We met our friends for breakfast in the lovely outdoor dining area at the hotel. Today we are spending. most of the day with Jim, since the other three are going biking up to Fiesole. But first, Dan and I are going to the Accademia to visit Michelangelo’s David. Directly after breakfast the three of us headed out. It took about 30 minutes to walk to the museum. The line wasn’t too bad once we found out where we had to go with our prepaid no-line tickets.
Upon walking into the Accademia Gallery you can see David immediately at the end of the gallery. Before reaching him, however, you see several unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo. It was strange seeing these works with some body parts almost perfectly carved and the rest of the stone roughly chipped away. It was as if Michelangelo was about to walk back in and take up his tools again.
The unfinished works were never named by Michelangelo, but by scholars. I’ve included photos of some of them below. Why they were never completed is not known. He may have left them incomplete because the project lost funding, or he just moved on with projects that interested him or paid him more.
I don’t believe any one can look at David and not be amazed by his beauty. He is a 6 ton, 17 foot-tall symbol “of divine victory over evil,” according to Rick Steves. Michelangelo was only 26 years old when commissioned to create a work for Florence’s Duomo. David hasn’t changed since I last saw him 50 years ago. If you look closely enough you can see signs of wear from the 350 years he stood outside the Palazzo Vecchio before he was moved inside in 1873. The pictures speak for themselves.
There were other sculptures in the Accademia including a plaster model of the Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna and a bust of Michelangelo in bronze. However, David is the number one reason for visiting this museum.
We reconnected with Jim who had been wandering about taking pictures having already seen David. We attempted visiting the Medici Chapels, but it wasn’t open yet. Instead, we decided to go into the hills surrounding Florence and visit a small town named Settignano. Bus #10 took us up into the hills and 30 minutes later we were in the town’s Piazza Niccolò Tommaseo. A short walk away offered us a beautiful view of Florence far below us.
As to be expected, there was a church in the center of town, Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta constructed in 1518. A heavy wooden door lead to a simple church with some interesting artwork. Not knowing where to go, we followed signs leading us to the Villa Morghen. The Villa turned out to house a program for students from various U.S. colleges and universities.
We then headed back to the square looking for signage that would lead us to the Villa Gamberaia Gardens. With Jim’s help, we did find our way to the Villa after taking an uphill twisting road up into the hills. Back in 1904, Edith Wharton wrote that the Villa combines “almost every typical excellence of the old Italian gardens.” She was right. After ringing a bell we entered the property through a small gated doorway, paid our fee, and walked into the past.
A farmhouse had been located on this spot back in the 1300’s. In the 1400’s it became the property of Matteo di Domenico who adopted the surname Gamberelli. His two sons were important architects and sculptures at the time and they built the original villa. The gardens and system of fountains, however, were designed by the next owner of the property in the 1600’s. It was owned by Zanobi Lapi, a wealthy Florentine merchant, and his two nephews. Since then the Villa has passed into many different hands, including the Nazis. They used the property as a headquarters during WWII . In 1954 the Marcelo Marchi family purchased and restored the property. It now belongs to his daughter Franca and her husband Luigi Zalum of Herzegovina.
The views of the Florence and Arno valley below were beautiful. The gardens were filled with citrus trees, sculptures, a long bowling green, wild woods, ornate rock work, ponds and an unusual shaped multi level grotto. Greenery and flowers were planted everywhere. It was a wonderful place to wander. New features were discovered down every path. Unfortunately the Villa itself is not open to the public.
It was time to head back into town. We quickly caught a bus back to Florence that unexpectedly dropped us off in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, we picked up a second bus that got us more or less close to where we needed to be. The three of us then returned to the Medici Chapels and Church of San Lorenzo.
The Chapel of the Princes is part of a huge complex developed almost two centuries ago. It was based on the Grand Duke Cosmo I’s idea to create a family tomb for the Medici family. It is a very impressive building filled with cut marbles, semi precious stones, and statuary of the Medici “rulers.” It gave off an essence of raw power, however, others think its extravagance is an exercise in bad taste.
The entire New Sacristy was designed by Michelangelo during his last years in Florence, 1531-1532. While I know Michelangelo wasn’t particularly interested in women, the sculpture, The Tomb of Lorenzo, kind of proved to me that he had no interest in women artistically either. As beautiful as the sculpture may be, it looked as if he simply slapped breasts onto a male figure in order to turn it into a woman. See for yourself in one of the photos below.
All of us were starting to run out of energy so we walked back to our neighborhood. The rest of our group was resting back at the hotel and didn’t feel like dinner, so we found a nice restaurant around the corner. After dinner we took a short walk around the block and discovered some interesting stores including a perfumery where they developed personal fragrances, and a master of jewelry arts in a space that could easily be found in Harry Potter’s Dragon Alley.
Eileen then joined us for a gelato at the highly recommended La Strega Nocciola. It was now far past my bedtime. Tomorrow offers another opportunity to see the Tuscan countryside as we head to Volterra.
BY THE WAY WITH WENDY & DAN 