseus, a bronze statue created by Benvenuto Cellini. The statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa, a mythological creature who could turn men into stone with a single glance (it would be nice to have that ability sometimes), evokes bravery as well as revulsion.

I was amazed by the beauty of the Church of Santa Croce, but tired of hearing Elena talk about Italian architects from every imaginable century. Also attributed by Arnolfo di Cambio, the Duomo’s designer, this basilica was consecrated in 1443. Once Elena was gone, we paid to entered the Church to see famous polyptychs and funeral monuments for prominent Italians such as Dante (his remains are else where), Michelangelo, DaVinci, Machiavelli, Donatello, and Galileo.

Elena walked with us to a crowded lookout point of a Florence bridge. There are ten picturesque bridges that cross the limpid, peaceful Arno River throughout the city.

After the tour was over, we were seriously in need of finding an accessible bathroom. Luckily our accessible Florence guidebook was in the correct location, my backpack, and we were able to find a bathroom in the Church of San Marco. To the right of the Church is a convent that stores art. We saw many paintings of Mary holding baby Jesus who was sucking his thumb. Marcie wanted a picture to show her thumb-sucking son, and tell him that even baby Jesus sucked his thumb. We also saw a painting of Mary breast-feeding baby Jesus. WARNING: an excursus follows… Apparently my glasses were not working, the day I included the picture of Jesus breast-feeding instead of the picture of Jesus the thumb sucker during a church slideshow. Thankfully, only the Relief Society was invited!

We spent the afternoon shopping at the San Lorenzo flea market. A dour expression was written across my face because of the annoying cobblestone roads we walked on while we shopped at a variety of stands A few blocks from our hotel, we ate at Ristorante Mangiafuoco, a newly opened restaurant recommended to us by other hotel guests. I slavered over everyone’s hot meal since my lasagna arrived after everyone else had already finished their meals. Their lasagna sauce reminded me of Grandma Kent’s spaghetti sauce. I was lucky in that I tried pieces of everyone’s meal! I envied Marcie’s choice of potato dumplings!

To be continued… Siena and Cortona!

©K. Kent Last Updated: January 7, 2008 Email Kelly Kent