Day 16 - Gettin' in Touch With God (UPDATED)

In an attempt to make up for not attending a mass in, uuhhhh, like 11 years, I decided to see the majority of historical churches in Florence today. Many are in my travel books and well you know, gotta score some points up top!

So, wisely, the night before I made an agenda as to the certain churches I would visit. I had around seven stops to make in one day. Was it possible? Yes. Did I complete my list? No. Not my fault!!!

So, I woke up early (well early-ER) and hit the town. My first stop was Michaelangelo's House, Casa Buonarroti. Well, I looked for the house. Instead all I found were pizza joints and a hair salon. So hang tight, I'll look into this more later.

Next stop, Santa Croce. This is a church not 4 blocks from my building. It's famous for the people who are buried there. Again, it really just better to show pictures that try to explain using words: 

Santa Croce

Alter of Santa Croce
(Unfortunately, the complete alter is under construction. But it's really quite a sight. I wouldn't know for sure, but there was a sweet picture of it next to the scaffolding.)

Tomb of Dante, the poet. Yep, this is the guy who wrote Dante's Inferno. He was an extremely respected poet of his time. Obviously, right? We are still reading his work today. 

 Tomb of Galileo, same guy who did many mappings of the constellations.

Tomb of Michaelangelo. 

Tomb of Machiavelli, founder of modern political science (looked that one up).

Look familiar? Well, it should. It's a replica of the Statue of Liberty. Actually, let me rephrase, this statue above, properly known as The Liberty of Poetry, acts as a precursor for New York's, which is properly called Liberty Enlightening the World. According to the accompanying plaque, the possibility that this statue was the inspiration, or one of the sources of inspiration, for her bigger sister cannot be dismissed.

A little history lesson for you: Santa Croce is the largest Franciscan church in the world. In the back of the church, lies an amazing family owned and operated leather shop. Unfortunately, I did not ask how they were associated with the Santa Croce, seeing how my Italian is still very much lacking (This will become further evident later in the day). Below is a picture of an older man making the leather casing to a clutch-style purse. I gathered up enough courage to ask for his picture, seeing how I try to refrain from the "rude American" steriotype that runs rampid in this town.

"Scuzzi, Signore..." I said and he looked up. "Posso," I asked showing him my camera (or, 'May I.')

"Si! Si!" replied the older man. (Yes! Yes!)

"Grazie, Segnore," I said after taking his picture.

"Preggo, Preggo..." he answered.

'Preggo' means a lot of different things. In direct context it means "You're welcome." However, I have found that it can also mean, "Sure" or "Surely" and "No Problem." The different contexts of the word also depend on the age of the person who is saying it to you. Because this older leather maker said it to me, it came off as very gratifying. More of an, "Of course. You're very welcome. Thank you for asking." So, you can now understand how the language barrier has become my biggest issue.

"Preggo, Preggo!"

I also splurged about bought myself a leather bookmark. How could you not?!

Next stop: Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore. This is Florence's most famous land mark. You can see the duomo, as I have referred to it in past posts, from almost anywhere in town. Granted the buildings are not that tall here, the duomo towers over EVERYTHING!

Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore

F.Y.I. The picture above only shows one of three parts of the duomo. Above is the dome, which I went to the top of, and the other structures are separate, the cathedral's bell tower and Baptistery of San Giovanni. More on those to follow.

There are two options when visiting the duomo. I decided that today was the day I as a-going to the top. And up the 315 stairs I did. Yeah, I stopped along the way and took a breath...

Before I get too ahead of myself, around half the way up, there is a ledge/balcony where you can get an up-close and personal look at the Cupola, or dome, on the inside. It's painted very intricately with the bottom portraying hell and closer to the top heaven. Check it:

Wouldn't want to be that guy... 

View from ledge/balcony down into duomo

The top of the duomo presented some of the best views I have seen of Florence to date. All of the below photos are 315 stairs up.

Piazza della Signoria - Also the location Mom and I rang in 2011. 

Piazza della Repubblica - The arch in the center, also pretty much the center of Florence 

Santa Croce - White Church

View of the opposite side of the Arno River 

The bell tower accompanying the duomo. You can also climb to the top of this beautiful monument as well. It's on my list of things to do.

Megan + Florence 

Next on the journey was up north about a 10 minute walk to the Basilica di San Lorenzo. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures inside the church, so all you get is the outside. And a dreary outside at that!

