Today we started on the early side and headed across the river to the Gallerie dell'Accademia (9am reserved tickets) to see Michelangelo's David (among other things). I sneaked a forbidden photo. (Okay I snuck two.)
There were also several unfinished sculptures by Michelangelo and it was so cool to see the forms coming out the giant chunks of marble. Amazing.
After a good tour of the rest of the gallery, we headed back to the apartment to have some breakfast and some coffee, do some work, and wait for our next ticket appointment (2pm at the Uffizi).
More Vespas!
The Uffizi is a fabulous space (built originally as offices for the Florentine magistrates—hence the name uffizi, "offices"). We loved seeing the Botticellis (Birth of Venus, Primavera)! Another couple favorites were DaVinci's Annunciation and Artemesia Gentileschi's Judith and Holofernes (so violent!)
After the Uffizi we headed over to the Basilica of Santa Croce. This is the principal Franciscan church in Florence, and the burial place of some of the most illustrious Italians (Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, Rossini…) and is known also as the Temple of the Italian Glories (Tempio dell'Itale Glorie).
I didn't take any photos of the outside, but check out the inside:
There is a ton of amazing artwork in Santa Croce.
Michelangelo's tomb:
Gallileo:
Machiavelli:
And we at first thought Dante was also buried here, but this is just a monument to him…he's actually buried in Ravenna:
Lots of tombs in the floor, some with ornate relief and decorative inlay:
All in all it was a pretty fantastic day of art and death in Firenze! Tonight was going to be the night we tried the traditional Bistecca Fiorentina, but the "Tad and Kate" recommended spot is closed so we'll have some wild boar instead at a new spot we found down the road (Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco) and try the other spot tomorrow night.
Tomorrow we have one more tour: a bike tour around the Chianti countryside. We leave from Florence (no van or anything, which means we'll have a pretty good hill climb first thing for about 2km). Wish us luck!
I’m finally catching up on your blog. LOVE the stocked fridge!! I just pulled some tuna out of the freezer. 🙂
We still have four of those tuna steaks! We picked up more frozen stuff in Qualicum Beach, too…two little bags of seafood medley that includes little pieces of squid, shrimp, mussels, and clams…it’ll be great in a risotto or a sauce over pasta/zucchini noodles I think. I seriously never tire of seafood.
Glad you guys had a good week up there! We head to Portland in the morning.