ROOM WITH A VIEW (BUT NOT OF THE ARNO)

The preserved Renaissance landscape of Florence is breathtaking....if you removed the petrol driven vehicles and showy shop signs (this place is full of very posh shops & the rich who must be purchasing the garish handbags & uncomfortable shoes)...it is as it would have been under the Medici's who called the shots during the 15th to 18th centuries and were great patrons & collectors of art (paid for largely by their banks profits).

Have been to see Michelangelo's David in it's resting place at the Galleria dell'Accademia (the one in the Piazza della Signoria is a copy).

  

the sculpture is very very beautiful (as you would expect)& the skill & artistry of it's execution astonishing! It is unfortunate that some of the souvenirs sold in the streets outside uses David's "finer points" to particularly low levels of tackiness.

  

Yesterday we managed to join the Uffuzi (formerly the opulent Medici place of business)queue by 8am and to then be in the door within an hour(the guide book said it could take up to 4!)

The gallery holds a magnificent collection of Renaissance art ...although Christian art (largely what the collection is)does tend to be very repetitive and often violent.

I think the real treasure of the place is the building itself with the long gallery & it magnificent painted ceilings lined with hundreds of small portraits of the players of the times (including the rulers of Constantinople)and Ancient Roman sculptures(including our Hadrian) and fantastic views of the river Arno....and then there is the room with the enormous dome of a roof lined with mother of pearls shells & walls lined with mosaics made from shell & precious stones......and much more (no photos allowed though).

Then on to the Galileo Science Museum which holds among other things his original telescopes & mathematical instruments.....

Then after fortification at the Pizzeria to the Bargello Sculpture Gallery ...set in a medieval town hall from the 14th century ...a wonderful 3 storey stone building with original painted ceilings and huge long galleries holding thousands of  incredible treasures form the Renaissance & earlier...pooped again....early night ready for another day.....churches(hope to climb Duomo dome) today as museums closed on Mondays .

VIEW OF DUOMO 

ciao Kath & Sue xo