Firenze, September 2018
Marie Becker <beckerrabbit@gmail.com>
Oct 30, 2018, 9:42 PM
Friday, October 28, I have just returned from a Classical drawing and painting workshop in Montespertoli, perhaps 40 kilometers from the center of Florence where my Pensione Annalena is and where I have returned to for another few days. With the afternoon free to walk Florence again at my leisure, I planned to find Basilica di Santa Croce, in which my favorite ancient artist Giotto's remains are and where some remnants of his frescoes devoted to St Francis still remain on the walls of one of the many chaples within Santa Croce. This is a Franciscan church originally dedicated to St Francis of Assisi, built between c1200 and 1400 in a Gothic into Renaissance style. For artists it is a place of reverence as it contains the tombs of Galileo, Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Brunelleschi, Giotto and other illustrious art fellows. By now i could judge the rhythm of the tourists in Florence and had bought my ticket for entry to the basillica on Friday in anticipation of a long wait line for Saturday. So now i was able to walk right in to view the frescoes No guides or guards therefore ropes have to serve as barriers keeping one at a distance from the frescoes. Everywhere in this city, from Boboli gardens to the Uffizi Museum one can sense the economic woes this wonderful city and Italy. The frescoes are damaged being from the 1400s and having suffered from flooding of the river close by. I had read that Santa Croce had been built on a site lower than the Tevere River and consequently suffered several river floods in the past damaging many of the frescoes here although some careful restoration work is obvious. Years past i had been to Assisi but did not appreciate the position Giotto held then as being a sort of father to the artists of the Early Renaissance. His comparitively flat, nonperspective work is described as the beginning of the understanding of the need for perspective in art. But that is just the reason I seek his work out. It seems so modest, devotional and honest without the later studied effort of those who began to master perspective and "perfected" the picture and figures such as those who followed, ig Michelangelo.
The most famous artists and starchitects of the 1300s on all seemed to have built a part of the huge church planned as a grand Egyptian cross. Brunelleschi created an entire chapel and designed the monks' garden walks... a most aesthetic sanctuary for those who resided here.
Later I had dinner consisting of a huge plate of Italian spinachi and pasta at favorite Trattoria Boboli just across the street from the Annalena. I then went back to my room to read and at 8PM set off to Saint Marks just a few blocks walk near one of the bridges, for a version of La Boheme.
I continue to be delighted by this Florentine world of aesthetics. Last night was a La Boheme operatic performance, unanticipated just perfect for the 2 hours, provided with a little help from a narrator who also was the stage prop man. And what powerful voices in this St Marks church originally thought to be Machiavelli's Renaissance palace home. Now I feel too excited to sleep. Walking back to my room i think, no gelato today que pecatto. I am able to get Canadian CBC FM classical radio on my iphone and am packing to Paulo Pietro Paolo playing Ravel, Debussy and Faure.
Today, a new day, my last one here in Florence, warm again wonderful for wandering into new places finding San Lorenzo an ancient church. There hasn't been time to find the central synagogue so have to leave it for next year.
Sent from my iPad
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