Italy: Tuscany: Florence

May 04, 2025

As we left La Spezia, the port city from which we boated to Cinque Terre, we traveled by bus to Florence. Along the way, we passed Carrara. Here's a map showing the locations of which I speak, including Lucca:

The Carrara picture was taken from the bus, and I must say,was one of twenty-three frames I shot. Yes I counted. It's amazing how fast trees pop up, given their usual stationary demeanor. That plus the countryside rushing by to blur everything. But, just in case you hear about the white Carrara marble, or you bought some, here's a look at the quarry:

The bus took us, eventually, to Florence, and the hotel. The Hotel Brunelleschi happens to be a very unique melding of a sixth century circular tower, the Byzantine Torre della Pagliazza, with a modern boutique hotel. Fitting to have an architectural marvel for our stay in Florence:

My shot is above. Below, a promo shot from the restaurant's website, showing the tower in context and with the drama of night lighting:

Starred restaurant in Florence

As luck would have it, they boast a 2-star Michelin chef as well. While we didn't get access to that exact restaurant, we were served in an adjacent room with the creations of that chef... while the portions seemed small, Linda thinks it may be the best meal she's had.

Sad to say I don't have much memory of what exactly we ate, and that's not to to alcohol consumption. But the restaurant link above will show exactly the food we might have had...

Next day, lecture. Local art historian, in a conference room, in the hotel. Given just the hotel conference room we could have been in... Detroit, Lansing, heck, any hotel, anywhere.

But we were surrounded by a) this particular hotel and b) the city of Florence. So the context was a little more memorable. And the speaker... both Linda and I were reminded of neice Joanna. Bright, passionate, erudite... you get the picture.

So we then left for a walking tour of the Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze, which must have other exhibits, but I only shot one subject:

I've used the word "stunning" way too much of late, but it's a recurring sensation throughout Italy... one of the things we learned was that Michelangelo crafted the feet, hands, and head to larger-than-life scale, with the intention that when viewed from a distance (probably from below) the proportions would appear correct.

A closer look:

It seems odd that we saw nothing else in the house of David... or if we did, I did not find it shot-worthy. (There were other statues in the hall leading to the David display). I did manage to take this frame:

It seems Signora Buonarroti was called away for another job before he could finish this piece, which he never ended up completing. I've been distracted (a lot) in my time and left things abandoned. I get this.

OK, so he got involved with painting the Sistine Chapel...

This unfinished rendering of St. Matthew was one of twelve apostles he was to memorialize for the choir niches in the Florence Cathedral. It is now locacted in the the hall leading to the David display in the Galleria dell'Academia in Florence.

There is so much more to be said... as I started to research my remaining Florence pictures, and the stories around them, I realized I'm going to have to establish a "Florence Too..." post, as in "just too much left"... the Uffizi, other churches, more on the Florence Cathedral, more on Florence writ large... so a quick "travel guide" finish here, then on to Venice, and later, that famous Paul Harvey refrain, "the rest... of the story".

So, just as a reminder to me to complete the Florence content, here's a Donatello, wood, polychromed, from the Baptistry, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo... the Penitent Magdalene: