Leaning South

A short 1/2 hour train ride to the west of Firenze lands you in Pisa. A 25 minute walk from the train station gets you into the old part of town. Pisa was a long ago booming metropolis. Then a port town on the Mediterranean, it flourished with art, science and culture. The diversity of people included Africa, France, along with areas of western Asia. Galileo Galilei prospered here among many other brilliant people. After pummelings from various neighboring powers, Pisa declined and fell more toward the strong Medici influence of Firenze. Most notably we recognize the town for its famous campanile that is leaning south at a precarious angle. Upon reaching the Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles), my first reaction was "I thought the tower would be taller." In pictures the tower looks to be 7-8 stories high. Standing there in person it seemed more like 5 stories.

My first goal was to secure a ticket for climbing the leaning tower just in case it turned out to be a busy day and the time slots were all filled. I managed to get the last spot for the 12:40pm climb. Apparently there was plenty of space, but I'm glad I started with the tower and then had the rest of the time slowly view the other areas. The climb to the top is 300 steps (though I only counted 295) spiraling around the inside to about the 6th floor and then spiraling in a smaller staircase on the north side up to the very top floor. The marble steps are deeply worn at varying angles as you feel the angle of the tower in the circular climb.

It looked to be about a good 1/2" depression in the stone. How long and how many people has it taken to make that kind of dent in marble?? When you finally reach the top, the view is fantastic and much higher than it looks from the ground. The height of the people on the ground looked to be about the size of my thumb.

Next door to the leaning tower is the duomo (cathedral) with the typical decorative ceiling, massive paintings in side chapels and ornate main altar. The raised pulpit was designed by Nicola Pisano and was it every large. The platform was roughly 6ft. in diameter. Imagine delivering a sermon from there! Behind the duomo is the baptistry. This circular building was designed after the one in Jerusalem. The most interesting feature is the acoustics.

Every half hour a woman sings a demonstration of the sound quality. By singing in a normal voice from the center, her voice filled the entire room (floor to ceiling) as she created beautiful chords with minimal effort. To the side of the baptistry is the Camposanto. This was probably the least interesting building as it is a cemetery filled with local Pisan civic, cultural and spiritual leaders. The frescoes were nice, but they really aren't my flavor of art. The initial sketches done in a red earthen mixture prior to the fresh (fresco) plaster layer were discovered when the frescoes peeled off from decay. These sketches are now preserved in a museum near the duomo. It was really stunning to see the plans laid out by these master artists and how they occasionally shifted a pose. My last stop was a more general museum housing various bits of art and history from the duomo, campanile and Camposanto.

Another quick 30 minute train ride brought me back to Firenze. Dinner was left overs again as I needed to finish off my food before moving on to my next stop. I'm planning on heading to Cinque Terre--a national park area with 5 resort villages along the western Mediterranean cost of Italy known as the Ligurian Sea or the Gulf of Genova.

Broken Glass Can Shine Brightly

Today's adventure was a day trip to Siena which is roughly halfway between Firenze and Roma. The boast of the town is the old walled in city with three notable churches, a main square and a few museums. I started out at Il Campo which is more of a semi-circle than a square. It was so built to continually play with the shifts in light and shadow. The center piece is the huge campanile at the semi-circle's center. According to my book, the one free church would be closed from 12-3pm so I headed out to enjoy the holy space. Once again my book is off a bit and the church didn't close up while I was there after 12pm. It was easy to hang around as this church had some of the most beautiful stained glass I think I've ever seen. It literally brought tears to my eyes. And not just one window, but one gargantuan one and a huge circular one. I wish I had pictures, but this was a no photo zone.

Fortunately I found some online. I sat and stared at the two pieces for a good 15 minutes straight. It was hard to leave here too much like trying not to stare at Michelangelo's David. While I sat there, I was reminded of the lyrics from a song sung by Tara Ward (music architect at Church of the Beloved while I interned in Lynnwood, WA).
Praise, praise to you Lord
for I never realized
broken glass could shine so brightly.
I was inspired to light a candle here before I left.
[Enjoy the rest of the lyrics and music at the album's web page.]

Following my inspiration, I stopped in at a nearby gelato shop to sample one of the waffle-gelato combinations Hannah (met her in Napoli) suggested I must try. It was quite tasty, but my waffle had large chunks of what I think was sugar. The gelato was superb. I opted for the fruit version so I had mandarin, strawberry, banana and blackberry/raspberry. With renewed energy I headed to the San Francesco church. Apparently this has been converted to a school. Teens and young adults were swarming about and signs posted mentioned language classes. It used to be a duomo and convent complex originally. I moved on to the duomo where for a E10 pass I could visit the duomo, baptistry, crypt, museum and see the panoramic view from high atop the tallest part of the duomo. The two most interesting parts were the baptistry for it's neat fresco on baptism and the climb to the view up top. The first level is at 61 steps up a tiny one person wide spiral staircase. If that wasn't enough, the second level is up another 71 spiral steps for a total of 132. The views were amazing and I met a young couple from Oregon with their little girl about 6-8 months. Thanks to them for taking this lovely picture of me.

Having felt like I had seen and done all there was to see and do in Siena, I purchased my bus ticket back to Firenze from underneath the piazza. It seemed strange at first going down to get my ticket, but it does provide one less ugly building up top.

