![]() |
City Guide - Florence - Key Attractions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Key Attractions Galleria degli Uffizi (Uffizi Gallery) The most important art collection in Italy and one of the richest in the world is usually heralded by the burr of foreign tongues as queues of tourists snake across the courtyard. Located in Vasari's majestic Uffizi Palace, it houses the Medici art collection bequeathed to Florence in 1737, on the condition that it never leaves the city. The impressive resumé of Italian and in particular Florentine art is arranged to illustrate how evolving techniques and ideas influenced the artists. The huge collection is really too big to master at one sitting, but visitors with limited time should ensure they take a peek at rooms 7-18, which include some of the city's biggest draws: Botticelli's mythological masterpieces, The Birth of Venus and Primavera (Spring) and Leonardo Da Vinci's Annunciation. Early rooms concentrate on medieval art with a particular bent towards the Sienese school, exemplified by Duccio, Martini and Giotto. The latter end of the gallery features work from the Umbrian and Venetian schools, including Titian, Tintoretto and Raphael. Piazzale degli Uffizi 6 Tel: (055) 238 8651 or 8652. Fax: (055) 238 8699. E-mail: uffizi@mac.uffizi.firenze.it Web site: www.musa.uffizi.firenze.it Transport: Bus B. Opening hours: Tues-Sun 0830-1900. Admission: L12,000. Piazza del Duomo (Cathedral Square) Brunelleschi's gravity-defying dome dominates the Florence skyline and defines the city. The double-skinned dome that sits atop the city's candy-coloured Duomo (cathedral) was an architectural breakthrough, since Brunelleschi invented an entirely new way of counteracting the weight of the dome, thus building the largest self-supporting dome since classical times. The cathedral, built under the proviso that it be the largest house of worship in Christendom (a feat eventually claimed by St Peters Cathedral in Rome) took 150 years to complete. Its original façade was pulled down on the orders of Ferdinand I in 1587 and the Duomo remained faceless for nearly 300 years, until 1887. Described by Ruskin as a 'chinese puzzle', the lavish pink, white and green marble frontage belies a cavernous interior that is surprisingly free of decoration. Once inside, most people look heavenward, pausing to admire Giorgio Vasari's recently restored frescoes in the cupola - before climbing the 463 steps for a spectacular view over the city. Tall, slender and straight-backed the Campanile (bell tower) is the graceful sidekick to Brunelleschi's stout Duomo. Built according to Giotto's designs in 1334, it was completed after his death by Andrea Pisano and Francesco Talenti. The Campanile is decorated by two garlands of bas-reliefs, strung around the bell tower's rose-tinted façade. Higher up are sculptures of the Prophets and Sybils, carved by Donatello. The original pieces are now in the Cathedral Museum (Grande Museo dell'Opera del Duomo). The Campanile can be climbed for rewarding views over the piazza, affording a closer inspection of the Duomo and Brunelleschi's rusty crown, once described by the architect Alberti as 'large enough to shelter all the people of Tuscany in its shadow'. The adjacent Baptistery completes the trio, and indeed provided the inspiration for both the Campanile and Duomo façades. Originally believed to be a pagan temple, the octagonal building is the oldest in Florence. It is famous for its gilded bronze doors, particularly those on the east side dubbed the Gates of Paradise. Executed by Lorenzo Ghiberti - 'with the greatest diligence and the greatest love' - over a period of 27 years, each of the ten bronze bas-reliefs tells a story from the Old Testament with astonishing realism and compassion. Nowadays, most are copies, the originals having been moved to the Cathedral Museum for restoration and safe-keeping. Ghiberti, the most self-satisfied of artists, preserved his own balding image in the frame of the door, fourth in from the left-hand side. Piazza del Duomo Transport: Bus 14, 23 or 71. Opening hours: Cathedral: Mon-Sat 0930-1830; Cathedral Museum: varies due to current expansion; Campanile: Apr-Sep daily 0900-1830, Oct-Mar daily 