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How many churches can you see?

We decided to skip a side trip of three days to Siena and stay on in Firenze. We crossed the Arno (the main river in Firenze) on the Ponte Vecchio, the famous bridge that once housed butchers but now house gold and silver smiths because the odor of meat upset a Medici (the Ponte Vecchio is the best way to cross from the old civil offices at the Uffizi to the Palazzo Pitti where the Medicis lived). We saw three more churches today (how much religion do you really need?).

Santa Croce sits at the end of a large square. The facade is typical of churches built at the time of Santa Croce.

Santa Croce

The front facade of Santa Croce

Here is an image from Giotto located inside the Baroncelli Chapel at Santa Croce.

Baroncelli Polyptych

Baroncelli Polyptych, central panel with the Coronation of the Virgin, detail, by Giotto.

The major work inside Chiese de San Felicita is by Pontormo; this is The Deposition, considered his finest work. We were both struck by how modern this work appears; the colors are vibrant and there’s a magical element to the realism that’s slightly abstract.

The Deposition

The Deposition by Pontormo.

We missed the Cappella Brancacci which has the famous “Expulsion of Adam and Eve” by Massacio (we were 15 minutes too late; the time in the guidebook was not accurate – always check out the times from the source or plan to be early everywhere that matters); we’ll have to go back to see it later on our trip.

Webpuchino Business Card Front

Webpuchino Business Card Front

Webpuchino Business Card Back

Webpuchino Business Card Back

Webpuchino Receipt

Webpuchino Receipt

I sent email to the office today; there are many access points in Firenze to the Internet. We used Webpuccino, an access point a minutes walk from our pensione. It cost about $6 US for 30 minutes of connection time. We’re finally starting to feel better and to do things in Italian time – see something, sit, have a pop (or better yet a cappachino) and talk. We had a pleasant 1 1/2 hour lunch. We met a nice Mexican American from Austin, TX that now lives in Firenze, and he talked our ears off but was very nice and funny.

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One Comment

  1. Amsterdam and Florence | Aleph Naught & the Null Set
    11:05 am on December 9th, 2011

    […] Guicciardini to Santa Felicita. We stopped here on a previous Italian holiday, so I’ll just point you to that page here (there’s a very special fresco by Pontormo here, don’t miss it if you’re in […]