As we bounced and crashed (the road was atrociously rough) our way back to Firenze, I noticed a sign for Volterra. Permit me a moment of insanity. For those of you who've read the second book in the Twilight Saga--New Moon--you will recognize this name as the city in Italy where the main characters converge to confront the ruling vampire family. I thought the name and the location in the movie were random. Oh no! It's a real city. I had heard a guy and girl in Roma talking about going there to satisfy her addiction to see it. I never planned on going, but when I saw the sign and realized it was not but 35km away...well I had to reconsider. Later that night I looked up transit to the city to discover it would have been very tricky to get there with the busses available--i.e. I would have had to get up really early and make a major effort to go. Seeing as I was not wedded to this idea, my moment of insanity began to abate and fade. Phew. That was a close one.

It's A Long, Long Road

Mistakenly I didn't set an alarm and woke up at 9:30am--a half hour before lock out time for cleaning. After a quick rush to get ready I decided to keep things simple and get familiar with the town. Firenze (Florence) is quite a nice town. It's big enough to have plenty of sights and interesting people doing their thing, but not so big that you are constantly breathing exhaust or having motorcycles blast by you every second. The old part of town is quite charming. Most of it is limited access to vehicles so you don't get run over while you're staring up at the large bell tower or gawking at a fountain.

I started out at the Palazzo Pitti where I booked tickets for later in the day to see David and the Uffizi Gallery along with a ticket to some local gardens. With a half hour before my slot to see David, I took my time working toward the Galleria dell' Accademia by passing through the Piazza della Signoria. This is the place where Florence's political life took shape. On the south end of the piazza is the Loggia della Signoria where David originally stood until 1873 when he was moved to the museum. A marble copy is now in his place where you can take photos (unlike the real one). A long street of prime shopping leads to the Galleria dell' Accademia. You can find anything here displayed in the windows from underwear to ties to scarves to purses to...well, you name it! Italy is definitely the perfect place to window shop where the displays are intriguing and invite you to take your time walking by.

Most of the Accademia is filled with paintings depicting the various scenes of Jesus' and other saints' lives. I did happen upon a music room where I viewed a Stradivarius collection and noted that all the instruments had animal based strings unlike today's metal ones. I guess I never realized strings weren't always metal (and I played the violin too!). It all happens so quickly as you are padding along through rooms of paintings when suddenly you turn the corner and POW! There's David standing high on a pedestal at the end of the hallway glowing from the skylight above. I stopped in my tracks and lost my breath. It's absolutely stunning. There really aren't words to describe how breathtaking it is to see a statue of this magnitude and perfection finished back in 1504 when Michelangelo was just 29. That means he started long before that. I can't imagine doing a work of art like that at my age now. The hair on David's head alone is so intricately carved let alone the veins in the arms. Photos don't even begin to do justice to seeing the statue in person. It was near impossible to pull myself away and finish the rest of the museum, but to make my 12:30 time slot at the Uffizi, such was necessary.

I passed some time around the Duomo (main church in the old city) and on to the Uffizi Gallery. This place and collection of art was started by the Medici family and given to the city in 1743 with the condition that the collection never leave the city. I was expecting to see a mix of paintings and antique items such as furniture or family treasures. All I got was art and I really only liked about 25% of it. Some of the highlights included Albrect Durer, Lukas Kranach (painted Martin and Katie Luther--the originals which I got to see), Vecchio, Carpaccio, Van Cleve, Rembrandt's The Rabbi, Pannini's Pool of Bethsaida, Caravaggio's Medussa and then the true highlights of my trip to the Uffizi: Michelangelo's Holy Family with St. John (the light and shading on this made it the brightest piece in the entire gallery!), Leonardo Da Vinci's Annunciation and Adoration of Mary and Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera. I can remember doing a special project on Primavera in school. Still really love that painting. It was great to see the original in it's hugeness (probably 10'x15' or so). What I learned from this visit is that I really am not a huge fan of 13th-16th century painting. I truly enjoy impressionist and abstract works far more. I appreciated these works for their intricacy, age and hard work, but in the end they just didn't inspire me much. The comedy relief came in the Niobe room where a series of about 20 statues placed around the room all had various stretching and reaching poses. It was hilarious. As if somone had frozen them in the middle of their workout routine. On my way out I noticed that amongst the carefully painted scenes on the ceiling where a series of words including: poetry, academia, music, history, mathematics, theology, medicine, politics, eloquence, philosophy and love of country. Clearly the Medici were patrons of the arts. Thank goodness they were or much of these works would have been destroyed--probably in the name of Christianity.

Post Uffizi I located an excellent gelato shop which was in great need after such hard work. I sampled Rich Chocolate, Banana and Straccitelli (cream flavor with chocolate bits). I stopped at the Duomo and toured the inside. It's quite immaculate. There are inlayed marble floors throughout the church. Laying tile is hard enough let alone sizing and fitting pieces into a picture of people, etc. The last stop of the day was the Medici Chapel, but it was closed. Worked out okay since I was pretty tired by then. Before heading back to the hostel I decided to pass through the Piazzale Michelangelo for some sweeping views of Firenze. Good choice. I found the bronze version of David up there and got some good video of the area. On the way up I discovered the stations of the cross lining the stairway and I also learned that there is a protected feline colony along the stairs. Strange I know, but I kid you not.

After a nice rest I cooked up some strange concoction of steak strips, garlic, onion, zucchini, canellini beans, and some left over red pepper. It turned out quite good. Dessert was some peach yogurt which I haven't had in close to a month. Strange how you crave things like that. My only other discovery today was that one of the guys in my room has sleep apnea. Makes for a hard time sleeping.