Basilica di San Lorenzo

This church lies in an area of town where the Medici influence is present everywhere. Next to San Lorenzo, are the Medici Chapels (also on my list of things to do, however they closed at 1:50 p.m. Yeah, like that would happen in The States!). According to some reading I did, the above church was never completed. I know, right?! Why would a church in the Medici area of town look so drab? Apparently there was a squabble over what type of marble to use to complete the outside structure of the church and it was not a short disagreement. It went on for so long that the church still remains the same as it did in the Medici Era. Whoops!

Lastly, I was off to Santa Maria Novella. Again, I was not allowed to take pictures inside the church, however I grabbed some of the surrounding areas. Let me now mention that all of the churches above are still 'living churches.' And when I say that, I mean you can still attend mass and give confession inside.

Santa Maria Novella

So, that wrapped up my day with God, however it was only around 3:30 so I decided to take a walk in an area I had never been. After taking a sharp left, I hit the River Arno. The sun was just beginning to set on the city and I snagged a couple beautiful shots.

 

My fav. If you look closely, you can see two rowers beneath the bridge. 

This concluded yet another successful day in Florence. Knowing my arrival home would bring a need to rest, I decided that I would simply grab take-out pizza and head back to my room to relax. Simple enough, right?

I headed toward a local pizza joint called Pizza Man. Yah!!! I had eaten there once before and the za proved worthy. The Italians don't really have words for "to go" or "take out" so I figured I would just wing it. Thank goodness there was ONE English speaking Italian in the restaurant (and he didn't even work there). But he was nice enough to show me the menu and ordered it for me, Phew! It's quite intimidating when you walk into a restaurant, everyone turns to stare at a head of blond hair and continues to stare as you stumble through simple phrases like, "Parle Inglese?" ('Do you seak English?') or "Can I get this to-go?" (Still no idea how to say it in Italian).

However, I waited with my small glass of champagne and fried puff-thing (both complimentary of the restaurant. I must not have screwed up that bad if they still have me the goodies) and grabbed my pizza, paid and went home.

I have been asked what the pizza is like here and I'm guessing others would like to know as well. Does it compare to American pizza? It's got to be better, right? What are the differences?

Well, first let me say that there is no comparing the ingredients used in Italian pizza. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING is fresh: the mozzarella cheese, the sauce, the ingredients, the dough. All fresh which does give it higher rank than American pizza. However, and this is a big one, I have only had one pizza here with a crispy crust. And not the crust part that some people don't eat, the part the pizza sits in. Almost always soggy. And if you know me, and how I like to eat my pizza, soggy crust is a BIG no-no. So in comparing fresh ingredients to a soggy crust, I'll let you be the judge. I have eaten multiple pizzas from multiple joints and I keep going back for more, soooooo...Let me put it this way, I will miss it when I come home.

Glass of wine and pizza at home! Day concluded.

UPDATE!!!

San Marco: Additional Church which I could not see on GITWG Day Uno.

The below church, San Marco, stands as a museum however was the first public library in Europe.

San Marco

Inside the Courtyard of San Marco

Below each arch, on the inside wall of the courtyard, is painted a unique fresco.

San Marco, during it's hay day, was home to many monks. On the second floor of the church/monastery all of the room which housed the monks are open to walk through, Each room is painted with its own fresco.

Monk's room. It was said that these frescoes in the rooms of the monks gave them spiritual guidance.

During their time here, the monks did a lot of writing. And I use the word 'writing' loosely as well as seriously. The had mastered the art of putting their hymns down onto pages in books. However, these were no music books we see in stores today. The monks made each element of the books. The pages, which were constructed from dried calf skin (a entire process all in itself). The binding's were mostly leather or wooden. And the actual hymns were not just staffs on pages. They were large, colorful, brightly written pieces of music. The colors were created from stones and rocks which were ground down to powder and mixed with oils to makes to elaborate and bright colors. The monks also were sure not to forget writing about personal experiences as well. San Marco houses long journals and scripture writings.

It was a pretty neat place to visit. Very different from the other churches seeing as I was stepping foot into rooms that monks had lived in hundreds of years ago.

I should also cite my resources:
Neskow, Vesna. The Little Black Book of Florence & Tuscany. Peter Pauper Press, New York. 2009.