Florence

The Duomo

 Florence is "The Duomo" and "The David".  The Renaissance.  Whats more, the Duomo and the David, are actually very intertwined.  There is a story there that we only learned on our visit to this great city.  We thought that Venice was overrun with humans, if possible, Florence is even more saturated.  Naturally, they are two of the most visited cities in Italy, outside of Rome.  Once you see the Duomo you can easily understand why everyone wants to see it up close.  Not a picture, but the real thing.  That is definitely how I felt about Michelangelo's David.  The lines to see inside the Duomo were far too long for our liking ... but I did manage to get tickets for a guided tour to see the statue of David.  Needless to say, I was pretty happy that we managed to get tickets on such short notice.

David

Initially, I thought " who needs a guide to see a statue"??  However, that was the only way to get tickets that "skip the line".  Again not wanting to spend the short amount of time we had standing in a line, we went for the guided tour.  Were we ever glad we did!!  The guide was actually a teacher (special education) and so knowledgeable.  It was immediately apparent that he loved sharing the story of Michelangelo and the David...we were engrossed.  

David

What we did not know before going to see the David was that Michelangelo actually had his sights on the Duomo.  He wanted to be The Artist to finish the exterior of the Duomo, but he was considered far too young and inexperienced for such a project.  He was told that he would have to prove himself first, before even being considered for such an important job.  So he said "alright then I will do a statue of David, but unlike any that has been done before".  And with that he chose his piece of marble and then built an enclosure around it.  For the entire time he worked on David he never came out of that enclosure.  He sweltered in the heat of summer and suffered the cold in winter.  He ate, slept and carved his masterpiece in that enclosure.  No one saw the sculpture until it was completed.  Folks brought him food and he had a little cot to sleep on - that was about it for comfort.  It was him and David.

Prigone

Now I ask you - do you know of any human today that has committed themselves to a project in that way?  No-one - there is no-one that displays that sort of dedication.  Remarkable does not even begin to describe it.  The attention to detail and the degree to which he studied the human body is incredible.  He carved the veins in the arms and hands!  Now why did he make David naked?  There are many answers to that question; the most obvious being we are all naked before God.  But there was some vanity there as well, it is much, much harder to carve a naked David than a clothed one.  And after all - he was auditioning for the big job!

Gates of Paradise

 There has only been one Renaissance, and from that one period in time the world has been gifted all this beauty.  Seeing Michelangelo's David was a seminal moment in my life.  And maybe, partly, it was being enlightened as to the character of the man that did it for me.  Alas, we Ioved the visit.  In addition, to the David there were other statues that we also loved.  They are called "Prigone" or prisoner.  They are said to be "prisoners of the stone" until Michelangelo "freed them" by carving them out of the stone. And then there are the Gates of Paradise - the doors of the Baptistry that took 27 years to carve.  Made of bronze with gold covering, they depict scenes from the bible.  The detail and perfection is stunning.  There are many folks wanting to glance at the doors and take pictures in front of them.  But if left alone with the doors you could stare at them for hours and hours and still not take it all in.

Florence piazza

  Sadly, the visit came to a poor end however.  As we were getting on the tram to go back to the hotel Michael was pick pocketed.  Now, he did a foolish thing by putting his wallet in his back pocket, he was rushing and just not thinking.  That has now made our lives a bit more complicated.  Thank goodness I was able to cancel the cards before the thief was able to get money.  And thank goodness I had taken the credit card and had it separate from other cards - otherwise we would have really been in a bind.  Lesson learned:  Wallet goes in front pocket only.  Never, ever in the back pocket!!  We cannot fly back to Mazzaro del Vallo from Florence so we are taking a shuttle to Pisa and will fly back from there.