When fabulousness
reaches a level of terrific speed, you find yourself experiencing what I call
fabulocity. And if there is any city in
the world where this tends to happen DAILY, it’s Florence. Today was a full out,
double-gelato-con-panna-in-a-sugar-cone kind of day. I just had to hold on and run with it.
I began my day at
the Cappelle Medicee. The Medici Chapels
are split into three main areas that are available to tourists. You actually enter into the crypt and there
you find some tombs of ‘lesser’ family members.
There is also an awesome display of reliquaries that were owned by the
family over the centuries. Honestly, I
love these. I do! There’s something very haunting and beautiful
and mysterious about them. And artistically,
some are over the top beautiful. I know
some of you can’t get over the …. shall we call it ‘immorality’ of the relic
business, but I don’t want to hear it. They’re
gorgeous. Period.
From there you go
up a staircase to the main chapel where the more historically/politically important members of the Medici family
are. And… it’s breathtaking. The ENTIRE room is created out of semi-precious
stone and marble.
Then the next
floor up is where Lorenzo the Magnificent’s tomb is. It is graced with an ‘autograph work’ of Michelangelo
along with a work by Montorsoli and one by Montelupo. Michelangelo did all three works for the tomb
of Giuliano, Duke of Nemours (brother of Pope Leo X) where he portrayed the
Duke as a military captain.
From there I
meandered to Dante Alighieri’s neighborhood and to the church, Chiesa di San
Marguerita, where he according to legend first saw Beatrice, the woman/child
who would be the muse for his great work Commedia.
I then walked to
the mercato centrale, the huge market that is in the San Lorenzo
neighborhood. There are two levels. The ground level is a bustling, loud, cheery,
totally Italian scream-fest of vendors selling the most exquisite fruit,
vegetables, breads, fish and meat and chickens like you have never seen in the
US. Okay, let me pause here and say
something about the chicken we have in the states. Why is it so big, and so uniform and so white
and so…. Unreal? Because when you first
look at what a real chicken carcass looks like you will be concerned. I’m concerned.
You walk up the stairs
and you find yourself in a very chic food court. No Wetzel’s Pretzels here, darlings. But you will find pasta with black truffle
pearls … and a glass of wine.
I then walked to
the convent of San Marco. This was
founded in the 13th century and then enlarged in 1437 when Dominican
monks from nearby Fiesole moved there at the invitation of Cosimo il Vecchio. The expansion included a beautiful cloister
walk and garden along with individual monk cells that are about 8’x6’. He then commissioned Fra Angelico to paint a
vast series of frescoes. Each monk’s
cell has one. But the jewel in the crown
is this one: The Annunciation.
Can we get a pic of the chicken carcass?
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