Florence

Having had two highly successful out of season visit to tourist hotspots – we went to Venice in January and Rome in February – we’ve decided to visit Florence. I went to Florence in 1969. A friend from university and I flew to Milan and got the train back from Naples seven weeks later. We spent about five days in Florence. Phil went to Florence fifty years ago, on holiday with his parents.

We drove down to Stansted yesterday, as the flight to Pisa was early. All went well, although the airport was rammed – I can only suppose it’s normal on a Monday morning. Then we got the bus from Pisa airport to Florence. The hotel is in an old palazzo and about two minutes’ walk from the Duomo, and it’s got painted ceilings and stained glass and old bits of painted furniture, so we’re pleased.

We went straight off to the Duomo. We were seriously daunted by the crowds waiting to go in, and especially the queue for the ascent of the dome. Maybe March is too late to avoid the crowds. There are lots and lots of student groups, so perhaps it’s school trip time. They hang round in big, milling crowds, and it’s difficult to tell whether they are just hanging about, or queuing for something. 

Anyway, we went into the Duomo – but most of it is roped off, it’s sad. I suppose it doesn’t matter that much as there is not much specific to see inside the church, it’s the size and proportions that matter. But I would have liked to get a closer look at Uccello’s wall painting of Sir John Hawkwood. In 1969 I was surprised to see an English knight given pride of place in the cathedral, but I didn’t know anything much about him – really, I only knew he was a condottiero, and what condotierri were. But since then, I’ve read a biography, and he had a fascinating life.  It’s also quite funny – Florence paid him a pension, but that didn’t stop him attacking the city, because  someone else paid him more.

So then we plodded up the campanile – we can’t seem to resist a bell tower – and I say plodded, because it is pretty high, and because there are no handrails, so it’s really hard on the knees. My “good” knee – the one in its natural state –  felt fiery hot and pretty painful, so I have taken some ibruprofen and hope it settles down.

Christ Pancrator in the Baptistery

We went into the Baptistery – I don’t think it was open in 1969,  because I’d definitely have remembered it. The mosaics are wonderful. We loved them, and spent ages studying them. The “Gates of Paradise”, by Ghiberti, are now in the museum, and I regard that as a great improvement; I remember, in 1969, being quite excited to see them, having read all about their wonders, and being deeply disappointed.  But now, cleaned and restored, they deserve their name. There’s also very informative explanations of what biblical story is where on the panels, so you can identify the walls of Jericho and the Queen of Sheba and such like, and an interesting video on the restoration. We spent ages looking at those, too.

The "Gates of Paradise" - all clean and brilliant.

The Michaelangelo Pieta is also in the museum now. It used to be in the church, and I can’t quite see why it isn’t still there. I think it’s much more moving than the Pieta in St Peter’s even if it isn’t finished. 

On Tuesday we got up early and after a good breakfast in a wonderful dining room with a painted ceiling, went straight to the Duomo. The queue for the tour of the Dome was nonexistent, and we were able to walk in immediately. The lantern on the top of the dome is actually higher than the campanile, but some of the stairs had hand rails and also we had a long pause at the first gallery to look at the ceiling paintings, so it didn't seem nearly as tiring as the campanile.

The paintings follow a similar plan to the mosaics in the baptistery, so the lowest level is the final judgement. It’s fascinatingly gruesome. There are devils, some in animal form, others with tails, fearsome skull like features and long claws for fingernails, eating people, flaying them, buggering them with flaming spears, tossing them with pitchforks  - I could go on, but I can’t possibly do justice to the horribleness of it.

Devils, from the Baptistery. We couldn't photograph the ceiling of the dome, as there's a screen.

 There’s also Time, with his hourglass, Cerberus and the Hydra (not sure how they got in on the act), and a cheerful, skeletal death, with a sword not a scythe. Further up there’s a small depiction of the faithful going into paradise, but that concept obviously didn’t arouse the same fevered creativity as the idea of Hell.

As you go up there’s Mary, and Jesus in glory, lots of saints and popes;  maybe saints who were popes, who knows. But it’s the Last Judgement that’s so terrific. The way up the Dome and round the two galleries is pretty narrow, so it’s difficult to pass anyone, but there are short bits where you can stand and stare. We stared for ages. I’m afraid we wouldn’t have looked for half so long if the paintings had been all of saints and angels. It’s really quite hard to comprehend what effect visions like these had on the ordinary Christian. We know what effect they had on fanatics, unfortunately.

There are a lot of stairs up to the lantern, but we made it easily, and the views are superb, well worth the effort, even without getting close up to the dome paintings.

The campanile, from the lantern of the dome.

When we got down we had a long sit and an iced tea, and then I did some shopping. It’s funny, in France I’m never remotely tempted by anything in clothes shops, but I knew I’d be tempted in Italy, and so it proved. So I have two knitted cotton tops, a pair of two tone brogues, and a red satchel. I’ve been fancying a satchel for ages for city sightseeing.

A view from the lantern of the dome.

Then we went to the city market, and had lunch of crispy fried squid and pieces of cod, with a helping of chips, sitting along the front of a fish stall while one of the owners did the cooking and the other prepared squid and sold the raw fish.  It was jolly good.

We had pre booked tickets for the Accademia, and were glad that we had when we saw the queue. There’s a lot of early religious painting, but the one Giotto is on loan, so it’s really the David people go to see. There are also some unfinished Michaelangelo sculptures, which were very interesting. What’s that saying, supposedly by Michaelangelo  - “I saw the angel in the stone and carved until I set him free”, or something, and it was thrilling seeing the figures emerging from the stone.

The David is very well displayed, but I just can’t warm to it. The right hand is enormous and the left hand and head are too big. The body and legs are great, but it’s nowhere near as appealing to me as I feel it ought to be. But after all, it’s my opinion.