Florence... it's more than just a plague town

I don’t know… maybe it’s just me… but when I’m in Florence and I’m standing by the river Arno which moves at snail speed and it’s hot and it’s humid and there are zillions of people, two words come to mind: Bubonic Plague.

Really. 

Out of all the cities in Europe, Firenze stands out as plague central.  I think it’s the river. 

HOWEVER, it is still glorious!  When I got off the train one of the first things I did was go have lunch at a marvelous trattoria.  I ordered a Quattro Stagionne  pizza that was thin as a cracker and a bowl of Tuscan white beans drizzled with olive oil.

Okay,,,,,, there is nothing better in the world.  I had to write a poem, an ODE to the Tuscan white bean:

Oh, Faggioli Blanci

The Ganymede of beans,

Puffy pillows of love, salty sweet beany goodness

Oh silent verdura gloriosa

Make me thy lyre!  (oh wait, I think that’s someone else’s line)

Bathing in olive nectar

Content in your perfection.

From the restaurant one meanders to the plague river and contemplates it.

Then you just simply must WALK like a MONKEY because this city is beyond fabulous.  Here I tucked into the Church of St Marguerite and ‘someone’ I thought it said Galliano but it’s not the designer.  Really, it’s not. 

Onward to the Duomo.  And there really are no words to describe the experience of seeing this church.  It’s otherworldly.  And it has become Florence’s most famous symbol.  It is Europe’s 4^th largest church and remains to this day the city’s tallest building.  Brunelleschi’s dome, finished in 1463, was the largest of its time and was built without scaffolding.  The outer shell is supported by a thicker inner shell that acts as a sort of platform for it. 

Then I visited San Lorenzo.  This was the parish church of the Medici family and was rebuilt via a commission to Brunelleschi to remake it in a classical style. 

From there it’s only a few misguided turns and a bit of being lost until you find yourself at Santa Maria Novella.  This is stunning.  Stunning, darlings.  It was built by the Dominicans between 1279 and 1357.  The lower Romanesque part of its façade was incorporated into one based on Classical elements, thanks to architect Leon Battista Alberti.  One of its many prizes is Masaccio’s Trinity, which shows the incorporation of linear perspective to in neat effect.