A couple weeks ago, my class went one last time to Florence for our Wednesday field trip. I finally got to see some of the biggest most well known things the city has to offer. First stop, Accademia gallery. This is the very small museum that houses Michelangelo's David statue (the one outside in now a replica to protect the artwork). That is the main attraction, but it also has a few rooms with other sculptures around the same time period and some paintings as well. I liked seeing some of Michelangelo's other sculptures, including his intentionally partially finished slaves (one pictured below), people coming partway out of the stone in rough cuts, contrasting greatly with the smooth polished David.
... it also houses the original piece (this one is the copy outside), Rape of the Sabine Woman, made entirely from a cylindrical pillar of marble.
Next we went to the Uffizi gallery, a very large collection of many centuries worth of art that just keeps growing every generation. I like to think of it like the Italian Louvre... that's what it felt like walking through it.
... inside the like corridor galleries, with statues and decorated ceilings everywhere.
For lunch, my friends and I decided to go back to that little restaurant that we ate at the very first time in Florence. Very fortunately, my friend Chris actually found the place, tucked in a little street away from most everything else.
We all got the exact same meal - tortellini del casa (the house tortellini) plus ice cream sundaes with hot fudge sauce! yum! I believe this is my favorite pasta in all of Italy, plain and spinach pasta with cheese filling with a creamy tomato sauce. For me at least (my friends don't quite rank it as high), it is far better than the Pienza lasagna. If I'm ever back in Florence when I'm older, I'm definitely finding this place and getting this meal again! :)
Lastly, we had some time to ourselves, and I realized that I still had not seen the inside of the Florence Cathedral, and also the fact that we were not going to be going as a class, so I made sure to go see it myself. It was beautiful, and I'm so glad I didn't miss it.
The inside was very large and somewhat plain, at first glance, but I enjoyed the break from all the heavily colored and decorated medieval churches I've seen in the last few months. It was full of light too, which really brightened up the whole place. Some churches feel so dark and cloistered, but this one was very bright and airy. There also weren't many pews to fill up the space either, so that probably helped.
... the alter at the front of the nave under the enormous dome.
... shot of the large murals covering the entire surface of the dome - it's amazing how detailed and intricate it looks from the ground, yet when I saw them up close when I toured the dome earlier in the semester, they seems so simplistic and sketchlike, even stretched out (which I realize now is to partially correct the visual distortion seen from below looking at the sloped sides of the dome). It really is amazing to think that art like this was done by hand so many centuries ago.
...some of the stained glass windows.
... a couple of the side chapels.
... the more subtlely colored yet just as rich marble floor tiles.
... this is the front of the church with the large twenty-four hour clock with the zodiac symbols decorating it.
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