City Highlights of Florence (Frenze), Italy
The main roads around Florence are
located where the ancient walls were located making Florence a walled city. The
old walls were torn down when Florence became the capital of a united Italy.
Five years later the capital was moved to Rome. Florence is the capital of the
state of Tuscany. The Arno River runs through the city.
Accademia to
see Michelsangelo’s David.
Michelangelo was 26 years old when he
started David and it took him two
years to complete.
David stood outside city hall for 300 years
until the early 1990s when some crazy took a hammer to the statue. The original now is in the Accademia and a
reproduction is in front of city hall.
Michelangelo never made a pre-sculpture as he could feel his statue in the marble, and he
always did all his own work. In his day an artist often would create a work and
then anonymous craftsmen would do the actual carving.
The renaissance movement started and was nurtured in
Florence and from there it spread.
 |
| The Duomo |
Across the street is St. John’s Baptismal, a large
hexagon building which originally had a large tub in the center used for total
submersion. The tub had been removed and replaced with flooring. The inside of
the building was very plain but the story of the Bible was done on the dome
ceiling in five layers or rows. Those paintings are all done in mosaic and it
took 85 years to complete them. The
Baptistery is famous for its bronze doors done in the 1400s by Andrea
Pisano and Ghiberti.
Santa
Croce, another huge church, is located on the town square. It is the burial
ground of many famous people including Michelangelo, Galileo, Dante, and
Giovanni. The church also houses many flat frescos by Gioeti.
Florence is a lovely city and
definitely worth a visit when in the area. There is much to see and one could
spend a minimum of three days just to take in the highlights.
No comments:
Post a Comment