Monday 19 May: Riding the sharp end to the Renaissance; or, Gary and Dan go to Florence

This morning we got up early, caught a cab to Termini Station, and waited for our train. Gary and I were on our way to Florence. We were riding the high-speed Eurostar in a first class coach, what Martin Amis calls “taking the sharp end.” The seats were comfortable, and at 150 miles per hour, you don’t even feel the train move. The college kid next to me spent the trip trying to convince us to vote for Ron Paul in the November election. He didn’t catch it when I repeatedly referred to his candidate as “Rue Paul.” As we rode north through Tuscany, we watched the countryside roll by: groves of olive, vineyards of grapes, and field after field of poppies and wild rosemary.

In less than two hours Gary and I were in Firenze, birthplace of the Renaissance. From the late thirteenth through the sixteenth century, Florence was a major center of world culture. Writers like Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio and artists such as Giotto, Botticelli, and Raphael developed and defined a new era of scholarship and the arts. We were eager to begin exploring the city, so we caught a cab to our b&b. Our driver was boldly aggressive and quite verbal, frequently shouting at pedestrians and other drivers who thwarted his path. To my delight, he employed some of my favorite Italian obscenities, including v@ff@nc~l*, c@zz*, and f!g@. Glenn would have really appreciated it. We soon reached out destination, a pleasant and clean b&b with a comfortable but tiny room and unreliable wireless. After getting settled, Gary and I headed to the center of town to see some of the great masterpieces of the Florentine Renaissance.

In the middle of town is the magnificent Duomo of Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral of Our Lady of the Flowers. Begun in the thirteenth century by Arnolfo di Cambio, the church is best known for its great dome built by Filippo Brunelleschi in the fifteenth century, and the Gates of Paradise, the golden doors to the Baptistery sculpted by Lorenzo Ghiberti in the early 1400’s. The façade of the church is striped in green, pink, and white marble, which sounds sort of like a 1950’s bathroom, but to see it, it’s a great visual effect. The day was overcast with occasional light drizzles, and the marble glowed in the muted light. Gary and I visited the church and the lower crypt, which houses medieval tombs and archaeological artifacts.

Still in church mode, we walked a few blocks to San Lorenzo, the church of the Medici family, which houses some of their tombs. In the Middle Ages and early Renaissance, Florence was a republic, and the Medici was one of its leading families. They made their money in banking and trade, and were patrons of scholarship and the arts. Over the centuries some members of the Medici family became pope, and others married into the royal families of Europe. Eventually tiring of electoral politics in Florence, in the sixteenth century the Medici ended the Republic and established a monarchy, with themselves as the Grand Dukes of Tuscany.

Leaving San Lorenzo, we stopped at a Greek restaurant for lunch. There have been Greeks in Florence since the Renaissance, when Greek-speaking scholars from the eastern Mediterranean fled the Turks and came to Italy, where they contributed to the revival of classical learning that formed the basis for the Italian Renaissance. Our food was fantastic-Gary had chicken souvlaki, and I had mixed grilled meats and vegetables. During our meal, a huge storm hit Florence with first a torrential downpour of rain, and then hail the size of grapes. We were eating outside but under a cover, and were able to watch the storm to great advantage. When the rain let up we headed to our b&b for a short siesta, and then back to town to see more sights.

Not far from the Duomo in central Florence is the Piazza and Palazzo della Signoria. The Signoria was the main governing body of the Republic of Florence, and in its piazza stood the original David by Michelangelo. The original was moved indoors in the 19^th century, and a reproduction stands in its place. One side of the piazza houses a loggia covered with ancient and Renaissance sculptures by some of the great artists of the day. Even if you’re not an art fan, you might recognize the piazza from the movie Hannibal; it’s where Lector commits an extremely original and visually stunning homicide. From there Gary and I walked to the Ponte Vecchio, an old medieval bridge covered entirely with shops. For centuries the bridge has been home to stores specializing in luxury goods, and now sells mostly very expensive jewelry and watches. We admired a diamond and emerald crocodile pin with a 10,000.00 euro price tag.

In a light rain we stopped at a caffè for dinner, gnocchi al ragu for Gary and tortellini primavera for me. From there, we strolled back to our b&b, checked email with our bad wireless connection, discovered that it was too slow to upload pictures, and then called it a day.

Pics on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielcmack/sets/72157605244288213/ in the set "Dan and Gary go to Florence." Take a look!