0900-1630; Baptistery: Mon-Sat 1330-1830 and Sun 0830-1330. Admission: Cathedral: free; dome: L10,000; Cathedral Museum: L10,000; Campanile: L10,000; Baptistery: L3000. Galleria dell'Accademia While Florence offers a panoply of artworks, most people associate the city with just one masterpiece, Michelangelo's David. The huge statue occupies pride of place in the city's Accademia Gallery, dwarfing the multitude of chattering tourists who stand in awe before him. The statue was carved from one block of marble in 1502 when the artist was just 29 years old. Its exaggerated size and musculature is a symbol of the new-born Republic who briefly cast out the Medici - the city's 'Goliath'. Also in the gallery are Michelangelo's unfinished Slaves, which stand captive in blocks of marble from which their forms seem to struggle to escape. Via Ricasoli, 60 Tel: (055) 238 8609. Fax: (050) 238 8609 E-mail: GalleriaAccademia@sbas.firenze.it Web site: www.sbas.firenze.it Transport: Bus 1, 6 or 33. Opening hours: Tues-Sat 0830-1900. Admission: L12,000. Ponte Vecchio Even the dogs of war could not bring themselves to destroy the Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge to survive the Nazi bombing of Florence during World War II. These days the famous fourteenth-century bridge is literally paved with gold - home to Florence's gold and silversmiths - and is a prime shopping trap for the city's affluent tourists. It was Cosimo de Medici who first created the mood for change when he ordered the previous occupants, a motley crew of butchers accustomed to throwing their bloody leftovers into the River Arno, to make room for a more genteel trade. High above the shops a secret passageway known as the Corrodoio Vasariano links the Uffizi Gallery to the Pitti Palace. Built by Vasari it was intended to shield the powerful Medici family from the Florentine riff-raff as they journeyed from one palace to the other. Lined with portraits of the city's greatest artists, it reopened to the public in 1997, but opening times are erratic due to staffing problems. Visits can be booked on special request, via the tourist office. Transport: Bus D. Museo Nazionale del Bargello The grim façade of the Palazzo del Bargello, formerly the city's jail and torture chamber, is a daunting introduction to Tuscany's most impressive collection of Renaissance sculpture. Masterpieces by Cellini, Donatello and Michelangelo are arranged over three floors and overflow into the Palace's handsome courtyard - where many a Florentine lost his head. Donatello captures the spirit of the early Renaissance best with his sensual David and his watchful St George who once graced the façade of Orsanmichele. Cellini's exquisite bronze statuary outshines the somewhat staid Michelangelo on display, while Giambologna's Mercury should not be missed. Two bronze panels by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac, provide a compelling comparison. Both artists entered the panels in a competition to win the commission to cast the north doors of the Baptistery. Both won, but Brunelleschi refused to work in partnership with Ghiberti and went on instead to construct the cathedral dome - a veritable artistic snub. Via del Proconsolo 4 Tel: (055) 238 8606. Fax: (051) 238 8606. Transport: Bus A, 14 or 23. Opening hours: Daily 0830-1350; closed alternate Sundays and Mondays. Admission: L8000. Santa Croce The elegant Franciscan church of Santa Croce has tended to overwhelm the visitor and is held responsible for the little-known disease Stendhal's Condition. When the French writer Stendhal visited the church, he suffered a fainting fit brought on by its beauty; and apparently it continues to afflict up to 12 visitors a year. Lord Byron reported himself 'drunk with Beauty' at the sight of the church, which is attributed to Arnolfo di Cambio, the architect responsible for the Duomo. Its broad piazza, once the site of jousts, wild animal fights and the burning of heretics, is today home to miniature Davids and plaster cast Virgins as souvenir stalls ply their trade to visitors weakened by stendhalismo. The big draw inside the gothic interior is death. Some of Italy's most gifted men are buried here, including Michelangelo (whose body was smuggled out