Florence, last day: Cattedrale, San Giovanni, Museo dell'Opera
Well, it's our last day in Florence so we decided to do the Duomo and the Baptistery of San Giovanni. We passed on climbing to the Cupola of the Duomo, it's about 460 stairs and the staircase is only a 1/2 meter wide. We wanted to save our feet so we also passed on climbing the Campanile. Maybe someday when we aren't walking all over hell and back and can do these things separately and the Academia.
On the way we found, to our surprise, Mario Batali's Eataly! We hadn't known there was one in Florence. We went inside since we had yet to see one and Rachel had told us all about the ones in New York and Chicago. Excellent selection of Italian products, all top shelf items and prices were reasonable. Separate meat, pasta, cheese and bakery stores within the store AND on the 1st piano a sit-down restaurant. This one was being operated by the Mazzola family who own and operate La Torre in Massa Lubrense, about 5 km south of Sorrento. We went in and spoke with Tonio, the father, and set reservations for that evening's dinner. We told him we were from Seattle and ate at Armando's Salumi whenever we were in the area. We were only one of 5 tables that evening and had a chance to speak with Tonio, his wife Maria and their daughter. Maria makes the lightest potato gnocchi we have ever eaten. It was wonderful. The next time we're in the Sorrento area we will go to Massa Lubrense to eat at their place. They are running the Eataly space under contract while their restaurant in Massa Lubrense is closed for the winter. They'd been there since December and will be heading back to Massa Lubrense in mid-March. I sure as hell hope Mario opens one in Seattle. It's a shame he hasn't.
We got our tickets for the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore and Museo dell'Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore. Not many shots from the Cattedrale, photos are discouraged and no flash is allowed, like most places. We were not able to get under the Copula in the main nave since there was a work crew dismantling the Nativity set. That's another thing we need to get to. The dome is huge and is decorated with the Last Judgement. Disappointment! A day earlier or later and we could have gotten some good photos since there's a lot of ambient light on the inside of the dome. A lot more than in the body of the church.
We did make it down into the crypt, which really isn't a crypt. There are some sepulchre stones that used to cover tombs in earlier versions of the church, Santa Reparata. I was looking for Medici tombs to dance on but there are none. We found out after getting back to Sciacca that Toto had studied in Florence and knew some of the restaurants we hit. He told us that the Medici are buried in San Lorenzo, a fairly plain exterior church that we passed every day. Another place to hit on our second trip. There was, however, a Medici tomb in the crypt which had been in the center of Santa Reparata. It's elevated and in location from where it had originally been installed. I couldn't dance on it but I did get to sit on it.
Some structural remains of Santa Reparata are maintained under the Cattedrale, including some frescoes from the church that predated Santa Reparata. The simplicity of the remains makes it a really beautiful place. We've seen similar altars under the Palatine Chapel in Palermo's Norman Palace and in Paestum at the paleo-Christian church.
I am sorry we missed the Baptistery of San Giovanni in Siena after seeing the website. We did, however, go to San Giovanni in Florence. It's marble exterior reflects that of the Cattedrale but the interior reminds me of the Cattedrale of Monreale and the Palatine Chapel in Palermo. The dome is covered in mosaics. There's not Pantocrator, like in Monreale, Amalfi and Cefalu but the figure of Christ is close. The ceiling tells the story of the bible, Christ and the Last Judgement.
We had one more museum to go through, the Museo dell'Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore. Opera is not what it means in English. The Opera is actually like a Local Improvement District. It's responsible for the construction, maintenance and renovation of the edifice it's associated with. There's an Opera della Uffizi, that's where, in my previous blog, the first photos of the capitals stored after renovation were taken.
This museum has a full scale replica of the original Santa Reparata facade, before it was removed for the expansion/construction of Santa Maria dei Fiore. Many original statues by Donatello are in this museum as well as the original doors of San Giovanni. Do not miss this part of the "tour". You can spot the Donatello's by the fine features he give the statues. They even have an unfinished Michelangelo "Pieta' that he was carving for the tomb of Julius II at the time he died. His nephew gave the statue to the Medici. Michelangelo did more than one Pieta. One is in Rome and is the famous one in the Vatican Museum. There is also a choir "loft" done by him. I'm not sure how anyone could fit in this marble masterpiece but it's reflective of his work.
The next day we left to return to Sicily. Before we left Enrico gave us a bottle of his father's home-made wine. We drank it in Sicily and it was really good. We guessed it was Sangiovese and were right. Actually that wasn't too hard. Sangiovese is the prominent local wine in Tuscany and all Chianti wines are at least 80% Sangiovese. Super Tuscans are mainly Sangiovese w/ other grapes, like Merlot, Cabernet, etc blended in for different body and fruitiness.
We got back to Sciacca in time for more rain and snow in the mountains nearby. In a couple days I'll put together some words and photos of that. I'm not sure if it's normal for this area but we will be sticking to the coast highways for a while. We did get chains for our Opel Mokka but I'd sure like to avoid having to use them.
Ciao for now.