The Last of Florence, 04.30.10

Dante's Muse

Today, on the eve of Italy's Labor Day, we began with a walk to Ponte Vecchio and past the silver and gold smiths and leather brokers and artists after a filling breakfast at the Hotel Silla. A brief ten minute walk took us to Dante's house and a creative muse just outside who could recite any part of the Inferno for anyone wanting to toss a coin in his cup and turn to any passage in the book. How we wished we were fluent in Italian!

Restoration of the Frescoes

On to Santa Croce, a magnificent neo-Gothic church begun in 1294 and completed two hundred years later and which is the fourth largest church in Italy. It is under continual renovation, as so many historic sites are, and we studied their progress in revealing frescoes buried beneath years of paint and plaster. This is the resting place of great men: Michaelangelo, Machiavelli, Dante and DiVinci and a monument to Galileo, who spent his later years in Florence and greatly out of favor with the church who did not agree to bury him here until decades after his death. We enjoyed its relative simplicity and particularly the ornate roof supports.

Santa Croce

We are continually amazed by what we find and here was no different: in an outer room off a hall on the way to the Leather Apprentice Factory is part of the actual robe and waist cord worn by St. Francis of Assisi, 12th century, the patron saint of animals, and founder of the Franciscans. It was astonishingly well preserved and I could not take my eyes off it, just inches away and protected by glass. The cloak of St. Francis: imagine that!

Florence is a deep and rich experience and we were sad to leave the next day, with so much left to see. Dinner again was exceptional, minestrone with lasagne, bread and veggies. Authentic central/northern Italian food is so different than what we know as Italian food in the States: it is lighter and more flavorful and perfectly seasoned, and uses tomatoes as an ingredient but not as a base. It was exceptionally good.

Who can miss the similarity
with Lady Liberty?

In the early evening, we made the heart-wrenching choice to forego the Operatic love song duets at St. Marks in favor of a much needed trip to the laundromat, and I was bummed. Instead, we became part of learning Florence's Labor Day celebration which unexpectedly began in a small piazza at the end of the street that came alive with drumming.

Labor Day Drummers

What a sound! It was beautifully synchronized, loud and growing louder as more drummers joined in. We watched windows up and down the street fly open and residents look eagerly toward the square and head down into it. Song after  song echoed down the streets as they slowly headed our way, up the narrow street, 100 or more all dressed in red, with people walking alongside, and in front, and in back, their faces filled with joy.

All of Florence was alive with music that night, singers and dancers and bands, and people roaming along sidewalks in small groups singing songs and being answered by those walking on the opposite side. We slept with the windows flung open, enjoying the occasional burst of music on both sides of the river all night long and from double decker buses with bands that drove up and down the crowded streets. What a fabulous celebration. Funny but we didn't seem to miss the Opera at all.