of Rome in a packing case), Machiavelli, Galileo, Rossini and Ghiberti. Dante's tomb lies empty. The forefather of Italian literature died in Ravenna and the city refused to return his corpse, in spite of Florentine pleas. A series of colourful chapels, their frescoes commissioned by wealthy bankers, lift the gloom. Those in the Bardi Chapel are considered some of Giotto's best. Outside in the tranquil cloisters stands a Renaissance gem: the Pazzi Chapel, designed by Brunelleschi in 1430. The pure geometric design is an indication of the renewed influence of classicism over Gothic forms. Piazza Santa Croce Transport: Bus C, 14 or 23. Opening hours: Daily 0700-1215 and 1500-1800. Admission: Free. Santa Maria Novella The zebra-striped façade of Santa Maria Novella, completed by Leon Battista Alberti in 1470, is the starting point of many visitors' tours of Florence. Situated near the city's train station to which it lends its name, the graceful scrolls, gothic arches and classical pediments combine to form one of Florence's most dramatic façades. Alongside Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella - home to the Dominican order - was the most important church in the city. A fresco cycle by the city's top social painter, Ghirlandaio, depicting the lives of the Virgin Mary and St John the Baptist is peopled with Florentine society. But the highlight of the lofty interior is Masaccio's Trinity (1427), a fresco whose outstanding use of perspective marked a breakthrough in Renaissance painting. Miraculously, the flat wall becomes a recessed vault bearing the crucified figure of Christ. Behind him, deep within Masaccio's coffered chapel, God demands the viewer acknowledges his sacrifice. Piazza Santa Maria Novella Transport: Bus A, 14, 23 or 71. Opening hours: Daily 0700-1215 and 1500-1800. Admission: Free. Museo di San Marco Rebuilt at the behest of Cosimo de Medici, this Dominican convent was home to Fra Angelico, as well as the fanatical Girolamo Savonarola. Savonarola famously preached damnation upon the Florentines and exhorted them to burn their books and paintings on the Bonfire of the Vanities. The 'mad monk' is depicted in a haunting portrait in the Corsini Gallery, himself being burned at the stake in Piazza della Signoria. More important are the works of Fra Angelico, a gentle and devout monk whose luminous frescoes, painted as a focal point for the monks' meditations, adorn each of the preserved monk's cells. The deep religious conviction inherent within each fresco is emphasised by the stark simplicity of their setting. At the head of the stairs lies the most powerful of them all, The Annunciation, a striking representation of the young Mary's fear and astonishment as she learns she is to be the Mother of Christ. Piazza San Marco 3 Tel: (055) 238 8608. Fax: (055) 238 8704. Transport: Bus 1, 6 or 10. Opening hours: Tues-Fri 0830-1350, Sat and Sun 0830-1850; closed alternate Sundays and Mondays. Admission: L8000. Capella Brancacci (Brancacci Chapel) The area on the other side of the river, known as Oltrarno, was not even a part of Florence until the city walls expanded in the twelfth century to encompass it, and even today it has a character all of its own. The slower pace of life is accompanied by less showy buildings and fewer tourists, rewarding the adventurous with a taste of everyday life in Florence. The reason most make the trek across the river, however, is to see the famous Brancacci Chapel inside the church of Santa Maria del Carmine. Miraculously salvaged from a fire in the eighteenth century, the chapel houses frescoes by Masaccio, his pupil Masolino and Filippino Lippi. Masaccio's crisp retelling of The Tribute Money set against the background of Renaissance Florence is snappily executed with bright colours and comic asides, in sharp contrast to his mournful Expulsion from Paradise. Both the Paradise fresco and Masolino's Temptation of Adam and Eve were propelled into the public eye in the late 1980s, when they underwent restoration to remove the bogus foliage, added on by Victorians to cover up their genitalia. Piazza del Carmine Transport: Bus D Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700; visits restricted to 15 mins. Admission: L5000. |
|