Escape to the Continent: David and other Goliaths...

David and other Goliaths…

7/24 Everywhere in Florence the inseparable bond between the spiritual, religiosity and political power of the Catholic Church and the economic, political and intellectual might of the local lords, families and guilds, is apparent - it IS the Renessiance. And for us Michelangelo's David is a perfect example of this convergence. This morning after breakfast and some more meandering, we worked our way through streets washed with a welcome rain to the Accademia museum - so called because it is still an active art school - where we had arranged a tour to view the progression of medieval art and sculpture leading up to David. Our guide, Sheryll, provided the historical context which helped us look beyond the iconic 'David' to SEE the sculpture and appreciate it not only as the highest expression of an art form, but as a statement of belief - belief in the power of the individual against tyrannical forces - including superstition and ignorance. This echoed an earlier exhibition about Galileo we had seen on our first day in Rome. Galileo was a man of profound faith - like Michelangelo - who believed in the power of reason as a tool for uncovering the design of the creator as a way to enrich faith. We had a nice long time to visit with David and to explore our personal responses to his strength, beauty and calm courage…

The artwork of the Accademia demanded a sit down snack to process observations and impressions, which required another bit of purposeful meandering in order to find the appropriate cafe. After refreshments we headed directly to the central cathedral of Florence - the Duomo for Vespers done in Gregorian chant. The Duomo is HUGE - not as large as St. Peter's, but on a colossal scale nonetheless. We don't think it is an exaggeration to say that it took at least ten seconds for the echoes of the last note of vespers to fade away. Dark and somber within except for the murals on the interior of the high dome, the cathedral took nearly 140 years to complete. After Vespers we clambered the 414 steps of the Campanelle - a bell tower that stands separate from the main church and barely second in height - to take in a late afternoon view of the city. During the climb the gigantic bells housed in the tower rang out a chorus to mark the start of evening mass. Also in the Duomo complex is the Baptistry - a building whose history dates back to the sixth century. We were too late to get inside to see the gilded byzantine ceiling we were only able to glance at through the doorway, but we were able to appreciate Ghiberti's 'Gates of Paradise' - the bronze relief panels depicting bible scenes on the great doors facing the church (These are actually duplicates of the gilded doors now protectively housed in the on-site museum).

After our decent we continued our explorations down avenues not yet sampled until hunger pushed us to return to the Piazza Della Republica for a late meal and people watching. As we always chose to eat outside and at an outer table, we would be frequent targets for street vendors selling roses, LED-lit flying disks and tourist paraphernalia. Being polite to these vendors does NOT encourage them to move on, we discovered, rather completely ignoring them was generally effective. A stroll along the narrow ways lit primarily by street lamps of wrought iron protruding from the sides of the buildings preceded our arrival back to our hotel and some showering, reading, packing …