Florence Redux

Day 16- More Florence

Apparently I missed writing about this day while on the trip (I guess it was because I posted about the day before on that day, and it was my birthday!) Anyways, here's how I recall it from looking at the photos. 

Started out with a quick look at the Brancacci chapel, which is right next door to our little apartment in the cloister. It was cool to see the actual Masaccio frescoes of Adam and Eve, which I used as a basis for a design I did a few years ago at the Villa Tramonto. Masaccio was a very skilled young painter (he died in 1428, at age 27!) and his work at the Chapel is said to have profoundly influenced the young Michelangelo. Masaccio's figures are very expressive for the time, and his mastery of both linear and atmospheric perspective is impressive. The rest of the church has some great baroque trompe l'oeil frescoes of extended architectural spaces. 

Brancacci Chapel by Masaccio, with later baroque ceiling above it.

Then we crossed the Arno into the center of town, stopping first at the Palazzo Davanzati, a 14th century wool merchant's house and workshop that is covered in wall decorations that straddle medieval and Renaissance styles, restored in the 19th century and thus quite complete, if not entirely original. You can only imagine what the smell was like there in the summer months with a wool operation going on on the ground floor!

The Room of the Parrots in the Palazzo Davanzati.

Next we hiked a ways across town to the Casa Buonarotti, which was not actually Michelangelo's house, but was established by his nephew as a tribute to the master. It has some interesting tidbits in it: a couple of early sculptures by Michelangelo, some of his drawings, and a room full of tribute paintings from a variety of masters. It also had an awesome little chapel and a niche full of ceramics that the disinterested guard could only tell me were every day items from the house. Being a museum guard in Italy must be kind of equivalent to working the register at Ace Hardware here, but less interesting.

According to the guard at the Casa Buonarotti, these ceramics were just "every day ware". Oh really?

After various windings and detours we ended up back at the Palazzo Pitti, where we took in the Boboli Gardens, a sprawling but formal series of terraces that give some great views of the city, and where it is easy to imagine the elaborately dressed wealthy citizens of the past seeking shade to avoid the heat in their layers of clothing. Arriving at the "Coffee House" high up on the hill, we realized too late that it was only the building of what must have been a very pleasant place to sip a brew, so we went back thirsty, passing through an elaborate and shady grotto, and trotted back to our place to cook up some grub, rested a while, then headed out once more after things had cooled off to take in the Ponte Vecchio at sunset and have another gelato.

The Coffee House in the Boboli Gardens is a delightful Rococo confection, but alas it does not serve coffee, just views!