Early Saturday I walked over to the Pantheon, caught a taxi to the
train station, took the train to Florence, took another taxi to the
Hotel Casci, dropped off my backpack, and started my Florence art blitz.
Florence has some of the most fantastic art anywhere...
The 3 day 'see everything and cut to the head of the line' FirenzeCard
is now up to 72 euros, but is still a bargain considering how much more
time you get to spend staring at art instead of standing outside
sweating in line.
By the time I started my art blitz it was warm and getting crowded, but
I knew it would get much hotter and the crowds would get much crazier...
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I started at the Bargello, which I'd only seen once before during my
first trip to Italy in 2003
Ground floor of the Bargello
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Michelangelo - Bacchus
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Michelangelo - Bacchus
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Michelangelo - Pitti Tondo
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Michelangelo - Brutus
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Michelangelo - David - Apollo
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Giambologna - Flying Mercury
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Bargello - First Floor (Americans would call it the second floor)
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Donatello - David (the not famous one)
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Donatello - David (again) - this is the more famous of Dontatello's David's....
After the Bargello I went to the Uffizi.
After a while I noticed lots of people taking pictures, and also
noticed the museum staff weren't doing anything about it.
The Uffizi had always forbidden all pictures, but I noticed there
weren't any signs telling people not to take pictures anymore.
I asked one of the staff members when they started allowing visitors to
take pictures and she replied 'about a year ago'.
Botticelli is one of my favorite artists and the Uffizi has lots of his
paintings, now I'd finally be able to take pictures of them!
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Botticello - Madonna of the Rose Garden - c 1470
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Botticelli - Annunciation
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Botticelli - Sant'Ambrogio Altarpiece / Madonna and Child with Six
Saints
Botticelli - Annunciation - c 1481
(scroll right to see the whole thing)
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Botticelli - Madonna in Glory with Seraphim - c 1469
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Botticelli - Allegory of Spring - Primavera
Since I'd first seen it in 2003 Botticelli's Birth of Venus had been my favorite painting
While enjoying the Allegory of Spring I decided that perhaps I liked it a little better since there was more to see...
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Another of the new Botticelli rooms...
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Botticelli - Birth of Venus
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Botticelli - Portrait of a Man with a Medal of Cosimo the Elder
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Botticelli - The Virgin and Child with Four Angels and Six Saints
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Botticelli - Madonna of the Pomegranate - c 1487
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Botticelli - Saint Augustine in His Study
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Botticelli - Madonna of the Magnificat
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Botticelli - The Calumny of Apelles
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Botticelli - The Calumny of Apelles
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Botticelli - Coronation of the Virgin
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Botticelli - The Discovery of the Body of Hologernes and Judith Returns
to Bethulia
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Botticelli - Adoration of the Magi - c 1475
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Michelangelo - Doni Tondo / The Holy Family
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The Raphael room.
I love Raphael, but most of the Raphaels in the Uffizi are not very interesting...
I took pictures simply because I couldn't pass a Raphael without taking a picture...
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Raphael - Pope Julius II
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Raphael - Young Man with an Apple
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Raphael - Portrait of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro
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Raphael - Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga
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Raphael - Madonna del cardellino / Madonna of the Goldfinch
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Raphael - Portrait of Perugino
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Raphael - self portrait
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Titian - Lorenzo Lotto
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Titian - A Knight of Malta
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Titian - Flora
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Titian - Portrait Papst Sixtus IV
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Titian - Bishop Ludovico Beccadelli
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Titian - Eleonora Gonzaga
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Titian - Venus of Urbino
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Leonardo da Vinci - Annunciation
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Verrocchio (Leonardo's teacher) - Baptism of Christ
I hadn't been Santa Croce Church since 2003, and I wasn't too far away, so...
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Marconi's tomb
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Enrico Fermi's tomb
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Galileo's tomb
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Michelangelo's tomb
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Michelangelo's tomb
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Danti's tomb
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Machiavelli's tomb
I wanted to climb up the Duomo's dome but it was sold out for the next
two days, even for passholders.
However the Campanile was open, and I hadn't been up Giotto's tower,
and you can see the Duomo from the Campanile...
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The dome of the Duomo
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The crypt under the Duomo
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I got lucky, the sun was in the perfect place for pictures from the Campanile
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Florence from the Campanile
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the Campanile
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the Campanile
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the Campanile, looking down through a grate in the top
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Florence from the Campanile
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Duomo
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I'd saved the Acadamia for later in the day.
I was extremely pleased to see that the Acadamia finally allows visitors to take pictures as well!
Acadamia - Hall of Prisoners
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Michelangelo - Awakening Slave
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Michelangelo - Young Slave
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Michelangelo - Atlas Slave
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Michelangelo - Bearded Slave
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Michelangelo - Pieta
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Michelangelo - St Matthew
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Michelangelo - David
I enjoyed once again spending quality time with the best scul
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Michelangelo - David
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the mob outside the Acadamia
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My very small room at the Hotel Casci
I almost ran out of battery on my iPhone cause I took so many pictures in
Florence...
I took a quick break for a while before heading back out for dinner.
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I'd never seen the interior of the Pallazo Vecchio.. it was closed for a wedding, so I still haven't seen it.
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I'd also never seen the Baptistry, which was worth a good 2-3 minutes.
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My hotel suggested dinner at the Mercato Centrale.
There were too many food choices; I finally settled on pate and salad with truffles... it was amazing.
Affligen summer, my new favorite Belgian beer.
