The Post about Florence

            On the Ponte Vecchio

I think I am finally at peace about how I feel about Rome.  It is as simple as "Are you a morning person or a night person? (night).  A cat person or dog person (dog). A Florence person or a Rome person?"

And the answer is:  a Florence person.  All the way.

Of course it helped that this is where I first fell in love with Italy (and yes, when we are talking about Florence, we are talking about love).  It was my Junior year in college and I was looking to do a study abroad program.  French was not holding my interest and my brother Bruce had recently completed a summer program in Urbino.  In the meantime, my Art History class on the Renaissance period was stirring something deep inside - especially as my teacher threw around those words like "controposto", "chiaroscuro", and "Rinascimento".  After a semester of Italian in college, I chose Florence as my landing place for a semester.

I went to a school near the San Lorenzo Market and lived in an apartment on Via de Pepi near Piazza Santa Croce.  I requested to live with an Italian family and ended up in the apartment of a single Italian woman, Daniela, who rented out a large room.  It was not exactly the full immersion experience I wanted but after awhile, Daniela realized that I was looking to surrond myself with Italians as much as possible so she included me in many of her social events.  

          My school in San Lorenzo

I knew I wanted to take Brad and the kids down all of my memory lanes in Florence as well but we were not sure if we would be able to fit it in after Perugia and before our next adventure.  Turns out, we were up for a two day visit so Brad took to Air BnB and booked a last minute apartment.

              Hopping on the train

When we got off our train from Perugia and pulled out the address for our apartment, imagine my surprise when I saw that Brad had booked a place on Via de Pepi!  Down the street from my apartment so many years ago.  It was an incredible coincidence and I can't help but feel that somewhere was up there playing with the stars.  

         My old apt on Via De Pepi

Suddenly we were on the exact roads that I used to travel.  We were in my hood (frankly, Florence is such a compact city, the whole thing is one hood) and it wasn't long before I noticed places I used to frequent like this Latteria:

Then we were on one of the routes I used to take to my school - a route I still follow in my mind when I am having a hard time falling asleep at night.  It was magical.

Our first stop was David where we staged our dramatic reaction to the genius of Michelangelo since photos are forbidden in the Accademia. 

But a person, unnamed, went ahead and took a picture anyway so I might as well post it (and you'd be surprised who this unnamed person was).

The kids were in agreement that David's right hand is out of proportion. Umm you tell that to Michelangelo!

                 Albergo Firenze

When I first took a cab from the Florence train station to my hotel in the historic center during the winter of 1989, it was the Duomo that took my breath away. I couldn't wait for the kids to first lay eyes on it. 

             Brunelleschi's Dome

Sometimes described as a cathedral dressed in pajamas, it has always held great appeal for me. It was a delight to see that the area is now a pedestrian only zone - no more cars to negotiate!  We took the long climb way up to the top of Brunelleshi's dome, finished way after the initial completion of the cathedral in 1380 (they were waiting for the right technology to come along to span the enormous space left for a dome -  Brunelleshi had the solution in 1420).  

632 steps later we were up and on top of the world. Did I mention that it was about 40 degrees centigrade?

Florence is Italy's hottest city, besides Bologna. One reason? Look at these narrow and condensed streets. No airflow!

If I have had one goal for the kids on this trip, it has been for them to understand the difference between the Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque periods. For awhile, everything was Gothic (the cathedrals in Sevilla and Barcelona) and Nadia loved to adopt a British accent and say, "The Gothic lines are very vivid" (in a very Herminone-like voice). 

In Florence, however, they were able to witness the birth of the Renaissance right at the Duomo with Ghiberti's innovative door panels. 

Later, when we went to the Uffizi together, I extracted every remaining memory I have of my Art History classes (NOT EASY) and showed Giotto's beginning use of perspective in his frescoes and the return to classicism and ideal forms in Michelangelo's masterpieces. 

            Michelangelo's Holy Family

 I showed them the Lippi in Boticelli's "Birth of Venus". 

They learned about the use of lights and darks during the Baroque period - and of course the use of dramatic expression.  Before long, they were able to classify certain paintings on their own.  This test of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque continued throughout the trip and was also useful during our trips to Norcia and Rome.  

The Ponte Vecchio is what took Elliot's breath away and he had all sorts of fantasies about living in a house above a bridge. 

We ended up on the other side of the Arno to visit the Boboli Gardens which were unfortunately closed. We had dinner near Santo Spirito, my second favorite church in Florence. 

It was a very lively scene comprised mainly of locals, unlike most of the Piazzas in Florence this time of year.

On the way home, the kids loved meeting "Il Porcellino" where they dropped a coin in the boars mouth for good luck and rubbed its nose to ensure a return to Florence.  Maybe one day to study!

We also visited my old gelato place. The kids grew fond of Sicilian granita - basically a sophisticated Slurrpy. 

On the second day, we returned to our apartment and played by Siesta rules. It was seriously hot and without a pool we took cold showers. 

In the late evening we reermerged and walking around the Santa Croce neighborhood. 

I think by the time we left the next day, the kids were dyed in the wool "Florence people". Nadia even talked about bringing her kids there one day for a walk down memory lane.  One thing for sure, the roads will still be there.