Firenze: Piazza della singoria and the Uffizi

Florence, known to Italians by the more spirited name Firenze, was the beating heart of the Italian Renaissance, and is today the home of countless museums and masterpieces. But the museums do bring the crowds that come to see them, particularly the top most two, the Uffizi, and the Galleria dell Academia. The Galleria is the home of David, the Uffizi houses works by not only da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, but also Titian, Caravaggio, Botticelli, and Rembrandt, amongst others. The key to seeing these works without a long wait is to arrive at the museums in the morning, to arrive before the museums open, before tour groups or many other tourists are up and about.

So we found ourselves on our first morning in a nearly vacant Piazza della Signoria, where the Uffizi is located. The Piazza itself is notable for it's collection of statues, as the site of the historical Bonfire of the Vanities, and the site of Palazzo Vecchio. Outside the Palazzo stands a replica of Michelangelo's David. Around the corner of the Palace is the Fountain of Neptune, Constructed in the 1500's, the crowning marble statue is not the original, housed in a museum. The rest of the fountain, in bronze and marble is mostly original, though it has been several times restored. But most of the statues are housed under the Loggia della Signoria. Here several dynamic sculptures, stood in the cool blue shadows of early morning. Among the statures are a bronze Perseus by Cellini, a piece by Giambologna called Hercules beating the Centaur, as well as the Rape of Polyxena, and several Roman sculptures. However, by far my favorite piece is the twisted spire of bodies of the Rape of the Sabine Women also by Giambologna.

Realizing a bit of a line was forming at the soon to open museum, we cut our visit to the outdoor statues short. This gallery brims with at least a few paintings from each of many masters of the paintbrush. Many of the works can be viewed at the Virtual Uffizi. Easily the single most famous piece here, despite all the well known artists is that of the Birth of Venus, by Botticelli. The Nearly 50 rooms of work on display take 3 to 4 hours to browse over everything, or you can skim through the works by the more famous authors more quickly. Thankfully, because the museum lets people in in groups, the rooms are not as crowded as you might think, and the works are generally easy to see. Pictures are not allowed, but photographs of most of the works can be found at the above link.

Palazzo Vecchio

David Replica

Neptune Fountain

Bronze Satyr on Neptune Fountain sheilds his face from the sun

Perseus

Hercules beating the Centaur

Rape of Polyxena

Rape of the Sabine Women

The Uffizi Line

Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration

While attending the Wilson County Fair this summer, we picked up a pair of free tickets to the Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration in Shelbyville. This is the premier competition for the Walking Horse, and having never seen a Walking Horse in action, we went down to check it out.

The event has a high school football game atmosphere, if say, the team were extremely popular. Parking was only a few dollars and not too far from the stadium. Outside the stands they were handing out thick newspapers filled with information about the competition, and a lot of full page ads for individual riders and their horses. At the entrance various local clubs were selling cold drinks, cotton candy, pizza and more. The bleachers were unusual. General seating consisted of the normal rows of seats, but the rest was divided by metal rails into little boxes, where the seating consisted of tan metal folding chairs.

The crowd was casual, jeans and t-shirts and baseball caps, despite the long coats and bowler caps of the riders. Each competition consisted of a group of riders circling the rink, slow then fast, then doing an about face and circling the opposite way, slow then fast. All of this to the beat of various fairground organ styled songs. The overall effect is somewhat intoxicating for a while, but after several courses of competition, it lost it's interest for me, and I became interested instead in the dozens of nighthawks flying in and out of the floodlights. Ultimately, we left before all the competitions were complete, having seen enough to fulfill our desire to see the show. I firmly believe that watching more than we did would require the patience of a NASCAR enthusiast.

The light atmosphere of the show is darkened by the practices historically used to achieve the blue ribbon walks. Soaring, which is both inhumane and illegal, is still practiced today, however, the Celebration has taken strides to identify and block from competition those who practice it. With stricter regulations and better detection methods, it can be hoped that the future of such a distinctly Southern tradition may continue to be carried on with a cleaner conscience.

Bologna afternoon

We came to Bologna to see two things: a few of the towers the city is famous for, and the Basilica of San Domenico. We were caught up in the crowded and busy streets, and little more than glimpsed the towers of Torri Degli Asinelli e Garisenda. The haphazardly constructed city is given a coherent look thanks to the sandstone and terracotta tiles with which everything seems to be built. One of the most striking features of the city are it's colonnaded sidewalks which crowd the street and bring the cool darkness of evening to the early afternoon. They are so striking in fact, that these Porticoes of Bologna are on the tentative list for becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Eventually we navigated the maze and located the Basilica. It is easy to pick out, among all the like colored buildings because in front of it stands a tall pillar, topped by a statue of St. Dominic, and beside it is yet another column, this bearing a statue of Madonna of the Rosary.

The church has a baroque interior, full of marble, plaster, and paintings from vatious artists. Perched here and there, are life size plaster angels.

The church is the final resting place of St. Dominic, who once served in the church which was expanded and renamed San Domenico after the Saint's death. At the front of the church lies the impressive marble shrine. The shrine has a tower of its own, and two of the statuettes that grace it were early pieces by Michelangelo. The church is also the burial site of Guido Reni, who painted St. Dominic's Glory above St. Dominic's shrine.

Tempio at Rimini, Mosaics at Ravenna

When we arrived in Rimini, we found parking easily, and headed down the street to where the Tempio Malatestiano was to be located. Our directions where somewhat unclear, and we were unaware at the time that the actual name of the church is St. Francis. when Faced with an austere white marble church, we were uncertain. Was this the church that so offended the Pope at the time of its construction? We were prepared for something darker. But the church can be easily identified by the intertwined I and S, for Sigismono Malatesta and his mistress Isotta. The characters together resemble a dollar sign, and it is perhaps these marks, as well as the unusual carved details of elephants, part of Malatesta's coat of arms, which so offended the religious order. Not so much a church, as a shrine to his dead mistress, the Tempio was never fully completed as intended. It is in itself not a particularly important attraction, but is and interesting stopover.

Roughly an hour north of Rimini lies the town of Ravenna. Ravenna is considered a UNESCO World Heritage site due to it's fabulous mosaics located in several buildings throughout the town. A ticket can be purchased the provides admittance to several of these buildings, and they can be visited easily by foot in the main part of town. Also in the area is the final resting place of Dante. Though Florence was long his home, He died and was buried in Ravenna, a political exile. Florence has since tried to recover his remains, but Ravenna has refused, and in the early 1800's, 500 years after his death, they constructed a tomb for him among other famous Italians, but which still lies empty today.

Inside and Outside: Tomba Di Dante.

From the Tempio Malatestiano

Various Mosaics from Ravenna