It is my first exposure to great art. You can hardly avoid it in Florence.
David
In the main square is a replica of Michelangelo’s David (the original is now in the Galleria della Academia). The David was originally ordered for a niche high up the cathedral’s facade, but the town fathers, stunned by its beauty, placed it instead just outside the town hall. There he stands, 17′ tall. No flesh and blood male was ever that perfect. He is relaxed, his slingshot and stone ready, his head turned to the left as if just catching sight of his opponent.
Santa Maria del Fiore
Walking down a narrow street I catch a glimpse of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, a fantasy confection of green and pink and white vertical marble tiles. Entering the piazza, the size of the Cathedral and the octagonal dome that tops it take my breath away. Engineered by Brunelleschi, it is the largest brick dome ever constructed – 171′ from the cathedral floor to the top of the dome, with a span of 144′.
Doors of Paradise
On the piazza, a little distance from the Cathedral, is the Baptistry of St. John with the gilded bronze doors designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti. Michelangelo called them the Doors of Paradise. The name stuck – for good reason. Scenes from the old and new testament emerge from the metal in high relief, tantalizingly real.
You can’t really prepare for the Uffizi Gallery. I am already a bit stunned
Birth of Venus
walking past one masterpiece after another when I come upon Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and his Allegory of Spring. It doesn’t matter that it is hot and the gallery is packed with tourists, the paintings reach out, and even with my untutored eye I know that I am in the presence of something extraordinary.
Primavera
The youth hostel, too, is special. They tell us that the villa once housed Mussolini’s mistress, Clara Petacci. (She met a gruesome end, along with her lover, shot and strung up by her feet outside a gas station in Milan.)
The youth hostel kitchen is open to us and it is here, out of necessity and hunger, that my interest in cooking is born. No more will I pay 50 cents for a plate of sticky strands topped with a tablespoon red stuff. I will boil those strands myself and pour on as much bottled sauce as I want.
Next – Venice, La Serenissima
Can’t wait for Venice!
Can you do a “write” on Hostels some day? I have always been curious about what happens if I should walk into one.
Hi Earl – Thanks. Something on hostels is a good idea. More people should consider them, even grownups. Sharon
Sharon…I just returned from Florence and love your little summery. I have a question? I stayed in that Youth Hostel in 1970 but don’t know how to find it again. Do you have a name and/or location? Thanks…Keep up the great writing…2018
I stayed in that youth Hostel in 1972. Can you give me the name and location again. Do you ever consider staying in hostels such as elder hostels as a traveller who is not the age required for youth hostels? I think many people who travelled this way in our youth would enjoy being able to do so again but wonder if there is a elderhostel program.
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I stayed in that hostel in 1970 and would also be interested in knowing its location
I think it is the hostel on Villa Camerata
I stayed in this villa in 1968 not much more than $1 per night as I was traveling on $5 a day. please if this villa still exists. Id love to see a photo of it I have photos of walking outside of town to this villa I dont have photos of the villa but I remember it and was facinated being told it was indeed Mussolini’s widow’s villa. Does it have a namr tiday and is it still a hostel thank uou Pam Moyer