Florence. Day 2.
Considering our eventful day yesterday we still managed to wake early for our second day in Florence and being aware of our need to be at the Uffizi gallery on time, we made our way down stairs for our garden breakfast. Chiara helped with the service to our table, a very pleasant young lady who was eager to chat with us, explaining that she would soon be visiting Dublin, where she would stay with an lovely Irish family who she already knew, in order to help improve her English and further her education.
We mentioned to her about our previous days little adventure with the electric cycles and once she had stopped laughing, she informed us there would be a supply of them to use again if we wanted to, just at the end of the street outside the local university, it was also the student’s favourite method of transport. This time with more appropriate attire & footwear we opted to have another try. Off we rode, down hill this time and remarkably we made it to the Uffizi in one piece, with just around five minutes to spare, after passing through security we donned our headphones in anticipation of listening to as much info to the artworks as possible.
The Uffizi Gallery entirely occupies the first and second floors of this large building constructed between 1560 and 1580 and designed by Giorgio Vasari. It is famous worldwide for its outstanding collections of ancient sculptures and paintings (from the Middle Ages to the Modern period). The collections of paintings from the 14th-century and Renaissance period include some absolute masterpieces: Giotto, Simone Martini, Piero della Francesca, Beato Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Mantegna, Correggio, Leonardo, Raffaello, Michelangelo and Caravaggio, in addition to many precious works by European painters (mainly German, Dutch and Flemish).
Chiara had mentioned that we would we need at least two hours to tour the gallery, however after two hours we hadn’t even made it through half. A break was in order so we headed for the roof terrace restaurant for a light lunch and liquid refreshments.
1 hour later, feet less tired and feeling quite happy from the effects of my large Aperol spritz, we resumed our tour. Room after room filled with the most beautiful paintings, sculptures, statues, ceilings and walls adorned with the most stunning visions, its truly breath taking. Basically, five hours from our first steps on entry we found ourselves outside, off course just after being lead through the Gallery’s shop where it’s impossible not to buy something related to the wonderous art just witnessed.
Another stroll was had over the Ponte Vecchio all the little shops now open showing off their wares, mainly jewellers, gold & diamonds sparkling from every direction. Gazing through one window way too long, I felt Eds arm guide me swiftly in a different direction, I guess he knows me only too well ! I was consoled with a lemon sorbet. A bitter sweet moment……
We had a slow walk around the Duomo again, its size incredible with its 45.5 meters of diameter and a total height of more than 116 meters, the dome is the largest masonry vault in the world and was built between 1420 and 1436 by Filippo Brunelleschi.
Brunelleschi’s major innovation was to build the Dome without a supporting structure. The Dome consists of two distinct domes: one internal, more than two meters thick, with a deeper angle than the other and consisting of large arches held together by ribs and made of bricks arranged in a “herringbone” pattern. The external dome is covered with terracotta tiles and marked by eight white marble ribs.
The oculus of the Dome is surmounted by the large lantern: a twenty-one-meter-high white marble tower, which was built after the death of the artist in 1446 but following Brunelleschi’s project. On the top is the golden copper ball with apical cross, work by Andrea del Verrocchio, placed there in 1471.
Then more than one hundred years later – between 1572 and 1579 – the internal vault of the Dome was painted by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari with an enormous Last Judgment, partly inspired by the mosaics of the Baptistery: the largest mural in the world.
Our visit of Florence reluctantly coming to an end, we realised that in a week you would not be able to see even the most popular attractions. Who knows maybe another visit in the future would have to be put on the old bucket list.
Well to finish it off another cycle ride back to the B & B would be had. We rode steadily this time, but still dodging a few italian drivers, as we were once again occasionally heading in the wrong direction up a few of the smaller streets. This time determined to make it up hill all the way home, our right thumbs at the ready, we peddled faster the battery kicking in slightly, we hit the red button holding it down firmly, Ed in front this time, woo hoo up the hill, wind blowing in my hair all the way home, what a sight we must have both been. 🙂
Tomorrow onwards to an organic farmhouse in Asciano, Tuscany – for five days of rest and wine tasting off course.
