Sunday, September 23, 2007

The Duomo in Florence

Programming Note: This is the only post until next week because we are going to South Dakota for a quick little holiday. Have a great week!


The date is 20 May, so it is my and Al’s anniversary—18 years. Al apologized for not having a gift for me and said we could go shopping for one, but I said, “Honey, we’re in Italy. I think you’re covered.”

We slept in and missed breakfast on purpose so that we had a good excuse to spend the morning at a café, eating warm pastries and drinking the best cappuccino we’ve had the whole trip. We people-watched and dog-watched, as a man walked in with what we thought was his dog, but it stayed long after the man left. The dog was more interested in the school kids, knowing they would be more likely to share their breakfast, I’m sure.

We headed to the Duomo and got in line about 20 minutes early, giving us plenty of time to people-watch some more. Street sellers walked up and down the line, offering women with bare shoulders shawls to cover up with inside. Note to people with bare shoulders—the dress code is strict at this cathedral. If you don’t have anything to cover up with, they will sell you a paper shirt like you would wear in the doctor’s office.

Another note about street sellers—don’t buy from them. If you see a guy with a bunch of Prada purses laying out on a sheet, just walk on by. If the police catch you, it’s a fine for you, too. Chances are you won’t be caught because those guys are quick to swoop everything up in that sheet and run away. Then, when the cops have passed, they just stroll back and unfurl the goods.



Back to the cathedral. The actual name is Santa Maria del Fiori. The neo-Gothic façade is overly ornate and made of pink, green, and white Tuscan marble. When it was completed, it was the largest cathedral in Europe and is still the 5th largest. It’s hard to take it all in because it is so overwhelming with all the sculptures above the doors and the detail on the walls of the huge building.











The inside, however, is. . . well . . . underwhelming. It’s beautiful, but it’s as if everything was spent on the outside and there wasn’t enough left for the inside to match.







Mosaic on the floor. Does anyone know what this is?


The inside of the dome is decorated by a painting, Last Judgment by Vasari and Zuccari and is one of the largest paintings of the Renaissance, but that’s really the only ornamental aspect to the inside of the cathedral. The area directly under the dome was roped off, so we didn’t get a good view of this painting.





The real claim to fame of this cathedral is the architecture of its dome. The cathedral was built with a hole awaiting its dome. Local architect Filippo Brunelleschi created the octagonal design “dome within a dome,” which weighs over 37,000 tons and contains over 4 million bricks.



The Bell Tower


The doors to the Baptistry are called Gates to Paradise. Created by Lorenzo Ghiberti, they are gilded bronze, depicting stories of the Bible.





The rest of the day was restful, to the verge of almost boring. Al and K went to the Leonardo di Vinci Museum, which they said was awful because most of the exhibits were either broken or locked up so you couldn’t see them. While they were gone, I tried to nap and rest up, but got antsy and wanted to explore some more. I had watched some TV, mostly MTV, but was happy to see the guys return. We didn’t go to any more museums or anything and most of the shops were closed because it was Sunday, so we just walked around. Later we had a leisurely dinner, another walk, then turned in early because we had to be at the bus by 8:00 the next morning for our tour of Siena, San Giamagnio, and Pisa.

Next, the beautiful Tuscany region.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Great pics, Kel! I look forward to hearing about your trip to South Dakota.

Nettie said...

Happy Anniversary! These are wonderful pictures. This is the only time in my life I'm actually enthralled by history.

Helena said...

Beautiful pics, Kell. I'll be 18 years married this year. On the 20th, too, in October. For many years I've wanted that bit of anniversary culture too, round the museums of Holland, but I think he'd be more interested in seeing the sleazy-sights!

I liked the dress-code policy. Nice to see that some places still require decorum.

Tink said...

Happy 18th!! Hoop and I are coming up on our, um... 2nd... of being together, not married. Do you think I can convince him to take me to Italy for our anniversary? *Sigh*

Peggy said...

Have fun in South Dakota. It's a good idea to get there and get back before the winter hits. Dakota winters are fierce!

Chelle Y. said...

Happy Anniversary!

Have a greate trip!

katy said...

how romantic to have een in Italy when you had your anniversary, we were in Venice when we had our 25th.
have a good trip

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I think he was covered too! What a great place to celebrate your anniversary. It's next May that he has to worry about...how can he even think of topping Italy? :)

Macoosh said...

your photos are unbelievable!!! i came here via the queen of dysfunction and i'm glad i did!

great blog title, great blog, and great photos. i'll most certainly come back to visit more often. feel free to stop by my blog as well. :)