Roma a Firenze

We recently returned from what may have been our last big trip here in Italy, a jam-packed few days in Florence and Rome. The trip was brimming with art and architecture and the carnival feel of European summer nights. Lots of miles and many museums later, we are glad to say we finally got to the major galleries in Florence and the Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel in Rome. We started in Rome, planning an overnight stay on the way to Florence to see the few remaining site we seem to have missed on every other trip. The Vatican Museums always seem to be closed when we’ve visited before, so we made it a special mission to finally get there and see all the masterworks, culminating with Michelangelo’s ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The vast collections of sculptures, frescoes, maps, and paintings you walk through just to get the Sistine Chapel are first rate in their own regard and would be top billing anywhere else. A few standouts get some of their due, such as Raphael’s School of Athens (see directly below). If you only had one day in Italy, the Vatican Museums’ collections would be a wonderful survey of the fine art you can find through Italy in municipal museums and churches. Though the crowds can be heavy, it is definitely worth the effort to see. The Sistine Chapel was wonderful to see, though the ambience is a bit strange. Hordes of people crowded into the chapel, dim lighting to project, the work, and guards that kept shushing everyone when there was too much talking. The dim light must be helping slow damage to the work because the colors were more vibrant than I expected. There are so many iconic panels to see, but my favorite was the Sybil of Delphi. Her expression is just captivating and the colors are gorgeous in person. Photography was forbidden inside, so here is a link to an image of this panel. If you go to the Picture Gallery after the main museum and Sistine Chapel, priceless works by the likes of Giotto, Fra Angelico, Caravaggio, and Titian can almost be lost on the viewer. We enjoyed our walk through, especially since Luke finally fell asleep, but the concentration of exceptional art was nearly overwhelming...and we were just getting started on this art-intensive trip! For a very different kind of church art experience, we also visited the crypt of the Capuchin Monks on the Via Veneto. Here, the walls and niches are all ornately decorated with the bones of Capuchin friars. No photography in here, either, but there are images available online. The final niche has an inscription which reads in translation, “What you are, we once were. What we are, you will be.” Sobering and a bit macabre, but an interesting display of humanity nonetheless. From Rome we journeyed on to Florence, passing through endless fields of sunflowers as we drove through the countryside of Umbria and Tuscany. We arrived in Florence in the early evening, finally getting settled in our room and taking to the streets to do a little sightseeing before dark and to find a good place for dinner. After turning a few corners, we were floored with the sight of the enormous facade of the Duomo, huge and ornately colored with alternating slabs of green and white marble. Florence is home to many beautiful churches, including Santa Croce, and San Lorenzo with the Medici Chapels. In the latter, I was able to see a room called the New Sacristy which houses 9 figural sculptures by Michelangelo. He was commissioned to outfit this less than humble tribute to Lorenzo de Medici. We made the requisite walk over the Ponte Vecchio, browsing in the all goldsmith shops but knowing better than to even stop to check prices. There were certainly more tourists in Florence than in many other Italian cities we’ve visited, but we also happened to be there during the height of the summer vacation season. All the crowds also make for long lines at the museums, but we managed to reserve advance tickets for the Uffizi Gallery and Galleria dell’ Arte. The Uffizi has an impressive collection by any standard, but the big draws are the painting by Botticelli, including the Birth of Venus and La Primavera (my personal favorite). There are also works by da Vinci, Titian, Giotto, Durer, El Greco, and on and on. The main and some would say only, attraction at the Galleria dell’ Arte is Michelangelo’s David. It is as perfect in form as you would imagine from all the pictures, but the scale is truly surprising. A 6 foot tall man might come up to the top of his thigh. You can walk all the way around him as well, providing new views of his form and the sheer mass of marble from which he emerged.

Luke and I joined in the art scene outside the Uffizi, sitting for a portrait with a local artist. He sketched us in terracotta pigment rather than charcoal, so the effect is much softer. At night, nearly every piazza is busy, but Piazza Republica has great street musicians and a carousel. On our last night, Luke and I went for a ride. It’s great having a little one to give you an excuse to ride a carousel horse anytime! Afterward a Middle Eastern quartet struck up a great set, and Luke headed up the dancing near the musicians. Florence was a great final destination for us here in Italy. It’s always good to out on a high note.