FIRENZE/FLORENCE, Italy

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Flourishing city on the Arno river, capital of Tuscany, center of the Italian Renaissance for two centuries, there is little new I want to write about Firenze (Florence). The tourist books have had a long time to cover all there is to see in this long-admired city. One can most agreeably saunter through the city’s many, many artistic treasures in paintings and sculpture, museums, architecture, food, and literary history.

The view at left is of Florence along the Arno, taken from the Ponte Vecchio, The view below is of the Piazza della Signoria, possibly the most famous of the many famous squares in Florence.



You can see standing beside little you a huge statue (a replica) of Michelangelo's startling David. The original stands in the Galleria dell' Academia, along with other sculptures by our local hero, as well as paintings and sculptures from the 13th-16th centuries. It also contains an interesting collection of musical instruments, begun by the Medici family

But it's nice that the Piazza della Signoria, at the heart of the historic center, offers a free open-air sculpture exhibit... and some great pigeon-on-statue shots (I'll spare you that).  Also shown is the medieval Palazzo Vecchio --   Florence's town hall and  political center since the middle ages.

Of course you want to see (many times) the Galleria degli Uffizi, a museum housing what may be the world's finest collection of Italian Renaissance art (the Vatican Museum does pretty well, too). But it's a crowded place, especially as tourist season hits high gear. So, I avoided it this time round.

Because this blog is not a Firenze tour-guide  (click here for one) but only an idiosyncratic report of things that strike me while engaged in the art of living well in this sojourn in Italy, I will mention only a little about this eternal city that keeps calling its visitors to return.

I wanted to spend my time in Italy on the less-travelled paths, even just wanting to stay at home and experience what “home” felt like in Italy. Yet, as in previous visits to Italy, I had to visit Firenze again.

The drive into the city is heralded by flowers lining the center of the boulevard that creeps with traffic beside the Arno. The compensation for the traffic snarl is the smell of jacaranda all around you. Then, as you enter the historic city, it is always a surprise. No matter how recognizable the sites have become, the magnificent Duomo and the intricate architectural plans of palaces and piazzas make you part of something splendid to behold. And the same stones that you feel underneath your humbly hurting feet were tread by so many Florentine giants.

Marking a major literary and linguistic turning-point, the Florentine Dante Alighieri walked these streets.  Among the events in his politically active and sadly exiled life, he managed to be the first to write in (thus partly creating) vernacular Italian. The exalted Divine Comedy gave rise to more truly ‘vulgar’ literary works by another Florentine coming not long afterward: Boccaccio and his Decameron. The Florentine literary influence spread even to  Chaucer, whose vernacular English Canterbury Tales were certainly influenced by Boccaccio, whom he also likely met on a trip to Italy. Even today, Firenze holds a place of honor in the Italian language. Italians I’ve asked in different regions tell me that their language is best spoken here, in Tuscany.

Dante Alighieri, attributed to Giotto

Even across the Atlantic, the culturally enlightened U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson (living at a time when culture was not anathema to democracy) was influenced by Italian humanism in his scholarly interests in arts and sciences, his skills as an architect (literal and metaphoric as nation-builder), and even his love of music. Jefferson wrote in a 1778 letter to the humanist Florentine scholar, Giovanni Fabbroni, about his love of Italian music: If there is a gratification which I envy any people in this world, it is to your country its music. This is the favorite passion of my soul, and fortune has cast my lot in a country where it is in a state of deplorable barbarism.

We went to see only one thing the first day we visited Firenze. It remains a personal favorite: San Marco, the convent which intimately houses the fresoes of Fra Angelico. (Mendicant orders like the Dominicans and Franciscans use the word convent for both men's and women's establishments.) 

Among all the splendid art in Florence and the emphatic paintings and sculpture and architecture of Michelangelo and tributes to his influence, there rests this relatively small Dominican convent with its cloisters (above).  In it, on the second floor among the small cells of its former monks, are the quietly serene, even humble, frescoes of  Fra Angelico. Their gentle colors and modeling, lyrical contours and somewhat shy expression are just so quietly beautiful. As you walk up the stairway to the second floor (first floor above the ground),  you are greeted  at the landing by a ‘just-so’ masterpiece of the Annunciation. You can see the cloister of San Marco in it, can't you? In contrast to Michelangelo's work, I would not call  grand; but it is glorious.

Then, peeking into the monastic cells, their wooden doors open but the entrance barred by rope, you see the frescoes on the walls, many done by Fra Angelico. This strikes me as so much more impressive than frescoes on museum walls, no matter how important they are and even if I feel thankful to see them at all. But here, here is the context (handed down to us) that gave immediate meaning to the work. I wonder if the individual brothers got to request a particular theme for their meditations and wonder how the paintings were assigned to the different cells.

Today’s Thought

Only through art can we emerge from ourselves and know what another person sees.

--Marcel Proust

I don't want to quarrel with Proust, but I’d qualify the “only through” bit. Still, I very much agree that art is a transporter, a conduit to many different realities. And I fear when art and art appreciation are cut from the "essentials" in public school programs.

Lest the quiet dignity of many of Fra Angelico’s works leaves you wishing for more drama, there’s always a visit to the corner cell at San Marco, where you can feel the lingering presence of Savonarola, who was a toddler when Fra Angelio died. Savonarola's cloak remains, and if  one has any imagination at all, it is chilling. Savonarola was a friar and Prior at San Marco for over a decade. For a brief time, he even became the notorious ruler of Florence during the plague, and met his end in 1498 by execution via hanging and then burning in the Piazza della Signora.

Walking in Florence, with masterpieces everywhere around you, it's not surprising to find street artists kneeling and finishing their Michelangelo on the pavement. Art lives everywhere.

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Today’s Food for Thought

Florentine steak - Bistecca a la Fiorentina 

This is not for the tender-hearted (in several senses). You’ve just got to love red meat. I've excerpted this recipe from this site you can click on.

The meat must be from a young beef, at least two finger-widths high of choice sirloin and include the bone (e.g., a porterhouse steak). As Prezzolini writes in his Life of Machiavelli, "cut from the young steer, with the rib attached, you look like a slab of brocatello marable, red and veined with white". To cook the steak, opinions vary. Some recommend rubbing it with oil, salt and pepper first. Some consider this blasphemy and place it, as is, on the grill over a glowing charcoal fire (there are also different thoughts on the correct kind of wood). It should be turned only once and the grill must leave its mark on both sides. When it is nearly done, season with salt and pepper (never beforehand, since it would dry the meat) and, as soon as you see that the salt has stiffened, serve with a pat of fresh butter on top. 30 min. After a suitable time for digestion, go for a 10 mile walk.

Today's Painting

Susannah, painting by Janet Strayer

I slide easily from the religious to the profane. So, after a stop for gelato, we went on to the Ponte Vecchio to look for some earrings.

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This old bridge is always festive. But it’s always been part of a working city, too. Florentine wools. Florentine gold. Florentine leather and paper. I got a pair of small earrings on this crowded sunny day. Also some beautiful presents. Nearby, off the bridge and thinking of home in Canada, I got a pair of gloves.