Italy – Day 3a – Florence Museums

Been wanting to return to Florence since 1999 when our only day in town was a Monday and all the great museums were closed. Who visits Florence on a Monday?

Florence, the Birthplace of the Renaissance, was a center of medieval trade and wealth. It was the home of Leonardo, Galileo, Dante, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, the Medici Family and so many more intellectual giants who lit the way out of the Dark Ages.

We took a fast train out of Milan’s Central Station and arrived in Florence less than two hours later. It was a gloomy, drizzly morning but we were going to spend much of the day inside. First stop, the Accademia Gallery and Michelangelo’s ‘David.’ I’ve heard about it. I’ve seen reproductions of it in places like Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. But, there’s nothing like the original, white marble masterpiece here in Florence.

David by Michelangelo Buonarotti

Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence 

(18 February 2018)

After a quick run through other Renaissance and earlier works, we had to be at the Uffizi Gallery for our next reserved tickets. Advice to anyone who plans to visit world-class museums like this… if you can, get your tickets online in advance. There are two entrances to the Accademia and Uffizi. One with no lines where your advance tickets get you right in, and the other for people who need tickets and hundreds of visitors in a line that stretches around the block.

Inside the Uffizi Gallery, Florence (18 February 2018)

Completed by the ruling Medici Family in 1581, the building held the city magistrates (‘Uffizi’ = “offices”) and the upper floor has the family’s art and sculpture collection. If you’ve taken any western art appreciation or Renaissance period classes, you have seen pictures of the originals that reside here. Michelangelo, Leonardo, Botticelli, Giotto, Caravaggio…they’re all here.

Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli

Uffizi Gallery, Florence (18 February 2018)

Born in the sea, the goddess on a giant scallop shell is gently blown ashore by the wind god Zephyr. The painting’s title was actually conferred four hundred years later in the 19th century. Some believe the subject was simply a scene in the Venus story and is really about her arrival on land, specifically, Cyprus.

Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci

Uffizi Gallery, Florence (18 February 2018)

Painted in 1472, when Leonardo was just 20 years old, Annunciation depicts a very popular topic for Renaissance artists – the moment the Angel Gabriel tells the virgin Mary she will miraculously become pregnant with the Son of God.

The Ponte Vecchio on the Swollen Arno River (18 February 2018)

The Ponte Vecchio (“old bridge”) sits on the narrow part of the Arno River where the Romans built the first crossing. The bridge dates from 1345 and is known for the jewelry and art shops built onto it.

Not the usual perspective for this Florentine landmark. I took this shot through the upper floor window of the Uffizi. The river was high, swift and brown with sediment from the recent rains.

There was one more important stop this wonderful day but it deserves its own post.

Stay tuned.